Cyber Viking Omnibus: Books 1-4
Author: Marcus Sloss
Date: 2020-07-09 23:00:00+00:00
Keywords: A Dungeon Core Experience; Romance; Gamelit; HaremLit; Lgbtq+; Gay; Science; Fiction; Fantasy; Paranormal; Urban; Young Adult Fantasy
Description: Survive, Consolidate, Protect, then Pillage Eric Yang is a combat veteran of the Saudi war and a student at Denver University (DU). His goal was to reintegrate back into society. His service freed him from the mistakes of his past, his dedication pushed him to achieve more from life even with his disabilities, and yet, he struggled. While not all scars from war are visible, Eric was given a cybernetic arm that even scientists in 2032 considered futuristic. An isolated semester at DU is disrupted by a dire warning from a top-secret source. The asteroid barreling toward Earth is an alien spacecr
Publisher: Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2020 Marcus Sloss.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ASIN: TBD

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.

CHAPTER 1

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head you desperately wanted to put on mute? Welcome to my little slice of torture. My leg bounced to a beat that was stuck on auto-repeat and my back popped with a twist as I shifted my large framed around in the uncomfortable plastic chair. My thoughts swirled. I calmed my agitated state with three slow deep breaths and inspected the room.

A diverse selection of positivity posters plastered the walls of an interior classroom that lacked any windows. Recessed lighting brightly illuminated the small space. An aged chalkboard loomed over the front of the room, etched with the deep kind of chalk stains frequent use caused, and that only disappeared with liberal applications of industrial grade solvent. Six comfortable chairs formed a half-circle around an older woman in a five-wheeled office chair. I hated being late, but an important call from a former war buddy delayed my arrival to the meeting, hence I had to find a seat outside the circle of comfy recliners in the cheap—and painful, my back reminded me—seats.

Normally, awkward situations or public speaking did not bother me. My time in the military had forced me to get over any minor anxieties I’d held regarding speaking in front of others. My apprehensions rose from the odd combination of awkwardness and opening up in a public forum, making myself vulnerable to disclose truths I generally kept hidden. After coming home from war, I had become a recluse, and outside of attending classes, where I frequently avoided conversations, I tended to keep to myself. Today, ghosting on the edge of the counseling session was not an option. The dire need for me to abandon my inner shell of isolation, to jump clear of my comfort zone only added to my current anxiety. Yesterday, a fateful call to my Gpad—those ubiquitous and irreplaceable devices that had superseded smart screens almost overnight—revealed a horrific truth that forced me out of inaction.

This might be my last chance to break through to the special someone that sat next to me. If I couldn’t build on our budding friendship and establish a connection today, the multitude of tasks of preparation over the coming weeks would pull me away from her, likely forever. This was my one chance to see if what I wanted so badly to feel again was possible with her. To even have that chance, though, I had to win her to my side here, now, at this counseling meeting.

Willow was a lovely young woman who tried to conceal some internal struggle. At least, this is what I assumed. The fact that I had access to what most considered restricted data might have helped, too. The last meeting, which had been my first, had revealed a young woman fighting to contain the conflict behind her bright blue eyes and vibrant pink hair. She had a hidden beauty, under the heavy, unnecessary make-up, awkward turtle-neck sweaters, and oversized men’s shoes. Willow Hanks struggled to adapt to campus life on her own; this was evident from the half-truths that she had disclosed in our group counseling session. I hoped I could help her with that problem.

This open therapy session, hosted by the college’s mental and emotional counseling clinic, was called ‘struggles’. I had laughed at the name at first, because what did college kids these days really consider a struggle? That their game controllers hadn’t recharged in the ten minutes they spent snarfing down pizza? A gentle touch on my shoulder brought me out of my reverie. My gaze lifted from Willow’s hand resting lightly on my DU t-shirt until our eyes locked. Her batting lashes and wide smile invited me to open up. For the first time since Saudi, I felt the stirring of butterflies in my stomach, reminding me that there were still good things in the world.  Some of these beautiful things, like the young lady sitting beside me, were worth the effort of coming out of my shell. I returned her smile and felt the chemistry between us brewing. She lifted a curious eyebrow. I was about to compliment her on her amazing eyes when our interaction was interrupted.

“Excuse me,” the student counselor said. I my intrigued gaze shifted from Willow, who quietly exhaled the breath she’d surprisingly been holding. “You were unable to give an introduction last session… Hmm…”

“Name’s Eric, Eric Yang. If you’re trying to retrieve my files.” I tapped on my forearm against my Gpad. Slightly smaller than a phone, it had a holographic, three-dimensional display that projected requested personal information. Years of operating the device resulted in a quick unlocking and sharing of my records. “There you go, Mrs. Teller. You should be able to see my information now.”

“Wow! You can block your data? You a hacker?” A pimple-faced young man three seats to my left leaned over to ask.

I frowned at him, staying silent. If he was expecting an answer, he would not get one from me. A squeak of chair legs sliding across the tiled floor allowed me to shift my chair until I faced Willow. I held out a hand in a basic gesture with my left-hand palm up.

“What’s he doing?” the young man asked.

“Yes, Mr. Yang, what are you doing?” Mrs. Teller asked with a hint of authority in her tone.

“Mrs. Hanks needs to know something vital to her future,” I said. Willow’s curiosity was piqued. She again raised that manicured pink eyebrow before placing her left palm over mine. I placed my right hand on top of hers, completing the stack. She twitched in her seat, the whites of her eyes flaring in shock. I had figured she would react poorly to the texture of my fake silicone hand. “It’s okay, Willow. I hope my disfigurement does not startle you. I cannot help the wounds I returned home with.” I smiled at her. “Would you like to inspect my arm while I talk?”

“This guy is hitting on Willow, Mrs. Teller,” pimple face sputtered jealousy.

“Frankie, please. A man came to our session today that …” Mrs. Teller paused and gave an audible snort. “I’ve an open-door policy as to who can come to these sessions. If you’d take the time to read Willow’s expression, she is interested not frightened.”

“True. I do find the brooding handsome man vying for my affection endearing,” Willow grinned cheekily. “Me and Eric have a bit of a history. We have a few classes together. There has been a bit of chemistry brewing between us these last few months. It took him weeks to say more than ‘hello’ to me. He seems to be a patient man who has been nothing but polite and respectful. The last time we talked, he almost got the courage up to ask me out for coffee.” She turned back towards me. “I’d have said yes, Eric.” She looked back up at the group to continue her story. “There was this odd pain in his eyes, however, and he retreated instead. I thought that I’d scared him off, yet here he is willing to brave the group counseling session to talk about his struggles.” Her blue eyes twinkled mischievously. “How about we hear him out?”

“I guess,” Frankie said with disdain.

“See, that’s all perfectly fine. All I ask is,” Mrs. Teller gasped and covered her mouth. She was probably reading my file right now, judging from her reaction. “Are you … serious?”

“What’s wrong, Mrs. Teller? What kind of ‘struggles’ could a gray-haired old fart like him have that Just for Dudes can’t fix?” Frankie asked with a snicker.

I ignored Frankie and the rest of the room when Willow’s soft touch traced the silicone seam running the length of my forearm. My arm fired a signal to my brain, and my Gpad pinged with an authorization request. An approving nod was enough for the device on my forearm to flare green. The seam split, mimicking a banana being peeled. Willow gingerly removed the tan colored silicone covering my right cybernetic arm. Her eyes shined with delight when the mechanical appendage underneath was teasingly revealed. I bounced my fingers to spin the whirling gyros. The hum of the components from the futuristic creation was a constant reminder of the horrific reason my arm was not flesh and blood.

“What are you?” A new voice said.

My eyes darted from watching Willow to the geeky girl wearing a retro duckman shirt. Her black hair was entwined in twin braids, and her chubby face glared disapprovingly at my arm. I had studied the background of the other group therapy session attendees after my first visit. Miss duckman tshirt’s name was Reba, and she struggled with trust issues and was both hostile to men and prone to quick bursts of anger. I intended to avoid her.

“We’re here to talk about our struggles, right?” I shrugged. “If I talk about my struggles, it will answer a lot of these kinds of questions.” I looked at Mrs. Teller for permission; she smiled. “I think I’ve a few minutes, then, if that is okay?” I glanced down at the floor. “Please excuse me if I ramble. I haven’t been real talkative lately, but when I get going…”

Mrs. Teller scooted forward to the edge of her seat, plopped her hands into her lap, and eagerly nodded her head. My attention swung over to Willow. Her fingers still traced the metallic details of my mechanical arm. Her nails lacked polish or flair, but her soft hands spoke of an easy life.

“I didn’t struggle growing up. I was raised in southern Florida on the outskirts of Miami,” I began, “I guess I get my height from my father, or more appropriately, my grandfather. The man was a soldier, one of many who did a tour in Korea and came home with a foreign bride. My father was half black and half Korean. I guess that makes me a mutt.”

I paused to study Willow and see how she reacted to all this. She hid my cybernetic arm back behind its more natural looking cover. The silicone melted together until only the tiniest of seams were visible. Before her hand could retreat, I waved my fingers, enticing her to slip her hand in mine. She grinned at my dexterous invitation and gave in to the temptation. Our eyes locked, allowing me to sense the interest I had hoped was there. She smiled brightly and I became lost in her beautiful tender blue eyes. Only when you have truly been alone can you understand what it is like to need another to complete you. I did. I hoped she could help me feel again. There was a fiery twinkle in her gaze that highlighted the blush creeping up her neck. I sensed the others growing bored with our staring contest.

“Struggles …” I cleared my throat, “those started after high school. I decided to tour the world. I guess you could say that I learned an incredible amount of useless stuff while pissing away a lot of my parents’ hard-earned money. For example, I learned how to buy party drugs; that if a bouncer wore a star pin, sticker, or fake tattoo of one, they had drugs for sale. If there was no star pin, or the bouncer wore two or more of them, the cops were sniffing around.” I frowned at the memory, “when I returned home, I contacted my old dealer. We concocted numerous fantastic plans while high on opioids. Ultimately, I became a bouncer at a popular nightclub. I had a clean record, a decent employment history, and was accepted as a minority hire, while looking mostly white.”

Half of these kids had zoned out already. I didn’t care. This story was really for an audience of one—it was kind of annoying that I had to share it with the rest of them. “Okay, by this point, you are still probably wondering why I’m rambling on about my boring backstory to you all.” A few heads perked up at that. “I need Willow to understand the man that is about to ask her to trust him…”

“Yeah, about that,” Frankie interjected. “Why’re you perving on Willow?”

“Both of you, stay on topic, please. Frankie, Willow is an adult, and your complaint comes off as passive aggressive. Her body posture is relaxed, and like me, she was enjoying the story. Please continue,” Mrs. Teller said.

Reba gave a scoff and folded her arms under duckman’s vibrantly orange bill.  She must be sore because the attention was staying on me. A gentle sigh from Willow encouraged me to continue.

“I… This next part is difficult to tell. I’m not proud of what I did.” I ducked my head and took a long minute to get my thoughts in order before continuing. “Selling drugs is worse than doing drugs. I actually got sober as money became my high, and as it turns out, when you fall into an excessive amount of cash, you tend to spend it … foolishly.” I grinned ruefully. “If you think digital surveillance is bad these day, it was significantly worse before the privacy laws President Hansen enacted. Every transaction I completed was monitored. Flags were raised and my club became a target of interest for the police. Three years slinging drugs to kids wanting to have the night of their lives ended suddenly. I was facing thirty years for possession, dealing, and tax evasion. Oddly enough, the stiffest penalties were because I’d never paid taxes on my ill-gotten gains; my money never touched a bank, there were no physical records, and they never needed any. Spoiler here, these gray hairs and worry lines on my dashingly handsome face are not from old age. I’m barely over thirty.”

Willow squeezed my hand.

“I went into jail with a twenty-year sentence that the judge said was lenient. Some kid had overdosed on narcotics and they threatened to tie the incident to me. That accusation never stuck, but the possibility that I had sold him some of his fatal cocktail resonated with me. I accepted my punishment and knew that by the time I got out in 2041, I would be a better man.”

I got some wrinkled brows and odd looks with that comment. “Obviously,” I continued, “something happened, since I’m sitting here in this room along with those ridiculous posters, and it is only 2032. A cat hanging in a tree never motivated … Sorry, my mood sours when I dwell on my past. Where was I?”

“Jail,” Willow whispered softly. “You seem so gruff, yet normal. Not the typical man I get hit on by, that is for sure.” She traced a circle with her thumb across the back of my hand, “I’m enjoying the attention. Please continue.”

“Thank you. Your eyes are so beautiful I find them mesmerizing. After this session, I want to learn more about you,” I said. Willow nodded casually with an indifferent smirk. Her hand stayed in mine and there was genuine interest in her eyes.               “Jail sucked. I read and read some more. I bulked up to stay healthy, and to pass the time, I dove into learning about survival. Actually, I tried struggling with astrophysics first, before turning to simpler subjects. Spoiler alert, when you ask Dave, the guy doing time for porch thievery, about how hydrogen combusts, he’ll tell you to eff off.” This earned a chuckle.

“My goal was not to become a pariah among my fellow prisoners, but at the same time, I wanted—no, needed—to improve myself. I struggled to learn anatomy to improve my health, the wilderness to know how to live off the land, and even learned about farming. Ironically, the best conversations I had in prison were about horticulture.”

“Fast forward to 2029 and the Saudi-Israeli war breaks out. America, in its infinite wisdom, decides to maintain peace after the Israelites knocked Saudi infrastructure back to the stone age. Israeli soldiers went home to relax, while Uncle Sam played intermediary and sent our troops to rebuild and secure what was left.” Several neo-progressive liberalists scowled, and I held up my hands. “Now, we can get into the politics about whether that was a good idea or not, but that is something I want to avoid today. Let’s just agree to disagree.”

Their soft laughter echoed in the room. Some of the chuckles were obviously fake, but when I paused with an eyebrow raised, no one interrupted. They clearly wanted to hear about how the Saudi war was relevant to me.

“Uncle Sam didn’t give privacy to prisoners, even when Hansen’s new laws were enacted. Every book, G-net search, and medical exam was packed into a neat file for all non-violent offenders that got shared with other government agencies. I had two visitors on an abnormally bright day in that Houston jail. I remember the extra gleam of the buffed white floors. Even the guard’s cuffs that hung off her hips reflected dazzling light right into my eyes. Moments like those tend to stick with you, when everything has become stale and mundane. The guards sat me down and bolted my shackles to the floor in front of two ladies who could give glares like what Reba only wishes she could give.”

“Hey,” Reba interrupted, “I never told you my name.”

“It was mentioned when I was coming into the room. You were going over your struggles when I arrived late.”

She glared.

“Let me finish the story,” I sighed, “and then you can have the floor. These two little ladies were intimidating with their hard eyes and scowls. They wore a military uniform. ‘US ARMY’ was stenciled over their hearts, and dulled American flags flew backwards on their right arms. Now, I want everyone in this room to understand something clearly—this happened before the Saudi war broke out, early in the spring of 2029. Sergeant Donivan and Staff Sergeant Beckers were short, ornery black ladies I never want to cross paths with, ever again. I will never forget those two sour suits, as I nicknamed them. They made me an offer, one I easily refused.”

“I was on track for early release with good behavior,” I explained, “With knowledge as my current fix, I was neither a fighter nor a troublemaker. Jail ... while not easy, had become a mundane cycle that I had learned I could deal with. Serving in the military did not appeal to me … or the majority of kids Uncle Sam needed to recruit. They tried to tempt me with low-ball incentives of early release and measly amounts of bonus cash. What they offered increased until it hit a ceiling that made them flustered. I had a feeling I was not the only potential recruit scoffing at their offers. There simply was no compelling reason for me to join up. So, I told the two sour suits ‘no thank you’ as politely as I could, mind you, and they left.”

Every eye looked back at me intently, caught up in my tale. “I thought that was the end of it,” I shrugged, “I was naïve enough to believe they would play by the rules, but, as I found out later, the Army desperately needed to beef up their enlistments without telling the public a war was coming, and they were prepared to do whatever it took to get them.”

“I had another physical exam slated for the following day. Blood was extracted from my right hand, and …” I held up my synthetic arm, and paused, waving my fake fingers in their pretend skin covering. My mind instantly returned me to a moment I will never forget and I clenched my unnatural fist to contain the frustration and anger it stirred. The next parts of my tale were dark.

“If you trust the government, you should not. Within eight hours, the injection site from my ‘routine’ blood work morphed into a horrendous black mark. The frightening coloration indicated tissue sclerosis—decay that included gnarled, shriveling skin. Those vile bastards were waiting. When I screamed for relief from the sudden, overwhelming torment, the response was instantaneous.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“This is where I struggled to accept my fate,” I continued, once I got myself under control. “I lost my right hand in an emergency amputation less than an hour later. I was given a nub cover and told that would be the extent of what limited therapy the jail would provide. They blamed my most unfortunate accident on a bad needle that a rat must have mysteriously contaminated. The investigation came back inconclusive, and the file was sealed.”

“Ironically,” I mused, “they were willing to give me drugs—the same kind of drugs that landed me in jail. A week later, the two sour suits showed back up for a ‘follow up’ appointment to see if I’d changed my mind. My deal had been sweetened. Imagine my surprise when I was offered a hand worth more than what my high-priced lawyer of a father made in a year.” I whirled on the startled girl. “And Frankie, before you insist that my father should have saved me from jail, he disowned me when he reviewed my case ... literally threw me to the prosecutor’s wolves with a fresh under-schooled and overworked public defender. The two sergeants weren’t taking no for an answer, and I was terrified. I may have slipped down a path that was dumb, but I am not an idiot. The cause and effect of my situation was clearly evident; and, I thought, if they literally were willing to kill my hand for rejecting their first offer, what was next?”

Willow rested her hand on my thigh to get my attention. “You want to get coffee? I see how much pain this story is dredging up,” she said assertively. “You don’t have to bare your soul to everyone … I think I understand you came here to woo me.” She smiled. “Consider me interested.”

A mischievous grin tugged at the corner of my lips. This was exactly what I was hoping to hear, and it came earlier than I expected it.

“That’d be lovely,” I said, struggling to get out of the horrid contraption they called a chair. Willow rose with me. “The rest of my story is very interesting, but I want to know more about you also.”

“Your story is so compelling,” Mrs. Teller pleaded, in an attempt to get me to stay, “Won’t you please continue?”

Reba folded her arms, rolled her eyes, and scoffed. “This old man just said he is leaving. Why do you want to hear his story so bad?”

“Damnit, Reba!” Mrs. Teller shouted, letting her anger slip. The red-faced woman clutched her fists tightly, trying to check her reactions. “I read his profile. That ‘old man’ is a war hero. He is ‘Captain Moostache’.” She glared at the girl. “Yes, that one, Reba. Even I watched his videos and he was about to tell us what really happened to those pour souls left behind in Saudi Arabia. The government concluded his cognizant predictability of probable outcomes is off the charts. The fact that he said Willow needed to hear something vital leads me to believe he knows something important.” She stared at me as we turned to leave, “I personally want to hear what is so important.”

Her remark caused me to stop. My talent with probabilities was not in the file that I let her see. While I could determine likely outcomes to most scenarios to an uncanny degree, I had not foreseen this outcome. Maybe I was slipping? No, I was distracted by recent events. I would have to improve and focus. Obviously, Mrs. Teller had inside information that was extremely hard to come by. My mind dove into my Gpad to scan through her acquaintance network until I found what I had missed earlier.

“Mrs. Teller,” I waved my finger back and forth in front of me. “Using your sister’s credentials at G-Corp to get into the restricted Gpad databases. Tsk, tsk. Though I do applaud your ingenuity, Gina. I feel we are on a first name basis, given the circumstances.” I smirked. “Please ignore what you saw in my file and instead investigate what is being said about the asteroid that is quickly becoming the top story in all the news feeds.”

“Asteroid?” she asked, “The one that they keep getting the timer wrong about? What are you implying?”

“Look into it. I may have heard that there is a reason it keeps speeding up ... Which an asteroid cannot do.” I shrugged. “Or you could be right, their estimates may be wrong and I have been tricked by someone I trust.”

I gently tugged on Willow’s wrist to turn us back towards the exit. My right arm slipped around her shoulders as we walked for the door. She gave a giggle at my audacity and returned the gesture, wrapping her arm around my waist. I gave a goodbye wave over my shoulder with my left hand and ignored the pleading for me to finish or explain more. I came to this meeting to save Willow; now I merely had to convince her to join me in what came next. I turned our steps towards the coffee house. That was a great place to continue our conversation.

CHAPTER 2

The warm spring air brought with it the scent of freshly cut grass. The landscapers pushed metallic reel mowers in the patchwork fields isolated by red brick pathways. The lush grass was being trimmed, the dividing lines edged, and bushes pruned without the snarl of a single motor. The clacks, clanks, and snips of the manual tools was soothing. Behind the workers, a tall yellow buckeye tree bloomed in golden radiance a full two months early. Students posted endless fliers around the campus that this was the fate of our civilization. Global warming was here and the trees seemed to confirm this hypothesis by blossoming in early March. Another contentious issue I avoided.

Willow and I walked the second-floor corridor towards the nearest stairwell. Our footsteps echoed in the stairwell as we descended to the communal area. Beyond the pleasant park setting, the horizon consisted of many low-rise buildings. The University of Denver was old, with plenty of historical structures still standing. Their faded brown brick construction fueled a nostalgic ambiance, reminiscent of earlier and supposedly care-free days that the newer sections of the campus lacked. I found there was beauty and character in the preserved structures that pleased me.

“I’m surprised they didn’t follow us out,” Willow said, darting glances behind us. “Where do you want to get coffee?”

“Um… How about we take a walk through Gulch Park? It isn’t too far. We can walk there, or you can ride on my handlebars?” I said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle.

Willow whipped her loose pink hair over her shoulder and gave me a side-long stare. Due to the proximity of my dorm room to my classes, the convenience of a nearby Safeway, and my hermit lifestyle, I never required a car. There were electric auto taxis all over the city if I needed to get to the airport or somewhere further than my bike or legs could take me.

“Pass on the tandem bike ride,” she snorted. “How about we walk there and taxi back?”

“Works for me. Do you want to ask me some questions or should I continue my story?” I asked.

Now that I knew where we were going and how we were getting there, I cut east across the school quad towards Cliff Avenue. I loved walking the streets of Denver, especially on a nice day like this one. The city had been good to me since I arrived. Of all the places to land after I was discharged, I never expected to end up in Colorado. My exit orientation happened to include a recruiter from the university who briefed us on an effort to assist veterans. Apparently, the University of Denver (DU) had a history of helping veterans that dated back to the middle of the 20th century, booming after World War II with a surplus of combat veterans attending the school. I was part of an initiative to re-establish the history the school had with those who had served with honor. His pitch to come to DU was solid and the University offered extreme discounts and subsidies for my dorm, on campus food, and electronic books. Even though I was only in my second semester here, I loved DU and Denver. The mid-morning foot traffic was light as Willow and I paused at the college entrance off Cliff Ave.

“Sorry for the delay. I got lost in thought. I guess can we start with why you’re finally showing so much interest in me, when it took you so long to even make eye contact or say more than hello these last few months?” Willow asked, giving me a friendly hip check. Her brow creased in thought and she gave me a speculative look. “I’m not dumb. You’re basically insinuating that asteroid is not an asteroid. You’re finally asking me on a date with it arriving, what ... in three weeks?”

We went single file as a mom ran by with twins in a jogging stroller. We exchanged friendly waves with the little girls, who appeared to be enjoying the ride as they flew by. I stepped back up to Willow’s side and slid my hand into hers. The sensors in my hand cybernetic hand indicated her palms were slightly sweaty as she squeezed my hand. She must be nervous.

I took a deep breath to collect my thoughts. “If we’re facing the end of the world as we know it, I don’t want to do so alone.” I shrugged, “Look Willow, it’s 2032. Pulling information on someone is not only easy to do, it is the first thing folks do when they find themselves interested in someone. I checked you out online after we exchanged glances in class; it just took we a while to realize I wanted to come out this shell I have buried myself in since Saudi.” I smiled at her, “You pulled me out of my shell. We waved to each other in passing. We started to greet each other in the hallway. And for the last month, I know I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about you during our between class conversations. We have a brewing romance that I would rather not abandon. I like you Willow. I think you like me. Have you pulled up my information?”

“Yes, of course I have.” She blushed, “I may have done some mild stalking of you when you caught my interest.  I dug into your past, but was unable to find much. You are a war veteran, single, and the rest is mostly restricted.” She frowned. “Like your cybernetic arm was not in your data. You have been an okay student. You don’t appear to be a player—unless you’ve got another hacked social media account.”

I shook my head.

“I even checked in with the other girls in our classes to see if you had flirted with any of them, but you apparently have only shown attention to me from what I can tell. You’re being patient, while being respectful. I thoroughly enjoyed our small talk and find my stomach tightening with butterflies around you,” Willow said, blushing at her admission. “Sorry if my checking up on you upsets you; you’re forgiven for stalking me online.”

“I didn’t dig too deeply. Only enough to see what you were going for as a degree and where you came from.” I pointed a finger at the black box across the street. Her gaze shifted. “The walk sign is active,” I said, and we crossed the street.

The sidewalks were wide and the streets were gorgeous this time of year. Black wrought iron fencing separated the sidewalk from the old brick home on our right. On our left, full green-leaved trees were surrounded by plush well-maintained grass. Not a single weed grew in the divider between the road and the sidewalk. A cool breeze tempered the warm spring sunshine, making it a great day for a casual walk. The sidewalks were busy with people fleeing the indoors to smell the fresh air and enjoy the end of winter weather that Denver was infamous for.

Two types of vehicles drove down the busy street. A few spewed loud exhaust from their older petroleum combustion motors. These were relics, in a sense, as electric vehicles had become cheaper and the de facto basis for all new models. Their blocky forms, rumbling noises and exhaust fumes stood out in stark contrast to the sleek and nearly silent electrics. Denver prohibited new vehicle sales that contained combustion engines. There was a big political fight over outlawing non-electric vehicles that was hard to avoid getting caught up in. My Gpad spared me most of the electronic back and forth, thankfully, due to my disabled veteran PTSD status. I claimed excessive political ads triggered my anxiety. It gave me the perfect excuse to shut out the noise and leaned on that crutch to keep the endless din of politics and its continuous banter at bay.

A man was pulled by his rambunctious lab as the duo flowed around us. The dog was on a determined mission to pee on every tree on this block as he sped ahead. I smiled, thinking about what owning a dog would be like. There was an emotional tug on my heart when I contemplated being responsible for any life beyond my own. After Saudi, I tried to sever any and all connections with the onus of accountability. And now I had succumbed to the tug and jumped off that cliff with Willow. Strangely, it wakened a part of me I had thought died in the sands of the desert. She glanced at me a few times to ensure I was done with my introspection and ready for her to continue talking. I smiled at her to reassure her I was back in the moment.

“My father was a soldier. He died when I was little. He was manning a checkpoint to ensure the citizens of Kabul were safe in the green zone downtown. A thirteen-year-old boy blew them both up,” Willow said with a painful sigh. She traced her right thumb over the back of my hand that held hers. I paused, knowing what she needed, and stepped to the edge of the sidewalk. With a swift, firm tug, I pulled her into a tight embrace. Her face burrowed into my chest and I stroked her hair like we were lovers. “Why do I feel so drawn to you?” she muttered against my t-shirt.

“When was the last time a man vied for your affection so patiently?” I asked. She chuckled.

“You mean actually trying to get to know me like you have? … Hmm … Never.” She smirked. “Sure, a few tried becoming friends once we got to the ‘in-a-relationship’ phase, but that always came after we’d had sex.” She frowned. “No one tried the slow-burn friendship building approach before asking for a date.” She squeezed me before looking up at me with a wondering look. “I like that phrase you used, ‘it’s 2032’.”

“Well,” she continued, “it’s 2032 and if you like a boy—or a girl—you ask them on a date before wasting any time being nice. If there is a mutual attraction, you see if they are any good in bed. I guess too many people got hurt being friend-zoned when there was no mutual physical attraction. Now, we all validate that physical attraction, and only then try to be friends.” Willow nuzzled her head against my shirt, cushioned by my fluffy chest hair.

I stroked her hair. “I know I come across as a bit of a loner, even though we’re all in a new place, and I thought we could be friends without hopping in the sack.” I grinned down at her. “It’s not like you weren’t sending out mixed signals, yourself. Don’t get mad, but I tend to notice things. You were throwing out subtle hints that turn away guys’ attention—with your off-brand shoes, overuse of make-up to conceal rather than highlight your stunning features, and the baggy clothes you wear to hide that amazing, curvy body … that feels really good to hold, by the way.” I sighed. “Honestly, if we had stayed friends and if things were not so dire—which I promise I will get to—I probably would have been fine letting that slow-burn attraction build up until we finally did something about it.”

“Nah,” she grinned, “I wasn’t going to let you draw this out much longer.”

“Actually,” I paused, “How do you keep those measurements, with all the time I noticed you spend at the gym.”

“Thanks, Mom, for your amazing genes! I am big-boned and curvy. If I work hard, I look fantastic, but this is about as slim as I get without vomiting my meals back up. No thank you, I am not that vain.” She paused. “What do you mean by me throwing out these hints? What’re you implying?”

“Nothing, but you probably need to ask yourself that question,” I said. I let go of Willow and walked a few steps further, leaving her behind. She quickly caught up and this time grabbed my left hand to hold as we walked. “Losing a parent is hard. I could only imagine the pain your mother experienced when that boy killed your father. Did she ever move on?”

“Not once did I have to call a man my step-father, not even her part-time boyfriends who tried pretending to be one. She wanted to leave his role vacant. When I told her I wanted her to be happy, she said she was happy with me.” A look of concern flitted across her face. “I worry about her now that I am off to university.”

“Her choice to never take another man permanently into her life as you got older must have been a tough decision,” I said. “I don’t know what I would want my partner to do, if I died, and the one I loved had to make that choice. Would I want my wife to move on after I passed?” I mused. “Yes,” I decided, “I think I would. Especially if I left her alone with a little girl, particularly one so young; however, I do respect your Mom’s decision.”

A lady walking almost a dozen dogs towards us winced, seeing that we were on a collision course. Willow guided us off the sidewalk and into the grass. We let the collection of assorted dogs glide by with a minimal sniffing of our legs. The poor dog walker was clearly taking on too many clients. My thoughts drifted to how such problems today would become trivial and irrelevant tomorrow.

“You grew up without a father figure and have always been super close to your mom. You two are best friends, correct?” I asked and she nodded. “Maybe that is the cause of your ‘guys don’t bother me’ vibe. Then again, maybe you would be exactly the same if your father had always been around. Either way,” I said softly, “I could see that you are lonely and seeking the comfort of a partner like me.” I really did not like judging others and then telling them what I saw. People tended to react poorly to criticism. “As with all tough choices, our actions have consequences.”

“Funny that you mention consequences,” Willow said, batting her lashes at me, “I want to hear more of your story. I promise we can return to my past after we finish more of yours.” I let out a relieved breath I did not realize I had been holding. I was concerned she would react poorly to my observations.

“Fine!” I replied with a brighter tone. “You win this round.”

“And probably all others!” Willow said, and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Remember how after class one time, we were talking about the teaching assistant’s ungodly chunky necklace?” She nodded. “You remarked how hideous it was and confided that jewelry should be beautiful, but subtle.” I held my breath while fishing for a small box in the cargo pocket on the right side of my shorts.

“Yes, that is so true.” Willow said with a scoff. “That necklace was hideous. Wow, I am impressed you remembered that. Most men tend to stare at my tits, drool and say ‘huh’ when I ask for feedback on whatever we are talking about.”

“I said I like you Willow and we have been getting along great.” I smiled nervously as I fished the small black rectangle of a box out of my shorts. “I even picked up a silver necklace with a locket that reminded me of what you had said.” I opened the box to show her the fine silver chain with an inverted loop of a dainty black band at the end. The locket had lily flowers entwined into the design.

“I actually had zero intention of buying it,” I murmured and rubbed the back of my neck. “The old sales lady was far more convincing than she should have been.”

Willow paused our walk as she examined the jewelry nestled in my palm. I presented her the gift across my body, but Willow shook her head no, and back into the cargo pouch of my shorts it slid.

“I want to hear more about ya, before I accept.” She squeezed my hand, “But, don’t fret, I love it. Where’d you find something so perfect?” Willow asked in an intrigued tone.

“The strip mall, over in University Hills. I was there last weekend browsing the local book store. I have a love for actual, physical books…”

“Continue with your end of the world doom story,” she interrupted my ramblings, “so I can run away with you already. You get me, and I desperately want to know what worries you enough to follow me into the ‘struggles’ group therapy session.”

“I received a warning from someone I trust that something big was coming. Then silence. A man like me tends to rationalize that there are only a few things he should be warned about. My guess was not far off from …” I paused to let a husband-wife jogging duo pass us by.

I shook my head. “How about I return to my story before we get to the climatic reveal?” She shrugged. “Remember the two ‘sour suits’ that were waiting for me a few days after my hand had been amputated? Surprise! They had a new offer: a state-of-the-art robotic hand. I hated it. Let me re-phrase that, the original hand they offered me was fine, but the technology was not entwined with a programmable Gpad. Still, ‘state of the art’ was right there in black and white on the contract. I was a bit miffed they couldn’t throw in the latest tech, to say the least, but … I was still interested in the offer. The main reason why was not because of the hand or that the bonus cash they offered had increased. Their final offer included a Presidential pardon with a fake work history of being a boring jailhouse guard being inserted into my records.”

“Wow!” Willow blurted out, “They were desperate.”

“Exactly, and I should’ve figured out there was a reason why. The deal was pretty fantastic, but… if you play the odds against the house, you’ll always lose. Looking back, I lost in taking that offer. Others, like my father, will completely disagree and say I snatched a victory that I almost let slip through my grasp. I signed those documents and never went back to my jail cell. They led me from the room where I signed their documents straight to an ambulance, where a gas mask was placed over my face, and I was told to count down from ten.”

The park was not far away now and there was a lull in the traffic. We darted across the street and hopped safely back up on the other sidewalk. When I smiled down at the slightly shorter Willow, I noticed her face was flushed in the heat, and little beads of perspiration dotting her forehead.

I nodded at her turtleneck. “Would you rather wear my t-shirt?” I offered.

“What’d you wear?” Willow said and lifted my shirt to see if I was wearing an undershirt. My scarred abs were all she found. Her eyes flared with excitement. “Yup, hand it over, handsome.”

I peeled my shirt off with a slow, dramatic flourish. With my arms tangled in the shirt over my head, Willow smacked her palm into my abs, hard, causing a slight grunt to escape my lips. Willow had been sending signals that she was warming up to me during our last few times with one another. Slight touches on the arm. Hugs goodbye. Now she was comfortable enough to hit me. Girls. Before I could say anything, however, the shirt was yanked out of my hands. Now, I grew up with girls that were friends and even saw how my mom managed to change her clothes under other clothes, but I could only stare as Willow went to work. She was swift, concise, and had swapped out of her turtleneck in a second or two. As impressive as the feat was, seeing her in my shirt ogling my body was better.

“Keep going with your story, pretty boy,” Willow said with a smirk and walked towards the park. She flung the sweater over her shoulder for me to catch.

I jammed the winter cover into the back of my shorts and let it hang behind me like a tail. A few quick strides to catch up to her and my left arm wrapped around her shoulders. This time, there was no hesitation when she slung her right arm around my waist. Strangers greeted us with ‘hellos’ and ‘lovely day out’ on our arrival to the park. We meandered off the path and sat beside each other, facing a pond.

“Joining the military isn’t the same as it used to be. There was a time when training was rigorous, violent, and molded a man, or woman, into something greater than the individual. A thousand drill instructors could achieve excellence every day for ten years. But if one lost their temper and struck a recruit…” I paused and snapped a blade of grass free of its roots.

I tried to do make that whistling noise with the blade of grass, where you stick the thin edge between your thumbs and blow on it. The silicone was too slick for it to work, but I liked to try anyway. “Boot was basic, basic was boot camp. The process reminded me of a long six weeks of fitness training in a jail setting. Honestly? I fit right in. If I wasn’t so darn tall, I probably could have gotten through it without being noticed. That and I look pretty white for a guy with the last name of Yang.”

Willow stared at my pale chest. “How is it that you look so wonder-bread with the last name Yang?”

“Really?” I chuckled. “I get that a lot. My mother’s maiden name is Yang. I changed my last name after my father disowned me and they got a divorce over it. I wish you could meet her. She is teaching ESL in China right now. That is going to be hard to deal with, as she is refusing to come back despite my pleading with her to come home. I love her something fierce,” I said and yanked a handful of grass out, opened my fingers and let the wind carry the blades away. I looked over at Willow. “The rest of the story gets dark. You want me to keep going?”

“Can we save my mom?” Willow blurted out. “She recently became a flight attendant. She took the job a couple of weeks ago, to travel. I knew it was to help ease the loneliness she’s been dealing with since I left. Mom mentioned she was not enjoying the work. We miss each other.”

Out came the batting eyelashes. I had not even told Willow what the danger was, yet.

I adjusted how we were sitting until I had shimmied behind Willow. She reclined her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes to the sun while I placed her Gpad next to mine. Our units synced and I transferred nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars to her account—the largest amount I could move in a year to someone as a non-taxable gift. Willow was busy enjoying the warm rays of the sun and my embrace. Her failure to notice the transaction did not bother me.

“Willow, I need you to have your mom come to us as soon as possible. Tell her the trip is all expenses paid to meet your new boyfriend,” I said and Willow mumbled something that the gusting wind stole from my ears. A sudden chilly breeze caused my skin to pucker up in goose pimples. “Willow,” I nudged her leg with my knee, “I sent you money.”

“Huh… What!?”

“Before you freak out, let me finish my story. While I do that, you can send your mom a text and purchase a ticket for her to bring her out here on the next available flight. Worst case, you hear my story and get to reunite with your mom. Best case, she’ll be willing to help out, because in the coming days, we are going to be extremely busy.”

“She’s going to think you are crazy for this,” she started tapping out a message to her Mom, “which you are. No sane person throws money around like that.”

“If digital money won’t mean anything in a couple of days, then, yeah. That is exactly what a sane person would do.” I frowned, “May I continue with my story?”

“Yes Sir!” Willow said in a mocking tone. “I eagerly anticipate hearing why digital money will become irrelevant, though.”

She shimmied over my leg so she could lean against my chest from the side. I gave her my arm to unseal and she read my thoughts. The sleeve came off and I gently stroked her hair behind her ear with my metallic fingers.

“Funny you should say that. ‘Yes Sir’ was a term I heard a lot after basic. If you think recruiting poor kids from inner cities was tough since the Universal Basic Income started, think about how free tuition has decimated officer recruitment. Even though I tried to keep a low profile during basic training, what I wanted was irrelevant. I had an expensive hand that allowed me to do things others could not. I was monitored closely for that reason alone, and honestly probably would have excelled without it, but I guess someone knew about my talents. When basic is over, you typically go to advanced individual training or AIT. I will try to avoid the jargon and acronyms. In Basic, you become a soldier and…”

“… at AIT, you learn your job inside the army.” Willow interrupted, “I know that much.” She glanced back up at me. Her blue eyes drew me in and I sank into her gaze.

“Okay, well, I didn’t go to advanced training. Instead, I went to officer school. Officer school was another six weeks of boring nonsense. The material was different and there was a great emphasis on leadership training, but the course is designed to pass people through, not for them to struggle and fail. We lost only two people. That was it. I was voluntold to branch infantry and expected to go to Ranger school after graduation, based on the research I did during my downtime. Instead, they shipped us off to Israel for foreign reconnaissance and surveillance training.”

“You went to Israel! Damn, they knew,” she gasped, “They must have known war was coming for a long time.”

“Yeah… that is what we thought. You might notice my story swaps from ‘I’ to ‘we’ occasionally. Jevon was my battle buddy. The two of us went through basic, to officer school, and then on to Israel together. He learned about my past, and I learned he had been heading to jail for possession of a controlled substance they found in his car. A buddy had tossed a bag in the back. The cops pulled over two black men in a suspicious car and found the drugs. Spoiler, they both said they had no idea where the drugs came from. Jevon was given a choice, though. They’d clean up his record in return for a little time in the military. His two year commitment jumped to six, however, just like mine, when we became officers.”

Willow shifted her weight off my chest. Her knees cracked as she stood with a long, glorious stretch. Her body was divine and the smirk she shot back at me confirmed that I had been caught indulging in the sight. I had picked the perfect mess of a woman.

“I am starting to get cold just sitting. Let’s walk and talk. There are some nice trails in this park.” She helped pull me to my feet. “How was Israel?”

“Different. Honestly, the local soldiers I trained with were clueless. No amount of coaching could have made them so void of any inkling of the war that was about to destabilize the entire region. Sure, they trained for every type of scenario, but I have gone over my time there again and again, and no subtle hints of impending conflict were given.” I shrugged. “The training was rigorous. For the first time since leaving prison, I felt challenged. I conquered every obstacle in my path. Jevon was as determined as I was. We encouraged each other every step of the way, passed with ease, and back to the good ole USA we went.”

A small arched bridge started from the compact gravel. Plastic pretend wood gave the bridge a far different look and feel than the texture and sounds one might expect. The hollow echo of our feet disturbed a sunbathing turtle; the poor guy or girl slipped into the water for safety. I glimpsed a few large carp drifting by under the lily pads. An old lady further down the bridge tossed down hunks of bread. The irony of it was that she did so right beside a sign that declared ‘no feeding the animals’. Some rules were just meant to be broken. Willow nodded at the sign with a smirk as we walked past and I tucked her under my arm and pulled her past the distraction. The old lady had seen her gesture and I could tell when a woman was itching for an argument. I towed Willow away from the confrontation.

“You knew she was going to defend her actions,” Willow said.

“Yeah, I am surprised you caught on to what I was doing,” I replied.

“I think your arm is why she kept her mouth to herself.” She pulled back, “for the sake of not frightening any more old biddies, let’s put this back on.”

Willow stepped off the path and I inserted my metallic arm into the silicone sleeve she held out for me. She connected the seam like an expert. A quick few wiggles of my digits confirmed a good seal and we moved back onto the gravel trail. Our feet crunched the small rocks underfoot as we casually strolled up the path.

“I loved being an officer. My understanding of all things military was at its peak. I was a honed weapon, ready for a war that I figured would likely never arrive. We had a progressive president and a liberal House and Senate. The chances of war seemed non-existent to all of us troops. When everything points in one direction, however, someone should look the other direction. Israel beat the daylights out of the Saudi’s when that country decided to insert troops to help the latest Palestinian uprising. President Hansen gave them a clear warning publicly that the Crown Prince ignored. The devastation from the month-long war was total. The Saudi’s had spent a lot of money buying fancy helicopters, jets, and other top-of-the-line weapons, only to still get their butts kicked. Within three weeks, it was over, as you probably know. The whole world watched the rump spanking…”

“I thought soldiers swore,” Willow asked and poked me with her elbow.

“A, you are a lady. Not that I would not swear in front of a lady, or you in the future, if warranted; B, I am actively courting you and hope to hide my brutish nature as long as possible so I don’t scare you off; C, not all situation require a swear, with the possible exception of using ‘fuck me’ in the bedroom behind closed doors.” I grinned, “Then, it is perfectly fine!”

Willow punched me in the left arm for that line. We both giggled at our back and forth.

“You are something else, Eric Yang. Okay, consider my prestigious lady card forfeited,” Willow said, while I rubbed the spot she hit. “Sorry, I did interrupt with a pointless question in the middle of your recollections.”

I smiled and continued. “There was an underlying cause of the Saudi war that no one ever wants to mention, especially the current administration with its progressive policies. Saudi princes have, for generations, subsidized their population,” I started and Willow rolled her eyes.

“Please let’s not get into politics,” she pleaded.

“I’m not being political, Willow. Merely trying to make you understand that war provided an opportunity for the Saudi ruling family. They needed the war. Thanks to the stampede towards electric vehicles and the low price of oil, they were almost out of money. The best way for them to maintain power, was—believe it or not—to provoke Israel, lose the war, and then blame their crashing economy on a foreign nation.”

Willow huffed as we climbed a steep part of the trail. I let her get ahead of me so I could admire the sway of her hips and the snap of her booty. She liked the attention and kept stealing glances at my shirtless body. We definitely were physically attracted to each other; the chemistry between us gave me hope that I could open up and feel again ... something I had lost the ability to do at some point in the desert. That was a large part of the reason I had become such a hermit after returning from the war.

“I thought that was just a conspiracy theory, President Hansen said the Saudi’s were trying to aid a beleaguered people,” Willow said, reciting the administration’s party line.

“True, but all the best lies have a grain of truth in them. I am giving you the whole truth. How many of our soldiers died in the post-war peacekeeping mission?” I asked.

“A few hundred-”

“Exactly,” I snapped, “Why would a defeated nation turn on the Americans sent there to help?”

“President Hansen said that was in retaliation for poor troop behavior and the unwarranted violence caused by a few bad prisoners converted into troops,” she replied. “There was that time a young man was frisked with zero -”

“Let me stop you right there,” I said sadly, “I am not about to get into a debate over what the media said happened. I will tell you what really happened based on my own experience; I was there. You know what the president said and can compare our words. I’ll let you decide for yourself what the truth is.”

I looked down as the memories came flooding back. “The Saudi people came to our checkpoints for food at first. It was easy, we’d hand out MRE’s and bottled water, keep a fake smile on our faces, mumble the few words we’d been taught in Arabic, and then head back to the gym before we’d rack out. Rinse and repeat. That is, until we ran out of food to hand out. Congress had no more money to allocate, since our new healthcare plans, the Universal Basic Income, and free college tuition cost way more than anticipated.” I grimaced, “Congress called for an immediate troop withdrawal, and my recon unit composed mostly of rehabilitated convicts was left behind.”

“Oh shit!” Willow exclaimed.

“See, this is why I like you Willow.” I looked at the afternoon sun. “We need to head home now, mainly because my story is coming to a close, and there will be enough time to talk later. How about we keep walking instead of taking a taxi?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “So, you were one of those left behind … I thought Mrs. Teller was kidding.”

I sighed. A bird gliding against a head wind seemed to hover in place over our heads. The freedom of flight was amazing on so many levels. A frisbee spun through the air a few hundred feet away and the black lab that chased after it was enough to scare the bird off; it dove into a tree. The dog splashed into the pond to get its favorite toy. The joy on that dog’s face caused me to smile. We walked by the cursing owner, who tossed his hands in the air in frustration. I grinned at his choice words, I wouldn’t want to wash a dog who stood there dripping in duck poop water, either.

“We were trapped without rescue for way too long. I wished I was back in my cozy jail cell, only a few days into the nightmare.” I paused. “I am going to shift the conversation, a bit. We can come back to my abandonment in Saudi Arabia later. I want to figure out something that has bugged me since the moment I learned it about you,” I said and Willow blushed.

“No need to ask, I will tell,” she squawked, “I get kinky behind closed doors. Whips and chains excite me!” Willow’s eyes flared wide open, as she covered her mouth with her hands. “Sorry,” she eventually said, “didn’t mean to blurt that out. What I meant to say is that I like to keep things exciting … and even that was way too much information. You never heard a thing.” She blushed awkwardly while fidgeting. Her interest in adventurous bedroom fun was a surprise revelation, but not what had me stumped.

“Ha! You naughty girl.” I smiled, “No, Willow, that’s not what I was going to ask about. While a bonus, your bedroom deviations are awesome and not unreasonable, I was curious about why a girl who is smart enough to do anything she wants picked an anthropology major far away from her home in Kentucky. You could literally be anything with your G-SAT scores.”

“Oh, that one is easy. Ha! Really!?” she smirked, “You dig into my past and the one thing that you question is my choice of studies? Not the time I randomly went skydiving or the time I convinced Mom to take camping in the mountains for two weeks during bear season?” Willow frowned, “What is wrong with anthropology?”

In one minute, she reflected a wide range of emotions with her remarks. The last one sounded like I may have slightly offended her. We left the park as we crossed the street on the way back to campus. I watched her watching me. My goal was to start to learn her tells, but the young woman was good at masking her emotions. There. Her blue eyes darted away and back with a slight slump of her shoulders.

I frowned. “Anthropology has very few careers opportunities after college. I would expect to be asked the same questions, if I were in your shoes. Why Denver and what do you expect to do when you get your degree?”

“Be all that you can be,” Willow said while patting my bare back. “Oh, I mean, I get free schooling because of my father’s sacrifice. DU is doing a veteran come-back and…”

“Oh!” I smiled, “I get it now. Oddly enough, that is the same reason I am here. Funny. Also, be all that you can be! … an oldie but a goodie.” She smiled back at me. “So, you came to Denver to take a degree in a field purely because it interested you with the intent of going into the military after college. But since the Saudi fiasco, they waved degrees for officers. Your G-SAT scores are …”

“Oh, I guess there is some information you are missing that might make things more clear. When my father deployed, he left behind ‘the letter’. A handwritten note on an actual piece of paper. In it, he begged me to go to college if he died overseas. That was his one big wish. He spelled college with one ‘L’ instead of two.” Willow leaned into me and I wrapped an arm around her. “So, I picked anthropology because I wanted to learn more about the development of our societies, our culture. Honestly, though, I find it boring so far.”

“You still set on being a soldier?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know a few great teachers. Jevon gets here tomorrow, and … well there is me. The Pew-Pew Emporium has a good buddy of mine working at it. Torrez, a great soldier, and a good man.”

“Wait?” she stopped, “Are you building a team?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “Are you interested?”

“Yes!” she blushed, “I mean, I can shoot, camp, and hunt, but I am not a soldier, though. Why me? Just … I think I know, but want to hear you say it.”

“Willow, I have to admit something … in Saudi, I lost my ability to feel. That is one reason I have been so slow to take advantage of our budding relationship.” I frowned. “I even shut out old friends I should not have.”

Her pink hair flipped back over her shoulder as she gave me an odd look. I saw her brows furl and her head tilted in confusion, “That is not what I was expecting you to say.”

“You are going to be more than just a member of our team. Hmm… I am a usually a confident, decisive man Willow.” I said as I frowned down at her. “My exit evaluations said I have emotional detachment syndrome, PTSD, and anxiety.”

“I am not following.”

“I want to save you, Willow. You are a strong, intelligent woman when you focus,” I said and then tapped her forehead. “I want to be your boyfriend. I know you can protect yourself, but I can do that too. Ugh…” I threw my hands up in the air, “See, I am bad at this. I struggle with feelings, Willow.” I blew out a quick breath and closed my eyes. “In Saudi, I became a calculating death-dealing machine. I have struggled to become ‘normal’ again, if there even is such a thing as normal anymore. I want to be a good man. I want to settle down, find a wife, bounce a few kids on my knee and live the good life. I cannot be that person right now and it haunts me.”

Willow slipped her fingers into mine and returned us to the sidewalk with a slight tug. I could already see a difference in her attitude. The shine in her eyes and warmth of her smile was infectious. I’d had a hard time even smiling and found faking the emotion of joy my best distractor. When Willow looked me in the eyes, it was almost like the spark of our connection jump started my heart, as that shriveled organ turned on again, just in that moment.

“Let me summarize a bit here,” she paused, and bit her lip. “You have not been around women in a long time. Jail, the military, and then the loss of emotions left you in an emotionally quiet life.”

“Well, yes.” I responded, “While all of that is true, I-”

“Let me finish, Eric,” Willow said with a teasing wink. “You intended to fill your emotional void at some point, though probably without disaster hovering on the horizon. You wanted to fix things with me—slowly building up our relationship, until you felt confident enough about us to risk feeling again?” I nodded, and she continued, “A nod for yes… Good. So, you want to become better. However, you don’t feel you can until you weather this new storm. I think it’s time you told me what is going to happen that has shoved you beyond your comfort zone. I think I see in your eyes how difficult it was, telling me some of your past. You still lust though; I can read your body language. You want to devour me,” she grinned.

“Try as hard as I can, I am only but a man,” I grinned back.

“Did you just sublime me…?”

“What!? I love that song!” I shook my head. “Actually, that song was stuck in my head before the group therapy session… And it’s back, now.”

“You are adorable at times, Eric Yang. Tell me about this impending disaster and then … No, wait. First, hand me my necklace please, Sir!” Willow said and wiggled her eyebrows at me playfully.

We shifted off the sidewalk while I rummaged in my pockets and delivered the item as requested. The clasp locked around her graceful neck with the softest of clicks. Willow softly kissed my cheek. My proffered palm was accepted and I pulled her back against my chest. As she relaxed into my embrace, my left forearm fell down beside hers and I paired our Gpads. Before she could ask what was happening, I sent her the file Dr. Gepstein sent me. Pulling up her arm to see what the file contained, she blurted out a gasped obscenity at the holographic image it depicted. Her horrified initial reaction was exactly what I had expected.

CHAPTER 3

“This can’t be real,” Willow said in a soft whisper. “I have to watch it again. My mind refuses to accept what my eyes have witnessed.”

The image hovered over her Gpad. In the three-inch-long by two-inch-wide wrist device generated holographic rendering, a large asteroid hurtled through space, with a trail of small debris streaming behind it in a long tail. At first glance, it seemed completely rational to view a large rock hurtling through the void of space.

‘Communication received’, however, was stenciled over the bottom half of the hologram.

This next portion I had watched over a hundred times. A fraction of a second later, the asteroid shimmered. The appearance of the massive rock suddenly pixelated, revealing an oddly shaped spacecraft. The trailing debris behind the asteroid pixelated to reveal an exhaust plume. The hull of the ship was sleek with smooth contours. Clear viewports were illuminated by interior lighting that contrasted against the reflective hull. Two covers slid back on each side of the craft to reveal balls of energy charging inside what appeared to be weapon ports. Twin eruptions of power shot out from the ship. As the projectiles sped away, the ship returned to its asteroid appearance in less than a second. The video went blank shortly after.

‘Satellites Hoskin and Lana destroyed. 4:31 Zulu on 1-19-32’

“This was months ago.”

“Keep watching.”

‘Dr. Gepstein has had his clearance removed. He spammed out this message to six thousand contacts. Your name has been removed from the list. Best wishes, a helping friend.’

I smashed some buttons on her Gpad. A news story of Gepstein hanging himself last night popped up. He committed suicide, reportedly, due to overwhelming grief from leaking false data regarding a hoax. At least that is what the article said. When Willow wrinkled her nose in a questioning look, I nodded in agreement at her disbelief. The news story was a cover-up.

My conversation this morning before the ‘struggles’ counseling session had been with my battle-buddy, Jevon. We were going to treat this as one hundred percent real. The two of us had no doubt Dr. Gepstein was trying to help, or that the brilliant man would never kill himself.

“Oh my. Do you think you are under surveillance?” Willow wondered and I sighed.

“Doubtful, but better safe than sorry. Specialist Torrez would have gotten this message as well. Pew-Pew Emporium was going to be my very next stop,” I said as I stepped back onto the sidewalk. Willow trotted to catch up. “The RV stores are mostly closed for the weekend. Well, the one I want to buy from is anyway. Today I planned on buying guns. Tomorrow, I wanted to go real estate shopping, the agents work weekends, thankfully.”

“So, Eric. That is a single ship. Surely you cannot be worried about one ship…” Willow chewed on her lip, “Right?”

“I will get into that in a moment. That video was from two months ago. Have you noticed anything in the news or in your life that is different?” I asked with my left brow arched.

“No,” she returned my look, “should I have?”

“Yes and no. I have. Where are all our fleets?” I asked and she tapped in a query on her Gpad, but the information was unavailable—an error on her Gpad came back as if the Gnet was broken. I frowned, watching her arm. I gave a loud disgruntled hmm… “That is new. They must know that others know. I bet this information is leaking big time as the knowledge spreads. Fleet locations was the first thing I looked at when the good doctor sent me a heads up. His warning simply told me to check the posturing of my arm.”

“You extrapolated from a coded message about your arm to check our military readiness?” she tapped her chin in thought, “Did Dr. Gepstein install your cybernetic arm?”

“Yes, and before you think I am some wizard, his first message was part code. Dr. Gepstein and I happened to debate one time during an early fitting of my arm how long the good ole USA had known about the coming Saudi war. The Dr. believed that in 2028 the first signals were sent. Fleet posturing was the basis for his guess, and some odd fleet movements that made no sense at the time had started then. He argued that repositioning hundreds of ships was always a precursor to hidden conflict.” I smirked, “And you are correct, Dr. Gepstein was the lead scientist who built my arm.”

“What else did you find when you searched?” she asked.

“There were a few stories about soldiers recalled from leave. Some naval ships being spotted in fishing waters off North Carolina that should have stayed in the Middle East. And finally, extra training everywhere, as a sudden budget increase filled the coffers of the Department of Defense.” I frowned, “There was a single article about unlimited funds diverting -”

“Fuck me!” Willow blurted out and her hands shot up to cover her mouth. We were waiting for a walk signal beside a mom carrying her toddler on her hip. Willow received an angry scowl from the woman. “I am so sorry ma’am.” She waved apologetically at the woman before turning to me. “That must be why my UBI was short this month. I got eight hundred instead of twelve hundred, but the missing amount was sent a few days later, so I didn’t think anything about it.”

“Our government probably borrowed money from idiot governments not in the know. Bulgaria is loaning out at twelve percent and emptying their coffers, not having a clue about what is coming. Speaking of finances suddenly appearing,” I said and screened my Gpad to show Willow my bank account balance. Her face was perplexed by what she saw and I realized the large figure was scrambled to prevent others from viewing. I closed it and leaned in close to tell her. “I was sent money. From whom or where I do not know. I had seventeen grand in my account last night when I went to bed,” I breathed quietly into her ear, “I woke up with eleven million and change.”

“Shut the front door!” Willow exclaimed and the mom who was now ahead of us glared back at us with squinted beady eyes. “Oh, come on,” Willow pouted, “that one is okay!”

I pulled Willow into a quick hug. “We will laugh about this someday, I fear.”

“What do you mean?” She wriggled out of my grasp, “There is nothing comical about a self-righteous mom with her toddler.”

“Willow, there is going to probably be a lot of chaos, mayhem, and death. In a couple of weeks, when we think about a mom being offended by ‘shut the front door’ … Yeah, we will find it silly. Let me get back to the point you made about it only being a single ship. Don’t make the mistake of assuming their technology isn’t light-years ahead of us.” I squeezed her hand again and smiled to take away the sting of my words. “Look, last year, we discovered laser fusion that allowed gun manufacturers to produce the las-rifle. Ugh. I hate that name. Anyways, imagine me with the laser rifle in the middle ages. I could perch outside a city and snipe an army until my finger fell off. There would be no competition. A charge of heavy cavalry—the best that could be fielded militarily at the time—could be massacred with enough battery packs. My point is, we do not have a ship that can do anything close to what that ship can likely do. Its weapons are probably vastly superior to what we have … and they are not talking, Willow, not a word.”

“How do you know?” Willow said as she showed fear for the first time.

“Logical conclusion.” I wish I could better explain the way this all seemed so incredibly wrong to me. “I bet President Hansen is desperate to spread the message that we are being visited by a friendly alien species. I know I would. Instead, there has been absolutely nothing about this asteroid being an alien craft. Which, to me, means the enemy is coming and they will crash through the gates.”

“What is your plan?” she looked at me with those huge blue eyes.

“Do you mean, what is our plan?” I asked hesitantly. Willow spun the necklace around her neck while thinking. I raised an eyebrow. “You in?”

“Oh, I was in when I accepted this lovely gift. It has been a long time since a boy… man in your case, wanted to learn more about me than what I look like naked. I will happily be your apocalypse girlfriend.” She hugged my arm. “Sorry, I hesitated there for a moment—I am coming up with my own ‘to do list’ to prepare,” Willow said and then proceeded to tap furiously on her Gpad.

The whine of an electric car sounded as a vehicle came to a stop a few feet in front of us. The door facing the sidewalk popped open and a chime sounded both inside the car and on her Gpad.

“Eric Yang, you get to make my kitty purr. Take me gun shopping!” Willow said as she dove into the auto-taxi. “These stupid things are recorded and monitored on a big screen. So how about we enjoy the ride? I always wanted to splurge and get first-class seats with massaging options.”

“Oh, I was wondering why you were getting in the front … thank you for thinking about that. Here is your sweater. I’ll need my shirt back before I get in,” I said, tossing Willow’s furry blue sweater into the auto-taxi. My shirt came flying out a moment later. “Thanks,” I said and leaned in to look at the displayed map to the Pew-Pew Emporium, “Eighteen minutes of silence. I can say this though. I am happy you are coming.”

“This is the one adventure I think I have always dreamed about, in an odd way.” She giggled, “More on that later. The second that door closes, the recording starts.”

I belted into the auto-taxi and sure enough, as soon as I was belted in, the door slid shut on its own. An automated voice notified us we would be recorded while the vehicle was in progress and to acknowledge this warning or leave the vehicle. The dash-less interior pinged green as Willow and I accepted the warning and the electric motor whined as it sped into traffic. The vehicle had first class seating for two up front, with six more crowded spaces back in passenger class. There was no front section to the auto-taxi like in an older model car. A clear acrylic dome protected the interior and allowed full viewing of your surroundings as you traveled. There were no manual overrides in this design. A silver box nestled at the pinnacle of the dome and provided intelligent control of the vehicle. Below my seat sat the chassis, four electric motors, and anti-collision radar. The taxi had a trunk with ample space and additional batteries under the rear compartment. To balance the weight, the second battery housing unit was under the front axle.

My Gpad linked into the vehicle’s Gnet the moment we gave consent to be recorded. I had checked the box to have my face and identity blocked by the monitor, who was watching a thousand of these displays, and anxiously waited to see a red warning flare up. The auto taxis recorded all potential problems and if you caused any, or were being sought for official questioning, your next location and privacy was revealed to the authorities. Mentioning that aliens were coming and how we were all going to die, would flag the conversation and under normal conditions, would probably get you lumped in with the tin foil hat wearing idiots. I knew I would be throwing flags all over this city with my rash spending in the coming days, but if I was smart about it, those flags would be filed away for further monitoring and never reviewed.

The serene side streets of the old city blocks with their brick homes and fancy yards transitioned to a more commercial district. We increased our speed to merge onto a busy interstate. My gaze shifted to the oblivious people in other vehicles enjoying their trips. Most were glued into their Gpads or Isquares, although a few older folks still stared at cell phones screens. Government-provided Gpads, however, were the most common thing I saw people gleefully synced to. We bypassed a line of frustrated drivers, who honked as they tried to get off on a busy side road. Protestors there were trying to block gas consuming vehicles from using the ramp that led to one of the grandfathered gas stations still in business. In a few days, none of that would matter. I wanted to scream at the stupidity of the situation but clenched my teeth in irritation, instead.

My Gpad kept an auto running countdown that I flicked to check on. Twenty-two days and three hours read the countdown, straight from the NASA Gsite. The general populace were not completely unaware that there was an asteroid winging between Earth and the sun soon. The problem was that the transition date had changed three times already. Based on the fact that all three predictions decreased the arrival time, indicating the asteroid would arrive sooner than calculations predicted, I gave it a week until the news would break. I think the smart NASA guys who knew the truth were out of lies about why the asteroid was speeding up. Next time they updated the countdown, there would be very no excuse, especially when the real answer was ‘The aliens reacted and sped up after blowing our deep range observation satellites into smithereens’.

I came to the conclusion that the government would have to warn people a few days before it all went down. My hypothesis was that they would have to provide a real explanation as they started moving forces to lock down key sites with tanks and military units. You cannot move tanks around most locations without it becoming public knowledge. Then again, President Hansen might already be in a secret bunker thinking ‘fuck the world, I am safe. Peace out’.

I ignored the glimmering billboards that demanded my attention. The city of Denver bustled in the mid-day sunshine. Over the past ten years, the population had nearly doubled which had started causing problems. Construction cranes soared into the air across a growing skyline. Automated builders competed against human crews as the skyline got taller. The interior windows of first-class seating were both clear and ad-free, allowing me to see the advertising infested landscape. Simple windows from apartment homes now blared ads for those who still used ad-free combustion cars. My head bobbed up and down as I considered a world without those constant distractions, and I had to admit that I would not cry if advertising was eliminated by hostile aliens.

A flight of helicopters could be seen, far off in the sky to the distant south. My guess was they were training out of Fort Carson; it was the nearest base, being just over an hour away. Six blackhawks spun in a lazy u-turn and started to shrink against the cloudless skyline. Memories flooded back into my mind that I forced away. Without thinking about it, I had pressed my face against the glass to watch them maneuver. I wished we had a few of those in the coming days. Or a pilot. Those ideas flitted through my mind as I predicted military bases and big cities would be targeted. Even if the bases could defend themselves, they would not let a flood of civilians inside.

When Jevon arrived tomorrow, we would start scouting locations in the mountains to purchase. I already had a few that I had circled on my map during my planning. I let my drifting thoughts focus on the thousands of tasks that we needed to get done in the next few days. I tapped out a quick line on my Gpad, and sent a question to Torrez.

‘You at work? Send Status.’ - Eric

‘Yes clear’ - Torrez

‘Yes, clear … or Yes dear? Commas matter.’ - Eric

‘I finished English 12 and have read your reports. You forget commas more than Jasmine forgets my name.’ - Torrez

Jasmine was his three-year-old daughter who had only recently been reacquainted with her father. Torrez had been through hell with me and Jevon. The man had originally been arrested in Oklahoma by ICE. The moment he mentioned that, I was able to guess at the offer he received. Serve your country to become a citizen. Torrez had left his family in an Oklahoma detention center, waiting for his return. When we finally made it home, well -

The auto-taxi turned and I saw Pew-Pew Emporium. A string of protesters tried to block the entrance that a thin line of bored looking police kept open. Guns were controversial just about everywhere, these days. Leave it to those who refused to work, who collected free money from the government, to whine about social issues non-stop. I get that people hated guns. I happened to love guns and was thankful the Supreme Court, even with its liberal leanings, still upheld the second amendment and let respected citizens bear arms.

The whine of the electric motors went silent as our ride drifted to a stop and our doors pinged red. We were warned to exit with caution. A few steps later, we stood outside the shop. The parking area was surrounded by high metallic temporary fencing to keep the protestors out. Pew-Pew looked to be busy today, as vehicles packed the lot and people streamed in and out of the store. I smiled when I thought about why Pew-Pew Emporium existed.

Most of the little mom and pop gun shops had been shut down by hordes of protesters blocking their entrances. What they did to counter that hate was truly American. They banded together, rented an old K-Mart, secured the perimeter, and competed against one another under one roof. The Pew-Pew Emporium was a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, gun show. Against all odds, it persisted.

“Why aren’t we going in?” Willow asked, as she watched our auto-taxi enter the queue to leave the parking area.

“Torrez is my friend, but he is not on the team … yet. Even if he declines now, I expect to keep him informed in case he changes his mind later. He has a three-year-old girl named Jasmine; he mentions her often. He… He…” I had to pause to keep a slew of horrid memories from consuming me. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Sorry. I owe him and he owes me. We have struggled to transition back to life as civilians. He also moved to Denver for DU. After starting school, he ran into too many issues. Hopefully, he’ll tell you about them—some other time—when he is ready.” I looked around us. “We should be safe to talk inside here. There will be surveillance video, but no audio. With that said, I do not want to push him here, if he refuses to team up. That is why I paused. I needed to get my arguments in order. I figure he will come to us if life becomes chaotic. Today he might resist my recruitment pitch to head for the mountains, because his wife just moved here and prefers warmer weather. Maria can be feisty and unpredictable. Who knows, though, she could be all for hiding in the mountains until this is over.”

Willow gave me an approving pat on the shoulder and summarized, “Torrez is important and you want to avoid getting into a confrontation with him, and may need to give him the time he needs to decide. He knows the situation but does not have complete control over his home life. Got it. Now, how much can I spend and how are we going to get it home?”

“Unlimited,” I smirked, “Okay a tad exaggeration.”

She grinned and said, “Well, this should be fun. I think the auto taxis will limit what we can bring.”

“I got a plan, and we are not taking it home,” I continued, “As in DU, it is going somewhere better.”

I gave a friendly wave to some bikers wearing Marine Corps vests with veteran patches plastered across the front. No wonder Torrez loved this place. I felt at home around the hard faced comradery. Veterans … We’re just different. “They run deliveries out the back of this place via drones normally. We will have it put in a trailer to tow behind an RV or two. Before you get too excited about RV shopping, though, remember we have to wait to do that on Monday. When is your Mom arriving?”

“Aw, she will love hearing you call her ‘Mom’. Bit soon, though. Still,” she mused, “she is in a rough place, so go ahead and do it. She quit earlier today because of an ass of a trainer at her new job and is in her car headed this way already. When I told her to pack for a month, she replied ‘Duh!’” Willow said with a scoff. “She was probably reading the news, desperate for something to happen. Hopefully she won’t become overbearing. She… has been lonely since I went to university. She wanted me to stay in community college and at home forever, I think.”

“I will try to make her arrival pleasant,” I said with a smile,” and if she pesters me with questions, I will be happy to answer them.”

Willow poked me in the shoulder, “I see you relaxing here around all these guns and intense looking people. Back at the park, you were so tense you were somewhat unfriendly.”

“How about we go in?” I said and cocked out my elbow out for her to latch on to. “Also, don’t worry too much about your mother, I get the feeling she will do whatever it takes to survive. That woman managed to raise you, after all, what is a mere apocalypse?”

Willow jumped up and randomly licked my face. I pulled her hair to return the teasing gesture. Her eyes flared in delight and she bounced her eyebrows, asking for more. An eye roll and shake of my head resulted in batting eyelashes and pouty lips. Our chemistry was indeed heating up.

“You deserved that,” Willow said as we neared the store entry. “I agree though, more fun later. Shopping first!"

There were no metal detectors at the threshold of the Pew-Pew Emporium. A lone guard sat on an old four-legged brown stool with an M11 carbine resting across his armored chest. A First Cavalry Division horsehead was velcroed to the right side of the vest. He wore a hat over his crew cut but kept a short scruff on his cheeks and chin. Another veteran trend was that we grew beards but kept our hair neat—not everyone kept this style, but this man did. He gave me a quick inspection on our approach. I acknowledged him with an incline of my head, and he touched the tip of his hat for Willow.

The building had revolving doors that rotated in only one direction. The thick metal beams made a clear statement about the intent of the security, to limit the flow of people entering quickly. Judging by the number of protestors held back by the thin metal fencing and a few cops, I found the concept fitting.

We entered exactly what you would expect from a big box store. Bright LED lighting illuminated white floors and white pillars supported a flat roof. That is where the similarities stopped. The opening display for the Pew-Pew was model airplanes hanging from the rafters around a replica tank firing from behind a defensive berm. Kids climbing up the man-made hill and sliding back down the dirt seemed to be having a great time, ignoring the tank and a few ‘Do not Play’ signs.

A group of veterans handed pamphlets out to people as they passed by. I accepted the piece of yellow paper with black print scrawled over the surface. The signs to watch out for potential suicide and helplines for free mental health professional support stood out in bold numbers and I stuffed the paper in my cargo pocket. Even when things had gotten beyond grim, suicide had never been an option I thought I had. I know others did; suicide was not something to scoff at. In Saudi, I had found Private Cuomo’s body behind the berm after his weapon discharged. So sad. I buried the memories with a painful lump stuck in my throat.

Willow caught onto my emotions and rubbed her hand up and down my arm. I directed a fake smile her way as we trooped towards a billboard with a bunch of flyers pinned to it. This area was shop free. It provided a meeting spot, where billboards, posters, and people announcing various messages. I glanced over the notes and saw some veteran groups that were recruiting. A construction team was looking for manual labor, offering to teach the necessary skills on the job, and the pay was not bad. Veterans only though. There, eventually I found what I was looking for. I even recognized the handwriting. A white piece of paper had a single line written on it in red ink.

‘The asteroid approaching is a hostile alien; you have been warned.’

“Efficient.” I grunted, “But people will just think it is bat shit craziness without the video to support it, though.”

Hey, what are you doing?” Willow asked, as I grabbed a blue pen taped to the end of a long piece of twine that anchored it to the board. I wrote on the paper below Torrez’s writing. Willow stood over my shoulder and read out loud what I wrote as I wrote it. “I am the asshole buying all the ammo. This message is real and when you realize I was right you will be too late. Signed, Asshole.”

I chuckled. Okay, when a hot babe reads over your shoulder in a sultry tone, I guess it isn’t so annoying. Who knew? That done, I walked to the third store on our left, where I knew Torrez would be.

“You missed a comma back there,” Willow said.

“Ugh, not you too,” I groaned happily.

This old K-Mart had a dozen of these moms and pops little stores. They weren’t booths in the traditional sense, but conex containers welded together with the sides cut open to offer a wider buying footprint. The doors had been torched off and then re-welded back on so there were two swinging doors, which stood propped open when the store was open for business. Saturday afternoons were typically a good sales day. At least, that is what Torrez said. Traffic flowed in and out of the shops and people stopped to converse both inside and outside the containers.

The second store we passed played soft classical music. It was a pretty amazing hidden society they had here. Sure, not everyone was a veteran, but they also weren’t the death metal, mohawk wearing, tattoo-covered bad-asses you might expect. I happened to be wearing a regular DU white shirt - that smelt faintly of lavender from Willow - and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. A few men and women were in business attire as they shopped. The third store’s sign read ‘Colorado Springs Weaponsmithing & More’. Yup, that was where Torrez should be.

“Woah!” Willow said with a huge grin as we came into the store.

“Torrez!” I shouted into the store, “Where are you?”

I had never been a big believer in the separation between officers and their soldiers or not fraternizing with the enlisted. I had started life as popular kid in high-school, became a popular bouncer then a friendly jail mate, and remained a garrulous, charismatic man until we were abandoned in Saudi Arabia. I had not always been such a recluse and shut-in; seeing old friends and making new ones seemed to be just what I needed to pull myself out of my shell.

Miguel Torrez popped out of a small back room, hauling an ammo crate with .22 stenciled on the side of it. An elderly man was at the counter and he pointed to a place on the floor for the box to be set down.

“Be right with you, Cap” Torrez said.

“You made Captain?” Willow asked, thumbing through a rack of gray urban combat fatigues. They were slightly faded in color but would work great. “Wow, seven dollars? That’s it?”

I sensed a new arrival in the store who stopped behind me. An intensely muscled woman unplugged her single earbud that blared heavy metal. She wore a plain black biker’s vest without a single stitch on it. She kept the sides of her head shaved clean, and a mohawk stood in a proud crest. Her forearm had a tattoo that read ‘Try Me’. Okay, sometimes the proverbial shoe fits. The signs Willow had thrown out in her struggles to deflect male attention were immediately picked up on by this masculine woman. In this setting, I hoped conflict could be avoided. Post whatever hell the aliens unleashed … who knows.

“She is with me,” I said with a grunt.

“Such a pretty thing,” the woman admired Willow before turning to me and sticking out her hand. “Becca,” Becca said and shook my hand with a firm grip.

“Hey, I am right here,” Willow said as Becca and I started a squeezing contest.

“I’m Eric,” I said and smiled, applying a little more pressure, “I can cheat.”

“Your hand feels like my strap-on. You don’t think I know you’re wearing a cover? I want to see the strength of your … Aggh…” Becca grunted and yanked her arm back from my grip. Her face flared red as she shook out her hand. “Damn fine work. Mine is better. Check this out.”

Becca balanced on the tippy-toes of her right foot. A metallic clink sounded from her ankle where her long pants covered the joint. The bottoms of the jeans were frayed from drag damage. I watched as her pants start to spin and looked up. She held a hilarious ballerina pose while twirling in swift circles; her foot never moved.

“Machine from the knee down. That is how I know Torrez here. I was run over not three days before the big retrieval from Saudi. Were you one of the unfortunate souls abandoned, like Torrez?”

“That is Captain Yang,” Torrez said over his client’s shoulder.

“Fuck me, Sir! No wonder Dr. Gepstein said his most promising work was congregating in Denver,” Becca said, waiting for the old man to finish his transaction before saying more. “What is the pretty one’s name?”

“Again, I am right here, and my name is Willow. Nice to meet you, Becca,” Willow said and they had a firm shake.

“Pet or recruit?” Becca asked without context, trying to be sneaky.

“Willow is an excellent markswoman, can run ten miles, is excellent with knots, and can survive in the woods without getting lost. The bonus is I am confident she is a bombshell under those loose clothes,” I said and Willow scoffed with a rosy blush. The old man left, giving me an odd look. Torrez’s legs whined while he walked to the doors. The big boxy doors creaked and groaned as they partially closed. I turned to my friend, “How you holding up, Torrez?”

Torrez was five foot eight with dark tan skin. Black hair grew out in shaggy locks that needed a cut. A mustache sat over his lip and a bubbly scar carved down the right side of his neck. He walked in shorts with flesh covers over his mechanical legs. The man had a grenade roll between his legs in Saudi. He sat cross-legged, smothering the explosion, to literally take one for the team. Jevon and I had counter-attacked to give the medic enough time to save his life. Two tourniquets later and who knows how many surgeries later, he survived against some long odds. Dr. Gepstein returned his legs to him and Maria accepted him home as-is.

Torrez waved an arm at the shop. “This job is a godsend. Jasmine is excited to see me when I come home, and Maria is not trying to force me back into DU.” A grin cracked his tan features. “Willow, was it? Go get changed so you fit in,” Torrez said, tossing Willow an NRA shirt and plain cargo shorts.

“Is it that bad?” Willow said hesitantly.

“Not really, just doesn’t hurt to be a Roman when in Rome. If Cap hadn’t mention you were competent, I would be concerned. Grab a pair of boots too. The desert ones,” Torrez said, pointing at a rack of new and used boots.

“One nickname, let’s not confuse people as we add to the team,” I said.

“You gonna be running the show?” Becca asked. When I hesitated to answer, she played the recording I had showed Willow earlier. I waited for it to end. She had the same guardian angel that noted her connections had been erased. “Torrez said he had the same final message.”

“Jevon did as well, did you all get the money?” I asked.

“A hundred k, I about jizzed in my pants,” Becca said while splaying her fingers wide to mimic an explosion. “Always preferred the term jizz over sploosh. Sue me.”

“I got a hundred thousand as well.” Torrez chuckled, “How about you, Cap?”

“Eleven million - same as Jevon,” I said.

Torrez reacted by running his hands through his hair in frustration. Becca let out a long whistle.

“Jevon is Captain Moore, correct?” Torrez asked; I nodded.

“Yeah, see my point? We will probably keep to a first name basis. We’ll let Jevon figure out what he wants to go by. I guess I can go by Yang for now -”

“You are both Cap and Yang. We need a leader with a recognizable leadership identifier. So, I was on the fence of this being real,” Torrez said and paused when Willow exited the changing curtain. A genuine smile crossed my face and I held out a hand for her to accept. Willow looked ready to go hiking; she had even removed most of her makeup. She accepted my hand and folded into my chest. I nodded for Torrez to continue. “I showed Maria the file. She believed it more readily than I did. She also said the money was our chance to get away. I… I may have argued that it was a trap. A way to rope me into committing a crime -”

Becca interrupted by slapping her palm hard on his back. Her loud laughter echoed in the enclosed container of the shop. She caught her breath and said, “You’re an idiot, Torrez. Uncle Sam is not going to put some experimental hundred million dollar legs on your body and then give you a hundred K to hang yourself with, silly.”

“That was what Maria said,” Torrez rolled his eyes. “I was just… This is big and we are home, Cap. We are finally safe. I feel almost normal again,” Torrez finished with a meek tone and slumped shoulders.

A placed my free arm around my friend’s shoulders and squeezed.

“Group hug!” Becca squealed, piling in.

Willow gave a surprised squawk.

As awkward as the hug was, at that moment, it felt right.

“I… I shut down when we got home,” I admitted. “I cannot be the hermit loner trying to cope with his past. I have to be an officer now. We are going to prepare like this is the real deal, and then if it is not, I will take full responsibility,” I said, breaking up the hug. “Alright, we have an epic amount of work to complete in the next four days. If you are in, you need to tell your boss you have a family emergency, or better yet, the truth. Becca, what is your status?”

“Oh, I am staying at the Motel 9 about ten miles west of here. I left with a bag and not much …”

“Hold on,” I interrupted, and punched up the address of the Motel 9 she was staying at on my Gpad. I booked a dozen rooms. “Okay, will be our rally point for now. We will all stay there, starting tonight. Torrez, take a day or two to prepare your family. Tomorrow, I am going home shopping so you may just move into there. I am getting ahead of myself though.” I turned to our new teammate. “Becca, go buy a truck and a trailer. Electric-only and stuff the back full with ATV’s and dirt bikes. If there are extra solar panel options, get them, with an extended battery life.”

“Sure thing, Cap,” Becca said, pumping her eyebrows. “I do not have my carry permit for this state, so it is probably best if you do all the gun buying anyway. I am sure you will buy excessively.”

“After what happened in Saudi, we certainly will,” Torrez said in a disgruntled tone. He went back behind the counter and pulled out an inventory tablet. “Mr. Nasla hates putting his stock on the Gnet where his inventory lists are accessible to the government. He keeps a local copy - for people like us. You have to browse off of this. Ammo will be our biggest concern. Even if we get the new laser rifles, they need power that only being on the grid can quickly provide. Last I saw, a study showed a hundred solar panels took a full day to charge one inducer.” He snorted, “Those weapons have been so overhyped.”

“I heard President Hansen was buying up all the ammo,” I said, “I do intend to get lots of solar panels, though.”

“Hey, you guys figure this out. I am off. Nice to meet you, Cap and Willow. See you tonight,” Becca said, exiting the partially closed door.

“I like her,” Willow said to no one in particular.

“Yup, she is a keeper. Notice how I gave a few orders and she is off to complete her mission. No endless questioning or quibbling. She definitely will fit right in. I wonder who else Dr. Gepstein will send our way.” I turned back to the lists. “So, what are inventory numbers saying we should purchase?”

Torrez scoffed, “Cap, not many vets would question your orders. You earned the bars on your shoulder. Not many…” Torrez winced at the direction his thoughts had taken. “How about we talk war stories some other time? We might get all emotional and we need to focus.” He checked the tablet. “We are overstocked on .308 caliber rounds.”

I nodded, “That will work. I much prefer the harder punch. Our 5.56 was not nearly effective enough.”

“Well, .308 is the one thing everyone has in stock. Since the assault rifle ban for 5.56 went into effect, it has forced a lot of conversions. If you go back, there was a push to multi caliber systems about a decade ago, so finding carbines and rifles in that caliber won’t be an issue. We will be limited to semi-auto ten round magazines,” Torrez said with an angry grunt. I frowned. A larger carrying load would be nice, but we could always try to build or modify our magazines down the road. Torrez looked up, “I know, there simply are no other options. Pew-Pew Emporium probably has a few million .308 rounds floating between all the stores and thousands of carbines or rifles that we can use. What were you thinking?”

“Something standard,” I responded. “Sure, we will have to zero and dial each one in, but shit, if I am constantly firing a Remington .308, I can walk my rounds in. Sure beats picking up an unfamiliar weapon and wondering why the hell the safety is under the scope.”

“Okay,” he nodded, “anything besides the .308s?”

“How is fifty cal looking?”

“There are a few Barrett long rifles in the Gunrific Denver Store at the end of this aisle. All are used older models.” He waved a hand at his sheet, “We have no .50 cal ammo here. We’d need to ask them about ammo, too. You thinking for just in case?”

I nodded and Willow cleared her throat to indicate she wanted to speak.

“I have not fired a .308. When I rented weapons at the range, they never stepped me up to that power,” Willow said with a shrug. “Sorry, I don’t want to upset you if I take some time to acclimate.”

“Well, Maria has never fired a gun at all. I am not too concerned about you having to adapt to the weapons,” Torrez said. He paused and then let out a long sigh. “Everything comes down to ammunition. Even with the reloading tools available today, getting casing has never been harder. We can snatch up a lot of 9mm, but there are limits on purchase amounts. No limits on .308 ammo, though. See … check this out, the Colorado Springs Weaponsmithing & More order list lets me clean out the entire ammo list. We are talking a hundred thousand rounds.” He looked around, “Huh, I wonder where all this is stored.”

“As much as I like your job and your boss, it might be best to buy from the wholesaler directly. At least for the big stuff. Then again, the more you spend in one place, the fewer headaches we will have,” I said and Torrez shrugged and bobbed his head in agreement.

“I am due a lunch break anyway. I will close the shop and we can go straight to the big guy. Gunrific is my favorite place in here,” Torrez said, shooing us out of the shop.

A few curious folks had been waiting to get into the shop. There were some frustrated sighs when Torrez pulled down the conex’s doors and locked the container. I grabbed the old clothes Willow was awkwardly carrying and tossed them in the nearest garbage bin.

“Did you charge me for those yet?” I asked.

“I covered them before we left. The cameras track everything and are handled by the security company. They monitor that stuff like hawks,” Torrez said, indicating the nearest camera.

The machines moving Torrez’s body gave off a unique noise. The whirl of his hips’ servos increased in volume. I was fortunate with my arm, its cover provided a natural camouflage as well as dampening the mechanical noises the covered machine generated. Based on the lack of a reaction, Torrez was no longer affected by the sounds of his cybernetic legs. He told me Jasmine loved them and they used the advanced technology to bond—she loved pretending her Dad was a mech she could pilot. With the store secure, we left for the biggest shop in the Emporium.

Foot-traffic was light in the central walkway that contained benches and trash cans. The green of a bunch of plants, both fake and real, contrasted with the tang of gun metal that complemented the glare from the shiny white floor. Boot marks scuffed the buffed floors from heavy use. A few consumers carried their purchases in bags, with clothing or gear peeking out the top. Weapons were normally shipped to a confirmed, authorized address after purchase via the drone Gnet. When we passed a dad carrying his little girl, Willow eyes widened with longing. I could only imagine how seeing other happy kids with their fathers would affect me if I had grown up without a dad.

Afternoon. Howdy. Hello. How are you doing? We heard those frequently in passing. I replied to each greeting with a short response every time, unlike in the park. Those occupying benches and the people conversing outside the stores gave friendly waves that we returned.

“I love these places. We only went to the Bass Pro in Kentucky and people were just as friendly there,” Willow smiled and put a hand out for a high five from a little boy walking the opposite way. “Mom never let me buy more than a short-range taser and a small twenty-two pistol for self-defense. State law prohibited the weapon from crossing the state lines, so I sold it before I left.”

“First thing I did after moving here was get my concealed carry. I felt naked without a weapon,” I said, and Willow started to pat me down under my armpits.

“Wait, I didn’t see anything when you had your shirt off,” she wondered, “and I want to know about those scars at some point … if your gun is not under your pits …” Willow tried to deduce where I concealed the weapon.

“I am wearing special underwear. My Johnson is tucked to the left and my small pistol to the right. Uncomfortable is an understatement. However, I prefer it to being weaponless.” I slapped at the playful hands that tried to dive into my underwear to verify my story. “Hey! Get your hands out of there. I’ll show you later.”

“Promise?!” Willow giggled, wiggling her brows in a teasing gesture.

“Cap, you found a wild one,” Torrez said.

“Yeah,” I grinned, “Apparently, I make her kitty purr.”

“Meow!” Willow said, giving air claws.

“May even get Maria to loosen up,” Torrez laughed. “She has gotten so serious as of late, and I am talking about before this news hit. I really think the ‘mom factor’ is setting in with Jasmine. Funny how much having children can change a person.”

We arrived at the Gunrific Denver Store, which, compared to all the shipping container shops, resembled a true store. Racks of weapons, sorted by caliber, sat behind glass displays. Those racks were sectioned into aisles by weapon types. Signs hung over every area to clearly identify where to go, if you were hunting for something specific. No guard watched the door when we entered, and a chime alerted the clerks of new customers arriving. We were cheerily welcomed, and I felt like I was in heaven. I happened to have a pile of money burning a proverbial hole in my pocket and this was the perfect place to alleviate my problem.

CHAPTER 4

All the wondrous weapons drew my eyes in, competing for my attention. I could not pick a single focal point as my desire to study every weapon consumed me. Torrez nudged me forward to the carbine section with a slight chuckle at my boyish behavior. His fast legs left me behind, forcing a trot to catch up. We reached a browning rack when Torrez muttered and cursed under his breath.

“Everything okay?” I asked, trying to see what had flustered him.

“These browning Bar MK3s were an easy choice at seven pounds, short barrels, and ten round quick swap magazines. They are all sold. This whole rack is sold -”

“Uh oh,” Willow said in a hushed tone. Uh-oh was an understatement. “What does this mean?”

We stood there in shock. My brows furled and I rubbed my worry lines. Who would have done this? My eyes scanned the store, no longer focused on the awesome weapons. I was looking for another one of Dr. Gepstein patients I might know. When I came up empty, I deflated. The plan I had for weapons shopping was already falling apart. The other stores could get us weapons but they would be lacking uniformity and each team member would end up with a unique set. Unless… I rushed to the checkout counter, desperate for answers.

“Howdy, how can I help you?” the young man asked. He wore a Gunrific hat, vest, and even a lanyard hung around his neck with the store name and logo.

“In the market for 308 rounds -”

“All sold. Something about an apocalypse. I tend to hear that a lot working at a place like this. She was mighty convincing. Especially when she bought the best stuff the store had to offer. I mean all of it, missed her about twenty minutes ago. Came in with these guards you see in the movies. Started waving at whole aisles as needed purchases. The boss, and I think the owner, were trailing behind her. I doubt I will ever see something so crazy again.”

My jaw wanted to smack the floor when I pieced together what he was saying. My Gpad pinged an alert. A flick of my eyes to my wrist device said I needed to open a message.

‘You should really answer my texts’ - Persephone

‘Perci, I told you I needed space to adjust to civilian life. Things have changed, though. I need you to come to Denver. I should have messaged you earlier. I promised I was planning to invite you on Monday. I am sorry.’

‘You want me in Denver? Why now?’ - Persephone

‘Classified. I need you on my team Perci.’

‘You need me? Kinda leading a girl on, aren’t you?’ - Persephone

‘I never have done so before, Perci. You know that. I have been nothing but honest and open with you. I need you.’

‘Is the pink-haired one a team member or a love interest?’ -  Persephone

My eyes squinted and my teeth ground as my jaw clenched. Finally, everything was starting to make sense. Being played like a puppet was painful and I hoped she had a good reason. The young man behind the counter saw my grimace and frowned.

“You okay mister?” the clerk asked.

“Perfectly fine. Need to work on my poker face. What’s your name?”

“Barry, sir.”

“She was not crazy, Barry. I hope you prepare. Give me your Gpad.”

The young man put his Gpad forward and I dumped $9,000 into his account. I left behind his elated eyes of joy as my eyes scanned for my target. A delighted scream drew the attention of the entire store. Perci barreled for me and leaped into my arms. She smelled of roses and I noticed a few things different about her immediately since the last time we had seen each in Saudi. Her flat chest mysterious had grown plump, large boobs. The hair my nose was buried in during our embrace was no longer black; she went light brown with streaks of blonde. Torrez was explaining to Willow who this new woman was as I walked us over to the two. Perci nestled in tighter, not wanting to let go and Willow smirked at me with a raised brow.

“Perci.”

“Cap. Before you tell me no, I can hug you now. It is okay,” Perci said, trying to convince me.

Her hazel eye locked to mine and she beamed a smile at me. The woman was short at barely five foot one. She had never been anything besides skinny and I was happy to see a flesh over her cheekbones, which meant that she had gained some much-needed weight. Perci was always a positive woman despite her disfigurement from a dead left eye. She untwined her legs and delicately landed.

“So, Cap, what do you notice that is different!?” Perci asked in a chipper tone.

“You changed your hair color and grew it out! I liked the natural color but understand this brighter tone. Perci, I never in a million years would have figured you would suddenly grow boobs,” I said with a smile and she gave jazz hands in a ‘huzzah’ gesture.

“They certainly bring the boys to the yard. And?”

“And what?”

Torrez had enough of our banter and said, “Sergeant Persephone, good to see you. Did Dr. Gepstein fix your eye?”

Perci raised her left brow and spun on Torrez with her fists clamped to her hips. Uh oh.

“I wanted him to acknowledge something he has always avoided. Hi Willow, I am Perci. I promise we will catch you up and I am glad you accepted Cap’s offer. Really, I am. However, we need to leave though. Like five minutes -”

“Estás en tantos problemas Miguel.” Maria blasted out angrily from the front of the store.

I was confused as to why she was here.

“Huh!” I blurted. “Maria!? Oh, hi, Jasmine!” I said and the little girl hid behind her mommy.

Jasmine was skeptical of most men, so I knelt down and waved. The two big guards in tactical gear escorting Torrez’s wife and daughter jokingly returned my greeting. Four more guards enclosed around us.

“Perfect, everyone is here. Our take off clearance is now. Follow me please,” Perci said and I kneeled there, stunned. “Cap, it is vital to the lives of these people we leave now. Trust me.”

I nodded in acceptance. Perci loved me, like a lot. We trusted each other and I knew based on her tone and serious frown she was being honest in her statement. We were ushered out a side door that an employee held open. The intense noise of helicopter blades assaulted our ears while blasting us with washing air. Jasmine freaked out, forcing Torrez to clutch her tightly against his chest as we ducked on approach to the blackhawk. The transition from the interior of a gun store to the landing pad had been swift. So rapidly, I turned the internal military me back on without notice.

Confused looks greeted me as our growing team found seats to occupy. I verified every five-point harness was properly secured by yanking on loose straps. Willow was in the spot of someone wearing armor before and I had to tighten all her straps before seating myself. She gave me conflicting eyes and I planted a reassuring soft kiss on her cheek. The conversation we were going to have later was not going to be fun. I sat across from Willow and Perci with two black suiters cramming me in. Torrez, Maria, and Jasmine were on a different row sitting across from Becca and more guards.

Yup, I had been played; this was confirmed by Becca being in the helicopter beside a duffle bag. A few deep breaths cooled my brewing temper. This could all be explained rationally and I was certain it would be.

The whine of the 701c engines increased as the pilot pulled collective. A slight nose pitch and we soared away from Pew-Pew Emporium. I checked on Willow and saw her clutching Perci’s hand tightly in anxiety. Helicopters were old news to me, and the vibrating hum of the blades keeping us aloft was comforting. We flew for the Rockies as the city grew smaller with our increased altitude. We never went too high, because the elevation of Denver was already five thousand feet and helicopters hate high altitudes due to thinner air.

I glanced down the open left side door and saw the mass of drones delivering packages. There were so many that even the birds gave them space. For Perci to land and get take off authorization inside Denver meant I was fairly certain what was happening. I only needed to ask her. Unfortunately, the earmuffs they handed me were flight only; not the cool kind you could talk to the pilot with. So again, I let out some frustration with exhales, knowing all my puzzlement would be solved soon. For now, I tried to enjoy the spring flight.

The blooming trees were fifty shades of green as we exited the confined city. Traffic clogged the limited roads west and gated communities were frequent. Down below, we could still make out the kids waving up to our loud ride in the sky. My thoughts drifted to what all the rich suburbanites would do when the news of aliens arrived. The logical conclusion was pushing further into the mountains. Isolated mountain ranges always drew humans with their chance of salvation from the masses.

The large excessive homes transitioned into steeper cliff faces as the mountain grew. The trees thinned and their height shrunk from the thinner air. We leveled out only a thousand feet over the earth. A glance at the pilots and I saw they were supplementing oxygen at this altitude. My training had told me two things about going high in the air. You lost two degrees Celsius every thousand feet you went up. And above twelve thousand feet you needed supplemental oxygen. I had planned to flee to an area I had picked out at just under ten thousand. The fresh creeks, flowing river, and large local wildlife would mean we could survive easily in the summer. Winter was months away and another story. My mind did not drift too much as I absorbed all I could on the trip for later use.

Sporadic mansion sized homes and small isolated communities dotted the landscape between sections of vast wilderness. We flew over trees, creeks, and far fewer houses for the next ten minutes as building this far into the mountains presented logistical challenges and astronomical costs. I glanced out the left door to the south, expecting to turn for Aspen. We turned north following a river and suddenly my mind concluded what was happening and where we were going.

My eyes locked onto Perci, who gave a smirking wave. Of course, if she was behind this, then she clearly anticipated my surprised reaction. I noticed Willow had relaxed and even Jasmine was enjoying the flight now. The nose pitched over and the pilots dipped us over the river as he went near as possible to the water. The trees flew by us in a mix of blur and detail as we hurried north. A slight bump in elevation revealed a power pole. Hmm, I knew there was a dirt road back here from my earlier observations on Gmap. I wished I could get the pilots to spin to show why there were suddenly power poles, but we flared up with aft cyclic to bleed off speed.

The helicopter shuddered as the force of the blades smashed into the wind at an angle meant to slow the aircraft. The nose tilted back to a level pitch and a tiny shake of the frame told us we had landed. The view outside was astonishing. There was a mega-mansion here inside a valley. A horse barn was divided from the main structure by a mountain-fed creek. There were two in-law homes connected by brick paths to the main mansion. This revelation had me confused because this home should not be here.

We were ushered out of the helicopter, minus the guards who gave blank emotionless stares as they remained seated. The helicopter shimmied into a hover the moment we cleared its rotors. We watched the aircraft bank in a U-turn to proceed down the river south. The thought of where the power poles led to was gone as I saw a dozen pallets stacked beside the horse barn. Large print indicated the neat piles contained thousands of meals ready to eat (MRE). A chinook helicopter was parked with engines spooling in a soft whine as they idled. Around the dozen stacks of food, soldiers were moving the MREs one box at a time into the enclosed horse barn.

A lady in a power suit approached my stunned group. I recognized her immediately. The head of Gcorp herself - arguably the most powerful woman in the world - Linda Growlen, who happened to be the mother of Perci. We had only briefly met once before. She was on a video display telling me her irate daughter demanded I be rescued from Saudi Arabia. When I asked her if there were rides for my surviving men, she said there was only room for three. I tossed my most wounded onto the helicopter and thanked her. She told me no more help was coming, and I again thanked her, regardless of that fact, for saving Vasquez, Rogers, and Lohan. They were good soldiers and even if that was the best I could get, then that was the best I could get.

To see her here was a shock and I doubted the others understood who she was. Linda Growlen glanced at me with a charming smile. I gave her a terse nod of recognition and hoped she would leave it at that. Wrong. Linda patted Perci’s shoulder in goodbye and diverted from her daughter to me. The woman’s guards all but tackled me as I was frisked and a hairy hand found my penis before it discovered my hidden weapon. The pistol was tossed to the ground by the professional guard who never flinched at his task. Clear of weapons, Linda Growlen walked to me, while indicating we should head for the chinook helicopter.

The air was cooler up here and the sun was almost warming the crisp breeze. Linda wore a pristine white power suit and plain white reebok sneakers. She had shoulder length hair and wore no jewelry. She was pretty with dominating hazel eyes, but at the same time, she could have been the woman you called your neighbor. Not how I envisioned a person with god-like powers among humanity.

“Ms. Growlen.”

“Mr. Yang.”

“I like your retreat.”

“Ha! We both know you are not dumb, but for time’s sake, I will cut to the chase. I love Persephone. I tried for years to get her to fix her lazy eye, become more feminine, or find any passion besides trying to be normal. The girl is a Growlen, not a paperwork sergeant.”

“She earned her stripes under a fake name. Perci is the best hacker I know…”

“Ugh, she even lets you call her Perci. The world is going to change. Even my supercomputers and AI are not able to hack that ship. When I tell you AI, I mean AI,” Linda said as we walked over lush fields of spring grass in need of cutting. The chinook was not far away and as we closed the distance soldiers started to ready for departure. “Gcorp is the know all be all corporation of earth. We control the networks and the governments. Remember the last time I told you no more help was coming.”

“I understand, Ms. Growlen.”

“This is your plan she stole. This is my last favor to her for now. Well, there are loads of supplies on the way, like hesco barriers on the way from Fort Carson. After tomorrow, expect to be on your own. You have food, water, and this other nonsense you wanted. No expense spared to get everything here on short notice. Oh, Dr. Gepstein is squirreled away and safe. I hope you understand we needed him to be silenced for now.” The engines on the chinook spooled to active from idle. “My most valuable asset is in your hands, Mr. Yang. She said only the man who can bring his unit through hell and back could protect her. And Eric, for what it’s worth, I believe her, because you have an uncanny ability to adapt and we honestly know nothing of what is coming with that ship besides it is angry when spied upon. The big reveal besides this estate we picked out that one of my VPs had secretly built, is that the aliens arrive tomorrow. Sorry, we couldn’t let you do the plans the way you wanted. Hopefully, this is enough to ensure my darling daughter survives.”

I was hugged. The most powerful woman in the world had embraced me and I winced, expecting a dagger. When no blade dove into my back, I hugged her in thanks. She leaned forward until her plump lips were inches from my right ear.

“If she dies and you live, you do not live,” Linda Growlen said with the best fake smile in the world as she stared into my eyes.

She left my arms and her retinue flowed with her into the helicopter. The rotors blasted the ground with air as it bounced off the ground once before taking off. I was not surprised when the aircraft went over the nearest peak. My guess, she was going to a super deep bunker to drink champagne while President Hansen rubbed her feet. I was pulled from my thoughts when Perci slapped my back.

“I didn’t even get a hug. She was furious about this, though. The handshake goodbye and shoulder pat was more than normal at least,” Perci said sadly.

I waved Willow over while Becca, Torrez, and his family went to explore the mansion.

“Whose place is this?” I asked.

“You circled it,” Perci replied and I shrugged. “Ah! That explains why she agreed so quickly to my demands.”

“I don’t understand,” Willow said and I think she meant just about everything was not making sense at the moment.

“This is a secret home. Owned by someone she probably knows who won’t be using it in the near future. The mansion really is stunning. Why did you circle this place?”

“We can go over that later, after I explain some things to the both of you. I avoided you, Perci, and that is not fair. Also, your mom is scary as fuck,” I said and a hearty laugh burst out of her tiny frame. “For real, she said if you died and I lived, I was dead. I am shocked she did not tuck you into a bunker.”

“I would hack my way out and disable the systems as I left. Pretty much said exactly that. She knows I typically do not bluff. So, she gave me what I wanted. You,” Perci said and I winced. My back was patted softly. I waved both the girls in for a hug. The moment they were close, I snatched them up and over my shoulders they went. “Unhand me, you leviathan.”

“I thought leviathans were sea monsters?” Willow said between giggles.

“Well, it fits here. Okay, maybe it doesn’t. Where are you hauling us to, Cap?”

I reached a full stack of MRE boxes and placed the ladies down. I hefted a MRE box off the top and said, “Willow, I hope you are not hurt by Perci’s affection. We never crossed lines while in the military that we both wanted to. With that said, she is a dear friend and I have kept her at bay. No, I did not know who her mother was for a long time, and Perci obviously knows I never cared about her background when we served together. Okay, both of you are due some answers about Saudi Arabia and why I shut down. I hope you like a war story because things are about to get interesting.”

“I really, desperately need to pee! That darn helicopter twerked, jiggled, and vibrated my bladder the moment we got in. You’re lucky when you hoisted my over that sexy shoulder of yours you did not get soaked.”

“Gross,” Perci and I said in unison.

Willow fled into a horse stall while I wrapped around the outside of the building. Crap, I forgot my pistol. “Did someone pick up my concealed weapon the guard tossed out?”

“Are you peeing?”

“Are you?”

“Men! Yes, your testicular remover is in my bust. Thanks for noticing, by the way. The doctor produced a fantastic set of tits. I play with them in the mirror or bath all the time. So far, I have not missed being mistaken for a man,” Perci said and I could understand. There were more men than women during the first phase of the peacekeeping. She cut her hair like the men had to and people gave her space. That and the lazy eye were enough. “So, are we moving all these boxes in while you talk?”

“Yeah, your mom said my timeline was off, tomorrow is the anticipated alien arrival. I am hoping Jevon arrives before the world breaks into a panic. I still want to get RVs and ATVs. When and how are our weapons showing up?”

“Whoa, hold up there, big guy. We bribed every company we could with cash, other incentives, blackmail being destroyed, and of course, bribes. Your entire list is on its way and everything will take a few hours to show up. I guess it is my turn to come clean. Before you get defensive and start hurling accusations. Yes, I spied on you. Yup, not my fondest moment. I saw you…” Perci paused and hugged Willow. Blue eyes gave me questioning eyebrows as to why the shorter woman was embracing her. I let them hug it out while I hauled boxes under the horse barn. “I really wish you would have let me in when you returned home. You didn’t need to be so alone…”

“We will dive into that and more. Please explain what happened.”

“Mom hid the truth from me until I got a message from Dr. Gepstein three days ago. It said not all is as your eye can see. I failed to decode his words. Then I was given the message that was leaked. Mom filled me in and told me I was going to a bunker. I altered the data with Mom’s passcodes and sent you some of my money. My track covering did not go unnoticed, nor did my money being moved. There was a huge fight about how I was going into a bunker and that was final. Thankfully, one of her assistants interrupted our debate. She let me win in the end and asked if I needed help. Hence all this. The helicopters, the food, and the supplies were arranged by her. She even said goodbye in person, which she didn’t even do when I joined the service or was deployed. She also said you may be a great field commander, but you were a retard for shutting me out.”

“That is fair to say. There is still much you do not know, Perci. And Willow is missing all the information. How about I give you both the details of the last two years so we can move forward as a team?”

“Becca will want to hear this and I think she should. We became friends as she was with me in rehab after Dr. Gepstein fixed my eye. She learned my true identity and only wanted to hear from you when I brought you up. The legend of Captain Moostache was only starting back then.”

Willow let out a whistle and said, “Oh my god! I am so dense. You even said made captain and Mrs. Teller said it. You’re Captain Moostache!?”

“I guess. Those I served with generally call me Cap. Others call me Captain Yang, but they are being formal. The Gtuber fans call me Captain Moostache,” I said and covered my right eye while giving a scowl.

“Let me go get Becca and give you two a minute,” Perci said and darted off for the mansion.

There was a silence that hung over the air. A bunny bounded up to the stack of cardboard boxes while sniffing intently. We watched the little critter get a full nose full and then bound back into the tall grass. I went back to moving boxes waiting for Willow to say something.

“Why me, if you knew she was coming?”

“Planning to invite her and her arrival are two totally different things. She is an amazing hacker—well, computer skilled person. Perci also happens to be a friend and a fantastic administrator. Clearly. She was able to take my list that I planned on using four days to get done, and do it in half a day with others delivering it.”

“Do you love her?” Willow asked, and I stopped in my tracks. I found the strength to keep going and put the box onto the neat stack. “That is not a no.”

“It also is not a yes. I will explain it in the story. Know this, Willow. Actually, come here so you can gauge my honesty. Not that I would lie to you, ever,” I said and she swung her head in a “no” fashion. I leaped across the distance separating us and gently picked her up. We crossed in the well-lit barn and I carried us deep into structure past dozens of empty horse stalls. We went beyond a manager’s room and I turned back to go inside it. There was a fancy cedar table inside for meetings with a few chairs tucked under it. When we were seated across from each other, I continued. “I picked you over her. Our budding romance was predicated on that decision. I shunned Perci so I could slowly work on an us.”

“Not fair to her,” Willow said with her arms folded and her face red. “She clearly loves you. She moved literal heaven and earth to carry out your desires. I saw her eyes, Eric. She deeply loves you and again, me being here is not fair to her.”

“True, and you are not seeing the whole picture. She was a different part of me for a few months before things went bad. Okay. I can catch you up to the first few months of the tour and hopefully you see this for what it is. A woman seeking something she could never have.

“Al-Kharj is an hour south of Riyadh and where I was stationed. We were on rotational guard detail protecting key infrastructure sites. The first few weeks were sunshine and lollipops. I remember laughing at how I had shafted Uncle Sam with my deal,” I said, while dancing my fingers over the wooden table we shared. I stopped due to the distracting noise it produced. “I had a new recruit show up, a Vasquez. Little feisty black girl from the Bronx. She was perfectly suited to be recon. However, when I tested her on her non-combat skills, she refused to drive. In the military, you must have a driver behind the auto wheel. That driver must pass a test. The previous private who was my driver came down with the sniffles and got sent home. Some powerful father saved him from his deployment. I didn’t fight that one because the kid was suicidal and we already had Barnes ace himself. Back to Vasquez.

“To rectify the problem, I go to S-1, or personnel and records, to ask for a soldier swap. There is a specialist in there getting berated and screamed at by some out of shape E-6… Staff Sergeant. Eh, a superior that I am superior to. Now, I’m all for a bit of elevated tone and physical punishment for stupid behavior. Except she was getting blasted for being disfigured. I listened and grew confused. Eventually, I caught on to what was transpiring. This NCOIC was having a mental breakdown and ripping into the specialist. There was no war for her to meltdown over. We were literally in the desert sitting on our thumbs. They had us guarding boring buildings reduced to rubble that Israel blew to shit. I broke it up with a simple shout. One single ‘hey’ ended the whole kerfuffle. The specialist fled and I went to go get her when Vasquez yanked me back.

“I cannot explain how bad her reaction was by physically pulling my arm. I let it go when she had determined focused eyes. She ran right out to find her sergeant to learn to drive. Not sure if it was me motivating her, or if she wanted to prove herself capable. I don’t know, because she became a fantastic driver and we never spoke of it again. When I found Perci crying under an upside-down u-shaped concrete bunker, I slid into the wooden bench slot beside her.”

“That was how you met? I thought officers and enlisted couldn’t fraternize,” Willow said with her face already softening. “I am still angry you didn’t at least mention her briefly.”

“Calming someone having a moment of despair is not fraternizing. We talked. Then talked some more. Finally, her captain came and relieved me. Honestly, we both benefited from the conversation. I worked on my unit and emphasized morale was going to continue to get worse. My unit was mine to run. I halted the segregated eating and forced my unit to eat as a team. The next formation I had was not in ranks it was a huddle. I put out to call me Cap and I mentioned that while we may all not be able to get an expedited flight home, I would work on getting those suicidal back stateside.

“Over the next month, Perci followed me around like a shadow when I was not on mission. Our time together was full of laughs. Her real laugh induces snorts if you get her going. We grew close as friends. My unit welcomed her with proverbial open arms. Some of the enlisted tried to score with her, even with her dead eye hanging limp and the manly haircut. She denied them all. We both knew why, yet we never crossed the line. Things started to turn with the population we were peacekeeping for. The peaceful happy citizens turned into starving masses wondering where their American aid was. They wanted to know why their food was delayed, and I never had a good answer until Perci told me the truth. She was an heiress in disguise trying to make her own way in the world. What she uncovered about the aid was frightening. The shipments had stopped even though President Hansen said food was on the way, merely delayed due to bad weather. Shit grew grim. I killed my first kid carrying an improvised bomb trying to rush our checkpoint. Probably was twelve and when I cried about it, I did so on Perci’s shoulder. We Americans went from the peacekeeping saviors to the evil Israel proxy occupiers in a matter of days. All because of food our president promised and never delivered.

“Two months of this hell languished for what felt like an eternity. Perci and I grew closer. We were termed husband and wife by the others as we bonded so thoroughly. A few days before the major reduction in forces she vanished. Not a word of goodbye. I knew something had happened. My Gpad sent me a message saying she was sorry. She had been forcefully removed from our secure base before thing -”

“Cap!” Becca hollered down the long empty barn with an echo.

“One moment!” I shouted back.

“Can I watch you finish!?” Becca replied.

“Not this time!” I retorted with a snicker.

“Cool, raincheck for the rain of spluge,” Becca said and then I heard her say, “Ouch Persephone, for a little woman you sure throw a good punch.”

“We never grew close again when I came home. She reminded me too much of a past I was trying to get away from,” I said with a sigh. “I wanted to see her but not in that way. I was sort of hoping we both would move on. I do not have a good excuse for the why. I relied on her a lot and she was always there for me.”

“You love her as a friend?” Willow asked and I nodded. “She wants more, and you probably did at one point. I can understand your complex history. I hope she does not see me as a threat.”

I chuckled at the notion.

“No, she will work to be your teammate and help you through this trying time. If I were to guess, she has read your file a dozen times already. Willow, come here,” I said, while standing. She came for a hug she never received. I gently pressed her against the wall, letting our eyes lock. We exposed our vulnerabilities to each other in that moment. I tested a theory when my hand caressed her neck until it squeezed the right amount, causing her to gasp. When her lips opened in pleasure, I kissed her deeply for a long minute. When I broke our entwined tongues of heated passion, I said, “I chose you, Willow Hanks. You are mine and with you, I will become whole again.”

Those words, combined with my actions, had a profound effect. My neck was lustfully kissed as Willow shimmied out of her shorts with only a flimsy thong on. The door was pushed closed as she went to her knees and yanked my shorts down until my dick charged out in a reveal. Her audacious action spurred my growing penis. When she enclosed my cock into her mouth it was amazing. Willow looked up with her beautiful blue eyes and I went rock hard. A moan of pleasure came deep from within her throat as my penis was gagged on. I think she was not expecting my large girth because there was a touch of teeth she kept trying to avoid. A hard pull on her hair and my cock was free with a pop sound. She grinned mischievously as I placed her back onto the table and she fought with her NRA shirt. Right when I was finally about to witness the magical boob reveal, there was a cough at the door that was followed by a soft knocking sound. I sighed and we dressed to become decent again.

“It’s Maria. What are my orders?” Maria said from the other side of the door.

“Ha! Torrez is going to pay for this,” I replied.

“I do not get it? You are holding a meeting, correct?” Maria questioned.

I opened the door and she saw our red faces combined with Willow’s guilty shuffle.

“Senior Yang, I had no idea you were having that kind of meeting. Do not be an animal. This is literally a barn and you have fourteen bedrooms in the mansion,” Maria said and my eyebrows went high. “Also, not Miguel’s fault I am here. Well, not to purposely disturb your bedroom activities.”

“Wow, how nice is it in there?” I asked to shift the conversation.

“If aliens were not coming, I would say all my prayers had suddenly been answered. Back to my orders, and don’t make those two girls do all the lifting.”

“Wait, are you asking for orders or giving them?”

“Cap, as they call you. I am asking for orders and giving friendly advice. I am not a soldier,” Maria said with a motherly tone.

That reminded me of Willow’s mom. I turned to Willow and said, “Tell your mom to drive without sleep and give her directions here. Let me know what her GPS says for an ETA when you get an answer. Maria, I guess I need to tell my story of Saudi Arabia out there. If you want to listen then move boxes. If not, I want an inventory of the house…”

“House inventory it is,” Maria said, while retreating back for the house.

“Start with consumables first please,” I said to her back and she gave me a thumbs up over her shoulder. “She clearly wants to avoid hearing about Saudi Arabia.”

“Message sent to mom. How bad is this story?”

“That is for you to judge. I find it horrifying.”

I held my silicone hand out and she combined our fingers. We walked for the open barn doors where the ladies were moving the boxes no more than twenty feet to get them under cover. My mind told me this was going to be one of the last easy days left. My heart gave a second thud against my chest. Maybe I was getting better.

CHAPTER 5

“Willow, you look flush in the face! Did Cap give you some dripping memories?” Becca asked and I twisted my face in disgust at her verbiage.

“We were interrupted,” Willow replied and I was shocked she even mentioned that.

“Hey, how about we get this story over with so we can get some resolutions? Perci can understand why I became distant, Willow can understand why I chose her, and Becca; you’re here to understand what kind of orders I will be giving. While we talk, we will move all these MREs inside the barn.”

“You sure you are ready, Eric?” Perci asked with a stern expression and hand on her hips. She softened slightly and said, “I take you for who you are regardless if you tell me or not.”

“I am leaving the shell I buried myself into. Talking this out will help. Alright, I caught Willow up to the point where you were extracted. I mentioned it was -”

“Eh, so Eric. I was abducted in the night. I never mentioned I went willingly because they said mom was in danger. If we’re clearing things up, that should be buried. I felt bad about summarizing the situation by saying I was abducted with that caveat. I did ask for you to come, but the delta operators scoffed. You were not on the VIP list for extraction and my pleading fell on deaf ears. Also, what did you tell Willow, so I know if I need to cut in or mention more when we have our girl talk later?”

Willow grabbed a box, waiting for someone to say something. She glanced at me for permission to speak and I shrugged. I then realized she was seeking permissions, so I gave her a smiling thumbs up.

“Eric kept you in the light when the darkness of the deployment tried to consume you. You became close, and you openly loved that you were nicknamed deployment husband and wife. Eric never once cared who your mom was before or after he knew,” Willow said with a final huff as she set the box on the growing pile inside. “When he came home, he zoned you out, unable to move on. He picked me because you’re a part of his past that haunts him and he figured you were never going to be able to escape your mother during an alien invasion. Correct?”

“Pretty much, we spoke of what-if futures where I daydreamed of us together. I would mention them a lot towards the end of the deployment. He said one day he would tell me what he wanted when he got out. Cap never did though, and I may have pushed him further into his hermit lifestyle. I think the chemistry you two have is good for him.”

“Well, maybe I can explain. We go back to the day you vanished. Events were unraveling faster than I could ever expect. The first worry sign was when a hundred militia - with militia being a poor term - charged our small Forward Operating Base or FOB. Let me step back and provide some needed details.” I wiped my sweaty nervous palms and calmed myself. I needed to do this. Just like earlier, I knew if I started talking, the words would flow. “My company rotated by convoy from FOB Lister to Camp Dja. I was expecting a goodbye for the three-day trip from Perci and when she never showed, I learned she had mysteriously vanished. But there was no search party issue by command. The last information she gave me was there was no more aid coming and a massive drawdown was already in effect. The Roving Recon Battalion was not on any early retrieval list. I was supposed to find out what Perci could dig up that morning. We were expected to be one of the last units out.

“I was not about to disobey orders, so I drove my team out to FOB Lister for a three-day rotation. We saw endless flights landing in the distance at Camp Dja. During every routine radio check, I asked for status updates. Nothing to report, Charlie Mike, or continue mission always was what the operator said back. The troops were losing their shit and I did not blame them. I actually gave it to them straight. We were mostly an ex-con unit. The brass was fucking us and I would try my hardest to prove they were not. I said those exact words and Jevon lost his shit on me in private later. My XO was right to be upset; I was peddling a treasonous conspiracy. However, me being brutally honest likely saved all our lives later. Earning soldiers’ respect is easy enough. Earning their dying loyalty is...”

I paused to glance at a trilling loud bird in a tree not far away. There were hundreds of boxes left to unload, so we kept at it while I explained. The ladies were aptly listening, so I continued when I let out a long exhale.

“On day two, we faced the charging horde of a hundred or so idiots I mentioned earlier. I think they expected our FOB to be empty. Screams to stop, an air horn, and even warning shots were ignored. When they did not halt their advances, we killed most of them. A few retreated and never came back. My report was taken and my battalion commander said a one-sentence line of disapproval. There was no endless berating. No ‘we’re sending the casualty team’ or ‘medics are en-route to help with the enemy wounded’. The two that were critical died in a few hours and the others, well, we let them limp away. Something was drastically wrong and I regret not going back right then.

“On day three, every Gpad was blocked and panic started to set in. The radio stopped being answered when our relief rotation never arrived. My first thought was we were hosed and I was not wrong. I loaded up all our supplies and went to drive to Camp Dja. Get this, none of the up-armored vehicles started. The digital brains were locked out because they were the property of the Saudi government now. The truly dire nature of the situation dawned on me. Not only had we been abandoned. We were left behind on purpose and meant to fail. My mind kept coming back to the fact that President Hansen had stopped sending aid. This had to be connected somehow. Without the means to talk to anyone or travel, I had to do something besides sit in the FOB and rot.

“We improvised and stripped tires off the vehicles. After a few rolling carts were created, we loaded up our water and food. When the daylight heat shifted into a cool night, we marched for Camp Dja. By morning, we saw the base overrun by angry Saudis. So… I probably should have turned around. At least I tell myself that most nights. My unit was furious and, to be fair, our base we needed to get home was being overrun. Rules of Engagement said we could open fire if our property was being stolen. We flexed into combat ready positioning to reclaim vital goods we would need to survive. A few stragglers accidentally ran into us while carrying food. Food both sides desperately needed. The Saudis were literally starving, I have their frozen faces of joy at finally being able to eat stuck in my mind. They were able to feed their fourteen children at home with the box of MREs they held. Still, it was our food and I ordered them to stop. I told them in Arabic that they were under arrest. Jevon said I butchered the translation, but it still got the point across.

“They were willing to die for the food they held. They were so desperate that they opened fire on our troops, who were behind cover. We weathered the initial fire while crouched behind road barriers and boulders meant to prevent car bombings. After the fiasco with using too much ammo on the earlier engagement, we only had our best snipers return fire. Four shots resulted in four dead enemies. Our problem was the mass of people looting - well, they heard the exchange. Most fled, which I can be grateful for. We hunkered behind cover and out they poured from the Sushi gate. Sushi was code for the southern gate. Since they ran to the fight with hostile intent after we had to defend ourselves…

“Four hours of slaughter. I lost two men to a rocket-propelled grenade. Sergeant Mills bled out while the medics tried their best. I…” I paused, taking a deep breath, and continued. “Mills and Jensen exchanged their lives for thousands of dead Saudis on the other side. I think it is important to note these were not soldiers. Maybe a few were deserters mingled with the majority of civilians angry at the Zionist allies. When it was over, we found a few things. There were a dozen trucks with matching keys in pockets left behind. Stacks of water and food piled near the south gate in a random fashion. We rationalized they were depositing their stolen goods before fighting us. Between FOB Lister and Camp Dja, we could last for a few months without support.

“A working Isquare was found on one of the victims. I created a new Gtuber channel, showcasing the state of Camp Dja and the pile of bodies outside of the base. I wore an eye patch from a dead man and we cut some hair off Corporal Perkins that became my twirled mustache. The video was an instant success. I linked it to a Gbook personal page and waited for someone important to contact the Isquare directly. I was not surprised when my Colonel messaged me. I figured someone would be monitoring for videos released in this area. When we went to video chat, I was shocked. Colonel Wheat ordered me to surrender less than an hour after we reclaimed Camp Dja. I expected him to be in the states not surrounded by Saudi military personnel. Also, like hell would we surrender. So, I made my statement very clear. I said to give me those orders in person. He said he already surrendered. I replied his statement was made under duress and I was leaving the country. More would die if we were confronted and to stay clear of my forces.”

“As you can imagine, this enraged his captors and they executed him on the spot for failing to get me to come in nicely. So much for surrendering. At this point, I concluded President Hansen had made some backdoor dealings. A colonel was probably part of the offer for compromise to appease the Saudi’s hearts. My best guess at this point was the President constructed a deal to stick around while the regime recovered from lack of money combined with the losing war. Hansen could not keep his promise. We had too much money getting diverted to social programs at home to prop up the Saudi regime. American forces were evacuated with equipment abandoned after shipments stopped arriving. Relying on ex-convicts like my unit was the cover reason the relationship soured. The reality was probably money. Everything came down to money. While I played the what-if and probable scenario game, there was an absolutely clear thing: there would be no help coming for an ex-con unit stuck in a hostile desert.

“I made the hardest decision of my life. I removed my uniform. The others followed without orders. I was abandoning my post. My goal to those men was simple, yet incredibly complex. Make it home alive. We had plenty of dead bodies to strip of clothing to change out our gear with. We smashed our Gpads, torched our gear minus the armor under our baggy clothes, and convoyed out of Camp Dja in stolen gas-guzzling trucks. I expected hellfire missiles or tomahawks to blow us to bits at the start of our escape. There was no way Uncle Sam did not know we had survived, and yet, they stood idle. Maybe some general was watching over us. Or the satellites were blocked. While I waited to die from friendly fire, I made a thousand things up to pass the time. When I realized we were going to be allowed to try to escape without interference, I sighed. And the best part was my first Captain Moostache video was not taken down. I came around to the fact that there was someone cheering for us behind the scenes.”

The whirling sound of helicopter blades pulled me from my story. A flight of three chinooks crested the horizon carrying cargo nets full of supplies underneath them. The back two contained hesco barriers folded flat for travel while the front helicopters net was crammed with boxes. They soared in, touched the supplies down, a pop sounded, and then they were gone. Those pilots were professionals in their craft. Less than a three-minute turnaround time before they were returning south. Their sound died down to nothing when they dipped below the horizon for lower altitudes.

“What is in the boxes?” I asked Perci, continuing to shuffle MREs into the barn.

“Explosives and heavy armament. Should be a thousand pounds of C4, a fifty cal with a few thousand rounds, and a few Tow Missiles. Best I could-”

“Stop moving this food that will survive a nuclear explosion. Perci, fantastic job. Alright, we move these munitions into the barn. The hescos we will deal with when Jevon arrives with the big machine,” I ordered and we swapped over to the latest delivery. The netting was removed and most of the boxes were multi person carry. We started the trips as a team. “I guess we should just expect the stuff to arrive when it does.”

“The three RVs and a dozen plus ATVs are on the way and should be here any minute. Same with extra solar panels, but we don’t need that here,” Perci said, and I looked at her in confusion.

“Is there some secret nuclear plant up here?”

“They set up some fancy hydro turbines in the river downstream,” Perci said, pointing down to the river where the power lines came from. My curiosity to visit the spot increased greatly now. “It feeds more than enough power unless we add a few thousand people. Speaking of spare room, you should send out the invite in case we lose Gpad access soon.”

Becca grunted for attention. “Who are you wanting to invite here? I went inside and that mansion is vast. I mean, there are more bathrooms than I have ever seen. Needing to find a place to pee will not be an issue. Maybe two to three hundred before it is jammed packed. I guess what I am saying is, what is the plan for how many we are taking in and why might we lose Gpad access? I thought they were fool-proof, even to satellite attacks?”

Perci snickered and said, “Sorry Becca. All our satellites are pointed away from that ship. Those that watch it tend to combust shortly thereafter. The prevailing theory is when the alien arrives, it will zap ‘ALL’ our satellites causing-”

“Ah, no satellites, no Gpad. Got it. Who do you want to invite?”

“Don’t despair, if the satellites go down the network might stay up. Cap had a plan, one he hasn’t been able to share yet. I executed all of it minus one thing,” Perci said with a raised brow as she and Willow set down a heavy box of C4. “Telling the rest of Roving Recon survivors. He planned to send an encoded message with his call sign of Captain Moostache and the coordinates here. They had a special tap code for words they used on their stolen Isquares when they fled Saudi Arabia. At this point, you could just do a face video. Hansen will not report anything about the aliens because he is dead.”

I almost stumbled while carrying the front end of the long Tow Missile. Becca and I placed it down in a separate stall. That information was a lot to process. Part of my isolation from the world once I became a citizen again was due to the fact the villain in the story had escaped unscathed. I wanted justice, burned for my vengeance. Except, now he is dead.

“Before you think it is a mistaken case of death like Dr. Gepstein, know that he was called into mother’s office as we fought over if I was going underground with her or into the mountain peaks with you. She ordered him to send helicopters to help me as we bickered. He refused and ate a bullet to the brain. It was so sudden, one moment mom was angrily yelling at me, the next she reached into her underwear, whipped out a pistol and fired. The fat ass shit himself in death,” Perci said in disgust while waving a pretend stench away from her nose. “Ugh, I still smell it.”

“Wait, your mom killed the President!?” Willow exclaimed and I stifled my laughter at her naivety. “Wouldn’t his protection detail have saved him?”

“Willow, Gcorp contracted the secret service out in 2031. He has been her pawn for a year,” Perci said and Becca interjected. “Before you start saying anything, this information is beyond top secret. My mother will kill you if you say anything to anyone. Officially, the President killed himself with a self-inflicted gun wound. That will be put out soon.”

“Lips sealed,” Becca said while running her fingers over her lips. “So, if she was in charge...was your mom the reason Cap was abandoned?”

“That deal was struck before her rise to power. Even before she was CEO. When she did have Hansen by the balls, she forced the closure of the deal and told him to get it done. To be honest, I think Mom knew she was condemning men and women to death when she canceled the agreement Hansen had made,” Perci said while stuffing her hands in her pockets. She guiltily looked down while kicking the dirt. “The reality was it was stop giving aid or our economy might crumble. If the US financial system imploded due to Saudi mismanagement, then far more would have died. An American economy would have been different than before. The government itself would have defaulted. Hundreds of millions who live off government money would have been suddenly without everything.”

I cleared my throat for attention.

“When she tried to rescue me, she said it was her fault indirectly. She never complained about evacuating those she could or spoke out against us publicly. But you are right. I wonder how much past guilt applied to this mountain getaway plan happening? Or how much she wanted her Persephone to be safe? I guess the cause and effect of the past needs to be let go of. If Hansen is dead, good fucking riddance,” I said and spat on the ground in disgust. “I for one am grateful Gcorp is running the country now. They certainly will run a dictatorship. In a time of crisis, a single competent person can make miracles happen. I am getting sidetracked. Do you have a prepared message?”

“Of course, Cap. Just needs your—”

“Do it.”

“Done.”

“Thanks, how many are still alive?” I asked, ashamed of not knowing.

“All of them, scarred, bruised, and broken. Not a single one committed suicide since coming home. Confirmation coming quickly, returned by seventy-two of the one hundred and fourteen. Please continue with your story,” Perci said, but Willow interrupted.

“Mom got back to me. Kentucky to Denver is a straight shot west. Even with the increased speed limits from auto control, the total trip time was fifteen hours. She left three hours ago. So, before sunrise,” Willow said, and I gave a relieved sigh. “I know, I was worried too. I said to hurry because there was important news. That led to a lot of unwanted questions. Should be fun when she gets here. Hopefully the surprise! ‘There are aliens’ news will be popped by others by then.”

“Wait, we can bring family? I have siblings, parents, and well, this tough exterior is not alone,” Becca said in a bit of a ramble. “You never answered my capacity question.”

“Originally, I had no idea what we were going to move into. This spot on Gmaps was fields with surrounding jagged mountaintops creating this valley. I figured we would find some cool caves up here and, if not, I had us living in confined RV’s and cars. So yes, tell your family, but tell them to bring supplies to survive off of. Tents, blankets, and more. Becca, I think the government overlords censoring our words are not our problem. It will be neighbors, cousins, aunts, and everyone trying to find salvation that can only support so many. With that being said, I doubt those besides close family will believe what you say. Also, the aliens could be here to just watch us and never do anything unless provoked.”

“You do not believe that, do you?” Perci asked hesitantly. She fidgeted while pacing. “I mean, I spent influence and half my bank account. If this is an ‘aliens sit in the sky to study humanity,’ I am screwed.”

“Heavens no. They are here for a reason. Studying us can be done from a distance. Let me text Jevon. I have not talked to him since early this morning.”

‘How far?’

‘Denver ETA 5 hours’ - Jevon

‘Shift to this location. Touch to download coordinates’

The phone rang and I tapped the answer button. Jevon’s face materialized on my Gpad with the driver’s seat behind him. I could see the trailer with the CarlCat heavy machine in the background. Jevon looked ready for combat in a black turtleneck and sensor glasses on. Which reminded me that sensor glasses were on the list.

“Reason for location change?” the hologram version of my friend asked.

“Emergency evac out of Denver. We are in our newest FOB, FOB Mansion,” I said and showed him the area by twisting my wrist. Everyone waved as they flashed on the return screen.

“Roger, new ETA is six and a half hours. Tell your army wife I say hi. Jevon out.”

Perci rolled her eyes and Willow gave an awkward chuckle.

“Back to my story, while we continue to shuffle this gear away. We left Camp Dja without a clear plan. The morning sun was rising and I knew I did not want to run a daylong battle in the looted shell of a base. You might think I was crazy but we went back to FOB Lister. There were a few brave souls picking over our remaining gear when we arrived. We killed them.”

“Just like that?” Becca said in astonishment. “No letting them flee or -”

“We abandoned our post and were rogue at this point. You need to understand something, and maybe you will never get my rationale. We were no longer peacekeepers. We were convicts sentenced to die. Our only chance of escape would be by eliminating those who would report us or get in our way. From this point on, the people of Saudi Arabia were no longer there to be protected. They were there to exploit to ensure we made it home. We added a new truck, five more rifles, and preserved three packs of bottled water. The blood over the water bottles washed off just fine. If we let them leave, we would have been without those supplies.”

“Savage,” Becca said while pausing to contemplate what I had told her.

“Yeah, I ball up from PTSD almost every night. The dead who haunt me have little remorse when it comes to letting me sleep in peace,” I said and that shut her up. I get it. The spin the news did when we arrived home was crazy. We went through hell and back with the enemy being evil every step of the way. There were a lot of demons and stories buried behind NDAs signed upon our return that I was uncovering. “You want me to keep going. There is a reason Torrez is in there and not out here helping.”

“No Cap, when you put it that way, I get it. You were never… You always… There was… Awe shucks, Cap. I am a stern woman never at a loss for words. Sorry I judged you,” Becca said sincerely.

“Trust me, it is okay. I judge myself too. FOB Lister was indefensible for the long term. We knew that on the trip back. We also know it was a good place to stop to figure out how to hide who we were. Planning where to go next hit a few snags. The east coast of the country was still engulfed in war because of territory disputes. Qatar was claiming its borders should include more land inside Saudi Arabia. Even the UAE and Kuwait were doing the same, just without armies inside the country fighting though. The whole west coast was wide open, but further to reach. We talked about pirating a plane. That was our ultimate answer. Steal a plane and fly to Israel. The problem was well…

“There were lots of issues that we could never solve. The idea was just so one-dimensional. Smash the gates of an airport, guns blazing, or even go in all ninja-like. Take off and then hope we never got shot down. That was the biggest issue. Even though Israel smashed the Saudi air force, that did not mean they had no air force left. Every scenario we played out ended up with us dead on the ground in a fiery crash or bombed from above before we ever took off as the extremely limited military was defending a vital airport.

“The next logical thing was to find a friendly embassy and duck inside. Crossing borders was a non-starter right now. While other nations may not be invading Saudi Arabia, they were blocking out the mass of refugees fleeing. People were desperate to escape the country and we would be another set of people added to the mix of long lines of uncaring guards. Worse, we might start an incident with some other country.

“Jevon had the crazy idea that we owe our lives to.”

Willow grunted as she and Perci lifted a new heavy box. When she caught her breath, she said, “So you never intended to be ‘The Captain Moostache’ you became? I would even give your trademark Moo call after watching your zany videos. I thought they were fake even when people swore they were real. That was what made your channel so classic. There was never validation if it was real or fake for the longest time. When you came home, your channel died and people stopped watching when they knew the answer.”

“Ha! The pirate theme was to hide my identity and was supposed to be a one-time silly video to alert someone we were alive without being direct. At least they could cover my video up as doctored if they wanted to. Funny how mundane ideas can become hit sensations. That dead Saudi has millions sitting in his Gtuber account. Oh well, back to the story.

“We picked over ideas for hours when Jevon hit gold. One of the rotation spots we protected was a dry shipyard. Where sections of a ship were constructed and then hauled to a wet dock for final assembly. We mulled the idea over. What better way to hide our numbers than by taking fewer vehicles when towing a steel ship that could conceal troops. Plus, the hull would make a great cover from enemy fire. Real steel, not thin pretend metal of cars that bullets tore through with ease. Needless to say, we were really excited when we arrived at our decision. Sure, there were even more obstacles to deal with but the basis of a plan was there.

“We would raid the shipyard, steal a big-rig to haul a ship and follow the route to a western port where things were much more stable. We estimated a week of travel time. Oh, how naive we were. The first issue we faced when we left FOB Lister was the roving gangs and false checkpoints. When your government collapses at a national level, the suburbs and small towns adjust. The small towns started to enforce their own law and taxes. We respected neither request. And instead extracted The Captain Moostache payment. When you pit trained soldiers against civilian looters and lazy guards, you get the same results. We murdered and looted as we moved for the shipyard.

“I knew someone would eventually catch on to the pile of bodies. My hope was that we were mistaken for another roving band of criminals. Ugh, the road warriors were thick at first. We fought three while traveling for the shipyard. We still had javelins at that point and I was not afraid to use them. You zip a tank-busting missile into a van full of raiders and the other vehicles tend to scatter. I hope you are getting the picture of Saudi Arabia at this point. We certainly were understanding it was the proverbial Wild West. Those early days were grim but successful. A hundred and forty-one of us left FOB Lister and I did not lose a single soldier on the road to the shipyard. Inside the shipyard…’

The first RV rolled over the dirt road with a caravan of vehicles behind it. There were seven trucks carrying trailers and I gasped. Two more of the tungsten steel covered RVs were at the end of the convoy. Damn, that was a beautiful sight. Becca and I set the last box of C4 down on the pile. Since all the heavy weapons and explosives were put away, I closed the barn door. No sense in letting other people see military-grade armaments.

“Wow, you doubled my order?” I asked Perci, unsure, and realized more trucks were still arriving.

“We bought the store but only had the stuff you wanted hauled up. The owner was being a dick in negotiations. He said he would not open on a weekend for a billion dollars. Mom countered with two and he accepted. Pennies to Gcorp. Literally a rounding error on an expense report. We need to go sign for it. Well, you sign I inspect. We can continue your story after.”

The run over to the lead vehicle did not take long and I finally noticed the end of the convoy. There were so many trucks I was in a bit of shock. This was not even the weapons yet either. We were able to accommodate a lot more people with this haul. It also exposed us to a lot of eyes gazing at the serene valley this mansion nestled in. I sighed, knowing there was no teleportation delivery device. Hopefully, we would be able to secure the valley and let in who we wanted, when we wanted.

“Howdy! Not every day I get a delivery of this magnitude, this far into the mountains. Pretty home you have here, Mrs. Yang,” the driver said to Perci.

Perci gave me a smirk at the wrong name and then I realized she probably used my last name as her alias now.

“Yes, well, fine work, Mr. Bouchard,” Perci said, reading his nametag.

“Alvin, please.”

“Alvin, I need the trailers lined up tongues facing the side of the barn walls,” Perci said, pointing at the barn. She then swung her finger to a clearing between the mansion and one of the guest homes. “The RVs there. My husband will sign the paperwork while I start my inspections.”

I contained my chuckle. Perci was beaming happily when Alvin squelched his radio and relayed the orders to his team. Willow joined Perci to check out the first RV. I guess she wanted to have that girl talk. The whine of the electric motor sounded as I was handed a clipboard with a pen. My eyes widened as I saw the list of materials Perci had ordered. RVs, lots of batteries for storage, solar panels, electric dune buggies, ATVs, electric dirt bikes, and even wind turbines.

“Damn fine place you got here, Mr. Yang. Even being able to see it is an inspiration. I hope one day I am lucky enough to live in a place like this,” the man said with a loud sigh of yearning. “You sure ordered a lot of stuff.”

“Of course, what the wife wants, the wife gets. I honestly learned to stop fighting her on such things,” I replied dryly.

“Well, if you're going camping, that is one way to do it. Bear proof RVs that get a recharge rate faster than consumption on a sunny day. Prop out rooms fit for a king. Hell, they are even called the king edition. Amazing how fast technology advances, but we still want luxury and comfort. Funny you got the only three of them in the state. Must be some adventure,” Alvin said.

While he was prodding for information, it was obvious he was curious without intent. At least, that was the vibe I was picking up. A sudden drop off on a Saturday to a section of the mountains no one has ever been to. Well, that would pique even my interest.

“She demands the finest. Want to know something comical, Alvin? I serve her Wendy’s burgers and tell her they are chef made. She never knows the difference. Sometimes the simple stuff gets it right,” I said with my fake smile as I lied to the man.

The paperwork was intense and I was scribbling a bunch of hastily written information.

“Why is none of this digital?”

“All the digital stuff will not be ready and finalized on Monday. Price of doing business on the weekend, I guess. You done?” Alvin asked as I handed him the paperwork. “Hey, Mr. Yang. You seem like a nice guy. Let me say, thank you for the bonus. The men certainly can use the money. If you ever need anything emergency delivered, we are your guys. Here is my Gcard.”

“Awe shucks, Alvin. No problem. I appreciate you giving up some of your weekend,” I said.

“Not a problem, Sir. Take care,” Alvin said and he retreated into a truck that had already detached its trailer and was ready to head home.

The last crews of the RVs were running to get in other seats of the convoy lined up to leave. Five minutes later, Perci gave a thumbs up and they billowed dirt on their way out. Perci and Willow were giggling as they returned to Becca and I.

“How did the inspections go?” Becca asked.

“Easy peasy. They get an extra bonus if they missed nothing. I paid them a million credits to deliver all this on Saturday,” Perci said.

“How rich are you, Persephone?” Becca asked, and Perci slugged her arm.

“I have no idea. It depends on the market. My silver spoon was able to make all this happen, so let’s leave my wealth alone. Especially when family members come around,” Perci said with folded arms under her perky chest.

“We talked,” Willow said.

“And?” Becca replied with a raised brow.

“When you are not around, Becca, we will talk with my husband, you silly brute,” Perci said playfully.

“What did your family say, Becca? I saw you typing away.”

“I said five thousand dollars to anyone wanting to visit me at my mansion resort. I won the lottery and had presents to give out. They called bullshit until I started dumping money into accounts. That did the trick, and Cap, they are good people,” Becca said with a guilty twist and hands shoved deep into her pockets. “Oregon to here should be about fourteen hours if they hustle. I told them to pack for the week. I got some job pushback and said I will pay for your week off. Waiting to hear from my sister and her husband.”

“That is great news, Becca. I wish my mom were in the country,” I said with a sigh.

“I tried, she refused to get on a plane suddenly,” Perci said and I raised an eyebrow at her statement. “I knew better than to try with your father.”

“I have some friends I would like to save, if that is okay. I doubt they will come until the alien news comes out and, by then, the roads will be clogged. Tina might come if I show her a tour of the mansion I am renting. Stealing your idea, Becca,” Willow said with a wink.

“The MREs will not melt in the rain, only the cardboard will. How about we tour the inside while taking a break to eat some food. We can come back out later and I can finish off my story,” I said and my stomach grumbled. “I hope this place has a walk-in freezer.”

“It does. Go ahead, Willow, so we’re not distracting your recordings. Becca, can I have a moment with Cap?”

CHAPTER 6

The walk to the mansion was soothing with the serenity of the backdrop. The way the peaks of the mountain highlighted the skyline with their white caps calmed my nerves. A few birds chirped loudly over the sound of a beak smacking into a tree. The view up here kept wanting to take my breath away with the natural beauty. I had never been anywhere so void of humanity in my entire life. Miles and miles around us and there was only one dwelling within sight.

I stopped to let the others get ahead of Perci and me. When they faded into the house, she embraced me tightly. My hand caressed her back tenderly. She needed this, and if I were being honest with myself, I did too. As much as I had pushed Perci away, the heiress saved my ass. I would be so far behind and stuck in Denver without her when the aliens arrived. But it was more than that. I had loved her at one point.

Sure, it had taken time to realize it was more than a friendly bonding. I remember a time when my mind drifted after a mission and my feet sought her out. That was the moment I realized I loved her. I had subconsciously gone for my Perci. The one person in the world I could lean on without a doubt. I had changed, though. My entire personality had slid from a cheerful guy to a man in a terribly dark place. Maybe with her, and with Willow, I could not only feel, but be good again.

“I missed you so much,” Perci said, gripping me as tightly as she could.

“How did your short talk with Willow go?”

“You know better than to skirt the issue, Eric.”

“Perci, it is great to hold you again. You always made me feel like such a bigger man than I am. I missed our quality time together and I am glad you are here. Hell, I forgot how amazing you were with managing. I missed you too,” I said with a sad sigh. As I talked, she gripped me tighter. “I really did not expect you to be here. I am starting to come to the conclusion my escape from Saudi Arabia was more luck than deductive skills. I keep concluding probable outcomes incorrectly.”

“You had to have known you could have convinced me to stay,” Perci said with a slight temper. “I threw myself at you when you came home. Nothing could have forced me away when you were in need again.”

“Perci, you do not control the world. You were abducted.”

“I was tricked, and do not use that against me. We all have our demons that torment us. Leaving the first man I ever loved behind was the hardest thing I did. I told myself that my mother needed me. When I learned it was a ploy to ensure I was safely extracted, I fought so hard to get you back. Everything I tried ran into resistance. There was a blackout after the Saudi’s locked us out. Even mom lacked the clearance to spy on you and we had no idea where to start looking when we recovered access. The only thing that kept me going was your dumb videos. I would cry so hard after watching them, knowing what you were dealing with without me. I should have been there.

“I tried to explain my heartbreak to you numerous times, you big oaf. I even stood outside your DU dorm room, too scared to knock on the door. My therapist said to give you space to adjust. You would come out of your shell and probably find solace in me with time. I wanted to be the one to ease the tormented nights. With patience I did not know I had, I waited. My plan was to force you to see me during the summer break. Even if you moved on to a new girl,” Perci said, while breaking our hug. Her hazel eyes bore into mine. I saw the cybernetic replacement look identical to her human eye. “I told Willow I made a promise to myself. I would be there for you. This next part may sound a bit psychotic, but I am your forever girl now. Even with almost two years apart, I have thought of no one else the way I ache for you.”

There was a kid-sized park in front of the mansion. A swing was mounted to a tree branch and a stone bench faced the little sandpit. There were steel toy tractors half-buried in the dark sand with flaked paint. I dodged the adult seat and planted my butt next to the American made awesome toys. I dug in the sand and built a pile as I processed her words.

“Persephone-”

“If you stop calling me your Perci, I will box your ears, Eric. You were the only person to ever do so tenderly from the first to the last time. You never once cared I had no tits or refused to fix my dead lazy eye. You never cared I was poor. You only ever loved me for me. I love you, Eric Yang, and the end of the world is not going to stop that!” Perci screamed so loud the birds hundreds of feet away took flight.

“Calm down. Sit beside me. All that is true. I still don’t care who your mom is. I pushed you away because you were a part of my past. I really was going to message you. I am your forever friend. And I use Persephone when you fluster me. I am flustered. You are not any woman—you are Perci the heiress.” My hand shot up to halt her coming retort. She was always defensive over her background. “Dr. Gepstein’s message led me to conclude you were going to be safe; buried under the earth somewhere I could not reach you. You are the daughter of Gcorp’s CEO, you have always been protected and watched over. I did not see a scenario where you would move heaven and hell to be at my side. I am sorry that I miscalculated and did not know you wanted to be my actual wife. All the what-if scenarios. I agree, without this alien thing, come summer we would be dating, and probably at some lush island with white sands and warm blue waters. Hiding on some private resort talking for hours like we used to. Things are happening and they obviously are outside our control. You are here at my side and I respect that more than you can ever know. Enough so that I wish I had known earlier. But Perci, this is important. What transpired that day I found you crying into that bunker?”

“You saved me. I know… I looked into Willow. You do not need to justify saving her. Your desire for her is clear. She is smart, trusting, and beautiful. Also innocent, while not innocent. You laid on the charm with her for months. That took weeks with me. Eric Yang, you have that pull women desire. A man they can rely on, trust, and open up to. The amazing good looks certainly do not hurt. I…” Perci was getting flustered. She hopped on her feet and I yanked her back down to play toys with me. “Not the best use of our time. I love you, Eric. Willow does not want to fight me over you, I do not want to fight Willow for you. So…”

“You girls scrapping for my affection is the last thing we need. You know I loved our time together. You were right that I needed space, but that time is over. We are adults here, and we should focus on the mission instead of our love. At the same time, we are not in the military. If I want to tear your clothes off and savage you in the bedroom -”

“Yes, that!” Perci blurted while eagerly bobbing her head. “We are adults and I talked to Willow. She mentioned a desire to have people she can rely on. Willow opened up about her transition away from her mom. She needs stability with love. She also wants to please you while avoiding conflict. Even if it involves me. Her words, not mine.”

“Interesting. I need you both happy and operating with clear minds, not combating each other for attention. Speaking of clear minds. I feel better from this conversation. I am sorry I avoided you, Perci. Thank you for being here. In this very spot, in this very moment, when I need you the most,” I said, and did something I had never done before. I kissed her cheek. While cheesy and simple, it was a big step for us.

“Those were the exact words I wanted to hear. You are welcome, Cap. Come check out the inside of this place. It is swag central.”

“Swag?”

“Older term, excessively nice. Hey Willow,” Perci said to Willow as she left the house via a sliding glass door. Willow waved and was eager to tell us something. “I told Eric we were sharing him. He said it was interesting and wants us to be happy while not fighting over him when we need to focus.”

I opened my mouth to object. That was a bit of a stretch.

“Perfect. I always wanted a dynamic relationship. I also feel like Eric can be assertive enough to meet my bedroom needs. The high school boys and girls I dated could pull hair, but did not understand what I was seeking. I was never sure if I wanted a girl or a boy so I would switch. However, fun fact. My porn preference was and is threesomes! Trouple for the end of the world. The day keeps getting more exciting. Count me in,” Willow said, while giving Perci’s cheek a kiss in acceptance. She kissed my cheek next and I stood there, stunned. “Eric, I am not going to cause strife. If you two want me and I want each of you, then go with it. We can always adjust later. Now, enough silly bedroom talk. That should be very fun later. Sad news is I was only able to convince two friends to come. Tina and her boyfriend Derek are leaving now. I gave them five thousand dollars when they complained of financial woes. I said my rich boyfriend wanted to meet them so badly he was buying them tickets and handing out spending money. They will fly in and auto-taxi here. Might even arrive before mom. Hmm… Yeah, they will get here in five hours if they quick board the next flight.”

“I… You sure you want to just avoid the topic and push onto other things?”

“We kind of have to. I am drawn to you and want you as a lover. You are clearly lusting for me, too. Perci wants in. I find her sexy while her commitment is something that tugs at my heart. Sex with you both will be incredible. So yes, I am open to that. Why not have fun?”

“Okay, I mean, you did not exactly have to twist my arm. I do appreciate you two girls not fighting. Moving along, time to cover these buildings. How many entry and exit points?” I asked with a frown as I inspected the mansion now that we were closer.

The exterior of the building was concrete with slate stones hand placed into the walls. The reds, browns, and blacks gave a natural appeal. There were balconies above every second-floor room. When I went to check if some sections were void of the overhangs, I was disappointed. There might as well have been a single wrap-around balcony on the second and third floors. Sliding glass doors, expansive windows, and so many blind spots left me shaking my head in frustration. Perci picked up on my mood.

“Oh, no chance you secure this building. It is literally half glass and has four heaters to counter the amount of cold it deals with during the winter. There is a large basement you can seal into, but that won’t help. It is not a bunker a prepper built and we cannot add the kind of stuff it would need for long term sustainment,” Perci said as we rotated around the exterior of the building. I had to agree on digging under the foundation was a non-starter. “Sorry, there was no prison in the mountains. I actually searched for one. No one builds concrete bunkers this far into the mountains, either. There are a few preppers closer to Colorado Springs, but they are more isolated and you picked this valley over the entire mountains for a reason.”

“Water. It all comes down to our need for clean water. What I would have given for these creeks of sparkling cool clean water in Saudi Arabia. We can secure this home with the soil inside the hescos sacks. There may not -”

“Oh, there should be a few more flights coming from Carson. Concertina wire is next and two more loads of barriers. Then food, lots of MREs. Some officer is going to be pissed when they realize they gave away vital supplies they thought were needless at the time. As far as filling the hesco barriers, the big issue was the heavy equipment. There is a dozer and claw digger thingy on the way. That was the best I could do for the weekend,” Perci said with a frown that was accompanied by a shrug. She seemed sincerely upset, so I hooked an arm around her small shoulders.

“That is fantastic, Perci. Hell, Jevon struggled to get the electric CarlCat Backhoe and he bought it on a Friday. Sandbags?”

“Yup, no sand though. Thank goodness, I love the spring up here,” Perci said with a content sigh. “Fuck the desert.”

“Indeed. Okay... Where to start after we store and organize the supplies?” I muttered, running a hand through my hair.

Perci pulled out a black marker and wagged it at me. “I wrote in big letters what each of the trailers contains. Most of the trailers are electric vehicles and solar equipment. Emptying them for other things or living space is doable.”

“No hasty decision on the trailers of now. Low priority on the solar if we can secure the electric lines. I wonder why they did not bury them,” I asked indirectly.

“Probably some environmental rule,” Willow said, tapping her chin.

“So much to do. Okay, time to tour the little houses first and then the mansion.”

There was a red brick trail that went down a slight slope for guesthouse number one. The exterior was a replica of the big home and while the design was lovely it was very vulnerable. A glance up showed there was only a second floor on this home with a very tall roof. From a distance this home was tiny and you would think it not much more than an in-law suite. Up close with no mansion to dwarf its size, the structure was a large home.

We entered the first floor and a large living room utilized an open floor concept to tie into a large kitchen. The furniture theme matched the log cabin interior, even though the exterior was stone. The interior was designed for comfort with many reading nooks and plush couches with stunning views. Even the installed barstools were lush with thick furred padding. Obviously, this was not built with messy people or children in mind.

Moose antlers created a chandelier that illuminated the space with glued on LEDs. Additional recessed lighting shining from the ceiling brightened the entire space. I noticed a second-floor overhang that looked down on the living room. I was drawn up the stairs and found myself enjoying the view that the tall glass windows provided. The second floor contained three bedrooms with two bathrooms. There was a master bedroom up here that ate up the back half of the home.

“This must be three thousand square feet. I have to admit, I am super curious as to who paid all this money for the mansion and the homes,” I said, ducking my head into bedrooms for quick inspections. Everywhere I looked, there were fine details and lavish upgrades. The showers were massive, almost the size of my dorm room at DU.

“Mom was unable to figure out which of her co-workers built this retreat. She was certain it was one of her VP’s, but none admitted to it. Hacking our Gmaps to alter data is no small feat. They probably were scared to tell her. Or it could be something more nefarious,” Perci said hesitantly. I did not like that line of thought. “Regardless, we bypassed the door codes and it is ours. Mom even back filed some paperwork in case there is contested ownership later. An awesome part of finding an undocumented home is you can claim it as yours when you know how to.”

I shrugged, letting the worry drop. I noticed Willow was still downstairs, so I hollered over the interior balcony railing. “Is there a master on the first floor?”

“Two bedrooms and two baths. This is a replica of the other home I went into,” Willow shouted up to me. “This home alone is something my mom and me would dream about while watching those ‘buy a home’ shows.”

“A hundred people can sleep in here if we built bunk beds and rotated sleeping. Is the barn heated?” I asked Perci, using my hands to generate pretend bunk beds I had no way of making.

“Geothermal concreted heating is in all the flooring. Even on these upper floors,” Perci said, stomping her foot onto the carpet. “There are electric heaters tied into every structure, though. The barn would be drafty but it is built to keep horses alive in the winter. Air conditioning might be the real issue if you stuff a lot of warm bodies in these confined spaces.”

“Yeah, but it’s the mountains and you can always open windows. Okay, time to tour the mansion then. At least there are no exterior balconies on this home.” I muttered the last line.

“Why would that matter?” Willow asked, and I was surprised she heard me. I leaned over the railing and saw her looking up. We gave geeky waves before I replied.

“You want to assault a building from the top to bottom. The more vulnerable entry points up high, the harder it is to defend by a skilled enemy. There are no silent helicopters at this elevation and most drones that can operate up here struggle with the altitude, so they whirl loudly. Anyway, I would like to hunker inside a prison with tight corridors and limited entry points. We will make do, and I should not complain of the luxury these homes provide. They will make the transition infinitely easier. Hell, if you showcased a large tent to Tina and Denis like I planned to, would they have rushed to get on a plane?”

“Derek, not Denis. That is a fair point. Wait until you see our swanky room on the third floor,” Willow said as we met at the door to leave the guesthouse.

“Raincheck!” I said, bouncing my brows. “Time to unload some guns!” There was excitement in my voice as a large delivery truck entered our clearing from the woods.

“More than guns. That has our tents, armor, weapons, and more. After seeing the barn stalls, I will have them unload it into categories for us. I certainly paid for them to move the stuff into the barn for us,” Perci said with a huff. She gave me a loving side eye. I knew she had poured her money while forcing her mom to help. I kissed her cheek. She latched onto me in a tight embrace and tried to whisper into my ear. “You are too tall, you oaf. Bend over. Better. You are worth every bit of effort.”

“I can repay you with some of your money!” I said and we had a short laugh. “Does your husband need to sign, Mrs. Yang?”

“No, all this is in my name. I will handle this. Go check on Torrez,” Perci said. Willow followed as they left to greet the arriving driver. “He should be our armorer. Actually, please do so. And have him come help. His legs should be recharged.”

I enjoyed watching them walk away. Opposites in figure. Curvy and plush compared to tight and firm. My eyes finally let them fade and I left to find Torrez. I checked the power on my arm and it was still over ninety percent. I did not consume nearly as much energy using my arm as Torrez did his legs. Becca found me halfway up the path to the mansion.

“Hey Cap, I got through to my sister. She lives in Arkansas, and said they have a tornado shelter ready to go if things turn bad. I was unable to convince them to come,” Becca said with a deflating exhale of defeat. She glanced over to where the truck was arriving. “I will go help them out. Glad they are getting along. Things were tense there for a moment.”

“Conflict finds us even when we try to avoid it.”

“Ugh. Cap, don’t write fortune cookies-”

“Hey, that one is not mine! Where is Torrez?”

“Inside in the kitchen. He found some frozen elk steaks, or moose. Who knows? Taste fantastic though. I think he is coping by cooking,” Becca said, and left me standing there alone.

I entered a side sliding glass door and gave the see-through material a double knocking tap. Yup, no way it was bulletproof by how much give the glass allowed. The interior of the mansion was different than the guesthouses. The stonework continued inside, giving the interior space a more rustic feel. A blast of warm air from the floor told me the heater was on. My Gpad said the evening would get chilly tonight this high up and advised wearing a jacket by dinnertime. The interior temp was mid-sixties, so I could fathom why the heater was on.

Jasmine’s pitter-pattering feet were barely audible as she squealed at being chased. Miguel was right behind her shouting ‘fee-fie-fo-fum’! I smiled as they found a second hallway to run down. The smell of cooking food assaulted my nose and lured me in. I found the kitchen and sat at a tall, comfy barstool.

The sizzle of a steak on a flat grill caught my attention. No rest for the wicked, as they say. I went to the cooking station, while grabbing the steak fork Torrez had abandoned to chase his daughter. A quick flip of the meat and all was right in the world again. I turned to the sound of a running video display to see the latest news.

A vid screen was up high, hanging down from the ceiling out of the way. The holographic image had a bunch of nothing being broadcast. No flashing alerts, or actual news in the breaking news. Some singer had cheated on her boyfriend, and Gzon was having internet specials on the latest kid toy. A craze of tiny dinosaurs that would be your friend. A friendly spay and neuter your pet or face a fine arrived with the first commercial. I was surprised I had made it over a minute without an advertisement.

I kept the video going, even if I wanted to turn it off. That would be our lifeline to the outside world in the coming days.

“Ellas idiotas ricos tienen tanto alces congelados,” Maria said without looking up.

My Spanish was horrible but I tried my best and said, “Are you wanting to make tacos?”

“Oh, where is Miguel? Ha! And no, not even close. There is a deep freeze filled with those steaks in the basement floor. Whoever owned this place was an avid hunter. Probably five hundred pounds of meat in there,” Maria said, while pointing at the cooking food. “Miguel!”

Torrez came jogging over and gave his wife a hug. “Thanks for saving the steak, Cap. Jasmine loves her new house.”

Maria gave an eye roll and said, “Who wouldn’t? There is enough food to feed us and Jevon probably…” Maria gave me a dirty look when I tucked inward anticipating her anger. “Why are you wincing?”

“We are expecting more people. A lot more,” I said. “Lots of MREs on the way.”

“The unit?” Torrez asked and I nodded. “We will make do. Now that Maria is done with her inventory, I will hand off Jasmine. What were you wanting me to do?”

“Hurray! You have been promoted. You are a Master Sergeant and head of our armory. Go out to the barn and start getting gear sets prepped. Unless you need to eat, do you want to join me?”

“Already ate about an hour ago. I will meet you out there. Maria, don’t claw out the Captain’s eyes. Kinda fond of the ugly bastard,” Torrez said with his self-induced laughter as he left.

“Momma, what is a bastard?” Jasmine said in a perfect three year old tone.

“Miguel Torrez, ¿qué te he dicho sobre maldecir delante de nuestro ángel?”

Torrez slumped his head and shoulders in defeat as his wife yelled at him in an angry tone. I had no idea what she said but was glad her anger was not directed at me. The door closed behind Torrez with Maria giving a mom half-answer to Jasmine.

I grabbed a plate of steak, slid it in front of an empty seat, and opened drawers in a hunt for silverware. The cutlery in this place was awesome; it had a solid feel with unique, intricate carvings. When you were super rich, I guess you spend that money on handcrafted forks and knives. Well, I wouldn’t complain.

“Where do you want this list?” Maria asked while indicating her Gpad.

“Can you read off the basics while I eat? The details need to go to Perci. She is in charge of inventory.” I paused to chew some food while Maria input data into her Gpad. “She will be my personnel and supplies officer for now. You will actually be working for her, and fret not, she is a gifted organizer.”

“I figured as much. I checked the dates on the stuff in the fridge. All spoiled. Whoever was here last was not worried about letting milk grow old. The cleaners probably hauled trash. We will need to build a burn pit,” Maria said, and I realized there were no dumpsters. Even if they had some, not like the trash man was coming when aliens were roaming. “I really think this was a hunting cabin. Anyway, there are a few issues if we start taking in a lot of people. Space is not one of them, as this place is glorious in its size. Where it is not divine is in spare stuff for extra guests. We are low on towels, blankets, and pillows if we take in more than the fourteen bedrooms were meant to handle.

“The other thing I noticed is toiletries are non-existent. We already are out of toilet paper. I tried to order some with the money Miguel got and they do not drone deliver up here. There are limited cleaning supplies, too. Just a guess, but I think the cleaners and owner brought their own supplies for each trip. The home, while furnished, is actually barren of normal fundamentals. There are a few cleaning bots, but they won’t wash laundry or dishes.”

“Want me to watch Jasmine while you report this to Perci?”

“If you don’t mind, and should we be calling her Perci or Persephone?”

“Ask her, not sure. She went by her fake last name when she served. Morrison. Doubt she uses that now since her alias is Persephone Yang.”

“She sure is smitten,” Maria teased. “Jasmine, mind your Uncle Yang.”

I pried myself out of the comfy seat and set my empty plate in the sink. Jasmine squirmed and fidgeted as her mom left, but did not cry out. We gave each other that look of what to do and I dramatically placed a finger to my chin. The little girl mimicked my gesture.

“Can you show me where the third floor is?” I asked and she nodded.

Unlike the guest homes, there were no overhanging balconies to chat with those down below. The only space that went from floor to ceiling was the main foyer. There were two carpeted stairways and we went up the nearest one. The second floor consisted of one living room per wing and a long hallway with bedrooms. Jasmine was quick up the stairs and when we arrived on the third floor, I was relieved. There were two master suites, one on each end over the second floor living rooms. The majority of the third floor was more bedrooms. I was worried the top floor would be some massive room that would be hard to segment.

A quick inspection of the master showed a large four-post bed with lots of ornate furniture. There were a few doors to other rooms, which were likely closets and bathrooms. I did notice the balcony had a hot tub facing the mountain views. I smirked at the sight and noticed Jasmine was heading back down the stairs.

“Thanks for showing me how to get up here. Have you seen an elevator?” I asked and the little girl shook her head no. “Do you want to watch cartoons or play in the park?”

“Park please,” Jasmine said, just loud enough for me to hear.

“Awesome, there are even tractor toys we can play with!” I said and raced her outside.

We played in the sand for twenty minutes and I built an awesome castle that a princess lived in. There was lots of make believe talk and I found the innocence of the interaction heartwarming. Jasmine had never talked to me much before today. She had seen me a few times and mostly hid behind her mom. When Maria relieved me of my babysitting duties, I was sad to be a grown-up again.

That feeling vanished when I saw all the man toys being hauled out of the back of the tractor-trailer. Becca intercepted me on my approach to fill me in.

“They are on the last of the carbines now. Most of this truck was ammo and supplies for making ammo. I thought there would be more tents and armor. There is only enough armor for a platoon,” Becca said with a grunt. “I know, be grateful for what we got. The three guys who made the trip had so many questions that Persephone barked at them to shut the fuck up. Well, she said it nicer than that, but the point was made.”

“You are a character, Becca. Thanks for the update.”

“No problem, Cap.”

We passed Willow and Perci, who were checking over inventory sheets. I found Torrez creating gear stacks near the back of the long barn. While I walked down the corridor, I looked into the stalls to get an idea of what was around. I quickly realized I would need more than a short glance, as there were frequently unlabeled boxes for discretion.

My feet halted beside a neat pile Torrez had created. It was time to shed my DU shirt and cargo shorts. There was a light green undershirt and boxer shorts in the pile. I snatched them up along with a set of jungle fatigues. With my gear in hand, I returned to the manager’s room.

A minute or two later, I was dressed like a soldier, minus boots. When I returned to the first pile, I picked up a shoulder holster and found a ruger 9mm already clipped in. A quick inspection showed the reduced magazine size limited to ten by state law. We were so modifying our magazines to full capacity when we found the time. I cleared the barrel, ensured the safety was on, and returned the weapon to its holster. I did not put the straps over my shoulders yet because I wanted to check the vest.

I let out a low whistle. This was the two-piece dragon armor set.

“Yeah, Becca complained and I laughed,” Torrez said.

“What? We need more and it is flimsy?” Becca replied.

“So Becca, this company has gone in and out of business a few times. I would have returned home with more soldiers if we had these double sets. I dare say…”

“It is okay, Cap, Becca, these armored shorts would have handled me sitting on a grenade. I would have lost my ankles and knees still, but the tourniquets would have been much lower on my thighs,” Torrez said, while preparing a new stack against the wall.

I grabbed the jungle patterned armored shorts and slid them on. A few strap adjustments later, and they were solid. I jumped, trying to dislodge the armor bound around my waist. A few more leaps without it falling earned them a nod of approval. The vest was a one piece with thin plates under the interwoven scales. The armor overlapped my shorts that were high on my waist. The upper armor wrapped around my neck with a minor adjustment, and the sleeves went down to my elbows. A testing twist of my body left me feeling limber.

This armor had come a long way in the past decade. So far in design that the generals were begging for its inception when we deployed. Budget constraints were the cause for their request denial, and it felt good to have an heiress looking over me.

I smiled like a kid in a sandpit when I was fully armored up in forest camouflage. I immediately shifted out of the top armor piece and put my arms into the sidearm shoulder holster. With the pistol on first, I dropped the armor over my head and fit the neck protector into place. A helmet with soft padding was equipped; it required minimal adjusting as the interior gel formed to my head. I buckled the chinstrap while I kicked off my shoes, and Torrez held up a hand.

“Thirteen?”

“Fourteen if we have em,” I replied to the man.

A box of new boots was handed to me and I let out an evil laugh.

“What is it?” Becca asked.

“I am going to violate seventeen military laws. I am going to wear white cotton socks inside my boots!”

“I always thought that rule was silly when we were in garrison. I wore nylon dress socks in the desert,” Becca said.

“I loved those, mine were trashed after a month of sweating in them when we got pinned down in the shipyard. Went barefoot most of the time after that. I rem-”

“No, Cap. No getting hooked into war stories with me around. I want to focus on my family, dealing with this problem one day at a time, and not that shit storm. There are six models of .308 up for grabs. There are forty MK3s if you want to try to standardize our weapons. We have an excess of long-range scopes and Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOGs). We have a few hundred carbines here. You can do scout kits, sniper kits, and combat kits. The complexity of all of it will take a while to sort as an armorer. Then again, if we get hundreds of people, we will run out of gear. The plus side is most of this gear is new in the boxes. It was as if some of my dreams came true.”

“I can start pairing the ACOGs to the brownings,” I said, finding a purpose.

Moving around in the armor was incredible. It reminded me of a heavy robe more than traditional armor with thick plates. I kept it on as I peered into horse stalls for the ACOGs. Torrez saw me looking and did not help me. He knew I would want to get a feel for the storage layout. The third stall down had the browning MK3s inside. I made a mental note and went looking for six-inch-long boxes. I found the ACOGs on the other side of the aisle and loaded up a dozen in a wobbly stack.

Over the next half hour, I would pry a sight out of the box, stick it onto the rails of a rifle, and tighten the screws to secure the optic. When I finished the last weapon, I noticed Perci and Willow browsing over paperwork. The truck was retreating out of the valley and both the ladies noticed me standing still watching them.

Guilty of gazing, I went to one of the ammo staging spots and started filling ten slot magazines. I only had four completed when Perci and Willow arrived.

“Those dicks tried to ask for more money after seeing the house. Said there was a high altitude delivery fee that the boss forgot to add. When I raised an eyebrow, they said it could be waived for Gpad contact information so we could get coffee later. As if,” Perci said with a scoff.

“You should get used to being flirted with, Perci,” I said, and Willow nudged Perci with an ‘I told you so’ look. “You are not exactly hiding your new bust and you’re glowing with happiness. Men tend to cue into those things.”

“Almost verbatim for what Willow said. Okay, time to catch you up with what you missed while you were handling all the long hard guns by yourself… Eh, that one did not hit the mark. Everyone has replied to my message. Sixty percent or so are already leaving or preparing to. They were wondering why they suddenly had extra money in their accounts and were grateful. Some said they might make it later if they can. I expect people to trickle in over the next twenty-four hours with stragglers maybe up to a few days later.

“Maria went over our consumables that were lacking. I can get drones to a home about an hour down the mountain. I bought the home and am having gobs of soap, shampoo, feminine products, medicine, birth control, and well there is a long list we compiled that we keep adding to. A girl needs toilet paper, Eric,” Perci said with raised brows. Willow bobbed her head in agreement. “I notated the driveway for delivery and sent it to your Gpad. Maria said she would go, but I think you should take an RV with Torrez. Those drones are going to be flying into a ritzy neighborhood and will draw attention. The last thing we need is a Mexican woman getting accused of stealing. And Cap, there is a ton of stuff getting dropped off.”

“Hey, I heard that… Thank you, Sarg. Is that the name you settled on?” Torrez asked.

“Perci works, or Mrs. Yang. It is my legal name now -” Perci replied as I cut her off.

“You are a Lieutenant now. You can use Lt. If you want. Supplies and personnel. If that is okay with you, Mrs. Yang.”

“Yes, I will be your go-to officer, Cap. Also, there is a reason I picked Mrs. Yang.”

“Right, can’t have people knowing who your mom is,” Torrez said with drawn out sarcasm. “I get it, nothing to do with fantasy romance... Joking stuff aside, thanks, Perci, for sending your husband to fetch soap, a whole lotta soap. You’re probably right since it is in boxes they will think she is stealing. If she was hauling used cleaning supplies, she would fit right in.”

“Damn Torrez, carrying much resentment, and I am bringing you with me. Hand me the data, come on Torrez. Shit,” I muttered as I looked of the information and realized the efficacy of 2032 was so good a lot of the stuff was already on the way.

“Yup, you need to leave now.”

“Add those dino kid toys for Jasmine, and some other kid stuff. I am sure she won't be the only one we have to keep entertained. Oh, and more long- term food. Uh, and I have no clothes besides military stuff. Maybe some hot tub shorts because, well, it won’t always be just us.”

“See, you will be busy loading stuff for at least a half hour, if not more.”

I went to my pile of gear, grabbed a webbing vest, and slid it on over my armor. Torrez had already equipped a few magazine pouches to the vest that I added loaded magazines into.

“Gear up, I want to get the supplies before it is all stolen.”

Torrez scoffed and said, “What!? Do you mean rich white people steal too?”

“It is an empty house. The neighbors will know that random piled boxes are probably a con or a scam. Anyway, come on. We get to drive one of those new fancy RVs. Which trailer are we taking?” I asked Perci, who paused to think about it.

“I will pull the six-seater buggie out and park it under a balcony on the mansion. What do you want us to do while you are gone?”

“Organize,” I said, looking around. “Leave the barriers and wire out in the fields. If the heavy machinery arrives before Jevon gets here, stick it in the field. Perci is in charge while I am gone until Jevon gets here. Time to go, Torrez.”

“Sweet. Toiletries and kid toys, here we come.”

CHAPTER 7

After we hooked up the large steel trailer, we drove a half hour down a long winding dirt road. The top of the RV brushed and scraped the whole way through the trees until we hit a paved county road. I was hoping to see the hydro pumps that provided our power from the river but the road did not go by them.

The trip to the delivery house was very calm and quiet. Torrez and I sat in our fancy bucket seats that massaged our backs while we enjoyed the trip. The RV was filled with gadgets that tied into the Gnet. It pretty much operated all on its own. Merely had to have a driver in the seat because of its tonnage. I found out there were three display screens in the dining area alone. The mini kitchen was complete with a fridge, stove, and microwave. The bathroom had a small shower and toilet. There were two standard beds. One was a loft over the driver’s seating, while the other contorted out of a bench under the seating area. At the back of the RV was a master mini suite with what looked like a king mattress. The prop outs probably added a ton of space but we never tested them. The interior was the same bulletproof alloy of the exterior. The reflective nature of the metal made the space inside feel larger than it was. This was the exact RV I had wanted. No flat off-road tires. Eight electric motors. Incredible solar charging with excessive battery storage and comfort throughout.

We hardly said a word while slightly jostling over the rough terrain. The suspension on this RV was amazing. We turned left for the smooth county road while the news played unimportant nonsense as we sped for the location on my Gpad. There was minimal traffic and the sun was arcing to retreat for the day. The casting shadows of the trees reached the road as I kept glancing up as if an alien ship would be above me. My Gpad alerted me to turn down a private road for Marble Heights. The iron wrought gates blocked our entry until we keyed in the code.

Rows of two-story homes between neatly trimmed yards followed a slightly curving road. A few teenagers were playing street hockey and curiously eyed us as we parked at the house with a digital for sale sign out front that read sold. The driveway was stacked with boxes of all shapes and sizes. Neither of us complained at the work required. The time passed quickly as we loaded the trailer until it was jammed tight and then started filling the RV. I got a Gpad ping to wait for more deliveries That Perci had realized we would need.

The neighbors – Marty and Jessica Biysk – came out to say hi, but when they saw two men wearing army fatigues loading boxes into a fancy RV, they became fearful to approach. I used my charming smile to say we bought the house and were avid hunters. This seemed to be acceptable behavior because they eased right over to chat with us. I even gave out my Gcontact information while asking to tell me if someone started stealing packages we missed. The sold sign said ’Welcome the Yang Family’ so the neighbors even helped us load up supplies. When the ‘good to go’ text came through from Perci, we said friendly goodbyes before we left with a filled RV and trailer. I let Perci know to keep sending stuff here. When news broke of the aliens, I was sure some might seek refuge with us.

The ride back was peaceful and serene. It had been a long time since Torrez and I were able to just sit around each other. We lightly discussed the kid toys Jasmine would be thrilled about. Jevon diverted our chat when he texted me he was less than an hour away. At the end of the country road, we got stuck behind a big rig trying to turn onto our dirt road with a dozer and a backhoe. I convinced him to retreat down the road a half mile after explaining I would run over some trees with built up speed. The RV was certainly strong enough. The driver rolled his eyes and told me not to be hasty. He backed off the dozer from the trailer bed, and pushed the trees out of the way while expanding the turn. He flattened the ground and an hour later, we helped him make the turn. Jevon was following behind him on the dirt trail by the time we were done. The setting sun told me we were eating more time than I thought. I felt the mountain chill defeating the day’s warmth and rolled up my window.

When we entered our valley clearing, I jostled the RV next to the house. My goal was to get it as close as I could to reduce hauling trips. When we parked, I heard the thrum of helicopters overhead. I noticed the field had more barrier supplies and barbed wire. This should be the final load of materials from Fort Carson. The pilots had no issue finding new spots to drop the supplies off. Three more large stacks of MREs occupied the field. They were gone before I even was able to say hello to Jevon. My gaze left the retreating helicopters to see Jevon had parked not far from the house.

My friend exited his electric truck with a friendly wave that revealed his sparkling white teeth. Jevon had a light black skin tone with short buzz-cut hair. He wore the dark turtleneck I saw him in earlier and baggy gray cargo pants. A long, loud whistle escaped his lips at seeing the home. At six foot five, we were almost the exact same height.

“Jevon, it is good to see you, my friend. It has been too long,” I said as we clasp palms and patted each other’s backs. We were not above giving each other half man hugs. “How was the drive?”

“Good to see you, Eric. The drive was long and boring. I had the news playing the entire time which lulled me into a peaceful sleep,” Jevon said with a head slant and closed eyes mimicking a nap. “Nothing interesting came on, but I figured it was the best thing to listen to. Tour?”

“Follow me,” I said, finding my cheeks were sore from smiling so much lately.

Being around friends was exactly what I needed. Over the next half hour, we toured the Mansion and the surrounding buildings. When we finished exploring everything FOB Mansion had to offer, the delivery driver had offloaded the last of our equipment. I saw Perci, Willow, and Becca signing for the paperwork down below. There were waves exchange. Jevon and I were on the third-floor balcony overlooking the area from up high.

“Roof?” he asked, and I used the thick balcony railing to hop up even higher. “Well, this has got to be the most insane house I have ever stayed in. Hell, or even visited. My brother said he is already on the road driving from California and Mom is flying in from Detroit. No one else would drop everything and rush out here on a maybe.”

“Hey, we do what we can, right? Tomorrow should validate our efforts. Defensively, what were you thinking?”

“You’re calling the shots, but I appreciate wanting my input.”

“About that. You want lead on this one? I can make a great XO,” I said, giving Jevon a serious long look.

He sat on the roof with his elbows touching his bent knees. A loud huff was followed by a light chuckle. “Hell no, Eric. If this turns out the way I think it is, we need you. You are capable of killing people that we good people would leave alive. Not ragging on you, you know that. I was the executioner a lot of the times. I find… I know… Well, you have my trust. I hope you understand I am perfectly happy being your XO.”

“Well, XO. How would you defend our latest stronghold?”

“My first instinct is to secure the mansion without the barn. That boxy, long structure leaves a horrible series of blind spots behind it. Then again, it has a lot of stuff inside those walls. More than would fit in the basement. I think we pull as much as we can inside the basement. I just do not know how to defend that building without more soldiers. Hell, we are going to struggle with just us tonight.”

“Oh, I invited the whole unit. So, we should have friends and family arriving all night. Becca or Torrez can pull a double shift while we sleep tonight and we can start building day and night crews tomorrow. So, the barn is outside the perimeter. That is fine. We can haul the ATVs out and stick both the trailers and the vehicles inside. What else?”

“Yeah, that works if they are stuffed with easy to unload items. Would make the barn irrelevant for now. Moving all that stuff will be a pain, but if we do get extra hands, it will keep us busy. Hescos two wide, one on top. I know we can double stack them directly, but I prefer the triple triangle setup. Fifty feet between us and the barrier line should do the trick unless were putting thousands of people in here. Let me think on that after I talk to Perci, she will know the estimated arrival numbers. The best places to guard the edges will be these third-floor balconies. Will be a pain for those sleeping in them as crews rotate, but we are complaining about living in a mansion. I mean of the shitty places to defend -”

My chuckle paused him. I patted him on the back gently since we were on the sloped roof and said, “Alright. Do you want to start creating our perimeter tonight in the dark or wait for the sun to come up?”

“We have spotlights, but they are not set up. Everyone had a long day and when auto taxis come in, they will go haywire when greeted with construction equipment in operation,” Jevon said as he walked down and hopped onto the balcony.

“They don’t like bulldozers?”

“Nah, not one bit. The dumb things enter a panic mode and someone human has to guide them out. They register it as a crash or something. I don’t get it, but I was never a programmer or computer wizard. I am going to the barn to gear up. Anything off limits?”

“Nope, take what you want. Some fifty calibers in there if you want to set up some perches. I will probably start to have Becca post at the end of the road for tonight. Keep the gate guarded, so to speak,” I said, and Jevon nodded.

“Not a bad idea to set a barrier against the road with a warning sign. Or we just secure the road and the open southern end of the valley instead of these building. I will think it over, Cap. Okay, I am off for weapons and armor.”

My friend disappeared inside and I watched the last of the natural daylight fade away. I felt confident with how progress was being made. Our plans were coming together. I wanted to work through the night to start shifting the items over from the barn, but knew I did not sleep much last night. A decent rest would do wonders. There were two lovely ladies who probably had other nighttime activities planned. My Gpad pinged as I was zoned out in thoughts of hot tub fun.

It is here, mom put the news out just now. - wifey 1

How did you change your name in my Gpad?

Aliens are here! Are you really concerned about that at this time? - wifey 1

Well yea I -

My typing stopped registering and my Gpad read system overloaded. I was praying all those people using auto drive were okay. My blood pumped so intensely from the adrenaline spike I could hear it thrumming in my ears. If they came to blow up earth, these could be my last thoughts. I raced down to the first-floor living room and ran to the other side of the mansion. My team was gathered around a television hanging from the ceiling broadcasting the news.

‘Like we mentioned earlier, this is a developing situation. Gnews is breaking this to you ahead of the other networks. If you look at the moon with a telescope, you will notice the asteroid that was supposed to come hurtling by our planet has instead stopped. What’s that? Going to Harvey.’

The lady on the screen was flustered and in disbelief. The camera swapped to a man with a green screen behind him. The screen swapped to an image of a satellite. I saw the satellite firing thrusters to turn. The slow rotation of the machine seemed to take forever.

‘We are watching history in the making. The Russians are turning a satellite to send a message to our new friends. I am getting reports from observatories that… WOAH!’

The image of the satellite sparkled in a fiery eruption. Yup, that was why the Gnet satellites were not showing the aliens. I was sort of surprised they were not vaporizing the observatories or telescopes. The news screen stayed on the reporting talking, but the audio was out.

Perci found me as she pried her eyes off the news. Willow clutched me first as I was encased in worrisome hugs from both ladies. The video switched to showing the spacecraft dropping its disguise before unleashing a bright beam at the camera. That must be the Russian...

‘Okay, now!? Audio is back, we were able to bring you a view of the… No, the aliens are launching three missiles. Correction, ships. No missiles. Okay, viewers. Sorry, but the experts are arguing. What do we have that is concrete, Gary?’

I went to the fridge and grabbed a champagne bottle. I twisted the pewter that bound the cork until the crack of the popping cork spooked those watching the feed. Jasmine covered her ears and gave me glares of hostile intent. I returned her sour gaze with my biggest charming smile. I gave an ‘awe’ when she was not buying what I was selling.

“Cheers!” I shouted with joy as I gulped the bubbly that frothed out of the bottle.

“Eric Yang, that was for tonight to celebrate our union!” Perci said and Jevon snickered.

“After all this time, you two definitely need to seal the deal,” Jevon said with a wink. “Seriously bro, why the bubbly?”

I glanced to see the audio out again. The news feed showed three blocky rectangular constructs. They were gray with no shimmer of any indication of how they were moving. There was a countdown to their arrival on the screen and the time was three hours. Perfect. I handed the bottle to Torrez, who frowned but accepted. I went back to the kitchen and snagged another bottle and a few glasses.

Willow came over to help unburden my arms. I spun the pewter off as the cups were handed out. I readied the cork to just the last little bit before it would pop. When Jasmine eyed me, she did so with warning eyes and covered ears. Maria grabbed the bottle. Jasmine relaxed as her mother explained how to push it the last of the way off.

Pop! The cork smacked into the sidewall and we cheered for the elated little girl.

“Maria, may I speak freely in front of your daughter? There are over three hours to explain why we are having a celebratory drink,” I said as Jasmine clapped her hands happily.

“Will she understand what you are saying?”

“She is your daughter. Does anything get by her?”

“Fair point. She needs her mommy, and I want to hear what you have to say,’ Maria said confidently. I received the bottle and Torrez handed his wife a filled champagne glass that Jasmine tried to steal. “No honey! That is mommy juice. Very important mommy juice. Actually, down you go. And down this goes. Hit me again cariño, mamá era su jugo.”

Torrez refilled his wife’s glass with a smirk. I went around and poured every empty glass I could find. I realized there was not one for me and grabbed a hanging beer mug over the bar counter in the kitchen. Perfect.

“I know you hate it when I ignore you. Decorum, Jevon. An angry momma scares me. My bad,” I said with a giddy laugh. “Phew, that was close. Secretly, I had it at eighty plus percent we were going to get hurled into the sun or vaporized with some superweapon. Those three objects are likely not going to push us into the sun.”

“Wait, you thought we were all doomed. You never even kissed me,” Perci said with pouted arms. I scooped her up and gave her a quick kiss. “Not like that!”

“Always the pleaser, Eric!” Jevon said, roaring with laughter. Becca elbowed him softly and he got his chuckling under control.

“So, what next, Cap?” Becca asked.

“What is the status of our arrivals?”

“Mom is still not even in Colorado yet. Derek and Tina made their flight before the airports started grounding aircrafts. I am showing the plane not turning or diverting,” Willow said gratefully. She kissed my cheek. “Thank you, Eric.”

Perci inspected her Gpad and said, “Some of the unit did not live too far. I am expecting people to arrive throughout the night. Those who are stuck in airports are diverting to vehicles. The chaos is starting, and there is little I can do to help them as systems are becoming overloaded.”

A somber silence fell over us as we realized the nightmare had just begun for a lot of people we cared about. There would be panic in the streets soon. If they were preventing air traffic already, then the situation would only get worse.

“This is why I asked if you were okay with me talking, Maria. We are alive, hence the champagne. The good times will not last, though,” I said, giving a somber salute. “My theory is that enslavement or entrapment comes next.”

A silence settled over us and before any questions could be asked, the news reporter’s mic cut back on.

‘We apologize for the technical difficulties. There is obviously a lot going on. I have some hard data for you now. The space ship may look small against the moon, but it is two times the size of Texas. The three projectiles it fired are now being classified as unknown magnetic anomalies. They are the size of a football field if you stand a field upright. That’s the best analogy. Okay, I guess it works. The three football field-sized magnetic anomalies are heading for these three locations. The first is in southern Russia. The second is expected in Man-toba, Canada. Oh, Manitoba the province. Duh. It will arrive in the middle of Manitoba. Janice, get a map up of wherever that is. Hurry, on the double! The last is going into eastern Nigeria.’

Three overlays populated with red dots indicating the landing sites. I raised my glass and cheered. A quick gulp of my bubbly and I poured a smidge more. No way was I going to overdo it, but I was sincerely elated.

‘The objects are falling at a steady speed. I am being told we are going on a quick minute break and then will be right back. Stay tuned to Gnews!’ The reporter said with a large smile.

“I think it is safe to say everyone here values your opinions, even when you are wrong. Now. Eric Yang, if you do not give us all a solid explanation, you are sleeping in the cold!” Perci said with a tease.

“Yeah, spill the news, pretty boy!” Willow said, teaming up on me.

“Hey, I am the prettier brother,” Jevon said, and he was not wrong. The ladies were drawn to the man far more than they were to me.

I batted my arms down to quiet the side chatter and giggling. Glasses were refilled as the quiet settled over the group.

“Take everything I am saying with a grain of salt. I am not a supercomputer. I am a human that makes mistakes. Here is what I think. Aliens learn about humans. Logically we can conclude it was either because of a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) message or the aliens located us on their own. We can conclude they found us with the evidence being right there on the screen,” I said, pointing to the video replaying the satellite being destroyed as the spacecraft dropped its disguise. “My assessment is we were deemed worthy of intervention. I ask myself why they would meddle with Earth without a purpose. A casual observer would never have shot down satellites for looking at it. That, at least to me, is like shooting every bird that glances your way while on a hike.”

“I am following you so far. How did you reach enslavement, though?” Jevon asked, folding his arms. A hand shot up to emphasize his next point. “I would figure they would come for a resource or something.”

“Right! What is every alien movie modeled off of? Aliens come to earth for water. Bullshit. There is ice everywhere. H2O is not hard to make and humans are not even space-faring. Maybe it is for our protein, since every life we know of ingests something to produce something else. You cannot make something from nothing.” I agitatedly paced as I talked out my scenario. “Enslavement would mean far more ships, in my opinion. Unless they are here to domesticate and harvest as they please. I can’t be the only one who noticed they are giving plenty of space between us and our space weapons.”

“Lots of good creating a space force did us,” Maria quipped.

Torrez chuckled and said, “Honey, the United States closed the space force when we went to universal basic income.”

“Huh! For real!” Maria said in shock.

“Yeah, we sent some expensive satellites into space to start defending Uncle Sam’s atmospheric exposure. Which, Growlen is no dummy, she is keeping them aimed everywhere besides at that ship right now,” I said and looked at the screen. Some satellites were shifting in their angles to get a good picture of the three projectiles gliding for Earth. “Those hold the key. Maybe they prevent rockets from launching, or they unleash some virus and my initial guess was correct.”

“Why are we drinking champagne then!?” Willow spurted her drink in surprise. She guiltily scrubbed my arm where her spittle had landed. “Sorry, my bad.”

“We got three hours left to live, or in three hours those things teach us what our fate is. Three more hours is worthy of enjoyment, you little minx,” I said and swooped her and Perci up.

Right when I was about to haul them upstairs, the newscaster cut back in.

‘Gnews is the first to give you the latest news. The Nigeria object is being targeted by the Nigerian Space Force?’ the report silenced his mic, seeking clarification. ‘NSF is a few satellites with laser-guided missiles. The object is coming into range now. Wow, go Nigeria. That is what, a hundred spread?’

We watched the screen as the satellites shifted. The NSF machines aimed for the alien boxy constructs. The missiles peeled off the satellites and ignited accelerant. They burst forward with increasing speed. Their target had zero reaction. A cascading explosion seemed to be building as the missiles landed against the alien structure cruising for Earth. For the briefest of moments, it looked like the object was imploding. Nope; it exited the fireball without a scratch and proceeded to cascade flames of burning atmosphere as it dove for our planet with increased speed. The timer in the corner went from two hours and forty minutes to one hour and twenty. Beams of condensed power tore into the NSF satellites until they were shreds of their former selves. Things grew worse when nine more objects were fired from the big ship. A silence settled in the newsroom and in our living room.

“We are going to read Jasmine to sleep. I will be combat geared before that timer hits zero,” Torrez said as he left with his family.

When they were gone, I let my shoulders slump. Increased objects coming to Earth was not a good sign. I had no way to spin this revelation. The worst part was, now that there was a timer, humanity was going to go ballistic. At least Linda Growlen was letting Gnews broadcast. I bet some countries had gone dark to isolate the panic.

Becca cleared her throat, breaking the tension. She elbowed Jevon lightly and said, “Third floor has two suites. How about I show you the one above us?”

Jevon gave his charming smile and said, “I would be honored. We will be in battle gear when that timer hits zero. And Cap, we will be monitoring if the timer drops. Somehow, I doubt it will. Who would be stupid enough to increase our demise?”

We exchanged waves as they bounded up the stairwell quickly. Perci clapped, grabbing our attention. She held a gleam in her eye.

“Hot tub!” Perci shouted for joy and raced for the other stairwell.

Willow and I chased after her. When we reached the room, Perci held the door open for us. I opened the first door to find an entry closet for coats. I slammed that door for the next handle. Perfect, the shower room had two entrances with a ten-foot long and five foot wide walk in shower. The other door opened and in popped Perci.

“I need to pee!” She said and I shrugged, not seeing a toilet.

“Found it, oh, there are two. There is a bidet Frenchy thing. Oh gosh, I just have to pee…” Willow said and I chuckled while flipping on the shower.

“Eric started the shower. Use the regular toilet.”

I was still wearing my combat gear and stripped rapidly. My pile of clothing and armor were piled in a spot far from the walk-in shower’s splash. The girls went into hushed whispering while I entered the warming water. I shrugged at the old half bar of soap someone had left behind. A few rotations in my hand produced a shiny bar. I peed in the shower while getting the grime off my legs. Then I realized something. A swift motion returned the bar of soap to its holder. There were two eager ladies wanting to scrub me down. I was not alone anymore. The warm cascading water felt fantastic as I awaited the dual boob reveal of the girls undressing.

I grew excited, literally. My penis was hardening when I heard the giggling from around the corner. The girls were already naked while rushing into the shower. The bouncy goodness was awesome for all of a second until I was regulated to the cold confines of no hot water. Victory was mine when I saw another shower handle behind me. I spun the nozzle while dodging the icy water that splashed off the ground.

The distraction allowed Perci to clasp my swinging cock and yank me forward. Yes! Was this the fated flawless victory? Before I could savor the moment, I glanced at the countdown. It had not sped up. My fist shot into the air with a hootin holler.

“Excited much!” Willow said, while eying my hard body.

I grabbed her quickly with a forceful tug. Her body smacked into mine with a splash of shower water. Perci teased the soap while dramatically having it plop out of her hand.

“Oh no, I can’t find the soap, Willow. I bet we will have better luck finding it on our knees,” Perci said, play-acting.

“Oh neat! This was a scene in the King Dickemdown on Gporn. Never acted out porn before,” Willow said cheerfully.

I couldn’t help it. I chuckled at their levity. The mock shocked expressions of the found soap was priceless. I stepped back into the other shower rain to inspect them both.

Willow’s blue eyes, pouty lips, and drenched pink hair were delightful. Not as amazing as her swollen big double-D tits. The water flowed down her smooth tummy to widening hips. A thin thigh gap revealed a small shaven pussy. The woman was curvy with a fantastic hourglass body.

Perci picked up on what I was doing and teasingly ran her hands down her toned body. Her firm C sized breasts were perfectly crafted and suited to her frame. They were not too big, and added to her tight figure. When I drank in the sight of her hazel eyes locked to me, she pushed the soap forward and went to crawl across the tile seductively.

“Ouch, that hurts my knees. Fuck that. Get over here or we’re going -”

A single fast lunge closed the distance. I yanked her hair back forcefully. She whimpered for the tiniest of moments, uncertain of what I intended. She smiled when my cock dove into her open mouth. My hand was swatted off her hair.

“Vhokee Vee,” Perci said while she devoured my dick. Willow looked to me for a translation and I shrugged. She plopped my cock out of her mouth. “Choke me, lightly. No hair pulling for me, please. I am super into the dominant thing, but if you start smacking my face, we are going to have problems.”

“Oh, safe stuff, this is probably a good time to go over it, Master,” Willow said, while pushing Perci back to giving me a blowjob. “You are my first Master, so take it slow, please. ‘Rainbow Farts’ is my safe word. Figure that will pull us right out of the whole BDSM thing. No blood, and fuck yes, yank my hair, smack my ass or cheek, and choke your dirty little slut. Now, with that out of the way: How may I please you, Master?”

“Both of you, soap off quickly, then let’s get into the bed,” I ordered.

“Yes Master,” Perci said with bouncing eyebrows while she hopped back onto her feet.

Her breasts slid across my body as she hastily soaped me down. When I was nice and lathered up, I backpedaled to the other showerhead. The suds shed off my body with fresh water. The girls had very dirty boobs and butts that just wouldn’t get clean as they swapped the soap in a teasing display.

After a quick dry, we arrived in the bed, ready for the real fun to begin. A glance at the timer revealed it was cut in half again. My distraction was interrupted by a soft tiny slit trying to engulf my large cock. I gave a frustrated sigh.

“Were short on time, girls. Perci, all fours, bent over right here, Willow, you get on your back there,” I said and the girl gave quick Gpad glances. They wanted to deal with the evolving situation. To prohibit that, I shoved Perci’s face into Willow’s moist swollen vagina. The next second, I was mounted behind Perci trying to fit into her very small pussy. “Perci, do you not even use dildos? Damn, girl.”

“Busszii,” Perci said, and I understood this time she was telling me she was busy.

If we were on a vacation retreat, I would break her and give the small woman time to heal. Desperate not to rip her, I went slowly. I was starting to make tiny progress when Willow’s cry of pleasure echoed in the large room.

“You girls need to swap. I can only get my tip into Perci. Shit, timer reduced again. Hurry up,” I said as the girls rotated.

With Willows thicker hips and dripping pussy, I slid halfway in on the first thrust. She clenched onto my cock with an arching cry of pleasure. I plunged in eagerly. Willow was a screamer even when her face was buried in Perci’s tiny vagina. The muffled moans were a bonus to the gripping power of her small pussy. We found our rhythm and five minutes later, I exploded inside Willow as Perci climaxed in unison with me.

“Rapid shower, and then get in gear. Sorry it was rushed at the end,” I said.

“I always planned on this intimate ‘I love you’ moment. You were still sweet and tender,” Perci said, gazing at my softening cock with longing. “I should have realized a large man and petite woman would take time for compatibility. There is a strap on in the supplies I ordered I might use to be ready next time. Hopefully, we find it before Maria does.”

Willow found this hilarious. We added to her laughter as we cleaned up again. Another glance at my watch and I realized we were now late. Waves two and three were on their way down and speeding up. Three objects had landed already that were unfolding.

“Shit! Timer is at zero. My gear is here. I will catch you up as you girls get geared. Hey Perci, Willow. You are wonderful ladies but outside this room or unless we are in a private setting, I am Cap. Also hurrah! You get to turn into soulless killing machines of The Pirate Crew. Now get those fine asses downstairs and in your gear!” I shouted the last line like a drill sergeant.

They raced out of the room in their civilian clothes. Perci would know where the underclothing and gear was at. I went back into my combat gear and double-checked my armor. I was ready; time to find out for what.

CHAPTER 8

The display screen on my Gpad was pinging with notifications. I was getting requests for extraction from members of the Pirate Crew. I sent out a blanket message.

We are hunkered down in a defensible position with supplies. Your orders are to get to the coordinates provided at all costs. ALL COSTS. For the crew. - Cap

After that, they knew what I would say. Nothing mattered besides getting to our new home FOB Mansion. Defeat the obstacles that were in your way, regardless of who or what they were.

When I glanced up from my Gpad, I saw Torrez racing through the mansion. The man was cursing about the timer as he ran for the barn to get gear on. Jevon bounded down the stairs with Becca to join me. Becca noticed we were geared for combat and fled to the barn. Our timelines kept getting bumped up; there must have been more countries going hostile.

“Status?” Jevon asked.

“Arrived moments before you.”

The screen we were half-watching flared with an alert.

‘The Russian surface to air missiles have only provoked the aliens to speed up their… intentions. At this time we don’t know what they intend to do. Our cameras on the objects are not being destroyed so we…’

I tuned the broadcaster out to watch the display. All three of the constructs were being tracked by separate cameras on different portions of the screen. The camera showed identical tall rectangular objects about thirty stories tall and fifty feet wide. The four exterior sides had an inner empty space that was framed in a black rectangle. The reason the reporter had suddenly stopped was the black inside of the structures lit with a turquoise shiny blue light. I grunted when I saw this.

“Thoughts?” Jevon asked, with his burly arms folded against his chest.

I saw the alien structure start moving at less than a walking pace on all three screens. Where the constructs were moving to seemed to be without a pattern. The camera angles rotated on the drones to face south to the north; probably ordered to get a baseline reference. All three devices revealed nothing I could ascertain from their random movements.

“Give me a minute,” I said over the reporter as he rambled on in the background.

I punched up data from the mother spaceship. The first wave was three, the second wave was nine, the third wave was eighty one, and the fourth wave was six thousand even. That six thousand even broke the pattern. Hmm… My mind fought over the reasoning of the sequential waves. There was a pattern here, but then there was not. There was no pattern on the…

‘This just in, the Russian fourgate is ejecting aliens. I repeat: the Russian fourgate is ejecting aliens.’

Oh shit! I muted the reporter to watch the scene unfold. An aquatic two-legged creature that stood no taller than four feet left the gateway with a rippling shimmy as they fell a few feet to the ground. They ran to the right side exterior grey frame and placed a hand on a button. The other three sides deactivated and the hovering construct landed with a billowing thud. What the…? Hundreds of these blue frail creatures poured onto Russian soil, desperately looking over their shoulders.

The warriors of the group carried long spears that crackled with energy at their tips. The soldiers wore light bronze armor with kilts, while most of their skin was exposed to the frigid Russian air. The civilians were garbed in thin, ragged clothing and started shivering. While there was a difference in weapons and military gear, they both shared the same fright. They kept glancing over their shoulders. A few minutes of aliens flooding onto the snow-covered grounds ended. The creature holding his hand to the button let go. When the button was no longer pressed the three dormant gates fired back up. The portal construct lifted a few feet into the air to continue roaming aimlessly.

“Fuck me! Are those aliens!?” Becca said as the rest of the team arrived from the barn fully geared.

Before I could answer my Gpad lit up with an override. I looked down to see Linda Growlen stern eyes. Not wasting time she said, “Assessment.”

“Fleeing something hostile, return to sender,” I replied and my Gpad returned to its normal status.

“Was that mom? What did we miss? Are those aliens?” The questions continued from the four late arrivals made me rub my temples.

“Enough,” Jevon ordered with an authoritarian tone. The man pointed up to the display. “Watch the screen.”

The Russians had not taken long to intercept the structure’s landing point. Their minimal forces were hesitant on how to address the situation. The Russian military in charge of pressing buttons was not. A drone caught sight of a missile barreling for the portal quadgate device. The munition diverted for the aliens. They saw the weapon coming with what I assumed was confused looks.

Boom. The screen flared with vibrant oranges mixed with reds washing over the drone camera for half a second.

The drone shook from the impact. The quadgate ignored the minor splash of damage that washed over its dull exterior. The aliens were dead. A majority of the aliens were vaporized in the powerful explosion. The rest became a gore-splattered mess across the snowy white landscape. The news crews were shocked, Willow was shocked, and I was not.

The camera shifted to the Manitoba quadgate hovering over the snow. Two bipedal bears landed with a thud as they tucked and rolled their landings. The billowing snow they ejected with their mass floated back down. The new warriors were in thick chitin armor with laser weapons. They had enhanced optics over their eye and the large bear humanoid rocketed into the air with a jetpack. As awesome as the sight was, it was equally terrifying. These aliens had superior weapons and technology. The sky-high bear spun in a circle and then returned to its brethren. They ran back to the portal and hopped in.

A moment later, the quadgate stopped moving when a black bear in combat gear jumped through and slammed a hand on the button. It was at this point I understood something. They were locking open the portal and keeping it stationary. The other three portal lights went black while the one shone brightly. Infantry marched through the portal and I about threw up with the knot my stomach twisted in. Drones were being sniped out of the air with electric precision fire. The video from the ground ceased.

A top down view occupied the screen a few second later. My guess was the news had to be broadcasting via satellite now. A thick missile was seen soaring in from the edge of the screen. The missile slammed into the marching formation of troops that exited the quadgate. The upright bear holding the construct button was ejected from his place and the four gates illuminated when he was removed. The device rose off the ground to keep moving. Bear soldiers continued to flood out of the gate. They fell the short distance to the grass in a growing pile of tangled limbs. A quick thinking soldier raced for the construct and placed a hand on the device.

Before I could see what happened next, the camera cut out. Uh-oh. The news feed showed the alien spacecraft aggressively charging for Earth as it blasted satellites out of the sky indiscriminately. The feed of the news cut off. My Gpad gave an alert that said ‘out of service’ and I flopped into the nearest chair in despair.

All eyes landed on me.

“Start the coffee, find the lights, and pray for your families. We get to work. Becca, you’re on over watch, get some scan glasses and perch on the third floor. I want you to look for any glowing blue light. Find me if you see any. Perci, get the radios out since we lost sync with the global networks. Everyone should have the data on where to go. It will just not track their movement updates. Auto taxis are probably stopped dead, meaning every road in the world is probably clogged. Shit! I want to start punching stuff and screaming in rage. We cannot do that. Here we go, if there is a god…”

“May he or she forgive us,” Torrez and Jevon said in our ritual.

“I got the coffee, we even bought thermoses, expecting to have to work out in the cold,” Willow said, trying to distract herself from breaking down.

I could spare the two minutes and wrapped her in a hug. “Hey, your mom will be okay. She is driving herself, correct?”

“Yeah, we could never afford an auto car. It is electric, though. Not great for off-roading, and small. Derek and Tina will be stuck though and forced to go on foot,” Willow said, being far more resilient than I anticipated.

“Well everyone knows where to go. Thank you for being strong and for trusting me.”

“The craziest cliff I went off, was with you. Thank you for letting me fight and prepare. I should be at my acting seminar right now; I would be panicking wishing I had a man like you in this very moment. I am scared, but I am strong. I will never forget what you did for me,” Willow said softly and kissed my cheek. Her face turned sour and then went back to a smile. “Let’s hope they make it. Maybe you can try to pick them up?”

“A trip up and down the road makes a lot of sense once we get a semblance of a perimeter established. That was an alien army. My best guess, we are now networked into different alien planets where violence is common,” I said, leaving Willow’s side for the door.

“Hold on, Cap,” Perci said, clutching my silicone hand. “Why?”

“Those Russian aliens were scared of something savage. The bears were something savage, but based on their ranged weapons, I do not think that’s what the first aliens were terrified of. And lastly, we humans are savage. If Saudi Arabia taught me anything, it is that human nature is brutal when it is ‘you or me’ scenarios.”

“Alright, but Cap: bury the power lines first. Without power, we are doomed. Come on, Torrez. Time to dig out some radios.”

The two left the mansion, while Becca hesitated a bit. “Out with it?”

“Can I do something productive while I am on over watch?”

“I trust you up there. I haven’t had time to train Maria or Willow. So, train them when you can. Tell them what to look for. Teach them how to handle weapons. Build them into soldiers while we work. I will keep the guard rotations to every few hours and they will manage setting up for refugees, food, coffee, and training. Also, someone has to watch Jasmine when she is awake,” I said, pointing up the stairs. Becca nodded and went up to the roof. “You catch all that, Willow?”

“Coffee, and then join Becca. When radios are handed out, you will adjust from there, Cap,” Willow replied, and I smiled.

“Our Gpads should unlock the backhoes. You have physical keys for your machine, correct?” I asked Jevon as I went out the sliding glass door.

The cold air assaulted my face. The exterior lights started to flicker on as Willow was managing the central control box for the mansion from the kitchen. The outside space was actually illuminated fairly well, to the point that the floodlights were a lower priority. Even the moon shone brightly in the scattered night sky.

“Let’s go see how they rigged these up. Fancy houses like this... we should encounter higher quality materials,” Jevon said, scanning the thin power lines.

We neared the closest pole to the house and the wires were buried about twenty feet next to the foundation. The lines looked sturdy. Their coating was thick with a rubbery texture. While I anticipated they could handle being buried, I knew at the same time, we were messing with our most vital resource besides food and water. Electricity. The solar panels stored away would add days to our labor cost if we broke this system.

There were foot and hand pegs I used to climb up. I pulled myself up to where the wires were bound to the pole. I grew confused when I saw they were clamped to a peg with a metal tightening bracket.

“Hey, you were working construction after the desert. I think these are insulated lines. Give them a look,” I said, climbing down.

“A project like this on a property this expensive? Yeah, these should be safe to touch. I did not think of that,” Jevon said, going up the pole. “Most of the stuff I work on is Gcorp cheap housing. This is anything but that. Yup, I even have a multi-tool on my vest. Step back, please.”

“Wait, I can’t get shocked, correct?”

“Do you want wires to land on your head?”

“Fair enough,” I said, and the wires had enough give to hit the ground here while flexing at the next pole. Jevon stepped down the twelve-foot tall pole. When he was on the ground, he walked over with his tool held out. I grabbed the device with the screwdriver extended and said, “Okay, not going to complain about an easy win. I will pull them down and you dig the trench. I will bury the line behind you.”

“For the crew,” Jevon said.

“For the crew.”

The next twenty minutes was me following the power lines, as I would climb up to undo the releases. Jevon was a pro in the backhoe. When I neared the river, the poles thankfully stopped. The constant babbling of the water fighting the stones was competing against the whine of the hydro turbines. With it being dark, I could barely make out the river power station. A hoot caught my attention from the surrounding woods. The trees around me were a tad spooky without digital scan glasses or NVGs. I would need to get a set on, or at least in my vest. I jogged back down the line to find Perci handing Jevon a radio outside the backhoe. When I approached, she handed me the small cell phone-like device.

“Radio test, Becca.”

“Copy Cap, Becca out.”

“Cap, these radios are somewhat secure. Enough time or a smart enough alien can hack them. Hell, I could with a stolen or dropped receiver,” Perci said with a frown.

“Back to digging for me while you two talk,” Jevon said and hopped back into the electric machine.

I walked with Perci back to where Torrez was setting up lights. The exterior was already getting significantly brighter. If we were not so deep into the mountains I would worry the excessive brightness would attract attention. Perci held my hand tensely.

“I may have had an oversight moment. Please don’t be angry, Cap,” Perci said with pleading eyes. “Mother assured me the Gpads would operate without satellites. Our communication towers reach the entire country. Gcorp spent billions repurposing old towers into new Gnet redundancy stations. I want to believe the Gnet is up. Just not here.”

“Well, maybe the Gnet is working, just not this far into the mountains. What were you wanting to work on next? Hesco preparation or Hesco preparation?”

“Har, har,” Perci replied with a sarcastic tone. She twirled her hair to playfully whip me.

“I thought it was funny, Cap. I think this is enough light,” Torrez said, instinctively trying to shake off the light he just blinded himself with. The man recovered quickly and said, “Any objection to me shoving the crates closer with the dozer?”

“I need everyone to have scan glasses,” I said. “And I do not care about the grass getting destroyed. Use your best judgment. Those dirt containers will take a beating, so I think you’re fine shoving them over the ground.”

“We only have seven scan glasses. They are up with Becca for now. Well, eight if you count the pair Jevon has. They were rare, like the new electric guns. I am itching to test those, even if they were reviewed as disappointing,” Torrez said, losing focus as his mind drifted. “Those bears had superior weapons.”

“Sure, they also had no tanks or air support. Things that go boom obviously kill them. Is Maria going to sleep?” I said with a long exhale. “Are you against her learning how to be a soldier?”

“While I appreciate you asking, no; she will do what is needed. Cap, this is your show and if you need her, go wake her up. She fell asleep with Jasmine. I hate we are in another pickle, but we will be okay. Everyone will do their part. For the crew,” Torrez said.

“For the crew,” I replied and he left for the bulldozer.

“He super knows you are not going to wake Maria up,” Perci said with a teasing, snarky voice.

“Yup. Oh hey, Willow. Steaming coffee, perfect. Thank you.”

“I brought yours out earlier, Cap, but you were in the spooky woods. I am going back to learning from Becca if that is okay,” Willow said.

“Sure. Did you get a carbine yet?”

“Yeah, it is right there inside the door. Becca was going to show me how to sling it,” Willow replied with a smile.

“Perfect. I want you to start shooting as soon as we can. Merely say when on the radio first. I will leave that pole over there up and we can stick a box on it for target practice,” I said, pointing to a pole now void of wires that was a hundred feet out. “Obviously wait until I say the area is clear. And you can get the box. I am going to be sliding electrical lines into the dirt.”

“So Eric, since it is just us. For the crew…” Perci said, and let the words hang in the air.

I let out a huff and my air frosted. Huh, it should not be that cold. My Gpad said it was in the high thirties. The forecast had been low forties when I looked at it earlier. I shook it off as minor and grasped Perci by the shoulder, ensuring our eyes were locked.

“The crew means we are not adhering to laws. Friendly, domestic, or otherwise. For the crew was our excuse. We need to be strong. For the crew. We need to provide. For the crew. We kill to save others. For the crew. The list goes on. Then there is the prayer. If there is a god,” I said.

“May he or she forgive us. For the crew,” Willow said, catching on.

“Yup.”

“Okay, I am with you, to the end. You think things will really turn that grim?” Perci asked, and I nodded.

My hand swept the area where Denver was way down the mountains and said, “That is not Saudi Arabia. There are not some hard desert people with AKs in Denver. There will be the strong, and the weak. Then the weak will become strong or follow the strong. Anarchy will set in when food stops arriving from factories.”

“Can we make a trip early? I want to know if our Gpads work closer to Denver. Intel from my mom and reestablishing links with the crew is worth the two hours,” Perci said convincingly. “It could mean a big difference. Also, I may have ordered more supplies. Like all I could when the mom gave me the alert. We should be getting the last drone deliveries.”

“If you wake up Maria and Jasmine. We leave as a complete team if we are going out at night. We will not finish the perimeter in two or three hours, probably at least half a day. The drive will let people sleep, too. A few hours does a lot, even if he does not sound like it. Consider me convinced.”

“Got it, slowing the coffee then,” Willow said, her lips puckered.

I grabbed my radio, pressed the indent, and waited a moment.

“Crew. Six actual, rally RV after wires are buried. Becca, prep the vehicle now. Be vigilant, over watch is coming down,” I said into the radio. The required replies were sent. “This is happening because I agree with the idea and had no idea we might get reception down the mountain. Not because you look fantastic naked.”

Perci smirked, turning both palms up at her shoulders. She gave a cute smile and said, “Want me to help bury lines or help Becca?”

“Watching you bend over has its perks. Willow, go with Becca and keep learning while helping. Dismissed,” I said, and Willow curtsied. “Oh, I could get used to that.”

“You did just play the king. Pirate King sounds better than Pirate Captain.”

“Shoo with you, Willow, before you inflate his ego,” Perci said, motioning Willow inside.

The trip to the ditch was short. Based on how Jevon piled the dirt, I knew he intended to push it with the dozer.

“Torrez, hold off on moving those barrier skins. Come over here and backfill behind me,” I said into the radio. “We will set up our perimeter later.”

“Wilco Cap.”

The next half hour was monotonous but by the end of the ordeal, our power lines were buried. That was a big achievement. Even if it did not protect the physical mansion, it would leave our vulnerable lines protected. Torrez left the bulldozer by the kid park as he went in for his wife and daughter. The RV rolled next to me with a soft whine of the electric engine.

The door swung open to reveal Willow fully armored and armed. Her MK3 used its diagonal sling to rest on her right hip with the ACOG aimed forward. Before you assume that would be a given, it sure as fuck was not. I had been lax with my troops at first in Saudi Arabia. After the initial firefights, your weapon was slung in a posture that allowed for a quick shoulder, sight, exhale, and tender squeeze. Her plump lips split in a smile that locked me in place. Her pink hair was braided tightly in pigtails that came to a knot on the back of her head. Her helmet was snug, her vest was geared correctly, and she even tucked her laces into her boots.

“You ogling me or inspecting me?” Willow asked, stepping out of the way to let me in. I was about to reply when she said, “Okay, here they come. Dim the lights.”

The interior lights dimmed while I vacated the entry point of the camper. Maria came out with Jasmine tucked into her chest. She cradled the girl into the back room and Willow softly shut them in. The light intensity in the cabin increased once they were behind the door. Torrez came to the RV with a fifty cal sniper rifle with a night vision scope. The RV creaked under the weight of his mechanical legs. Jevon sealed the heavy door as he was the last to load up.

I decided to catch some shuteye like a professional soldier. My ascent to the top bunk over the driver section was joined by Torrez. Jevon and Becca occupied the bucket seats. Perci folded the table down into a bed, a blanket with pillows were laid out, and the interior lights dimmed. I removed my helmet, tucking it into a snuggle buddy. Within minutes, I was out.

My boot was being pulled on, forcing me awake. A minor headache reverberated through my head from a lack of quality sleep. I had no choice but to shake it off and crawl out of the loft. My helmet went back onto my head with a snap. My Gpad lit up like a Christmas tree with alerts. Most of the news I skimmed through was bad. Wait…

“Officer, you have about two second to step away from the vehicle,” Jevon was saying through the partially opened window next to the RV door.

I dove headfirst into the loft. I rushed for the roof access. I rapidly spun the hatch release and scurried through the hole, which was barely big enough. The moment I popped onto the roof, a second trooper drew his sidearm at my sight.

Instinct kicked in. My cybernetic arm enhanced my reaction. My rifle instantly snapped up with a crack, crack. Two brass casings went flying off the roof of the RV. The trooper was sprawled on the ground with his weapon flung off into the road. While I was impressed at how fast I reacted. I assessed the situation and it seemed there were only the two officers at first glance. The trooper by the camper door was screaming for backup. Jevon was screaming for him to put his weapon on the ground. I ran to the back of the RV.

Using the spare tire for my feet along with my engineered arm, I lowered myself silently down to the bumper. I rapidly tilted my upper body for the tiniest of peeks around the corner. Internally, I was cursing for not having scan glasses on me. The trooper was facing Jevon as my friend remained behind a bulletproof window. When I came around the corner, he kept glancing up for me. I had the drop on him now with my carbine, ready for him to react.

“Weapon down!” I shouted, hoping he wouldn’t spin.

He spun.

Crack! Crack! My rounds slammed into his armored chest, sending him flying.

Jevon burst out of the camper. I rushed for the first deputy I had downed. The man was rolling on the ground in pain. My run let me get to his sidearm before he could. The lucky shit was wearing the newest state-issued heavy plating. He was alive; probably some cracked ribs and gnarly bruising from the blunt force trauma, but alive. I stripped him of his weapons, ammo, keys, and radio.

His radio was cracking with bad static. A dispatcher was requesting a report in broken words. I turned the radio off to quiet the noise. About fifty feet down the road, there was a barricade with a pile of vehicles behind it.

“Tina!” I heard Willow shout for a brief moment.

Shit. Her friend was racing across the gap. We were going to lose control of the situation if we had not already. My rifle pointed into the air and I fired a single shot off.

“Onto the ground, now!” Jevon shouted with his weapon aimed at the restless crowd behind the barricades.

“We surrender. For the crew!” A voice I knew yelled out and returned a round into the air.

“Mitchell is here, advance the RV. Secure the friendlies. Break down the barricade. I need to find out why this roadblock is here,” I said into the radio Perci had given me.

The RV rolled forward to set up by the barricade. I tossed the cop’s keys to Jevon, who looted the cop car shotguns quickly. The vehicle did a U-turn by the barricades and I saw people piling in. Jevon ran back to the RV to handle the situation, while I moved the two wounded men to beside their vehicles off the road. Both would live and were angry as hell at me as they painfully breathed. I did not blame them. They were not going to be any good for interrogating right now.

I spun the radio to on, keyed the mic, and waited a second. “This is Pirate Six, I repeat, Pirate Six. Your troopers are alive with BFT to the chest. They drew on mercenary forces escorting a HVT. Requesting medical aid at vehicle location. I repeat. Stable condition in the back of their-”

“Break. Break. Break. Are you saying officers down?”

“Affirm. Stable. Pissed-off, but will recover just fine.”

“You are not a medical professional.”

“I fear I need to warn you. This area is now a military zone. Your interference will not always be met with non-lethal force,” I said into the radio.

There was a tirade as the dispatcher went ballistic on me. I glanced down at the two men, who managed to sit up now. They were still sucking wind with labored breaths. The one asked for the radio and I handed it to him.

“Get the Chief... Fredrick here,” Fredrick said with a pause.

“This is Chief actual, you okay?”

“Yeah, Chief. These men are... in military gear... with military training. I cannot... hold the road...” He said painfully.

“EMS on the way, ETA five mikes. Pirate Six?”

I grabbed the radio back and said, “Go ahead.”

“That road was blocked for a HVT, are you telling me you have secured the HVT.”

“Affirm. Pirate Six, out.”

I twisted the knob until the radio was off. The officer accepted it with a nod. The look of hatred left his eyes. I’d had that look myself a few times. He was happy to be alive with little else mattering. The brain was forcing him into an elated state. We smiled at each other while I stood over him.

“Fredrick. I am sorry. When this is over and you get back on your feet, remember your family. Go protect them. I need to go protect mine. For the crew,” I said, and he grunted while using a hand to stop me.

“Thanks for not killing us. I know you could have,” Fredrick replied.

I left him with the protection of his vehicle to lean against. He was away from the road and I knew the medics or backup would arrive soon. I paused to cross the street. The flow of traffic streaming up the road was not long. Most of the vehicles pulled over to wait to convoy with us. Finally, the last three cars zoomed by and I ran to the RV.

Torrez covered my dash to our mini-perimeter. I went to the forest side of the RV and a reunion was underway. I did not see Willow or Tina, and realized they were probably inside the camper. Mitchell, Delcroy, Mclain, and three armed men, as well as women, were talking with Jevon.

“Cap, good to see you,” Mclain said. “This is my sister, Dalila. No, Cap. No funny business.”

The man was five-ten, olive complexion with black hair, and brown eyes. Mclain was one hell of a shot. His sister had dyed blonde hair, brown eyebrows with brown eyes, and a dimpled smile. I started shaking hands of those around me. Delcroy was a sergeant, one of the best I had. The man was five seven with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had an AR-19 with a full thirty mag locked into the weapon. No doubt the modifying had already begun across the nation. Mitchell had his two brothers with him. Mitchell was carrying the fifty cal we brought. He normally was a spotter, but there were times where spotters could make fantastic snipers. His brothers were slight variations of the man. Brown hair, brown eyes, and each about six feet tall.

After introductions, I said, “Any of these cars forced to auto-navigate?”

“No, Cap. Only those two in the airport auto taxi need a lift. Dedric, Lavaun, and Slister are all due in the next ten mikes,” Mclain said.

“Break this up. Corner perimeter posts. Find cover. Put the civilians in the RV for rapid exfil if we have to,” I said and the men and women sped off to follow my orders. I muttered under my breath, “At least I can say I saw the men I shot - get the help they needed.”

“I swear, maybe once in our life when we tell someone to set a weapon down, they will. If they had the old vests, they would be dead,” Jevon said as we walked into the camper.

I handed Perci my magazine minus four rounds, just like old times. She was even waiting with an ammo box out. I leaned down and gave her a juicy kiss she was not expecting. Willow cleared her throat. I shifted my lips and kissed Willow. I probably read the situation wrong when Willow blushed profusely.

“Cap, this is Tina and Derek. Derek and Tina, this is Cap. My boyfriend. I guess I should have introduced Perci as my girlfriend.” I shook Tina’s hand and then Derek’s hand.

“Derek, I am Cap in official times, Eric in relaxed times. Do either of you know how to shoot?” I asked, and they both shook their heads no. “No worries. There are a thousand things to do when we get home. XO, you have command while I send a few Gpad notes out. Perci, sit-rep while I type.”

I planted my ass in the passenger bucket set. The first message was to mom who was so upset she had not listened to me or my new wife… Perci. I chuckled and wished her luck. That was the best I could do, minus mentioning how much I loved her. She told me she would be fine. Mom was honored I was her son. I hoped I would talk to her again but a tug at my shriveled heart said I probably would not. Perci shook my shoulder to garner my attention.

“I told your mom I would protect you in her place. Sorry, Eric. Are you ready for the report?” Perci asked, and I nodded.

She returned to the table that had been converted back from being a bed. Additional people flowed into the camper seeking refuge. With the main area crowding, people pushed into the room Maria and Jasmine read a book in. There was little choice and overcrowding would become a normal thing. People compressed into small living areas, handling the situation the best they could. Smiles at being close to the FOB were evident as people relaxed while finding standing space.

“The aliens launched six waves in total. Three, nine, eighty-one, and the last three waves were six thousand each. Total of eighteen thousand and ninety-three. The Gnet is a mess with rumors and sprinkled facts. The quadgates or fourportals…well, the theme is there on the name. They are random. When I say random, I mean it in every way. The second wave had a construct land on the beach in Brazil. The gate spawned two alien species that tore into each other. Gcorp believes the portals link to separate worlds with no common rational reasoning. The prevailing theory is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of worlds synced to the portal network that Earth is being forced into.

“Okay, you listening? This next part is very important,” Perci said. I paused in typing on my Gpad asking the Biysk couple to secure our packages to give Perci my full attention. “The drones won’t pick up what people in real time get to see. Reports are you can view the entire surrounding other side of the portal in person. There is a magical effect—I repeat, a ‘magical effect’—where, if you shift left or right, you can get a three-sixty view around the gateway. Basically, you need to see it in person. Which I have bad news, because most of the world will get a chance to. Two devices are going to land around Denver. One will land about sixty miles south of Fob Mansion. Another a few hours west and a final one ten hours north. There are no safe zones without fourgates coming. Except underground. The estimated range on the constructs is a hundred miles a day. If not locked down by pressing the button. The current theory is that they roam in a generic area, but only time will tell.

“There have been zero signals or messages from the mothership. Looting, a mass exodus of metropolitan areas, and hoarding of supplies are already running rampant. Gcorp is estimating five percent of humanity will die from self-inflicted damage before we even deal with the majority of these fourgates. Ugh, I am reading these reports and we need a solid name for these portal devices, Cap.”

“Xgates works. There are four open sides to an x,” I said. “Hell, your mom -”

“Loves it, here is your magazine back. Xgates are complex. Gcorp official policy, which is US policy, by the way, is to give them space. The government has put out to start building strongholds around farms. We are fucked for food. Not our stronghold immediately, but humanity in general. Our farm fields will be left open and our cities will starve. Gcorp is putting the word out now. Get out of the cities and defend the farms. Even if the advice is heeded, the means of getting that food to the cities will never work. The days of delivering frozen beef patties to your local fast food joint are over.”

“Okay, enough pessimism. I seem to have seen a lot of bear meat scattered across Manitoba, ripe for the -”

“Eww, you brute,” Willow said with a scrunched face at my statement.

Torrez shook his head, succeeding at getting her to pause. He also gave me a stern look. Too late. I said, “We ate dog, cat, and even rats in Saudi Arabia. Let us hope we never get to that point again. Perfect timing to change the topic. Here comes the ambulance.”

I watched the officers help each other up as the ambulance screeched to a halt by the patrol cars. They reported something to the driver and there was an ensuing argument. The large driver struggled out of the front seat and the axles thanked her when she exited the vehicle. She waddled over to the RV with her hands up. I went outside with Jevon to greet our visitor.

“Pirate Six?” the overweight woman with flushed cheeks asked.

“Busy, what can I help you with?”

“The chief needs all the weapons he can get. Those side arms and the shotguns out of the cars are vital. They -”

“Hand me your radio. Make a wrong move and you die,” I said with a nod to Torrez, who was on the roof of the RV. The woman looked concerned but obeyed. “Chief, this is Pirate Six.”

“Pirate Six, this is Chief.”

“I am not the enemy. My intel says an Xgate will be roaming our area. Your… medic is requesting we return your munitions. Our FOB has spares. I would rather meet again as friends than enemies. Over.”

“You got a medic?”

“Got medicine, my medics should be here in less than five mikes.”

“I am unlocking Fredrick’s patrol car. Give the weapons to Paris and then I will visit Fredrick at your base.”

“The tracking won’t work. We are in a dead zone for Gnet,” I said and this time there was a long pause.

“Leaving now. ETA, ten mikes. Chief out.”

I grunted in approval. “Deliver the weapons to the ambulance,” I said and Jevon nodded.

The moment Paris was back in the ambulance with the weapons, the vehicle sped off. She seemed nice. I was curious about why she avoided the weight loss mites. She could look great with no effort. To each their own.

I returned to the RV as Slister arrived. She was a six foot tall, lanky woman. A real bitchy redhead who was married to some polar opposite bookworm professor. I remember her explaining him as plain and boring. Unwilling to go camping or get dirty and glued to his classroom or lab.

I was getting a status update on Willow’s mom when they entered the RV.

“She is being routed around Denver. North of Boulder and then cutting west through back roads. Then more back roads,” Willow said, showing me her Gpad displaying the new route. ETA now 7 hours. Still not the worst. “She has FOB Mansion on her map though and she is trusting Gnet.”

“Great. Thanks for the information, Willow,” I said and kissed her cheek. She liked this peck. Perci playfully bounced her eyebrows. “Specialist Slister fantastic timing. Welcome back. For the crew.”

“For the crew. This is my husband, Norm,” Slister said and I shook hands with Norm. He was a super buff handsome man. The kind you saw on romance novel covers. I bet the students loved him. I did not see a mutual attraction here, but again, who was I to judge? “Norm teaches agriculture but has his degree in seed engineering. Our auto taxi kicked us out, and Lavaun was right behind us. I take it we’re loading up in here?”

“Yeah, squeeze in. Stick those duffels in the side storage first please,” I said and the duo went back to do exactly that. I raised my voice so they could hear me outside and said, “We have Dedric, Lavaun, and a local sheriff coming. Going to take him home. Trying to recruit, instead of killing the local lawmen. Hopefully it helps.”

Jevon grunted from the doorway and said, “It is a risk, Cap. We could be fine without them. We have almost a full squad of trained and a full squad plus untrained.”

“XO, we need help and it is the right thing to do. These are fellow Americans. If we get burned, we lock the gates, snipe the enemy, and live as a family in our stronghold.”

“Not going full pirate yet? I like the idea,” Slister said, and Torrez muttered an agreement. “I am not saying I regret our actions in Saudi, but some haunt me.”

“Hey you two, don’t team up on me. The Cap is right on this one. However, it is my job to give him other opinions. We heard it, we give the Chief his chance,” Jevon said defensively. Fresh headlights came up the hill. “Perfect, here come Dedric and Lavaun. Damn, Dedric brought a minivan full of people. They are being waved up and told to stay in the vehicle. We are out of room. Lavaun is solo and needs a ride.”

Dedric was an older black man who was my second platoon sergeant. He was one of the dozen or so that randomly got placed into an ex-con unit. He was an avid Christian and disapproved of about ninety percent of my moral decision making. He frequently prayed for my soul and was the reason we had a pirate prayer. Militarily, he was a crack shot under pressure who instantly followed my orders. He never openly regretted or countermanded my unlawful orders. Merely sought forgiveness in his quest to return to his family. The van pulled forward to join the convoy.

Lavaun was a blonde haired, blue eyed babe with her plump curves, confident smile, and gorgeous features. The kind of girl who taunted the boys and probably should be sleeping with Slister’s husband. So, imagine my surprise when Lavaun walked into the RV and said, “Norm, good to see you sexy. I am ready for my lesson in seed implantation.”

She always was very forward, but I thought she was a lesbian who teased men only. She slept with Slister the entire time in Saudi Arabia. The man waved her down in a panic. Slister and Lavaun burst out laughing due to some inside joke. They were as close as sisters and I finally made the connection.

“The Cap is in a throuple, Maria spilled the beans… Not making a Mexican joke, girl. Anyway, I told you to stop being such a tight ass, Norm,” Slister said, hugging Lavaun. “The crew is family. They will not judge that we sleep three to a bed.”

Norm rubbed his palms against his pants anxiously. I shrugged while he awkwardly smiled.

“Wait, you and your wife are finally together. Awesome, good for you, Cap. Oh. Shit. Permission to come aboard, sir,” Lavaun asked with a brimming smile and mock salute.

“First to ask, granted. Here comes our guest of honor. Civilians, load up in these other vehicles, start the convoy, and roll out. I am not talking on the side of the road with this guy. Perci, get one last message out before we go dark. Becca, lead the way to FOB Mansion. We’re going radio silent,” I said, and the RV hummed to life.

My orders were put into motion as the trail of cars, vans, and trucks with trailers followed in our wake. At the very end, we even had a police escort. The trip to the edge of the Gnet range had proven very fruitful. I was not excited to tackle the mountain of work on top of the mountain. At least with the nearest crew arriving, we could get day and night cycles going. It was only a matter of time before we had to deal with our very own Xgate.

CHAPTER 9

“Perci, why the blazes is it snowing?” I asked as we drove down the long dirt road. The RV was pushing through snow it rattled along. When we entered the clearing, I saw the falling snow melting into the grass. The large flakes abruptly turned off as if someone flipped a switch and, instinctively, I leaned forward to crane my neck skyward. Outside the window, I saw a bunch of clouds and no alien spaceship.

“It used to snow here in early spring. Global warming has changed the season. I downloaded all the files, if you could give me a minute…” Perci said, rapidly punching her finger to her Gpad.

“This is Pirate Six, park next to the mansion,” I said into the radio.

“Damn, I need to become a mercenary,” Norm said, ducking to get a good view of the massive building.

“Pirate, not a mercenary. We stole the house. Literally stole the mansion with digital signatures. It helps to be the heiress of darkness.” Perci cackled at her statement that made no sense to anyone besides her. She noticed confused glances and said, “Oh, I may have used my heiress status to advocate for one certain Captain Moostache. You were getting a lot of negative feedback as well as positive. The day after I go on this long spiel about how it's a comedic skit that no one should take seriously... Well, you marched some people off a thirty-foot plank in the next video. When they screamed in torment from not dying, you drove away. Ergo, heiress of darkness. Mom gave me shit for a week about how you were a bad influence. Her people start adding hooks into your videos to give enough evidence people thought it was all doctored. You were caused -”

“Um, Cap. Sergeant Morrison, the S1 shadow you had that we called your deployment wifey is not Sergeant Morrison, is she?” Specialist Slister asked. To counter her forward question, she launched into platitudes. “You look fantastic, btw. Your hair looks great, you fixed your eye, and it is like you are glowing with happiness.”

“Oh, shit, I guess we missed that part. Last thing we need is the wrong people finding out my real identity because we use Perci and these lines of questions come out later. I am Persephone Yang, formerly Persephone Growlen, who served during the war under the false last name Morrison. As in Gcorp CEO Linda Growlen’s daughter. I will alert the other crew to not mention this in front of family and to call me Perci or LT.”

I reached back to grab her wrist. Perci was quick enough to dodge my attempt.

“In my lap, Persephone,” I said with a growl.

“Eek,” Perci said, racing into my lap. She was so small we managed to fit in the bucket seat doubled up without an issue. “What did I do?”

“Tell me why it is snowing,” I ordered.

“Short answer, there is no conclusive data. Long answer is that the eighteen thousand plus Xgates could have opened enough of our atmosphere to let in cool space air. If that is the case, the scientists predict a quick recovery to our global warming standards. That is not the winning argument. The most supported theory is the mother ship fixed our global warming crisis with the push of a button. The how or validity to that statement has yet to be proven. With both options there could be long term impacts, but nothing as grand as alien portals suddenly covering the globe.”

“See, not so hard. If others distract you, ignore them until my orders are complete. And Perci, we are not married. Yet. That is not a proposal. Just use a different last name until we are,” I said.

Perci pouted, opened her mouth to complain, and closed it. When she was about to leave my lap, I wrapped a fist around her neck with slight pressure. Her eyes bulged in surprise and then delight. She kissed me deeply with a loud lip-smack as our kiss broke. Perci leaned into my ear.

“I have waited a long time for moments like these. Even longer to feel that girthy cock of yours inside me. Promise we can work it in later,” Perci whispered before leaping off my lap before I could respond.

I fumed because I was going to promise her, but she was out the parked RV with giggling joy. The caravan had stopped as close to the mansion as possible. People were flooding out of vehicles with supplies, eager to escape the cold for the warm mansion. The only car not parked yet was the state trooper vehicle. I waved him over to the barn, with Jevon at my side.

“Orders,” Jevon said with a shiver. The man hated the cold. Which was why he moved to Arizona when we got out. We had talked of seeing each other after getting out but never did. I patted him on the back, realizing how much I had missed him. “What? You got that goofy ass face of yours on.”

“I missed you, and I appreciate you being here in the snow,” I said, laughing at him shivering. “What was your family update?”

“Mom should be at the auto taxi turnaround line in an hour or so. I will set up an RV rotation. Hopefully things stay civil at the drop-off point. My brother’s report was he left L.A. before the news declared aliens arrived. Noon was his ETA, dependent on clear roads and limited pee breaks. He has three kids and a bossy wife, so...”

“With the chaos, who knows? Good idea on setting up a pick-up rotation. Oh, add this location to the pickup point.” I sent him the location with the gate code to our new house. “Give some of Dedric’s family a purpose. Sorry I never visited Jevon.” I grimaced as I said it.

“I hit the bottle when we got home. I would work twelve hours, if not more, picking up shifts when able. Anything to keep my mind numb. After, I would go home and get drunk. My excuse was seeing you would hurt. I was wrong,” Jevon said and gave me a pat on the back to go with a manly hug. A slap to my shoulder was accompanied by a nod. “I missed you too, brother. Now, enough emotional stuff. Besides a bus rotation, what are your orders?”

“Six hours rest,” I said and he raised an eyebrow. I knew he was about to object. “Yes, I am certain. If people can’t sleep, so be it. This may be the only time people get to sleep in the coming days. A key lesson from Saudi was that zombie troops are not ideal.”

“I know, I know. I slept while the truck drove itself. Glad I got the manual steering package. Two years of back pay is sitting in that truck,” Jevon said, pointing at his steel alloyed truck with off-road tires and solar roof. “Sleep is smart. Won’t argue that fact. We need a perimeter, though.”

“Start laying out hesco barriers. I think we’re going to need to turn the barn into housing too. The whole unit is coming with family and kids. That means at least hundreds, if not thousands, of people when it is said and done. Dig into the tents or create a report for how we can incorporate them into the head of the buildings. Or we can set up the tents to put the supplies in to make room in the barn. The supplies can be covered in the cold.” I started rubbing my temples under my helmet. “You are capable. We need a plan and I may change a lot once we have more information in the morning. Thick earth fortification is going to be needed no matter what. Maybe… No, definitely a wider perimeter. The roof perch should still have a line of sight a few hundred feet out.”

Jevon tuned to face the roof. He ran a hand down to angle the perch to the earth. “Okay, I will redesign the layout and tell people to get some sleep. If the barn becomes a living structure… that means it needs to be inside our fortifications. We can probably—”

Perci interrupted and said, “Want me in the meeting?”

“You‘re our personnel and supply officer all in one. Yes, Jevon can handle getting everyone settled and planning out some new options based on inventory numbers. Pass him your files,” I said, and Jevon tapped his Gpad to Perci’s. Willow darted over to kiss my cheek. I smiled, pulling her in for a deep kiss. “Where you off to, lovely lady?”

“I was going to sleep, unless you want me with you?” Willow said.

“I haven’t had time to tell you my full plans for you yet, Willow. I want to train you to be a soldier. We, Perci and I, will need your help. That includes managing tasks, attending meetings, and counting supplies with us. Go tell your friends goodnight and then meet us in the barn. Manager’s office. I think you know the one!” I said with a smirk.

Willow blushed and said, “I happen to know exactly where it is. So you’re grooming me to be an officer?”

“For combat, hell no. No offense. Maybe for logistics and supplies. I have like thirty amazing troops ready for promotions…”

“I will start talking to the sergeants about what they want to do with new rank structures. Alright, I got what I need. Have fun with your meeting,” Jevon said with a wave over his shoulder as he ran for the mansion.

“Few things, Willow,” I said, shivering slightly from the cold. “We are a team, and I am not talking about ‘for the crew’. You, Perci, and I are a team. So, I need you in the know. The more information you have, the more you can learn. Unfortunately, that means less sleep.”

Willow smiled before clutching me with an embrace. I saw Tina and Derek—or was it Denis?—waiting for her outside the mansion. She waved for them to go on. My left arm went over her shoulder while Perci greeted the chief, who was approaching cautiously. The man eased when he saw friendly faces with no signs of aggression. We briskly walked for the barn to escape the cold. Perci rapidly punched in the barn door’s code. The device gave a beep before the doors automatically slid open.

“Yes! Whoever had the foresight to heat this place is amazing,” I blurted upon the warm entry.

Once inside, the doors slid closed with a tap on Perci’s Gpad. I turned to the state trooper. He wore a cowboy hat that was faded with time. A dull gold star was placed over his heart on his winter jacket. A revolver that was clearly not standard issue hung on his left hip. The man had a grim look behind his dark eyes.

“Not going to ask me to disarm?”

“Wouldn’t get very far if you did something dumb. You do not seem dumb. I am Eric Yang, this is Perci, and this is Willow Hanks. They help me run this crew,” I said, indicating which lovely lady was which to the officer.

“Eddy, Eddy Smarts. I see a year of food out here for the folk you brought in. Hell, you have off-grid power, and a lot of it. Then there are guns—did you buy the Pew-Pew Emporium?”

The laughter from Perci paused him. She gave an odd cackling with an exaggerated sigh.

“Yeah, as much as a big rig and trailer could haul. Sorry, Cap. I didn’t sleep much last night,” Perci said.

“Exactly why I wanted to let everyone sleep tonight. What is the timer on the local Xgate arrival?”

“Seventeen hours.”

“Eddy, we, well this area, is going to get visited by aliens in less than a day. Here. Not on a view screen in some distance place. Right here about an hour south in the mountains. Before the coming storm arrives, and to weather it once it gets here, we can ally, trade, or become friends,” I said and my tone turned stern while I clenched my jaw. “Or your boys can draw on me. Not looking for an apology, and I will give one, only because I have never been able to say this before to a living soul. I am sorry I had to shoot them. Normally I leave bodies in my wake. Onto business, your overweight paramedic mentioned you were low on guns.”

“Paris, yeah. She was told to say that. We are actually sitting really pretty on weapons. You would be surprised how many super liberals handed in weapons for the latest Hansen buyback. I just didn’t want to have to write the boys up for lost weapons,” Eddy chuckled and then stopped. “Funny how, when the end of the world arrives, and us desk cops are worried about paperwork. As you can imagine, most of us get sent here on assignment. Not exactly the area you can afford to keep your family close to. Which leaves most of my twelve officers, ten effective crew, in a bind.”

“We are expecting, what? Two hundred more?” I asked Perci.

“When you add in the extended family, it will be closer to a thousand is my guess. A thousand trying to get here. No offense, Cap, but you and I are pariahs. You brought one and I brought none. Dedric brought fourteen. Fourteen awesome people, but still, fourteen,” Perci said, and I held up a hand to pause her.

“Well, you can have the men and women come by. Blare the horn two rapid times every few minutes on your way up the road. There is clean water here, steep slopes, and lots of room to expand. Best of all, we have solar panels in storage and hydro generators,” I said with part dismissal.

“Before I go, how would we integrate into the rank structure?” Eddy asked with a twisted jaw firm in determination. “That will be a big sticking point. The internal politics of who gets to order whom around is still prevalent in the police force.”

“Run your own unit. You get LT status with two sergeants. However, we are no ordinary military unit. The only reason I can offer you that is my troops are very, very unique. If or when we combine, do not be surprised if you’re treated like a logistics officer. They will countermand a stupid order in a heartbeat. But if you want someone to empty a trailer or to load up an ATV for a mission, well, they will heed that order no problem.”

“I run my crew, you’re the boss, and we get in where we fit in. Look, Mr. Yang. The local state trooper office does not have the manpower or firepower to weather a walking bear army. You have electric weapons here, anti-tank missiles, explosives, and fifty cals. We would rather not die by our lonesome,” Eddy said, folding his arms in frustration. “You have one entry point unless the aliens can scale cliffs or are all wearing those jetpack things. This valley is very defensible compared to our little wide open station.

“At the same time, I bet that mansion will be full as well as those side homes. You are right about being able to expand, but with what and how? Regardless, expect the boys and girls to come out in the morning to say hi. I think we all need a hard lesson in the fact that the end of the world is not some cozy adventure. Mansion sure is nice perk, though. One of the best I have seen.”

“Won’t be when we convert it. Going to tear every bedroom into a miniature apartment. Then open the attic into housing. Build some sort of defenses on the roof. A lot of work to do. Could certainly use some help. And some tools, or guns. Let me know if you reject the offer and end up wanting to trade something. If not, we will check on you every few days. Double horn toot every few minutes means it is us. If you do not come out to greet us, we will go in expecting hostile humans or aliens.”

“About zero chance it comes to that. Morale was in the shitter with most uncertain of what to do. Until the morning, Cap, I know I am moving into the barn. Will probably need a few trailers to load up supplies tomorrow once I let the others know I am moving myself and the excess here,” Eddy said with a deep deflated sigh. “I expect the station to get hit for weapons and ammo by desperate people that I don't know if I could shoot.”

“The crew defends what it has,” I replied with a stern tone. “See you in the morning.”

He gave a nod of his head while touching the tip of his hat. When the door slid closed with his departure, I pulled my ladies in for an embrace.

“Thoughts?”

“Seemed straightforward. Eddy, at least to me, sees the safety in numbers, and the perks of this place over an office building. I thought he would demand more,” Willow said with a shrug.

“This was a bit of a first for me. Hell, I even shot his men,” I said with a long sigh.

“I will be worried about retaliation and have an eye on them for now. Eventually, we will have to turn people away and it is going to be really hard,” Perci said dejectedly. “Well, at least that was quick. Come, my lovers. To bed we must go. Captain’s orders.”

“King’s orders!” Willow joyfully said.

I smirked, ignoring the comment. The exterior of the building was still busy with vehicles being unloaded. Where all that stuff was going was a mystery. I was going to…

“Perci, get name tags on every one. Black marker shirts if we have to. There are so many new people, it will be required. Captain’s actual orders,” I said when I paused looking over all the family members I had never been introduced to. A few tired kids tried to cling to their parents. “Well, Jasmine has friends now at least.”

“I will have Maria ensure we have name tags by tomorrow,” Perci said.

The sound of a beeping machine caught my attention as one of the backhoes was moving an empty upright hesco. I diverted us to chat with the Mitchell brothers. There were a few teenagers helping unbox addition empty barriers that waved as we approached.

“Hey Cap, XO said I can run a night crew for now. Figure if we can’t sleep, might as well work. Cover your ears, boss. Further!” Mitchell yelled to Jevon who was on the roof.

“Ten paces back!” Jevon shouted in return.

“Now he says something. Oh, is this your radio? Thanks, Cap.”

“Perci has a spare. I am going to bed. See you boys in the morning. Tell the XO I want name tags on everyone. Name or rank for now. And Mitchell,” I said, and the man waited for me to keep going with questioning raised eyebrows. “You and your brothers can’t all wear the Mitchell tag. We are breaking the last name army thing.”

“Always wanted to call Slister by Sammy in public. Your will shall be done, for the crew.”

“For the crew,” I said, and left for the mansion.

I was shocked when we made it up to our third floor room without being stopped by anyone seeking orders. There was a note on the door to the private suite. Reserved for the boss and the two hotties he is lucky to sleep with.

“Becca might be jealous,” I said with a snicker.

“Damn straight. We won’t always be able to have a room to ourselves,” Perci said with a teasing pout. Her eyebrows bounced as she grabbed each of our ass cheeks. “Ready for round two?”

The door gave a soft close behind us. I secured the room before stripping my gear into a reading chair by the bed. I went over my ritual of laying out everything neatly.

“I never expected you to be so lustful, Perci,” I said, and Willow scoffed.

“Well, you took it easy on her. The sex was great, but I am tender. You stretched your pet’s little pussy,” Willow softly whimpered while coming over to kiss an exposed scar on my shoulder. She pointed at my organized gear. “Explain this before you ravage Perci.”

“I knew you were a winner. Get that chair and haul it over. Every room with armor will have stands eventually. The goal is simple. Get out of bed, gear up swiftly, and be ready to fight. With only thirty sets of armor, we will likely be swapping between crews,” I said with a sad sigh. Even old plate armor was better than nothing. I doubted Eddy had extra armor to trade or hand out if they joined. I let the sadness fade as Willow stripped. “Nice. You tucked your helmet in your knees. Next time, turn it upside down so your dome protector can hold your scan glasses or whatever else you want to equip last before your helm.”

“Do you want me to do out of bed drills?” Willow asked with a twisted jaw while she contemplated something. I rotated behind her to work her hair loose of its knot. Perci snuck up behind me to rub my back. Her long pink hair flowed free after I released the braids. Willow went into a pouch, pulled out a pill and swallowed it. “Mom should be here when I wake up. I will be a wreck without a sleeping pill.”

With her gear organized, she left Perci rubbing my back to slide into bed naked. I picked up Perci so I could carry her to the other side of the king mattress. Willow slid over, while patting the empty closer bed slot. She curled up on her side to watch as I gently laid Perci down. I kissed her neck while my body hovered above hers. I felt the grogginess of the day washing over me while I kissed her nipples. My desire to please Perci won out as I suppressed a yawn.

My kisses traced down her toned body until my tongue swirled circles around her tiny little pearl. The first finger went in fine but the second struggled against her tightness.

“Three, Master!” Perci moaned out. I glanced over her firm tummy with the contours of her abs outlined. Willow was romantically kissing Perci and I may have lost control of my desire. I went up Perci’s body with my head to the side so they could keep kissing. My cock lined up to her tiny slit. Her eyes widened when she realized what I was about to do. I dove deep into her tiny little pussy.

Poor Willow. Perci shifted the pain and bit Willow’s lip. Their kiss broke with both ladies grunting from the pain. Perci bit the back of her arm in a mix of lust and ache. Willow sat on Perci’s face in a lunge of desire as she faced me. I went to my knees as I thrust into the tight little pussy while we attained a rhythm. When Willow kissed me, I tasted the iron of her bleeding lip. Both of the women were moaning with pleasure as we worked towards a climax. Willow shuddered from Perci’s tongue as she loudly orgasmed. When she rolled off, I laid down and Perci’s legs wrapped around my hips. I dove deep with desire as my wide girth was squeezed by her tight tunnel. I could feel her getting so close. Willow wrapped a hand around Perci’s neck which helped her climax with me. I grunted as I spilled into her. When I pulled out, I looked to see the damage. There was a small tear that leaked blood as her pussy pumped my white seed out.

“Sorry, Perci. Lost control there,” I said with furled brows.

“I bit Willow’s lip, so sorry Willow, but by the heavens, that sex was great. Hurt at first, like way more than I thought it would. I promise I will never intentionally mark you.”

“I was kind of shocked, I wasn’t going to join, but fuck… That pain made my desire soar and I wanted nothing more than to join you both. Fun learning lesson. Mom will give me a hard time for the busted lip. I will be honest, blame it on rough sex. She would be heartbroken if she thought Eric was hitting me.”

“Heartbroken or murderous?” Perci said with a soft snickering laugh. “Mother despises meek men. Probably why she loves Eric so much. Still, if he went abusive, I would have to hide him from her.”

“Okay, okay. Willow, honesty works. Perci, do you want to get this blood out of these sheets or do we need to put a towel down? I am tired and this may be our last good night of rest for a while. Hit me with a sleeping pill, Willow, please.” I watched Willow’s huge natural tits bounce as she went to her vest. I was handed a pill that included a tender kiss. “Even sexed out, I will have nightmares and I want a good night’s rest. Thanks for this. What is the brand?”

“That is a low dose lambian pill. Now, get over here, you stud. I want to be little spoon tonight,” Willow said, patting the spot behind her. Perci flushed a toilet, shimmied into a pair of panties, and set a towel over the messy spot on the bed. Perci kissed me goodnight, then backed her butt into Willow’s crotch. I completed the spoon while tossing the covers over us. “Now, this is something a girl dreams about. Goodnight my King, and my Queen.”

CHAPTER 10

I snuck out of bed without disturbing the girls. My attempts to silently gear were futile when I heard rustling. Perci stretched out in the bed while gently shaking Willow awake.

“Good morning, ladies,” I said as I watched two sets of amazing breasts greet me. “Cover those girls up or I will never leave this room.”

“One day we will stay in bed with servants. Like the kings and queens we are!” Perci said playfully after her stretching yawn. “I will tow Willow around to show her what an S1 and S4 officer have to deal with.”

“Sounds great, I am going to download the latest Gpad data from our tours. I am guessing, since we got a full five-plus hours of rest, there were no drastic issues,” I said, giving Willow a tender kiss. Perci was wanting more when our lips met. With immense willpower, I pried myself away from her exposed yummy goodies. “If opportunity allows, I hope to have breakfast with you both.”

When I left the room, I found the noise from the stairwell was loud. I was surprised it was so quiet in our bedroom. They must have installed soundproofing insulation. This entire mansion was built using high quality materials. The wooden bannisters, handrails, and molding looked hand etched.

When I arrived on the first floor, I was surprised. The number of people crowded around the kitchen was staggering. The wafting smell of cooking meat lured me in. I recognized a lot of faces from my Saudi unit that must have arrived during the night. Pats, high fives, and a few friendly hugs were given to me as I sought my XO. I noticed everyone had masking tape with names written in black marker. Perfect.

I had to ask a few times over the echoing noise where Jevon was. Obviously, he was on the roof, which meant I had to backtrack. Perci and Willow passed me as I went up and they clomped down. A few minutes later, I was scurrying up the shingled roof. I hated how steep the angle was, but that design helped with the snow. The added attic space would be an added boon against our soon-to-be housing woes.

“Hey Cap, was just wondering when you would find me,” Jevon said as he sat on the peak. He was watching the hesco barriers get filled over a thousand feet away. When I settled down into a spot beside him, I let out a long whistle. “Right, apparently not many people wanted to sleep.”

The valley allowed only one entrance, except by expert climbers. That was through the wooded southern section where the dirt road cut through the trees. The hesco barriers started there as an initial wall. There was no perimeter at all around our mansion, guest houses, or the barn. Jevon had decided to seal the valley in as a priority. I looked down at our supply of the fabric containers with metal ribbing. We were almost out of them to build the long wall. The concertina wire was being hauled over in the dozers scoop one spool at a time. Pickets were being hammered into the dirt that filled the hesco containers.

“Um…” I said, stunned.

“I know. Hear me out. I would not have done something so drastic, unless I was one hundred percent certain you would approve. I did the math. We would have never encircled all the structures with two bottom and one up top container. Single-layer, yes,” Jevon said. I looked at the half mile valley entrance and compared it to the circular space three hundred feet outside our buildings. He was right, after some quick estimated math. “Good, I see it in your eyes. So, that left what was our best option. A solid wall to the south blocking anything on foot. Much easier to defend once we clear the trees in front of the wall. I just hated the idea of a single layer with lots of blind spots.”

My head bobbed in agreement. This was not what I had planned, but it would work and, more importantly, Jevon was right. I knew there would be downsides to any defense. With that thought in mind, you could always improve the situation. Something would need to go around our perimeter in case we had jetpack troops dropping on us. A berm of pushed dirt made the most sense.

Jevon let me work out the scenarios and then said, “After the wall is done, I was thinking of using the downed trees as a burial tool. Use the dozer to drop dirt on top of them. Will mean less dirt to move and more foundation to the berm. Nothing too tall. Something we can use to fire from or duck behind,” Jevon said, while indicating with a sweeping finger of the area he planned on using. “Build a trench on both sides with limited bridges to keep the area from the berm to the mansion a good kill zone.”

“What were you wanting to use for guard towers?” I asked, and he shrugged without an answer. “We could build high piles and convert trailers. Would need some welding tools, though, and the trailers are already being considered for housing.”

“That is why I shrugged. Inventory has some hammers, chainsaws, and basic tools. No welding or woodworking tools to turn trees into planks. I am not complaining here, Eric. This is far better to defend than a shipyard with nothing. I just wish we had more time to prepare. When you start digging into the fine details, you realize you need a lot more supplies than we have. We are still good on weapons, but as troops came in over the night, we ran out of armor.”

“I will try to find a solution with the armor. You’re right; plywood would have been nice. Not like I can divert people to pick up plywood from the local building store. I bet there are riots at all those places right now. I am sure if we survive long enough that stuff will be simple to find,” I said as the RV passed our hastily built gate with a half dozen police cars in tow. That reminded me. “Your mom should be here, right?”

“Yup, she got in last night. She is a mess with nagging concern. I gave her busy work and last I saw, she was helping cook. Said we need chickens. Mom went on a tangent about eggs. As if a brother knows where to get eggs from the fucking mountains,” Jevon said with a chuckle. “You, though, find my mom some chickens, Yanger. I am going to get some sleep. Here is my radio.”

“Thanks Jevon. I will let Perci know to get chickens, keeping momma Moore happy is vital to a long life. Oh hey, any updates or timeline changes?”

“The information from Jarod, Mitchell’s oldest brother, was that our Xgates were still on their slow descent. Wave three and four arrived. The six thousand Xgates of the fourth was finally more than government militaries were able to cope with. Oh, and some were not a full four sides active. I think they leave room for expansions. At least, that was the consensus on the reporting. Anyway, hundreds of new species have revealed themselves. Most are here to pillage, while others have established trade. It will be a roll of the dice as to what we get. I am hoping we get a D20 roll on all four portals.”

I twisted my head in confusion, while my lips parted in a smile.

“You never geeked out on me before?” I said to my friend.

“One of my construction co-workers was big into tabletop games. He would hit a nail with his hammer just right and shout ‘D20’! The phrase was catchy. You have command.”

“I have command,” I replied as he left the roof carefully. I keyed the mic and said, “Pirate Six actual here. Over watch is coming down. Continue with your assigned tasks.”

The cold air was already heating up the valley with the morning sunshine. Luckily, no snow stuck to the ground from last night and we stayed above freezing. The hive of activity at the south wall was producing results. There was a gate at the road with a trailer being wheeled to cover or uncover the road. As the teams worked, only the area around the gate had the second stack complete. The backhoes were filling containers further down the line while the wire was being placed around the road entrance. Securing the road first along the wall made sense.

I glanced down to see Torrez greet the arriving state troopers. They followed Torrez into the barn as he guided them on a tour. The RV left from under the mansion side ready for another trip. A pair of teenage boys moved the trailer barricade as the vehicle left our valley.

I was about to leave when the sound of a helicopter reached my ears. I did not see the aircraft, which caused my hairs to stand. There should not be any aircraft approaching.

I keyed the mic and said, “Get to cover. Incoming helicopter.”

“Break! Break! Break!” I recognized Perci’s Voice. “CH-53 inbound is friendly. I say again, CH-53 should be friendly. We are getting a Gnet tower delivered.”

The helicopter came over the river as it crested the horizon. Under the aircraft, a large cargo net carried a single immense box. The six-bladed helicopter applied aft cyclic to slow their arrival speed. The blades of the helicopter swirled the grass underneath it. The crate landed in an open section of the field with a slight thud. The pilot waved to me, and I waved back. The loud noise faded in tandem with the sight of the helicopter as it left the valley.

“S1, this is Pirate Six, location over,” I said into the mic.

“Kitchen out,” the radio reported back.

I carefully removed myself from the high perch to descend the roof. The stairwells were busy with people moving stuff up into bedrooms and I was forced to wait on the second floor for a bed to come up. I sighed, knowing we were already over capacity. All the libraries, living rooms, and foyer areas were going to have to be converted. My guess was we were going to be using 550 cord and sheets for walls. The kitchen was in the middle of the first floor and slightly less busy than before. The limited seating was mainly occupied by children eating cereal without milk.

A hug assaulted me from the side. Mrs. Moore, Jevon’s mom, was squishing me with love. I had only met her a few times. After basic graduation, after officer school, and when we were debriefed from our daring return from Saudi Arabia. Every time, she hugged me like a son, and this occurrence was no different.

“Mrs. Moore, I am so happy to see you. I take it your flight and drive were okay?”

“Oh Eric, after the news broke, my Gpad alerts were crazy. All those people I tried to convince to fly with me so I didn’t have to travel alone were begging for help. I always believed in you and Jevon. You two are the dynamic duo of death and destruction,” Mrs. Moore said, smacking my face in a friendly, light manner. I had a grandma do the exact same thing. Her name tape read ‘Jevon’s Momma’. “You like that. Ain’t nobody going to call me Kasandra anyway. Mrs. Moore is what I prefer. Oh, I am holding you up. Cap! Make momma proud.”

I chuckled at her happiness while shifting sideways to pass through the crowd. The smell of freshly brewed coffee enticed me to wade further into the crammed space. Willow was talking with her redheaded friend, Tina, while happily sipping a mug of steamy liquid. I missed the opportunity to chat with her or her boyfriend last night. I noticed Tina had freckles over her rosy cheeks. Her hair was a mess and she shifted awkwardly when her boyfriend showed up. They waved as I went by them. I saw Perci by Maria, and they were grilling strips of steak. A plate was handed to me that I gladly accepted. Perci pointed to the outside, while stealing a strip of meat to nibble on as we left the loud, echoing room.

The outside air wafted steam off the hot breakfast steak. The noise died down the further we stepped away from the mansion. I saw Torrez leading the state troopers on a tour from the barn to around the guest homes. There were friendly waves exchanged as we went walking for the newest crate in the field. I ate quickly as we crossed the grassy field.

“Sleeping… Might have set my mom into a frenzy. Luckily, she figured out that the RV driver was rotating from here. I guess a giant RV we purchased reaching the Gnet line gave it away that we were fine. When I downloaded the update…” Perci paused while tucking her chin as if she had something bad to say. “Mom was irate. Not so much at me, but at you. She expected you to give her updates on me even if you had to drive an hour to do it.”

“Okay. And?”

“Ha! I knew you would not care. Probably the only man who has no fear of my mother. So she said to set this tower up. It will connect us with the Gnet. There is more, though.”

“I fear your mother. I merely do not do so as your lover. She is still extremely powerful with many tools at her disposal. What else did you need to tell me?”

“Patience, old man,” Perci said, and I scoffed.

“Thirty two is not that old.”

“Your gray hairs say otherwise. Let me figure this out, please,” Perci said, focusing on the package.

Perci stripped the netting off the single large box. Ugh. The amount of work this was going to take. Diverting my workforce to building a massive communications tower could be a pain. Perci read the side of the box, checked her Gpad, and went to study the box again.

“Step back.”

I stepped back while I ate breakfast, if you could call strips of steak breakfast. I was already missing eggs. Chickens were a great idea I had never thought of. My food plans had been to buy MRE boxes at Pew-Pew Emporium. In retrospect, that was a very short sighted plan. We would need something to help sustain us once these MREs ran out.

Perci keyed in some more information into her Gpad with a smile. A few taps on the box’s digital lock and she ran to my side. She watched hesitantly, as if expecting something. Her eyes darted to me, as if I knew what was going on. I merely kept eating, trying to sate my hunger.

Pop, pop, pop!

My plate of food went flying as I ditched it to shoulder my weapon. My elbows tucked while I crouched with my aim directed at the exploding box. The sides of the container fell outward with a smack. A rush of air washed over my tense body. The metallic configuration came to life as I watched it intently. My feet jumped in front of Perci and I backed into her protectively. She gave me an ‘are you stupid?’ look.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, realizing there was no threat.

“These are hands-free installation towers. Been around for over a year. These were all over the news. Surprised you missed… Oh, right. You did not browse the Gnet when you were running for your life. I told you to step back,” Perci said with a smirk and a teasing look as she patted my ass.

“Step back and ‘hey, this machine is going to assemble itself after exploding its container off’ are two totally different things,” I said, letting my weapon hang limp. I noticed some tense soldiers approaching, so I keyed up my mic. “Gnet coming up soon. The tower is some new tech; everything is fine.”

The tower sent four exploratory little robots that burrowed into the dirt. Sections of the tower were moved by a long central robotic arm. There had to be signals being sent because that arm placed the anchor legs with precision into the foot pads. I watched as the tower base was assembled. The arm climbed up and down the tower as it built itself taller. The track clamp and pincer arm had no problems constructing. Ten minutes later, the arm was the final piece to the power that added an additional five feet of height.

My Gnet pinged with numerous updates. Well, at least we were connected to the outside world again. A single text from Linda Growlen overrode my Gpad.

‘My daughter better be fine!’

‘She slept great, we are building defenses now. Got any chickens?’

The little notification of someone typing kept starting and stopping. My Gpad rang and answered itself. That was a first.

“Did you ask the leader of the world for chickens? I laughed so hard I almost peed. Here, look.” Linda Growlen showed a room full of generals and diplomats. She saw me shrug. “Your president is ordering you to inspect Xgate 16232 and report back what the four sides show. Is that understood, son?”

“Yes mom. Pirate King Moostache out.”

She was laughing hysterically when I closed the connection.

“You realize she is the president now?” Perci said with a frown. “Public news now that Hensen aced himself. She humbly accepted the burden of leading us through this crisis when the VP nominated her to be president.

“Not going to change much for me. She is your mom first. I am not in her army. I happen to really want chickens. She can figure out a way to get me some. Also, the crew was super going to see what Xgate 16232 spit out anyway,” I said with a scoff. Then I remembered our armor problem. “Hey, ask you mom to copter in some armor. Any kind is the best kind.”

“You do it, and I think after wave six lands, there will be no more support. I doubt we are a high priority, minus me being here,” Perci said with her hands on her hips.

I punched in the request to Linda Growlen. Again, my Gpad was overridden and the message auto displayed.

‘I am not fucking Gmart, Eric. You are lucky General Buckley is rambling. I want two grandbabies. My biggest regret was only having one child in my pursuit of power. Perci gave me a long list of items you need. If you promise me little Growlens terrorizing the world, I will do what I can. And Eric, as fun as this is, it is probably goodbye after the sixth wave. Our ability to support you will vanish.’  - BIC

This was a lot to digest. BIC… Bitch In Charge. Yeah, that was probably it.

‘No promises. We will certainly try if or when things stabilize. Any help is appreciated. I hope we see each other again one day.’

I let out a long frosted breath. I never imagined having a conversation with the president so casually. Perci gave me an odd look.

“We have a lot of work to do to prepare for this gate’s arrival. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. If we exterminated whoever comes through, we may keep others from jumping into our turf.”

“I was being sarcastic when I said to text my mom. I, of course, had already sent her a dozen lists people compiled last night,” Perci said with an eye roll. Her hands were still on her hips as she gave me the stink eye. “Hey, Eric. You called yourself a king to the president and her cabinet. That is going to irk a lot of those around the table. We need allies even if you are used to going it alone.”

“Yeah, I also called the president mom. I think that overrides everything else,” I said with a snicker. And this time, Perci smiled, hooking her arm to mine. I checked my counter. Ten hours, forty minutes until our Xgate arrived. “Time to see where I can be most effective until it is mission preparation time. For you, eventually, I want apartments set up and housing sections arranged. And Perci. Pick us suitable roommates.”

“Yes, Cap. Oh, so…” Perci said with a pause. “There is some bad news. The septic system is not meant for this many people. The housing indicator is saying the reservoir is already filling up.”

“I will work on fixing that. We have a few ways to deal with the issue.”

She sent me an alert detailing the septic system that overrode my other notification. Hm...

“Hey, can you make my alerts do this?” I asked.

“It will set off flags. The override is for emergencies to be declared by certain government -”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Great, go inside and get to work,” I said, pulling her close. I teasingly whispered in her ear, “I love you, Perci Yang.”

I ran from her as she fumed with clenched fists and red face. I knew she wanted to say the same thing back, probably kiss me and be all romantic. Not my style. I left her to go build our wall.

My Gpad sent an alert directly from Perci. Shit…

‘You are forgiven, that was very sweet in your own way. Love you more!’ - wifey 1

‘That is wonderful to hear. I promised your mom two grandbabies!”

“Eric! That is not how it works. But I am willing to teach you once I am healed.” - wifey 1

My run to the wall did not take long. I saw Torrez was at the gate with the state troopers, completing his tour. There were eight of them plus Eddy about to finish their tour. Eddy tipped his hat as I went for Becca.

“Hey Cap, our bottleneck is the machines. We are maxed on hands. Need more dirt haulers or shovels to fill the containers,” Becca said as she unbound a section of wire. I grimaced at the sight of the evil concertina wire. That wire was the devil in a metal sharp form. “I think Torrez is waiting for you.”

I grunted a thanks for the update and went to Torrez and the troopers.

“Howdy, folks,” I said.

General smiles, nods, and extended hands were what I was greeted with.

“Eight came with me to look. My wife toured the inside while we went around the exterior. Ah, here she comes,” Eddy said.

A middle-aged woman with grey streaks mixed with brown hair walked from the mansion toward us. She was happily chatting with Mrs. Moore and another woman who looked like Willow. I saw Willow, who was barely outside the mansion, eager for my attention. When our eyes locked, she propped dual thumbs up. A ping alerted my Gpad.

‘Mom inspection inbound. Smiley face, heart, smiley face’ - wifey 2

I wanted to type back that they were not my wives, or ask why not just use names. If this was their thing, then so be it.

‘You got this!’ - wifey 1

“You alright, Cap?” Torrez asked.

I unhooked the Gpad to stuff it into a cargo pocket. I fumed at the damn device and said, “Times were simpler when we did not literally have those things bound to our bodies.”

“Captain Yang, this is my lovely wife, Maranda. Maranda, this is Captain Yang. Ah, wait for a moment, dear. Captain, this is McConnell, Egbert, Sanchez, Vasquez, Bellows, Demister, Lang, and Lyon. I know. I know. We need name tapes. The other four officers are running our prison wagons to pick up family members in boulder and Colorado Springs. Denver tends to be too expensive,” Eddy said with a disgruntled huff. I shook everyone’s hands as I was introduced. “We will get on the name tape thing soon. Will be weird to use first names officially.”

“You are assuming I want to stay here,” Maranda said with a raised brow.

“Ha! I have been married to you for twenty-five years. You want security, stability, and people to mingle with,” Eddy said, and was playfully swatted. “So that’s a yes for me. This tour was merely a formality. We will start moving gear. What do you have planned that we need to know about?”

“In six hours, we are having a military briefing. Probably will give it via those darn Gpads. Ferry your stuff, then work on defenses. There will be plenty of time to organize rooms and such in the barn later,” I said, indicating the barn. “Torrez, let’s go clear some space. I have been wanting to test the electric rifles.”

Torrez gave a fist pump and leaped ten feet into the air. His cybernetic legs whirled from the power exerted. The man landed softly with a grin.

“Show off,” I muttered.

He laughed my comment off and said, “What do you want to blow up?”

“The segments of box the tower came in should work. We can set up a range at the east valley wall. If we’re stuck on progress from lack of tools and minimal machines, we might as well get some firing time in,” I said, and then whipped my Gpad out of my pocket. There was an alert asking how it went and I frowned. Willow’s mom, and more importantly, Jevon’s mom, were so quiet with their side chatter I forgot. “Mrs. Moore and Willow’s mom. Follow me please.”

“Jacky, you may call me Jacky. Where are we going?” Willow’s mom asked. The woman had the same steely blue eyes and attractive features. I saw her figure was curvy and I agreed with Willow’s earlier statement about her genes. “Eyes up here, soldier boy. Yes, my daughter will age well. I appreciate the audacious gaze.”

“Since when did looking at women become a crime?”

“Since some of my sex made it one. Darien would have liked you. Probably would have made you box him in order to date his daughter. Then again, he would have laid a golden egg if he heard she was boinking an heiress too,” Jacky said, and Mrs. Moore inhaled her laughter that sputtered out moments later. “Men right.”

“Cap, I like this one,” Torres said with a smirk.

“So you met your girlfriend’s mom and you want to take her shooting. I am in,” Jacky said with a flamboyant flick of her wrist.

“I am taking everyone, to be fair. We got two spare RVs, lots of ammo, and extra weapons. Time to set up the firing range. An hour should be enough time.”

“Everyone?” Torrez asked hesitantly. I nodded with a clenched jaw. It needed to happen. We were going to expect everyone to fight.

“We will be back shortly, Cap,” Eddy said, excusing himself and his troopers.

I created a ‘send all’ message to everyone in the valley.

‘East valley cliff, day shift mandatory firing range exercise. 08:30. Sergeants figure out rotations for working crews.’ - Cap

Everyone around me started glancing down at their Gpad. My Gpad was flooded with individual texted responses.

“Perci!” I shouted into the sky at the infuriating contraption. She was nowhere near at the moment to hear my anguish. I would have to get some sort of blocker besides officers and NCOs. Torrez sent me a message, giggling from beside me. “Knock it off. We literally march to war in a few hours. Yeah. The pirate crew is going to greet the Xgate 16232… Xgate 232 is so much easier. When it lands. The president of the United States herself -”

“President Hansen is a man,” Mrs. Moore said proudly.

“Ahh… About that. Okay. Hmm…” I hesitated and Jevon’s mom wagged her finger at me. I gave two defensive palms out. “He is no longer president. You can read the news about his suicide later. Now, we have a lot to do and an hour to get it done. Please come help. I would love to answer any and all questions from you, Jacky. I find your daughter important to me.”

∞∞∞

The only thing that saved this epic shit-show was the fact that I had veteran soldiers to lean on. The family members were ecstatic to get to live-fire weapons. Hell, most of the crew were amped up also. We organized all the weapons into three trailers. Torrez set up staggered ranges a few thousand feet apart.

We set up a fifty for small arms, a one fifty, and a three hundred meter range for the carbines. Of course, the military used meters for shooting distances. It was a given that no one really questioned. The ‘hey drill, why is it not nine hundred and eighty four feet instead’ never landed as a funny joke.

I observed while helping where I could. I had learned long ago if I dug too deep into something, I would become distracted from the bigger picture. I may look like the lazy ass captain standing off to the side with my hands in my pockets... Well, that was true. My hands were cold and I was being lazy. Also, my soldiers were handling everything fine.

The east mountains curved gradually for a few hundred feet and then turned into sheer cliffs. There were no trees or life up there. The limited snow had stuck from last night flurries way at top of the peaks. The greys mixed with blacks gave the rockwork an intimidating feel. I could only imagine those fools who freely climbed stuff like this.

Willow came up beside me as I watched our surroundings. I wrapped an arm around her as she nestled into me. Her hands wrapped my cybernetic fingers. I had removed the silicone for better trigger tension. I was hanging slinging dual weapons at the moment. My .308 browning on my right side and the electric rifle on my left. When you lose your right hand, you adapt with your cybernetic replacement. When you use your right hand to keep a vital door from closing against enemies, it tends to get shot off. Well, if you’re an asshole bent on vengeance like I was, you learn to shoot with your left hand real quick.

The crack of the fifty meter range opening broke me from my thoughts. I was about to go into dark places with my memories. I bound Willow tightly in a hug, grateful she was there.

“Mom said you indulged her curiosity for a full hour,” Willow said softly. “I am going to shoot, I came over to say… We… Thank you for saving me, my friends, my mom, and all these people.”

“Aim, exhale, gentle squeeze. And Willow. The reports I have read say your other friends should still be alive,” I said, locking my brown eyes to her dazzling blues. “Limited infighting is happening as people are adjusting. Humanity is banding together with a common enemy. Good luck on the range.”

I gave her a nudge forward before she became too distracted. Another RV full of people arrived with more vehicles. I looked at all the cars, trucks, and vans cluttering around the mansion. We could use some as homes, the electric ones at least. Plenty of power to juice them. The septic problem bothered me until I had Sgt. Dedric divert the backhoe to build a latrine pit not far into the woods. Looks like the boys would be having to hike to pee during the day or peeing in containers at night. I was sure there would be complaints about bucket baths. A shower rotation was coming into effect and I was looking into just diverting the sewage line downstream of the hydro generators. I really wanted to have some perks to living in a mansion. Nice showers and flushing toilets were more important than river fish; which we were exploring if there were any fish in the local streams and rivers this high up.

The crack of the one fifty range going live added to the noise echoing across the valley. Whatever birds had not fled the area earlier did so now as the side arms were joined by the carbines. Lavaun saw me standing alone and sauntered over to me. I rolled my eyes at her exaggerated hip movements. The blonde babe knew she was a babe, which was half the problem. She also had flirted with me once Perci was gone during our retreat from Saudi Arabia. I turned her down for a few reasons. She did like to tease me, though.

“Not buying?” I grumbled as she neared.

“Not selling, those two got you wrapped around their fingers. A third would be desperate for attention. As awesome as you are, I did not come here to flirt with you… This time, anyway. I have a problem. So, we avoided the rules on banging squad mates when we went rogue. Things are going to get tight very soon. They already are, and people continue to arrive. We have about half the unit here already?” Lavaun asked. I nodded and saw she was wearing her name tape with Nancy on it. I raised an eyebrow. “As much as I wish you were scoping my tits out, I know you are not. My family is coming. My brother was a Marine. Nicholas, but goes by Nick, and will probably bitch if I do not give him Lavaun to use. Might as well start now with Nancy.”

“Is there a purpose to all this?”

“I caught Norm fucking Tina this morning.”

I choked on air. I was not easily shocked, but that line did it. “Tina, as in Denis’ girlfriend, and friend of Willow’s. Is he not oversexed?”

“Derek, not Denis. I know, a completely unremarkable college dude. Probably lost his virginity to Tina. Norm… Aggravates me because I fucked him about an hour earlier on my break before going to over watch. Jevon relieved me early and I heard grunting in the attic as I was leaving the roof. Figured might as well check in case there was a fight. Yeah, so… Tina has a thing for fucking muscular hot men because Norm was giving it to her on his feet. She was licking his muscles. It was weird. Not the sex, the licking. Denis is screwed, not literally. Derek, now you got me mixing up his name.”

I rubbed my temples with this randomly induced headache. My desire for relationship problems to go away would not actually make them vanish. Nancy herself had given me a few headaches in the past with being too loud with Slister. It got the men all riled up and in the desert and that was bad for morale. This though. This would probably be the start of my problems.

“What did you do?”

“I confronted them. Tina fled as I fired Norm. I am a fine ass woman. Men literally jerk off to thoughts of me, and I have no desire to see the man I am giving myself to, fucking a random girl. After, I went and told Sammy. She doesn’t care. They are a swinging couple that never breaks up. She gives an amazing blowjob while swallowing. That and the freedom to screw who he wants is enough for Norm,” Nancy said, propping her large breast up in her turtle neck. “You wouldn’t notice the ladies if I had fucking armor. I heard you asked for chickens. Get me armor, you idiot.”

“I love our conversations, Nancy. Always a joy,” I said as she started to walk away.

“Hey Cap, I want LT. I am the best medic you have, and you know I am good managing troops. We need a head doctor, especially since we have family members with medical skills,” Nancy said, hands on her hips. If she wasn’t so bitchy confident with her looks, I might find her attractive. “Cap I told you this little story to avoid infighting. Last thing we need is people drawing on each other like Estevez and Kirkham. Time to put some rules in place, boss. I could care less if Norm is a man-slut.”

She lied about the last line. I saw the pain in her eyes as she left for the three hundred yard range. Nancy had a point though. Estevez and Kirkham were both sleeping with Bonnet. They were weapons hot at each other that took an hour to get tempers cooled. I typed out two alerts.

‘We are adding to our rank structure as we recruit. Spoiler, if you are here in the valley, you are now an honorary member of The Pirate Crew. You will start out as pirates as your initial rank. We prefer it to privates. Please listen to the veterans around you and absorb as much knowledge as you can. The first promotion is for a Medical Officer. SSgt Nancy Lavaun is now Lt. Nancy Lavaun. Spam her with congratulations.’ - Cap

I chuckled at my own evilness. I saw Nancy freeze in her footsteps before she reached the three hundred range. She flipped me the bird over her shoulder without looking in my direction.

‘I wanted to save this next message for when we were all here, but this is going out to those crew en route also. Sex with others must be consensual with all parties. That is fairly standard in 2032. Do not screw behind someone’s back. If they know, I do not care. If they do not, I will literally banish you. We do not stab each other in the back to get our jollies. Breakup with your significant other, then screw around. I hope to the heavens above and the hells below I never have to cover this topic again. The offended party has been apologized to. So do not ping me asking if your significant other cheated. No, they did not.’ - Cap

I jogged over to the three hundred range as the inevitable spam pinged my Gpad. I deleted the dumb questions that came in until Sammy Slister sent one.

‘I do not know what to do, he said he won’t stop, and it's an addiction.’ - Sammy

‘Then you should leave.’ - Cap

‘The crew is my family.’ - Sammy

‘I know. And Derek is not. Still Slister. This is a big deal. If he goes for Willow next, what do you think will happen? I will fucking ace him. Then you will get into a spiraling downtrend. Honestly, I just made up my mind. If he insists he cannot control himself, he is banished. For the crew.’ - Cap

‘I told him and he said he promises to not hit on any woman besides me. Even said I can cut his dick off if he strays.’ – Sammy

I snorted. Funny how quick he changed his mind when someone stood up to him.

‘Okay, that is enough for me. For now. And Sammy, I am not his therapist, priest, or friend. I will not forgive him if he takes this chance and literally screws it up.’ - Cap

Finished with my typing, I put my Gpad away. Norm was probably going to go camping and disappear. I did not need loose cannons. Then again, the man was thinking with his dick brain. I could forgive that. Tina was cute, hadn’t seen much of her, but I understood temptation. These conflicting thoughts were exactly why I liked to focus on being a soldier instead of a diplomat.

I arrived at the three hundred range to Torrez helping Perci shoot with the ACOG. She was a bit rusty, but doing fine. When she finished shooting, I received a quick kiss. She went to talk to Nancy as I walked up to the firing line.

“Drama already,” Torrez said with a grunt. “Sucks to be you.”

“Yeah, I have to go tell the kid next. Actually, I will probably convince Willow to have Tina come clean. Fuck drama. Tell me about these electric weapons,” I said, changing the subject.

I laid down in front of a small berm. The laser weapon was pointed down range and I sighted the box target. I fired a short squeeze. A slice of energy zapped out of the rifle and slammed into the mock target.

Torrez stood over me, watching down the firing line. He grunted and said, “The longer the squeeze, the more powerful the burst. A short pull like that would maybe kill a man without armor. Would taze the shit of out them though. So it auto wounds. The incapacitation is why most governments loved these weapons. They drain energy fast, which makes them shit for long engagements of when stuck in the field without power, but we have lots of excess power here. They are underwhelming for men on the front lines like you and me. They give boners to governments wanting a way to stun the protestors without killing them.”

“I guess I will leave this here, then. Let others play with it. I prefer to leave my opponents lying on the ground with bullet holes leaking copious amounts of blood,” I said. The reality of what I said brought out my darker side and I gave a cackling laugh. “Shoot them, hang them, run em over, and even make them walk the plank. I guess this electric gun is for lovers, not warriors.”

“Thought we were not going all dark this time?” Torrez asked indifferently.

“Huh? Sure, to fellow worthy Americans. I sure as fuck will be gutting aliens and humans trying to take what is ours. But you are right. If some father of three is defending his chickens and such, I will help him. Not hurt him.”

Torrez patted me on the back and said, “That is not a very ‘for the crew’ mentality.”

“Then we will work on our recruiting because we need chickens!” I bellowed out with a hearty laugh. Perci and Nancy frowned at me. Willow looked confused as she approached to try the three hundred range. When I had Willow’s attention, I asked, “How did your shooting on the one fifty range go?”

“Easy, rounds went where I asked them to. Nice little fellers. Who is the heartbroken one?” Willow asked and I winced with deflated shoulders. “We had sex last night so it better not be you in trouble. Who?”

“Huh? No, not me. Your mom is literally right there,” I said, and Willow flashed a crimson red. To save the awkward moment, I blurted, “Talk to Tina, please. Have her come clean so we all can put this behind us.”

Willow sent me a private message asking who. When I said Norm, she went to storm off. I lunged to intercept her from leaving with palms out. She paused before running me over.

“Willow, take that aggression onto the range. Ten rounds into the target. Keep trying until you go ten for ten. And Willow, try to never let your emotions win,” I said, and patted her juicy booty as she stomped over to the range. She found an open lane to release hell on. Ten rounds later, she was smirking like a champion. “Awesome shooting, Willow. I am proud. One hell of a tight shot group. Now, go fix my drama headache.”

“Yes Cap,” Willow said. I thought she was going to dart by me to find Tina. She clasped my wrist and gave me a lusty kiss that earned us some catcalls. “You are too damn cute.”

I watched her shapely rear pop as she snapped her hips enticingly. Jacky came up to my side with a nudge and said, “Yeah, yeah. Get back to work. Teach me how to hit the three hundred like that, please.”

That was how the rest of my day went until it was briefing time for Xgate 232.

CHAPTER 11

The breaking news was actually a massive amount of data that I needed to sort through. After I started to process the information dump, I wished our Xgate was landing next week.  The fifth wave had landed with active gates a few hours ago. If the military was struggling to defend its citizenry before, it was flat out unable to do so now. The Artic and the Antarctic were the two places with the least portals, which meant there was not an equal spreading of Xgates. Again, to me, it was random. To some, there was a pattern being uncovered. North America alone had almost four thousand gates strewn across the land, with more landing on this sixth wave.

Linda Growlen, Gcorp, and Uncle Sam had amassed a wonderful reporting network. There were two prevailing realizations I was able to ascertain right away. We were linked to tens of thousands of other planets. If every Xgate portal was active, that meant seventy-four thousand plus opening. One of the reports was from an army captain. They were monitoring a portal side, watching for threats. Inside the portal, they saw a different Xgate. A horde of insect hive aliens swarmed from one gate to the next. Barely touching down in the other world. When you started to consider portal hopping then things opened up a whole new myriad of how many planets were knitted together.

When I realized how screwed we were with containing this mess, I knew our stronghold needed improving. Overwhelmingly, our new neighborhood aliens were not friendly… Well, they were raiding humanity. I was shocked. Resources were taken, defenders were killed, and some humans were given collars. We had entered an age of Vikingism. That was the best term the scientists, government figures, and the six year old boys came up with. There were many, many successful defenses against raiding.

Humanity, as expected, was more brutal than many of those trying to rob and enslave them. Even with that good news, if you were not in a well defended stronghold, city, town, or set of farms, you were losing. The worst was the defenseless people on the roads without weapons. Eventually, the reports soured to the point that I closed the bad news.

The good news was that a select few aliens were interested in trading, to the surprise of most nations. Waves one through four had been a mix of defensive aliens eager to kill, aggressive aliens trying to kill, and elusive aliens avoiding fights. The scientists surmised the fifth wave was not special, merely random. So far, there were less than two dozen aliens reaching out to establish trade. That number is miniscule when you think of it in a worldwide aspect. To communicate with humans they wore, carried, or embedded digital translation devices that came from the portals.

The ‘how’ of this question only led to more questions. And the answers they gave in return provided more conflicting information. I was thoroughly confused by the reports, but there were some key bits of information I was able to extrapolate. Every eleven days, three hours and sixteen minutes, the gates would go from blue to golden. A trading planet would open. A guide would greet you. This is where things were downright odd. The guide was a different manifestation for every gate for each species. It was surmised that the beings in charge wanted no god figure to be worshiped. They would offer you a translator free of charge and take you to a trading area so large the descriptions varied. Both sides must agree to a trade in order for your transaction to be complete. Stealing simply never worked because it would return to the owner when you left.

The golden gates lasted less than a day, at precisely twenty-two hours. A timer was counting down on my Gpad. We had nine days, ten hours until the next time the gates went golden. The reports indicated that any weapon trying to pass the golden portal would shed off your body and could be stolen by anyone on the planet you were leaving. An attack would not harm someone you desired to hurt, and currency was based on a barter system. The bazaar, market, or trading center was not the only way to conduct commerce.

The traders explained we could trade with normal roving gates. We merely needed to be prepared for trading at set times. The button to lock a gate only lasted for fifty one minutes and fourteen seconds our time, before a ten hour seventeen minute cooldown enacted on the entire portal for all sides. Another puzzle to unlock for the scientists. Based on the reports, trading was normally organized by scouts in preparation, based on when a portal lockdown was available. This led into the next section of the report: what did the aliens desire?

Well, traders and raiders sought our pre-casted metal. I watched numerous videos of metal towers being torn down, cars being stripped, and buildings being pillaged. The raiding aliens would loot, kill, and return. We assumed that enough towers linking the network had gone down to break the chain, causing Perci and I to lose contact with her mother. While our Gpads operated here and only with the limits of the small new tower, we were once again isolated from the rest of humanity.

Even with my combing of the vital information, there was still so much to learn. We were no longer in a civilized world. I, and many others like me, were desperate to know why. I somehow doubted we would find the answer. The mother ship refused to talk. With the last half hour, I studied weapons more than anything else. Sure, the thousands of unique aliens were fascinating. Their firepower was what I wanted to know; it would help adjust on the battlefield.

Reading the reports revealed there were shield generators, snipers, tanks, hundreds of variations of projectile weapons, melee weapons, and even a few ground drones. What was missing was very evident. No aircraft or airborne drones ever passed through a gate. Some poor pilot was ordered to fly a fighter jet through a portal. Yeah… It exploded instead of going through. Drones would short circuit in a plummet of doom when trying to fly through. A nuke tried to go through. It simply... poof, vanished. There were clearly some rules in play. For now, I was determined to take it slow. I wanted to know what our roving Xgate 232 spawned.

My interest in raiding for vital chickens was not there yet. I could be brutal, unforgiving, and ruthless. Right now, I wanted to ensure those still desperately trying to reach us arrived at a haven. When we were settled, I might take bigger risks. Knowing we were running out of time to reach the Xgate landing spot, I fired up my Gpad for an all broadcast. My device reflected my image and the green icon showed I was live casting.

“This is your Cap speaking. I have bad news that most of you probably already know. We are once again cut off from the outside world. If you are a Saudi veteran, visit the XO while I cover this briefing. He has what is likely the last shipment beside him. Get your armor and then meet at the southern gate. Half our forces are going to recon the Xgate 232 so we know what to expect from the enemy. Our goal is to observe, while defending Stronghold Mansion. For those of you staying behind, follow your orders given and continue to improve our new home. I am sorry this was not a hoax. I am sorry for those with loved ones not here who are constantly worrying. We are going to do everything we can to preserve what we have, while at the same time, trying to aid those desperate to arrive. I am sending out the rosters on who is guarding and who is going. If there is a god, may he or she forgive us for our transgressions.”

I closed the transmission, closed my eyes, inhaled deeply through my nose, and let out a long exhale. The moment I opened the manager’s room in the barn, I had a line of people needing my attention. I walked through them, forcing the group to trail behind me. Perci was the first in the line.

“The team who delivered the RVs is asking for them back. Said paperwork never went through and they were sending a team to collect -”

“How old was the message?” I asked, interrupting Perci.

“An hour ago,” she replied, and I frowned.

“What else?” I asked as we left the barn. I turned left for the field where Jevon was handing out armor.

“We have no further word from Mom or others. There are people who are synced into our tower. Those communities close to us can hear a warning if you want to send one. Alvin, the delivery guy. He is synced into our tower. I am showing twelve Gpads with him. Another twenty seven not far away. They are coming through -”

“If hostiles are coming, then knock on my door, Perci. Once Harvard is here, he will be building an S2 team.” I messed with my Gpad until it found me Torrez. When I stuck my face onto my Gpad, I regretted overriding his ability to accept my transmission. He was saying goodbye to his family and I had barged in. “Sorry, I will ring next time. Need XO replaced on armor handout. Human hostiles inbound.”

I closed the link. I waved Perci out of the way. Eddy was behind her. I rolled my wrist to get him to talk.

“We are not on either roster,” Eddy said without emotion or any tell.

“What do you want to do?”

“Guard and improve.”

“Done. Next.” Eddy went to his troopers to tell them their orders. “Jacky, what can I do for you?”

“The family members are no on either -”

“Guard and improve,” I said and she nodded.

Sgt. Dedric was next. He looked at me with his dark eyes and said, “You need drivers on that list. I have a team ready. I want to be transportation -”

“Done. You are an Lt. now. I need the two RVs staged and a few electric trucks. Willow, you are the last I see. What can I do for you?”

“May I go?”

“Not this trip,” I said, and she frowned without pouting. “Soon. When one of the veterans sign off on you or the others wanting to go besides drivers, you may do so. Anything else?”

“Then I am here to kiss you goodbye,” Willow said, hands on her hips. That was the kind of moxy I lived for. I swept her up, locked our lips, and twirled her until she giggled. “Good luck, you handsome stud.”

“I got the crew, luck, and you to come back to. Come here, Perci,” I said, and Perci occupied the spot Willow seceded. I hoisted her until her legs were wrapped around my chest. We kissed fiercely, and I bit her lip a bit, causing a stifled moan, and she was disappointed when I had to set her down. “Protect the stronghold, Perci. You are in command until the XO and I return.”

“I love you, Eric,” Perci said softly, squeezing my hands in goodbye.

I spun to see Jevon, who was ready for combat. He walked the last few feet until we bonked helmets gingerly.

“I am going to tell those idiots we are going to kill them. That is why we're taking crew veterans only. I want plans for a rapid retreat at all times,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. The remaining troops were already heading to the hesco wall. Those leaving were getting into trucks, RVs, and driving ATVs into trailers. “Any questions?”

Jevon grunted in displeasure and said, “I would prefer not to kill the men coming to try to get the RVs. They want to live in them and are probably desperate for the security they provide. I understand -”

“How about we ask them?” I dialed into my Gpad and found Alvin’s Gpad. It was not hard to locate them. His group was the only set of Gpads sending a ping ten minutes south. I put my face on all their devices, enjoying the override. “Caution, you are in violation of a military zone. A single step closer to our perimeter will result in your deaths. Halt now or be removed. Return to your families while you still can.”

“Thank you,” Jevon said with his arms crossed. “Hopefully diplomacy works here. Sure as fuck did not in Saudi.”

We walked for the lead RV, waiting for their reply. The troops heard my warning. Their nods of approval were nice but not needed. I would defend me and mine without hesitation.

“Mr. Yang. Is that you?” Alvin asked.

“Correct, you are in violation of military -”

“Cut the crap. We are here to repossess those RVs…”

I cut his communication off. I linked in the twenty-plus people waiting for the men heading to our wall. “This is Captain Yang. I have fifty soldiers about to descend on your husbands, sons, and brothers. Or women…” I paused and saw the twelve Gpads were all men. “Okay, all men. They have been warned. They have been told to turn back. My soul is clear of guilt.”

I cut off the feed. My feet thudded as I went into RV two. My troops swiftly assumed their positions set up by their sergeants. I went into the booth table in the middle of the RV. Troops flowed in and out as they readied for the mission. Torrez was the last man on. He plopped beside Mclain to sit with me.

“Pirate Six, sound off with vehicle status.”

Lt. Dedric sat in the driver’s bucket of the RV I was in. We were second in the convoy behind Jevon in RV one.

The radio crackled. “One up, two up, three up, four up, five up, six up…” The inevitable pause came. “Seven up! Eight up, and nine up.”

I indented the mic trigger. “Roll out.”

The convoy lurched forward. Grim faces mixed with friendly waves as we rolled past our allies. I watched the rearview mirror over Dedric’s shoulder. The last truck passed the gate and I saw the trailer rolled onto the road.

“Halt convey,” I ordered. The long line of vehicles came to a halt not far outside our wall.

I saw the advancing twelve men with Alvin hesitated. Two broke off, heading toward the larger group. I had five incoming calls. Alvin Swanson’s wife was the one I decided to answer.

“Captain Yang…” She paused when I showed my face. I happened to be around a half dozen heavily armored men. Her throat clenched as she swallowed at our sight. “Ah, you are not bluffing. We came up here seeking those RVs to weather the proverbial storm. Alvin was in a fury when he found out you swindled Mr. Avery. Those RVs should be on the lot.”

“As sad as your story is, and I understand the fact you are upset, those RVs were legally purchased. I do have some empathy for your plight. With that being said, your husband needs to turn around immediately or face the consequences. Captain Yang out.”

I closed the communication. The timer on Xgate 232 was an hour and forty minutes. Our travel time at road speeds without issues was only forty minutes. The issue, obviously, was we were going to have to deal with problems.

The icons of the men retreating through the woods allowed me to close my eyes and release the breath I held. I understood their plight. Since they never threatened us, we might even be able to help them.

“Convoy proceed,” I ordered into my radio. On my Gpad, I dialed up Alvin. He answered while group inviting a few others to the conversation. I allowed my image to be broadcast. “Hi Alvin. I am sorry your employer sold the RVs. We are using them to fight the aliens. Believe it or not, our orders, and the purchase of these RVs came from the president.”

Alvin nodded sadly. I saw his image of him tromping through underbrush back to his family.

“They are the king editions. Figured we could squeeze into them, since you were obviously not going hunting. Is the government taking refugees? There has been zero word besides that Fort Carson is turning people away,” Alvin said, and I cringed.

A few bases had opened fire on desperate folks seeking safety. I could only imagine having to give such an order. I noticed additional faces join our call. Perci waved politely when she accepted my request.

“This is Perci. She is the officer of personnel for Stronghold Mansion. The best I can do is patch you in with her. I have a mission to focus on. Good luck Alvin,” I said, and closed my end of the transmission. A long groan escaped my lips. Mclain put a hand on my shoulder in support. “I worry.”

“This is why you get paid the big bucks!” Mclain jokingly said.

“Five, Six.”

“Go ahead, five.”

“Thank you, five out.”

“Well, the XO likes the idea of allowing the masses in. But we got no chickens,” I said with a snicker, and the mood in the RV lightened.

My eyes saw Alvin with his crew watching our convoy ride past. The men had mostly short ranged shotguns with no armor and reflective designer sneakers. We exchanged waves instead of gunfire. That look in their eyes, the one of relief, forced me into a decision I knew I would probably regret but my soul would thank me for.

I queried the Gpads linked to our tower. Combined, there were less than fifteen hundred. At least a third of those were inside my wall already. I set a broadcast all message.

“This is Captain Yang. In less than two hours, XGate 16232 will arrive in our area. The results of these roaming gates have been overwhelmingly negative. I run a local military unit. If you are seeking refuge, head to these coordinates I am providing. When you approach the gates, do so without weapons. A bin will be set out for dangerous items to be placed in. You will be inspected and allowed in.

“If you are deemed a military asset, you may earn a weapon. That is but one of the many rules our stronghold will have. I do not have to let you in. If you fail to follow the rules set within the camp, you will be banished. If you fail to adhere to my mandate that your approach is slow, without weapons, and hands up, you will be dealt with as a hostile threat. You will be joining Stronghold Mansion. Not the US government. We are not a democracy with normal laws. If you want to learn more, I will have a posting of our rules soon. If you want to join us and rest behind our defenses, expect to work. Bring vital items. Blankets, pillows, clothing, and try to avoid useless items like your kid’s bass fishing participation trophy.

“I hope this finds the desperate people huddling in their homes, hoping for a miracle. If you are going to test our mettle or resolve by trying to exploit, rob, or infiltrate us for your gain, I should warn you now. There will be no mercy. I have given out a call of aid and a warning. I hope the good people find us. Expect a rules list soon. Captain Yang out.”

The table I sat at was full of grim faces. Mclain, Torrez, and Bonnet eyed me intently. I had not even had a chance to greet Bonnet yet since she arrived. Bonnet was a player with a pretty brown complexion, luxurious lips, and a sweet, innocent demeanor. The problem was her attitude was a cover. She was ruthless underneath. Her Saudi nickname was ‘the slayer of men’s hearts’. To me, she was an excellent machine gunner, unwavering in battle, never squeamish about executions, and a constant thorn because she loved to toy with my soldiers. I did rely on her to be my grim reaper for administration of punishment to the local Saudi’s we caught. Her trademark was kissing men before she killed them for their crimes. Unfortunately, I had no machine gun for her, but she was amazing with one.

“When did you get in?” I asked with agitation.

“Fret over it, kick your dog later, and give it rough to your lover later. Just know my cold shriveled heart thinks that was the right call. Ballsy, really, it is. So much safer to shoot first and ask questions to dead bodies,” Bonnet said, slapping the table with loud laughter. “I got in with my younger twin sisters an hour ago. My mom died trying to ask a driver to move his car over. They just shot her. No reason really. I plugged him, his buddy, and stole their off-road truck. Think it is the fifth truck in the convoy.”

“Damn, where was that?”

“Coming into Denver, I knew we should have gone around.”

My Gpad lit up with a call from Jacky. I twisted my head in confusion, but still answered it. “This is Cap, go ahead.”

“Is this thing on,” Jacky yelled loudly into her Gpad, her face way too close.

“Mom, if you don’t enable the image generator, it won’t display the Cap,” Willow said with a huff.

“I miss cell phones.”

The looks from around the table were a mix of smirks and astonishment. I had to admit, this was the oddest conversation starter while out on a mission. We jostled down the dirt road peacefully, so I let them figure it out. A moment later, Willow, Percy, Mrs. Moore, Jacky, and Eddy’s wife Miranda were sitting around a table. Ah, the ladies in charge were grouping together.

“Hey stud, we have a draft of rules ready for your approval… Hold on, I said,'' Perci said while hollering into her Gpad at a separate private call. She shifted to look at me again. “I had Jacky call you because I am handling the influx of questions coming in from the people looking for help. I need to clarify something. Are you retrieving the elderly or the disabled?”

I scoffed. My helmet came off and I ran my hands through my hair. What the fuck had I gotten myself into? The ladies saw my mood sour.

“We have some volunteers. I just -”

“Oh yes. That works. We have lots of extra cars. I can’t shift military units right now. Why not see if their neighbors can help them?” I said with a sigh. “Is your Gpad on mute?”

“Is now,” Perci replied.

“Perci. This is a tough as shit decision. I have played god. Deciding who lives and dies haunts me. Normally it was with some Saudi smelly fuck I would catch raiding or raping. What the hell are we supposed to do with people who can’t walk?”

“This is why I called. Someone has to make this decision. We have an autistic son who is eight. His mom is asking for all these variances and allowances for his behavior. I think she is used to getting special treatment. He would be breaking rules, like not being a productive worker, yelling during quiet times, and well…” Perci was starting to cry. I saw Willow comforting her. “The elderly unable to walk are one thing. This is a boy who wants to play in the sand.”

“Calm down, Perci. Tell the mom she will get an isolated tent so her son can be his normal self,” I said, while banging my head on the table. “The elderly that require care must have a dedicated caregiver. Either family or volunteer. Make rules for this stuff, babe. I’ve got a mission to focus on. You’re making my tiny heart hurt. Make it work so the community still thrives. We will raid if we have to. I think we need to maintain some semblance of civility at home. After all, having a home worth coming home to is vital.”

I closed the connection, strapping my helmet back on. Torrez let out a long whistle.

“We thought Jasmine was going to have complications. I could never imagine,” Torrez said sadly. He did look me in the eyes. “If this is your way of redeeming our souls…”

“Ahem!” Lt. Dedric sang with praise. The man started to dance his shoulders to some hidden tune. “Redemption starts by following the Ten Commandments. Maybe the savior will bless our souls and keep us out of damnation.”

Bonnet scoffed and said, “I am so fucked. Never getting into heaven if there is one. However, I do like the softer you. Those ladies are a good influence. Who knew getting the Cap laid brought out the compassionate man inside him. I personally prefer the doom and gloom version, but I can get behind the change.”

My Gpad sent me an alert. The rules had come in and, boy oh boy, were there a lot. Over a hundred rules with most being very basic things. If I had to guess at some point that Eddy and his trooper buddies added a lot of these. This would give the state troopers a purpose while preventing me from having to do updates after every problem. At the bottom of the list, a caveat was noted. Subject to change. I fired the rules out to every Gpad in the area. The responses were mostly positive. A few were negative, but that was to be expected. Not everyone would like the idea of going from a free society to being told what to do.

“Rule one, everyone must contribute to Stronghold Mansion,” Mclain said while reading out loud. “The name has a nice ring to it. Super out of livable space already. Is there a plan?”

“I got all the teenagers exploring our valley with ATVs. I told them to start looking for cave openings while mapping out the area. We will adapt; there is no other option. We can convert cars, trailers, and build with salvaged stuff. Honestly, I am winging it at the moment,” I said to the table, who nodded in understanding. Jevon sent me a Gpad call that I answered with, “Hello.”

“Feedback has been positive on the whole building a better tomorrow by saving people today. We found some typos in the rules list and sent them to Perci. RV one is about to hit the county road. If we get a roadblock, are we still assessing since you sent that message?” Jevon asked, seeking clarity.

“No Gpad groupings on the road besides… Um… Shit. Harvard, his wife and two kids are up ahead on foot. I guess they can wait in my RV in the master room while we scope out the aliens. Outside of that, the rest are in homes or moving for the mansion,” I said and he scoffed.

“I forgot Perci gave you an administrator on your Gpad. Can you ask -”

“Done, you should notice when she gives you permissions. Let RV two pick up Harvard and his family.”

“Wilco.”

“They are not far?” Torrez asked.

“We have no idea what condition they are in. Nancy!” I hollered for my medical Lt. who was napping in the back. She came in, still looking gorgeous with drool on her face. The RV glided to the side of the road. I opened the door and shouted, “Hurry up—get inside!”

Harvard was a short man of Asian descent. He had dark hair, a sour demeanor, and absolutely adored his family. The entire time trying to get home, he would kiss a photo of them every chance he could. When Harvard, his wife Tara, and twin daughters entered, I smiled. His wife carried a shotgun with her black hair, brown eyes, and porcelain skin. Harvard had a ripped shirt, an illegal AR-15 with a thirty mag, and a sawed-off shotgun.

The side door slammed shut. The tires squealed as we raced for Xgate 232’s drop location. I held a hand out that Harvard gladly accepted. Tara guided the kids to the empty master suite. I heard two groans of joy as those kids flopped onto the comfy bed. Nancy gave them a quick inspection, decided they were fine, and climbed into the loft to keep sleeping.

“Harvard, good to see you,” I said with a genuine smile. Again I was reminded of my sore cheeks from seeing so many people I was happy to greet. “We have been in need of someone to run our S2.”

“Ugh. I have been studying data while the auto drive was enabled. Such a funny story about how I lost our car… We are on foot because of pig aliens, about yea high with six tits.” His hand went up to a little over his waist. “They abducted my car between Denver and Boulder. We got out to push a downed tree out of the way. The little oinkers fucking stole all my supplies and gear,” the man said clearly still stunned. “One second, were pushing a fallen pine. The next, my ride is squealing away with four squealing pigs inside it. We walked up the hill until a group heading to Aspen let us hop in the bed of their truck. Apparently, there is an excess of mansions in these mountains that are all vacant.”

“Pigs!?” I asked, shocked, scrolling through my files. “Huh, yeah I see them now. They are resourceful and not overly dangerous. There is a note here. Tastes better than bacon…” I chuckled. “As for empty mansions, I wholeheartedly agree. There probably are hundreds of luxurious homes ripe for occupation around Aspen. Glad you got help up the mountain and made it to us safely. We’re going to scope out our local Xgate. It should be landing in just over an hour. Why don’t you head back for a nap before all the excitement happens?”

“That is one order I will happily follow. Thanks for the ride. The family will stay out of the way during the mission. Tara knows how we operate,” Harvard said with a wave to the others.

The bedroom door closed and I checked my Gpad for messages. There were additional complaints. A few said I was a tyrant while others were making demands. The rule stating you were assigned housing was the one most complained about. I must have read a dozen demands for three bedrooms, or must have a master suite. I ignored them all. The rules were the rules.

The convoy rolled down the smooth road. I monitored our progress on my Gpad and realized we would have plenty of time to set up. Apparently, we were not the only people interested in the arrival of Xgate 232. I saw five Gpads in the valley fields that the construct was landing in. I read over the data on the Gpad owners and saw they were devout alien fanatics. Of course my gate would have to get some of them. The news had been perfectly clear. The aliens were not some mythical saviors.

I crawled into the loft to open the roof hatch. Nancy tugged me into a snuggled embrace that I freed myself from. She gave me puckered lips when I denied her request. Her eyes gazed at me sadly. I think she was taking her breakup harder than she was letting others see. My weak smile was enough to cheer her up. The roof hatch propped open with a thud as the wind slammed it into the locked position.

The light that streamed in reflected off Nancy’s blue eyes. I saw tears. A quick wipe of her sleeve tugged at my heart. I stroked her hair with empathy. She thanked me with a smile and I was gone out the hatch a second later. I left my legs in as I surveyed the area.

The Xgate was only a few hundred feet above the ground. At three hundred feet tall and fifty feet wide, the rectangular construct was intimidating. No exhaust plumes, whirling blades, or flapping kept the portal device in the air. To see the mysterious creation in person was something else. The dull gray had more of a sheen to it than the videos portrayed. I also thought it would be smaller. I knew the dimensions before coming out here, but this object was massive.

I tore my eyes from it to see mountains surrounding us in the distance. The right of the road held rolling low-lying grass fields. The area was void of humanity beside the road with power lines. The left side was a heavily wooded area that was hard to see into. Ahead of me, RV one was moving faster than we planned while a trail of trucks was bumper to bumper behind us. Our convoy rounded a corner that revealed a small section of homes nestled in the trees. I saw forty plus Gpad icons active inside the gated community. I let them figure out their own fates as we passed the homes.

A few minutes later, I saw three men and two women waving welcome signs for Xgate 232. They waited near a lavish electric SUV. Awesome. This was a double win for me.

“Six to five,” I said, ducking back into the loft.

“Go ahead, over.”

“Secure that SUV while disarming those civilians if needed. Standard shakedown.”

“Roger, five out.”

Nancy had curled up in a ball. I rubbed her back and whispered in her ear, “It is go time. Join the kids if you need to sulk. If not, I need you, Nancy.”

She dried her eyes, plucked on her helmet, and stole my seat at the table with the others after scurrying out of the loft. Nancy was allowed to be upset. Depression was a constant battle on our retreat through Saudi Arabia. I always tried to be understanding if it was not getting in the way of the mission. Others would see upset people with negative reactions. If they still protect their buddy beside them, while facing the bad guys… well, then they could cry on my shoulder if they needed to.

I watched the troops inside RV one spill out with weapons at the ready. The five people here to welcome their new slave master or aliens wanting to eat them were shocked. This is where my humanity left me. I robbed them. They were stripped of essentials, their fancy ride stolen, and we vacated the area. When they tried to spread the word that we were thieves, I disabled their Gpads. Ah, the glories of controlling information. As we retreated for the highest hill with trees for cover, I saw the group grow happy. They decided all that mattered was that the aliens were coming to save them. Any guilt left me at that moment.

We had picked out this observation point for a few reasons. It had cover, quick access to the road home, and was far enough away we could react to whatever spewed out of the Xgate. The timer showed a full hour before the slowly lowering device landed. We paused the convoy outside of the trees behind the incline. Troops rushed out to start hooking up chains around tree trunks.

I watched from the rooftop with half my body exposed as the unit went to work. My anxiety built, knowing we would get to greet the newest arrivals to Earth soon.

CHAPTER 12

The wrenching sound of roots tearing free of the earth assaulted my ears. The whine of the electric truck reduced as the tree was dragged forward; forever removed from its comfy home. Every available vehicle was breaking multitudes of environmental laws. My goal was to clear space to conceal our vehicles while building cover to hide behind. Based on the other encounters I watched, many armies would hesitate to jump through a gate. They would follow the gate along until they felt the area was clear and then transition. A few even neglected to turn off the other portals. There was no set standard because others would race into the new world to secure the button first.

As I hoped for three empty gates and one nice trading partner, I sighed. We were mainly here to observe. I had zero intention of diving onto another planet’s surface on day one. Even if the killer in me thirsted to. We were short on a lot of items and our meat supplies were almost gone already.

The downed trees created a long line for us to get behind on top of the hill. When the countdown timer hit five minutes, our convoy was parked and ready for a quick exit. My troops were stationed behind cover while I was in a good observation location. Our reports told us to avoid scopes if wanting to get the magical rotational view the portals allowed. I looked left and right to see sergeants ensuring soldiers were ready. Peterson released her drone for our eyes in the air with a soft throw and nearly silent whirl. The meek, sweet, and adorable little black woman had saved us hundreds of times, if not thousands, with her eyes in the skies in Saudi. Her direct actions got us home, and caused her to cry at night the entire way because of how I used her information. She appeared happy and at home as I watched the little device soar high. The sound of the whirl faded, letting a tense silence settle in. The massive Xgate 232 shifted to find its landing location. When the one-minute warning pinged on my Gpad, we readied for war.

The rectangular building sized construct did not thud or slam into the ground. It hovered for a few moments, adjusting to its new home. Blue flaring light illuminated three of the four sides as the Xgate did a warm up rotation. The blurry mess of the generating connections was somewhat blinding even on a bright sunny day. I covered my eyes until the light dimmed.

“D20!” Jevon whispered beside me.

I ignored his comment as I was able to view a desolate volcano planet with contrasting dark gloomy colors brightened by flaming reds and oranges. A dozen flying black creatures with scorpion tails, short humanoid torsos, smushed flappy faces, pincer hands, and red wings were present a few hundred feet away from their entry. I shifted my angle of observation and, sure enough, something magical occurred. I could see all the way around the Xgate on the alien planet. Thousands of these hovering aliens waited defensively with stick weapons at the ready. The Xgate shifted, moving closer with the smallest of spins. When nothing charged into the breach of their portal, the dozen flying creatures retreated to their awaiting army. The formations shuffled around the gate as the Xgate silently moved with speed for the first time.

“Steady,” I said into my radio.

Before the construct finished its spin, a horrifying monster leaped out. The creature was so long it landed on the ground three feet down with no issues. The fleshy skin twisted as the hundreds of legs propelled it forward. A narrowed tube mouth flicked in roaming patterns as it sensed its area. A wormipede (worm-centipede hybrid) found something in its search because it darted for the gate rapidly.

My eye caught a sudden movement on the backside of Xgate 232. Thin animal legs stumbled with a quick recovery as they landed. A human head with antlers bent over to see under the gate. The wormipede’s body raced for the button with their rider extending their hand on top. The deer hybrid tried to leap back to their home planet. The thin legs spun, shot off the ground, and at first, I thought it made it back in time. The other portals despawned before he could escape. I only briefly saw his weapon discharge with a dark blue flare that slammed into the wormipede. The warrior bolted for the nearest woods when his weapon did not kill the creature. It was instant. I tried to study his armor and weapons, but I knew drone replays would be needed as he vanished into the trees with cheetah speed.

I grew concerned as hundreds of wormipedes streamed out after the gate was locked. These creatures were at least thirty feet long, six feet tall, and each probably weighed the same as our RVs. On their back rode purple large-headed aliens with frail bodies. They reminded me of the gray-headed aliens, increased oval heads, sunken dark eyes, and vulnerable bodies. The riders assessed the situation. Our hasty defenses were meager at best and a complete giveaway of our position. These were a repeat invasive duo that had been seen before we lost contact with Gcorp. The wormipedes ate bodies while the puroons (government-issued name) looted resources. They were extremely hostile. Evident when the five alien greeters were brutally killed. Two wormipedes fought over one of the men, ripping him in half with an explosion of guts.

“Wait!” I hissed into the radio. “Target the riders. After your ten rounds are expended, hustle for the vehicles. Get ready. Three, two, one. Open fire!”

My weapon was on my shoulder a nanosecond later. There were so many wormipedes spilling out, I did not have to be picky with my target selection. I fired two per rider, moving my aim without waiting for my rounds to land. The crack of our weapons split the air, resulting in my ears ringing angrily. I saw my first two targets falling without expending valuable time checking on the rest. With my magazine empty, I followed my own orders. I spun for our awaiting vehicles with my feet digging into the earth as I bolted down the observation hill.

There was a mad dash across our battle line as soldiers ran for lined up vehicles. I was so grateful we had planned for a rapid extraction. I was the last one into our RV and slammed the door closed behind me. The electric motors whined as Lt. Dedric punched the acceleration pedal.

“I want both RVs in the rear, make it happen drivers,” I ordered into the radio.

Torrez went into the loft to face backward. Mclain, Bonnet, and Nancy were reloading weapons at the table with expertise. I burst into the back bedroom and startled the Harvard family. The rear curtain was peeled open, giving me a great view. The tree defense we had set up was being crested by an army of wormipedes. Torrez snapped ten rounds into a wormipede’s head area, causing it to tumble and roll down the hill. The mass of soft skinned mounts halted, seeing one of their own go down. The puroons were oblivious to our fire as they hopped down to investigate our spent casings, our tracks, and then their eyes followed our tire trails. My soldiers stopped firing with the increased distance. The puroons shot orange plasma rounds with yellow cores. The balls which sought our demise slammed into the RV. The rocking motion was followed by glowing patches of the steel exterior spreading the heat to the interior. The whipping cool air we drove through calmed the angry hot metal. We were over a mile away now and gaining when the incoming fire stopped. Far on the horizon, I caught the centipedes sniffing the air. I saw their heads turn as one for the small community not far from the gate.

I sent those humans too slow to flee a single message: “Run. Hostiles incoming.”

Torrez closed the hatch as he returned to the interior.

“Six, this is five,” Jevon said to my radio.

“Go ahead.”

“Are we proceeding to Mansion?”

“Affirm,” I said and let my shoulders droop. “That army is more than we can handle in the open. Even when the gate lifts and the other portals open, they will be in a bad position. I am showing the drone has a full half-day charge and is linked to our Gnet. We head home and observe. We executed exactly what I wanted to. We killed some aliens and lost no one. Great job, everyone.”

“Roger, five out,” Jevon said and the radio went silent.

I joined the others at the table. We were all watching the footage from the drone that had escaped notice. The wormipedes with their riders bolted for the homes not far away. They were fast, maybe thirty miles an hour at a dead run. We watched a few creatures tumble in death from the defender’s gunfire. The defense was far too little. The large creatures smashed sideways into homes to break them open. Doors were not needed when you crash through a wall. Death was inevitable. The initial assaulting hundreds became thousands of puroons and wormipedes descended on the community. Eventually, the flow stopped from the gate. I turned away from the carnage to think over the few minutes that had transpired.

Three out of four gates activated in a flash of translucent blue light. That was fantastic. Unfortunately, we got one of the most aggressive aliens. The puroons were beast masters. The report theorized they could control their mounts with their minds. Seeing as their saddles had no reins, I tended to agree with that assessment. I pulled up the reports I had on them.

They had been seen twice so far. Once way across the country in upstate New York. They saddled the same creatures. There was a base up there I had never been to, Fort Drum. The puroons cleared a whole small town called Carthage. Hundreds of thousands of the creatures smashed through the homes as they swarmed the town. Gunships laced into the massive army that ignored its losses. After Carthage, the majority went to looting. A faction a few thousand strong charged the base and were wiped out. Last I heard, they were in a constant fight near that Xgate.

The report said the puroon weapons fired a plasma round with almost no drop in its flight. It was limited to a number of discharges, anywhere from four to nine times it could fire. The plasma itself tended to spread while consuming whatever it impacted. If enough puroons died, the wormipedes turned on their masters. So there was a limit to how many they could control and there was no loving relationship between the two.

The vile wormipedes were disgusting with no meat value. Even hungry pigs turned their noses at the meat. Massive fires had cremated the defeated foes in NY. They had zero value to humanity.

The puroons were different. They wore necklaces of varying designs. The guess was social status; the reward was they were crafted in titanium with gems inset. The puroon bodies were greedily eaten by dogs, pigs, and cats. While some may find it gross, I certainly did not.

‘Fighting the anal probing purple beast masters was not fun,’ as one army sergeant wrote in his report. The wormipedes required massive amounts of firepower to kill. They could take intense damage before succumbing to wounds. The puroon weapons could melt the hull of a tank if concentrated. Luckily, they could be defeated with tenacity, good aim, and enough soldiers.

I paused from my report to check out the latest Gpad footage of the active situation. The homes were being torn apart. The camera spun to show the Xgate. The purple dead bodies were being lined up by the puroons to be stripped of their valuables. A quick count had my tally of over eighty dead. Not bad for a first engagement. There were minor fights between the puroons, over who claimed what. Nothing fatal or drastic. The camera swung back to the raiding. The homes were being demolished by the wormipedes. I did notice four people still alive as their Gpads pinged at me. My guess was they were trapped in their basements below the rubble.

I watched a young man walking like a zombie out of the rubble. Uh…

“Cap, you seeing this?” Torrez muttered in disbelief.

Nancy gasped at the sight. “This is… A human being mind-controlled. Oh, Cap, there are three more.” The whimper she gave was heart wrenching.

“We have our own to protect. I am sorry team, there is nothing we can do. Trying to save them against ten times our numbers might work, but it would be a pyrrhic victory.”

Bonnet scoffed, rose from the table, and slung an arm around my shoulder. She stood there proudly at my side. Curious as to what she intended, I raised a brow.

“You are making the right call, Cap. For the crew,” Bonnet said with a grimace.

“If there is a god, may he or she forgive us,” Lt. Dedric said. The man fervently believed in his lord and savior Jesus Christ. “Every action has consequences. You can’t save them all during the Last Judgement. We protect those we can now, may they wisely listen to our warnings.”

“I was researching these beast masters… Hold on. No sense in saying this report ten times. Let me finish my findings. The rest of you see if that four-legged antler man has been reported out of other portals.” I paused with a sigh and pinched the top of my nose. My radio keyed and I waited to talk. “Five, this is six.”

“Go.”

“RV two has our S2. We are sifting through information. Since we have eyes on the hostiles I want to help move people before these puroons hit their next target. Check on the Biysk family in Marble Heights. See if they need any help, over,” I said.

“Roger. Puroons, huh? What an odd name for aliens that look like the little gray men, only purple. Five out.”

My fingers danced on the countertop while in thought. Harvard left his wife and twin girls to talk.

“I have been studying the footage of today only so far. Look at this,” Harvard said while sticking his Gpad near my eyes. I backed his arm up a tad.

The video generated. I was able to see what transpired as we fled. We had killed the majority of the puroons while only wounding a few wormipedes. I saw the convoy peel off before the enemy recovered to give chase. A larger wormipede stepped through the portal. The puroon on its back wore a double necklace with more gems than any of the others. It screamed at the remaining raiders still near the portal. A dozen left, bringing back the riderless mounts.

“This is the leader. He or she is clearly unhappy. The thing I noticed is there is about a six to eight limit to how many wormipedes a single beast master can control. Now, look at the live feed,” Harvard said while pointing at the image I already had my eyes glued to.

The boss was setting up a defensive position against where the antler man deer had exited. They were unhappy by the sight of the deer hybrid that had escaped. The slave humans were being evacuated while the army was hauling their loot back home. I looked at the time. The gate had been open for twelve minutes, meaning 39 minutes until the other aliens could arrive. Based on the fact that the puroon were already returning with the spoils of their raid led me to believe they would be leaving before that time hit zero. Good, that was an extra thirty nine minutes more than we had before to shove people into Stronghold Mansion.

Before I started to dig into the other files on the puroon, I did a quick send all to everyone tied to our tower. Which was now fifty less than before.

“Attached is a video of one of our threats from the local Xgate 232. If you were not concerned, then this should frighten you. Again if you do not join us and live by our rules, do not expect to survive when they crumble your house and enslave the survivors.” - Cap

“Harvard stick to the beast masters for now but check out what the others learn about the deermen,” I said and Harvard left for the comfy room.

I went down to the empty passenger bucket and plopped into it. The massaging option was turned off, mainly because the armor did not need it. I propped my boots onto the dash and pulled up the other report.

China had the most Xgates. Finally, the scientist had established some common sense patterns. Higher population areas with large landmasses received more Xgates. I was actually kind of surprised the Chinese were sharing intel. Maybe the end of the world as we know it could convince people to change. The video rendering caused me to gasp. An Xgate was in the middle of a small town.

The object tried to stick to roads to avoid buildings. The construct interacted with its environment in two ways. Items would either pass through, which was the more common occurrence. Or the Xgate would apply an invisible pressure capable of instantly crushing a car into a pancake of metal. The mix of destruction, and preservation left me baffled. The Xgates were so random you rarely knew what to expect at times. A man laid in the street in protest of the Xgate. The protestor was unharmed as they were passed over. Another man stood stoically. He was sucked into the portal. When he returned, the fall caused him to trip and hold his ankle. Well, he didn’t get cut in half.

This kept going until more Chinese residents created a game of playing with the Xgate. At one point, ten men stood in a single file line. A large gorilla leaped out of the shimmering blue portal. I was expecting the ten foot tall green animal to squish the men it landed near. Nope. It flung them back into the portal. Infinitely quicker than those attempting to flee; feet, arms, and torsos were grasped by the monster gorilla as it hurled those caught into the blue. I noticed a puroon purple alien attached to a sack on the back of the gorilla. Their eyes were closed as they controlled the beast.

I sighed. Still not a chicken. I really wanted a giant egg layer. Well, not a snake. Or a massive spider. I shuddered, lost in my own silly thoughts. I received a message from wifey 1. Perci was so stubborn.

‘We are over capacity. Can I divert machines to build temp homes?’ - wifey 1

‘Not until line of sight is cleared in front of the wall. Set a hotbed rotation for now. We need a night crew no matter what. Send more people out to try to find caves if you are out of work,’

‘Eric, we desperately need additional housing. I know it's not your fault. The hotbed idea will remove any sense of home. Newcomers are adding a lot of tools with an eagerness to help. We should be able to chop trees and turn them into boards now. There is a construction site I sent RV 3 to with a trailer. It has some supplies we can use. We are backed up at the gate as we process people, so do not be upset if your convoy runs into a jam. Eddy is accepting people as quickly as he can. Incoming call for help. Got to go. Love you.’ - wifey 1

I keyed the radio and said, “XO, it looks like the puroon army is retreating in case the deermen assail them from a flank. After watching the video, I think they did not like taking the losses. Did you find some people to help?”

“Marble Heights had organized people in that neighborhood. Those sticking it out fled for Stronghold Mansion in a hurry after your video. We were going to loot the neighborhood instead. We need actual beds. Well, we need a lot that probably got left behind. An older couple is refusing to vacate with zero wavering by my pleading, but the rest of the community is ripe for the picking. The only issue is space. We have limited trailers right now. Over,” Jevon said.

“Okay, take us in. We can strap beds to roofs and stuff vehicles. Ready the rest for quick retrieval later. If either force comes out, we flee for home with a massive head start. Six out.”

The convoy turned right for the Marble Heights instead of left for Stronghold Mansion. I looked at my Gpad and saw three other strongholds being formed. One of them had twenty people inside the state trooper station that Eddy abandoned. The next was a double fire station for the county and city that was jammed packed with people. The final one was the local shopping center with a few hundred crammed into it. I wondered if they were running generators. At least they had a gas station at the shopping center. I doubted any building besides thick steel construction could withstand a long worm creature with the mass of an elephant slamming into it. I could only wish them success and feed them information. I would hope for the same from them.

I gazed at the road while we cruised at a fast rate. I glanced over to see we were doing a hundred. If that was the pace Lt. Dedric thought was safe, then so be it. The sun was starting to set, casting long shadows. A deer bolted from the side of the road, spooked as we raced by. I would need hunting teams. I was wondering if you could breed deer for sustainment when we arrived at the Marble Heights gate. The wrought iron sliding gate was in shambles. Tossed aside like the broken useless thing it was. We rolled into the quiet neighborhood. Garages were left open, cars abandoned, and even a few dogs loitered outside homes in confusion. I frowned at the sight of the pets. Of all the things that tugged at my tiny shriveled heart, seeing actual abandoned, well-groomed family members left behind… it hurt. The sergeants went to work picking stops in random driveways.

I keyed up the mic, “Hey, bring the dogs. You know, in case there are invisible aliens or something. Nothing to do with the fact it is horribly sad they were left behind.”

“Take me to that home, Dedric,” I said to the house Perci had bought us. Additional supplies were stacked up outside. “Harvard, your family up for looting? Or you want to rest?”

I knew they were still awake. I glanced over my shoulder. The twins equipped their bags while Harvard slung his weapons. I thumbed the door, knowing their answer. Torrez went to follow them when I halted him.

“Deermen, what did you learn?”

“There are some seriously fucked up aliens in this data, Cap. None of them have a human head, a deer torso, and antlers. Sorry, we looked at everyone,” Torrez said with a shrug. He gave me a thumbs up and said, “Bonus part is you get to name them. Want me to stay?”

I shook my head no and out the group went. Lt. Dedric went to pee. I noticed Nancy over my shoulder.

“What's up? Nancy?”

“As your medical officer, I need to tell you about the hazards of hot-swapping beds… Hey, don’t give me that dirty glance,” Nancy said with a pause. She stole Dedric's seat so we were on even eye level. “I can come up with some plans. Keeping everything dry will be an issue. Speaking of dry. You need to shut off water to the toilets and showers. Like right now. Before someone flushes a toilet they should not. There is only one way for the backflow to go, up the drains. No one wants sewage flooding our sinks and showers.”

I smashed my Gpad’s interface. The septic had hit capacity. Shit. Literally. There went our showers. I turned off all the water connectors through the home management operating system. While I waited for the inevitable complaints, I turned to Nancy.

“What do you recommend we call the deermen?” I asked.

“Huh, you don’t want my ideas on how to prevent sickness? Or random thoughts on how we improve our sleeping arrangements?”

“Tell me those too, but start with the-”

“Cap, can I go exploring?” Dedric asked, and he left without seeking actual approval.

“Yes!” I shouted as he wrapped around the front of the RV to explore the nearest home. Ha! It was empty.

“Buxen works. Yes… I think buxen works nicely as a mix between bucks and women,” Nancy placed a flirtatious hand on my arm and gazed intently at me until she had my full attention. “Hammocks. We can 550 cord some or use the infinite sheets we will pull out of these homes. Not perfect but it should help.”

I patted her hand, which retreated when she realized it was there. “Hey, we are human Nancy. It is okay to hurt. That is a great idea. Send it out to the household team. I am sure they will have anchors set into walls before we even get home. Do you want to explore?”

“I like sitting by you. You were never overly complicated or complex,” Nancy said with a smirk.

“Should I be offended or grateful…?”

“Not offended. You were adored all the way home from Saudi. Hell, even super loyal Slister wanted you in our bed, but you knew that. Albeit she missed a strong man to snuggle into more than wanting to spoil your chivalry.”

I opened my mouth and closed it promptly. There was no good reply so I kept my mouth shut. We both went to typing on our Gpads. I decided to send out what information I had. While I was not perfect on transparency, the appearance of being transparent would not hurt.

‘Here is a compiled list of our local resident aliens. We have three of four portals working. I will keep everyone updated as information comes in. The deerpeople are being called buxen. We are monitoring the puroon (purple riders) and their mounts (wormipedes). So far all activity is near the gate that is still locked in place. At this time, we are closing Stronghold Mansion to those not in the queue to get in. Our septic is backed up and we have nowhere for you to sleep anyway. Stay safe and when we expand I will send a notification. If you notice something in the videos we missed, send your findings to our S2 folder in the dropdown menu.’ - Cap

“Want to talk about anything?” Nancy said, patting her legs in a drum pattern.

I reverted my display to the drone view of the Xgate. Nothing new was happening. There was a busy train of the puroons hauling loot home in wheeled containers dragged by the wormipedes. The scene looked like it needed some sniper fire; I frowned as it was too late to reverse our full retreat decision.

“We need to set up a hospital,” I replied.

Nancy snorted. Sure, she was beautiful, but she sure was human sometimes too. “I know. Imagine giving birth in a shower with people sleeping in it that is back flowing sewage. Perci said thanks for telling you to shut the water off. We are already mysteriously out of toilet paper. At least the supply section is; the theory is people are hoarding it. Perci assured me our room had some.”

“Our room?”

“Yeah, and before you think it is some magical thing so I could lure you in with my naked amazingness, it was nothing so elaborate. I am single, your room is the largest, and you are getting more than just me to your harem.”

“Harem?”

“Please! You are a pirate king. All pirate kings have a rotation of hot babes,” Nancy said with a slight giggle that resulted in a fresh snort. “I love that I can be myself around you. Maybe down the road. For now, you make a good boyfriend to your throuple. Those girls are giggly with happiness. Back to our room. All the officers are occupying that master suite…” I pointed to Dedric, who was hauling towels. “Yup, and his family. See, not some conspiracy... Men!”

I patted Nancy’s shoulder, leaving the seat. “You have always been a sassy pain in my ass, Nancy.” Her blue eyes linked to mine. The hurt was evident, not from my comment though. My guess was the goodbye to Slister hurt the most. “Nancy, you’re family though. I mean that. We are here for you. Not sexually, and I think you need some friends you trust to lean on who are not there to exploit your vulnerability.”

“You mean like hitting on Derek to get him to dump Tina so I can tease him but never fuck him…”

“That would be revenge and in no way close to what I was alluding to. I meant... like if I was single, you sought refuge in my arms. We drank wine to ease the pain and then sex happens after you finish crying,” I said, shifting where I was standing to avoid Torrez hauling boxes of fancy canned cat food. “Why pet food?”

“We can eat it if we are desperate. Plus we now have dogs too. Or for the chickens, if we ever get any,” Torrez said with a large smirk, knowing I would get excited about chickens.

“Yes! Chickens eat pet food. I never thought of that. Smart man Torrez. Ensure nothing explodes while I pee…” I said, fighting the small door hatch. The toilet seat in here was tiny. I scoffed at peeing quickly while trying to have perfect aim. When I finished, I stared at my urine sitting in the bowl. I pressed the button and bobbed my head at my idea. When I exited the bathroom, I asked, “Nancy, using the RV bathrooms as portapotties works if sanitized, right?”

“Ugh. I swear Cap. You sure do kill a mood. We are alone, having a nice conversation. I start thinking about getting drunk with sloppy breakup sex, and bam!” Nancy said, giving me an over the shoulder disgruntled look. Her blonde hair whipped her face, causing her to blow it free of her lips. “Chickens and portapotties. Weird and gross.”

“Nancy, we need to control the gross stuff and I -”

“Teasing you, come sit back down. Norm was like talking to a geek on steroids,” Nancy said while flinging her hand at the passenger bucket seat. My rump went thump and I propped my feet up. “You would lose housing but be able to -” She tucked her index and middle finger in “control the gross stuff” and stopped her air quotes. “Will be vital. Obviously we need to divert our sewage line to somewhere else. You can pump it if you have to, I would think.”

“I am sure there are a dozen women scheming on how to fix our showers and toilets.” My dry voice of rationality caused her to chuckle. She kept giving me teasing side gazes that reminded me of before she latched onto Slister. I puffed my cheeks in frustration. She was fully qualified to go out on missions, even if she flustered me. Which meant… “Nancy, I need a favor.”

Nancy pulled her head back to give me a shocked stare. “You absolutely never ask for favors. You give orders. Somehow, I do not think this is something I will enjoy.”

“Get Willow up to speed. I want to take her out with me.”

Nancy twisted her face in hesitation. I could tell she was contemplating her options. “What do I get in return?”

“What do you want?”

“Right now, unknown. Later, who knows? It will probably take weeks of training. So whatever that is worth. And I have to get close to her. Send me her file,” Nancy said with unease.

“What makes you think -” I was interrupted with a palm telling me to stop. “Fine, here you go. Let me pen her a note.”

‘Willow, do you want to still come on missions or stay back and -’

‘Missions! There are already catfights. You need to establish a pecking order beyond Perci. Are you coming home soon?’ - wifey 2

‘Willow, I love your name. We should be leaving soon. Nancy Lavaun, our medic will be combat training you,’

‘The bombshell one? She makes me look ugly… Sorry, insecurities coming out. Why not you?’

‘I will be dealing with that pecking order and stuff Perci is overwhelmed with. She is my gatekeeper, which means lots still hit my plate to deal with. I want you out here with me. That means you need someone with more time to train you if you are choosing combat over administrative work.’

‘Awe, you miss me so much you want me to become an alien killing badass. Sweet in its own way. See you soon.’ - wifey 2

I looked over at Nancy, who was buried in Willow’s file. Mattresses were being bound with 550 cord on top of box springs. I twisted my head, trying to understand what the plan was. Then it hit me. Drag the box spring, who cares if it got destroyed? The road was flat until we hit our dirt offshoot. Not a bad idea. I glanced at my Gpad to see our free time to loot was almost up.

“This is Six actual. Load up. Take us home five. RV 2 will be the trail.”

Soldiers exited homes to return to their vehicles. Nancy left the driver’s seat when Dedric asked for it. She was engrossed in Willow's profile. The RV shifted when Torrez loaded in with arms full of sheets. The Harvard family was the last to arrive. They were so burdened with items that Bonnet and Mclain helped them. The RV was stuffed packed again. The convoy did a ready check with Jevon’s RV taking us out the gate first.

I was impressed that dragging a box spring worked so well. I had to wonder if someone had done this before. We never went above fifty miles per hour on the route home. I watched the Xgate from my comfy seat as the setting sun cast an orange glow. The puroons completely vacated the gate area minus their dead. The puroon holding the button let go to head home. When he vanished into the translucent blue the other gates flared alive.

There was a staggering occurrence in the following minutes that caused me to gulp. Hundreds, thousands, and then tens of thousands, of buxen arrived onto the field while spreading out. The gate was locked down but within five minutes the timer ran out. Jumping down a few feet is not bad, unless you were moving too. They slowed their arrival once this happened due to tumbling buxen. This was fixed as a flat platform with ramps; it hovered in a position to allow an easy portal transition. The buxen stopped tumbling and proceeded to rapidly fill the area. I gulped at the sheer numbers. This was an army.

Their weapons were a mix of metal with an orange electrical glow. A power container under the weapon shined. There would be no ninja buxen with those weapons. Their armor was chitin. If I were to guess they were wearing the scales or exterior of some dead creature for protection. There were different formations forming. Lightly armored scouts bounded to establish a perimeter. They were not traveling further than a mile or so from the main force which gave me hope. A large antler buxen went and urinated on the dead puroons left behind. That was the signal for others to do the same. While disturbing to witness, it let me see that there was animosity here between the buxen and the puroon.

A second race arrived out of the portal. Little humanoids with scaly skin. No taller than a few feet, these beings had claws that were clutching what appeared to be dart guns. They wore robes with no hoods and seemed to defer to the buxen. Instinctively, I tried to find them in our database. No luck with these… luxen worked. Big for buxen, little for luxen. The joys of being that guy who gets to name everything.

The luxen kept their own formation. The entire buxen army shifted to make space. What slithered out next shocked me; it should not have. There were reports of superior technology, but this was my first time seeing it. Gravity sled shifted to land flat with a jarring motion from the drop. I zoomed the picture out to see the Xgate had moved very little from its arrival location. A dozen gravity sleds were added to the mixed army. A short barrel or energy director swiveled atop a mount. The orange glow was so bright the operators wore eye covers of some sort. There was a massive power pack or generator. This was an alien siege tank maybe. Our hescos would probably only stand a hit or two from these and our walls would be breached. I frowned at the sight. When the army gave a battle cry, my gut tightened.

The biggest buxen charged through the portal to the puroon planet. I gave a fist pump and a loud long exhale of a breath I had been holding. They were going raiding with their army. Just not here. A joyful grin spread across my face. I was not sure what the puroons had done to piss off the buxen, but I certainly did not want to make enemies of that army. There was something that became even more evident as the buxen army raced to war. We needed to prepare our stronghold more. It was time to raid our area for supplies and equipment.

The jostle of the RV spurred me from my thoughts. We slowed our speed by half, but the box springs were being champions. I needed to give a raise to whoever thought of this idea. We would be needing more like it as we built our base.

CHAPTER 13

I had expected to hear a litany of complaints the moment we passed through the gate. We were given space to unload the resources we obtained. A few smiling faces greeted me as I walked out of the RV. Perci waved me forward to the barn. Willow gave my cheek a kiss before clinging to Nancy. I high fived Jacky, who trailed us with Mrs. Moore. Eddy completed the procession until Jevon caught up.

The citizens of Mansion stared at us while we marched for the only meeting room I knew of. Tents were propped up around the houses to block the chilling early spring wind. The whine of distant machines told me our hesco containers were still being crammed with dirt. Only a few people stood around idle. I paused when I saw a team of fifty or so people tilling a field.

“Part of the briefing, we’re planting crops. We have a seed engineer, horticulture enthusiasts, and the means. We can’t always eat what we kill. I happen to not want to eat purple alien brains,” Perci said with a snicker, pointing at the fresh farm fields. “Come on Cap. We need to talk about a lot of things and you need to make some big decisions.”

“This is great, I am impressed,” I said, after seeing all the improvements even an hour had made. “How are people handling the no water?”

“Well, wiping your ass with a leaf after shitting in the woods is not great,” Jacky muttered behind me.

“Cool it, momma bear,” Perci said to Willow’s mom. “Remember, the leadership needs to always have things under control even when they are not.”

I shrugged. She was not wrong in a sense. We passed the barn and the inside shocked me. There were only thirty stalls inside the barn. Entire families were occupying a stall meant for a horse. Clipped, strung, and tied on curtains were used to block interior views. I even saw someone had used branches to create a cover of their stall to stack their items on top of to create more floor space. I liked that idea a lot. Building up was our only option in this structure.

Faces peeked out to watch our procession pass by. There was arguing coming from the manager's office that caused Perci to pause. I unclipped my sidearm before bursting into the room with my weapon only half ready. A husband and wife were shocked by my sudden entry.

“Explain,” I said.

“Simply fighting about our depressing situation. I wanted to go to Aspen. She wanted to come here. Decided not to yell in front -”

“Out, and if the room is unoccupied, we will designate it as a hostile conversation room. Thank you for keeping things civil,” I said. The couple twisted by me to exit the room. “And Aspen is being flooded with Denver residents. You are safe here.”

My group entered the warm room that smelt of sex. I then cued into the fact that it was the only private place in the entirety of the stronghold. I checked the seats to find a clean one. Willow’s mom stuck her hand in something squishy when she occupied the seat next to me. I stifled a laugh as she went to smell the offensive substance.

“Is this… cum?” Jacky said, giving an awe groan… She wiped the substance on her pants while giving a head shake most people did when confronted with something gross. “We need more private rooms. I fear if you leave this room as a place for people to vent, it will become a sex room. Sex is stress relief, after all.”

“Ultra-low priority right now. You have been too nice lately, Eric,” Perci said with a frown. “This room is off limits besides for meetings of the council.”

“Council?” Jevon blurted.

“I get you guys and girls…” Perci paused while looking around. She keyed up her Gpad. “If you are an officer, get to the meeting room in the barn. On the double.”

Perci danced her fingers on the table, causing a lot of clacking until I flattened her hand. She gave me an agitated stare that softened. I backed my chair up, raced to her, and hoisted the small woman out of her seat. She never fought me while I carried her back to my chair. We sat at the head of the table with her in my lap. A kiss to her cheek melted her into my chest. Nancy arrived with Willow, who was waved in to join us. Torrez and Dedric arrived last. Willow gave up the chair for Torrez and stood at my side. This was our current leadership. We would have to expand it as we grew, but I was proud of those who were here.

Perci banged the table twice, starting the meeting. “The mattresses will help. I need you or Jevon to designate raiding teams. Like, do so while we talk, please. Alright, high priority lists. Installing the solar systems on the barn. We are still above electrical capacity but they are sitting idle and we are growing. Anyone you can nominate for running our electrical?”

Eddy raised his hand and said, “Braxton is the local electrician. He was drooling over the hydro generators last I saw. Want me to call him in?”

“No, tell him he is the electrical officer. All offshoots of electrical lines have to go through him. We have a lot of solar panels with batteries and wiring. The plan was never to have hydropower. If we start using power tools to convert logs to boards, we might consume more than we generate. We need that fixed before we suddenly need to start blackouts for recharging.”

“I will type out a message for him right now,” Eddy said.

“Thank you. Sanitation. Nancy said you want to put the RVs up to be privacy bathrooms. I am rejecting that. As nice as it is to shit on a toilet, we need the vehicles to gather supplies. They can withstand plasma rounds, apparently, so…” Perci said with a pause to gauge my reaction. I gave a single head tilt in approval. “Good. We need more drones, plumbing supplies, plywood, tools, and the list goes on. We have to start consolidating the supplies locally available that are ripe for raiding.”

Jevon tapped the table and said, “I have the teams ready to go. We simply need targets, unless you were thinking of assigning areas. I am hesitant about this because either of those armies can spill out and cut off our teams.”

“We have to risk it,” I said with my jaw clenched. “If we do not hustle, the winner of that battle or those scorpion bat things, will get easy loot we should have acquired.”

“I know, merely giving the fact that we may lose good troops doing this, but I agree it is vital,” Jevon said curtly. “Send them out now?”

“Yes. What is next, Perci?” I asked at the short woman posed regally while sitting in my lap.

“Farming. We are dedicating the fields to planting. Carrots, turnips, and beets for now. Norm said they will handle the higher altitude. Which leads to food. We have less than a month of food with these current MREs, which is fantastic. We are the best-prepared stronghold in the entire area for food,” Perci said cheerfully. Her mood soured and with a grim tone, she said, “After that month, we are fucked. Utterly fucked. There are no farms in the expensive mountain lands. No cow barn to raid, or chicken… Cool your enthusiasm, Eric… or chickens to barter for. We poured over the entire list of homes in our area and the best we could find were backyard vegetable gardens. We must find a long term food source. Those deermen you called buxen might taste delicious. I saw the report on the pig people coming out of the Denver gate. We should send a team down there to layout metal bait and haul back some bacon. And… keep your reaction down. We have four chickens now, brought in by a late arriving crew member.”

A fist pump got a light laughter from around the table. I smiled and said, “Awesome. Hey, I know some people are freaking out. We have clean water, a roof over our heads, and food for a month. We can fix things as we build our base. Eddy, is there any mechanical equipment we can loot?”

“There are snow trucks that are staged. They are old and run on gas which -”

“Jevon, get them.”

“Wilco.”

“Why?” Willow asked.

“Simple. They are big metal contraptions. We can fill the beds with dirt and plug any holes our walls take. Or put supplies in the beds. Or convert the back beds into homes. We will find uses for them,” I said, scratching my stubbly face. “The snow plow blades can help push dirt too.”

“We found bedrock. About eight feet down, which is more than I anticipated,” Dedric said with a frown. “Those machines need to come in for a full charge here soon. So that makes sense on getting the snow plows and salting trucks. I will personally get them tonight.”

“ETA on hesco filling completion?” Perci asked.

Dedric huffed with uncertainty. “Maybe tomorrow. The dozer, spare vehicles, and chainsaw crews are already clearing the trees in front of the wall. At their current levels, even a max speed RV cannot crash through our wall. We shifted to creating the kill zone; it is taking time though. We also are collecting a lot of trees which means dragging them further. See how the chain starts to prevent the desired quick results.”

Dedric was probably right about the timeline. There was a lot of work with only three machines.

“Okay next topic. These other strongholds. They are requesting to trade for food. The problem is two-fold. We need our food, and the supplies they are trading for, they will need later,” Perci said sadly. She locked her hazel eyes to mine.

“Trade very limited amounts. Let them ration for now. A month is a long time. We ration ourselves as well. One MRE a day,” I said firmly, bouncing Perci on my knee. “They can grumble, but I want to have a hog roasting tomorrow. We can send a fast moving recon team to hunt pigs in Denver. My point is, we should start supplementing our food now. There are lots of deer, elk, and mooses, or is it meece?”

“It is moose. Same word for single and plural. Are you expecting these other strongholds to join us later?” Jevon asked, reviewing their data on his Gpad.

“Uh… Yes, that, or I expect them to die. I want their supplies without killing them.”

Nancy snickered while Willow scoffed. Jevon nodded and said, “Okay, ROE?”

“On-site commander’s discretion. No killing peaceful folk to steal from them. What else do we need to cover before we all head back to work?” I asked the group, growing impatient. I wanted to start building roofs for barn stalls or creating stone paths.

Jacky raised her hand to say, “Rankings. I was told to be here, but I am not an officer. Am I council member, and what about Eddy’s wife Maranda?”

“To be determined. Let me think about it. Military wise we would be a battalion with this many but we are a mini-city. Colonel just does not have the same ring to-”

“King!” Willow exclaimed.

Jacky rolled her eyes. “Your dreams of being a queen should not influence your reality!” The mother teased her daughter. “She has a point, though. You started off making people pirates. I do not think that is a fitting application to this reality. We are literally going back in time while still holding onto technology with the majority of the people huddled in this valley not being military.”

“No rush on that, we need to build up our defenses, improve our housing, and secure everything we can outside Stronghold Mansion. Enough sitting around comfy. Get to work,” I said with an authoritarian tone. Perci fled my lap to catch up to Torrez.

I stared at my Gpad. Xgate 232 was drifting further away without much activity. The flying scorpion creatures rushed out, grabbed the dead puroons, and then fled back home. If that was all they were going to do on our planet, then I could be happy. I did notice their displeasure from the sunlight.

I realized Harvard had been missing from our briefing. Probably settling his family into our suite. When the room emptied, it was only Jevon and I remaining. A few heads peeked in while passing by, curious why the room was open.

“Who do you want to promote?” I asked my friend. “We are missing all three of our platoon leaders.”

“How about we stick the sergeants ready to go into leadership roles?” Jevon said as he stared over his knuckles with his elbow on the table. “I agree with most of what was said. I will not enjoy shitting in the woods though.”

I chuckled at his comment. “Add civilians to the foraging teams.”

Jevon rolled his eyes while shifting to lean back in his chair. “Cap, I love you, but that will lead to problems.”

“Greater problems than not testing recruits?” I said with a sigh. “You are right; taking untrained troops into the field has dangers. However, we need to be inclusive. Else I fear there will be other issues later.”

“Such as?”
“Saudi Arabia went without rebellion because we had a central goal, strong leadership, and everyone was focused. Last thing we need is factions inside this place. If we do not integrate and incorporate, I will be challenged for-”

Jevon scoffed, laughed, and then burst into cackling. “Oh… That was rich. You would just ace the rebellion. Hell, even I would for you. Okay, I will tell the sergeants to integrate those civilians willing to go. If we are not doing a pirate theme this time then what were you thinking?”

“How about we pull up what vikings used. Since we…” my Gpad populated a triangle of four tiers of leadership. “Well, kings are at the top. That would please some, upset others, and -”

“And establish your iron fist. Especially if a treasonous party wanting to become the king requires a full wipeout of your nobles,” Jevon said with an ‘ah-ha’ finger wag. “Assuming your nobles are loyal.”

“I have never thought of myself as such. Even after returning home in victory I would doubt my decisive decision.”

“That is the key phrase, decisive. You are a natural leader, quick to react, and my friend. Now tell me the rest of this structure,” Jevon said with his own version pulled up.

“Earls would replace officers. I would want more titles though. Dukes for military and earls for stronghold officers. Freemen comes next. Probably replace that with the gender-neutral term ‘citizens’. Hmm… one of the things the army taught me is people need promotions. Esteemed Citizen and Apprentice Citizen ranks would help. Private, Specialist, and Sergeant respectively would become Apprentice Soldier, Citizen Soldier, and Esteemed Soldier. Thoughts on the bottom bracket of this chart? I am not wanting to get into slavery. Vikings used slaves, and it seems, so do aliens.”

“Are you asking me because I am black or because of the ramifications? Right off the bat, no to slavery of humans. I would rather Bonnet execute the -”

“You guys seeing this?” Harvard asked, sticking his head in the door to interrupt us.

We shifted our Gpads to view the scene at the gate. Buxen were marching with the puroon aliens enslaved. The small sticks the luxen carried were extending a leash around captive necks. A single human was being towed as well. You could see the panicking young woman realizing she was on earth. The collar whipped tightly around her neck. The woman stumbled until she crashed to her knees. That tiny little luxen that couldn’t have weighed more than forty pounds had no problem dragging that larger naked woman. The army rotated to their portal to head home. The gravity sleds were piled high with metal, odd trinkets, and I picked out three dead human bodies. I frowned at the sight.

“I guess we will not be trading with the buxen. Harvard. These aliens seem to value slavery. Thoughts?”

“Thoughts on human slavery are strongly in opposition. Oh, your frown means you were thinking of other species.” I sent my S2 officer my intended new ranking structure. He pondered over the triangle for a minute. “Look, Cap. I can stomach calling you a king. I can even adjust from military to citizen ranks. Slavery opens a whole dynamic I do not think humanity is ready for. You could always put it up for a vote.”

“Not very kingly of me if I vote in our new rules,” I said with a scoff.

“A deermen… Sorry, bux, tilling our fields might be what saves us from starvation. I am not ruling the idea out. How about giving the term its proper verbiage?” Harvard said, leaning on the door frame. He sniffed the air and scrunched his nose.

“To what?” Jevon said with folded arms. The man was getting agitated.

“Prisoner workforce. Everyone is used to seeing road cleanup by prisoners. The concept is akin to slavery, merely with a release date,” Harvard said and Jevon visibly relaxed. I think the term was bothering him more than the concept. “Incorporate that and you solve your problem to an extent.”

Jevon stared at me for a long minute. Eventually, he nodded with approval. “If we give captured soldiers a ten-year sentence for the crime of raiding, I can get behind the idea. Hell, it would be better than what our previous government instituted. Geneva conventions allow POWs to work as long as the labor is not unhealthy or dangerous. Right here on the stored files on the Gtower. Yes, I can get behind the concept of prisoners working to their freedom. I think almost everyone can.”

“Are we separating from the US government?” Perci asked as she returned. I sent her the modified triangle. “King at the top. Earls and dukes next. Three classes of citizens with three classes of soldiers. Prisoner serfs at the bottom. Easy peasy. Assuming we can feed prisoners down the line? I have no qualms with this. Then again, I am the heiress of darkness. Send it to your mom, Jevon, and to Dedric. Both are very religious, correct?”

Jevon sent the messages out while we waited. “I gave them thumbs up, down, or hand flat options for the triangle. Both gave thumbs up. I think Harvard was onto something. Humanity is used to a prison workforce.”

“Yes Perci, we are shifting to a modified Viking system of governance. This will help us establish our own laws. Alright sending it to everyone designated an officer. While we wait on replies, what brought you back, Perci?” I asked. She ducked out the door and waved a new dirty teenager forward.

“Hello sir, I am Damarcus Dedric,” the lad with patchwork facial hair due to his age of fifteen or so said confidently. “I was told to explore the valley for caves and I found four openings. Three were small, you could hide stuff in em. The other one is big, and well sir, spooky. I was -”

“Jevon, take a team. You want to be an apprentice citizen or an apprentice soldier?” I asked Damarcus.

“I do not understand?”

“You want to learn to shoot bad guys or work inside the stronghold?”

“Inside, sir. Guns frighten me.”

“Perfect. Honesty always works best. Thank you for finding this cave and please lead Duke Jevon to all the locations you found.”

“Ugh,” Jevon grumbled but said nothing further. He left the room with Damarcus trailing behind him talking a mile a minute.

I looked down on my Gpad. Xgate 232 was quiet now. Four requests to leave the gate from four team leaders hit my alerts. I approved all four. My officers replied with agreeing to our new stronghold ranking system. I then sent out our new rank structure with a caveat. If the US government regained power, we would swiftly convert back. If the changes were too much for some to handle, you were free to leave with what you brought into the stronghold on your backs.

This was a tipping point for about fifty or so people. They were allowed to leave and I did not fret over it. The old ways were gone. I doubted they would get a fair voting community that could defend them as we could. That was their prerogative to seek one out though. If our Xgate was quiet for now, at least they could move freely. This also helped me get rid of a potential separate faction we would have to deal with later. I was about to get up to get in regular clothes when Perci put a hand on my shoulder. An older man in overalls was waved in.

“A king, eh? Name’s Clive. I am a local plumber. There is a reservoir pump outside of Marble Heights,” Clive said while pointing at the wall to the southwest. His arms folded as he continued. “I can extract it and enough soft piping to fix our septic problem. Assuming you want the sludge pumped into the river downstream.”

“Okay, what is stopping you?” I asked with a confused palms up gesture.

“Oh, I need a backhoe -”

“Hold on,” I said and dialed up Mclain directly. His face generated on the screen. “Return to base. Clive will be at the gate. We are going to send you out with a backhoe. Priority is a water pump to shift our sewage downstream. Mclain, do this and you will be heroes of the community when we can shit on toilets and use showers again.”

“Hell yes! Permission to create a turnaround, Cap?” Mclain said. Bonnet nudged him as she butted into the screen.

“He means your highness. Sorry, King Yang. Hmm. I like King Eric more.”

“And so the name deviations begin,” I rolled my eyes. “Granted.”

After closing the Gpad connection Clive exited the room to head for the gate. Dedric hit me with a call. “I am going to empty the charge on the backhoe to charge up the other backhoe for the trip. It has a longer battery. The drained backhoe is going to the charging station after. I am recruiting drivers for all these vehicles. If you can avoid more than four expeditions at a time, I would appreciate it. Eventually, we need to establish day and night shifts.”

“I agree. I am watching the Xgate which is quiet. If we miss some sleep, then so be it. Keep up the great work Dedric,” I said, closing the connection while turning to Perci. “Anyone else outside there waiting to brief me?”

“No, but I am sure the next emergency will not take long to pop up. I was going to start hanging brackets off walls and ceilings for hammocks. Plus give you a tour of the mansion changes. Even though you were only gone for a few hours things shifted drastically,” Perci said, giving me a sweet tender kiss. “A man I love invited the entire area into our home.”

“Well, some space just opened up with those unhappy we are leaving the old ways. Hard to please everyone. I would love a tour my Queen,” I said. I nibbled on Perci’s neck when she turned away. She went to close the door to jump me, but I stopped her. “No, I want a sex-free meeting room. That goes for us too.”

“I guess…” She let out a groan of disapproval. “It will be hard to find intimate time with you, Eric. Our king-sized bed is now king-sized filled. Man, I have awful luck landing my jokes. You will see what I mean.”

I mashed a quick text to Harvard, telling him to alert me of Xgate 232 changes. A few people we passed curtsied with silly grins. I waved in return with a goofy smile. Another dozen people were leaving the front gate when a few stragglers joined them. Again I did not complain. They were in for a rude reality when the outside world greeted them with harsher restrictions. We had food for a month. I had to wonder how many places could boast that fact alone. Still, our previous society was very liberal, and my planned structure was anything but. We had hundreds of rules, and now a dictatorship hierarchy was officially established. The best I could do was wish them luck while improving Stronghold Mansion.

The field teams were still hard at work clearing weeds, bushes, and wild growth. I saw Mclain loading a backhoe onto the trailer Jevon brought. A lot of the vehicles and trailers were missing as teams were already out and scavenging. The mansion was a literal hive of activity. Kids chased each other, made their new dino toys roar at parents, and climbed on just about every bench. The elderly watched over them with serene smiles. Almost everyone wore thick jackets to fight the evening chill. The sun still hung in the skyline with the orange glow of a coming night.

A stream of people heading back and forth to the latrine in the woods caused me to grimace. Hopefully, we could flush toilets here soon. I looked up to see balconies were being converted into housing areas with tarps to keep out the potential rain and add some privacy. That was a great idea. We did have a lot of balconies with roof cover already. Create some side walls, and open the balcony doors to let heat out and cool air in. We passed through the main threshold for the foyer. There were mattresses here with personal items stacked high. If we had clogged the entryway…

The interior of the house was chaos. Even with windows open on a cool spring day, it was uncomfortably warm. The kitchen was packed with people bustling about, trying to get food. I smelt steak without the sound of the sizzling meat being audible. Kid movies played on the view screens in pillow-blanket mass. The living rooms were converted into odd sleeping arrangements as the families coped with the change. It reminded me of movie night with pillow forts from my childhood. My cheeks hurt from grinning in satisfaction at seeing families snuggled up, making the best of a bad situation. Perci found my cybernetic hand, gave a slight pull, and we were off for the stairwell.

Navigating the madness became more difficult using the stairs. Bulky furniture was being hauled down. We had to backpedal off the stairwell and all the way outside to make room. There was probably a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of fine furniture under the balconies out here. A few pieces were even out in the open, causing me to sigh. Masking name tapes were over drawers that people were claiming. A group of women chatting happily shifted so we could get by. I led us out to the field. Perci didn’t notice me getting away at first, when she did she quickly reached me. Free of the claustrophobic interior, I pulled her into a hug.

“Sorry, they were ordered to take out all furniture, minus beds. Even bed frames are being removed,” Perci said with a meek apology. “I want to show you our room, though.”

“I came out this far for that,” I said pointing to the rope hanging off the third floor back balcony.

“I am not a recon elite soldier, Eric,” Perci said. “I was shite at climbing ropes in basic.”

I let out a boisterous laugh. “Babe, grab on. My cyber arm will show you how a man saves his dangling princess.”

“Oh my!” Perci said, batting her eyes. She gave me an adorable face with pouty lips that I couldn't resist. A sweet kiss was devoured by my little sexy woman.

We chuckled while walking for the rope. I knew someone from my old unit would have set this up. We used ropes all the time in the old shipyard. Saved many lives when your enemy had to try to scale a rope to get you. Easy pew-pew and dead bad guy struggling on the rope. Apparently bad guy school did not include how to climb a rope. Also, I was planning to scale the exterior myself with my cybernetic arm if there was no rope, because screw those stairs right now.

I peered at my exposed arm, realizing my arm cover was in my room somewhere, hopefully not removed and placed in a random drawer. I used my legs to lock the rope, my human hand to stabilize me, and let my cybernetic arm walk me higher. The servos whirled from the strain. I was in armor with weapons and a full ammo kit, which all added weight. By the time I reached the third floor, I had drained two percent of my power reserves. Perci latched on when I turned to haul her up. Her yelp from her rapid ascent was adorable. The whites of her eyes were offset by her huge grin.

“Save me, my king!” She cried out dramatically. I whipped her up the last bit before letting the rope slither down. Perci clung to me tightly, rewarding my heroic efforts with a tender kiss.

“Hey, we are trying to sleep in here!?” Becca called out from inside my room, breaking our moment.

Perci cursed herself and whispered, “Sorry.”

I paused to look over the backside of the mansion. Thick trees went from here to the upward curve of the steep mountains. Besides the latrine not far from the river, there was minimal activity. We would have to clear trees for planting. To the northwest, a patch of no trees resulted in hints of a lake. To the north, I could see a trail of four ATVs snaking between the trees. That must be Jevon heading to check out the caves. To the south, the wall was stagnated on its building. I saw where the river opening was, the hesco barriers curved inwardly. Extra barriers were placed here turning the river into a long kill zone. A few hundred feet inside the perimeter I could see the hydro generators now that some trees had been cleared. Perci remained holding me as we absorbed the view.

“How happy are you right now?” I asked.

“Have your babies happy. I feel my eggs stirring eagerly!” Perci said in a hushed tone, while clinging to me tighter. “Ugh. I could only imagine the despair if mom had forced me underground.”

I kissed the top of her head. “You are amazing, Perci Yang. I know this is the quieter side, but none of this would have been close to these results without you.”

“Awe, shucks. You crazy tall man. You wonder why I swoon when you are near.”

I chuckled at her comment.

“I want to get changed.” My head was tilted in a jerking motion to show I wanted to go in.

We passed a sheet blocking out the sun on the balcony. I almost stepped on a sleeping body with a face mask. The sound of a few snoring bodies told me to tippy-toe carefully. The sliding glass door was open. A dim night light illuminated the once-massive space. Now it was a cluttered mess of sheets creating rooms with their gravity-induced divides. My bed was occupied by Becca, who was sprawled across the whole surface. Thank goodness she was pulling the night shift because she would make for a shitty bed partner.

I glanced down at my Gpad. Pretty much alert free, besides an indication from Jevon. He gave me a timestamp upon entering the cave with ‘get me the fuck out in an hour’ if I did not hear back from him. I swallowed the laugh wanting to escape my lips. The chair in my room was gone. I was eager to get out of my armor but had nowhere to place it. My back ached and my shoulders were sore because I was not accustomed to living in it anymore. I tried to slide my gear under the bed and it met resistance. A small pillow hammock in the corner of our partitioned section held Becca’s clothing. I piled my stuff at the end of the bed. A shirt was handed to me and comfy sweatpants. The shirt caused me to grin. It had my Captain Moostache image on the front. Perci changed into comfy clothes and let me get a nice long look. I adjusted my weapons to fit without armor before we snuck back out to the balcony.

Getting down was easy for Perci, even though I stayed under the rope, ready to catch her. I went to tour the hydro generators. I wanted to get away from the crowd of people. My Gpad pinged telling me I had a command decision to make. Slister was leading a scavenging team and one of the state troopers that joined her said to get clarification. She wanted to strip a half-built home of its raw materials. Which was stealing with no way of returning. So far we had taken stuff that we could return or replace if the world went back to normal. I replied with ‘for the crew’. I figured we would encounter more of this morality push back. I had zero qualms about stealing left behind items or homes to prevail. Times, they were a-changing.

CHAPTER 14

While I stood on the river bank not far from the hydro generators I rubbed the back of my neck. I had zero clue how the hell these turbines worked. They had ingestion covers with a small bridge to access the machines for maintenance or to clear clogs. I would need to protect these somehow later. I heard the crack of the rifle range and wondered how Willow was doing.

The reply I received back was surprising. She was on a mission for baiting pigs with Nancy. They had rolled out not long ago in a three-vehicle convoy. ETA to Xgate 9379’s roaming area was two hours. My gut tightened, knowing I would lose communication. I wanted to divert their mission to something like supplies or looting. I swallowed my fears, wished her luck, and told her I believed in her.

Perci saw my angst but said nothing. We walked to the gate where I saw Mitchell waiting up high with his sniper rifle relaxed. His brother was going through drills off a spotter. I went beyond our opening to survey the tree removal. Even the dozer was charging at the moment, so it was only trucks chaining trees, accelerating, and then dragging the trunk with roots into the gate. Which as I imagined was creating a horrible mess of our gate entry. I shifted to look at the outline of trees that were being used to make our interior berm. I saw a woodworking team measuring trees that had been de-limbed by chainsaws. Sections were being sliced off a tree with spray-painted foot long indicators. The slabs were rolled to a second team where foot tall bricks were being created.

The bricks were turning into the floor for some future building. I guess you could build a home with wood chunks. Especially if you carved out interlinking sections like these chainsaw experts were. I left the gate area to learn what was going on. The electric chainsaws tore into the trees as the men and women transitioned the logs. A gray-bearded fellow waved, recognizing Perci. His eyes lit up when he recognized me from the videos I had been putting out. We shifted away from the louder section so we could talk.

“Name is Gary Henderson. I see you approve,” Gary said cheerfully while shaking my hand. “Been woodworking my entire life. This assembly process is not perfect, I would need far more tools and hours to build something sturdier. We create these blocks for the base and then build a log home. With this many trees to work from, it should go quickly. Once we have enough barns built, I can start building more intricate work assuming we have the power, tools, and competent people.”

“This is fantastic. We can use the dust to keep trails from mudding,” I said while bending over to play with some wood chips in my hand. The ground was littered with the sawdust and bark remains. “The limbs can be used to build our internal berm or cover barn stalls, and use the bark for fires. What can I do to help?”

“Your wife said you would let us do our thing. Outside of more tools and a roof to prefabricate, we are good. A lot of people keep asking for work and I have to send most away. When it comes time to lay the exterior walls in I will need that backhoe to help lift the logs,” Gary said while pointing at the charging backhoe. “Probably tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Alright, great work. The salvage crews are on the hunt for tools. If you run into issues, let me know. Can people use the floor to camp on tonight, or you working a night crew?”

“Day only right now. As long as they clean up and move along when the sun rises, I have no problem with it,” Gary said and we shook hands.

“Take care Gary,” I said while watching them work.

My hands, darted into my pockets as I admired their craftsmanship. I watched them place, chop, and saw away. A few teenage kids were busy rushing tree branches into the barn. A group was selecting thicker branches and creating a box with the sticks. I saw the chickens were in a smaller version already. An older gentleman was stuffing discarded leafy ends inside marked lines for the berms Jevon wanted. My wrist vibrated with an alert. My arm rotated so I could read the message.

‘Bring lights’ - XO

‘How many and should I bring solar?’

‘Two lights to start and yes, charged batteries at least.’ - Duke XO

I smirked after changing his text identifier.

‘Wilco leaving soon’

“Hey Perci, want to go cave exploring or manage the Stronghold?” I asked with curious raised brows.

“The drama has died down with those seventy people leaving. They were all the troublemakers of the community. Funny thing is, we made all those allowances for that autistic boy, but his mother left with him the first chance she could,” Perci said sadly. I slung an arm around her while we watched Gary and his crew work. “What do you need at the caves?”

I showed her my wrist. A few texts later, she was heading for a storage section under a mansion balcony. The woman knew exactly where to look. I saw Sgt. Delcroy waited by an assortment of ATVs with Torrez. I waved them over.

“What can I help you with, Cap?” Delcroy asked.

“Is there a narrow trailer for the ATVs?”

Torrez twisted his head and said, “There is a wagon bed you can tow. Not a boxed in trailer. Will that work?”

“Yes. I need three lights, wiring to batteries in series, and a voltage controller.”

“You want the solar panels also?” Delcroy asked, helping Torrez connect the trailer to a four-seater buggy.

“Only a few, I am not sure what the plan is out there. Do you guys want to join us? We’re going cave exploring,” I asked the duo. Torrez declined with a head shake no.

“Maria wants to eat dinner as a family soon. We probably got an hour of daylight left. I don't even know where we are scheduled to sleep tonight,” Torrez said with a huff. “Jasmine is having the time of her life, Maria is all smiles with the constant interaction, and I am busy with work. Honestly, I am not sure why I am flustered about not having a place to call my own. I wonder if it is a man having to provide and I am missing the… the… home, I guess.”

Perci placed a friendly hand on his arm and said, “Maria knows we are trying. She is part of the solution. You could be in Denver right now in your tiny apartment with no power or water. Do not get down on yourself.”

“Aye, I even tell myself that.”

“As an officer, you’re in our room in your own small section. No bed, but with the new load of blankets and towels, you should be able to find some comfort,” Perci said, cringing. “Sorry.”

“All good Perci. I would rather sleep on the floor than in a spooky ass cave,” Torrez said while hefting a battery with a grunt. I was right behind him lifting the last battery. The heavy hydrogen ion battery was the newer make. Could store a hundred times more juice than a lithium-ion battery but weighed ten times more.

Delcroy brought some cables he chucked into the bed and said, “Dalila was wanting to join us. Well, she asked me to go exploring. Not sure if she was actually wanting to explore or trying to spend time with me.”

“Bring her along!” Perci said, grabbing the driver’s seat in the buggy.

I plopped into the passenger seat and checked my Gpad. Xgate 232 was still quietly roaming. Our four away teams blinked into three as Willow, Nancy, and crew vanished out of range. I requested situation reports (sitreps). Slister’s team was on the way back with pre-assembled walls. Mclain was trying to extract the pump with an unknown time frame on when he would return. I said I was pulling eyes out of the sky soon. He mentioned in his reply that he would set scouts. The pump was not that deep, the main issue was getting the machine off the tractor and up the steep incline of the reservoir. Eddy was looting a community called Pinnacle Grove. They had found forty plus large homes with tons of items left behind. They were collecting food. Power had just died outside our stronghold; preserving the food was the priority. We still had space in our deep freeze. He mentioned the trailers were being jam-packed and he mentioned there were probably ten runs of stuff here. I scoffed. Not when I sent a larger convoy tomorrow morning. If the enemy was going to stay inside from fear of each other then I was going to clean the area with more risk. Which meant it was time to text Peterson while I waited for Dalila.

‘Peterson, recall drone. Be ready to launch at sunup’ - king eric

Hey, I did not set that name tag. I looked over at Perci who gave a sorry, not sorry guilty shrug.

‘Oh geez. Yes, your grace. Drone coming home now.’ - peterson

“Are you still wifey 1 or queen 1 now?”

“Queen of course!” Perci said in a chipper tone. Dalila walked by the front of the buggy, smacking Perci’s hand in a high five. “Delcroy was just looking for you.”

“That handsome man is always hunting for me. Ever since a return home party that we hooked up at. We even kept the long distant friend thing going,” Dalila said, glancing around trying to find Delcroy. “My brother hates the idea of me dating his former sergeant. So, since I am with the king, can I ask a question?” I shrugged with indifference. I doubted if I said no she would respect my wishes. “Can I be an apprentice soldier?”

“Yes.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes, you will go through training, but yes, just like that.”

“Neat, excited to see the caves where I can cling to Felix and pretend I am scared,” Dalila said dramatically right as Felix arrived.

“I heard that. Your brother warned me to stay away from you three times today,” Felix Delcroy said with a snicker.

“And yet you invite me first chance you get. You are lucky I find you so cute. I love my brother, so don’t poke the bear. I will deal with him,” Dalila said as the buggy jerked forward gaining speed. Perci was following the trail that was on her Gpad. “This valley is so pretty. Hey look, another bunny. How come we aren’t breeding bunnies?”

“Uh…” I was caught flat footed. A quick Gpad query from the Gtower database said if separated in isolation cages, rabbits were a fantastic source of protein. This valley seemed to be teeming with them. We even had pens being built over the ground with sticks. “You ever raised rabbits?”

“Breeding, no, but I had a few pet ones I let roam around. Very docile, obviously, and tough to potty train. Not the worst to pick up -”

“Dalila, you have been promoted. I retract my earlier statement. You may become a soldier after setting up a bunny farm. Before you start quibbling, realize I am the boss.”

“Ugh… Me and my big mouth. If I had -”

“What do you need to breed bunnies? Start making a list! I happen to know the officer’s assistant in charge of supplies,” Felix said and Perci rolled her eyes. “What!?”

Their conversation shifted to quiet talk when we entered the trees. Perci slowed down to bump over the roots. I watched the trailer jostle while everything was staying inside. The sun was casting really long shadows and I knew we would be driving home in the dark. I sent a message to Mitchell on the wall.

‘Eyes in the sky coming down. Assume anything not honking on approach is hostile.’

‘Roger shifting posture, adding guards.’ - earl kevin mitchell

‘Woah, I guess I am an Earl now.’ - earl kevin mitchell

I guess no pomp and ceremony led to this kind of result. I was never big on fake self-back patting. A message was sent out; that was enough for me. The woods transitioned into the rocky ground that the Perci had to carefully navigate over. At one point, I hopped out and used my arm to shift a big rock. Perci called me a show off but smirked as her small frame peeked over the dash. We found Jevon outside with Damarcus and two other teenage boys waiting for us.

“Go help the others out,” Jevon ordered. I exited the buggy as my friend led me toward a cave opening, the loose gravel crunched over our feet as we approached. I stopped to spin for a view from the opening. “A few hescos and this entrance was nigh unassailable.”

“That was my thought, too. Even if we do not put residents in here, it would make a fantastic fallback position,” Jevon grumbled.

“Can never have enough of those. Assessment on the inside?”

“You know me, Eric. I rarely use the race card. Here, read this,” Jevon said, handing me a piece of paper.

I unfolded it and read aloud.

“Only crazy ass white people go exploring confined caves full of scary spiders, bats, and snakes. Congrats, you’re mostly white!” I chuckled at his levity. I bet Jevon joked with the others the whole time he wrote this. “Did you see the report of the snake people or the elephant-sized bats? I shuddered. No big spiders though. Hmm…”

“What? Those flying scorpion things were too small to pick people up and fly away with them,” Jevon said.

“Yea, but get a puroon and a behemoth bat under beast master control…”

“You’re weird sometimes, Eric,” Jevon said with a scoff.

“He is right on this one. Odd comment, hubby,” Perci said with an ass smack. “Damn, did you get a metal ass?”

“No, I run daily. Well, until this shitstorm. It helps with my terrors,” I muttered in the last line. “Enough about me, are those lights ready?’

“Yes, my king!” Dalila said with flair.

“I am going to really miss Cap.”

“Too late, and I am sticking with being a queen. Willow is probably dripping in her pants. What is she up to?” Perci asked when she couldn’t find her on the Gpad search. “Huh, that is odd?”

“She is hunting pigri, or whatever name the government used before they were disconnected,” I said while the lights were carried up the path to the mouth of the cave. Perci’s eyes flared white in shock. “Yeah, took all my control not to deviate their mission. She is with Nancy and Bonnet. They will ace any and everyone who gets in their way.”

“Wow, I am proud of you. Takes a lot of pride to swallow one’s feelings like that. I see you are nervous. You are right, they will be fine,” Perci said, hauling the wiring.

The first spotlight beamed into the tight corridor only wide enough for two people. I saw the tall narrow corridor declined steadily until it reached an opening. I went first with the others following. I may have gone slower than needed with overly cautious steps. To my left was a tiny dry stream from where incoming rain had etched a path. When I got to the opening, most of the light was blocked from those behind me. The second light hit the end of the line with a snap that caused Damarcus to tumble. I had him leave the light on the cave floor to stretch further. I angled the light up so it was able to shine into the underground cavern. The ceiling was only a dozen feet tall, littered with dangling stalactites to crack your skull on.

The floor was elevated above a small puddle of water that pooled on the left. It looked like the rain flowed here, collected, and then dove into deeper sections of the mountain. The opening was probably five hundred feet deep and three hundred feet wide. The issue was that almost none of it was flat. At least there were no stalagmites coming up from the cavern floor. The single light source threw lots of shadows from all the craggy structures. Sure, you toss a mattress down and light a fire in here, but you would still be in a damp spooky cave. I was certain some people would want this even with the downsides. The worst areas could store furniture for now or supplies. This was a great find, even with its limitations.

“Leave the lights. I recorded this spot on my Gpad. If people want to sleep here tonight, they can. Let them know those back crevices are unexplored and will stay that way until proper safety measures are in place. Actually, I changed my mind. We tell no one about this place tonight and have it mapped out tomorrow,” I paused, thinking it over -

“You just realized it is dark here during the day? Come on, admit it,” Jevon said with a snicker. I nodded that he was right. I was okay with being called out when I deserved it. “The night crew will have lots to do, but some might want to expand these lights and shuffle gear here. We need the extra space desperately. The stacks of items under the balconies are getting crazy.”

“Fine, but if we are going to use this for storage then no sleeping in here. I am sure people will convert under balconies into curtained homes when space opens up. I will tell Becca when she wakes up. Are you staying on a night crew or going to days?” I asked my friend as we went up the tunnel to the last of the dying daylight.

“I should stay on nights. I slept for four hours this morning. I will get proper rest tomorrow if the aliens remain passive. I am worried about our lack of constant drone coverage and the teams out,” Jevon said as our Gpads synced back in with the tower. “Looks like the teams are heading back. Time to go dig until I find the septic tank.”

I looked down at my Gpad. There was no update from Willow or Nancy but the others were coming in. We shuffled to the buggy while Jevon, Demarcus, and his friends hopped on their ATVs. The trip was slow as we bounced, jostled, and rocked over the forest floor. The LED headlights flickered in random directions due to the uneven terrain. I may have whipped my rifle up when the lights illuminated an owl’s eyes. When I realized the spooky creature was harmless, my heart rate calmed, along with my trigger finger.

Arriving back at the mansion I was greeted by Eddy. His team was hauling food, and blankets into the mansion. I was not surprised when Jacky, Mrs. Moore, and Maranda sent supplies outside to be piled high below balconies. Obviously, we were out of room inside. The cave would need an actual road to it in order to shift this stuff efficiently. Ah, tasks were piling as high as the loot was.

“Good haul, boss,” Eddy said proudly while looking over his shoulder. “We brought in a family of five. Anti Gpad believers. They are arguing over there about what to do. I only promised them they could look at the rules and then our stronghold. There are rumors of a cave with plenty of storage space!”

“Don’t get too excited. It is going to take a lot of work to get trucks back there. But yes. That buggy right there could haul a lot of these…” I paused to look over what he had hauled back. “Coffee! We have to have room for coffee.”

Perci tugged on my arm and said, “So, our kitchen was filled with MREs when we were trying to make space for beds.”

“Great. Toss the MREs in the field. That plastic can literally weather a tornado. Jacky, I see you giving me a stink eye. Form a chain, pull the MREs out, and toss them against the side of the barn with no roof cover,” I said and Jacky scowled but went to carry out my orders. “It is only a bit of work.”

“She is mad you sent Willow on a dangerous mission.”

“I had no idea she was going until it was too late,” I said with my hands up. “I am going to help Jevon so when Mclain returns we can get this pump going.”

“Boss, anything for me? The boys can go again,” Eddy said and then stuck a finger in the air. “And girls, I have both. Troops works.”

“We have no eyes in the sky. If your troops are ambushed, we’ll never make it to you. I am surprised we have not found another expensive drone yet,” I muttered.

“We may have, we tossed all the secure cases in the back. I will dig into them while you do kingly things. Always thought it would be neat to meet a king,” Eddy said with light laughter.

“You are a duke; that should be more impressive than meeting a regular man like me,” I said, leaving his side for Slister.

“Regular guy, my ass!” Eddy said playfully to my back as I went to the next group.

“Hey Slister. Tell me about the trip.”

The lanky redhead looked exhausted. Granted, she normally had bags under her eyes, even when I knew she had a good night’s sleep. Norm was not far away, helping offload some framed walls.

“These walls had only two bolts in them connecting them to the floors. Once those bolts were out, we could walk away with the entire wall. There were no awesome tools or fancy parts left behind. There is a crate of tile for flooring, trusses set to the side, but no machine for us to lift them with. We brought walls and plywood only for now,” Slister spun to see Jevon digging near the back of the mansion. She put a finger up proudly. “I have the plywood needed for the pump project.”

“It needs plywood?”

“You need an assistant. I am not talking about Perci. She is literally a queen. Was before, and certainly is now. Thanks for making me a Duchess, by the way… Why the long face?”

“I was going to make you an Earless. I think that is a thing. Eh, fuck it. You’re an Earless instead of an Earl. Hopefully no one gets offended you’re not a countess. I am doing this since you were a medic and we have three infantry officers, possibly arriving any minute. Still. XO made the right call. I just want to be upfront with you so you don’t get angry later.”

“Ha! Not me. Not over something like that. Hey,” Slister stepped closer and whispered, “Thanks for setting Norm straight. You did something in one sentence I never could. Hopefully, it sticks. He freaked the fuck out when he saw those humans being led away by mind control. Side-note, Cap. I see how much Nancy is leaning on you. You even gave her that innocent cutie Willow to train. Not jealous. Okay, a little. I really miss her.”

I patted her back in a friendly manner. “You should talk. I will mention that to her because you are right, she is seeking me for help. Now, down to business. Walk with me and tell me about this plan Clive has.”

“Um… Clive is not a rocket scientist. He wants to dig a hole. Put a few tarps down inside the hole. Open the floodgates with the flow going into the hole,” Slister said, making hand motions that made no sense to me. They certainly did to her, though, as she eagerly continued. “The pump then shoots the sewage far away down the river as far as the hose reaches.”

I had pulled up Clive’s plan, and sure enough, that was all there was to it. There even was a note. This pump will not clog unless you stick a bowling ball into the intake. Recommends a plywood cover and then bury the plywood. To prevent bowling balls and the smell. Mostly the smell.

“I like Clive,” I said with a snicker.

“Exactly. See, Jevon already has the hole ready. I will go get the plywood. Good chat, your grace.”

She ran back toward where people were offloading the framed walls. I saw Gary attaching walls to his foundation. Just like that, his log cabin went to framed walls. I was sure he was planning on building more. The night shift started to come out of the mansion. Becca went to the backhoe and sat on Jevon’s lap. The man was probably catching her up on the day as they had a friendly chat. Felix caught my eye as he and Torrez were readying the wire to power the pump.

I checked my Gpad. No update from Willow and Mclain was coming into the gate now. Yup, I saw his convoy’s headlights. I sensed a person approaching. My tingly hairs gave Tina a jolt when I spun on her.

“Hello Eric. Do you have a moment?” Tina asked shyly.

“Tina, I do not bite, come closer so I can hear you. What can I do for you?” I said with folded arms as I looked down at her.

“Are you going to banish me?”

“No,” I said and wanted to leave it at that. However, this was not one of my rock hard… bad phrasing… my battle-tested veterans. “Tina, you lusted for a man. You made a mistake before I set ground rules. I get physical attraction. Even I slip and leer at Nancy.”

“The super-hot blonde? Yeah, Willow gets jealous of her,” Tina said with a huff.

“My point is, I control that feeling. I don’t want to hurt Willow or Perci’s feelings.”

“Well, I came to ask about two things. Is Willow okay?”

“She probably is, but as you know, Willow is out of Gpad range. The pigri she is hunting are as numerous as they are dumb. I think the hunt will go well. My concern is the other aliens in that area and the buxen, puroon, and flapions.”

“Flapions?”

“Flying scorpions. I don’t know, just made it up.”

“What if you offend them by calling them some wrong name?”

“Dead aliens don’t get offended.”

“Ah… Fair point. So I guess I have two questions now. What should I be doing?” Tina asked, getting nervous. The first question certainly was not causing this reaction.

“You ever raised bunnies?”

“OMG, no! But I would love to.”

I smiled while craning my neck, trying to find Dalila. I found her holding hands with Felix. I pointed at Dalila. Tina followed my finger until she caught sight of the blonde woman, who waved. We both returned her wave.

“Question two is personal and there is no list or rule for it. Derek said I can fuck Norm with him,” Tina said and I winced. Seriously… “See, it is awkward as fuck to talk about my sexual choices to my girlfriend’s lover.”

“If everyone is okay with it, then I do not care. Let me clarify that. If Norm says he is. Verify with his wife. Was that the hang-up?”

“Indeed. She avoids me. Derek and Norm have been getting along. They had their confrontational talk, but Norm is so casual that they became friends. I am into the two guys at once thing, and Derek is too. I actually was not breaking our relationship agreement by banging Norm. I know, Norm did though. Anyway. If I get caught fucking a random dude who is single, don’t go banishing me please,” Tina said while patting my arm in goodbye. “I have permission.”

I watched her go talk with Dalila. My mind started to wonder how many weird conversations I would have as our community grew. A banishment council would probably need to be established. Because she had a point, some people had kinky desires and unique situations. I had never considered if she had a pass to fuck around. My thoughts were disturbed as Clive approached. We watched the backhoe lowering the pump down.

“The line is shorter than I would like,” Clive said, pointing at the flat tubing. He folded his arms and rocked his body in a sway. “They have other pumps we can steal lines from tomorrow. For today it will pump in front of the turbines. I am a plumber, I understand intakes. That water is fast and those intakes will handle the toilet paper and shit for a day. I will go out there in the morning and clean the guards.”

I grunted in approval. I wanted a shower. Assuming no one was sleeping in mine.

“That works for me. I was thinking of running pure water to start, so if we get backflow from the pump not working, it is mostly water,” I said and Clive started a knee-slapping laughter.

“You sure do not know humans very well. Every toilet is filled with pee. Without guards, you stood no chance of keeping those toilets empty. Almost all of them are loaded with -”

“Okay got it. Fine. You trust your work. I trust you,” I said and walked to the hole Jevon dug.

There was a single large tarp under the pump. Felix wired up the pump that went to a controller. He flicked the switch and the pump cranked angrily at being dry. He hollered for the breaker to be turned off, removed the switch, and wired the pump directly. He left the pit while Slister added two pieces of plywood down over the pump. Jevon received a nod and burst the PVC pipe. The moment the backhoe claw was up the other piece of plywood was in place. The burying of the pit began. Torrez yelled from the breaker box that the pump should be alive.

My finger brought up the submenu for the home's water. I triggered it back on and then I sent the notice out that we had running water again. Flush the nasties. A minute or two later, and the flat hose inflated as it pushed the sewage for the river. While gross and probably in violation of six thousand laws; every face grinned. I waited for reports of back flowing to happen. When no reports came in, I sent out a celebration notification that we once again could shower.

I did get a message asking if a family could return. They said they were tricked on leaving with the promise of a better shelter. Surprisingly, the Aspen place did not exist and was the idea of one. Not an actual home. The leaders were promising hope, not reality. I went to the sand playground to mull over my decision. Perci found me playing sandcastle princess with Jasmine a few minutes later. I showed her the message.

“I will be back. I am going to call them, force them to verify their surroundings, and then make a decision. We certainly do not need drama or problems. I could see running water being a priority, and a decision parents could use to flee, though.”

I dusted off Perci’s sandy butt as she stood to call the family wanting to return. She may have waited for extra sand to be removed that did not exist. A solid thump of my palm to her rump and off she went. I immediately regretted that decision. Jasmine went to Maria, who was talking with another mom. She smacked her mom’s booty with a big smile of achievement. I became very interested in the sand princess in the following moments. When no string of Spanish chastised me, I let out an exhale. The morale of everyone had just gone through the roof. Apparently people loved flushing toilets and showers. Who knew?

I continued to play while checking on my Gpad. Finally, I received a ping from Nancy. The entire team lit up on my device finder. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I opened Nancy’s message.

‘Denver is partially overrun. Swarms of short insects are ravaging the city. The dead are everywhere. There is a long report we need to make, but the victims are mostly eaten for our organs. We killed a few but left the bodies on the field. Was not taking chances. We turned around after looting a community that died trying to defend their homes. Willow did well. She observed, listened, and never complained.’ - nancy

I got a ping from Willow before I could reply.

‘Hey sexy, is the water working? I sweat like a bitch in hot yoga while wearing this armor in a truck!’ - queen 2

‘Hell yes! I got a queen tag!’ - queen 2

‘Does this make my mom a queen?’ - queen 2

‘Girls are so fast at typing. I want you all to be alert and you can debrief me later…’ - king eric

‘In the shower!’ - king eric

Shit, I was rushing my typing and never swapped to Willow. Ugh. I was such an old man sometimes. I curiously waited for the reply.

‘You sent that to the wrong hottie’ - nancy

‘Asked Willow. She said I can join as a reward for getting the water working. Checking with Perci’ - nancy

‘Not to break up this teasing fun, but Slister is wanting to talk to you.’

I tossed my hands into the air in frustration when she didn’t reply. Maybe I should stop trying to help. Perci came with a weird look as she sat beside me.

“I thought you and Lavaun never had a thing?” Nancy was confused and then showed me the message Nancy sent her. Yup. Very direct. “Why did she send this?”

I showed her my mistake.

“She is in a bad spot. If she was single, I would consider bed-hopping with her. She is absolutely gorgeous. But is legitimately vulnerable and hurt. Which means I have to play this carefully. She is slated to sleep in our room…” Perci bit her lower lip while making her plan. I kissed her cheek before leaning into her. “Knock that off before my tits start milking.”

“Huh?”

“You know I am super in love with you. After years of dreaming of being your forever girl, you leaning against me for emotional support makes me want to…” Perci started to say with Jasmine paying attention. Maria had been listening to us also. “Makes me want to love you like a mommy loves a daddy. Hey, that is actually what I was trying to say too.”

‘Awe, you guys are the best. Thanks for taking me in.’ - duchess nancy

“What deal did you strike with Nancy?”

“Snuggle party, she got shut out but is taking it well. What is your next task?”

“We need to get the dozer going, more lights to the cave, trees cleared to the cave, barriers filled, this loot sorted, the berm outlines continued around the farm fields, irrigation lines drawn, catch bunnies, and the number of tasks goes on. I think we should help sort this loot. Looks like people are eager to use toilets and showers. We need to figure out a fix for toilet paper, too.”

Perci scoffed. She was on her feet before I even shifted myself up. Her hand extended down, which I accepted. I groaned as my body creaked, snapped, and popped.

“Uncle Eric. Your bones pop like grandpa’s,” Jasmine said happily.

I couldn’t help but smile at the little girl. “I bet your grandpa is amazing so I will happily take the compliment.”

“Mommy said he is in heaven. Did you know heaven is in Tijuana?” Jasmine asked and Maria stifled her laugh while distracting her daughter so I could escape.

My grinning face twisted in a grimace when the cracking of distant gunfire reached my ears.

CHAPTER 15

Another round split the night. Parents dove on children, idiots ran into glass doors, and veteran soldiers raced toward the gunfire with low silhouettes. I slung Perci over my shoulder with a burst of speed. I tore across the ground until we were at the rope.

“Eric!” Perci shouted, finally getting through to me. “What are you doing!?”

“Getting the queen to safety while gearing in my armor.”

She twisted my ear to prevent me from scaling the rope with her. “You left your armor for the night crew. Becca is wearing it, you-”

“Shit, I did not know we were swapping gear. I still want you to be safe.” I calmed my nerves and set Perci down. “Sorry.”

She kissed me passionately for a quick moment. “Go get them, my king.”

I was gone. The loud snaps of rounds being discharged to the south pierced the night air. My feet dug in and I sprinted for the hesco wall in long bounds. I glanced at my Gpad to see that the family wanting back in earlier was running for our wall. I cursed noticing they were about a thousand meters south in between the trees. I ran for a truck fishtailing to exit the wall. A mad dash allowed my arm to catch the bed. With an empowering twist of my wrist, I propelled myself into the back. Feet slammed into the bed of the truck. My hand whipped to clamp the truck cab to stabilize my body. My cybernetic fingers indented the alloy with a whine of servos. The truck lined up, the blocking trailer was moved, and the tires squealed as we bolted out the gate. The entirety of our defensive forces were peering over the top hesco container facing south as they readied for the enemy.

“Get a drone in the air!” I shouted to Mclain.

I twisted my head down to see Felix driving with Dalila beside him. I called Nancy on my Gpad so the returning convoy could track the developing situation.

“Hey, handsome.”

I did not answer. My eyes darted to see the headlights cast shadows behind a mom holding a baby while dragging a toddler. She was screaming hysterically. Her husband was fighting a dozen flapions and losing as he was embedded with multiple stingers deep inside his body. I sighted over the truck cab until my ACOG dot was perfect.

Crack. I shifted. Crack. New target. Crack. Three dead.

I kept firing. The flapions who were killing the man panicked. His body lifted with an ear-splitting scream as the barbed tails were torn out in sprays of blood. I ran out of ammo before I could clear him of threats. The sticks the flapions carried zapped rounds of electrical charge. The aim was poor with only a single charge hitting the truck. The round sizzled as it dissipated over the alloy exterior.

My thumb sent the magazine into the truck bed. I unclipped my magazine pouch, snatched a new magazine, and slammed it in. I dropped the bolt forward. Four of the flapions decided to fly away. Dalila was spraying rounds just about everywhere besides into her targets. I dropped two more flying scorpions before shifting to help Mclain. The mother was fighting Mclain, who was trying to get her into the truck bed.

I grabbed the toddler, stuck her between my legs, and clamped her there to lock her in place. The toddler cried while trying to free herself. Mclain had enough and threw mom with the baby into the bed of the truck. The mother huddled in the fetal position while crying into her baby.

“Holy shit!” Dalila screamed in terror.

A large flock of flapions charged us eager to exact vengeance. There must have been a few hundred. I saw they were struggling to go faster and higher as they fervently flapped. Mclain was a calm professional who ignored the threat. He leaped into the driver seat with the vehicle turning before he even closed the door. Any thought of saving the man bleeding out not far down the road was gone. His sacrificed body was covered by the flapions with their red wings and black mass. I guess I understood why they had not raced out of the Xgate earlier. They were nocturnal.

The truck outpaced the flying creatures hastily trying to reach us with their extended stingers. I dove to the deck as the flapions adapted after realizing we were getting away. They fired a mass of electrical bolts into the truck. I peeked after the volley landed. While holding the toddler tightly, my rifle snapped eight times. Each round forced a flapion to spiral and crash. I ejected my magazine, slapped a new one in, and sent ten more rounds into the mass of creatures while lying on the truck bed.

My Gpad closed. An alert from Jevon said to lure them in. I felt the truck slowing as we crossed the cleared tree line in front of our wall. Mclain was cursing furiously, telling me our truck was dying. The demonic flapions were drooling at the prospect of catching us. When they exited the narrow road, their clump fanned out with the faster ones finding new space to out fly their brethren. After a quick peek, I ducked below the truck tailgate as we rolled forward, losing speed.

‘Fire!’

The alert pinged. The roar of the weapons belching rounds was deafening. I clutched the little girl to my chest while firing into the mass with my cybernetic arm above the bed. Even one handed, I doubt I missed many shots. The flock was thinning rapidly. So fast that they were unable to react right away. The electrical bolts stopped slamming into our truck ineffectively. The enemy shifted fire to the hesco containers while trying to get back into the trees. The smarter ones realized they had overcommitted with their chase and were led into an ambush. A few recklessly charged, never coming close to our wall.

The hundred plus defenders were firing with precision. Bodies tumbled out of the sky until the few who escaped darted behind tree cover. I smirked when the snipers were still smacking flapions out of the sky when an opening arose. The battle quieted. The last rounds were putting down any wounded enemies. The little girl trembled in my arms even when the chaos calmed. I stayed behind cover when Nancy’s face occupied my Gpad.

“I have reviewed the other bases in the area. No sightings reported. I think they found those people out in the open as they were reconning the area. My guess is they were wanting an easy target and to avoid a fight,” Nancy said from her truck seat. I heard a few rounds being fired from the video as Nancy paused. The sound of gunfire in the far distance reached my ears that matched the sounds in the video. “We got the rest of them; I think. They were consolidating on the dirt road. Want us to loot?”

“Come home now. I need to look at the drone and want your team safe.”

The little girl finally freed herself of my grasp when I shifted to sit up. A dozen troops were running out to our dead vehicle. They ran to the backside to push us in the last fifty meters or so. I dialed up the drone feed with infrared on.

The view showed the cooling bodies of the dead flapions. Whatever natural armor exoskeleton they had dissipated heat rapidly. It also was shit for stopping high caliber rounds. I saw a few stragglers rushing away deep in the woods. There would be no stopping their retreat with a spy drone. When I saw the area was clear, I hopped out of the truck. The mother was screaming for her husband Elon. Over and over she gave a tormented scream that was frightening her children.

I dialed up Slister while walking to inspect the dead bodies. A flapion jerked alive with its weapon diverting for Becca. A bolt of electricity zinged forward. The discharge slammed into her dragon armor. The impact spot sizzled, she twitched, and then slammed into the ground with a spasm. The little flapion was swiftly killed in retribution.

“This is Slister go,” Slister said, racing for Becca. The woman went to her knees while trembling. She vomited but maintained staying on all fours. “Cap!”

“Sedate the woman in the bed of the truck. Then tend to Becca.”

“Wilco.”

Additional medics rushed to Becca, while the tormented mother was finally silenced.

I walked into the piles of bodies waiting for another wounded flapion to react. When none did, I bent over and retrieved their stick weapons. I grunted in surprise to realize I was holding an actual stick. A smooth straight piece of wood that had been hollowed out. There was a single indent button for fire out one end. The other end had a charging port. The first body I inspected had a pouch around its odd neck. Now that I was up closer to the head, it reminded me of a smush-faced dog. The mouth was filled with rows of jagged triangle teeth. The eyes were pitch black and the stinger leaked a red ooze. I kicked the body over. The wings were bound to the body with a long seam. I grabbed a wing, pinned the body with my boot and yanked hard. I went stumbling without the wing. Well, they were on there good. I lifted the pouch off the neck.

There was a leather string binding the small bag; it continued in length to form the necklace. I opened the container and spilled the contents into my cybernetic palm. Little chunks of metal cascaded into my hand. Specks of gold, silver, and other nuggets reflected when Nancy’s convoy illuminated the area brightly. I waved as they passed by with filled vehicles. The truck beds packed high with items and trailers were weighed down almost to a broken axle point. My eyes returned to the little bits of metal in my palm. With an intrigued nod, I shimmied the nuggets back into their pouch. There would be a lot of these when added up across the bodies.

I went to find Elon. He was mostly bone. Their feasting on his corpse had given us the time to build up speed. I wanted to close his eyes to let him finally rest, but they were gone. With a sad exhale, I walked the dirt road back to our wall. I saw the ground was starting to become loose from the heavy travel. My Gpad leveled in front of me while I typed in to add river stones to the road on the ‘to be completed’ tasks. The majority of the troops were still providing over watch as I passed through the break in the defenses. I saw Jevon talking to Becca who grimaced in pain. My feet detoured for them when Perci came running for me. When Willow stepped out, I was abandoned by her. I smirked at seeing the two embrace while rapidly chatting.

I tossed the bag to Jevon when he shifted his attention to my approach. The man went to inspect the contents. I handed the stick weapon to Becca who cursed at the evil thing. She was still a tad shaky but her color was returning. Slister came over to brief me about her patient.

“Becca received a stun. Obviously electric. The difference is it applied a fever to her body. She has been given fever reducers, and a lot of them. I told her bed rest, I need to IV drip her, and monitor her temp for the rest of the night,” Slister said, and I glanced up at the cool night sky that shone brightly from the moon and the stars. “What about the mom?”

“For the mom, if she wakes up sane, we help get her the support she needs. As for Becca, set up a bed in the house outside. The cool air might help. Or maybe this load of loot has a good command type tent we can use as a hospital. Becca, you follow Slister’s orders tonight or so help me. Is that understood?” I asked sternly. Becca nodded with a shiver as Slister led her away. I turned to Jevon and said, “Nice work.”

Jevon continued to inspect the chunks of metal as his face twisted in contemplation. He opened his mouth only to close it. Nunez came running into the stronghold with a dozen pouches he handed off to me. I bounced them in my palm. Yup more of the same.

“I think we found a source of currency,” Jevon said, while eyeing the mountains illuminated by the moon in the distance. “How do we get more of it?”

“That was one of my thoughts too. Along with that, I do not think these flapions wanted a fight.”

“No, most tried to flee when they realized they ran into deadly resistance. They brought no siege weapons or used formations,” Jevon said with a grunt. He opened a few more pouches to verify they indeed had more metal nuggets. A fifth pouch had a ruby in it.  “Nancy mentioned she thought they were seeking targets of opportunity. I would have to agree.”

“I bet the jewelry stores in Aspen have been hit already. We have not made it a priority in our looting because most people fleeing grab the small, expensive stuff. You still good to run the night shift?”

“Of course, I want to ensure Becca ends up alright anyway. Even though it was still new, I wouldn’t be able to sleep with her in that condition.”

“Oh and bring our only drone in. I want it for tomorrow. You have command.”

“I have command,” Jevon replied, and I left him standing there with his thoughts.

Nancy was helping Slister with Becca. Both ladies were medics. I saw some meek smiles and hopefully some bridges being repaired. I ran to Willow and swooped her into my arm. I scrunched my face when her body odor assaulted my nose. She laughed hysterically.

“Perci had the same nose tightening reaction. I sweat when I am nervous. I killed three giant cockroach things and one of the flying scorpion dogs. I think my report card will return with the ‘apprentice soldier approved’,” Willow said confidently. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she eagerly said, “Words cannot describe how eager I am to get into a shower! Thank you for making that a priority.”

I patted her shoulders proudly. “Always believed you would do just fine. Was merely hoping you received adequate training first. Now Willow… I desperately want to see you naked. However, my blood is still pumping and we have all this loot to sort through, and nowhere to put it. Hit the shower, get clean, and return to me.”

Willow leaped into my arms, almost knocking me over. I was given a lustful kiss. When I set her down, both hands of hers were clamped to my ass cheeks. Jacky gave a throat clear. Mother and daughter fled to the house while joyfully talking. Perci waved for me to follow her. I went to the bed of the first truck and saw tools. The majority of the tools were small corded drills or never miss hammers. I grabbed a few at a time and saw the only place not stacked with items was the playground. That was simply not an option. Even though it was late, the kids were playing in the pit since the chaos had calmed.

I looked around, trying to find a storage spot. I huffed when I came back without any success. The RVs were too low to the ground to stuff items under. Even if Gary and the woodworking team built three new homes, we would be short on storage. I needed these trucks and trailers empty to keep looting for when we did get more homes. My shoulders deflated knowing there was only one option. We had to clear a path to the caves.

My Gpad indicated most of the trucks had enough charge to work through the night. Braxton, our electrician, was running solar panels above the barn when I looked over. We were starting to almost out consume the hydropower. The battery reserves were still maxed, but if we added a few more electric big rigs, we would be negative without the solar.

I caught sight of Clive sitting on the playground bench watching a mini Clive play in the sand. I set the tool down back in the storage bin to talk with him. Perci grabbed my arm in confusion.

“We have to convert the caves into storage. I am going to talk to Clive about putting a second pump in the cavern for waste removal. If people are -”

“Gross. That is enough detail. I will put out the word you want a road built to the cave starting tonight.” Perci paused, tapping her foot. “Priority over more clearance in front of the wall?”

“Definitely. We have a nice kill zone. We can make it bigger, sure, but I do not want to have valuable items spoil. I think the flapions will be very hesitant to approach our wall now,” I said while crossing my arms. I kicked the debris of wood chippings under my feet. “The buxen are a different story, but the short clearing means less room to maneuver their gravity-defying sled.”

“Okay, come find me when you are done chatting with Clive.”

The red bricks were silent under my boots while I walked to the park. Clive noticed my approach and patted the seat beside him. We watched his son chase around what looked like a daughter of his. I kept glancing from her to him.

“Niece. My brother went on a cruise in the Bahamas. First vacation in twenty years. You know, I wonder what the hell the cruise ships are doing?” Clive said painfully into the air. I saw him holding back tears. He clamped his emotions down when his son ran to tell him about how awesome the steel tractor was. When the child went back to playing, he continued. “Dorothy is the woman being attended to by your medic. Her little girl that you saved loves to flush half a Barbie doll down the toilet. Plops it in half, drops it in, and then runs to tell mommy she is trapped after flushing the toilet. I would tell her to just get a wet vacuum every visit. Nope. She happily paid me to do the dirty work. Right princess, both her and the little one. Husband was a fancy Aspen lawyer, I think. Or maybe it was a mortgage broker. Not that it matters now.

“She left when the others promised fake scenarios. I laughed when they mentioned that Fort Carson has to be taking people in now. She probably convinced him to leave this place. I worry she will not be strong enough to handle both. The end of the world, and the man who created the world in which she was a princess. Where are the kids?”

“Mrs. Moore has them in the other suite watching cartoons. I think we have a few wet nurse moms who can help with the newborn. So. I had some work related questions,” I said with a pause. He clenched his jaw with a stern nod. “You can ask any of my men and women I brought home from Saudi Arabia. I will listen if you need someone to talk to... Sorry to shift this to work. We have a cave that lets in water. It has a natural drain inside. I want you to follow the water and see if we can add a toilet system or prevent flooding. The other is, can you build a list of items needed to build a flushing outhouse for the barn that drains to the pump? I was thinking we could strip toilets out of built homes, and plumbing out of half-built or built homes.”

Clive bobbed his head in thought while I talked. He waved over a plain looking woman with a warm smile and brown eyes. He scooted over so she could fit on the bench.  We watched the children run around the sandpit, playing tag.

“Hadley, this is King Eric, Eric this is Hadley. The boss man wants to know if I would be willing to build a toilet house for the barn,” Clive said, patting his wife’s knee.

I was not tracking where he was going with this at the moment.

“That is fantastic and I fully support more toilets. If you are asking if you can leave the stronghold, the answer is no dear; we talked about this. Send your apprentice out,” Hadley said. I watched her pat his cheek lovingly until her gaze went stern and she leveled a finger at her husband. “You are not a soldier, Clive.”

When she went to sit in the sand, I chuckled. “Okay, generate the list and sign up your apprentice for item removal. Send Perci your reports please, I will be helping clear trees to get to the cave.”

We shook hands. I was about to enter Jevon’s truck when Torrez called out, “Eric!”

I spun to his voice to see a man and woman being prodded forward. Torrez and Felix were walking with weapons pointed at the two, while Dalila used a stick on them. I sighed knowing that, whatever this situation was, it was not good. Bonnet had caught sight of the display making the ordeal even worse.

“Report,” I said with my commander’s tone.

Torrez sighed, lowering his weapon. “We should go to the meeting room.”

My finger pointed to the barn. The man tried to flee. Torrez had cybernetic legs; you were not outrunning him. He lunged in a long leap. His boot crashed into the man’s back sending him sprawling. Eddy showed up to pick the guy off the ground as he moaned.

“Should we just ace him?” Bonnet said and Eddy gave her a look of disgust.

The man was on his feet again and willingly walking with us. The woman was crying while dragging her feet. I knew that would trigger Bonnet. She grabbed the woman’s hair pulled back and then whispered into her ear with a smirk. That was never a good sign for the recipient. While most Saudi’s ignored her broken Arabic. This woman collapsed in tears. Okay something was off. We were far enough away from the crowds.

“Bonnet, interrogate the man, please. If you kiss him, do so in the woods, some things even adults find rude,” I said in half code. Torrez went with them while I knelt down to talk to the sob story. “I will give you a minute to collect yourself. After, you will face the most important conversation of your life. Answer honestly. Where is your Gpad?”

Mclain grunted for attention and handed me an unattached Gpad. I slapped it on her wrist and it errored out. I unbound it and swapped it with the other one Mclain held out. When Felix had them sorted, he ran to Bonnet to give the man his Gpad. A Gpad had vitals. This woman was crying but her pulse was steady, and she stopped the moment I saw she was faking. Her brown eyes stared daggers at me when I dug into her files.

“Huh, interesting. A con couple. You were renting a massive home pretending to be big shot investors. You conned. Jesus,” I said when I found dozens of people had fallen for their scams. “Wow, you love to steal I bet -”

“Follow me, boss,” Felix said while walking to the woods. I semi-threw the woman from her butt to a walk with an empowered toss. “We noticed a battery was missing. Okay, no biggie, right? Probably went to charging a backhoe, or a truck, or the caves. Hell, Braxton has had his electrical lackey grabbing stuff all day. For supply people with no real inventory checks, I only noticed it because I had moved it there not ten minutes ago. So, there I am, scratching my head about where this battery walked off to when Torrez points at these two idiots. Why are they idiots, you might ask? Well, they are walking with a stick over their shoulder with toilet paper on the end of it. Well she is. He is walking awkwardly. Carrying a heavy ass battery for a long distance will do that to you. So I ask myself. Who is willingly shitting in the woods when we have running toilets again?

“Torrez gets admin overrides from Perci. Which is fantastic to see those in action, by the way. We ping the area looking to find out who these two are. Spoiler, they did not have their Gpads on to avoid the tracking of the constant back and forth from the supply section to the woods. Honestly, I am at fault here. I have been daydreaming about Dalila not expecting to be robbed. The rest is on you, King Eric. You have been taking Torrez to meetings and battle.”

I smacked him upside the head with my real hand, and gently. Dalila chuckled at my banter.

“I know I deserve worse. Anyway, things are starting to add up in my mind. We have missing items. Two people without Gpads using an old cover. When they return, Torrez races in a big arc and finds the mother lode. It is right over here,” Felix said while shining a flashlight through the woods. We walked for only three minutes or so into the trees before arriving at a clearing. “Imagine our surprise when we find this.”

“Why did you bring Dalila?” I asked with a raised brow.

Felix opened his mouth, then closed it, opened it, looked at Dalila, smiled fakely and closed it again. Eventually, he shrugged with his hands up.

“That is two in one day. Do you see Willow or Perci here?”

“No, Cap. Uh… Dalila, sorry I got you involved,” Felix said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It is okay. I am not dumb. These are vital supplies. I am a big girl, Cap.”

The con artist’s name was Jacklyn, but I doubted it was her real name. She was fidgeting while I looked over the supplies. MREs, sanitizer, medicine, weapons, and all the toilet paper. I gave a tsk-tsk to the woman.

“What was your plan, Jacklyn?”

“We were going to help, I swear -”

Her Gpad indicated she was lying. I clutched her neck with my metal hand. When her feet flicked off the ground unable to find traction her eyes bulged. I saw Felix go to comfort Dalila. She swatted him away while crossing her arm. I returned my gaze to Jacklyn. Bonnet arrived with Eddy, Torrez, and the other half of the con in tow.

“Hey boss, she can’t breathe,” Eddy said while gasping at the sight of the stolen goods. I set the woman down. “This is bad.”

“You think, Eddy? You should probably leave,” I said and he shook his head no. He was sad but stoic. “Alright, Jacklyn, I will give you a moment to catch your breath. This is your one chance only. Everything is the truth or we kill you, and probably use your bodies as alien bait. Do we have salt?”

“When we get the salting truck, probably, but the deep freeze has room. We are scared to store stuff in there in case we need room for food suddenly,” Torrez said with a sad voice. He knew. I think the only people in denial were the cons.

Jacklyn coughed, looked at the man, and then said, “It was all his idea. See, my Gpad reads it as true. We started off conning an old man near death. We told him we were his lost children. He had money to spare. We used that con to survive. With UBI, we got used to a nice life. We played the same con for the last two years. Finally -”

“Not another word, Charlo-”

Crack! The gunshot sent the birds nesting in the trees scattering. My ears rang from the proximity of the discharge.

The man crumpled as he fell over, dead. Bonnet placed her rifle over his body until the muzzle was inches above his skull. Crack! Not that he needed the second shot. I turned to the shocked Charlotte. Yea probably Charlotte.

“Continue please. You have earned the right to continue speaking. Torrez, please inform Perci the man made a move for Bonnet’s gun and had to be put down.”

Dalila scoffed and said, “You actually going to lie to her?”

“Huh, oh heavens no. I will come clean to both the girls. This is so she has something to put out that we can all cover with. Imagine if we go back with five different stories. He went for Bonnet’s gun. As if. Still, you get the point.”

“Eddy are you okay?” I asked as the man turned green.

He used a tree to brace himself, dry heaved for a moment, and then chunks of steak spewed into the underbrush. I cringed, scrunching my nose. I pulled out a weapons cleaning rag and handed it over to him.

“Smells like CLP,” Eddy said as he recovered. He sniffed the rag further. “Definitely CLP”

I rolled my eyes when he tried to hand the rag back. Bonnet snatched the rag while continuing the motion to fling it into the woods.

“Charlotte, now is your time to finish your story. Best case, we send you away with banishment. Worst case, I snap your neck. Now woo me, girl, I believe in your conning abilities,” I said with a sadistic smirk.

“Fuck you!” She screamed loudly.

My hand darted out, crushing her windpipe. She collapsed with a thud against the leafy mat. I kneeled beside her, watching her try to live. Desperate to breathe.

Her eyes wished for another lungful of air. Torrez bent over her body and jammed a metal straw through her chest with precision. I frowned at him for saving her.

“Now what do we do? Give her a chance at redemption? She will have to be guarded at all times. I thought we didn’t want prisoners?” I said with disdain. Torrez gave me weak, sad eyes. “Fine, she is your problem. Torrez, look at me. Now, look at me as if you needed to protect your family. Better. She would steal from us so we starve, and I believe she would run over anyone… anyone in her way. She is best off as alien food.”

“I will take her on. She has the ability to convert and change. With your permission, of course,” Torrez said confidently.

“Okay, build a team as a side project. Charlotte, you have been given a second chance. Your story is you tried to escape, ran into a tree, and crushed your windpipe. Torrez, consider your crazy idea approved. With modern medicine, you should heal nicely in a week. Do not screw this up. Apparently, we are a softer group willing to help. Ensure her neck is covered in a wrap to hide the finger marks.”

I rose from her side. She was nodding a lot in thanks. I grabbed arms full of toilet paper to haul back. My smile was so big at finding the hidden stash, it was contagious. Dalila grabbed as much as she could, with Felix following suit. Bonnet comforted Eddy, while Torrez carried Charlotte back.

One thing about carrying stuff in the dark. People could instantly make out toilet paper. My Gpad pinged an alert, which probably summarized the situation to be skewed in our favor. The glory of controlling the news was you dictated it to reflect what you wanted. When eager citizens rushed for the glorious white toilet paper, I was thanked profusely over and over. I smiled and waved. When the little handoff was over I pointed to where more supplies needed to be brought back.

I snuck away from the growing crowd to duck into Jevon’s cybernetic truck. I had never driven one of these. Four engines, one per wheel. Innovative solar for every window. Steel alloy frame sturdy enough you could run over trees with it. In this case, I was only going to pull them out. I saw the back seat folded down and a long chain resting in the covered truck bed. Perfect. A knock on the window halted my retreat. Jevon stood with a raised brow. I smiled guiltily and unlocked the door. Perci hopped in shotgun while Jevon got in the back. A knock on the window and Jevon scooted over to a fresh scented Willow with loose hair. I watched her working a braid in the rearview. She caught my attention and flashed a toothy smile.

We drove in silence. A quick pause let the people flooding to get the supplies in the woods to create a break for us to part through. We left them for the section of trees being dragged to make a road to the cave. I paused us short of the trucks hauling trees to stay out of the way.

Willow tapped my shoulder. I glanced at her in the back seat. “So, we were robbed?”

“Yeah, professional drifters. She was a hooker, he was a con artist. He fed her a good life off the street. Honestly, I felt bad for her,” I said softly, gripping the wheel.

“But not him?” Perci asked.

Jevon chuckled. “Eric is my brother. The con man conning us never was going to live. Sorry girls, at most he would have turned his back as someone else did the deed. I read her real file too. We can maybe save her. The bonus is we have toilet paper for a few days. I was getting sick of cleaning a rag with brown stains on it.”

“Ew…” Perci said, shuddering at the visual reference. “You boys are brutes. I want you to understand that I understand. The people wanting to stick their heads in the sand will believe the cover. Those who doubt the story will see it for what it is. Someone tried to steal from us. They died for their sins.”

“I am not a fan of capital punishment, which leads to deciding who dies and lives. That was also a thought process for when we had a civilized society without facing all the desperation we will now. Was the food stolen?” Willow asked.

“And vital survival gear. Here is the photo,” I said and sent it to her. “Willow, Tina stole toilet paper. Derek made a report of it and returned it. What happened to Tina?”

“No idea. I saw her with Derek, Norm, and that Sammy Slister girl working with the woodworking team. She seemed happy.”

“Get the point. People are going to grab an extra meal or some shit paper. Okay, I got a problem when it compiles or adds up. I do not have a one-off problem or minor issues. These two saw an opening to rob us to the point where a thousand people could die. I have no sympathy for that.”

“I do not disagree. Oh hey, I got a long message from Tina. Oh… That makes sense, did she already -”

“Yes, that conversation leads into this one. Since we four are the king, queens, and highest duke — or are you a prince?”

“Duke Deluxe works. Oh… DD, yes I like it,” Jevon said with a smooth tone.

“This latest snafu will help our cause with this next cementing of power. We need a council. To deliberate disputes, and to disseminate punishments. I assumed - without having to verify - that Tina was not in an open relationship. Norm was not, so I never bothered digging into Tina’s relationship dynamics. However, I wanted her to come clean to Derek. Turns out she never needed to. They like the male female male (mfm) fun. Nothing wrong with that, and I am not judging. Merely saying the old me would have never taken the time to find that out. I would have banished, while moving the unit forward. A council will handle that stuff, and give some people purpose. Maybe vote for them to get on the seats… Or split - vote, appoint.”

“Good idea, let me talk with the other Mother Hens as we call ourselves and get the paperwork organized. We were thinking of a noble council but this lets the people feel more empowered. I like it. I assume you have a final say?” Perci asked while Jevon snickered. I couldn’t see him, but knew the man was bobbing his head. “Alright, return us girls if you want to yank these poor trees out of the ground, root and all.”

“I am getting out, do not violate my car with deviant acts. Let me pop its cherry.”

The man was out of the truck before I could give a witty reply. I groaned at missing the opportunity. Even in the encased truck, I could hear him laughing.

“When are you coming to bed?” Willow said with dancing eyebrows and a lusty glare. “I missed you. Like I missed you because you’re sweet... and missed your big cock!”

“Ugh, I was so sore today. I will watch this time. Has to be the shower though. We have Bonnet and Nancy slated in our bed for the other half. Unless they find bed partners,” Perci said.

“Bonnet will probably drag someone into our side to test me… No with Willow and Nancy, she might get her thrills of using men elsewhere,” I said, thinking it over. I slowly crept the truck into a casual ride. “Taking it easy so we have time together. Even my Gpad is not pinging.”

“Are you happy, Eric?” Willow asked, causing Perci’s eyebrows to raise.

“With you two, the happiest I have ever been. I feel again. I am not all the way there but my compassion and empathy are returning. Almost too much,” I said uncomfortably. “I still have some darkness lingering. Why do you ask?”

“Nancy spent the four-hour mission gabbing about how amazing you were. About how you had countless opportunities to be a player and never once indulged. Even Jevon cratered to Bonnet sometimes, O’Hara too. I just -”

“I wonder how O'Hara is. She was coming from Florida,” I said, letting the words trail.

“Not going through Denver based on Nancy’s report. I was hoping more of the unit would arrive. We are up to ninety-plus making it safely. And the last ones were -”

“Sorry to interrupt but we tend to veer our conversations we’re already here. Nancy loves you, not as much as Perci or the same way. More like a fanboy way. She mentioned some old game she learned at college. Kill, marry, or bang. Not my thing, but as you can surmise, Eric is a bang and marry on a lot of lists. Reliable, comforting, patient, and super sexy. Which leads me to this: You should not comfort her as you did before,” Willow blurted. She covered her mouth at saying too much.

“Willow, you can always be honest with me. If that is what you want -”

“I am worried she will try to sleep with you. You can add powerful to that list now. You go on missions without us. Look, I have my own set of issues. If I did not hear how honest and trustworthy you were, I would be freaking the fuck out. I fear she will cross a line if you lead her on.”

“Nancy has come onto me and crossed the friend line, Willow, like a half dozen times. Most were playful and harmless. Hell, with Slister, closer to a dozen. Horny women will find excuses to wake you up when you're sleeping and they are half naked. There was a time before Nancy hooked up with Slister. She came to me once already dripping from self-pleasure, completely naked,” I said and Willow's eyes shot open. I bobbed my head to emphasize my point. “There is a lot to our trip home you do not know. I promise, when we find time, I will explain it all to you. Now, with that shocking revelation, let me tell you about those times. I would kiss their foreheads. Tell them they were beautiful and desired. However, I was saving myself for marriage. They never believed me. Not one bit but -”

“They got more from those sweet lasting words than what their impulses required. No wonder she is a fangirl,” Perci said with a huff. She looked at me and then down. Then back at me sadly. “If I was there?”

“Well, we were deployment married, so lots of sex and -”

“Perfect answer, Eric Yang. Alright, Willow, we both know Lavaun is gorgeous. If our man can turn her aside when she comes boobs out - dripping wet - then I think we can trust him. We need to have a girl talk with Nancy. She is the troublemaker here. Do not let her good looks and pouty lips fool you. One more before I steal you to make this council.”

“One more question?” Willow asked and we both gave her thumbs-up. “Oh, I get one more. What are your plans with Nancy? As in, do you want to add her to our throuple? She mentioned kings had harems.”

I huffed and said, “I will be there for her as her boss and her friend. As for the harem, I am good. I prefer your curves to hers, Willow, and Perci I prefer tight sexy bodies with actual love. I hope she gets back with Slister… But that is not going to happen.”

“Huh, why?”

“Norm will pick Tina and Derek over Nancy,” I said with certainty.

“Pfft. As if… Wait your face is dead set on that statement. Why?”

I tapped Perci’s leg. She bound her shoulders with palms up. Guess I did know Slister and Nancy better than them.

“Norm loves sex. So does Slister. Those two are swinging fanatics. Nancy is not, she is a once a day at most kind of gal. Trust me, I know without actually knowing. You compare two college kids eager to fuck like rabbits to an emotional Nancy…” I said with a sad deflated sigh. My hands came up and slapped my thighs in frustration. “Norm is the pants wearer. He tells Slister what he wants and she does not fight him. Did Nancy and Slister have love? Absolutely. Was that love doomed when they came home? Again, absolutely. She mentioned this when we were debriefing. She knew they were swingers and was not okay with that. I said I would be there for her, and never needed to be until now. Probably would have avoided her anyway while I was at DU.”

“Oh,” Willow said meekly.

“Hey Willow, you are my queen and inspiration. I never imagined having two wonderful women to lean on, ever. Especially in a time like this. So thank you Perci,” I said, kissing her softly. I then twisted to kiss a conflicted Willow. “Thank you, Willow. I will try to be the best man I can for both of you. I realize being comforting to Nancy could be seen as sexual affection and will halt my -”

“Ugh, no. She needs her friend. I want to sleep between you two though. I will try to comfort her too in her hour of need,” Willow said, coming to a resolution.

“Awesome, I hope she patches things up with Norm, and Slister. If not she is a beautiful woman,” Perci said while puckering her lips for another kiss. “Beautiful women tend to get what they want. Which I hope ends up being some single man she can toy with.”

I kissed her goodbye. Then a long passionate kiss to Willow. The door closed with a thud and I watched them walk inside arm in arm. I was truly the luckiest man. I went to drive for the trees to help build the cave road when I saw Nancy racing across the field, fleeing from Slister. I gave a disgruntled sigh.

When I caught the two, they were hugging. I rolled down the tinted window. When they saw it was me, I waved them closer.

“Get in the back. You girls can talk while I work.” They piled into the truck. I put on some Gpad light classical music to the front speakers as they bickered, fought, and cried.

Three hours of dragging trees with them in the back working out their issues. I was yawning a lot and my Gpad was pinging with bedtime invites. I mentioned I had Slister and Nancy in the back talking. That earned me a pass for a while. I was too tired to let them keep going. I kept constantly yawning. When I stopped at the mansion, the girls hugged.

“Goodbye Sammy,” Nancy said, using Slister’s first name. “I will be a good friend.”

“Awe Lavaun, I am sorry it turned out this way. You are the best and I will miss you.”

They both exited the truck. Nancy frowned when I drove away. I went to the charging area. She followed the truck to help drag out the power cord.

“I am glad you got closure, Nancy,” I said honestly.

“Thanks for letting us talk. So…” Nancy paused with a grin. “You crushed the fuck out of that woman’s neck. Becca is doing great; been monitoring her vitals and I would release her if you can. She is stuck on your orders. The mom is awake and being monitored with her baby. I told her we buried her husband. Which we did. The grave is separate from the flapion grave. I told her she can make a cross or headstone when she is ready.”

“That is great to hear about the mom. We really need to pull together to help in situations like that. Punching in Becca’s release, and done. I killed her, that conning bitch. Fuck her, she deserved to die. Torrez gave her an option out and forced me into a decision I do not like. I have to come to grips that we are no longer pirates fleeing savages. I didn’t tell Willow or Perci, but my inner demons sang in glee as she suffered,” I said, hooking up the truck to charge. “You coming to bed?”

“A girl like me waits a long time to hear that from a man like you!” Nancy said in a hushed eyebrow dancing tone. She was teasing and merely happy at her closure. “You should tell the girls. They deserve to know.”

“Aye, they do. I plan to. After they have the backstory to go with it. The dark tales of despair will give them more understanding of my sadistic side. Speaking of honesty, I told them how you visited me after masturbating and woke me with your fingers under my nose. Well not the last part,” I said and she went full crimson. We shifted around to the rope at the back of the house. “I am trying to open up to them. I really am.”

“That was one time only. I respected your wishes after that.” She swatted my arm. “Those were private, vulnerable moments, Eric.”

I stopped before ascending the rope. “Nancy I am not an idiot, you love to tease men. Yet, you never slept with any of the men during our escape. You also never woke any other man up aside from me with your dripping desire. Plums. I remember plums. The smell would entice -”

“The date fruit, god that was all I ate. My tits went down a size and I lost my hips. Can you kiss my forehead and tell me I am beautiful on the inside?”

I squirmed in uncertainty. “You are a dear friend, and I find comfort in our connection Nancy Lavaun,” I said and kissed her forehead. She folded into me with a pitiful embrace. She eeked when I hauled us up the rope. Perci was waiting for us on the balcony. She dried Nancy’s teary eyes and led her into our room.

I tossed the rope back down, tip-toed over the bodies, and arrived at a full bed. There was Jacky and an unknown blonde almost on top of each other crammed beside Bonnet, who gave me a death glare. My smirk was not appreciated. We had seven hundred people trying to sleep at night. It was going to be rough until we got more infrastructure put in place. I realized I was the only man in the sheeted off section. I went to the shower room and people with face masks and earplugs were sleeping on the floor outside the shower. While I was fine with that, they clogged the walkway. I went back to the bed and stripped naked with my back to the ladies getting ready.

I snuck into the shower, washed off the grimy day, and returned wrapped in a towel. There were at least five sets of eyes stealing peeks at my body. I tried to find underwear in my pile of clean clothes to no avail. A soft snickering gave the culprits away. I held a hand out. Perci retreated under the covers, trying to contain her laugh. Jacky had enough. She sat up, gave her daughter a stern glare, and I was rewarded with underwear.

I spun, dropped the towel, and stuffed my legs into the boxers. That was one problem solved. There was like four inches of free space on the bed. I hoisted Perci off the bed. I think she was anticipating I was dragging her away for sex. I stole her place between Willow and Nancy.

“I guess,” Perci muttered, trying to get comfy on my chest.

This sucked. I felt Willow clutching at me trying to stay on the bed. I gave up. Victory was not mine. I had slept in some shitty spots before. I grabbed a blanket and a pillow. In my underwear, I climbed down the ladder. Someone's dog saw my pillow blanket combo and became interested. I found a nice spot in the cloudless sky and created a bed. Five minutes later, I was snoring with a dog tucked behind my legs.

CHAPTER 16

I woke up with a tiny hand repeatedly pushing my arm. “Wake up, wake up! Daddy wake up!” I let out a large groan. I raised out of my blankets to prop myself up on my elbows. I saw Perci, five dogs curled up with us, and an empty spot from where Willow must have been. A little girl no older than three was hugging me. Perci cracked an eye with a questioning look.

“Mary!” A mother cried out for what I had to assume was Mary. I waved to the mom who went flush in the face. Willow exited the morning kitchen crowd that spilled onto the back patio. She was carrying something steamy and I remembered we had gotten coffee yesterday.

“Good morning Mary,” I said to the little girl.

Mary grew shy, tucked her chin, and ran for her mom. I think she realized from my voice that I was not daddy. Her mom mouthed sorry before walking hand in hand with her little girl. Perci sighed at their cute image and even Willow gave an awe. I was handed tea. Awe, the tea was still yummy.

“Ugh, this is a lot of dogs. I guess I never noticed them that much. This little English bulldog is so ugly he is adorable,” I said while scratching the bulldog’s ears. I slept through the night without the girls waking me when they piled into our snuggle fest. I was shocked I did not have night terrors. Maybe the dogs fought away my demons for me. “I slept great. When did you girls come out?”

“We are not super soldiers. It took us ten minutes to get out of the room and down the stairs and over the people sleeping in the kitchen. I probably stirred a half dozen people,” Willow said with a soft laugh recalling the situation. “You were snuggled up with this dog. When we came out with blankets, two more dogs joined us. I never imagined I would sleep on grass like a bed without covers. I feel amazing, though.”

“You and me both, girl! Thanks for the tea. I want to pee, but don’t want to fight the morning lines. Come escort your queen to do her morning business,” Perci said and I placed a finger to my chest. Before I could go into the whole ‘girls go potty together without boys’ rant, Willow extended a hand. “Family pee party!”

“You are getting entirely too excited about this,” I said, rising from my butt.

I checked over my Gpad while balancing my tea. Jevon did hourly drone recons to keep the battery fresh. A few low-grade drones had been recovered and the assessment was they were great for day operations. Peterson would need to build her drone team if I was going to need a day and night team. Yup, Peterson had not slept in twenty four hours. I sent our command channel a notice. Anyone who had not slept was to immediately go down.

Jevon had written a note that he learned bunnies are crepuscular. Dalila knew this. Jevon approved her and Tina going onto a special night shift during catching. I saw the note that said ‘but wait, there's more’. I wanted to click it so bad but the girls were dragging me, desperate to pee. I gave in to their demands. I sprinted for the woods while the girls gave snarky words of ‘what part of pee did you miss?’ While I peed against a tree I tapped the note. Jevon was holding a duck. Huh? There was a video I obviously had to watch. Bread crumbs were placed in a trail to a box. The duck found the trail, went under the box, and the stick was pulled. An older man retrieved the duck. He went on a long tangent about how, if you clipped the wings, they would be forced to stay. Domesticated ducks would lay one egg a day if fed properly without lots of stress.

“Yes!” I cried out in victory.

“Did you fart while peeing?” Perci asked. I grunted in confusion. Perci giggled before ripping out a fart. “Yes! Ah, see, that does feel good.”

“What!? No! We have a duck. An avid duck hunter said he can catch us ducks. Eggs! Awe the video says this one is a guy. But still! This is incredible. We will persist beyond the MREs if we keep this up,” I said excitedly.

“Catching ducks sounds fun. If you can catch them. What did they do?”

“The box trick with bait. I doubt many waterfowl way up here have seen that many boxes. He even clipped the wings and everything. They aren’t chickens, but darn close!”

“Oh my, you sure are worked up about ducks. What else is there to do today?”

“I was going to go to the Xgate 232. Ours is more like Ygate 232. I want to send the drone team in to see what happened to the puroons after the buxen defeated them. Maybe see if there is salvageable stuff or fruit trees. I don’t know. We have eight plus days until the gates go golden,” I said with a stretch. I then realized if I did not set physical training it would never get done. I was going to need some clothes to get raided. “You girls want to go running?”

“I will boob an eye out without a bra,” Willow said and Perci chuckled. “What, we all can't have fantastic, perky tits.”

“Girls, I want to work out, you coming?”

“Yes let me get shorts, I saw some in the loot,” Willow started thinking about getting clothes and sighed. “Can you do superman rope climbing? Nancy said it is on our training itinerary. Your gear is still up top in our room including your boots. Can you grab me a sports bra and fresh clothes? Mediums will work.”

“Smalls for me,” Perci said.

A half hour later, the day shift was formed up. The night shift was covering the wall while we ran. I led us on a light jog up the river. No reason we went that way... Okay, I wanted to see the ducks. I wanted to offer rewards for captured livestock when I came up with an idea. While we were soft jogging the river trail, I typed out metal nuggets would be exchanged for every animal caught. I then went over how the gates would go golden and we could use the currency to trade. They might even have toilet paper. Even though there were a thousand questions I had no answers to, it was the perfect motivator. I had the majority of the community exploring with me for our daily exercise.

At a slow pace to keep everyone huddled, we arrived at the lake as a group. I think from the season the lake level was higher than normal with a marshy shoreline. The vegetation grew large here and boy oh boy. There was a whole flock of ducks. I stuck my hand into the frigid water and was shocked they would sit in anything this cold. I saw the man from the video holding a duck that was quacking to its friends. The man was tossing bed crumbs to the others. When I neared, the other ducks waddled away with agitated quacks.

“Oh hello there, I got a report from you this morning. I am very excited about the ducks. I am Eric, the king,” I said with my hand out.

“Um… Citizen Patrick, friends call me Pat,” He said and we shook hands. These are mallards. They will lay eggs. I recommend we fatten them up and get them really friendly. Then snip wings when they are used to the food with young already raised. The problem will be the food. We are out of bread pretty much, ate it all before it molded.”

I tapped furiously on my Gpad. Jevon stopped my spamming messages with a call.

“I am tired, are you almost done?” Jevon said grouchily from the wall.

“MRE crackers are to be saved for the ducks.”

“Damn, I never thought we would ever find a use for MRE crackers. Order received. Hurry home, please. Deluxe Duke out.”

“Can I have Citizen Duxpert!?” Pat asked. Perci arrived with an eye roll.

“Done, grow my flock, Pat. You have access to all the MRE crackers. Make it happen. I think there are some older folks that would love this job,” I said with a goodbye shake. I cupped my hands around my mouth, aimed for the mass of morning people exercising, and shouted, “We are running home! You should be warmed up! Follow the same trail back for today to keep it simple!”

I ran by hundreds of citizens going the opposite way. My legs pumped with my boots clomping from the fast pace. The trees glided by me while I waved and gave high fives. The soldiers kept pace with no problem, along with a lot of the runners in the group. The moms with three kids obviously did not. Hopefully, the mother hens would set up some sort of mom freedom childcare time. The trip home had me pondering what the Xgate would bring today.

Jacky greeted me upon our arrival with a warm smile and a steaming bowl of oatmeal. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“This came in from the looting. Eat while I talk,” Jacky said. I found a nice exterior chair that was rarely vacant. I plopped into it with a smile. The spoonfuls of maple brown sugar oatmeal tasted divine. “Funny how the little things taste so good after a while. I want to be your treasurer. I kept finances for -”

“Okay.”

“Perfect. The title is King’s Treasurer. Now that you have established you will pay people for services, expect more people wanting to earn something, anything, for their time,” Jacky said and I grunted. “I do not speak soldier.”

“I approve. Of all of it. I need a daycare run, so those moms can… well, run. They deserve the opportunity,” I said, inhaling the rest of my oatmeal. I handed Jacky the bowl back with a smile.

“They said you were easy going. I suggest limiting pay until the golden trade day thing. Maybe put out an official statement you want to keep half in reserve to at least have buying power for necessities. It will mean more people wanting to forage. Which you need to tax looting. Obviously your soldiers are here for the greater good. The citizens are used to hoarding.”

I rubbed my temples. She had a point, rules would solve the issue though. Perci arrived with a bit of a pant. I gave her a high five and said, “Hey, Jacky is my banker, accountant, and she is the tax collector. She volunteered for the cause. I need looting rules. As in, how much goes to the stronghold vs how much goes to the group. I think we should split it. Not where Jerry nabs a full jewelry box off some mansion and is suddenly the wealthiest man besides the government. That seems fair to me about the group thing. A fifty, fifty might be okay. I want to start paying people, give a sense of hope for the golden gates. Even if they are a dud, we can bring stuff to trade. Maybe take other humans home with us.”

“That was never asked. Jacky is a great choice. I have been swamped with other tasks, so this will help if we’re introducing pay, taxes, and bonuses. It will be a lot of work. You sure you're up for it?” Perci asked flatly. Jacky raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, that came off rude. Do you plan to have a team?”

“Who is being rude to my mom?” Willow said, after lapping the buildings a few extra times and showing up to the conversation late. She gave a slight jostle to Perci to tease her.

“I volunteered to handle money, taxes, pay, and commerce inside the walls. I have a few book worms I can rely on,” Jacky said with a bow. “I will take your leave to start compiling all the valuable loot for trading.”

“Thanks, Jacky.”

We left for our assembled clothes in the middle of the field and a dozen dogs sunbathed on our blankets. I picked up my clothes which I had the foresight to stuff in a pillowcase. Perci, Willow, and I walked to the woods to change. I was not interested in fighting the crowds flowing into the house. There were ropes on every balcony now, and someone had the foresight to build a rope ladder. Little things like that would make a world of difference. It went to show that a different side of humanity still prevailed during a crisis. Humans would adapt. My Gpad pinged with that thought being interrupted.

‘Charlotte killed herself. Removed her tubes before I could save her.’ - Nancy

‘Thanks for the update. Inform Torrez.’

Perci read the news as Nancy put it on the officer channel. I was ready to find Becca and get my stinky scorched gear back. I left the girls who were still getting ready. They were having a nice morning chat and I was not going to stick around. I had a lot to get done. I found Becca resting with my gear piled beside Jevon on a berm by the gate.

“Morning, King Eric. My fever was short lived and I turned out fine. I will leave you two to it. See you in bed soon, Deluxe Duke!” Becca said. She went right into a loud hum after pestering my friend.

“Douglas, get over here,” Jevon ordered a fourteen or fifteen year old geeky looking Asian kid. “Here is your day time drone operator. Give the cave a look, you're welcome. I am exhausted, probably why I am so short. A good night’s rest will do some good.”

“Night DD,” I said with a chuckle. He gave a two-finger peace sign wave as he retreated.

I saw the entirety of our storage problem had been solved. Holy batcave duckman. That was incredible. I could only imagine the amount of work that would have taken. People were setting up beds under the balconies already. I saw a massive pile of trees stacked near the woodworking section. So much for our berm idea. Funny how fast things change. Like the young man standing beside me with drone goggles around his neck.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked Douglas.

“Orders, sir.”

“Perfect, get sight on the Xgate. I am going to send you some coordinates too. They are the locations of -”

“DD gave me them. I hear you are letting people make their own titles…” The young man hesitated.

I seized on the moment. “Wait, is making your own title important to you?”

“Oh yeah, I would love to be Citizen Droneanator, officially. That would be badass!”

“Douglas, you are what, fourteen?”

“Thirteen, sir. Dad says if you are going to swear to know when and -”

“It is fine around me. Where is this father of yours?” I asked, looking around. We only had a dozen or so Asian people in our group.

“Working in the farm fields. Drone is airborne, link to Gpad established now sir. Want to display to everyone or only command?”

“Everyone for now, Mr. Droneanator. Okay, I like that one. You’re on Delta team. Have you heard of Nancy?” I asked.

The young man was glued into his flight goggles but still looked at me and said, “The super babe. Yeah of course.”

I chuckled. “She is the team leader I tag along with. She is your team leader. When we go on a mission we stick to her. Got it?”

“Uh… You don’t have to twist my arm, Mr. Viking King,” Douglas said. “Oh dad goes by Mr. Wang hates his first name. Citizen Wang, I guess it is now. Not sure how much specialty there is for painting in today’s world.”

“Thanks Douglas. Ping me when you have the gate in sight or see any enemy aliens,” I said and ran for the farm fields.

Norm was easy to spot after running past the woodworking teams. They must have a minimum night shift because very little was added. With the half-built building empty, they were making quick work. Temporary half logs were being converted into walls behind the framing to keep the elements out. I gave Gary a wave as I jogged by his crew. They had more tools and more workers. Based on the people in the field, some had shifted to building from digging.

I trotted across the tilled soil, carefully avoiding the buried seeds. “Hey boss, you like our farm!” Norm said jovially. He brushed his hands against his pants to clear the dirt before shaking mine. “Been a while since I could toil in the fields. Thank goodness you were able to warn us in time. I have a whole backpack stuffed with seeds left. You here to help?”

“I am here for Citizen Wang. Also a quick question. If you could name your citizen title, what would it be?”

“Citizen… hmm.” Norm gave a firm exhale with his hands on his hips.

“But you want to have your own unique citizen name, not a generic title?”

“Huh? Oh, I get what you’re saying. Like your second in command going Deluxe Duke. Yeah, that would be awesome. Would you care if we change it?”

“No, I guess that idea works then. Think about your name then submit it to Perci or Maria. They are running S1… personnel. Going to be hard for me to adjust to. At least I am not alone,” I said to myself in a mutter. I gave Norm a questioning look and said, “Mr. Wang?”

“Andrew!” Norm hollered for a man at the other end of the field, who came running for us.

I realized I may have been rash considering banishing the guy with all the seeds. I was glad that the issue was resolved. Derek was not far away, adding seeds spaced out in accordance with what Norm probably recommended. An Asian man came trotting over. Andrew Wang was five nine, black hair, black eyebrow, and brown eyes. The man had straight white teeth, small ears, and a large smile. He wore a polo shirt and slacks. I frowned at realizing proper clothing would take time to sort. Or his nice clothes would deteriorate into farm clothes.

“Boss was just saying we get to create our own names. Needs a Citizen title in front, though.”

“What did my son pick?” Andrew asked right away.

“He… Soldier Droneanator, well he said Citizen. Hence why I am here.” Andrew fidgeted and Norm caught on, going back to work with a friendly wave. “I can put him on night shifts but… it would put us behind a whole day and I need someone today. He will be at my side in the RV.”

“The bear-proof, plasma resistant RV?” He asked and I nodded. “Oh, he will be fine then. Take him before you tell my wife though. If she catches you -”

“Not how I operate, Mr. Wang. Please take me to your wife.”

We went into the mansion, through the crowds, up the stairs, and into the second floor suite. It was a replica of mine in size. There were more curtains drawn open and fresh air flowed in. I saw between the gaps of the curtains that this was our elderly ward. Andrew led me onto the balcony where a much older Wang sat beside what had to be Andrew’s wife. I explained the situation a few times. Finally, I received the approval I needed. I glanced at my wrist and I had seventeen messages. None were desperate alerts. I found a rope and used it to escape the mansion.

Messages one through twelve were Perci and Willow snapping photos of each other getting dressed. Nothing R rated, but they were teasingly great. Douglas said the Xgate was clear and he was checking bases now. Nancy had the Delta team ready. Mclain had Alpha team ready. Mitchell had swapped out the night guards. Slister was not yet ready with the Bravo team. Eddy said Charlie team was ready to go. I pulled my officers into a video chat.

“Hey guys. We finally sorted the loot of the local building. I want to get more pumps, additional housing teardown, and general item hunting. However, I want to first go check out the puroon planet. I got eyes in the air with backup drones. I need your teams to bring out the heavy weaponry. I know the fifty cal machine gun won’t mount, but the missiles will fire off the tops of the RVs just fine. Mclain you are taking RV1 Nancy in RV2 and Eddy is taking RV3. Slister will be our fast flexing unit. Dedric I want us in that order for the convoy. Everyone needs to bring extra ammo and hook up trailers. We're going alien raiding. Stronghold Mansion viking style. Pass the word. King Eric out.”

I walked into the mansion and found Perci with Willow in the foyer. Bed mats in this space were being removed and a table was dragged in while screeching across the floor. I motioned them both to me.

“Get in RV2,” I said to Willow. She gave an arm pump, Perci a kiss, and then was gone. I bounced my eyebrows. That was so hot to see. “I lost my train of thought.”

“Well maybe when we finally have a private room you can get distracted less and satisfied more, I think I know what you want. Unique names. I have had a dozen requests randomly. Let me guess, ‘take care of it Perci. You are the most fantastic forever girl a man could hope for’,” Perci said in a mock tone mimicking me. I smiled as she sauntered to me to send me off.

We were kissing goodbye when I felt a tap on my leg. The little girl again was slapping my thigh. “Mary was it,” I said kneeling to her level. “I am going off to war. Can I have a kiss on the cheek goodbye?”

She got on her tippy toes and pecked my cheek. I ruffled her hair, which caused her to fume. Her mom mouthed ‘sorry’ again. Perci hoisted her to sit at the table with the Mother Hens holding court. I went to Mary’s mom who was very tense at my approach.

“Her dad was on a business trip to Australia. I am Jill. I was an accountant before Mary then took a break. She had just gone into daycare and I was looking for work when this… Sorry, I am rambling,” Jill said tensely with tight shoulders and uneasy eyes.

I placed a calming hand on her shoulder except she flinched. I retracted my hand. “Are you okay? Did someone hurt you here?”

“Ah, no. Nothing like that. I am… Jarod was… is a germophobe. Without work, my interactions were limited and workplace contact between non-couples was strictly forbidden. So I tensed. She placed a hand on my shoulder and I tapped my hand to hers. She smiled and I saw her wanting to unload her emotions. “You handle Mary very well.”

I dialed Jacky. I heard her Gpad ringing behind me. She glanced down seeing it was me calling and declined to answer. Jacky diverted to join us with her hands folded in front of her.

“Jacky this is Jill, Jill, this is Jacky. You are working together," I said. They shook hands with warm smiles.

"Perfect, already feeling overloaded with my tasks. I sure can use the help," Jacky said. "If you will excuse me Perci is calling me over."

We watched her slip away. I put a hand on Jill's shoulder ever so gently and said, "Jill, you need to decide if you want Uncle Eric in Mary’s life. I can help her transition with little things. If not then you please let these ladies know. I hope she has a good day with Jasmine. Bye ladies. We shall return… With chickens!” “Chickens! That is my boy,” Mrs. Moore said, embracing me in a goodbye hug. Jacky joined in and we had a light-hearted laugh.

“It was nice to meet you, Jill. I rarely have time, but if I do, I am a great listener,” I said and left before she could reply.

I saw Jasmine playing with Clive’s kids in the sand park. I gave out some awesome high fives and waves. RV2 had Nancy waiting outside. I looked her over for an inspection. She saw my stern gaze and closed her mouth. I realized I had not cleaned my weapon last night while glancing at hers.

“Before I chastise you for not cleaning your weapon, neither did I. I really wish Lt. Becker persisted through the storm. She was a pain in the ass about gear checks,” I said. She went to talk but I held a single finger up. I dialed into the command channel. “Great job on organizing, loading, and preparing to roll out on such short notice. The Captain… as you were. The raid leader is not ready to go. He did not clean his weapon. Everyone needs to clean weapons and have them inspected. Send runners for extra rags. Raid leader out.”

“You really hate calling yourself king, don’t you?” Nancy said before heading into the RV.

Willow came out first in her full battle rattle. She ran for the mansion to get rags with a few pouches clanking, nothing hard to fix. Willow even halted herself to correct the issue on the spot. I tried to find a good location to tear my weapon apart. Everything was occupied, so I plopped in the grass below me. The green blades of grass were trampled but still alive, causing me to frown. I added more paths with river stones to the tasks that had not been started yet. Defined paths meant more bunny food and less mud.

Happy to add more work to the growing list, I stripped the weapon in a neat pile. Torrez came by with a small bottle of CLP and a cleaning kit. I think the man had the foresight to stash some in the RV. I was lost in thought when he brought over a charger with a custom plug.

Cleaning a weapon with one hand was awful. I had been stuck trying to do it for a while in Saudi. I assembled the weapon after a quick clean and inserted the custom plug into my arm. I still had plenty of power, but the RV batteries should be full and Torrez was wise to have me fully charge my cybernetic.

“Hey, pretty boy, you going to answer me? Ditch me in bed, and then stop answering my questions,” Nancy said in a sassy teasing tone.

I walked by here for my command seat. The glorious passenger bucket melted around me. I plopped my feet up while tapping on my Gpad. Nancy did not let up as she rested against the console, eyeing me.

“No, actually. My goal was to establish we were no longer American citizens. That there were new rules, laws, and ways a small community like this operated. Well, I love being called Cap. Part of the glory of getting out was I avoided being called major,” I said, checking on status updates as soldiers piled back into vehicles. “Dedric, you have the discretion to roll us out when the convoy is ready. Nancy, something interesting happened. People started picking their own societal titles. I think if they are reasonable, fun, and harmless then we should do that.”

“What would be unreasonable?” Willow asked from behind my chair.

“Bonnet naming herself the Queen Bitch for example. Two reasons, she is not a queen in hierarchy, and the title needs to be age-appropriate across the board. Soldier Heartremover could maybe work, but let S1… ugh. Mother Hens decide. Now, both of you go pester my new droneanator. I want to go over these reports and past footage.”

The ladies grumbled while shifting to the back of the RV. Dedric had the driver perform a ready check. The drone footage I was watching showed the trooper station. They had blocked the road. It was not in my path but this irked me. I checked out the Gpads in that building. Twenty two. Hmm… I dialed Perci.

“Miss me already?” Perci asked, sitting at the table.

“I need Gpad numbers of these other outposts monitored. This one on the command feed right now. Twenty two. That seems lower than it was. Also, they are blocking the road.”

“Okay, I have the perfect chartist for that,” Perci paused mulling over the word. “Err… person who creates charts works too. We even have a whiteboard now. I will have the information put on the outside of the barn. The meeting room in the barn is a home now. I did not have the spirit to eject people.”

“Thanks Perci, Cap out.”

The RV bounded forward in the middle of the convoy. I was thinking over what to do with the outpost when Dedric cleared his throat for my attention. I ignored him to search for the pile of dead flapions, only to find it was gone. The backhoe and dozer were expanding the tree line back further. My Gpad locator said the other machine was almost done charging. Progress from twenty four hours created results. I still needed to see the finished road to the cave. Hopefully, later today.

“Sorry Dedric, I am in a moral dilemma on this outpost. I am not a man who memorizes things. I do recall there were significantly more Gpads at the trooper station,” I said, watching the trees zoom by. I glanced into the forest floor and spotted another bunny bounding in the early morning sunlight. I hoped the bunnies tasted good. I sighed at the thought of telling little kids bunnies were protein. “Most of our guests who left went in that direction. Yet, I am short Gpads in total. Either they left our area or they were killed. With cars blocking the road I am not sure what happened.”

“As a man of faith, I like to hope for the best outcome. That is rare, and faith teaches me that the worst can and will happen. Even the ex-crew are still crew. Want me to divert on the country road?”

“Yes, do so Dedric. Douglas!” I said, raising my voice for the drone operator to hear me.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“That station. I want full details. If they killed people, they would have buried them in a mass grave, or at the very least burned them. I doubt they would have tossed them in the garbage bin to rot. Thorough recon of the area please,” I said and got an okay back.

Dedric cleared his throat again. “So Cap. Captain King works. Not what I wanted to mention though. First, I love the self-naming idea. Give people a sense of invested involvement. I know, I never expected to be so excited about something so trivial. I want to be a Righteous Soldier Driver,” the older black man said with a wide grin. He smacked the steering wheel in a joyful way. I could see his exuberance. “Really good twist that you should roll with. The next part, I have some problems with. Now, I do believe you will get pushback from different sides of the equation a lot.”

“Okay hold onto that one. I dialed the people in the trooper station and they answered. Give me a moment,” I told Dedric, connecting the call to the trooper people to my command channel.

“Hello, this should be working.”

“Hello, we sent some people your way. What happened to them?”

The man scoffed and I saw his Gpad had his name registered as Desmond Hann. His frustration was evident. “They stole half our cars at gunpoint. Then flattened the other to prevent us from following. The trucks with those new never-flat tires were the ones stolen, so it has left us screwed. That woman with the autistic kid was leading the group, right bitch. Something about entitled rights or some nonsense. We let them in, offered them places to sleep, and then we got the stickup.”

“One moment,” I said, and paused our end.

“Verified. All their tires are flat,” Nancy said, inspecting the video.

“Slow us for now, Dedric. Your faith won out it seems, a simple robbery over murder mystery,” I said to the driver. I un-paused the video. “Hey Desmond, how come you never wanted to come to Stronghold Mansion?”

“Pirates tend to scare people off. Converted to pagan vikings last I heard. That group said they would never take orders from a criminal with fake military awards. For us, I do not think we have a choice though. The world has changed. You would be the delusional ones before the aliens showed up. Now they are. Decisive strong communities with proper planning obviously will prevail. I called Bradley at the fire station to trade. They are only on a week’s worth of food. A guard of theirs on the roof died last night to some winged monsters and it shocked everyone. They are packing up the firetrucks to head to the mansion. I think you should be getting a call soon for permission,” the man said. A young boy kept appearing to wave in the background. The place was a mess from what I could see. Desmond looked exhausted, with heavy dark pools under his eyes. “If your offer still stands. That deluxe duke of yours sent us a video of the firefight you had last night. We simply cannot defend against that. Also, we all want a flushing toilet and power. We lost power here, no gas for the generator, no well pump, and no water. So...”

“You got no working vehicles?”

“We can drive to the stronghold on rims unless you want to help us load. We probably will have issues -”

“Desmond. We are on our way. Do not raise a weapon. If you are armed, ensure the safeties are on. We will do the same. We obviously never intended for those leaving to hamper your situation, and we can help. Pull your valuables outside and do not down the drone providing recon. And look at that. I have a call from Bradley Simpson. See you soon, Desmond.”

“We got no room,” Nancy complained over my shoulder.

“And?”

She grumbled but said nothing more. I answered Bradley’s ring. “Hello, this is Bradley, the fire chief. Was hoping to speak to Eddy Valance.”

Eddy was on the command line. When I stayed quiet, he answered, “This is Eddy, go.”

“We lost one man last night. They flew away with him. Our generator is almost out of gas, our water stopped working and the septic here is back flowing. Please tell the wives listening that Stronghold Mansion is not a bunch of savages.”

I chuckled. Apparently my reputation had prohibited others from initially joining us.

“Well, I can’t. There is no voting yet. Criminals are punished harshly, and there are a god awful lot of rules that would have never been allowed in old America. However. People are happy. For some, happier than before, even with the cramped living. We have ducks as of this morning. Running water, hot showers, TV shows for the kids -”

“Sold! A mom shouted in the background.”

“Bradley, it’s not perfect. As with everything in the world before or after the aliens. If you work to make it better, it normally is. We are going to grab Desmond and his hold outs right now. I watched the drone video from the fire station to the trooper station. You are clear if you leave now.”

“What should we bring versus leaving behind?” Bradley asked, and I cut the feed off from my end.

I would let them discuss the finer details. I dialed Perci and tied in my gate officer Mitchell.

“Go for G-Team,” Mitchell said. I saw the man’s legs swinging off a hesco barrier while guarding the wall.

“Perci here also,” Perci said from her table.

“Trooper station, inbound seeking refuge. We are deviating to get the folks at the trooper station. When they arrive, try to get some onto night shifts. At worst they can get some sleep today if they need it,” I said. I glanced down at my Gpad to see there was only one stronghold holdout remaining. “That leaves the group at the corner complex left. Showing two hundred and ninety-one there. They should be able to hold out longer than the others. For the new arrivals; solid pat down, get a good accounting, and ensure they know the rules.”

They both confirmed my orders and closed the connections. I had Eddy pinging me.

“Go.”

“Bradly wants Earl Fireannihilator.”

“Approved.”

“Awesome, they should arrive around the same time we will after loading up Desmond and his crew.”

“Thanks Eddy. Cap out.”

The fire station was not a small number of people. I think some of the communities had fled there. Eighty-one Gpads active in that small space. No wonder they tapped out. In a couple of days, things would have grown desperate. Which left me wondering how many humans who had relatively easy Xgates were turning on each other as packaged food ran out. I was shocked we had not seen more Gpads arriving from Denver. The situation down there must be really bad.

“Torrez,” I said over my shoulder.

“Yeah boss,” Torrez replied.

“I do not like how dark Denver is with refugees and communication. I expected a lot of people to flood up here. If those locust type bugs are spreading and defeating Denver, I am concerned.”

“I agree. Is there a reason you are bringing this up?”

“Get Felix on ammo crafting. We spent a few hundred rounds last night. If we end up in a long firefight, I want the backup ready.”

Torrez knocked on the table twice and said, “Done. Want me to stay back when we return with the civvies?”

“No, if we are going onto another planet, I need all the people I can trust. I am excited to see what lives on the puroon planet. I am hoping we find -”

“Chickens. We all know!” The RV said, mocking me, in unison. I merely smirked letting them have their fun. Moments like these made the whole struggle worth it.

CHAPTER 17

Desmond was waiting outside the trooper station. They had zero weapons, stunk to high heaven, and were pitiful looking. I guess he held back the fact they had been robbed of everything. My heart turned on and kicked against my chest when I saw how much good we were accomplishing by rescuing them. Since I was the boss, I got to order the other RVs to take the smelly folks on board.

Within ten minutes, we were cruising down the county road for our dirt trail. I focused on the drone that was covering the Xgate. The view was boring after a few minutes of complete inactivity. The Xgate drifted aimlessly across the Colorado landscape. My eyes darted to watch the road pass under us. The morning sunshine was bright in the spotted, cloudy sky. A deer jostled out of the woods. I was startled when the snap of rifles sounded. The crew were probably the best there was. They were the most experienced killing machines in recent memory. I was not surprised when the deer tumbled in a death spiral.

My radio crackled. “Bravo team deviating to collect the trophy,” Slister said.

“Nice shooting, Six out,” I replied into the radio. I muttered, “Maybe we can do some bonus later.”

Dedric’s hand shot into the air with a finger pointing up. “Ah-ha! You get so busy I forgot to ask my question. Loot for drivers. We will never be outside the vehicles. How do we figure into it?”

“You heard about that?”

“Pfft. You think you can bring up pay without it spreading like wildfire. The rumor mill is you are wanting to do fifty, fifty,” Dedric said with raised eyebrows. We hit our dirt road and the convoy turned. A few bounces later, he continued. “If that is the case you will get some upset people. My drivers included unless they are added in somehow. Not to mention, that ratio will make looters far richer than others because you will have to save money behind. Meaning the fifty percent you take from a raider will only allow, say, twenty percent to go to a farmer.”

Nancy came to the front to sit with her back against the center console. “Why not do an equal divide communism style to start?”

I rubbed my forehead. Willow stood behind me and patted my shoulder. Torrez was intently listening. Even Douglas’ drone started to drift.

“Droneanator eyes on the Xgate, please,” I said in a serious tone. “Eventually, I like capitalism. You do skilled work, you get paid more. You work extra you earn more. Right now there are so many unknown variables. My desire is to avoid drama, increase happiness, and improve the sense of community.”

“Why not hoard everything until you know? Start a bonus sheet. That way people get kudos for achievements with IOUs at a future date. Justification - unknown variables. Most of those will be solved in eight days, correct?” Willow asked.

Nancy scoffed while picking at a mud stain at the bottom of her fatigues. “I read those reports. They do not say how many people can cross. What the trading is like, or anything. It leaves me with more questions and a few answers.”

“We can make a small payment to everyone before we go. An equal across the board with IOUs for bonuses. If we get chickens, the IOUs may get cashed in for fresh eggs,” I said and Nancy groaned at my statement. “You are right though, Dedric. A fifty, fifty would cause farmers to become raiders. Else they would never benefit. Maybe a small bonus or something. Your concern is noted and will be addressed.”

“Thanks, Cap. Going to be nigh impossible to please everyone. Maybe holding off until you have more information is the best. I think most people are used to waiting for their first paycheck.” Dedric gave me a thumbs-up.

I sent Jacky the message to start building a few contingency plans while waiting for golden Xgate to start.

“So, Cap. Are you going to let everyone come? To the trade fair that is?” Nancy asked.

“Probably send a recon team, then adjust. Just because the gate goes blue to gold does not mean we are safe. We still could run into human bandits, those giant cockroach monsters, or even a buxen army staged here waiting for easy prey,” I said with a grimace. “Not to mention, I refuse to leave our base unguarded. It is the only thing keeping us alive. If we got raided while shopping, we would be screwed.”

Torrez cleared his throat for attention. “If we do it right, we can set up shopping trips. I know the night crew would want to go. There was what? Twenty two hours of peacetime? So, we won’t have to rush if there is unlimited in and out allowed. Assuming we have control of the lane there and back. Does the gate stop?”

“Reports say it did. I fear we’re going to get more and more excitement around this event. Personally, I love the coalescing around the goal of an alien shopping day. I will have the Mother Hens draft some outline so we can distribute a ‘here is our plan’ guide. I am sure a simple bit of information will calm many minds.”

The trailer bed was dragged away from the gate. I waved to Mitchell as the convoy entered the stronghold. We dropped off our guests and had to wait. The road was too narrow for a firetruck and an RV to pass side-by-side.

My feet thudded down the RV stairs and onto the mulch of sawed wood. The first building was almost done in the hour we had been gone. The second building was focusing on the roof to start. I liked this idea. We really needed roofs more than walls at the moment. I decided to collect some stones from the river. I noticed the sewage hose had extended overnight to well beyond the hydro pumps. Jevon probably sent a trip out with the drone coverage available. Good, because I wanted the nasty stuff way downstream. I picked a few rocks out of the water and awkwardly carried them. A box, bucket, or just about any container would have worked better. I glanced for the big salt trucks to not see any in our vehicle lot. A team was organizing all our cars, trucks, and trailers away from the mansion. I saw Gary drawing outlines in the grass with spray paint. Oh… We were getting a lot more buildings soon. Nice.

I stepped over to where a trail from the mansion to the woods was already killing grass. I plopped my stones down. When I spun to get more, I saw the bulldog following me. Well, I heard it throaty panting first. I was fine with having the nearly silent company. The dogs would be eating well with the parts of the deer humans normally avoided. When I returned with more stones I saw some kids playing with them.

Jill waved. I had avoided giving her an inspection earlier. She had long black hair, brown eyes, and a porcelain complexion. She was short, petite with minimal hips or chest, and still standoffish. She had an elven appearance with high cheekbones and a defined sharp jaw. Her face was very appealing while her body was not my type. Then again, I loved Perci before she put big tits on her frame. I gave her space while depositing my stones.

“If they want to help. A stone or wood chip path from the mansion to the woods would be great. Also, we have another mom who lost her husband yesterday. Can you help with her -” I said and Jill gave a confused smile at my abrupt halting.

I received an urgent alert. A video of a naked woman being ejected from the buxen gate was displayed. Well, shit. I sent out an emergency load up to my excursion team. I bolted for the RV and the poor bulldog desperately tried to keep up. Slister’s recon team was already peeling out the gate when I arrived at the RV. The bulldog bounded up the stairs behind me. I plopped into my seat and I spun to face the door.

The panting dog got on my nerves but I was not going to deal with the issue. The rest of the team filed into the enclosed RV with Dedric slamming the door. The woman was sprinting away from the Xgate for a nearby road.

“Douglas, let her see the drone. Lead her to a section of woods not far away. Dedric, the moment the fire station convoy is in, we are out,” I said while dialing up Bradley on my Gpad. The fire chief was startled when I forced his Gpad to answer. “Rush in. Slam that pedal without killing anyone. We have a freed human we need to rescue.”

“Explains the trucks screaming so close to me we screeched metal. At least we know you fight for the defenseless. Pushing the convoy faster.”

“Thanks Earl Fireannihilator. Six out.”

I bounced my right leg in agitation. Slister was going to get there far faster than we would. The trailer stayed out of the way ensuring the road was clear while we waited. A big fire truck had its sirens on, with the horn blaring. The new arrivals charged into our base. When the arriving convoy darted in completely, the other sped out. People were in shock at the activity. I was sure they would figure out the ‘what the why’ soon enough.

My convoy left Stronghold Mansion behind in our dust as we sped down the dirt road eager to get to the returning woman. The drone video showed the woman running barefoot down the road, ignoring the drone. I sighed. There was no audio output feature to tell her to slow down. Luckily, she was running the correct way for Slister and her vehicles. Her eyes kept darting over her shoulder as if someone was coming after her. The drone went high to watch the gate. It drifted slowly over the terrain without any disturbances.

A call came in from Mitchell. I put him into command.

“Earl fire guy wants to keep weapons. You okay with that?”

“Do you feel threatened?”

“Ha! No, they are greeting others with hugs and smiles. While some are even racing to the river to bathe to avoid the queue of the showers. They are ecstatic. I would -”

“Permission granted. I want those carrying to conduct live-fire accuracy testing. Assuming they pass the small arms or one-fifty range, then they may keep the weapons. Tell Bradley I have no problem with proficient people holding weapons,” I said, bobbing my head in agreement with my own statement. “Try to get him to not bother me until I get home. I have no problem with major stuff like this, Mitchell. Six over.”

“Wilco, Mitchell out.”

The panting dog was given some water while Dedric blasted the cool air. I twisted my face in concern. Our initial reaction was to save this woman. I should isolate her though.

“Nancy, thoughts on contamination?”

“She was mind-controlled, I would not say that, in and of itself, means she is infected. You would think we are going to be opening up Pandora’s box with potential infections due to the staggering number of planets we are suddenly linked to,” Nancy typed away furiously at her Gpad. She put a finger up. “This is one of the interesting topics I studied as information came in back when we had a Gnet with the rest of the world. Two amazing things happen when you cross a portal. Each world has a different air quality level. Fair expected.

“The first of the humans to go through a portal with monitoring systems found the air they ingested was that of earth, not that of the new world’s environment. This had to be wrong until they found a coating inside the air passageways. Whatever magic or science created these portals enabled them to add a layer of adaptive breathing.”

I grumbled and said, “That makes sense. I doubt that a volcano planet has the same oxygen ratios our planet does. This whole experiment or binding of worlds together would be useless if you died upon arrival to the other world.”

“It gets better. So, the University of Alabama did something remarkable. The citizens locked down their Xgate to do testing. They had a docile gate, and let’s be honest, a bunch of truck driving, gun-toting trigger happy Alabamians were eager to kill aliens. So the UA biology department said fuck trails. They sent a man dying of cancer through. No change. An old lady dying of the flu. Boom. Instantly cured. They -”

“Are you saying the portals kill infections but not mutations?”

“Uh… Yes, that about sums it up. At least for what we know for now. Back to your earlier point. I agree. The designers of these gates wanted interaction. They went to great lengths to ensure interaction occurred. I have to assume whatever life form was wise enough to build Xgates that can move without power or signs of acceleration would be wise enough to prevent breathing and infection problems.”

“Well, that is great news. I had figured as much.”

My Gpad pinged with an alert.

‘My vehicle will return with the woman. We will get her safely home. That way, you can continue the mission. Kellin will be in charge of Bravo Team in my absence.’ - sammy slister

‘Understood. Brief me when you have information.’ - cap

‘Wilco.’ - Slister MD

At least the name changes were easy to associate.

“Curious why you want to head into the portal over getting easy loot here?” Nancy asked with a sigh. “I trust you, Cap, either way. Go or stay.”

“Oh, we’re going. This whole planet linking system is to keep us engaged in survival. We know one party is nocturnal. The other just released a prisoner, and the third defeated. The moment we are home we will rotate to more looting. An hour out here, an hour inside the planet, and then scatter to loot. Two hours to get some vital intel is well worth it. I think our long-term survival relies on our willingness to explore,” I said, somewhat confidently. Was there some lingering doubt? Sure. Was I going to fret over it for hours? No. I wanted to see what was on the other side of this gate. “Torrez. Since you got the fastest legs capable of jumping onto the roof of the RV in a pinch, you’re holding our gate down.”

“Yes! Glorified button pusher… For real, that is fine. I figured as much. Do you want to get a briefing from the girl first?” Torrez asked. I glanced over to my friend who was watching his Gpad. “And she got in the truck.”

‘Package secured. RTB’ - Slister MD

‘RGR. Need field interrogation.’ - Cap

‘Typing while they talk, the recovered woman is named Suzanne. Seventeen years old, upset her family is dead. Slister stressed the importance of information. The buxen's actual name is unpronounceable. They freed her with a warning. Stepping onto their planet outside to use the gate for a transition to a different world will bring retaliation. They are not interested in trade until we can greet them after a golden gate with force. Slister is asking her to explain. The gates change. After the golden gates, the next blue will be a random new set of planets. They said the mind controllers fight the buxen. The mind controllers fight everything unprepared or weaker, and they fight whenever possible as part of their dwindling society. In exchange for not interfering with their revenge I… She was freed. She has no recollection from when under the mind controllers’ power. She thought she was dead, only to be freed by the buxen. Slister is putting her under. And she is down. Hope this helps, Cap.’ - Recon Reggie

I sent the message out on the command channel. I gave everyone a moment to digest the information. My eyes shifted to a brewing storm to the northwest. We had been fortunate to avoid rains so far. That may not hold up. Yup, the Gtower was expecting a rainstorm in twelve hours now. Well, darn. An electric truck going over a hundred flew down the road in a blur. Slister’s driver honked the horn in a friendly greeting. The rest of Bravo Team waited for the convoy. They tucked into the back and on we went.

“Douglas, is this your best drone that is airborne?” I asked while the convoy turned left down a side road.

The gate so far had meandered through openings between trees. The few places where trees or boulders were in the way the obstacles were passed through the gate without removal or destruction. I had no reasonable explanation. Nor did anyone else. It was another mystery of how it worked; like the gates themselves.

“No, the other drone is a DB-320. It has infrared. I was -”

“Wait. I thought we did not -”

“Sir. We have a better drone,” Douglas said.

“Got it. Tell Willow where it is so she can prep it.”

The young man removed his goggles, went to the back bedroom, opened a case, and returned with a new drone he set on the table. A few clicks later, he gave me a thumbs up. Well, you learn something new every day. Schooled by a kid. I was not going to grumble. At least he knew his stuff.

The paved road turned into a field. Xgate 232 towered a few thousand feet away. The lead RV continued forward without concern. I saw the upper atmosphere of the flapion planet. It was so brooding with despair. While I wouldn’t mind giving them a beating I did not think they would have stuff for our planet on theirs. The convoy halted as RV1 went forward to get eyes. They jumped a small berm with a jostle that I bet Mclain was hollering to his driver about. Even Dedric winced. A few minutes later, the large RV looked small against the construct.

“Mclain, what do you see?” I asked RV1.

“The deer army is on their side, I think they expected us to arrive. They are pointing a lot but staying calm. There is a lot of artillery moving with the gate on their side. Oh neat, they can push over trees with those sleds. A whole new way of making roads. I got Kryzon up top waving. Rotating to the flapion side. Empty... Correction they blend in well. We spooked a few scouts; they did not want a fight though. The puroon side is sunny. No sign of hostiles. Rotating for a second pass. The empty side is empty. The buxen are still unafraid. I cannot see the flapions this time. Puroon portal is empty at -”

“Six to convoy, we are a go.”

The rest of the convoy spread out. Gunners were at the ready above RV, or in position over the truck beds. Nancy was up top of our RV catching the drone. The group of vehicles slowed as we bounced the berm RV1 shot off of. Our convoy sped up over the rough rocky terrain. I wish I could write the designer or leave a review of how amazing the stability of this suspension was. I could see clearly into the flapion world now. I shuddered at the gloomy darkness. No thanks. We proceeded to the puroon gate with haste.

The convoy lined up with RV1 to my left. Torrez burst out of the door that Willow closed in his wake. His legs sent clods of earth flying behind him. You could see his mechanical toes curled for traction. The man slowed before crossing, he gave a slight low jump so only the top half of his torso touched the gate, and was distorted into the portal. A fraction of a second later, he was on the other side. He landed with precision. I watched Torrez spin, lunge forward, and disappear. Xgate 232 slammed into the ground with a loud thud. The convoy did not need an order. Into the breach, we charged.

Dedric pushed the accelerators until the blue light smacked us in the face. The moment was briefly disorienting. I saw nothing but a blue shine for a second and then orange sunlight caused me to squint my eyes. Dedric jerked the RV to the right, we drove a hundred meters or so, and he slammed on the brakes. The fifteen trucks and two other RVs transitioned smoothly to complete our aggressive posture. Willow launched Douglas’ fresh drone which forced me to leave my bucket seat. The video screen across from the RV table was directly broadcasting the feed. Our Gpads were not synced together here, so we had to use old school wifi.

The drone followed the tracks the buxen army had left behind. You could see a clear path from their hooved imprints. The drone zoomed at a surprisingly high speed. It covered a ten-mile distance until we saw a circular area with a huge wooden fence. While I watched the video I felt a slight gravitation disorientation. As if we were on an elevator that was shifting to go up. I shrugged it off to focus on the screen.

There was destruction everywhere. Smashed wooden homes, fences, and a single wooden tower had somehow survived the destruction. There was a common building theme of wood. I saw no metal at all; then again, the buxen had hauled some away. I frowned when we found no puroon or wormipede bodies but there was a curious discovery.

A lean-to had been crafted recently from the rubble. A group of brown beings were huddled under the cover with a single live puroon. I saw fur, big wide tails, and three massive buck teeth. Two extra-long arms dragged across the ground that short webbed feet walked across. Their frames were thin and their fur was molted with spots.

“Thoughts?” I asked on the command channel.

“Some sort of walking beaver. I am looking for a translator and have not found any. If they do not have one, they are probably a subspecies. The reports from before the fall of the larger network said we would run into species like these,” Harvard said over the radio. I nodded at his assessment as I watched the screen. The lanky armed beavers were so pitiful looking. “Sir, I know I am just the intel guy. But this is depressing. I think they rely on the puroon as beast masters. With that being said, I highly advise not interacting with that puroon. His ability to mind control -”

“Found them,” Douglas said from beside me.

I clicked the radio on. “We have forty seven minutes left. Bravo Team sticks with Torrez. Load up and get back to our planet at the first sign of trouble. Dedric, take the convoy to that body pit. Douglas, keep the drone hunting in the general area.”

I watched the view for a sliver of a moment longer before it shifted to the surrounding area. The buxen had piled the dead puroon into a pit. The wormipedes were burned. The loot from our planet had been removed as well as the loot from here. I was guessing that the pile of translators were not coveted because they were left behind. The feeling of going down in an elevator hit me and I became more curious as to what was shifting gravity here.

“Sir, I must inform you, I am not certain if the translators will work. There were no reports of any working that were recovered,” Harvard said with a serious tone.

“We need to find out. We have the gate secured with flat terrain. Dedric, what is taking so long?”

“Confusion over convoy lead. I told them it doesn't matter here. We’re not on a road. Time is more important than formation. We're in the lead,” Dedric said with a shake of his head. I heard him muttering with grumbles in between from the driver’s seat.

I was so mission-focused I had not taken a moment to observe a whole new world. I went to the rear bedroom to use the back ladder by the bed. I went up, opened the hatch, and stuck my face into the wind. My first sight was of Willow watching her surroundings intently with her weapon at the half ready. She was turning into a great soldier.

We drove over short grass with weeds. The blue grass was actually blue here, while the weeds were green. The ground wove, twirled, and patched itself between the two colors. I did not see a tree anywhere near. A few tall flowery bushes bloomed yellow flowers with brown trim.

I glanced up and instinctively ducked. Wow! A moon much bigger than ours dwarfed the daylight sky. It pulled us up as it rotated so close to the planet. I had the elevator weightless feeling while it transitioned overhead. This moon must rotate every few minutes at most. I watched it start its descending ark with awe. My amazement faded to observe there were zero clouds, or birds for that matter. A distant body of water faced off to our left on the horizon. The waves pulled and dipped with the moon.

The planet was desolate, full of odd colors, and lonely. I wondered if the fact that the puroon could control life made this area so devoid of life, aside from vegetation. Willow caught sight of me propped in the back of the RV and waved. I scurried down the ladder and closed the hatch.

“Hey boss, you’re going to want to see this,” Nancy said from the table.

A quick trot through the RV hallway left me stunned when I observed the view screen. We found the wormipede bodies. They were in the ocean being feasted on by a frenzy of creatures. A fish species seemed to be chatting outside the intense action while pointing with a fin at our drone.

“We are recording this, right? I have a theory based on seeking these guys. The beast masters were enslaving assholes. I bet they lured everything in to feed their wormipedes,” I said letting the sentence hang.

“I like that theory,” Harvard said over the radio. I frowned, and Nancy showed she had the mic open.

“Keep the drone moving. I cannot take mermaids home, and I’m certainly not going near that frenzy. Find me chickens Douglas, or something else we can use, please. Forty-one minutes.”

Dedric started to slow our advance. Willow started gagging inside the loft. I gave her a concerned look as my feet shuffled to the door before we skidded to a halt. The door burst open while I sped for the devices. I almost fell flat on my face from the ammonia permeating thick in the air. I grabbed a translator, which I struggled to see through burning eyes. I urgently rushed back into the RV. We vacated the area quickly with windows open to vent the air. I gagged a few times.

“Cap, I think the buxen like to piss on the dead of their enemies,” Willow said, stating the obvious.

Before the convoy drove the short distance to the huddled puroon and his odd humanoid beavers, I sent a message to everyone.

‘All hands off weapons, safeties on. Keep your hands in the air. If you see anyone reaching for a weapon, kill the puroon.’ - Cap

CHAPTER 18

The standard operating procedure (SOP) for cordon and search was to take initiation slowly. Our truck formed a circle perimeter. When I felt my unit had contained the single puroon with the fifteen tri-toothed beaver humanoids, I exited the RV after everyone else. Dedric remained in the driver’s seat with Douglas, staying to give drone recon.

My boots squished against the mushy-feeling ground. The vegetation below my feet did have a mossy appearance to it. While I walked to the survivors, I felt the sinking sensation telling me the moon was on the backside of the planet. I knocked on the tower leg on my path between fallen structures. The wood was certainly harder than pine. My metal knuckles gave no indent. I used my slow pace to contemplate what to do here.

We had been failing to get the translator to work. Which meant I would only be able to communicate with the puroon. I wanted to kill the mind-controlling alien. No qualms or second thoughts about it. There were far too many risks associated with taking the beast master home. The curiosity in me wanted to hear what he - dangling penis normally meant he - had to say. It seemed like the most logical thing to do after I contemplated the situation.

My troops parted to let me through. Their hands were up and the puroon locked eyes with mine.

“Greetings,” I said and the puroon stood stoically in front of the furred aliens. “Are you their master?”

“Yes and no. Hrosvdovsa -”

“Huh?”

“You need to name the creatures in your language. It is a translator requirement. When you receive yours, you will understand.”

I sighed while shifting to look over the long-armed tall beavers. I was thinking it over when Willow said, “Tavers. Tall beavers. Or tail beavers. Tavers. I like it.” She was nervously playing with her pink braid. Her blue eyes shined brighter on this planet. Willow knew I was wishing we were in a bedroom and blushed.

“Perfect. You are not as dense as the prisoners we capture,” the puroon said and my mind itched to kill the arrogant alien. I was shocked he would flaunt killing humans. “While I can be the master to the tavers, it is rarely needed. They seek peace and protection. In exchange, they will build for our kind. Useless in a fight. We were on a wood gathering expedition when the buxen wiped out my tribe.” The alien’s small ears flopped against its large head in agitation. “Our war leader was always too aggressive.”

“What do they need to live?”

“Vegetation to eat, and protection. A full herbivore creature. Very basic in their needs. Water would be the other requirement. This is one of our hundreds of planets they were found on. We -”

“Excuse me, did you say hundreds of planets?” Harvard asked while pointing a recorder at the purple alien.

“Ah yes, new species into the chain are always fun. There are powerful beings who control the universe. If you are found deserving of isolation, your expansions are halted forever. It is really that simple. We, the puroon, had colonized a thousand planets. Our factions fought each other; as that had always been the way. Superior alien spaceships blasted our fleets, defenses, and orbitals into scattered remnants of their once-great power. Portals were placed on every colonized planet and we went from warring each other to warring everything. Much has been lost to our knowledge since then. We surmised that our warlike ways were too much for the mysterious superior power. If you are curious as to who regulates and manages the portal network, join the list. Whoever they are, they demolished our society. We now fight to live. Never being able to create spaceships again.”

“You do not seem very warlike?” Harvard used an asking tone in his statement.

The puroon slapped his hips, then gave an odd sound while jumping. Was this laughter? I thought it was.

“I am a manager. Hard to build structures, expand, and raise wormipedes when all you want to do is fight. We have variations in our species. I supported a successful chieftain for a long time. Those days are over after yesterday's defeat. Our species has limited self-control. I tried to join a more calm settlement but was held back. I have been trying to tell these tavers they are free to go but they keep trying to follow me. They do not understand freedom. I much desire to go to the other settlement,” the puroon said.

“What about these taver creatures?” I asked.

“They will need a home. The new settlement I seek is underground. Not suitable for them. They would need a lake, sunshine, and vegetation. Their meat is awful to us, but you might like it. We did not get to study your kind for very long.”

“Can you have them loaded onto that trailer?” I asked, thumbing a horse trailer behind an electric truck.

The puroon glared at me. “If I do, you will let me go. If those terms are acceptable, then yes. They will rampage if you kill me in their presence.”

“I can agree with that. We want to get off this planet before the portal lock ends anyway. Lower ramps to the breathable trailer,” I said, indicating the horse trailer. The taver shuffled with their little legs for the trailer. “You think the new settlement will want to trade?”

“Do you have rare metals?” the puroon asked.

“Rare is relative, but yes, we have metals. We are seeking farm animals,” I said. The puroon tucked his hands behind his back.

“We exploit the animals for sustenance and to feed our mounts. The greatest hurdle our species has faced is returning to small scale food management. We have trees we can trade. Fruit trees will probably be the best option. We are getting ahead of ourselves, I have to be accepted in the new settlement first. Then I have to convince wary leaders to trade a warring species. I doubt it will happen.”

The back of the trailer was bolted shut with the tavers inside. Their small eyes were glazed over with indifference.

“Three days. I will haul that trailer with metal in it. You bring fruit trees, fruit, animals, and even seeds in trade. We meet right here,” I said with a sigh. “And yes, I understand you may never show up.”

“I will try. Your time conversions are odd, but the translator stored the data. Until then, awefgver.” The alien said.

I shrugged the botched translation off and went into the RV. The bulldog sniffed me furiously to the point I told him to lay down. Yeah, that did not work. When Nancy came in, I was abandoned for her. Dedric pressed the accelerator. The convoy followed behind us.

There was an odd silence in the RV as we jostled for Torrez and home. I was waiting for the comment. I did not have to take long. I was surprised by who said it, though.

“So Cap, I am confused,” Willow said. Her voice was loud as it drifted through the loft. She had resumed her position as lookout up top.

“For the crew, or in this case, for the community. Yes, for the community works better,” Dedric said with his voice raised.

“Still confused,” Willow said loudly from above us.

I was watching the drone view. The route home was clear without any changes. Feeling somewhat safe that nothing cataclysmic was going to occur, I gave Willow my attention.

“I got this, Cap,” Nancy said before I could talk. “That puroon was either a mind reader or smart enough to ensure his survival. I guess we will find out in three days. Let me guess, you expected Cap to kill the alien.”

“Well, yes. He has no issues executing guilty people.”

“Ah, I get it. The puroon said the only thing Cap wanted to hear. Trade for sustainable food. That was enough of a hook that even Bonnet would have passed on killing the alien. Did you want to kill the puroon?” Nancy asked.

“Yup. The thousand-plus people at our new home prevented me from doing so. I may still regret my decision,” I said, loudly enough for Willow to hear from the loft.

“Got it, you tested the alien—not sure if it was a he or her. You tested them, found a possible reason to not murder them, and went that route. Super thought they were dead. I’ve got the drone, Douglas.”

I left my chair to slap my girlfriend’s boot. She tucked into the loft to give me her attention. Her pretty face was red from the whipping wind. “Willow, this is not Saudi Arabia where we kill to survive. Well, some of it is. We have a forever base for now. That means trading matters more than ever until we get ourselves established and secure.”

I pet the dog beside me, feeling like I won. We got some new creatures, maybe a trade partner, and escaped unscathed. Not a big win, but a win to me. We rolled past Torrez, who waved. He looked confused at the odd aliens in the horse trailer. I was certain we would get that a lot. The reality was, we were no longer a single species planet. Earth was littered with aliens of all types already.

The blue shimmer of the portal shifted through me while we transitioned to Earth. My eyes started to adjust back to home with a squint. I glanced at the Gpad timer and saw we had twenty minutes left on the portal lock. Excellent. Time to loot the stuff around here now. The last RV passed through the portal. Torrez let go of the button and leaped into the blue. Nancy opened the door for him.

His cybernetic legs got him into the RV in a matter of seconds. The convoy accelerated forward. I glanced out my passenger window to see the buxen army mostly dispersed. I think they realized we wanted no problems with them.

“Drone airborne,” Willow called out as a fresh drone went airborne.

We left the jostling grass and bounced onto the county road a few minutes later. “RV1 deviate to the marked area on the map to loot. RV2 deviate from this road to this construction zone to loot. Keep someone watching the drone feed at all times,” I said into the radio.

“Charlie team on the way,” Eddy said as they drifted into the other lane for us to pass them.

“Alpha team acknowledges and will turn north shortly,” Mclain said in reply.

Dedric cleared his throat for my attention. “Those salt trucks are not far. We can grab them on the way home.”

I nodded. “Rest of the convoy, follow my RV.”

‘Home safe, we picked up alien beavers. We call them tavers. They will go into our lake or our bellies if they cause problems.’ - Cap

‘No king?’ - queen 1

‘I am bringing aliens home.’ - Cap

Who ignores a statement like that? I guess Perci does.

‘Okay. You were barely gone an hour. Integrating all these new people has been fun. They set up tarps between fire trucks to make shelters. They seem legitimately happy to be here, which helps. There has been no squabbling or fighting. Explaining that we are not a democracy went over smoothly. I think they are here for stability, electricity, and plumbing. The fact you have been fairly docile and helpful has made the transition easier. What are your plans with these tavers?’ - queen 1

‘Not sure. We do not exactly need help pulling out trees or chopping them up. Maybe they can strip the bark off tree trunks. That is a tedious process. Maybe they can expand the lake so we can grow fish. Learning about them will not be boring. They are docile and need a new home. Hopefully, we can help each other.’ - Cap

‘I get it, you are winging it. See you soon. Changing your name to King of Captains. Does that work?’ - queen 1

‘I ever tell you how wonderful you are?’ - King Cap

I chuckled at the little device, wishing the woman was with me. “Come on down, Willow,” I yelled to her.

She shimmied out of the loft. I extended a hand that she accepted. I pulled her into my lap and she declined my kiss. Willow wet a rag and proceeded to clean her face.

“I got bug splatter in my teeth. I need to wear a shirt or rag over my face next time I am up there.” She paused to use the rag to literally scrape her teeth. “So not having a conversation up top without a mask again. What is next?”

“Loot, build, defend. We have two of the three gates fairly contained. Then again, the gate may roam from buxen territory to some rock monster territory. Have you seen the video of those snake people? Eww…” I shuddered at the thought. “However, I do not think the buxen are the forgiving type. I fear them.”

“Gross, snake people… I haven’t seen them yet, not sure if I want to. I really should study these potential species. Especially if I am going to need to shoot at them. These samurai turtle looking fellas need headshots only,” Willow said while gazing at her Gpad. She chuckled softly. “Apparently they taste delicious. Funny how someone added a food value table to their chart.”

Dedric slowed the RV. We arrived at the county vehicle storage lot. There was a single brown building with a flat roof. The single large bay door gave it more of a storage building appearance than that of an office. A medium sized parking area housed a half dozen large trucks. Barbed-wire fencing ran around the perimeter of the county outpost. The door was open with the chain-link gate busted down. I peered around with uncertainty. I was safe in the RV, so I was hesitant to get out.

“No one out of your vehicles yet, it has been raided,” I said on the radio. “Nice and slow. Let the RV take point; it is bulletproof, after all.”

“Taking us into the lot,” Dedric said in a professional tone.

“I see feet behind a truck. Second vehicle here still running,” Torrez said over the radio.

A gunshot split the air and smacked into our windshield, causing a chip. So much for playing nice.

“Engage targets, engage targets,” I said over the radio.

A hand shot around a dump truck tire. The automatic pistol fire caused me to raise an eyebrow. Amateurs. The bullets pinged, zinged, and cracked into the RV. 9mm at a hundred feet was not that much of a threat. They were also already out of ammo. The convoy diverted to flank around the building.

“We're just going to sit here?” Willow asked.

Nancy gently tugged her off my lap and started whispering to her. I did not like side chatter during combat situations. The first trucks got a flank on the targets. A few carbines snapping later, and the obvious threats were downed. I saw the bodies of teenagers or young adults pooling blood.

“Nice and slow. Maybe they were here to swap vehicles to something bigger. Still, if they were picking these up, there should be more than two. Anyone see any other vehicles that don’t belong?” I said smoothly into the radio.

Some of the new recruits might be agitated and eager. This was war. You did not knife fight your opponent in a gunfight. You did not haphazardly spill your entire magazine into a vehicle. If I were in the opposite position, caught in the open to a superior foe, I would bide my time and get to a more defensible…

Crack. Crack.

“Third target down. She was trying to get on the roof,” Torrez said.

“Does this thing have external speakers?” Nancy asked Dedric.

Dedric flicked a switch and said, “You’re broadcasting.” I gave him a ‘you’re just telling me this now?’ look that missed the mark when he said, “What? I read the manual.”

“I surrender!” A frightened man said with his hands in the air.

“To a manual reader?” I asked.

The man twisted his head in confusion while staring at our RV. I reached over and flicked the broadcast switch. I keyed up the radio and spoke softly, “One wrong move, he dies.”

I turned the switch back on to broadcast. “Lay down. Good. Crawl to the RV door.”

The man shook his head no. Wrong answer. His head exploded in a spray of gore. The last two men ran out with guns’ blazing. Not that it did them a lot of good. They were riddled with bullet holes, hitting nothing in return.

Even though I was ninety percent certain that was all of them, I still wanted to take it slow. We waited. Then we waited some more. I got calls from Eddy and Mclain asking if we needed backup. I said we were fine. We had vehicles to hide inside and superior numbers. I watched the Xgate more than the building. It stayed quiet while half an hour passed by.

“Team leaders, block the doors with vehicles. Assault top down,” I said into the radio. I turned to Dedric. “Park us alongside the roof.”

We rolled past the bodies until Torrez could jump onto the roof. Two trucks parked off to our sides. Soldiers used truck cabs to leap onto our RV top and then ran for the building roof. I heard the thump of a dead body being tossed onto our roof. Nancy went for the noise. A truck blocked the front entrance. Another blocked the rear exit. The assault lasted less than a minute and came up empty. Nancy handed me a radio. It was an EMT radio with Aspen engraved on it.

“No Gpad?” I asked the blonde babe. There was something about a woman not squeamish about getting blood on her hands.

“Nope, I am guessing they ditched them when they lost power. Maybe a different body has -”

Knuckles tapping on the RV resulted in Sergeant Havier opening the door. He was one of Slister’s men still with the convoy. He had a box of loot from the truck and bodies. Sidearms, Gpads, radios, and two drone cases. He dropped them off inside the RV and went back to work. I left my seat for a Gpad.

I crouched down to the pile and slapped a Gpad next to mine. My administrator fired up the device. Harold Mcdougal, father of two, who owned a home renovation company. Based on his text history, when the Xgates came down, he grouped up with a large Aspen community. They lost Gtower access when we lost the main net, which made sense. The closest Xgate was ours and they had not seen aliens yet. I could understand that, since our gate was mostly quiet. Residents of Denver swarmed them, seeking refuge. There were at least a dozen firefights with fleeing humans wanting sanctuary. That explains why Denver had been so quiet. Everyone was going to Aspen. The other factor was that northern Denver was lost to aliens that had been called XLroaches. That matched what Nancy had said. The Aspen stronghold was flipping huge. They had fortified every road in. The last report was they still had water and power, which were kept active by solar power. Made sense; if anywhere in the world was going to save the environment, it would be elitist skiers. Aspen was known to be huge on solar. I guess I could key up a mic and ask.

As if on cue, the radio said, “Aspen team seven, Aspen base over.”

“Go for seven,” I said into the radio.

“Put Mcdougal on, please, whoever you are,” the voice replied, as if offended.

“Hmm… So Mcdougal had a kid on his team. He looks about seventeen. The untrained lad started firing before we could talk. They tried to ambush us when we finally got to talking. Sorry to say, Mcdougal can’t talk anymore.”

“Whom am I speaking with?”

“A concerned military official with the US government. We have a heavily fortified base nearby. I am sure you saw the helicopters establishing our position from Carson,” I said with a hostile tone.

“One moment,” the voice said.

I returned to my comfy seat and keyed up my team’s radio. “All teams, extra caution. The drone has to watch the roads from Denver and the Xgate. That means spotty coverage. Keep looting, but be ready to bolt.”

I received the standard acknowledgments from my team leaders. Slister even sent a reply. She was off getting more construction sections with the firefighters, desperate for housing. I was expecting some sort of negative comments from Eddy or Bradley for defending ourselves.  I was surprised when none came. I wondered how much of that was taking no casualties.

“This is Colonel Reinhardt. I am ordering you to surrender your munitions and food to Aspen,” the radio said with a squelch at the end.

I rolled my eyes. I heard some of my former members snickering.

“Pfft… Colonel, my orders are direct from the president herself. Which I can assure you, yours are not. When your Gpad lights up, you have entered our territory. I am not opposed to trading, but I sure as hell will defend what we have. As evident by the five dead civilians.”

Willow sat in my lap and I kissed her cheek. The first of the big trucks fired up. Torrez sent me a message that he had to apply his Gpad admin override to convince the startups to activate. Well, at least the batteries worked on the machines. I was worried they wouldn’t start.

“I am calling bullshit. However, we have decided to come to your Gtower line so you can verify President Hansen -”

“Growlen.”

“Okay, I am impressed. Not many know that. I will come to the line. Verify your story and we can go from there.”

“Hey, Colonel.”

“What?”

“You need to ask who I am.”

“It will be revealed. Either you got the drop on five untrained people trying to improve our situation, or maybe you are some spec ops commandos. I did see the helicopters; four or five flights of them. That is what landed you a real conversation with the boss.”

“Okay, that is fair. As I said, we did not want this violence. We defended ourselves and have already fought off one attack from the flapions.”

“Winged-scorpions? I have kept their existence quiet. We lost two night guards to them. They hit a small outpost and fled with their prizes. The drones saw them heading for Specter Gate 16232.”

“Xgate 232 as we call it, but I understand. Do not piss off the deermen, please. They have a full division, plus an army.”

“Huh, we have been avoiding the Specter Gate, as we are trying to consolidate. Colonel Reinhardt out.”

The radio went silent. I let his words stir in me. They obviously knew the gate was here. They also did not care about risking troops near it. This had me guessing that this team we killed were probably being sent further for supplies. Possibly as an initiation as well. Or maybe they were trying to gain esteem. I mulled over the reasoning. No, MacDougal was an Aspen resident. He built his own home and instantly made a million in equity by constructing something unique. The others though…

“Willow, babe. Hand me the other Gpads please.”

The last of the big rigs lurched forward when the driver applied too much electricity. I thought these were gas guzzlers, but only two of the six were. I guess the county taxes went into expensive machines. When the last truck rolled out, we joined the convoy for home.

“Hey Cap, you got a moment?” Eddy asked through the command talk on our Gpads.

“Go,” I replied.

“Hmm. News of Aspen will probably have others leaving,” Eddy said.

“And?”

“You are not worried?”

I sighed. I guess I had been through enough of the military bullshit to know what was going on with limited information. I checked over the Gpads Willow handed me and I had been right. The MacDougal was grooming potential recruits. The girl that died trying to get a shot on Torrez, she had a printed copy of enlistment papers. Five successful loot runs and she could join the Aspen army. Not the US Army. The Aspen army. Yeah...

I snapped some photos and sent him all the relevant data. “Hey Eddy,” I said with a sad chuckle.

“Yeah boss, this is bad. If this is how you get in, where are all the people being kept out staying?”

“That is my point. If people leave seeking refuge there, Aspen will not let them in. This screams of a pyramid scheme to me. Get five raids to feed the people already inside. Even if they were sitting on extra food, why force people to loot to get in?”

I released the mic as he and others in the command channel digested the latest information. Willow kissed me and frowned. “We did not bury the bodies.”

“We probably should have. I am sorry. That is a fair complaint. Knowing them now, I feel bad. That kid shot first, then they reacted violently. They were still humans with family and people they loved.”

I typed on my Gpad, asking for Mclain to bury the bodies on his way home. He confirmed he would and I thanked him. Torrez sent me a text; he was watching the tavers from up top and they seemed to be doing fine. The gunfire did not spook them. For all he could tell, they were enjoying the ride.

Eddy keyed back up his mic and said, “So… Do we want to rescue some of those outside Aspen? I guess I am asking how you want to spin this news.”

Willow frowned while Nancy chuckled. There was an animosity growing between the two. I keyed the mic. “Give me a few.”

“Nancy, Willow, back bedroom now,” I ordered.

Douglas grinned and lifted his goggles off. When he saw my angry red face, he shoved the goggles back on. That’s right, keep flying that drone.

The three of us went into the bedroom. Willow crossed her arms angrily. Nancy sat on the bed and patted it for Willow to sit. Both sets of blue eyes glared at me intently. Nancy was relaxed with a smirk, while Willow was flustered. Her face was twisted in a tight expression with red cheeks.

“Cap is great at diffusing tensions. We have tension. You’re being innocent and I know him… well, the situation better,” Nancy held up a hand to keep us from talking while shifting to sitting cross-legged. “I see the door is closed. I am going to call him Eric, who has immensely difficult decisions to make. I support him because he is my commander. He is your lover, which means you want him to do the right thing. News flash, girl, the right thing is not always the right thing.”

“Cut the condescending tone, Nancy,” I said with furled brows. Nancy was being snide.

“What the fuck does that even mean? I realize there are gray areas in life. Now I am getting angry and I am not sure why,” Willow said with crossed arms.

“Eric is the hero and the villain. It depends on which side of the story you fall on. It depends on how you view the situation. Stop fucking judging his decision or the crew will start to isolate you. We trusted him through the hell of the desert. Our harsh actions created such a reputation that the roving gangs left us the fuck alone. I know you want to be a warrior like us, but Willow,” Nancy said, throwing up her hands in the air. She was clearly getting flustered too. “The dark days have not even started. Saudi Arabia turned grim after about three weeks of no food. We still have weeks before ribs start to show and an inner beast inside humanity is unlocked.”

Willow looked to me and I opened my arms. She was confused, but accepted my gesture.

“We are going to lie to the citizens. We are going to leave bodies unburied sometimes. We are going to turn away good people if we have to. We are going to avoid rescuing those desperate for help when we cannot sustain them. We are going to do what it takes for the community,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I am with Nancy on this one. Control your poker face. Do not let the others see you as soft. You are being trained to be an officer and a leader. I have no problem with you shifting to a different job if you find the darkness of our new reality too consuming.”

“Okay, I get it. I just grew up thinking the military was all about saving the day. And hell no, I am not going to catch rabbits or till fields. I am your soldier in training. I will keep my reactions more neutral and supportive,” Willow said confidently. She then twirled a finger dramatically until it pointed at Nancy. “Your job is to keep him from pulling me to the side. Next time, you should be helping me.”

Nancy opened her mouth and I mouthed ‘no’ with mine. She snapped her mouth closed, hopped off the bed, and shooed me out of the room. I closed the door behind me, letting them chat. I called Eddy.

“Sorry about the delay, Eddy. Do we want to accept a lot more refugees? Long answer, absolutely. Short answer, hell no.  We have three natural walls of mountains defending us. Lots of power, freshwater, and room to expand. Not until we build enough space. However…” I paused while sliding into my recliner seat. We turned left onto our dirt road. “We can move people into locations close to us and give them food, water, and a place to bathe. When we have more space, we can take them in. They can even drive over and work the day shift to build their own home. I merely do not want to take more people in. The mansion would be so packed that no one sleeps because we're standing inside a house that is a hundred degrees with no place to lay down.”

“You said the short answer in a long spiel and the long answer in one word. Just saying,” Eddy said, and I caught Dedric snickering.

“You got me. I guess we deliver that idea to the council. If they approve, we can send a team out to give our offer. I personally would not risk it until they come to us. I bet the Colonel sends them flooding our way to relieve his problem now that they know we exist. It is best if we do not cross Aspen territory lines unless we are desperate.”

“You think a turf war can start?” Perci said. I knew she was listening to the command channel.

“One already has. We have a turf war with humans, alien bugs to our west, and then the Xgates. This is exactly why I am so desperate to forage now. The moment we get home, the teams are going back out to looting close range locations. Aspen will one hundred percent stop sending hunting parties this way if everything is picked clean. We have only been gone for five hours. I need more drone operators. I will wake up Peterson at six so we have more coverage. Mitchell, we’re twenty mikes out on the dirt road.”

“Roger,” Mitchell said.

“I just want to be clear. If someone says they want to go to Aspen, what are we saying to them?” Bradley the firefighter asked. I frowned, not realizing he was on the channel. It made sense to make him an officer since he was in charge of eighty plus people. “Hard facts or soft truths?”

“One moment.”

‘Aspen has a stronghold and a standing militia. They have solar power, probably water, and a military leader. They also are not accepting new people. Most of Denver flooded into Aspen, seeking fancy homes to squat in. I bet they have tons of space we do not have. They are already desperate for food. The source of information we have is that new recruits have to establish themselves with five raids for Aspen before they are allowed in. I am guessing here, but those raids will include alien planet raids once the surrounding area is picked clean. We are working with their leadership to establish trade and potentially joint raids. If you decide to go to Aspen, we at Stronghold Mansion will not stop you. You can leave with what you brought with you. Just know, you will very likely be scorned and denied entry. We already lost one good man who was trying to swap sides; he now has a widowed wife and two kids. There is a lesson here. Lastly, I get more information tonight. If anything new is established with Colonel Reinhardt, I will pass the message to you all.” - Captain King Eric

“So Cap, I hear you like Cap the most,” Bradley said hesitantly. “I got a team wanting to recon the area. Our own vehicle, our own men risking their necks.”

“The great thing about our stronghold is there are very few vulnerabilities. If your men squeal it, won’t change that we have a hundred troops on the walls at all times. So yes, they can go. I would like the intel myself.”

“I am not going, my wife would kill me if I led her to a concentration camp with starving refugees. She has friends here, our kids are running around asking to keep new dogs, and we don’t have to look over our shoulders for bad guys. I see why some want the grass to be greener on the other side. A mansion per family makes a person lick their lips. Except that is probably not the case anymore. Thanks for the approval. I will relay what I learn. Fire-annihilator out.”

I think Bradley’s group had the only people curious to leave, because that was the last I heard about Aspen. Twenty minutes later, we rolled through the gate. I hopped out of the RV, flagged down the driver with the tavers, and hopped into the bed of the truck. The driver stuck his head out questioningly. Definitely one of the Mitchell brothers, as he had the same features. He saw my confusion.

“Erik with a k. Where to, Cap?” Erik Mitchell asked.

“Hi Erik. Going to take a while to memorize everyone’s names. Take us to the river. Turn north for the lake and stop when you can go no further.”

I used the slow drive to inspect the work. I saw the road behind the barn leading to the cave from the height of the truck bed. The path was narrow, the dirt in the area coated the grass, and our dozer had cleaned up the mess. I shifted to see the bunny pens were built now. They were just sticks in the ground in sectioned off squares. A few branches covered the small pens to keep predators out. Or maybe to keep kids from grabbing them.

Numerous kids kneeled down, trying to feed the rabbits grass with parents chatting not far away. I shifted my gaze to our lemon lot. There were homes in between cars now that we had orderly rows. I saw a road sign that read ‘Denver 90 miles’ on it. I immediately began typing.

‘Acquire road signs. Metal is money, they are flat, and can be used as temporary instant covers.’ - Cap

Gary and the woodworking crew were furiously working. Electric chainsaws were drowned out by firefighter axes smashing limbs off trees. The progress was crazy. We spent an hour getting Desmond this morning and then four more hours on the mission. The entire first home was done. It even had a door with hinges. The problem was that the size was only a thousand square feet or so. A separate crew was installing windows. If you couldn’t move a whole house, you sure could piece one together.

The next projects were not something resembling a traditional home. Log poles were embedded into the ground. Trusses were slid into sawed out ‘U’ shapes on the top of the logs. The trusses were then layered with limbs to provide temporary roofing. The open barn was two hundred feet long and thirty feet wide. The roof would need more limbs, but about a hundred people were building bundles or putting them on. Our first viking longhouse was being built, roof first. The tile Slister had mentioned last night was here. Older kids helped parents while they laid tile on the ground. It was far from perfect. It was not a mansion in Aspen. But it was the start of a home and a place to safely sleep. I saw Clive helping move tiles, which meant an extra toilet house had probably been put on hold, and I was okay with that.

Of course, the moment we drove by with a horse trailer full of aliens, people paused to watch us pass by. We rolled to where the river met the woods and stopped with a growing crowd. Before too many people could crowd us, I did the honors of lowering the steel door until it became a ramp.

I grunted and waved for the tavers to follow me. They waddled forward in a race to the river and jumped into the water. Their powerful tails allowed them to dart deep down. When the tri-toothed animal rose, they did so with mouths full of water vegetation. They were starving and oblivious to us observing them. I decided to give them space for now. Guard team leader Mitchell approached to study the animals.

“I will add them to the rotation. The guards stuck on the wall have been bitching for excitement. Rookies, I tell ya. This will give them something to do. I will report our findings. I take it you want them to be left alone to recover for now?” Mitchell said, swinging a friendly arm around me. “Oh hey, Erik.”

Mitchell’s brother approached us to join our little chat. “How about we let some of the guards go looting? I know I could use some boring time.”

“I doubt we will have any boring time in the coming days,” I said with a scoff.

The three of us shared a tense laugh. My Gpad pinged.

‘Let’s be friends. I am honored to have the ‘Captain Moostache’ as a neighbor. We have over four thousand refugees in need of homes. We cannot feed them. Please share intel and I will stop sending crews into your area. I know you are lacking in infrastructure where we have plenty of it. In exchange, we could use some food.’ - Colonel Reinhardt

‘Deal. I will send a crew with some MREs as a gesture of goodwill. Do not expect a lot. I have many mouths to feed. It will be enough to say sorry and hopefully work toward common solutions. As for the refugees, I simply have no room right now or means to feed them. Soon, I hope. We have clean water we can hand out daily. I am hoping when the gates go golden, we can trade for sustainable animals, fruit trees, and new types of seeds. Also, I have a drone up at all times monitoring the Xgate. I will allow a scout team to view it in a sign of peace. That way, if the buxen or deermen, come charging your way, you have a warning.’ Captain King Eric

‘Wow that is impressive. I thought you would threaten us and be a dick. I watched your videos from Saudi Arabia. I read the reports. You do not accept defeat. Exactly the kind of officer humanity needs. No wonder Linda Growlen literally gave up half the food of Fort Carson for you.’ - Reinhardt

‘We got lucky at our gate. I have a radio you can reach me on through your scout. Feel free to set up an outpost, and Colonel — good luck.’ - cap

‘So send the refugees. I seriously cannot take them.’ - Reinhardt

‘Do they have water?’ - cap

‘Yes, clean and fresh. No food. They are starving.’ - Reinhardt

I looked at the tavers and then shook my head no. The Mitchell brothers were eyeing my communication. I elbowed them both to give me space. I screamed into the heavens with my entire lung capacity. This earned me stares, but I did not care. I knew the council would not have a good answer if I did not. I called Perci.

“Go for your queen,” Perci said.

“MRE count?”

“We got five pallets in total. Roughly fifteen hundred left.”

“Cancel cracker program for the ducks. Perci, I am sorry,” I said, and hung up.

‘Give them this offer. There are homes in the area that are not defended and have been looted. We have hunting teams scouring the area. I saw a bunch of fish on that other planet. Also, we buried the dead flapions. If I had known there were starving people, I would have saved them. Sorry, distracted. Send them here to check the gate for food daily. If we have extra, we will hand it out.’ - cap

‘The price?’ - Reinhardt

My Gpad was going crazy with our food updates. Apparently, the local looting had more food spoiling than we could eat. I guess we could hand food out now.

‘No price, colonel. Human decency. My Mother Hens, (S1/S4) say we can hand out food tonight. Send them over for meals for now. No promises on long-term food.’

‘Thanks Cap, Colonel out.’ - Reinhardt

I turned to the two Mitchell brothers. “I blame you both for this. Never mention being bored. Reduce the guard to half, have the other half looting or building.”

I had a lot of work to do and very little time to do it. We needed to be ready for a massive wave of starving people desperate for salvation. My guess was Aspen had stolen all the good fighters already too. Still, if you can train an ex-con, an ex-con can train a regular citizen.

‘Dear residents of Stronghold Mansion, and Stronghold Cornerstore. Four thousand hungry mouths are coming this way. They are not going to be let inside the gates. They are to be treated with respect until they deserve punishment. We are going to try to keep them alive until the golden gates. That means extra looting, fire pits for cooking, and preparing to hand out a lot of soon-to-spoil food. I sent this area-wide because I do not want violence. Protect what is yours, but know we are watching.’ Captain King Eric

With the message sent, I went to find Perci. Torrez stopped me on the way. “Hey Cap, got a rough sketch of the layout. The scale is off, we have a lot more land than this, but a small overview well help the community at least get an idea of what is where,” my friend said before bounding away with his mechanical legs whining. I glanced at the paper and saw –

CHAPTER 19

From noon to sunset, I hauled rocks out of the river. The entire time, I was barefoot, fishing for rocks. The tavers fled up the river to the lake, so they were no help. Mary was curious as to why I was braving the chilly waters. I said if we did not have paths to walk on, then tonight, when it rained, our paths would be mud. My work attracted two things. Dogs and kids.

Both were fantastic to have around. The first path I built was the mansion to the river. The kids, with their watching parents, converted a messy pile of stones into a flat surface. The river itself had a nice flow to it. I would drag a big rock up the bank to get access to a section, and small stones would tumble into the unleashed current.

I only spent the first twenty minutes in the water. A backhoe came over and dredged rocks onto the shore when it was able to. The kids loved to watch the machine in action. Hell, even I got a kick out of the way the water cascaded off the mechanical arm. Or the sploosh noise when it dove to fetch rocks.

I would be visited as I worked. Slister helped me haul rocks, while giving me updates on our medical patients. The mom who lost her husband was grieving, but not suicidal. At least she thought so. Suzanne, the girl we recovered from the Xgate, was at the range being trained. She was healthy, adapting, and ready for vengeance. A man broke a finger with an auto hammer. We giggled at that one because the ads we used to get bombarded with would promise users that they’d never smash a finger again. A girl tripped running, which resulted in a broken wrist. People were getting hurt, but it was minimal. Later, Becca stole the gear that I had piled aside with a thank you. Perci would say hi, get some attention like cheek kisses, and return to her organization for tonight’s food hand out. I think she enjoyed seeing me on her breaks. Jevon asked for a detailed report and then went to find the tavers. Peterson arrived shortly after with her goggles around her neck, telling me she had two drones in the air and was testing more candidates.

Those who bothered me did so with simple news. We found a hundred road signs. The area the team went to was already looted. The tavers are very alien looking. Are the tavers dumb? Stuff like that.

Willow joined me not long after she went shooting. We stole longing glances at each other. She got to talking with Jill, Maria, and a few of the other moms. She fit right in. When I would get caught watching, she would tuck her loose hairs behind her left ear with a rosy smile. The little game of teasing glares helped pass the time.

The setting sun cast an orange glow between the coming storm clouds. I was done moving rocks for today when my Gpad pinged an alert. I glanced down. The coming tide of those hungry for food rolled from Aspen. The Colonel had given us more than enough time to prepare. I retrieved my .308 from a high tree branch; Mary asked to play with daddy’s gun four times, so I stuffed it high while working. Willow hip-checked me playfully when I left the area.

“Why not use the trail!?” Willow asked sarcastically.

She had a point. There was no path from the river to the gate. Always more work for another time.

“I am confused. I only see a dozen cars coming,” I said. I sent a signal for Peterson to view further. “Oh shit, that’s why.”

Willow looked at my Gpad. Thousands of people were walking north for us. I watched her reaction. She held her shock in check. I beamed proudly and she may have tackled me to the grass. We rolled around while passionately kissing until we both blushed red. I realized we were getting a bit worked up over each other. We giggled when I pried us apart.

A new alert hit my wrist. I clicked on the other drone feed. The flapions were active again. I sent out a message to all the teams.

‘Drop what you are doing and get home now. Potential aliens coming’ - cap

“You missed a period or a comma, cap!” Torrez shouted from the stone path he was helping build with Maria and Jasmine.

I sent him a friendly wave, keeping four fingers up to join my middle one. We passed around the mansion and I was shocked. We had three longhouses partially built. There were no walls and the third one needed most of its roof to be added, but I was stunned. Bundles of branches were being taken off building one. I watched the 550 cord being undone and handed to crews joining street signs together. It made sense then. We were running out of string, rope, and twine. I was proud to see them adapt. The entire sight brought me joy. The first longhouse was packed with sleeping gear and the second was filling up. A steady flow of people moved items from the mansion to the second longhouse.

The Mother Hens were breaking up a meeting near our entry gate to Stronghold Mansion. I glanced down at my Gpad. So far, only a few flapion scouts were entering Earth. Nothing to be too concerned about, but it would not go well if those seeking food were defenseless. Perci arrived, placed a hand over the image, and gave me a kiss when our eyes locked. Her brown hair with blonde streaks twirled when she spun to leave the stronghold. Her tight, firm butt snapped in her yoga pants. When I stood flatfooted in distraction, she snickered.

“Come, husband. I need to show you something,” Perci said and I was escorted outside our gate. A large assortment of food was lined up on tables. I instantly twisted my face in concern. Pallets created a feeble half-wall. “I know, I see that look on your face. When you start thinking about how to control thousands of hungry people, well, this was the result. We were going to let them in without weapons one at a time at the spot where the dirt road ends. Then tunnel them into this pallet-line so we could control the flow. I called the Colonel seeking help.”

“Oh, I saw you take the radio earlier. What did he say?”

“I asked if he could release the people in waves. He replied he had no…” Perci paused as our Gpad alerts flared with a code red.

The entire community looked to their Gpads. I was expecting a few hundred flapions. Nope. Gargoyles the size of an RV stepped out of the shimmering blue portal. That was the best way to describe them. A dozen muscled, four-legged creatures with large heads were shown roaring as they left imprints behind where they stepped. The roars reached our ears miles and miles away. These beasts had muscular bodies like a panther, wings like a dragon, and heads like a mastiff. Based on the video, they were at least twenty feet long and eight feet tall.

“Fuck me,” Perci said. She then turned to the Mother Hens bringing plates of food for the table. “Everything inside!”

I overrode every single Gpad linked to our Gtower. “Emergency broadcast. An alien invasion is coming. I say again. Look at the video I am making available. Seek immediate shelter. Seek immediate shelter. If there is a god, may she or he have mercy on our souls.”

My Gpad swapped to my citizens only. “Get your asses back here now! If you are inside the Stronghold, get your weapons and be ready. Keep working, when you are needed for the wall, you will get the call. Parents, get the children into the barn and start a movie night.”

I looked at the image of Xgate 232, and things went from bad to worse. There were twenty plus gargoyles outside the portal, stomping around in agitation. They parted for a leader that stepped through. I saw flapions shocking the massive beasts with their electrical weapons. A back leg shot out in a kick, sending three flapions to their deaths. The surviving little creatures flew back to their gloomy planet. The largest gargoyle smelt the air. Its head spun to where the thousands of humans were panicking on the road to reach us. My weapon went into the air, angled slightly forward.

“Cover ears!” I bellowed.

Crack! My carbine barked in the night sky as the sun dipped below the horizon.

The pack of gargoyles stopped when they heard my gunfire. I released a second round. A breath later, a third. Then a fourth. The pack split. Six bounded for my gunshots at speeds beyond that of a greyhound. My jaw dropped. Fuck. So much for getting work done while we waited. They would be here in less than thirty minutes.

The main pack went for the mass of humans that were now scattering. The alpha gargoyle seemed unfazed when my additional shots reached its ears. The nose kept sniffing for the group of desperate humans caught out in the open.

I flicked my view to those on the road north. A majority were going back for Aspen. Some ran into the woods. Others went toward the aliens unknowingly. The cars that were still a half hour away sped up.

I looked at my teams’ locations. Eddy was nowhere close to being home. Slister just hit the dirt road and should have time. If they risked it, they could arrive without too much concern. Mclain’s team was east of the dirt road. There was no chance either Mclain or Eddy would make it in time. Mitchell’s team had taken a wall break for looting, but were thankfully back for the night shift swap. My mind processed my options. None were good for the teams still in the field. I dialed up the command channel.

“Slister, pedal to the metal. Eddy, Mclain, go silent. Set the best defense you can where you are. Jevon I want gunfire every five seconds. Nancy, get your team to pull out the heavy weapons. We’ve got thirty minutes or less.”

“Come on, we're going into RV3,” Perci said, picking up her pace until it was a jog.

Willow and I trailed behind her. The door was already open with Jevon giving out orders. The table was packed with sergeants and officers getting briefings. I went for the bedroom and saw our drone operators sitting against the back wall. I thumbed for Felix Delcroy, Dalila Mclain, and Erik Mitchell to get out. I glanced at the view screen wall. There were two videos up on the display. The Xgate was oddly quiet on the left, and the right had six charging monsters heading our direction. Perci flinched when a trooper fired right outside the RV.

I pushed Perci into the booth once the space opened up. I spun, gave Willow a deep kiss, and said, “Go find Nancy. See you on the wall soon.”

Her desire to pout was suppressed. “Yes Cap!” She said proudly and was gone.

Perci waited until she was far enough away to say, “Those refugees are fucked. We might even be with just the six. They look like they have armored skin.”

“We have fifty caliber sniper rifles, missiles meant to bust tanks, and nowhere to run to. We fight or we die. They have a home to run to. That makes a big difference in a battle. The only way those creatures are getting to my kids in that barn is over my corpse,” I said with a grimace.

A radio was handed to me by Jacky. It was the Aspen radio that was giving static feedback.

“Colonel, this is Cap,” I said.

“My observers have noted the coming enemy. We are securing those we can on a temporary basis. I heard your warning. Good luck, Mansion.”

“Good luck, Aspen. Cap out.”

I spent the next five minutes watching my troops prepare from outside RV3. I stood there like a lazy ass captain should.

Having the whole picture was far more important than moving weapons or fixing gear on soldiers. I needed to be ready to instantly give out orders. Torrez found me to wait at my side. As a veteran, he knew I would need people to help adjust to the developing situation.

Mr. Wang and his wife were a prime example. The duo ran to me.

“Report,” I said.

“We need help securing the elderly. We cannot -”

“They are to remain in place. Use the empty beds in the other rooms to block the windows, balcony, and finally, the door. Make it happen.”

They gave a slight bow and sped back for the mansion. Clive shook my hand, wishing us luck before heading to the barn with his two kids and his niece. Gary asked to keep working until the last minute, which I approved. The Gtower said it would rain any minute, and the more cover we had before then, the better. Norm asked to move vehicles in front of the barn for a fallback defense. That was the cue for Torrez to leap into action. Felix stole his spot at my side while the situation developed.

Jevon was barking out orders from up high on the hesco barrier. Our sergeants were staggering troops. Civilians were handing out preloaded magazines. The food had been brought in and the trailer blocking our hesco opening was swapped for a dump truck. Harvard came to my side.

“They can jump the hesco containers, even when stacked two high. Just saw one leap a copse of twenty foot tall trees and fly over it. I do not think they can fly for long, but this wall will be nothing to them,” Harvard said. I knew better than to reply. The man was back inside the RV digesting the additional details.

I saw Willow and Nancy hauling an anti-tank missile. Jevon directed them down the line. An alert hit my wrist. The flapions were exiting the gate now in droves. They swarmed the landscape in the hundreds and then the thousands. I knew they feared the gargoyles, as I had termed them. I also think they had zero control over the gargoyles’ actions. I assumed the flapions were here to clean up the mess. As far as strategies go, it was fairly brilliant in its simplicity. Unleash fearsome killers, let chaos ensue, and then collect what you could.

Two key things happened in the next five minutes. Mclain was hunkered down inside a gas station. The six gargoyles heading our way sniffed for their direction. You could see the pack catch their scent. Our rifle fire kept them focused; with only that slight hesitation, they continued for Stronghold Mansion. The other big news was the salt trucks pulled forward into the kill zone as Slister’s team slowly rolled in. The beep of the trucks reversing was drowned out by the discharge of a rifle.

I dialed Dedric, who immediately answered. The older black man appeared to have developed additional gray hairs from today’s events. “Go.”

“They can jump the wall. I need collision drivers stationed outside,” I said dryly.

“For the community.”

The call was cut out when he closed the connection. The two dump trucks drove forward to position spread up outside the wall. RV1 joined them with three other trucks. I watched the video. While the gargoyles could crash through trees, they preferred not to. The six heading our direction arrived on the dirt road. I switched my view to the larger pack. I instantly regretted my decision.

The refugees fleeing for here were dying in droves. The only saving grace was the gargoyles were feasting as they killed. So many had unwittingly gone in the wrong direction that it was giving the others time. The humans were trying to fight back. Two of the large beasts were dead. Harvard came out after I saw that.

“Shoot the eyes.”

I repeated the information area-wide and heard Perci giving the same information to the Colonel via the radio.

I watched the footage of the dozen gargoyles swap from eating to killing. Shooting them, while valiant, enraged the beasts. The change from killing for food to killing for pleasure was instant. The battle was in full swing between the exposed humans and the mighty monsters. The leader of the pack leaped into flight and crashed into the middle of the resistance the refugees had formed. People scattered, desperate to survive. Three more gargoyles perished as the fight concluded swiftly. Hundreds of human bodies lay strewn across the county road.

The boss gargoyle cried into the moonlit night sky with a howl of anguish and anger. The six charging paused just short of our clearing. I knew Mitchell was on the fifty caliber sniper rifle. The weapon shattered the sudden calm that came after the howl with an immense snap. As if on cue, the rain cascaded down from the heavens as the round soared through the night. Whatever orders from the big boss gave to his split pack were overridden by Mitchell.

The fifty caliber round hit the leader of the small pack outside our wall. Its eye exploded in a juicy spray of clear fluid. The death was instant and the beast crashed to land with a resounding thud. Five voices roared in anger. I felt the ground shaking as they charged. I jumped and used my cybernetic arm to latch onto the roof of the RV. A quick empowered elbow rotation flung me up high. I braced myself for the impending fight.

The beasts cleared the opening of our kill zone. A missile raced out to knock over the lead gargoyle. Weapon fire erupted from our line. A second gargoyle joined the first in a tumble. The remaining three leaped into the air, preventing eye targeting. I swore when I saw how far they could fly. Their underside was not as tough as their exterior. Two more missiles fired into soft underbellies; explosions upon impact sent gore and the gargoyles cascading down. The remaining monster landed on a truck not ten feet away from my RV. Bullets pinged as they ricocheted off the tough exterior.

The cries of ceasefire echoed over the low growl of the monster. I put three rounds into the right eye, ruining its vision. The beast lashed out sending a vehicle flying. The twirling truck crushed two soldiers against the hesco berm they stood on. The gargoyle panicked at the loss of its eye. I saw the lid seal over the ruined mess. I waited on the RV rooftop for it to give me an opening. The crack of a rifle from the second-floor balcony provided the winning shot. I saw Torrez emptying his magazine into the remaining eye. When the bullet reached the brain, the animal staggered before collapsing.

I leaped off the RV for the hesco wall. A team was trying desperately to get to the wounded. I used my cybernetic arm strength to help remove the car that had embedded into the dirt containers. The whining whirl of the machines servos provided the needed added effort. The mangled truck tumbled down the six feet. Underneath the impact site, there were only the dead. The bodies were unrecognizable from the impact. I glanced into the kill zone and saw the first gargoyle hit by the missile limping away. When it moved, our defensive firing line erupted again. I broadcast an emergency override for a ceasefire and then ordered Dedric to finish the job.

Two of the dump trucks squealed forward, sprinting from the wall. The stunned animal was bleeding from thousands of bullet wounds and missing a chunk of its leg. The black beast swatted aimlessly in circles, clearly disorientated. The two dump trucks turned wide until they lined up on either side of the animal. When they neared, the monster was unable to dodge their charge. The first truck pushed it over while the second compacted the body that was no match for American made steel.

The sounds of bones shattering reverberated through the air. The truck backed up, peeling parts of the body with it, making a slurping noise.

“Brain these bodies, by shooting through the eyes. I want this interior one dragged outside. Reload and prepare for wave two,” I shouted over everyone’s Gpads.

An alert hit my Gpad. Mclain was in a fight. I ran into the RV to look at the footage on the larger screen. Flapions were trying to assault the team. Troops fired out of windows, the horse trailer, and from cracked doors. He had pulled his troops into his vehicles and thrown out the loot. The strategy was working, as dozens of flapions died every second that went by. When the bodies piled up, the rest of the flock moved on, seeking easier targets.

‘They shorted the vehicles with those damn electric guns,’ - Mclain

‘Ammo?’

‘Solid.’

“Hold tight.’

I typed rapidly while watching the other screen. The eight remaining gargoyles were being surrounded by the main flapion flock. The bodies scattered across the trail of death were being stolen. This caused the gargoyles to swap from killing to defending their food. Flapions were sneaky little shits at hiding from their larger planetary cohabitants.

The remaining humans with weapons were dropping flapions out of the sky. The two species cared little about the incoming fire. Their desire to eat the dead was the important battle. Flapion stingers were diving into bodies. Flapions teamed up in trios to haul a single body. I had no idea how they were communicating or remaining organized, but they were. Hundreds of flapions were racing for Xgate 232, desperate to return home with their gains. All that changed the moment a tank rolled down the road from Aspen. Woah.

There was cheering from those watching the live feed. Even Douglas shouted for joy in the RV. The turret swiveled. The barrel lined up the alpha gargoyle. The drone camera flashed white from the round rocketing out of the turret. When the picture returned, the monstrous beast staggered. The round had gone in and out during the loss of vision. There was a gaping hole and a trail of gore strewn across the road from the exit wound. A second gargoyle looked to its leader in confusion, who was not submitting to its inevitable death. The sound of the first round reached my ears when the second round drowned out the camera again.

The second gargoyle’s head was a ruined mess. A giant seam ripped the skull for a clean shot. The alpha fell after the second body hit the road. That did the trick. The seven remaining gargoyles snatched a body in their mouths and fled. Desperate flapions were decimated as trucks full of citizen soldiers surged forward, firing from open beds and out windows. There was no mercy as the flapion were routed. The trucks drove faster than the desperately fleeing aliens still carrying human parts; even faster than those ditching their meals.

I sighed in relief. Our first real test was over.

“Dedric, go rescue Mclain. Nancy, take your team with them. Eddy, break defenses and come home. Torrez, I need two graves dug outside with the backhoes. If your name was not called, get to work helping build the third roof. This rain is supposed to keep up all night.”

Perci cleared her throat for my attention. “I told the Colonel we defeated a smaller force here. That is not the only news, though.”

I watched the convoy of a dozen cars turn for Denver instead of our stronghold. I pointed at the screen in confusion.

“Yeah, I called them to get numbers because we have space for a hundred people tonight. That bitch with the autistic son answered. They were never coming here. They wanted to move into Marble Heights to loot first before going into Denver.”

“She said all that?” I asked, perplexed.

Jacky raised her hand. “We were nice to her. I pretended we didn't know she stole those cars.”

“Eddy, this is Cap,” I said over the Gpad command channel.

“Go ahead.”

“That crew that robbed Desmond is heading your way. Eta five mikes. You’re the commander on the scene. I doubt they will get aggressive, but they might. They plan on passing through,” I said with a grunt.

“What are your orders?”

“Use your discretion. Enough humans have died, while at the same time, they are thieves. Not that we are above stealing,” I said with a shrug. “Let me know what you decide to do.”

“You mean, do I want to get into a firefight against a conniving mom with a disabled child? No, I do not want to kill her, not even for stealing the vehicles. If they test us, we will end them though. Eddy out.”

There was nothing I could do at this point. I went out of the RV to see the body of the gargoyle up close. The rain soaked me instantly. The downpour was diluting the pooled blood not five feet away. The stone skin was thick leather meant for heat. The wings were a thin stacked layering of a material I had never seen. The teeth were massive. A tow chain had been linked around the neck of the beast. A dump truck fought to pull the animal outside our walls. When the body slid forward, I saw three dogs buried under the corpse. The poor dogs were squashed flat. For whatever odd reason, my heart tugged more at the thought of the dead animals than the soldiers. There was something wrong with me. I went back into the trailer.

“Perci, where is that ugly -”

Perci pointed to the seat I normally occupied. The bulldog was snoring contently. Huh, guess they were shitty guard dogs. I decided to watch the two sets of vehicles pass each other. They did so peacefully and I knew that would come back to bite us. They would be scavenging ahead of us into Denver. That was where I wanted to expand our looting. Could always kill them later while saying they started it. I grinned at the thought.

The backhoe rolled out the gate. The two dead soldiers were Oscar Havier and Lina Lawson. Both veterans from Saudi Arabia. Died to a flung truck. Instantly dead. I sighed and went back into the rain. The men on the walls stayed there. I was not going to pull our entire forces off defense for a funeral. The smushed bodies were put on stretchers after the grisly task of removing the valuable gear. I followed the bodies to their final resting place. Our graveyard went from one to three in a single night, and I was so damn lucky it had only gone up two.

There was no ceremony or benediction. I would schedule that for when the area was clear of threats and the weather was nice. For now, the bodies were lowered into their graves and then covered up. Jevon arrived with two markers to place at the head of the graves. We solemnly walked back into the Stronghold.

My Gpad showed Eddy waiting for Dedric to exit at the end of the dirt road. I looked up at the gargoyle bodies with a thought. I waved Jevon to follow me. Nancy arrived, Willow not far behind her. Perci joined us, talking to Slister.

“Torrez?” I asked. They replied with shrugged responses. I checked and saw he was in the barn, probably reassuring families. I turned to Perci and said, “How much freezer room do we have?”

“Not enough for all this. If we chop out the best parts, we can store a whole lot of it,” Perci replied over the rain. “What are the best parts to save?”

“We have two biologists. What do you girls think?”

“For taste, probably the ribs, but then you're storing bones. Go with muscle mass for maximum protein,” Slister said, her hands on her hips. “The goal is to avoid starvation. I will eat nasty meat over starving.”

“We looted some electric knives,” Jevon said suddenly, as if the thought just occurred to him.

“And you had some on your list from DU. Should be in the cave,” Perci said.

“To the cave it is. Jevon, I am going to see the cave. You have command.”

My friend nodded while slamming a hand into my back. “I have command. My truck is right there. Luckily, the driver didn’t get to smash it.”

I looked to the electric truck that was empty. I walked over there with Perci, Nancy, and Willow. We loaded up into the truck, soaking wet. The rain slammed into the truck, causing a loud drumming noise.

“Everyone okay?” I asked.

“I think you should have stolen those vehicles back. Fuck that bitch,” Perci said in agitation from the back seat.

Willow eyed me in the passenger seat with a stern look, “I normally am about preservation. However, I am conflicted on this one. She left Desmond and his group doomed. Sure, we were not far to save them, but still. Definitely in it for themselves.”

“They will not be forgotten and I hear both of you clearly,” I said, slowly driving us into the stronghold.

“Request to pull a drone in to avoid rain damage,” Nancy said.

“Granted.”

Willow placed her fingers in cybernetic digits that rested over the center console. “What does that mean, they will not be forgotten?”

“We will see them again. I hope we rob them in return. Why not let them collect a bunch of good stuff and then steal it?”

“Oh, that is devious and fair. Assuming the flapions do not send more flying elephant-sized panthers with wings at us,” Willow said with a scoff.

“Seeing that tank shred them was awesome,” Nancy mentioned with a grin.

We exited the main parking area, detoured around the barn, and picked up speed for the cave road. My Gpad pings were being diverted to Jevon for now and I was happy for the respite. My mood was souring by the moment. Up until this attack, I thought we would be fine. We would be capable of weathering any storm. The reality was, we had three less anti-tank missiles, fewer fifty caliber rounds, and evidently, there were enemies far deadlier than I had anticipated.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Willow asked.

“Is ‘penny’ code word for those big breasts of yours?” Nancy asked with a snicker.

“Hey, these ladies… Well, yeah, they are back-achingly big. I want to get them reduced before they start to sag. Also, my ladies are diamonds. Diamonds for your thoughts? Yeah, I like that more. How do you top that, Nancy?”

I smirked at the banter. Now I was thinking about boobs. Willow darted across the truck cab to smack my cheek with a kiss of success.

“Pfft… My ladies are Rubyrific. Oh snap! That is my new name. Rubyrific Nancy!”

Perci giggled and said, “Not bad. I like it.”

There was a silence that I broke by saying, “I am worried. My thoughts are conflicted. There are still so many reports to read. All the aliens that are out there. These gargoyles as I call them were one of the larger threats. Yet they were animalistic with only a slight pack behavior. They had no strategy and only minimal communication. I am worried.”

“So much so you repeat yourself. You never said so in Saudi,” Nancy said. She turned to my girlfriends quickly to add. “No, we are not having that conversation with me around. Save it for your honeymoon.”

“Speaking of honeymoons,” Perci said, patting her lap in a shy fashion. I glanced at her nervously, fidgeting.

“What Perci?”

“Can we have sex in the cave?”

Willow burst out laughing, only to have Perci pull her hair. Willow grew confused until Perci shoved her Gpad into Willow’s face.

Nancy unbuckled to be a nosy Nancy.

“Oh… Really?” She asked, and I was clueless.

“Yes, really. That should also keep you away from wanting my man,” Perci said with a scoff.

Nancy huffed. A glance in the rearview showed the two ladies glaring at each other. Nancy didn’t deny the accusation, which resulted in an awkward silence. I went to talk when Willow gave me a warning hand squeeze.

We jostled down the rough road toward the cave. The soft fresh dirt was mudding quickly. I changed the subject. “Back to my worry. Hundreds of potential workers and helpers died tonight. Sure, we only lost two, but those numbers add up. What crazy, horrendous alien will we get from the next gate rotation? Denver has me freaking out. Everything hinges on the golden trade day. Now, what is causing you two lovely ladies to be all angsty?”

Willow squeezed my hand as if I had erred. I knew both of them better, though. They would stew if not confronted.

“I am ovulating. My Gpad says today is the day. Hence, me asking for sex,” Perci said, and the second she finished, Nancy shot back.

“Why the fuck would I not want to be around kids? What makes you assume I have no maternal desires?”

“Woah, woah. Nancy, tone it down. Maternal desire…” I said, giving her a glance over my shoulder. “When did you start talking like a grandma?”

“Apparently when I got a dusty vagina. Are you really wanting to have kids right now, Eric!?” Nancy asked heatedly.

All eyes were on me. I slammed the brakes on the truck. I forcefully opened the door and then slammed it as my boots sloshed in the mud. I circled around the truck with angry stomps. Willow looked at me with wide, concerned eyes. She grew confused when I passed her door. I yanked Perci’s door open and gestured for her to step outside.

“What are you doing, Eric? You look super fucking scary right now,” Perci said timidly.

“I am taking you to the truck bed, Perci, to put a baby in you. Unless -”

Perci’s hazel eyes went from mildly frightened to thrilled. I saw Nancy raise an amused eyebrow and hear Willow give a hearty laugh. Perci raced by me with a speed I did not know she had. In the time it took me to close the door, Perci was already in the truck bed. Her round ass glistened in the rain as her pants piled around her ankles. She bent over with her hands on the edge of the truck bed. I used the tire to join her.

After three minutes of hip-thrusting, animalistic sex, I exploded into Perci. I saw both Nancy and Willow chatting while they watched us. When I finished, I returned to the driver’s seat. Perci hopped into the passenger seat Willow had abandoned to perve out the back window.

Nancy gave a throat clear. “I am sorry.”

“For?” I replied.

“You two love each other. I cannot think of better parents,” Nancy said and stopped Perci from talking. “I love Eric in a different way. That is true. I desire what you two have, also true. At the same time, I do not want to disrupt that because…”

Willow kept her face neutral until she could hold it in no longer. “Bullshit.”

“Easy,” I said. “Are you okay, Willow?”

“Huh? Oh, you are fine, Eric. Perci and I already had this conversation. We are moving into RV3. It is our home slash command station. No more sharing beds. She wants a baby now. I want to wait,” Willow said to me directly. “Perci and I are in agreement on all things regarding you. We have realized, in order to make us work, we need to communicate. Which leads to Nancy.”

“That is great news. I would like to wait, but I made a promise to her mother, and respect Perci’s desire. There may never be a perfect time. I love that you girls are in tandem and will support you however you need me to.”

Willow leaned forward and kissed my cheek. She turned to Nancy and said, “We are happy. The three of us. I respect your friendship with Eric. I really do. I also understand you want him. The problem is, you’re conflicting with his girlfriends. Who he either loves or is open to love. Stop cat fighting with us in front of Eric. You are not a meek, ditsy woman. Neither are we. Perci and I know you are triggering reactions from Eric. He can’t help but be sweet to you. However, that is not helping you win us over. Eric, if I told you Nancy was not welcome in our bed, what would you say?”

“No,” I said without hesitation.

“Are they your gatekeepers?” Nancy asked.

“Never thought of it that way, but yes Nancy, they are.”

“Well, Norm and Slister simply did not operate this way. I am sorry to offend and will keep things cordial while we work together for the good of the community. Does that help?” Nancy asked with arms folded. She was hurt.

“No,” Perci replied, eyeing her with empathy.

“Willow is not shutting you out, Nancy. She is giving you an opening. Be honest with us. Work with us. We see your pain and your hurt. We see that part of your lashing out is you being vulnerable. I also saw you biting your lip when Eric filled me with cum. Wait…” Perci said with a pause and placed a hand on Nancy’s hand. “I also saw your genuine hurt when I questioned your desire to be a mother. Eric loves you even if he will not openly say so. We all know how you adore him too. We are not wanting to crush love and start fights. We merely want to establish boundaries. Nancy…”

Nancy was crying intensely. A set of headlights arrived behind us, so I went forward. The rearview showed Nancy being cradled by Willow. Perci hopped back to join in the hug.

“It will be okay. We are here for you. We came to the conclusion you need to court us first.”

I wanted to say something, but kept my mouth shut. My Gpad pinged with a message.

‘Everything okay? Why were you stopped?’ - Torrez

‘Finished rain sex. You just missed it… Hey, why are you stopping?’ - cap

‘I got Maria with me to get some towels, and… Jasmine is being watched by Jill. Do the math.’ -Torrez

I chuckled, earning myself a slap on the arm. I showed the girls why I was giggling and they reacted with soft laughter. I put on some classical music from the Gtower library and set the speakers up front only. The three ladies began talking a mile a minute. I was not sure what happened. I think they all got what they wanted. Perci was trying to have a baby. Willow was resolved with the fact that she was more important to win over than I was. I think, at least. Girl dynamics were about as odd as our relationship was. Nancy wanted to be included and, for the first time, I saw her wanting kids and a family again. I knew it was not my story to tell, so I wouldn’t tell Willow and Perci about the reason Nancy had ended up in the military.

I heard snippets of her tale being told over the music. Nancy was telling them how she became an ex-con. As her commander, I knew. As her friend, she had confided in me long ago. She got pregnant suddenly. Sprung the news to a bad reaction from her fiancé. Nancy miscarried less than a week later. The doctor was shocked - she was shocked; because she tested positive for the latest instant abortion pill. She could never prove it was him. Yet it had to be him. The cops were empathetic, but without proof, there was nothing they could do. So she cleaned him out. Even killed his saltwater fish tank with bleach. The amount of money was what got her in trouble. Donating three million dollars to pro-life groups tends to raise flags. Twenty years for grand larceny. Five served before meeting the same two recruiters I did.

Now she was in the backseat of a car, bawling with two women supporting her. I hummed to the song - Mark Descending as it played. I found serenity in the tune. When we arrived at the cave, I left the girls in the truck. Thankfully, the lights were already on when I rushed into the cave.

CHAPTER 20

I spent ten minutes in the cave, super lost among the supplies. Thankfully, Torrez screws as quick as I do in the rain because, when he arrived, he found the power knives instantly.

“Everything okay?” Torrez asked as he saw my long face.

“You ever get that feeling you are losing control of a situation when a woman is involved?” I asked my friend, who instantly chuckled.

“What you meant to say is, my life is screwed when Maria is in a group hug with three ladies crying over how much they love Eric!?” Torrez said with a loud, echoing laugh. He handed me a pile of towels. “Since Maria is not here, you are volunteered to help. I have Felix prepping the freezer now so we can fit as much of the meat in as possible.”

I heard footsteps accompanied by the snort of sniffles.

“Eric está jodido. Estas mujeres quieren tener sus bebés durante el apocolypse. No te hagas ideas Miguel. Uno y uno,” Maria shouted to Torrez.

“Uh… I heard both our names. What did we do?” I asked with a dumbass expression on my face.

“You’re screwed. I am guilty by association. Really, babies right now?” Torrez said with an arched right eyebrow. He handed towels off to the girls.

“Why not? If it is what she wants, then I should make her happy,” I said laughing the way one did when overwhelmed. “It is not like next Tuesday will be clear skies with no aliens. Do we simply stop living as people?”

“And the baby?”

“The baby will grow up with a loving mother, a loving family, and a loving community. Life should not halt; it should flourish. I cannot make a greater commitment to our prosperity than by stating I am confident enough in our survival to have a child.”

“Ha! Stop while you are ahead, Eric. If you give Miguel baby fever, I will kick your nuts, which no one wants to happen…” The woman said with an extremely sassy tone. “Before you three ovulating love birds try to change my mind, why don’t you take a day off. I will go looting and you go babysitting.”

“Done,” Willow said happily.

“I am in,” Perci said.

“Me too,” Nancy agreed.

“You are so screwed, brother,” Miguel said with a roaring laugh.

“Oh, he is. Probably the best term for what he is going to go through!” Perci said, joining the laughter.

“Alright, enough boisterous belly aching on my account. We need to get these gargoyles chopped up sooner rather than later. Take care, Torrez,” I said, leaving for the truck.

I paused, realizing I was alone. I turned to see the girls having a standoff moment. I watched as both Perci and Willow lowered towels onto a dresser. They each symbolically extended a hand to Nancy. The three joined hands on the collected towels and resumed their rapid chatter. Nancy was almost skipping in happiness.

I shrugged. Woe is me. Should I whine and cry? Kick and moan? Bitch and complain? Fuck no. I was going to be banging three sexy babes I cared about. I started skipping myself. The girls caught me enjoying the moment and laughed. Humans were just a ball of emotions at times.

They crowded into the back to chat on the way home. I was daydreaming about sleeping in a bed with my bulldog and three lovely ladies when my Gpad rang.

“Go,” I said.

“Dedric is back with Mclain. All friendlies are inside the wire. The night crews are heading out now. I am limited to two groups. RV1 and RV2 are on point missions with trailers. Working toward more construction unless you wanted to do something else,” Jevon said, giving me an update. He hesitated and I waited. “Dedric wants to send a mission to Aspen to see if anyone still needs a lift this way.”

“Monitor with the drone. If people are walking, by all means.”

“I think you are missing my question,” Jevon said and I gave my Gpad a confused glance. “You are converting RV3 into a command center in name…”

“Ah, that wasn’t my idea. To be fair, all three of these RVs are Perci’s vehicles. I get why Dedric wants to take the bulletproof ride, though. I can tell you this, I am not sleeping in the rain tonight,” I said, and Jevon gave me his ‘no shit’ look.

“Fine, I will tell him to play it slow and RV3 is off limits tonight. Hurry up so we can chop up these panther-dragons. Deluxe Duke out!” Jevon said, having way too much fun with the name.

Perci patted my shoulder. When I turned she was waiting with puckered lips. “Good job on not caving on the RV. We need a place to secure our family. I have always been a target against those wanting to harm my mother. Even when I went incognito, I had soldiers converted to guards. We have enemies now, even friends who could be enemies. Securing a place to sleep when we are our most vulnerable makes sense, even if it does not seem like it to the community. Ugh. This rain. Drop us off at RV3 while you go cut up our food, please, husband.”

“Wait, why…” I got three sets of eyes giving me stern looks. “Fine, you win. You girls deserve a break. Give up the dog, though. He will be my slicing and dicing sidekick.”

“Winston stays,” Willow said with folded arms.

“But… the bulldog.”

“I bet he looks at the rain and wishes you good luck.”

“Eh, you have a point. Here we are, ladies,” I said, slowly rolling beside RV3. They exited the truck in a hurry with the extra towel.

I waited until the door slammed and applied a slight amount of acceleration. The gate was cleared for me to roll through. I passed Eddy and Mclain unloading every street sign they could find. The sign had been dragged out of the ground with the concrete blocks still attached. I was sure Gary and the other builders could find a use for the metal posts once the signs were stripped. Maybe fencing or something. I thought it over while driving through to the first gargoyle body. I guess it did look like a panther-dragon in its own way.

A dozen soaking wet troops approached the truck when I stopped. Felix opened the passenger door to distribute the knives. I spun around to take the truck to the charging pads. I had to leave Jevon’s truck in que to get charged. I saw Perci left a towel behind, so I wiped the seats and laid the cloth out over the driver’s seat. I left the truck to go work my worries away.

Winston may not have joined me, but other dogs certainly did. I do not know if it was the blood smell, but strays came out of the woods as we worked. They were not feral yet, so we fed them meat we had cooked before the rain. With that simple gesture, the abandoned animals joined the community. I saw the three dogs that died earlier received their own separate graves. We were a team; it was only fitting in my mind. I was surprised when household cats came around. I had not been a big animal person in the past. It was neat to see the cat lovers adopting cats that showed up.

The rain never ceased through the hours of work. There was simply no choice but to salvage as much meat as we could. The drone video told me the Aspen stronghold was doing the same. Even the Cornerstore Stronghold was collecting flapion bodies. Which made me wince, thinking about their pouches. Mclain looted those he killed. Jevon was asked about our official loot split policy, which meant I was asked. I had been meaning to make it official. I put out the message that all loot went to the community until the golden gates provided information. Then payouts would be arranged. We would be flexible when we knew more. Completely flexible when the needs of the community were met and our survival priorities complete.

That was the last thing he needed to bother me with when I was drenched in rain and soaked in gore. Eventually, we ran out of freezer space. We kept cutting the bodies without a worry. The night crew built a fire pit and placed enough logs around it to add a road sign roof. A large fire was set. We had an excessive amount of wood around, at least. Drying sticks were placed with strips of meat hanging over them. We applied light amounts of salt. It wouldn’t be perfect jerky, but any preservation was vital. I ate a chunk after directly cooking the meat over the fire. Tasted like a boot. I may have overcooked it. Then again, everyone trying the meat gave sour faces.

I persisted well into the night. The second cycle of looting teams returned before I was ready to call it quits. I kept fearing the flapions would bring a new wave. Thankfully, that never happened. The night was filled with construction, looting, and sorting the dead bodies into food. When it was time to retire, I found my feet seeking Perci. I glanced at my Gpad to find a message from an hour ago.

‘We are going to bed. Use your Gpad on the lock. Dry off and join us.’ - queen 1

I slid my Gpad over the lock, which beeped green. The RV gave a slight rock when I entered. A towel greeted me, with the sound of a snoring bulldog. Yeah, hard to get the jump on bad guys when you couldn’t hear over your own chainsaw snoring. I looked down at the sleeping dog and smiled. I was not certain how and I was not certain why, but this felt like home. I closed the blinds in here and put on the TV while walking to the fridge. I found a chilled bottle of beer. Huh, must have been looted. Bonus. I twisted the top off. The pop woke Winston.

I snickered, converting the table to a bed and rolling out the side extender. I powered them all off now. I saw the extra space and frowned. Since I was still wet, I left the RV. Winston followed. He pissed on the tire and raced back inside, shaking off the rain. I walked to longhouse three, which was still being worked on. The rain was super loud here as it smacked into the metal signs used as roofing. I saw Felix and Dalila snuggled up and partly wet from a leaking roof. I kicked them awake and waved for them to follow me. They bound up their stuff and ran with me to the RV. I opened it up and we took turns toweling off. Perci came out when our hushed talking drew her attention. I pointed to the bed while I went to Perci. She scoffed before I could talk and brought a new towel.

“The whole point is to keep you secure and not show favoritism by isolating everyone. People will question why we are living with Felix and Dalila. I know you do not care. Save it, hubby. Part of why I love you. Take this to them; that towel obviously was not enough. Why is the TV on?”

I fidgeted around the answer, not wanting to tell her I was worried about the coming nightmares. Perci moved my eyes by pushing on my chin until her hazel eyes locked onto mine. I didn’t need to say anything. She hugged me and dragged me into our room. Willow was trying to calm a rotating Nancy, who was having a nightmare. Perci handed me a fresh pair of boxer shorts. She flipped the TV on to one of those old dinosaur movies.

I moved Willow to the side of the bed and occupied the middle. I clamped down on Nancy’s thigh to wake her. Her eyes shot open, wide with terror, until she clung to me, knowing she was safe. I let her be my little spoon. Whatever hesitation I had about a bad night’s sleep was washed away. I found solace in those I cared about, while burying the images of more dead friends. Sleep consumed me quickly.

∞∞∞

I woke up alone with a gassy stench. Winston was curled up behind my legs. I checked my Gpad to see it was turned off. It did not take me long to figure out Perci wanted me to sleep in. I stretched in the covers, which woke the dog. Winston glared at me, smacking his lips. I saw an outfit laid out for me. Shorts and a shirt. I guess it was casual Tuesday today. I went with it and dressed in the comfy stuff for now. I already missed the morning roll call to relieve Jevon. I laced up my boots and exited the door for the main room.

Perci was holding a meeting with the Mother Hens. Friendly faces greeted me with warm smiles. The blinds were up with the sun shining in. I went over to the fridge and pulled out a water bottle.

“You want coffee?” Perci asked.

The water bottle was rapidly abandoned. I nodded eagerly, yawning. My gear was in the passenger seat. I sat down while Jacky went to get me a drink. I looked back to see Winston on his back, snoring.

“He doesn’t do much, does he?”

“The bulldog? No, they are a snuggle pet, not much else. You made him run yesterday. That means a week of extra naps. Come sit. The Mother Hens could use a cock around!” Perci said, bouncing her eyebrows. “Oh, come on, that was a good one.”

We laughed at her awkwardness with jokes. Mrs. Moore patted the spot beside her. “Jevon left you a few messages. I can summarize, though. Those tavers things are boring. However, someone had the idea to set a rocking chair by the lake to see if they would take it, get a cool photo, or, well, bored people do random things.”

I immediately pulled up a video of what she was talking about. “Please proceed.”

“Well, they set the chair out and you will see the rest, I guess. Spoil the fun,” Mrs. Moore said with an umm-hmm.

A taver studied the chair with its normally limp arms. The pearly white webbed hands combed the details as they were studied. This was all recorded at night while I was working in the rain. Twelve hours later, a new chair was carried over from a nestle of trees. An exact replica. I cried out in joy with a fist pump. Jacky walked in with perfect timing.

“Easy cowboy, it’s only coffee.” Her smile radiated in the morning sunshine.

“Thanks Jacky. What is on my to-do list?”

Perci cleared her throat for attention.

“I ordered an easy day for half the day troops. Watch a movie, do whatever. I figured a reprieve from looting would not mean a super lazy day. Most people are working on the stronghold with their free time. Military wise, Nancy has command right now. Only two teams are out and Douglas has the drone on Xgate 232. Quiet so far…” Perci paused, sipping her tea. I grimaced at my sip of coffee. It was strong, hot, and put hair on my chest. Deliciousness never tasted so good. “I was hoping to go bunny hunting but you woke up too late. We could go fishing and transfer the fish to our lake. Or we could go looting. I haven’t left the gate since we got here.”

I winced. I had been protecting her. My world would fall apart if something happened to Perci. She saw that I cared and smiled cutely with an added wink.

“Neither have we,” Maranda said, with Jacky and Mrs. Moore nodding in agreement.

“Okay, I will entertain the idea. What were you wanting to do?”

“I may have studied how to set fishing lines. We have a bunch of raw meat left. The drone found three lakes nearby. How about we go hiking, fishing, and set some traps? After the duck trap video, some of the wives have been making duck and bunny traps. They want a half bonus for caught animals,” Jacky said with a nod. She eyed me, seeing if I was going to deny the request for a bonus that didn’t exist and she was in charge of. I smiled and she continued. “There are these pathways in. If we leave -”

“Woah, woah, woah. Jacky. I hear you, I see these side eyes from this table. Let me study this -”

The situation gave me pause, enough to stop mid-sentence. I chuckled slightly and I knew when I was being maneuvered. I reviewed the plan. Then I gave it a second look. The idea was generic, the plan simple, and the results were something different than looting. Maybe the tavers could be fish managers. The ladies were pretending to be interested in other things, while peeking over at me.

Hmm. I went to see who had the day off. Eddy’s team and Slister’s team were both on light duty, weapon on hand only. The plan even had drive times set for a full convoy. I tapped on my Gpad to Slister and Eddy, asking if they wanted to take a walk around some lakes. They instantly agreed while mentioning we could also fish, set fish lines, and traps for bunnies. Yup, it was a group effort.

“What are your advanced deductive reasoning skills telling you?” Perci asked, and I scoffed.

“Pfft… I think that was a confidence booster and a load of malarkey. I had no idea there would be a monster alien attack last night, because there was no probable way for me to determine that. With that being said, I am not overly concerned about that puroon gate. Think about this. I would not go raiding out of the Denver portal. So my guess is the puroon portal is out of puroons. Maybe it will roam closer to additional settlements later. I wonder if a planet can lose portals. Maybe the Xgates are fixed, meaning moving into open areas is how successful species expand. I could only imagine the logistical nightmare of moving planets. Anyway, I think if the buxen march on us, we will have time to get home. I do not think they will, but again, I cannot predict that. What I can predict is not taking risks. I think adventuring as if life was normal is a worthy risk. Then again, if someone gets hurt, I… we will feel terrible.”

“And if we take half the day shift with us?” Maranda said. If she was pushing the issue, I would get serious feedback if I disapproved. I actually loved this idea.

“Can you get everyone ready to go in half an hour? I want to take a shower and a poo. Oh come on, don’t scrunch your faces. I woke up and this coffee is so strong it gave me a third testicle,” I said, belching the delicious brew. Perci stood first. She put her Gpad in my face. Ovulating. “Okay, twist my arm why don’t you? Do we have a shower slot?”

Her wrist flashed that we not only had a five-minute shower slot, but that Nancy and Willow had booked the showers after. Oh, a bonus fifteen minute ordeal.

“Um… I am awesome, but that might leave me taking a nap after. Ouch!” I complained when Perci yanked out some of my arm hair. “That actually hurt.”

“They reserved the time for us, not to join us. Quit being a baby. Run along and do your morning duty then meet me in the first floor shower room. It will have our name on the door, Eric. We had to do that so the teenage boys would stop accidentally walking into shower rooms. Quit giggling, you goofball.”

“What!? I can only imagine a fourteen your old boy playing stupid while drooling over boobs,” I said, and Mrs. Moore went to box my ears.

I was gone in a hurry. My cybernetic arm whirling the stabilization gyro to keep my coffee steady as I fled. I saw Nancy and Willow on the wall, pointing at crews clearing back more trees. I ran to the ramp until I was beside Willow.

“Hey, give me a kiss.”

Nancy pinched Willow’s booty, who eeked in surprise. She twirled her hair to glare at Nancy before she planted a deep kiss on my lips. When we stopped, I smirked. Nancy kissed my cheek. We smiled awkwardly and I waved goodbye. The ladies whistled at my backside while I retreated for the mansion. A fourth, fifth, and sixth building was already in production. I saw the bunny farm was growing and we added more ducks to our duck pen. A glance at my Gpad said we had rescued fourteen people last night. I had to wonder how many spies were inside our walls. Now that we had opposing Strongholds with their own stability, it was only a matter of time.

I let the thought drop while I hunted for a porcelain throne of awesomeness. The first door I opened worked without it even being someone hollering because they forgot to lock the door. I test flushed the toilet to ensure that I was not going to end up with a disaster. Five minutes later, I was waiting outside my shower door early.

Jill walked up. Her name was on the door. She looked at me judgingly. “I know Mary calls you daddy, but don’t you have your hands full?”

“Looks empty to me,” I said, honking the air. I knew it was a tad offensive, but I was jesting. Hopefully she would lighten up.

“Maybe next time. I am still coming to grips with my loss,” Jill said, and instantly she deflated.

I then realized she thought I was seriously trying to get into the shower with her. My hand whipped out and stopped the door. “Mrs. Jill, please look at that nameplate under yours,” I said, while her sappy eyes oozed sadness. She lifted the clear paper holder with her name to reveal Cap knocking boots with Perci heart Becca. “I do have my hands full and find you extremely lovely. I by no means am trying to see you naked.”

“Ah, I am so socially awkward these days. May I talk to you since you are here?” she asked, mostly closing the door.

“Sure. I even promise to guard your virginity.”

“You are such a goofball, Mr. Yang. I think that is why Mary likes you so much.” The sound of the shower turning on reached my ears. Perci arrived with a confused look. I stuck a finger over my mouth. “I have decided her spending time with you would be good. I think for both of you, honestly. Willow says the day she met you… you were in a darker place. It is almost like the end of the world brought out the better version of you. Then I see you holding my sweet darling and the two of you glow with happiness. It is beyond cute. Perci brags about how you will be such a great dad.”

“We are going to the lakes to catch bunnies in half an hour -”

“I know. I am Jacky’s assistant. We planned this trip all yesterday. Eric, may I call you Eric?”

“I do prefer to go by Eric when a naked woman talks to me.”

Perci slugged me on the arm, but was grinning.

“You are audacious, Eric. Jarod would be crying in a corner if he found out I was doing something as salacious as this,” Jill said with a hint of an odd voice. Perci raised a brow. I shrugged. “I miss him so much. I am so alone. I would be devastated without Mary.”

“This is going to sound odd to you, Jill. I had a family. A family I trusted, relied on, and never understood how much they meant to me. When I came home, I was separated from them and spiraled into a deep depression. Some of them reached out to me. I pushed them away. I wish I had never done that, Jill. I will try to find Jarod. I will be honest. I am not hopeful. But I can try. If we do not find him…well, we are family.”

The sound of the shower turned off. Jill came to the door, wrapped in a towel. She opened it up to let us in. Perci closed the door and Jill grew confused.

“Talk if you need to, Jill. We are here for you,” Perci said. She stripped naked in front of the woman while flicking on the shower. Jill sat down at the powder mirror that the fancy bathroom had. “Come on, Eric.”

“I do not want to offend Jill.”

“Remember what you said to Slister and Nancy. That is what Jill needs right now,” Perci said.

I walked over to the woman, who was seated and doing her makeup. I hugged her from behind and whispered, “You are an amazing woman who is strong enough to weather the apocalypse and raise a wonderful daughter. We are here for you.”

“Thank you, Perci,” Jill said. Umm. Shortchanged a bit. “I hear you are wanting to have a baby.”

“No secret there, I am about to drain this handsome stud for all he is worth. You need to leave to do your makeup. I know the bathrooms smell worse, but we’re about to have sex,” Perci said and I stripped naked.

“Let me give you space. I hope you hit a home run, as they say, Eric. We will be on RV3 waiting with Maria and Jasmine,” Jill said, kissing my cheek. I saw her giving my naked body an extra look.

“Hey, I played nice and didn’t peek.”

Jill shrugged with a ‘too bad’ expression. I locked the door behind her and Perci was laughing.

“You girls are weird,” I said.

“She asked Willow and me to be Mary’s mothers if something happened to her. She was polite, cordial, and approached us first. Kind of why we cornered Nancy the way we did,” Perci said as I stepped into the shower. Perci pointed to the tile. I got down on my knees and buried my face in her tight little pussy. My hair was yanked back, forcing me to look up. “No, you goofball. Lay on your back.”

I went silent and laid in the shower on my back. Perci grabbed a lube bottle that she did not bring with her. I immediately regretted laying on my back.

“Babe this floor is covered in cum.”

“Too late, and yeah…” Perci said while squatting on my cock. “I will make up for it, I promise.”

I watched the tip of my penis head dive into her tiny slit. She grabbed more lube, tried again, and gave up.

“I am too sore. Bend me over,” Perci said and I giggled. “What!?”

“Wash my back first. Perci, we do not have to rush this,” I said as she rapidly soaped my back. She removed the showerhead and blasted my skin. Her small hand reached around to stroke my cock. “Okay, never mind. Bend over and touch your toes.”

“Yes, Master!”

I lubed her up and dove in deep. I knew she would bleed again from that. Good. I was going to punish her little pussy. My hips smacked her tight ass. She moaned with pleasure and pain. Her little tunnel walls squeezed onto my cock. I was taking slow strokes with harder pushes with louder smacks. We were just getting into a rhythm when I heard a click. I was about to go full killer mode when I heard.

“Used a bobby pin, I was so flustered I left my clothes here… I am so sorry.”

“One second,” Perci said, pumping back onto my cock. Perci moaned and kept pushing me deep into her. I clutched her waist. “Come in and face the wall.” Perci was getting off on me dominating her. I stopped; maybe we could tease her later, but she wanted her clothes. Jill had not peeked once. “Fine, hurry up. The blood is rushing to my head and we have limited time.”

“Yikes, I am so sorry.” She rushed in, grabbed her stuff, looked a bunch, and then fled.

When she was gone, I returned to fucking Perci. I did not go easy on her. I pumped that little pussy until I exploded in it five minutes later. We high fived after. Why, I had no idea. Perci was different. I loved that about her. She made me hold her under the warm shower water until there was a knock on the door. We shut off the water before exiting. After a quick dry off, I slid into my hiking clothes. I opened the door to some lady I had never met.

“Can I get ready here?” Perci asked. “He is leaving.”

“Sure, nothing funny. Though I smell the sex in here.”

I retreated after that comment. I strolled out of the mansion, feeling great. I went back to RV3 to get my carbine and decided to stroll out in front of the wall. The guards let me pass by the trailer so I could study the kill zone. I could have done this from up top. I wanted to see where the sewage hit the river.

“Not alone, Cap,” Torrez said from the wall. He leaped over the wire and down the twelve feet with ease. “Before you ask, I saw it in your eyes. Where are we going?”

“Down Shit’s Creek!” I said with a cheeky tone.

“Ugh, the high of a woman with baby fever. This moment… Pause. Inhale, exhale. This smile… Pause. Inhale, exhale. Remember why you did what you did,” Torrez said with a smirk. “Because when the baby poops in the bath, or doesn't sleep while teething for six nights, this is the moment you return to.”

“Oh come on now, you adore Jasmine. She is your world,” I said, patting his back. We stepped off for the river. “I know I am being used in a sense. I have never felt so alive, though.”

“That is love, my friend. You are right, though. Jasmine, while hard to take care of, is amazing. She asks the most profound questions about the aliens. Last night, after the battle, she asked ‘Are you sure we're not the bad guys? You just said all the aliens are dead.’”

“Wow, um… deep for a three year old,” I said with a shrug.

“She thinks we are being punished. I do not think she is wrong.”

I did not disagree. We walked down the river. It was evident where the first few hours of sewage had been released. The night crew that night must have realized how paramount additional lines were. We tracked the river bank for over fifteen minutes. The smell finally started to get worse. I saw the end of the line. There was bubbly shampoo further down the river, shit paper, and all sorts of gross stuff. However, I saw what I wanted to see. The flow condensed here and dipped a bit in elevation. There was an extra hose line, but they had chosen this release spot. I saw very minimal backflow from this location.

Content with the results, we walked up Shit’s Creek. The time with Torrez was peaceful as we said very little and enjoyed nature. When we neared the clearing, I pinged Mitchell that we were coming out. The guards knew to expect us and waved at our approach. All three RVs were lined up and ready to go. I think a lot of the community was eager to go hiking. I certainly was looking forward to the trip. Torrez and I raced to RV3. Spoiler, he beat me with his empowered legs without an issue. When we loaded up, the convoy rolled out.

CHAPTER 21

RV3 was packed with people excited for a little adventure. Since everyone had been waiting on us, the moment the door closed, Dedric hit the accelerator. Torrez slithered past me to chase his daughter with glee. I saw Jacky, Eddy, Mrs. Moore, Maranda, Perci, and Jill sitting at the table, chatting over a proposal for a new outhouse. Down the hallway, kids ran back and forth with parents not even warning them to slow down. I tilted my head down to view into the bedroom and saw Maria with Slister and Norm. I glanced up to the loft and some teenagers were up there having fun with the top hatch. There was only one place left for me to sit. Except my bucket passenger seat was currently occupied.

Jill snapped her finger. “Felix, come. Treat.” The bulldog stopped snoring, craned his head in interest, and vacated the seat for the treat. I flopped into the oddly warm seat with a smile.

“Felix, we have been calling him Winston. Wouldn’t have pegged Jarod for a dog lover.”

“Oh, he was not. Felix had his own room in the house. He was my snuggle partner.” Jill patted her lap and the fifty-pound bulldogs gave her sloppy kisses.

Another example of how humanity went to great lengths to adapt to love.

“I guess Felix works. We already have Felix Delcroy,” I muttered.

“I am not changing my dog’s name because you wanted him to be Winston. Stop pouting, you baby,” Jill said in a teasing tone.

I propped my feet on the dash to pour over the Gpad data of last night. There was a report that the cave had filled up. I was not shocked. Our loot teams had been on constant rotation. We even started hauling extra refrigerators, microwaves, deep freezes, water heaters, stripping solar panels, and the list goes on. I remember thinking we had too many civilians to defend; now I wanted more to help manage all the work.

I stared out the window while driving down the dirt road. The morning sunshine burst through the foliage to illuminate the forest floor. Matted leaves were being pushed aside from growing weeds. Birds darted between trees or fled from our noise. Squirrels rotated around trees to hide from us. The leafy greens were coming with spring. I preferred the epic mountain views over the sight of tree trunks whipping by. I felt the tiniest tap on my shoulder pulling me out of my thoughts.

Without shifting my head, I put my left-hand palm up. A tiny little hand was placed in mine that I guided to me. I was surprised to see it was Jasmine wanting to watch out the window. Mary was right behind her, eager to join her friend watching the woods zoom by. I was asked silly questions about how old trees were, why the sky was blue, and where aliens came from. You know - everyday questions that kids asked. Maria rescued me when Jasmine started swapping into questions about why aliens killed people.

Perci replaced the girls’ slot with a goofy grin. She was so happy. Perci had always been shut in when we first met. She kept her hands close to her body, her appearance ragged, and her sentences short. She was the definition of an introvert when I met her. Now she beamed a radiant smile. Her hair was neat while flowing, with her loose locks tucked behind her ears. Her hazel eyes lit up any room, and she was animated with her hands. Well, right now she was curled up in my lap, clinging to me, which was also perfect.

“Perci, I love you,” I said, kissing the top of her hair.

“I know.”

This caused us both to chuckle. We turned onto the county road and I looked at the Gpad. A few families were walking from Aspen to Mansion. Outside of that, the roads were quiet, the Xgate was moving slowly to the east without any activity, and our trip to the lake was serene. The command channel beeped from Nancy. She was going to pick up those who were walking and put Mitchell in charge. This reminded me of Bradley’s request to scope out Aspen yesterday. I checked the reports from Jevon until I found the one about the recon truck.

They were shown an impressive gate that had been hastily erected with chain link fencing meant for construction projects. Guards with dogs roamed the gates. The mass of refugees seeking shelter huddled in the rain last night. All thoughts of joining us left the moment they could feed their starving bellies. Once the food pulled them out of their grogginess, the scouts expected more people to flow in our direction. There was a side note from Jevon. He wrote the despair left distaste on the scouts. He did not think people were going to be desperate to leave our home for Aspen.

I sighed at the situation. Today was about making the most of our new life. I watched the retreating clouds off in the distance. The drive was peaceful in its simplicity. The kids were still loud and running, but those sounds were ones I enjoyed. We turned left off the county road for a lake that I ensured did not connect to Shit’s Creek. This road was in horrible shape, which resulted in extra jostling. After a ten-minute drive, we arrived at a parking area with park benches.

The view of the flat lake waters featured a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. Tall trees grew around the lake with mallards quacking. I saw adorable chipmunks darting around the benches. I scanned for bunnies but, unfortunately, saw none. My feet carried me to the lakeside slope beyond the benches. I sat with my legs out and enjoyed the view. I tried to unwind while people around me prepared traps, fishing line, and fishing poles. My ability to sit still did not last long.

We spent three hours at the lake. The kids caught a few small fish that went into buckets. Outside of those little trout, we were coming home empty. At least we had set lines and enjoyed a day out. Perci was by my side the entire time. We treated the outing as a date. With a shadowing Mary, of course. Work shadowed me too. I refused to take off the Gpad. We added twenty three new citizens who were sick. Nancy asked to test the Xgate to cure them.

The report that came back was promising. They locked down the puroon portal. Drove through and came back. The buxen scout even mimicked their wave when they left. The sick new citizens were cured of the common cold magically. To say Nancy and Slister were excited was an understatement. When they left with a few older patients on the elderly floor with RV2, I was curious. Slister even deviated in a truck to go with them.

That was how our day went. Taking the sick to the gate. We picked up more refugees as they walked for sanctuary in Stronghold Mansion. The day passed quickly, with me helping plant crops for the afternoon. When evening came, our little army assumed a defensive position. That night, a few flapions exited the gate hesitantly. They were met with sniper fire. I had an ATV team trailing Xgate 232. I was not going to let the flapions enter unopposed. The first four were shot out of the air after crossing the portal to arrive on earth. After their rapid demise the night was silent.

I spent the evening adding wood chips to the duck pen and bunny squares. I never would have guessed I would enjoy farming, but I did. Jevon joined me a few hours after sunset. He was hauling a new rocking chair to longhouse four. A mother with an infant thanked him profusely for the alien-crafted rocker.

I waited for my friend to join me before scooping sawdust and wood chips into a tote.

“Have you tried those chairs, Eric?” Jevon asked, and I grunted, shaking my head no. I was not exactly lacking in comfort. “We are running out of places to loot. The new construction homes are about all we have left. Tearing them apart takes time. What were you thinking?”

“I want to consolidate and be ready for the golden gate. Right now, that is more important than taking on risks like going to Denver. I talked with Norm when I was planting seeds. We have enough meat to last until the first vegetable harvest comes in. I never was so excited for carrots before. That is also assuming we do not go over capacity on our residency,” I said, hoisting the tote. I walked for the last rabbit stick cages in need of bedding. I dumped the chips and dust right on top of the animals. They shook it off without a problem. “Jevon, I am a mixed bag. I find no problem letting people travel close. I think about the reports we are getting from Denver and they frighten me.”

“What do you mean? Let me get a tote. We can add sawdust to longhouse six; it is already mucky in there,” Jevon said, leaving our conversation unfinished for a few minutes.

Willow and Nancy arrived with totes to the area where the trees were stripped of limbs. They were collecting pine straw for paths. I got two kissed cheeks as they passed me by. I watched their shapely hips retreat. I may have got caught staring and smirked. Jevon chuckled as he arrived.

“You’re in over your head, my friend. Okay, we were talking about Denver,” Jevon said, putting his tote down to start scooping chips into.

“We will survive now. Without taking major risks, I feel we will survive the next. I believe we rolled a D18. We got one empty gate, a defeated gate, a neutral gate, and a demon spawn gate with unorganized enemies. I do not want to tempt fate by going into Denver. Every report I have heard says those XLroaches are swarmers. Sure, I bet there are some schools that have weathered the storm, or police stations. Police stations make the most sense. Anyway, why go there for loot? More importantly, what do we need?”

I grunted, hoisting my filled tote. Jevon thought on what I said as we walked over to longhouse six. We dumped our loads on the muddy floor. Damarcus arrived to spread the piles out. We walked back to repeat the process. A scan of my Gpad showed I had an invitation to bed.

“Tools, batteries, electric trucks, campers, RVs, weapons, ammo armor, and the list goes on,” Jevon said with a shrug. “However, I do agree with you on this one. Before we take the risk of disturbing the nest of XLroaches that inhabit Denver, we should wait for the golden gate. I am showing just under seven days. A week of building with what we have on hand should allow us to spread out. Oh, and Bonnet wants a guillotine. After moving to night shifts, she has been bored.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the comment. “We’ve got no one to execute. A guillotine would have been awesome in Saudi Arabia. That is beside the point though. A week gives us time to build up our defenses. We haven't stripped wiring out of houses or torn off roofs. Hell, we have a well that handles ten times more water than we are using. Maybe add some perks, like a new toilet system. I would like to not have to feel lucky I was able to shit on a toilet,” I said and we chuckled.

“Well, you do have a point. About the number of items these homes still have that we can salvage. It will keep us busy,” Jevon said with a toothy smile. We walked to the longhouse six, dumped our sawdust with chips, and went for more. “The cave is full, but we are pulling stuff out every day to add to these longhouses. Balcony sleepers are moving into these. Hell, if we can do three a day…”

“We may be able to have bedrooms. I know. I get giddy thinking about it… And yes, I know I have my own bedroom. I do want to see others happy too, Deluxe Duke who sleeps in a King size bed,” I said, knowing he hot-swapped for the bed I slept in at first. My Gpad pinged and I looked down.

‘Be quiet when you enter. Winston, AKA Felix, refused to leave. I asked Jill where she was sleeping and she shrugged. We said no more balcony sleepers, so they are taking the loft while Felix Delcroy and Dalila are in the table bed.’ - queeny 2

“Looks like I should head to bed. You have command,” I said to Jevon, who patted my back.

“I have command,” Jevon replied.

With the transfer complete, I went to RV3. Felix the dog snored in the driver’s seat. Jill waved while chatting with Dalila. Felix was watching the cartoon movie that was put on for a sleeping Mary. I waved to them all while snagging a water out of the fridge. The back door opened at the sound of my footsteps.

I was greeted by Willow’s lusty blue eyes. I grinned as I was dragged into bed with three lovely ladies. The apocalypse sure had its perks.

CHAPTER 22

Two days later, we went to the meeting spot inside the puroon portal. The destroyed base was empty without any signs of recent activity. We waited for half an hour without anyone coming to trade. Since they were a bust and the buxen seemed friendly, I shifted to their gate. Our arrival outside the buxen portal with metal-filled trailers caused them to posture aggressively. The display was enough for us to head home. If they were content with not messing with us, we were okay leaving them alone.

The flapions never flapped back into Earth again. The lesson had been learned. Humanity could reach out at a long distance with accuracy. With a peaceful Xgate, our worries turned to our community. People were complaining about the lack of tasty food. I tried to research wild vegetation, but there were not many options at our elevation. We persisted by eating leathery gargoyle meat and MREs. Shocker — the MRE crackers still went to the ducks. Some things are worse than leathery boots.

Two days turned into seven in a hurry. We added two new toilet boxes. Clive designed angled bathrooms. Two per side with each drain line plumbed to a central drop point that led to our pump. Sixteen toilets stripped out of homes resulted in far less wait times. The added facilities were not perfect, but they helped.

We did not keep up on three longhouses a day. Not even close. We ran out of road signs to fashion instant roofs. Due to crowding of workspace, Gary continued to improve those already done by adding external walls. Window teams tore windows out of homes and placed them in our builds. The longhouses were regulated to 500 cord with hung sheets for interior walls. Even with the slowed production, we added four more roofs for a total of ten longhouses.

Meanwhile, the massive refugee problem outside of Aspen decreased. They accepted more people while most went back down into Denver. The rumor was the XLroaches had moved on from Denver to Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs was ready for the invasion and since the aliens had to approach a funnel point, they were defeated.

Colonel Reinhardt and Mayor Isaac (Cornerstore Stronghold leader) worked with me to set up a trade market. Since the corner store had plenty of parking, we held the event there. We traded excess tools for metals signs. Odd trade, but we did not need all the power drills and hammers we looted. We did need flat metal for roofs. The ability to interact with other humans was great. We even donated bunnies to both other strongholds.

Our traps were super successful. Dalila’s breeding program already resulted in pregnant bunnies with swollen bellies. We had not eaten any rabbits yet, mainly due to everyone loving to help take care of them. With that caveat, we were over a hundred rabbits now. Hence why we gave some away, because the work to keep them fed was starting to add up. Our duck pen grew. It was slower than I would have liked, but had seven ducks now. They were smarter than rabbits, apparently.

The tavers had been given trusses instead of a chair, for example. This resulted in one roofing item a day. I scoffed and we swapped back to chairs fairly quickly. The tavers integrated so well in their own little corner of our stronghold that we barely noticed them. I saw they were downing trees to build our chairs. We built a road to their nest and piled the downed trees for them. I wanted to give them trees we were yanking down to expand our kill zone.

The kill zone was now five hundred meters back. Norm said he had lots of extra seeds and asked to turn the area into farmland. I was hesitant, but he had a solid argument when he said he would keep the vegetation to a low height. We planted small trees on the top hesco barriers to have the additional cover and height, and it looked really awesome. Our defenses shored up our edges, while fortifying the river. We found enough trees long enough to bridge the river gap. We then stacked logs high. An aquatic species could still swim around our hydro turbines but I doubted a human could swim under our bridge against the current.

Even with the lack of action, there was never a lack of progress. New paths were created with river stones, solar panels were added to our grid, and we started to construct buildings for purposes other than residences. The first communal dining pavilion was constructed. We stole the benches from the parks to add under the cover. The sense of community was there.

This led to some problems. The end of the world feeling faded. The boring week of complacency resulted in seven families leaving. I was not shocked by their rationale to leave. The reality was, violence had slowed to nothing. While our sleeping conditions were improving, they were not great. Our food was horrible and the sense of needing to hide or die was not present. They left for Denver and I did not blame them. I thought they were idiots, but who knew? I certainly did not prohibit their decision. Even with their departure, we were still growing as Aspen sent excess refugees our way.

Speaking of complacency, Perci was having none of it regarding her ovulation. She continuously called me her stud. I actually felt like a stud by day seven. Perci ran the community with the others to the point that my job was only military matters, which in times of peace, meant exercising and guard duty. Willow trained harder than I ever expected. She became my super-soldier. When she started sniper training, she fell in love. The woman had a knack for hitting moving targets at range. I was super proud of her progress. Her curves were being replaced by muscle, and I ensured she knew how beautiful she was. Nancy was still on the outskirts. A dating phase of our relationship. She watched from the sidelines as she was integrating. Honestly, I was shocked that it worked. I thought the girls would have friction and Nancy would move on. Nope, she stuck by our sides and gelled into our relationship to the point that it did not feel awkward.

Those last seven days transitioned into this very moment. Three RVs with twenty five trucks and trailers. The blue sheen from the glowing portals had vanished almost an hour ago. The gate had gone gray and landed, silently. We thought it would instantly flare gold, but the simple fact the blue was gone was welcome. Our trailers were already stuffed with metal, wooden furniture, window frames, and other trinkets. We set up a defensive perimeter in case the Xgate went blue with new portals instead of golden.

Colonel Reinhardt had a convoy with a tank waiting on the other side, while Mayor Isaac had a single truck with a trailer.

“You excited?” Willow asked while holding my hand. Before I could answer, she blurted, “I am! I want to buy fresh produce. I wonder if the translator tells us what is poisonous or if we have to test food first. Ugh. I would hate that job. Could you -”

“Willow, you are nervous rambling,” Perci said. We were waiting outside the gate beside RV3. “I am hoping for new weapons. I am starting to worry about the longevity of our rifles.”

Nancy nodded, slinging an arm around Perci. “That is a good point. While I hope for both those things, I want to know what the outside world has been up to. I dropped everything to rush here. My family was all in upstate New York and laughed at my PTSD. They said the world was fine.”

“What about you, Eric?” Willow asked.

“No matter what this trade market brings, I am more concerned about our next rotation of blue portals. I am guessing we will likely get four this time. Will we get raided or will we be doing the raiding, Viking-style. If you didn’t notice, the last seven days have been awesome. I doubt many other places had that. We could be dragged into an eleven-day war,” I said with my arms crossed. I huffed out my frustrations and smiled. “With that being said. A good trading day could do wonders to help us prepare. I hope we get to acquire everything you girls mentioned. Weapons, food, and knowledge. Oh, look! So shiny.”

Xgate 232 illuminated in a golden hue. We had talked about who would step through first. Me. I placed my weapons onto the ground and ran for the golden light. When I crossed the threshold, my eyes were forced shut by the sudden brightness. The vision of what greeted me was confusing and disappointing.

A large floating triple tailed goldfish gave me an uncaring eye. I was in a drab, gray-gridded room that was perfectly square. A translator shot off a shelf with incredible speed. I tried to react in time, only to have the circular object embedded into my chest. I screamed while my skin melted around the device. My mind tormented in agony, unable to process the rationality of what was happening. My knees slammed onto the metallic floor. My mind wanted to go under as blackness encompassed my vision. I refused to surrender. A moment later, I lost the fight when a flipper touched my head and I lost consciousness.

∞∞∞

A flipper was smacking my face. My memories flooded back to me. I tried to snatch the fish, but my cybernetic hand passed through the image. Wait. It was smacking me in the face moments ago.

“Welcome, Eric Yang. Human of Earth. You are now registered to enter the grand market. Are you ready for the rules? Or would you like to use your limited time to talk first?”

I raised an eyebrow at the goldfish. I used to have a triple tailed goldfish. It was the only pet my parents ever allowed. I was raised with strict rules by a strict father. My mother rarely was able to convince him to deviate from his enforcements. The goldfish was an exception. Now, I stared at a version ten times bigger that could talk. Ha! This was a normal Tuesday.

“Mr. Alien. Can I ask questions after the rules of the grand market?” I asked, returning to my feet with a jump. I felt great. I saw my shirt was ruined and my skin was healed, yet there was no residual pain. The cybernetic hand rubbed the spot instinctively.

“Yes, I am in your mind.”

“Oh, perfect. Rules then,” I said with a charismatic smile. Goldie rolled their eyes.

“You are allowed ten entries per gate side at a time. No weapons allowed in. Your materials can be converted into their manageable base form or you can choose to -”

“Can you explain that more?”

“I see that outside the gate, you intend to trade metal poles. I can instantly convert those into small, stackable bars of metal without paint. That is the common method of most materials brought to me. May I continue?” Goldie asked, and I nodded. “Violence does not work here. Trickery does. You must convince your trading partner to accept whatever deal you propose. With that said, thievery does not work. Any stolen item will be returned here before the great market closes. While you are allowed forty entries per Xgate, you are given one booth with four sides. As most guess, if you enter from what you humans call east, then your booth is the east booth. When you are ready to sell, you step into this section of the room.” The goldfish pointed to a rectangular elevator bay on the right side of the wall. “To buy, step on this left side. No more than one being to a booth side, and you will see why later. There are aliens, as you term them, in here who barely managed to squeeze into the gates. If I let ten of them sell items, they would eat up a whole lot of space. Questions?”

“Countdown timer is?”

“Ah, so your chest holds a translator. The device is beyond the comprehension of your species. Even your Dr. Gepstein, who did fantastic work on your arm, would be clueless as to how it operates. Think of the countdown to golden shimmer removal. The answer will self-generate. The next golden arrival can be synced with your Gpads. Which works here. We allow groups to communicate as they shop. As you noticed, there is sixty-seven minutes before and after the golden time, in which your Xgate will be dormant. Not the worst name. No, I cannot tell you what portals will occupy your Xgate next. Nor will I guide you to specific things you seek to trade. Yes, I can read your mind.”

I huffed in agitation. Okay, this was great information. It still didn’t answer the major question. Goldie clearly could read my mind, when they next said:

“Why are there Xgates on Earth? You have been confined to never travel the stars except through portals. Your warring ways have been deemed a hazard to the peaceful races. You are therefore quarantined from the universe. But have hope. Your species can repent. If they manage to have zero aggressive behavior over a fourteen million, three hundred-thousand-year timespan, the Xgates will be removed. Yeah, that will never happen with humans. I agree. I see in your mind that you also agree. You should tell the others who are willing to get translators. It is a requirement to enter the great market. See you soon, Eric. Fun chat inside your head. I find the place spooky.”

I grunted, grimaced, and held in my anger. I stepped into the golden light instead of arguing with the voice inside my head.

The bright daylight of earth forced me to squint. When my vision stabilized, I saw all eyes were on me. I peeled my shirt off to stunned gasps. There was murmuring until I waved my hands to quiet the noise. Perci darted into the RV, jogged over, and handed me a warm shirt that smelt like a bulldog. I twisted my face in the oddness, but put the shirt on nonetheless.

“You get a translator on arrival. Hurts like a mother; it’s so bad that I passed out. You will be explained the rules that you simply cannot break. Ten people per Xgate side. We are allowed four trading booths total, one person per booth,” I said to the crowd.

Mayor Isaac hefted my discarded shirt. He was staring at my translator spot with trepidation. The Colonel stripped his armor and shirt off. I saw the man rotate around the side of the Xgate to hop into the golden light. Nine soldiers followed him in without hesitation.

“Orders, your grace?” Perci said loudly.

“Back up the trailers. Ten people into the north side and ten into the east. The rest, toss materials in. I need two volunteers to sell goods,” I said.

The unit whirled into action. Jill and Jacklyn walked over.

“Perfect, listen to the rules when you recover from the pain. You can be tricked. We have a ton of metal, though. Even more when we go to Denver, if we can. With that being said, do the best you can.”

“I hate pain,” Jacky whimpered. I wagged my finger in a no-no as she hesitated with a timid grimace. I tossed her into the golden light and she shrieked.

“Hey, that was my mom,” Willow blurted with wide eyes. She spun on me with a flaring open hand gesture of warning. “She is going to be pissed.”

“Sometimes people need a nudge,” I said with a shrug.

“I am going! Manhandle one of your wives, you brute,” Jill said in a shuffling trot to the north side.

Trailers were backed up close to the golden light. Jacky popped out less than a minute later. Honestly, I should have seen her coming. The smack across my cheek stung. The angry defiance in her eyes softened. She whispered, “Thanks... you’re still a dick.”

“Love you too, mom. Okay, five more into the west breach. Nine on the north side. Let’s go. Collect bars of metal from Jacky or Jill before you enter the shopping area,” I shouted.

Perci, Willow, and Nancy went into the east gate. I loved watching their shimmering transitions from up close.

Mayor Isaac approached while I oversaw my team chucking road sign poles with concrete into the gate. Jacky hopped out again, holding a concrete brick. I halted Isaac from talking as Jacky handed me the brick.

“There is a factory conversion allotment. Yup, you heard me right. She will process material for us,” Jacky said with thrilled eyes. “There is a limit which, seems to be large enough for a hundred thousand people, not a thousand. She said it was a hard number to quantify.”

“She?”

“Oh, the fairy godmother of course. Did you not see her?”

“I got a goldfish from my childhood. A little bit bigger with holes in the bricks,” I said, indicating the brick. I stopped Jacky from returning. “Stop throwing stuff into the portals for now.”

I dialed Gary. “Hello.”

“Gary, I need you here at the gate. We can convert a sidewalk of concrete into bricks. I need you to manage what comes in and then spit it back out. Unless you want odd-shaped stuff, I have Jacky designing that -”

“On my way. Fucking aliens,” Gary muttered the last bit before closing his Gpad.

“No more tossing. We have enough to shop with to learn what has value,” I said and turned to Isaac. “What can I help you with?”

“There are only five of us going in at a time. Feel free to use our other slots on the south portal,” Isaac said with a friendly smile. He ingested a large lungful of air and then blurted, “Toss me into the portal.”

I had a hearty laugh with him while we walked around to the south side. His eyes shot up to gaze at the insane height of the Xgate. Even I felt tiny when this close to the shimmering light. A light shove and he was gone. His buddies chuckled while happily hopping through the golden shimmer on their own. I rotated to the east side, where my convoy waited.

“Torrez, check the Colonel when he returns. If he passes on the slots, take them,” I said to my friend, grabbing an old computer.

“You winging everything for now?” He said with a smirk, pointing at the outdated PC in my hands.

“Yup, we got twenty two hours. I know people are antsy to get in. I promise to hopefully give everyone a turn. At the same time, this may be our hardest workday yet. If this portal is a material re-shaper, then holy shit, our base is going to kick -”

Maria covered the outer ears of Mary and Jasmine. Failing to fully protect, them she got me to shut up with a momma glare. I smirked, waved, and fell backwards into the portal. Yeah, that was dumb. I slammed into the hard floor inside the gray room. The computer floated and the Goldie looked down at me in amusement.

“Oh, this is interesting. There are rare alloys in this machine. Bars for the alloys. What about the plastic?” Goldie asked. I saw other people talking to the air. Okay, that answered if other people could see Goldie.

I thought about what we could use the plastic for. I pictured spoons and forks like the finely detailed decorative pieces the mansion had.

“So, let me clarify something, Eric. This conversion was meant to help you survive without the infrastructure to build spaceships. The goal is to keep you planet-bound through conflict, while being compassionate enough to let you still live. With that being said, your request for spoons and forks comes into contention. There are aliens who craft eating utensils to sell. That goes beyond using the conversion as a utilitarian purpose. Almost into an art purpose. I can make plain forks or spoons. The same goes for your concrete conversion. I cannot build a statue, or a tank for you. I can supply the flat, round, or square pieces. That is it? I hope that was clear. Would you like plain plastic spoons and forks?” Goldie asked.

I nodded and a back shelf materialized the old personal computer into spoons, forks, and little bars of metal. I scooped the utensils up and left the golden light. The transition from the portal back to Earth was so smooth I might as well have walked through a regular open door with different lighting.

I handed the plastic to Maria. She looked at them in shock. We had been out of silverware for a while. It had simply not been a priority. The ramifications of the things we could transform became wild. Maria ran into the RV. She returned with a large sippy cup.

“Turn this into two small cups with no tops please,” Maria asked. “Do this!”

I inspected the cup and walked into the golden portal. The transition was much smoother. I thought of two cups. Goldie smiled and put two kids’ cups on the shelf. They were decorated with mermaids. Yes! I was going to be a hero.

“So, Goldie, is there a limit to how much I can convert?”

“Yes, I did not mention the limit because you are nowhere near it even with the items you are hauling. Ah, no. It is not number-based, but weight-based. Adding a thousand miles of a concrete sidewalk is about your limit if you need something to reference. Exactly, that is why I didn’t mention it. But it is a rule. Ah—”

“Thank you. I do not like one-sided conversations at all. Why does the market exist?” I asked with a shrug.

“Part of the compassion project. The powers in charge decided that, while violent species should be regulated and controlled, we could show some compassion. Humanity has lost forty seven percent of its population over the last ten days. The estimate would be ninety-two percent if this market did not exist. The ability to trade gives balance to the process. It also allows for a more interesting viewing experience.”

“Hmm. Figured as much. What is better than watching the proverbial ant burn under your magnifying glass?”

“Exactly,” Goldie said, smacking sarcastic lips.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. Jacky stared at me and I realized half the room had left to go shopping.

“The fairy godmother gave me a hint. The rarer the component, the more valuable -”

“Mine said something similar. What were you thinking?” I asked as Perci stepped up closer.

“Eric, we are getting pulled in many different directions. How about we shop while you manage intake? We can see what is available while you get the Stronghold looting for useless old and new electronics. Even old solar panels would work. Maybe converting a new battery too. I heard they had -”

“The material was rare because of the batteries. What was rare on Earth very well could be abundant on a buxen planet. You are right, though. Let me visit the great market so I can gauge the situation better down here,” I said, ushering the girls to the left side of the room.

My mind wondered what I would find when we arrived. Goldie swam up a foot in front of me and paused.

“First things first. I will not be able to assist you outside of this room. The great game of trickery, dealings, and bartering is done without assistance. There is no general currency, but there are banks, in a sense. Powerful species will do middle person transactions for a fee. You will see what I mean. Your other pressing thought is correct; slaves are allowed to be sold. They cannot be rematerialized, however, and they still count to your allowable allotment. With that being said, your tavers are not slaves. They are cohabitants. You must force a being to submit their rights to you for a defined period through their translator. If they agree, they become slaves or, to use your term, prisoners. Many, if not all, will accept a ten-year sentence over forever enslavement. You may find yourself desperate to find opponents to submit when you see the value of beings. Now look down.”

I noticed the girls gaze down at the same time. I frowned, wondering if -

The floor dematerialized below me. I felt a sucking pull and was yanked into the void of space at lightning speeds. My hands reached out to slow me, only to grasp nothing but emptiness. We passed through a shimmering open hatch and landed inside a structure, as if nothing had ever transpired. My gaze stayed on my shaking feet. My feet floated off the deck until the translator felt heavy in my chest. My body sunk low to the deck until I felt the gravity of Earth. I was beyond grateful to be standing on firm ground.

Stars twinkled through a shimmering window in front of me. Spaceships of smooth contoured design drifted in the thousands. I gulped, knowing these were the invader spacecraft that dumped Xgates onto Earth. I should have saved my shocked reaction for when I turned around. We were in an orbital. That much was clear. The conflicting part was the sheer size of the vessel.

To start, the ceiling was taller than an Xgate, which I guess made sense, because some species could squeeze into the gate. The next was, there were far more than the eighteen thousand Xgates on Earth. Probably a few hundred thousand if not more. There were rows and rows. They went so deep that they were the literal horizon. I was stunned into silence. A pad beside us dropped thirty foot tall rock beings with wheeled legs. I watched them race off into the market floor with a destination in mind. There was no way we could map this place out in twenty hours.

I grabbed Willow’s hand and went forward. The first booth was a sloth humanoid selling what looked like honey. A pricing chart was illustrated based on desired trades. I did not recognize a thing. Since I had no real need for golden syrup, I passed this booth. I hurried to the next stall. Willow tugged my arm. Perci and Nancy were stuck gazing. Willow left for them, but I kept going. Next was a merman selling jello? It looked like jello, but who knew? He also had pearls, dried fish, and eggs. While interesting, I had no idea what these eggs would do. Nor did I care to ask.

The next booth of insectoids did not interest me because the other ninety-degree booths beside them did. It was easy to see becoming infinitely lost in here. Armor. This four-armed, lime green humanoid was selling some sort of shielding. There was a demonstration video playing behind the creature watching me. The display showed a slingshot pinging the armor. An electrical bolt like those the flapions used was easily absorbed. A plasma round hit the armor and the armor shed scales that, moments later, were replaced. This scenario played out until two rapid shots broke through. Oh, I got it. The video was showcasing the weaknesses now. A boulder rolled off a cliff and crushed the armor. Okay, I could live with that. My armor back home had far more gaps in coverage. I pinged the girls my location.

“Alright, my name is Eric, and I am a human,” I said, extending my hand.

“Think about wanting to know what I am,” the being replied.

I did as instructed. Species name TBD. Individual name TBD. Planet system 41231232 Planet number 8 Rating 9.

“Turzok is your name and your species is called Turo. Ugh, I hope I don’t spend all day creating names. Hey girls, look at Turzok here and think about wanting to know what he is,” I said as the ladies arrived.

“I can look fantastic in this armor!” Willow and Nancy said in unison.

“How long for custom orders?” I asked.

“Longer than today. You are from a new human planet. Huh, that is odd. I am surprised you were able to hide for so long,” Turzok said, and my jaw fell open.

“Wait, are you saying there are other humans in this chain of quarantine?”

“Yes, you might find other humans if you run around the market. They do not visit here often.”

“I take it from your comment they have been in the Xgate network for a long time.”

“At least -” the translator crunched some numbers “- three million years, but I am no historian.”

“Hmm…” I said getting lost in thought.

“My point is, humans normally pay really well for armor. I have some for your milking sex.” He paused when I giggled. Perci slugged my arm and Turzok pointed. “See, violence is prevalent, even in your young-bearing. I cannot tell if you are with a child, which is rare for me. I smell the hormones. Ah, you must be trying. Sorry I have a sensitive nose.”

“I do not recognize these materials. The guide mentioned you would have price ranges for what you want. We have common metals, meat-”

“Your device on your wrist. Does it have your list of what you brought?”

I pushed my arm forward. Turzok placed a device over my arm. He smiled when he read the information back.

“Based on this pad, your planet Earth has a mineral you call Yttrium (Y). Electronics, white LED lights, Lithium-Ion Batteries — well, that is your best source for it. You have a tiny sliver of it in your hand. I will trade that for human-sized armor. That and I will trade for these rocking chairs. My kind cannot build wooden rocking chairs to this standard. It is almost like they were crafted by artists.”

The taver’s rocking chairs were amazing. I would happily trade exchange chairs for armor. I had my answer I was seeking, though. More than that. I knew there were other humans on other planets I could trade with. Meeting with Turzok was exactly what I needed. I saved this location on my Gpad, kissed three cheeks, and ran for the exterior wall. To test a theory, I stepped on a different portal. I shot into the void above me and was drifted to the first starting room. I waved to Goldie, who rolled their eyes.

“I have a trade-in holding armor for wooden chairs. How does that work?” I asked, and the shelf wall folded outward, revealing more space further back. I didn’t need to ask what that meant. I hopped out into the golden light.

I checked and I had only spent ten minutes inside. I dialed up the Stronghold Mansion line only.

“Listen up team, we need electronics. I am talking old DVD players, cellphones, tablets, and everything you can think of that is sitting in closest. Items we passed up, and items people left behind. There is valuable metal in there. With that, we can buy alien crafted armor and weapons. There are probably a million vendors in what I am calling the Golden Market. Finally, there are other planets with humans on them. They are trapped in this cycle like us. So do not be shocked if you see them among the aliens while shopping. Captain King Eric out.”

I immediately dialed up Mitchell.

“Go for Gate Team,” Mitchell said.

“I need all teams on emergency scavenging. How many do you need to push off an assault?”

“If I grab the missiles out of the cave, I can keep my core guards. Not like you are far if we get into anything. Unless they can out snipe me with scan goggles on. Which I doubt. Let me get to work. Do you want regular citizens looting?” Mitchell asked, walking for a vehicle.

“Yes. We know there are no aliens from Xgate 232. I will create a looting boundary line,” I said. Torrez was listening intently. “The armor was stuff our R&D guys could only dream about. That was only the fourth store I looked at. I am coming back with the convoy for all the rocking chairs the tavers made.”

Torrez dialed into our conversation and then spun it to the entire command channel. “Why electronics?”

“Oh, rare metals hold value, some Y symbol metal I never heard of is highly sought after. I have no idea if we are getting a good deal, though. However, we need to get the material. Any electronics, really. Even TVs.”

“This is Braxton, I am with Gary. Should we go looting instead of going to the Xgate to make supplies?”

I paced quickly and decisively came to a conclusion. “Yes, we can always build homes with wood for now. We didn’t always have the opportunity to protect our soldiers in bulletproof, plasma shedding armor. Also, you can go shopping and buy tools after you get done looting. We have twenty slots. Even if you only snag a quick ride's worth of stuff, it could mean a laser cutter or something. I don’t know, but when you go you, will be amazed. Not only that, you will wish you could buy all the neat things. We will buy what we need to start and hopefully finish in time to cycle more people into the market.”

“Okay Cap, sounds like a plan. Diverting to go scrounge for old electronics,” Gary said from beside Braxton the electrician.

I closed their call. My hands shot to around my mouth and I shouted. “Everything out of the trailers and into the north and east portal. Go, go, go. The moment it is done, speed off and loot inside the boundary I drew.”

Torrez tried to talk, but Colonel Reinhardt walked over. His shirtless chest had a translator installed into it.

“I wish we knew more going into this. I didn’t even drag much more than a truckload of gold bars, which are worthless. I am going to take the extra Isaac slot and rush trading stuff out here. Let me see your boundary lines so we don't fight over loot,” Reinhardt said in a scruff tone.

I sent our lines to his Gpad. “I thought you were a black-hearted pirate. Sure are giving Isaac a lot of freedom to loot. I guess we can follow suit. Best to play nice.”

Torrez smiled and said, “We do have Denver to loot, after all. That should be jammed with electronics.”

“I am leaving men behind. If they bug you, let me know. Good luck out there today. I saw some insane weapons, pitiful pleasure slaves, and even dog-sized chickens.”

“Chickens!” I cried out.

“Yup. I’m getting them though; already made the deal. I can give the location of the pleasure slaves if you want.”

I dejectedly kicked Torrez’s cybernetic legs in a pout. “I got three of those already, except I am the sex slave. Harder to please three ladies than you think. I am not grouchy about that. I want chickens!”

Reinhardt burst into a knee-slapping laughter. He pointed at me while laughing. Okay, that was a bit much.

“I will trade you eggs later, maybe you should be scouring the market instead of talking about what you wish you had. Speaking of which, I need to go loot some mansions loaded with useless old electronics! Who picks chickens over pleasure slaves? So much for being the mythical pirate king. Good to know there is a decent human in there somewhere, Yang. Until later.”

“Bye, Reinhardt,” I waved to the man as he loaded into the MRAP vehicle while waving goodbye. I turned to Torrez. “Thoughts?”

“I am good on the pleasure slave,” he said with a snicker and Maria rolled her eyes. “Maria wants you to pop in and out with Gpad updates. Ouch!”

“Puedo hablar por mi mismo Miguel,” Maria said to her husband after pinching his arm. “Please give us updates on what the current people find and prices listed. Those of us in between looting homes, watching children, or on guard duty will compile price lists and location items.”

“Great idea. Okay, vamoose,” I said, after noticing the metal had all been unloaded.

Torrez chuckled. “It is vamanos. For the community.”

“For the community.”

I went back inside the golden shimmer. The back shelf was loaded with converted bars of high-carbon steel. My walk over to them was devoid of a floating goldfish named Goldie. Thinking of him made him appear. Wishing him away caused him to vanish. I willed him back.

“Is this valuable?” I asked, picking up a bar off the shelf.

“Everything has value to someone. There are still universal laws at play. There is a cost to move you, a cost for these Xgates, and a cost to host this market. We cannot generate something from nothing. This high-carbon steel is not rare, and it is also not used that much. I think you will regret selling all your fancy stuff on your first visit,” Goldie said, while floating around the room. The swim was hypnotic in its own way. “I do understand you expect more down in the town of Denver. Based on the descriptions rooting through your mind, the XLroachs are, in fact, one of the most invasive species.”

“Yeah, they ran into covering fire,” I said.

“Be grateful. They do not like the cold or high altitudes. They would have overrun your defenses. Hating and being unable to handle are two different things. Do not poke the preverbal bear.”

“I may have to. I will have to. Turzok had armor that can withstand plasma bullets. I bet there are all sorts of munitions to buy that will prove vital. The big upside is we will have eleven days to fight and prepare for the next round,” I said, going over the little bars from the minimal electronics. I stepped back to look at the shelf with more perspective. “You auto sorted the valuation. Thank you, Goldie.”

My Gpad pinged an update. Jill sold her high-carbon steel bars for fruit trees. Goldie was peeping over my shoulder. The fish’s face was neutral so that was no help if it was a good trade. I asked her to run around for the next hour cataloging everything she could. A dozen seven foot trees materialized in the storage area with purple pears.

“Will they grow in the high altitude?” I asked.

“Now that your transaction is complete, I can talk about it. Mind you, getting a refund is only possible by pleading. These are low producers, die in the snow, and are very young. Almost worthless for Colorado. If you were in southern Florida, it would have been a great deal. Be happy the trade was minimal.”

“Yea, it was what? Eight pole signs. We can replant them on the next tropical planet we find. I know, we can still maybe use them as a gift to keep the peace or something,” I said with a huff. I texted Jill that if she asked those questions, she had been lied to. She apologized a lot. I told her no problem and that we are all learning.

“That is good foresight and an excellent way to handle bad news,” Goldie said.

There probably was a middle man who would even double swindle us. Maybe one of the banks would be willing to take on a new client. I was pacing, thinking over how to stop the bad deals, when I received a slew of updates from shoppers.

Perci found a small ostrich that laid one big egg a day but may not eat our vegetation. Nancy found a medical device with the ability to knit wounds. It was not infinite. but the recharges were not expensive. Willow found some wicked plasma rifles that were insanely expensive. I muttered about Kentucky girls saying wicked.

Dalila located a tunnel-digging pet. They were ratish in nature. Their claws were designed to dig through rocks to burrow. They were not smart enough to warrant translators, so they could be purchased, decide to burrow, and simply disappear. Besides those, she found her first booth of slaves. War prisoners. Cat people that seemed meek. She sent a video of their defeat and capture. Yikes. I would be freeing them to catch mice more than anything. They surrendered right away while they barely fought.

Felix located another armor dealer. They created chitin armor you pieced together to fit each unique body. Much cheaper than the fancy see-through shielding pixel armor Turzok was selling. We would also need to convert whatever we had to the bank for lower-density, rarer minerals. Or trade slaves.

The next seven reports came in with various creatures that we might be able to use. I told everyone to get images of the creatures eating, sleeping, and their outside habitats. That way, we can verify if they would work for us. Kelly, one of the new apprentice soldiers, found pet tavers. The video I saw was a different color with their fur in bad shape. With a solid update digested, I stepped back to Earth.

When my feet were back on rocky grass, I saw my troops were gone. I checked the stronghold and it was almost completely vacant.

A second later, I updated our Strongholds Gpads. I received numerous replies saying thank you. I could feel the excitement of the community. I tracked our unit’s Gpads to see them scattered in a wide dispersion. They were going over every home we had already looted once. The friendly texts among our group caused me to grin. Even night shift was awake with the fervor of shopping. Well, Jevon was sleeping while they drove to a further housing division. The entire community was motivated about shopping. I frowned after looking around me.

As fun as shopping was, I could see the destruction of that first community. The homes torn asunder by the initial puroon invasion. I was worried about what would come out next. Deep down, I had a horrible feeling; this time tomorrow, the ground would be drenched in blood.

The End

Epilogue

Jarod was in disbelief. The expensive hotel glass slid through his gloved hand to smash against the floor. Aliens had arrived a day before he was set to fly home from Perth. Only one thought crossed his mind. Getting home to his family. The news was a flurry of activity. None of it was telling him how he would get home. The Australian government was broadcasting a shelter-in-place alert. The words scrolled across his Gpad over and over, leaving his jaw in a tight grimace of anger.

That was not what Jarod had in mind. Admittedly, Jarod knew he was a coward. He would never argue the fact. He despised open places with crowds of sniffling, coughing humans. At this moment, his mind flared, trying to make a decision.

During the pandemic of 2020, he had been slow to react. His instinct was to trust those in charge and stay in place. He got sick on a grocery run, which in turn infected his parents. Jarod mourned his lost loved ones like many others from that tragic virus. When the 2023 outbreak hit, he was living with his girlfriend and her parents. Another scenario where he could do something simple, like take a journey to the store, and people might die. He was prepared this time. The money he saved by living with her parents let him buy a sailboat. His girlfriend refused to join him when he refused to stay. The two reached an impossible impasse. He got on that boat without her and sailed away until the vaccine was ready.

When he came home, he vowed to avoid germs at all cost. Eventually, he met Jill. Jill was his rock. The grounding factor that life was not only worth living, but worth encouraging. Having Mary was something he never thought he would be able to accept. Bringing a child into this cruel world. Jill was just too convincing, and Jarod never regretted the tedious process required to produce Mary. Until this moment.

Now he was more than half a world away, in a land where he was going to be trapped. He could jump the ledge of his fourteen-floor balcony, and it would all be over. The thought was fought down. He had a plan, albeit a bad one, but a plan, nonetheless. His small travel case was already sealed and ready to go.

One last glance off the balcony told Jarod the way to the docks. Three blocks left, turn right, and he could see the boats bobbing in the harbor. He opened his travel case and looted the minifridge. Out went his business suit and extra shoes. Thank God the vending machines had card sliders. He stocked up on a few snacks. The water was jammed full, so he kept buying. More clothing left the case until it had only one spare shirt and shorts. He ran back to the room for the garbage sacks to fill with water bottles. He needed to hurry while, at the same time, preparing.

Jerod knew what humanity turned into when bodies piled in the streets. He understood the savagery of man. Descending the stairs was a pain, but his thin plastic sacks holding the water did not break. Once on the street, he found it was eerily quiet. Cars paused to watch the broadcasts on their Gpads. Jerod ignored the device filling with alerts. He ran for the docks as fast as possible.

When he arrived, he was a huffing mess. Sweat beads trailed down his forehead. He swallowed a few deep breaths to calm his beating heart. An old lady was holding open a coded gate that led to the docks. Jarod approached her with the intent of sneaking past as if he belonged.

“Oh good, you are here. You mentioned you would be a disheveled mess. Captains, all the same from my experience. Well, you are here now. Hurry up!” the old lady said with an American accent. She grew impatient, letting the gate close. “The Pearly Dream is a state of the art sailing yacht. The contract is for three months, but I want to extend the terms.”

Jarod squeezed through the opening before pushing the gate closed.

“Which boat is she?” Jerod asked.

“The end of the docks. Give me your Gpad. You now have permissions as the captain. If you could set a -” She glared at Jarod when her Gpad pinged an alert. She realized too late that he was not the captain she had hired.

Jarod shoved the old lady over the side railing. She screamed as she fell, with her flaying arms desperate for salvation. The descent a dozen feet down was brief. There was an awkward silence. To his everlasting regret, Jarod peered over the edge. Her head pulsed blood, her neck was at a jagged angle, and her eyes were wide open with a glazed terror. There was no rise or fall of her chest.

He watched intently for minutes, hoping to see her chest flare back to life. He heard running footsteps by the gate.

“Mrs. Demouth, I am here. Mrs. Demouth!” The man screamed her name. The actual captain was flustered. Jarod heard the man mutter, “End of the world prank maybe. She did pay me a bonus upfront though. Mrs. Demouth! I can’t believe I forgot to ask for the code. Hey you. Open this gate please.”

Jarod ignored the order and turned for The Pearly Dream. The captain screamed his demands a few more times before giving up. He left for someplace that Jarod would never care to know. With determination, Jarod boarded the bobbing ship at the end of the dock. He immediately untied the boat of the mooring lines.

The Pearly Dream had sails and an electric motor for navigating tight waters. He started the engine with his permissions. He dialed in a course on the captain’s station for Los Angeles. The boat had an estimate of twenty five days with good winds and using the motor with sails full. Less if the solar panels remained charged from constant sunshine. He hit accept.

The anchor raised itself with the winch whining and the chain clanking. The sails stayed furled. The moment the anchor locked, the self-driving boat took over. Jarod grinned. He was going home. Now it was time to check out the inside.

A yacht sailboat combo was the latest rage. Fully eco-friendly while still including luxury and technology. The old lady was an idiot. She could have set the information in herself. Then again, maybe she was an elitist. Manual tasks beneath her. Jarod grinned when he saw the leather living area. There was a fully stocked wet bar. Hell, there was a de-salinator on board. A massive suite was in the bow of the ship with auto-stabilizing pistons to let you sleep without a rocking motion. They had literally spared no expense on this lavish boat.

Jarod laughed loudly into the intricately decorated space. Then he cried while the sailboat slipped out of port. Finding his courage, he went to the bar. Mounted between bottles of expensive liquor was a tommy gun. The kind you saw in mobster movies, except it was different. The design was more streamlined with no metal. Hard colored plastic meshed with clear sections. The acrylic drum showcased three-inch darts perfect for killing fish. Jarod mulled it over, realizing you would lose every dart fired. He figured Mrs. Demouth probably didn’t care because the weapon was mostly ceremonial anyway. He shifted into the cupboards. Even preserved food for a few months. While that was fantastic, it was not what he was searching for. Eventually, he found the correct cabinet. Spare dart drums were arrayed neatly. Five death-dealing reloads of ammo ready and waiting. Perfect.

Jarod lifted the dart gun off the mantle, testing its weight. He surmised the darts had to be hollow because the entire thing weighed less than a few pounds. An extra look confirmed his theory. The grip was solid in his hand. When he shouldered it, the weapon felt natural. This was the exact opposite of what he expected.

He was a man of science. Violence was never in his nature. Jarod had always been able to talk himself out of every situation that bordered on turning into something beyond hostility. He prided himself on his negotiating skills. His introvert ways were far more important than confrontation.

All that changed though. Funny how aliens pushed him over the edge. This weapon was not what altered him, although it certainly brought him an inner warmth of pleasure to hold. The sheer power in his hands forced out a cackle of madness.

Killing an old defenseless woman unleashed a monster inside him. He had transitioned from a weakling coward to a survivalist at all costs. He was determined. Nothing would stand in his way to getting to Jill and Mary. This weapon was the guiding missile on his path to save them. Jarod realized he was getting a bit looney. He poured a whiskey neat into a very expensive crystal glass. He raised the drink and downed the liquid in a single sip. He gave a tip of the glass to salute Mrs. Demouth. May her sacrifice return him to his loving home.

∞∞∞

Jarod had stayed up all night watching the aliens arriving onto Earth. When the satellites were destroyed, the Gnet went down. Thankfully, the Pearly Dream was built for such scenarios. The loss of connection to the outside world meant no more updates for weather, news, and accurate mapping of sea lanes to warn of other traffic.

The Gpad for the ship itself could still track speed, direction, and drift through the yachts sensors. As long as he kept battery power, he could get home on autopilot. Thank goodness the sails had sewn-in solar cells; their intake had allowed the batteries to stay fully charged. The rudder, sails, and adjustments were all automated as the yacht continued to sail forward.

Jarod left the captain’s chair to look at a falling construct up ahead. The massive building-shaped alien device had been descending from the atmosphere for hours. Before the news cut out, it did mention there would be more fourgates coming down to Earth. A few were slated to arrive on the ocean. The yacht sailed by the large alien structure before it landed. He watched the descent until it faded beyond the horizon.

Jarod was exhausted from staying up all night. With a long yawn that followed a big stretch, he went for the bedroom. Aliens were real, and they were on Earth. Telling himself this helped him rationalize snuggling with a deadly weapon. Sleep swiftly overtook him.

Jarod’s eyes shot open, a loud noise ripping him from sleep. There was a thud from the back of the boat. He instantly was frightened. He reached to tell Jill to get the bat she kept by the nightstand. Jill was not here. He was not at home. A panic set into him until he gripped the dart gun tightly. An ease washed over him. He could hide in the room. That was his first idea. The damn stabilizing gyros prevented him from going under the bed. The closet had locking shelving, so he could not hide there. A second glance revealed the cabin was simply a terrible place to hide.

The sound of soft talking - no, it was singing - hit his ears. The flat of something wet smacking the lush cabin carpet was louder than the chatter. They were in the main cabin. He could get behind them if he hurried.

Scared but determined, Jarod opened the hatch to the deck. He hauled himself onto the white decking. His eyes winced from the bright sunlight. Silently, he closed the latch. He locked the top down from this side. Now, whoever was on his ship was trapped in the cabin.

Jarod had never fired a gun. Blambo seven taught him to shoulder the weapon, aim down the barrel, and then squeeze. Never fire from the hip. Movie instructions were the best he had to go on.

He walked along the outer edge of the hull on his tippy-toes. Every step was subtle and carefully placed. The sound of items crashing onto the floor outside the cabin covered his movements. Jarod risked a quick peek into the captain’s stations.

A massively muscular man stood with a crackling trident. The being was more divine than the actors who portrayed mermen in the movies. Large gills flapped against the sides of his exposed body. There was no single tail. Instead, his hips went to knees down to shins. He had two long flippers instead of feet. A dorsal fin aligned his spine that was tucked tight against his body. The man-fish was not bothered by nudity as he dangled freely.

Jarod gulped. His opponent was armed with a magical weapon. Not only that, but he was also big enough to kill him with a single punch.

Jill… Jill… Mary… Mary… I must get home.

Psyching himself up worked.

One step forward gave him clear line of sight. The merman was yelling his song language into the interior, oblivious of the threat.

Jarod aimed the dart gun, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger five times.

A thud sounded. Jarod peeked through his closed eyes to see the merman was dead in a pooling puddle of blood. The crimson red turned black. The black moved. Jarod tried to dodge the goop, but it gave him two options. Jump off the boat or let it attack. Too scared to leap off his moving boat, he accepted his fate.

His foot was covered in the black substance. He didn’t feel the material, alien, or whatever it was that touched him. When the black went into his body, he shivered. He was infected. One of his worst fears was now a reality. The long list of probable outcomes and what-ifs screamed in his mind.

The silence from the cabin was broken when song words turned into a wail of anguish. A female mermaid raced up from the cabin stairs to cling to the dead merman. Jarod aimed. Yet, he hesitated when he saw no weapon.

“Who are you?” Jarod asked.

“We are the -” squeaks, snaps, and a melody played from a white square-shaped device embedded above her ample chest. “You need to name me and our species.”

“Merfolk, why would I need to give you a name when you already have one?”

“We are merfolk. We are here -”

A second mermaid slapped her flippers up the stairs in a hurry. A kidney punch was savagely delivered by a black-haired black-eyed mermaid. The first one crashed to her knees. The trident was scooped up by the aggressor; a sparkle of electricity shot forward. The first mermaid fell to the deck with violent shaking.

“Put the weapon down,” Jarod ordered with a confidence he did not know he had.

“Yes, Master. She is a trickster. The other merlady below and I were deceived by her and the old Master. When our commune was raided and our males defeated, we knew we would need a new family. This devil convinced us to join her champion. He filled our contract with terms we didn’t comprehend at the time.”

Jarod let the mermaid vent. Well, she had knees and shins; he guessed merlady worked. She also was very naked with large swollen breasts, thick hips, and no hair anywhere besides on her head.

“There were theories on the Gnet that the aliens were here to capture humans. Is that true?”

“Yes, Master. Capture, raid, loot, pilfer, and more. It is the will of the gods to venture forth and take what others cannot defend. Do you have a name or prefer Master?”

“Jarod is my name. Do you have one?”

“I am selecting one from the translator now. I always wanted to pick my own name. I like to blow bubbles. Bubbles works,” Bubbles said with a bouncing clap. Jarod’s eyes couldn’t help but follow her jiggly tits.

“Bubbles certainly works.”

“Jarod, you have three options allowed by the gods,” Bubbles said. A third merlady exited the cabin with hands up. She was malnourished, with ribs and hips showing. Bubbles sat in the captain’s chair then pulled the frail one onto her lap.

“The gods?”

“We figured this was a new world the gods deemed in need of salvation. We saw no water cities and the fish were all wild. Funny thing is, I told him not to try to steal from a moving vessel. Surface dwellers get very defensive over their land on water.”

“You worship the aliens who created the portals?” Jarod asked.

“Yes, and the little aliens that keep us healthy. We have been hunting for treasures to trade for zinc. Our aliens are very excited. There is zinc all over this vessel. Part of why he was so distracted. When we have more time, I will educate you on the way of the gods.”

“Ah, the black goo that left him and entered me,” Jarod said, connecting the dots. “They eat zinc. Long term not great, the fiberglass will eventually degrade if it is stripped. What were my three choices?”

“You can set us free. Either right now or by waiting for the next trade rotation on the god-gates. You can kill us, which would be a waste. Now that we are free of our contract which bound us to this dead merman, we can bind into servitude for you. Finally, you can contract us to do your bidding, since we are at your mercy. We merfolk have a way of life. Our alpha men dominate then subjugate. If you give me a beneficial contract, I will happily accept your rule. You will have to provide for Coral and me. I will name her Jelly,” Bubbles said. Coral was on her lap, and Jelly was slowly breathing on the ground, still out from her electrocution.

“You are telling me you will become my servants?”

“Yes and more if you are good to us. I will please you like never -”

“I do not do physical interaction without covers. A plague killed my parents, and since then, I take extra precautions. As enticing as -”

“Silly, Jarod. The mini gods inside you will make you immune. You will never get sick again. Eventually, you will be all muscles like he was. A mighty warrior with a mighty weapon,” Bubbles said, pointing at the dart gun. “When we swear to you, a weapon will not be needed to keep us loyal. Jelly may force you to kill her though. Which if you do that, it will just mean food for the fishes. Four might be more than this vessel can handle anyway.”

“You mean kill her?”

“Actually, yes. Prove yourself to me, Jarod. Then I will give you whatever contract you want,” Bubbles’ voice sang in his ears. My heart was filled with a desire to please her.

The weapon pointed at Jelly’s head. The snap of the dart discharging was drowned out by the splashing of brains splattering the deck. Bubbles clapped with a mad laugh. Coral joined Jarod as the three of them cackled in the daylight of the murdered body.

“Oh, Jarod. You sure know how to woo a lady. We are going to be quite the team. Place your hand over my translator,” Bubbles said, while tapping the white device over her large breasts.

Jared stepped forward to the sitting ladies. Coral started a soft sound that caused him to become aroused. His hand landed on the device. His mind whirled with information. While he was lusting and in an odd situation, Jared contained enough wits about him to see he was the master on the contract. The rest mattered little. He accepted before repeating the process with Coral.

“Thank you for sparing us, my Sea King. You will rule the oceans with us at your side. You honor the gods and will achieve great victories for their pleasure. Now, you’re due a reward for freeing us of that tyrant.”

Jarod was led to the cabin by the two merladies. They entered the shower, where a euphoric reality became so amazing it was magical.

An hour later, Jarod realized he did not feel contaminated. His phobia was gone. He tugged at it. He searched for that loathing of contact. When he asked Bubbles, she said he was a new man, one the worlds should fear.

Jarod smirked. Content, without a worry. Jill would be so impressed he finally was able to get better. She would love the new him.

BOOK 2

CHAPTER 1

“Sit, please. What brings you to my booth?” The alien across from me shifted in a large cedar rocking chair as his lips peeled back, revealing rows of serrated teeth. I was starting to think movie directors must have had inside knowledge of aliens. This fellow in front of me was a blue-skinned climbing species. His clawed, seven-fingered hands gripped the armrests as his long ears twitched to catch a random noise that came from behind me. Something flickered in my peripheral vision, and my eyes darted to see his tail correcting a plaque’s placement until it was exactly where he desired it.

As he spoke, my integrated translator noted that he did not have an English-assigned name. I noticed his species was another nine on the rating scale. I was overwhelmed by the information the alien controllers were giving me access to. There was still so much to understand.

“My name is Eric Yang; my friends call me Cap. I would like to call you Winston. A friend of mine lost his name recently. His owner informed us he was called Felix. Does that work?”

“The translator takes the name you pick and substitutes my name perfectly. I am honored you chose a respectable replacement. Since I am not busy, why don’t you tell me why you are here, and a little about yourself. I do have this sign for a reason.” Winston’s tail flicked towards another plaque on his wall. It read We reserve the right to refuse service and was hung above a cute nine-tailed kitten. The alien was certainly particular.

“I do not have much experience in fighting aliens. At first glance, I thought you were a mercenary captain, based on the footage playing behind you that showcases so much information on so many different aliens. I sent a query to my friend downstairs to figure out if we could hire troops. We learned you can only exit the portal you came in from, meaning no mercenaries marching between worlds during golden portals. When I gave your booth a second inspection, I realized you have knowledge that may very well save the lives of people I care about,” I said.

The video broadcasting behind Winston caught my attention. The screen flipped left to right like a slideshow. A new alien would appear with detailed information about them indicated in sections of the image: how fast they were, how high they could jump, level of technology, strengths, weaknesses, and more side notes; it even had stats with scoring. “You turn invisible. Which makes you a prime candidate for detailed surveillance.”

“And why should I sell to you?” Winston said. He locked his long blue fingers. I felt his stare as he gazed over his knuckles. “I have refused humans before.”

There were scars etched into his lean naked body. I assumed Winston’s kind did not wear clothes when shifting to invisible. Nudity was common among the aliens I saw at the great market.

“I have over a thousand noncombatants I need to protect. Two species now,” I said while proudly holding up two fingers. Winston raised what could only be assumed was an eyebrow. “When the containment ship arrived, humanity panicked. I had a powerful friend who loves me; she funded our stronghold and used her position of power to make sure we were safe. The gates activated before we were even close to prepared. We still are not. We encountered three alien species, as only three of our gates shined blue. The puroon, they decimated a small stronghold. I see you smirking. They died to buxen.”

He gave a hearty, odd laugh. He held his seven blue fingers out, stopping my speech as he generated an image. I saw the species Nancy had named the buxen. He started flipping through images of the race in all sorts of variations. I picked out the one with the right gravity sleds after thirty or so images. Winston then brought up images of mounted puroons.

“Worm skin, centipede bodies. Monster size,” I said.

There were variations he flipped through, but the giveaway was the background. I saw the same planet, with the moon close in the sky, as when the gates had first opened.

“These were the puroons we faced. The vegetation and moon are very distinct. The sole survivor gifted us his tavers in need of a home. Those we brought to Earth have improved immensely under our protection since moving into our lake. I even let the little bastard who controlled them go.”

Winston clicked his teeth together with a throaty purr of happiness. “It is rare I come here and am given free information. I am not a moral high ground species. I would have taken the tavers back to my home planet, and I would have also enslaved that puroon you let go. He was lying. Their kind was once the most prosperous among we who vie for survival. The puroon are now remnants of a lost age. Tell me about the third gate, please—and before you get sour about free information, remember that I just informed you that you were tricked by that puroon. I will offer you more free information if you cooperate.”

“What is free to give and does no harm, can help. I read a fortune cookie with that on it once… maybe? It could have been an angry lover ranting. Regardless, the flapions and gargoyles were in the other gate.” I sighed heavily, recalling the fight. Two good soldiers had died that night, along with a lot of innocent humans. “The flapions arrived with a scout. I think they were testing the area to see if there were any worthy targets. The next night they pushed almost two dozen gargoyles through. They’re nasty creatures. We expended vital missiles to repel their attack. Many died, while some slunk back to their home planet. Since that night we have been preparing for this day. Probably, for this moment. We had no idea what was valuable to a bunch of universal aliens. We are adjusting to find value to trade with as we learn.”

“I am not a charity. You are different than the humans I normally encounter. Your ancestors are less…” Winston paused as he struggled to find the correct verbiage. “Rational. They tend to be just as cunning, but more impulsive.”

“I would like to meet them. So far we have not seen any.”

“They tend to not trade. They are mighty raiders. Why trade for items today when you can just take them in eleven days? I am glad you are low on funds. With a proper army, you, Eric, will be a mighty foe. Right now, you are correct. You will be crushed by a majority of those who oppose you, unless…” Winston paused while stroking the fluff on his tail, deep in thought. Was I being baited into a sales tactic, or about to be told to leave? “I will not sell to you. But I will help you, slightly. You are not a maniac, but I sense it in you. Show me your potential deals.”

We had only promised to buy three sets of armor for my two girlfriends and one sort-of girlfriend. There was no “seal the deal” agreement yet; our tavers-crafted rocking chairs were on the way. Outside of that, we still had teams scouring the market. I willed my potential deal to him from the translator.

“This deal is good. Turzok, as you call him, will make a lot off those chairs. They fit his kind perfectly and will be unique, while comfortable. I feel I still owe you. What would you like to know?”

“I feel I would never hear the end of it if I asked for chickens. Give me a moment to think about it,” I said. My Gpad was stuffed with updates. Instead of opening it, I sighed. I could understand not giving a potential enemy vital warfare information. Then it hit me. “If you document everything, would a map of the market be allowed?”

“Ah… that would cost you.” Winston stood and I grimaced. The alien was male; I knew this because I happened to be sitting at cock height. I leaned back as he scoffed.

“What!? That was terrible phrasing,” I said with a light chuckle.

He pointed at the chair he previously occupied. I understood now. “Yes, I doubted you thought tavers would be so fruitful. I want three chairs custom made,” Winston said with a giggle. “I am after the chairs, they are indeed rare.”

“Wait, I am confused. I thought we could not be held to agreements beyond today?” I asked.

“True, you would be honor bound, not contract bound. Contract-wise, your end of the bargain would be fulfilled. I am taking a risk. Why I asked for three instead of one.” Winston sent a spark of electricity from his translator to mine.

There was a contract for a map of the market, plus a chair for information already given. A side note indicated that we agreed to the future delivery of three chairs with the return of the original. I agreed to the terms. The chair behind Winston vanished without a shimmer or any indication of the how. The mysteries of the peaceful overlords.

I went to shake his hand and he shook his head. “I will be in this location next golden portal. I hope to see my chairs. If you bring extras, I will buy them with rare minerals. Our planet does not habituate tavers. If I were you, I would purchase as many as you can. Making unique furniture is infinitely easier than digging rare metals.”

“I appreciate your time, Winston. Maybe later we can trade information for information. If I return, I expect to have your chairs,” I said and meant it.

“Until then, Cap.”

I waved and walked for the exit box across the hall. I had been touring the exterior of the market while waiting for updates, figuring it would be better than just waiting around with Goldie. I was transported to the gray grid room. My Gpad had reports from everyone inside the market, but instead I opened the map that Winston delivered. I wanted to sit in his chair that rocked in the storage area by the plants Jill traded for.

“Oh, I am surprised he gave you that information,” Goldie said the moment the file opened on my Gpad.

“Can you verify it?” I asked with a raised brow at my childhood goldfish. The market would manifest something you found endearing as a communication tool. I happened to have a giant version of a tri-tailed fish. They were limited in what they could disclose.

“No, I cannot. However, I can state that the being you call Winston thrives on selling information,” Goldie said with a smile. “It would harm his reputation to mislead others. He would avoid giving information before deceiving.”

I hefted the chair out of the storage roof to the exterior. The alerts kept pinging on my Gpad. I readied a send all.

“I have a working map of the market. Everyone return to Earth so we can decide what to buy.” - cap

I included the map with the message. My quick review of the alerts revealed a lot of information that was verified on the map. Perfect. Time to information dump this news to the community. I stepped through the shimmering golden portal.

Portals were magical to me. To some advanced alien species, they were science. I theorized I was broken down and recreated each time I shifted through a portal. I had this hunch it worked that way because there was a slight second where I felt nothing and only the color of the portal could be seen. When my vision returned, I saw Gary, our builder, and Bradley, our firefighter, waiting with a truck bed stuffed full of old electronics.

I smiled; they waved. A new message was sent out to the entire community, including the other strongholds.

“We at Stronghold Mansion want all humanity to succeed. With that in mind, here is a layout of today’s market, with price lists and costs. I see it even has current conversion ratios. Subject to change, good luck.” - Captain King Eric, Stronghold Mansion

Gary walked over while tossing a thumb over his shoulder. “You want this into the portal?”

“Go over first and get your translator. Then Bradley will go, but yes. Just toss it in. There is a sapient AI in there. Maybe an actual being. Not sure,” I said with a confused shrug. I walked over to the truck bed. DVDs, gaming systems, stereos from cars, old batteries, and even a projector TV. I started chucking items into the gate. “Anyway, we toss in the items and they will be sorted for us on a shelf. Really neat.”

Gary stepped into the light without a qualm. When he vanished, a body appeared right as I tossed a cell phone. Whap! I nailed Perci in the boob with the phone.

“Ouch, what the fuck, Eric. Right on the nipple,” Perci complained.

I let out an eek as she chased me for payback. Additional team members returned to pick up my slack. I let Perci catch me and she slugged my arm. I kissed her boob through her bra and shirt.

“Sorry, we should gently place items in when we know people may be coming out,” I said while rubbing my arm. “Or throw them over five feet high.”

“Hey, I get it. I’m short. There is so much to buy I don’t know where to start,” Perci said with a grunt.

Willow exited with Nancy. The two were getting closer lately. They walked arm in arm toward Perci and me. When they were near I said, “A good offense is your best defense. If we can find long-range, accurate weapons then we might be able to end a fight before it starts. I have not even dove into looking at—”

“What the fuck, Cap,” Gary shouted while rubbing his translator. “Could warn a guy.”

“I thought I did?” I replied with furled eyebrows. The translator was installed with brief pain that vanished once the device was firmly set.

Perci typed out a send-all message.

“Everyone needs to get translators. It will hurt but the pain is short.” - Perci

“Okay, sorry, Gary. I need the rest of you to go in now. Hurry up; you’re doing a second run once this is over.”

I went to the bed of the truck. My cybernetic hand grasped an old Vboxseven. The elbow rotated at an unnatural angle as I chucked the device high into the portal. My robotic arm flung the old electronic items faster than a human hand ever could. Gary, Bradley, and three helpers squeezed into the truck with new translators on. I went to the passenger’s side where Gary was studying the market map.

“Gary, I have no idea what you need. Let me know if you find vital items,” I said to the man, who never looked up.

“Eric, this has competing prices and everything. I will give it a look. No idea what half this stuff does. I did already find wooden boards in sheet size for sale. Can we toss in a tree and get plywood?” Gary asked with his eyes lighting up.

“If we can turn concrete mix on the bottom of sign poles into bricks, then I bet we can. The problem is, will trees hamper our limit?” I said with a pause. We were not far from a copse of thirty trees a few hundred feet away from the Xgate. “Would you want plywood over trusses?”

“Umm… hell no. So much to think about. I will come up with something while we drive. Take us out, Bradley,” Gary said. The whine of the electric motor was minimal as they jostled over the rough terrain.

The rest of my teams exited the portal. I waved them over to form a group. Before I could address them, my Gpad rang. I was being invited to a group call from Mayor Isaac, the Cornerstore Stronghold leader, and Colonel Reinhardt, the Aspen Stronghold leader. I accepted while Perci continued gathering our troops into a talk.

“Gentlemen, is there a problem?”

“No, we are saying thank you. You not only divided our looting lines fairly without fighting, but you also gave us vital information. So thank you,” Isaac said. The man had aviator sunglasses over his dark face, with salt-and-pepper hair. It was clear he was driving as his background zoomed by.

Colonel Reinhardt was the typical military man. Short-cut hair and a stern, shaved face that went well with his urban fatigues. He shifted into a smile. “I will admit you are exceeding my expectations. Even after I bought all the dockens, as we call the large chickens. So, is there a side cost? Nothing is ever actually free.”

“Peace among the three of us. That is my goal, and what I hope to buy. I killed enough humans to haunt a man for a lifetime. I… I… Peace.” My words may have stumbled, but my message hit home. Both men frowned but nodded.

My time in Saudi Arabia changed me. Our three strongholds had a common goal: survival. We had a common enemy in starvation, raiders, and fulfilling our general needs. I felt together we would stand a better chance than fighting each other.

“I need to figure out what to buy. I will update the market list if we buy something out,” I told my two counterparts. “Happy looting. Cap out.”

I closed the connection. The lush green grass was trampled under my boots. The bright sunny day with scattered clouds gave a warm spring feeling. Birds trilled in the distance, not caring there was a massive Xgate in the rolling field. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and rejoined the group.

“I am saying if the Cap wants long range, a gravity sled is the answer. They hit hard, use solar to recharge, and have little downside besides minimal rounds fired per day. Hell, we can even blast trees out of the ground with these,” Larry, a recent addition from the Aspen refugee camp, said.

A buxen gravity sled was pulled up on my Gpad. I looked it over. A thousand road signs in cost. Or about thirty cell phones. Wow, not bad.

“How is this possible at this price?”

“Earth, apparently, was really good at extracting rare raw materials. Think about trying to do that post-Xgate arrival. You would have to travel for days to a dig site. Dig while exposed to raiders, then make it home. The entire process would change every eleven days when new aliens swap into blue-portaled Xgates. The ability to dig away from a stronghold makes it hard. These gravity tanks do not require many rare materials,” Willow said.

She swapped the image to a rifle of some kind. There was a rock container on the back of the weapon. I used my index finger to rotate the image. The more I studied the weapon, the less sense it made.

“There are a lot of heavy-chitin animals, aliens, and pets that we will face. Plasma is the answer for them. At least, that’s what the gun dealer told me. These speed-projectile guns may counter hard shells. It depends on the species. The peeblenator takes a small rock, melts it down in plasma, then propels the round forward with electricity. The plasma lasts about a hundred rounds depending on how much altering the ammunition needs. The electricity will persist for about a dozen shots before it needs a recharge. You can swap packs or plug a power charger into our battery system. Leaving it out in the sun will also recharge it. These are sniper rifles better than a fifty caliber that uses rocks for ammo. The only issue is the plasma. Simple to store, but expensive to buy.”

Nancy cleared her throat and raised her hand. “Not to take away from those weapons. They are amazing. My caveat is there are an excessive amount of amazing things for sale. This scanner is a must-have. I already bought it with the rare metal from the old computer you converted. Watch this.”

Nancy powered on a device that reminded me of a stud finder. A yellow hue shot from the device while scanning me. I could not see what was happening or read the information being provided. I heard Perci swear a lot.

“What!?” I asked in concern.

“You have necrosis in your gut from an old fragment of wood. Looks like the wood was sewn up in haste. Your left pinky toe is not properly aligned. You have damage to every joint in your body. And she is cursing because you have low sperm count,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “See why I bought this? Slister is going to throw a tantrum if we do not buy two. I am afraid this is just the start of our problems too.”

I rolled my hand to get her to keep going.

“Well, Eric. I… Hmm…” Nancy said with hands on her hips.

Jacky raised her hand. “Everyone is going to want items. We have no toilet paper! Which goes back into what we can afford versus what we pay. With this map, shopping will be easier. Allocating what money goes where will not be simple. Nancy proved that by making a command decision without you and buying a device we all can see the reasoning for. However, what if that could have been an extra sniper rifle or a family of tavers?”

“Ah! I get it, I need to make the god tiered decisions. I am fine with that. I will make them once we know how much we have to spend. I guess, for now, the best thing we can do is get each section head to prioritize what they want first. Jacky, I want you to send out a message. Over the next eleven days, we will have pay set up for the community. This buying rotation will be for our survival. Oh, and where are the metal pouches from the flapions we looted?”

“In RV3, stashed away,” Jill said. “Where is RV3?”

The RV had her daughter Mary in it. We pulled up the location to find it was in Marble Heights, looting the neighborhood for old electronics.

“Jacky, how did booth selling go for you?”

Jill blushed when I asked Jacky this. She had traded some of our high-carbon steel bars for useless fruit trees. I rubbed her shoulder in understanding, and for the first time, she did not flinch. Jacky raised an eyebrow but I was fairly certain Willow’s mother was not concerned.

“I traded at a slight loss to banking rate for a material unknown to Earth. That mineral is the most commonly accepted one I could find. No idea how to use it besides as a currency. It is on the shelf inside. The squid alien asked for more bars at that rate if we had them. I sold them so cheap to help map out the market. Oh well. Hindsight, right?” Jacky said with a shrug.

Willow slung an arm around her mom with a smile.

“Okay, I’m thinking right now. Weapons, armor, sustainable animals and crops. Medical, building… I need to stop. None of this matters if we cannot afford a simple rifle or if we can buy it all. Timer is showing twenty hours left until the gate closes. That’s a lot of time. Jacky, Jill—you both are to stay out here. Have the teams unload. Cycle in for translators. Everyone gets one. Then go back out to looting. We are going to learn about potential animals. The rest of you help these two lovely ladies out. If something urgent arises, pop in and Gpad alert me. Come, wives. Time to go find which animals are the best for us,” I said while waving goodbye to the others.

The golden light consumed me as I stepped back into the magical place. Goldie waited for me, which made sense because I had a question.

“Do we count for the total mass allotment?”

“Not on your first time inside if all you get is a translator. Every time beyond that, yes. As you can imagine, once someone enters, they tend to stay until ejection time to allow more mass to move inside. Anything else?”

I walked back to the shelving unit that was filled with plastic utensils, bars of metal, and whatever the clear covers of cellphones bricked into. I tilted my head in confusion while looking at the plants and then the shelf. Nancy, Willow, and Perci entered the storage staging area.

I addressed Goldie first. “I can trade with these items staying here, correct? Is there an inventory sheet?”

“As with other things, you merely need—”

“—to think about it and the translator will generate the on-hand storage items,” Willow said sweetly. So they had already figured out the system. “Eric, while I find it endearing and adorable when you call me a wifey, queen works better—and try not to stress out my mom. I think she really likes you, but not this. She is coping, to say the least.” Willow used her finger to indicate all of us. I shrugged. My arm pulled her in close for a long kiss.

“I like your apologies,” Willow said while puckering her lips.

I was not going to quibble over the issue. I ushered us to the side of the room and onto the transition point to the market. We shot down through the void of space in an air corridor. I was sure there was some scientific explanation about how we went from one orbital to the next without any space equipment. Hell, the process was not even cold.

The map populated. I found the nearest animal vender, triggered a path, and tried to run. That failed. I could walk at a brisk pace at best. Oh… okay. Maybe running was an advantage or a sign of aggression. Who knew? Again, I was regulated without a how or why. Merely restricted by having to accept the fact. The girls chuckled. Apparently, they had already encountered this lesson.

The sheer size of the market was overwhelming. This was my third time inside, with each time being just as amazing as the first. Aliens of all sorts meandered between booths. The traffic was not crowded; I felt it never could be with the numbers-per-portal limitation. The diversity of aliens was staggering: tentacles, wheels, feet, claws, nubs, and the list kept going. I even saw a gray blob that shifted to move. The passage space between booths was nice, also. The issue was how much distance this created to get from point A to B. After five minutes of speed walking, we arrived in front of a vendor who looked like a bear.

I recognized this species from the first day of the invasion. This bear humanoid had green fur with black and brown matted sections. A short snout led to blazing red eyes. Curved ears were defined by short white fur on the end caps. Large, bulky muscles were covered by a tan jerkin and pants. I willed his information to my mind.

Species: Scary Bear - Individual Name: TBD - Rating: 9

The planet’s identifier was gone. Maybe I had willed it away. There was another scary bear customer chatting with the vendor. They finished their conversation while we waited.

“How can I help you, humans? My name is Roarson,” Roarson said while extending a purchase list. I compared it quickly to ours and saw the map version from Winston had outdated information.

“Looking for farm animals. We live in the cold,” I said while gazing over the list. I looked for a fancy video or chart. My eyes found none, causing me to frown. “Are there examples of the animals on this list?”

“Oh, you are from that new human planet, Earth. I pay to be well informed. I sure hope I get your planet on one of our next four go-arounds. I heard you have undefended farms so vast the raiders struggled to house all the chickens they stole.”

My eyes lit up. “You know about chickens?”

“Yes, there are many poultry variations. Chickens are not your best winter bird. My tribe focuses on breeding livestock. We have large fields for animals to roam behind protected walls. Been at this for a few thousand years. If anyone knows poultry, it is Roarson.” A pawed hand slapped the jerking chest cover. His toothy smile was oddly welcoming. I could see the pride in his red eyes. “Price is always a sticking point. I have a set list price that is weighed in neilspar ore. I can get more if you order with enough time to get the animals to the Xgate in time.”

“Do you have a location you recommend to convert funds into this neilspar?”

“The bank of exchange is not far away. I see you have a map, so it should be easy to find. Neilspar is the go-to exchange ore. The closest thing we have to a physical currency in this place. The vendors talked about making it official, but then suddenly you have a spike in purchases and the currency becomes worth more than it should. There is an odd, random rotation. Neilspar is what I want today. Unless you have a rare ore from your home planet that is not seen often.”

I sent him our inventory list. He looked at me and tilted his head while patting his belly with a laugh. “These trees will die in the cold. Oh, the ghost already told you, based on your expressions. Yes, I have met and dealt with enough human slaves to know their expressions. I can offload them to a friend, if you want?”

“If we get value back out of them, then great. I would hate to see them die. How about the other items?”

“I would take rare metal yttrium at value. If I did that, you would save the conversion fee, which is ten percent,” Roarson said. His head twisted while he scratched his neck. He was thinking something over. “You have enough here to buy a lot of poultry. More than I am guessing your new stronghold has room for. Then again, with this wealth, maybe you have a massive base. This is one of the cases where I wish I was not so anti-trickery. Alas, it is what it is. You are a wealthy human.”

“Cap. My friends call me Cap.”

“Okay step in here, are these your mates?”

“They are. Come on, ladies,” I said as we stepped around the counter.

I had never used vendor transportation. The floor opened below us. The void of space whizzed by us as we shot from one orbital to a new one. A black ceiling parted to reveal a slight blue shimmer. We arrived inside a gray grid storage room.

The size of this one was so large it dwarfed our tiny storage area. Plastic poles shot electricity between each other in arcs of crackling power. There were at least a hundred animals penned in sections of these unique fences.

The diversity of the animals was insane. I saw a dodo bird. Roarson scoffed as we passed it by.

“Everything I sell will be able to handle winter. Some will require protein to sustain; do you want to avoid those animals?” Roarson asked.

We passed a dozen chickens that clucked at our presence. I saw variations of pigs, goats, and animals with heads under their bellies. I was stunned by that one, but not as much as the egg-laying spider pen; the thirty-foot snakes were actually not that much of a surprise. The thickly furred dino chickens were.

Roarson stopped at a pen with a few dozen of these ancient-looking creatures. They were small, not even going up to Perci’s knees. Little raptor heads and mammoth-type fur on a pig's body. There was no tail and they had elephant-type feet. They would have been adorable if not for the long, curved teeth.

“These are miracle workers. Our translation is failing so you will need to name them. They will eat a pound of meat and pop out two pounds of eggs over a week. They love the cold but obviously struggle in temperatures over”—the translator clicked and clacked—“seventy-two degrees. If you do get over that, put them somewhere cool. We keep ours in caves during summer. Then they are hauled to battlefields to gorge on the dead. They can and will eat enough to fatten up for a month in one sitting. Miracle workers, I tell you. Keep the kids away. If they fall over, they will get aggressive. That’s when the kids become targets of opportunity. Reproduction-wise, they lay eggs that we eat raw. Not too different than a chicken when young. They mature fast, so grab the eggs within a day or two. Two-week incubation and then you are a breeder. You might be thinking, ‘too good to be true.’ Well, their meat is awful. If you run out of food for them, you become the food. Yup, these will have to be put down if you cannot feed them. Our human slaves will eat the meat but they—”

“What is the price of human slaves?” Nancy asked with a concerned tone.

“I have a great slave trader I can recommend you to. Won’t even swindle you, but his prices are high because of the fact he keeps his business straight. I do not sell slaves, lady human, you will need to ask the—” The translator paused. “You will need to name the vendor. I am sorry, I understand the sadness in your eyes. After our business, I will give you his location on your map,” Roarson said politely with a slight grumble. “We have chickens too, as you saw. What will vegetarian animals be primarily eating?”

I showed him a video of grassy fields and bushy forest underbrush. Roarson thought it over with a twist of his snout. Without a word, he led us to some bigger animals. His mini zoo certainly was impressive. We arrived at a thinly furred twelve-legged chunky animal. I had no reference to compare it to when trying to use an Earth animal. The body was square in design with more width than height. A mix of random large and small spikes adorned the back. A dozen eyes were on each end of the boxy creature. Four mouths scoured the pen floor for pine needles. Little trunks less than eight inches long scooped food into the molar-filled mouths.

“It has a penis snout!” Perci said with a giggle.

“Not a far-off translation of what we call them. Slongers are another staple of our society. Whereas the egg-laying meat eater back there will eat you if you run out of food, these guys will trumpet in complaint. We drink the milk. Their legs are so short we walk the boxy body up a platform. To us, and the humans we keep, the meat on these animals is a delicacy. They are gassy, so keep them with a cover that is not enclosed. The spines are poisonous so do not stab yourself. If you do, ingest lots of water with managed care. Between the milk and the meat, I normally sell out of these quickly. Today has been slow, though. Reproduction. Slongers need help mating. The male is drained and then dumped into the female. They are at that stage of reproduction: so genetically altered from their original form they cannot mate without help. Six-month gestation and then a procedure with an incision for removal.”

“Are they safe around young?”

“Will they attack anything? No. These animals, if they were smart enough, would be allowed by the alien powers to be. However, our young do climb on these and can injure the weak legs of the animals. Also, again, the spikes are more than a deterrent, so we tend to teach the young to leave them be. I have a full guide on the animals you are getting if you do purchase them.”

Nancy kneeled down and turned her head sideways. She was enthralled. I was sure the biologist in her was excited to learn more. She reached out and a small trunk sniffed her hand. A section of eyes drifted from her hand to her face. Nancy smiled from the interaction.

“We have only two horse trailers. These slongers will probably only be two per trip. We would have to ferry some home now… unless we can fit them in a truck bed,” I said, thinking out loud. We had a few open bed trailers and you could maybe fit one per truck bed. I used my arm span to judge the distance. “How much do they weigh?”

“About”—the translator struggled—“a thousand pounds. They are heavy, but that is why they are great. A lot of meat in a boxy frame.”

“Okay, I am not too worried about the ramoths over there. We can stuff them ten high, probably. They look durable. These guys are a different story. I will take all eight slongers, the herd of ramoths, the chickens, and I see those little ostriches. Those too.”

“The terror birds?”

“Uh… are those the ones you saw earlier, Perci?” I asked.

“I think so. Lay an egg once a day, omnivore, and easy to manage,” Perci said, pulling up the information she received from an earlier vendor.

“Those are terror birds; they will attack all these other animals. All that is true what you said, with the pretense they are your only animal. Well, you can electric fence them. We have some of these fences for sale too. Just know, if those terror birds escape, they will fight to the death with ramoths, kill the slongers with enough time, and turn your chickens into dinner.”

I pointed at a sleeping cat in the corner. It was the size of an elephant. “Why is that in here?”

“The ferox is a herding cat. Produces nothing directly. It will herd hundreds of slongers, for example, and pick off predators. They generally are purchased by overeager young warriors hoping to bond. Rarely works. If you are short on food, they are a terrible idea. I see your frown. I will be here next opening and the one after. That ferox has come to market over a hundred times.” Roarson smiled with his large canines. I nodded in defeat. The ferox opened a single eye, stretched, and walked over to the edge of the cage. “I would not—”

I held a hand out to stop him. I watched the cat the size of an elephant with fanatical glee. I love the idea of Felix the dog. This beast was something else, though. We stared at each other for at least a few minutes. I pulled up the price and gulped. Well, at least I had an excuse.

“Roarson, I agree to your prices on the slongers, ramoths, and the chickens. Are they Earth chickens?”

“No, like I said, I hope we get an Earth gate. I heard you have eighteen thousand Xgates.”

“Yes, we do. Mind you, we are not defenseless. I would not be so excited. I also saw some scary bears come onto Earth and eat missiles.”

“Ah, yes, there are always risks,” Roarson said with a big bear shrug. “The chances are low. The last count was over ten million Xgates installed universe-wide. Never know what you will get. I need you to confirm our contract; this is where you will get stolen from the most. Ensure the numbers match perfectly. An added zero cannot be undone.”

Our translators sparked. I jolted the data to Perci. “She is my numbers person. Can I get to my storage room from here?”

“Yes, take the left anti-gravity shot and then do not get off at the market. It will take you to the storage unit that is linked to your gate.”

Perci completed the paperwork, and in a flash the animals we purchased were moved. The trees we were stuck with arrived in the ramoth pen. We thanked Roarson and headed for Earth.

When I gazed at my feet I was yanked up. Okay, I should have seen that one coming. We transitioned into the market where we waited. A moment later our journey continued until we reached our storage room. A bout of sleepiness washed over me.

I was halted by the severity of the change in our storage area. The first problem was we now had over a thousand forks and spoons. I immediately thought of plastic bricks I could trade. Our rare metal bricks were stuffed on shelves to the point I gasped. The high-carbon pile had overflowed as well. Goldie was there, patiently waiting for me to talk.

“So, are we anywhere near our allowable transformation?”

“Not even close,” Goldie replied dryly.

Wow, it looked like we would be able to buy a lot of items. Perci tugged me to go outside instead of drooling over the supplies. By the time we stepped out onto the grassy fields, we had eighteen hours left and a clamoring of people wanting to go shopping.

CHAPTER 2

There were a lot of vehicles piled up around the gate. Even Isaac had a half-dozen trucks outside the southern golden portal. I checked my Gpad. Since the loot was easy to secure and restricted to residential homes, we had plucked clean most of our zone. There was one resounding idea that would have to wait until the next golden event. Denver.

I focused on the here and now. A table had been set up between our RVs, which were parked in a triangle. Citizens were going in and out of the gates to get translators. We had the majority of our personnel and vehicles staged outside our local Xgate, which we had named Xgate 232. I went to the center of the triangle and heard Torrez and Gary debating intensely. Eddy was the captain of our Charlie Team. They quieted their conversation while both giving small waves as I passed. There were my team leaders sitting in a circle of chairs in the middle of our gathering zone.

Alpha Team leader Mclain was rocking in a chair I intended to trade away. My second-in-command, Jevon, was rocking his girlfriend Becca in the chair Winston delivered to be specially made. My eyes went wide and I ran to get him up.

“Jevon, that is vital to trade. Notice how it is built for someone bigger than us by a few feet. It is important nothing happens to that. Actually, let us load it up in this truck bed,” I said urgently. He huffed but helped two people carry it.

I saw Miguel Torrez and Felix Delcroy find a section to sit. They were our supply leaders. Dedric was beside them; he was the Tango Team leader who handled our transportation. Delta Team leader was Nancy, who was addressing her team. I saw Slister rounding up Bravo Team. Most of our leadership, if not all of it, was here for this part. Great. Bonnet was sleeping at the base for a night guard shift and Mitchell was on the wall.

“Listen up!” I shouted.

The crowd quieted and the five-hundred-plus gathered people started to pool around to hear me talk. This was a defining moment for our community. We had busted our butts since the aliens arrived and now we could turn that hard work into something nice.

“I purchased animals. Not a whole lot, but enough to eat fresh eggs on rotation and hopefully drink delicious milk. One of them will even eat that nasty gargoyle meat for us and produce twice as much egg mass!” I said to a round of applause.

“Okay, we have rare minerals in digital devices of old. Perfect. That has given us a surplus of spending power. So, what else do we buy besides toilet paper—yes, that item is on the list. I want to cover something controversial first. Prisoners. We call them prisoners, the vendors call them slaves. We are not entering the prisoner market today. I see no justification in spending our resources to free others. I know, savage—however, hear me out. We will. I promise we will stand up and do the right thing down the road. With that said, if I do not put the needs of the community before the needs of those less fortunate, we could fail. If we fail, we help no one. For the community,” I said almost in a prayer tone.

The words were repeated back.

“A caveat is that we are getting more tavers. I saw the price compared to our wealth. You might be asking, Cap, why do that? The answer is simple. In two interactions, I have had tavers’ productions traded. These rocking chairs are already sold. Really nice, right? Don’t break them, by the way.” There was a soft laughter at the mini joke. I emphasized this by pointing at those currently occupying the chairs. “So, tavers will help us generate income when we run out of stuff to loot. They drain nothing besides lake space and probably muddy water we are literally turning into shit creek further downstream. I see little downside.”

A lot of nods and agreements were made.

“Next, Torrez, come over here,” I said, waving my friend over. The man had cybernetic legs and loved to show them off. Torrez leaped a dozen feet into the air knowing I would slow his momentum. He landed with a thud and I yanked him back with planted feet. He performed a slight bow to the clapping applause. “Torrez, brief us on weapons.”

“I agree with Gary here, Cap,” Torrez said, and I grew confused. Gary walked over to raise a hand to talk. I nodded.

“There is a mineral detection device for sale at a few vendors. If minerals are a big money-making resource I think we should buy a few detectors. I want to buy a half-dozen scanners, head home, and try to see if we have any rare minerals in the mountains around Stronghold Mansion. Few reasons why. There is a digging tool for sale. It is electric, expensive, and only a few are for sale. It will eat up a lot of our money. We could still buy guns and a few sets of armor. With that said, I would prefer a digging machine to increase our wealth over a tree planer or wood chipper. Especially if we can haul trees into the gate. Watch this.”

Gary signaled a team of men and women. There were ten of them around a tree. They brought the twenty-foot-tall tree upright. Then, they dropped it into the golden shimmer of the portal. Poof, the tree vanished. The team walked in. Less than a minute transpired when they exited with seven roofing trusses from a single tree. Gary beamed happily and I smiled.

“See, we do not need woodworking tools or fancy equipment. A mining machine we do, though. The detectors are cheap. But we are down to seventeen hours,” Gary said. As a collective group, we glanced at our Gpads to see the timer. “An hour to get home. An hour to scan. Still plenty of time to adjust and buy armor and weapons instead.”

Gary won me over. Jevon gave a thumbs-up. The other officers did as well.

“Do it, Gary. Use Bravo Team. Slister, find us resources. We are not done!” I said as people started to scatter. “A few things need to happen. We need to haul our animals to their new homes. We need to drag our trees over. With that being said, if they come back empty on the scanning results, I am buying new weapons, armor, and maybe some vehicles. The remainder will be used for the community’s needs. Hopefully, everyone will get a chance to go shopping. Oh, Perci, toss the flapion—”

“On it,” Perci said with an eager tone.

Torrez nudged me. “I built a weapon list. I even have it laid out how best to get to the vendors we need. Let me do the buying. I have been studying the vendors. The higher priced ones are the cheapest. Trust me.”

“I do, Torrez. I do.” I patted him on the shoulder. I saw Perci booking it for the gate. “Get me the tavers, Perci, then we are heading home.”

“Yes, Cap!”

“Alright, team leaders. Haul trees over if you are not ready to ferry animals home.”

The team leaders started shouting orders to sergeants who organized working groups. I went for RV3. My hands-on part of dealing with the trading was over. It was time to trust the troops. My weight creaked the RV steps. The sound of a snoring bulldog was audible before I even opened the door. Felix the dog sure was a sleeper. The sound of a kid’s movie consumed the space, trying to drown out the dog snoring.

I kicked Felix out of my spot that he liked to keep warm. From my perch in the RV passenger seat, I watched the teams work. We had a plan, we had a purpose, and we were going to have a better base in a few hours.

My amused grin from watching Willow and Nancy herding a slonger was noticed. The boxy animal was hefted into a truck bed by Eddy’s team. The next animal was shooed out of the golden shimmer and the process repeated. When they lifted the thousand-pound creatures, they did so with three people per side. I was able to see three sets of udders under the body that were inlaid in ring patterns. I heard the door open behind me.

Nancy slipped into the driver’s seat with Willow plopping into my lap. Maria came over as we got comfy.

“Watch the girls? I could use a break.”

“Of course,” the three of us replied out of sync.

I peeked over my shoulder to see Jasmine and Mary curled up watching a princess flick. I picked up Willow, who giggled at being hoisted. When I found the perfect spot for her I set Willow down. Nancy waited with her hand out, bent at the wrist like a princess from the TV. I accepted her hand and used a tight jerking motion to get her in my arm. We piled into the blankets, with me snuggling Nancy in one nook and Willow in the other. The little girls snuggled into my lovely ladies. The spot was so cozy, so warm, that I closed my eyes to rest.

∞∞∞

I stirred in the bed, uncertain if I had overslept the morning wake-up again. My right eyelid opened and I hissed at the sunlight. Mary was snoozing beside me with hair in her mouth and drool spilling from her cheek. Ha! Kids were awesome. Jill looked down on us from the loft, a yawn showing she had napped also. I glanced behind to see Nancy and Willow balled up. I laid where I was, unwilling to bother them. The RV was giving a slight bump, telling me we were over rough terrain.

My Gpad indicated we were near the gate. Oh man, I had napped for over an hour! Maybe I deserved the gray hairs on my head. I would blame portal travel as being tiring. My Gpad located Perci in a truck behind us. Her vitals indicated she was asleep too. Hmm… it was definitely worth investigating. That woman never napped.

Since we were here, I tried to sneak out of bed. Mary latched onto me while crying out at my lost body heat. I soothed her by picking her up to rest her tired head on my shoulder. Torrez drove RV3 into its parking slot. Maria was holding a sleeping Jasmine in her seat. When the tires stopped moving it was like a switch was flicked. Nancy and Willow woke up, as did Jasmine. Mary was zonked out with me holding her. I chuckled as we walked down the RV steps.

I missed this place. Stronghold Mansion was home. The valley we lived in was surrounded by three natural walls in an oval shape. A long wall of dirt-filled containers sealed us off from the rest of the world. We had double-stacked the southern wall containers with trees planted in the top hesco sacks. Inside the stronghold, a dirt road had been converted to a pebbled turnabout and vehicle staging area. I walked to the gate to take it all in. On the left side, there was long-term vehicle parking. As in, gas guzzlers that would not be driven unless there were a drastic emergency. I saw a few missing for today’s looting.

Further into the base was the first guesthouse, the mansion, and then the next guesthouse. The buildings were close together with a Japanese stone theme to the building design. A kids’ playground was nestled in front of them with a swing and sandpit. Beyond the second guesthouse was the barn. The barn had all the solar panels we brought firmly attached to the roof. Our power generation still vastly surpassed our consumption. To the right of the gate was where RV1 and RV2 lived. They were our constant adventuring vehicles, built with bulletproof materials and meant to live forever. Further inside the base, on the right side, was where our longhouses started.

My eyes glanced over the ten longhouses. Their brown simplicity with gleaming metal patchwork roofing. The aluminum street signs had proven vital in helping keep the rain away. The buildings were staggered in their layout with no matching reason. It was as if Gary simply pointed to an area while saying “start there.” The first three had walls with windows. Four through seven had sections of walls up. Now that we had enough space to live semi-comfortably, we finished a communal dining area and started building our first construction-slash-working barn. I wanted to be able to keep up production with the rain crashing down. We were in the early spring rain season.

I walked with Mary between the longhouses as more of our convoys rolled into the base. I heard the clucking of chickens, which finally jostled the little girl awake. A drool stain marked my shoulder. She saw it was me and snuggled in tighter while enjoying the walk. I noticed Jill trailing us and I was surprised she gave us space. We left the confines between the longhouses for an open area.

The back-right side of Stronghold Mansion was our farm. Our bunny pens were still sticks in the ground. There must have been a thousand boxes where Dalila and Tina were managing the bunnies by shifting them over fresh grass. We had electric mowers with bags in the caves; I would need to drag them out, especially since there was still so much wild grass. The four chickens clucked, the seven ducks quacked, and I smiled seeing we had space for the other animals already arranged. The key was keeping the ramoths fed to avoid issues. Their pen was far away on the other side of a carrot field.

The rest of our farm fields had been created by hand tools. Norm, with his infinite seed knowledge, created two farm fields here so far and was breaking ground on the third. He waved, taking a break in the area he toiled in. I guess he was not interested in looting or shopping. I had actually forgotten to talk to him about potential seed purchases. Beyond the two farm fields were more empty fields. All those were on the convert-to-farm-fields list. Beyond those were trees until we ran into mountain slopes. I scanned left until I found the cave road. I had asked for the slongers to be dropped off there since they would eat forest-floor shrubbery and pine needles.

I went to watch them adjust to their new habitat when I received a call from Mitchell. I reached around Mary to tap the answer button.

“Hey, Cap, you got a visitor at the gate. A man saying he’s Isaac and his council. Seeking a conversation. They are weaponless.”

“Thanks, Mitchell. On my way.”

I retreated back to the gate where Perci found me. She ran and hopped into my right side opposite Mary. Mary pouted at not being carried alone and stuck a thumb in her mouth. Perci mimicked the little girl, who giggled at the silliness of Perci sucking her thumb. I set both ladies down and held their hands. Jill came over to Mary’s left side and we did one-two swings for her. The tiredness wore off with the excitement. Mary raced away for the park with mom in tow.

“I love how good you are with her,” Perci said clutching my hand. “We all do. The community thinks the whole Saudi Arabia thing was fake.”

“I haven’t been having nightmares. I know I owe you the story. But no rush, please. When I am ready,” I said, pausing our walk. Perci’s hazel eyes gave me that look. The one where I was normally tugged into a bedroom, a shower, behind a tree, or into a cave. “Later, my little minx. Maybe Slister can find a cure for my sperm count. Speaking of which, where is Nancy?”

“You have not had sex with Nancy yet, what does she have to do with your sperm?”

“Oh, not that. Give me a moment,” I said, dialing Nancy.

“Yes, Cap, we are integrating the new tavers with the old tavers. There was a bitch-slap fight! I kid you not. I got it recorded for later. What can I help you with?”

I checked on Jacky’s status. She was resting or asleep. Which definitely left me curious.

“Scan your body with that device. All of us who went through the portals a bunch napped,” I said to Nancy. I saw her punching on her Gpad. “Get back to me.”

I closed the connection to continue our walk. The guests were Isaac, a younger woman who held his hand, and then two older gentlemen beside a middle-aged female police officer. Isaac had his aviators on top of his short black hair. The man’s skin tone was a dark black shade contrasted by his diamond earrings. We shook hands when I arrived.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Queen Persephone, or Perci by her friends. How may I help you?”

“Introductions first, young man,” the woman holding Isaac’s hand said with a curtsy. “I am Laura, Isaac’s wife. This is Officer Sarah Kallinghan from Denver, who got lucky doing a health and welfare check on an elderly couple when the aliens arrived. She was told to stay out of Denver to keep an eye out for the department. This is our local environmental lawyer, Jason West, and our largest HOA manager, Daniel Storks. We make up the leadership of Cornerstore Stronghold, as you call it. We were hoping for a sit-down meeting.”

“It is wonderful to meet you all. My RV is the best place for that. It should fit us all. Would you like a tour or an overview for now?”

“Overview works. We can see most of what you have from here. What happens next?” Sarah asked. I saw Laura give her a stern glare. “What!? We are here to learn, are we not? I am brutish and to the point, I get told often. If I offended you, I apologize.”

“Umm… no need to apologize. So we want more houses. More food. More places to work. We have acres and acres of trees to convert. Sorry you lost your job, Jason. Which I guess confuses me. While I do not mind visitors, I am interested in why you are here. You introduced these men as their former occupations. What do they do for your stronghold?”

“Told you he would be direct. You are dealing with a soldier,” Sarah said with a scoff.

“Is that bad?” Perci asked with raised brows.

We arrived at the RV as the tension started to build. If I had to guess, Sarah was being open and wanting to get to the point. The others wanted to play politics. This let me deduce a few things. They were wanting out of the Cornerstore plaza. The why was apparent when I saw no military member on the council. Sarah had an empty holster from a sidearm checked at the gate. I doubted the others even had weapons. It was a miracle they survived the first wave of blue portals. Perci bounded up the few steps and set the bed into a table. I put a pot of coffee on while savoring the smell. When they were seated, I turned to them.

“You will die if we do not defend you. Your generator is running out of gas, you’re going stir crazy as a community, and you do not know how to improve your living situation. I have seen the drone video, there is no expanding for you. That means the colonel rejected you all. I secretly want to know what Aspen Stronghold is like. I have a vision of massive mansions and swanky hotels wide open for people to spread out into. However, they will have limited space for farming and limited power generation. Enough of the city is solar to prevent long blackout stretches. Am I close?”

Sarah chuckled. Her elbows went on the table. She had black hair in a tight ponytail that went past her shoulders. Brown eyes, padded cheeks from extra weight, and a perfectly straight smile. Her elbows came off the table and she relaxed. “Gas for four or five days. Maybe seven if we run dark during the day. But, the generator runs our water and sewage. Once we are out of power, we are fucked—”

“Language,” Isaac said.

“How many weapons do you have?” I asked.

“We plan on buying some with our shopping today. But we had seven until today,” Laura said proudly.

If I had been drinking coffee, it would have spurted. My jaw dropped. “A fucking miracle. And yes, I am testing you. We have a metric shit ton of rules. When kids are away, adults can talk how they want to. Okay, what did Reinhardt say?

They all darted glances at each other. Perci tossed me the radio to Aspen. I keyed the mic. “Cap to Aspen Six.”

“Six actual, go,” Reinhardt said.

“I’ve got the Cornerstore council here. They are squeamish to tell me your offer, which I respect. To cut to the chase, I am calling you.”

“I offered sanctuary to twenty-five who complete basic training. Those who pass will be inducted as soldiers, about as simple as that. I am hard up on food. I need raiders big time. Today will help but I would rather not take the risk of Isaac and his crew buying a bunch of livestock they mismanage and then me getting stuck with civilians who aren’t contributing.”

“Perfect, thanks. Got anything for me?”

“Did you nap or feel fatigued after the portal?”

“Yup, everyone took about an hour’s nap. About the exact amount of time between gold and the next blue portals.”

“Interesting, thanks for the information. Good luck with Isaac and his people. I still have Denver refugees wanting a comfy mansion home. Sorry if they end up being a burden.”

“No worries. Cap out.”

There was a silence in the RV. I turned for the coffee mugs and set a few down. Laura and Sarah declined. I filled our cups and walked to my occupied bucket seat. Felix the bulldog quickly ran to the bedroom and whimpered to get put up onto the bed. Perci sighed and went to help the big lug.

“So… why here? Why not Denver?” I asked, and Sarah sat back with a smirk.

That gave the whole thing away. I knew at that moment. I held up a hand.

“You do not know how to survive now that the twinkies, chips, and microwave food are all gone. Your ability to go to Denver would only lead to trying to find a farm. You have a farm community right here run by soldiers with a reputation for killing bad guys. These soldiers have proven to not be some evil entity and the citizens inside their Viking-esque stronghold are actually very cordial and polite. You have three-hundred-plus residents crammed into those buildings. Twenty-five will probably take the Aspen offer—” I paused and gauged their sullen eyes and failure to look at me. “They already have. Huh, can’t say I blame them. That’s why he apologized. Why didn’t you go, Sarah?”

“Eddy. Eddy said you were awesome to work for. He said this community was in it for the long haul, not to simply survive until tomorrow. Hence my very first question: What do you do with the community next?” Sarah said while pointing beyond the farming fields. “Every answer was to improve the lives of those already here. Sure, it will help additional refugees, but with time it will be more stable than Aspen. Especially if the raiding options hit a tough portal spawn and the community has to hunker down. Aspen has far more people. So many that, if they get a few bad portal spawns, they will starve. Hell, they were already rationing before the gargoyles. You have farm fields already. I doubt they even have seeds yet.”

An alert pinged on my Gpad from Gary. They were coming through the gate now—scanning would be done in an hour. I sent a quick thank you and returned my attention to our guests.

“Well, we don’t have room for you at this very second, but that is easily rectified. There are still fifteen hours and forty-five minutes remaining on the golden shimmer. You have your wealth along with the ability to acquire enough building materials for longhouses. Do you need vehicles?”

“We have a lot of vehicles. Mostly electric SUVs for hauling families in. They have enough torque with off-roading capabilities to pull down trees, I would think. We have only a few trailers,” Isaac said. There was an agitation about what he wanted to say next. Laura placed a hand on his to calm him. “We were wanting titles along with three seats on the council you call Mother Hens. Our main contention is on how you are the king. Your power has no actual checks or balances. We want a new rule where the majority council can override your authority.”

Perci played with her Gpad for a moment. That was her wheelhouse, as they said. She gave a humpf, a frown, and then placed her hands on her hips.

“Before we go into the power struggles, let me state that each of our titles equate to an actual skill. No offense, a lawyer has no skill in today's world. If you look at every one of our earls or dukes, they all have an impact that is positive for the community.”

It was Jason’s turn to get antsy. “I… I do not know. Before Isaac, I was the mayor and the people trusted me to get them this far. You’re right, though. I am not a soldier, farmer, or much else in this new world.”

“Okay, I have an idea. Maybe Perci will agree—it is her decision. We make Sarah a duchess so she can lead Echo Team. Isaac and Laura get earl titles. When the rest of your people arrive, they can vote for the last two slots. Those two earls who are voted in will be given tasks to manage for the community later,” I said. The reactions were mostly positive. I folded my arms for this next bit. “As for the power diversity… No. I am not going to have non-military people superseding my decisions. The last thing Stronghold Mansion needs is a power struggle with the back door dealing for votes. Not to mention this is not a civilized society anymore. All this exists because of my idea, Perci’s influence, and then the community's hard work. Eddy, Bradley, and others have not complained that I am a dictator.”

“You not being one now does not mean you could not become one later,” Laura said, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

“Discuss it—like I said, those are my terms. Your people vote. If Jason here and—”

“Daniel.”

“—and Daniel get elected, awesome. I look forward to hearing about your decision or counteroffer. Just know I am not going to have a long debate on the matter.”

They grumbled, mumbled, and held in their comments. I locked eyes with Perci and jerked my head to indicate we should leave. The RV rocked a bit when we stepped outside. My Gpad was quiet for the moment. I checked the drone footage. Vehicles from Aspen and Mansion were steadily moving back and forth from the Xgate. With most of the electronics quickly looted, the teams were converting trees. The colonel was using snowplows to haul concrete to create cinder blocks. I knew a lot of his defenses were berms or chain link. Cinder blocks were a good idea for a lot of structures. Maybe next rotation we could do something similar. I was okay with plywood homes for now. Personally, I would rather have homes crafted like the RVs. Steel alloy with bulletproof windows. I sighed and let the video close.

I crooked my elbow for Perci to follow me. We walked for the cave road. The slongers were rooting around happily between the trees. For such an odd-shaped animal, they maneuvered very well. The small herd tended to stick together while cleaning up the forest floor. Aliens were so... alien. I had no other way to put it. My mind drifted to that ferox cat.

I had always wanted a pet. After the goldfish, I felt I could win my parents over. Goldie lived for a year with a clean home, no issues, and even grew fat. My expert care was a clear sign I was capable of handling more responsibility. Dad would not even debate the issue. “We are not discussing pets. Ever!” and I would lose. His strategy worked. My yearning for animal companionship ceased after Pauline and I had sex at fifteen. Then my desire was about getting laid and pets were forgotten. Prison life and military life turned me into something else. I wanted both. Before Saudi, I would dream of a home life with a beautiful woman, a dog, and a large couch. Not sure why. That was my dream, though. There were variances of my subconscious desires, which recurred for a long time. Until I started to be haunted by my past and the dead.

I shook the thought off to focus on farm fields. My arm gave a slight pull to Perci who was daydreaming also. We went over to the ramoth pen. I saw Dalila with Tina, feeding the animals. The trek across the field allowed us to take in the day’s brisk spring weather.

The clouds were racing up high with a hidden wind we avoided down here. The spring birds were flying between thickets of trees. I spotted a drone up high and checked my Gpad. Douglas was watching the survey teams checking our valley walls. I closed the Gpad. They would update me when ready.

“Hey, Cap, Perci,” Dalila said when we neared.

“Hi, Dalila. Hi, Tina. What do you think of the ramoths?”

“Freaky. Aliens are so odd. I went over their habitat sheet. I will need to build a cover of some sort, almost like a dog pen. Enough for a small group to ball up together during the day,” Dalila said while watching the animals with hands on her hips. “They are nocturnal, which I do not understand, but again, aliens are odd. We will make the best of the situation. I really hope these eggs taste good.”

“Have you fed them yet?”

Tina shook her head no. She pet a ramoth’s shaggy fur. She stopped to address me. “No, I wanted to ensure they could not get out first. I need to talk to you about the bunny situation. Even with giving some away, we are near capacity of what the two of us can handle. We get the odd volunteer, but—”

“I will handle it. I think we need to appoint a manager and set teams,” Perci said with a frown. “This may come off as rude, but the question becomes who manages the team. I know you are great with the bunnies. If you are running twenty-four-hour crews, you will manage the bunnies less.”

I saw what Perci was doing. She was trying to maneuver Dalila into saying if she wanted the job first before seeing if we would offer it to her. I thought Dalila had done wonders with the bunnies so far. Dalila hesitated to respond.

“Do you want to manage people or bunnies?” I asked directly.

“I want to work with the slongers. Horrible name, by the way. The ramoth will literally eat you if they get underfed. Plus, I do not want to be responsible if they attack someone. With that said, I still want to be a soldier,” Dalila said with a timid tone. She winced at the words, fearful of reprisal. “I know I have been doing good work here but I really want to adventure.”

“I like working with the animals, if my opinion matters,” Tina said with a smile.

“Okay, we have potential changes incoming. If you want off the bunny detail, I will make it happen,” I said.

Isaac sent a ping to my Gpad. They had made a decision.

We walked for RV3. I was curious about what they would counter with. My proposal seemed fair to me. Perci knocked the dirt off her boots first. I followed behind her into the RV.

I flowed around the coffee machine and added a splash of warm black goodness to my cup. Sarah tapped her fingers against the table while they waited for my attention. With a sip of my coffee, I turned.

“So, what is your counter?” I asked.

“We cannot reach a consensus. I am in favor. The rest are not,” Sarah said. “I am going to get my stuff if that is okay with you, Cap. I will be moving in regardless. I am not going to Denver or staying in the Cornerstore shopping plaza if you fail to reach a deal. Even if it means I become a regular soldier.”

“See you soon. Take a truck if you need one. Keys are in the ignition,” I said with a friendly smile.

“Thanks, Cap,” Sarah said while exiting the RV. I blew on my steaming liquid.

“What is the hang-up?”

“We do not want to have to wait for housing. We want more say on the actual council. Which is just your wives, and some mothers? We need an actual—”

“Government?” I asked.

“You run things like it’s a military oper—”

“We are in a fucking war zone. The last week has been peaceful. You just lost your most eager soldiers to the colonel and now you will lose Sarah, your most competent military person. Wait, you all asked for refuge in Aspen, correct? Knowing full fucking well he is running a dictatorship there.”

Isaac smiled while batting his hands down trying to calm the situation. I was getting agitated.

“He is running a military operation, not renaming himself king.”

“I go by Cap. We created a system to ensure people understood we were not adhering to the old ways. We got negative feedback for it then too. Which was great. Our troublemakers vanished overnight. The troops fell into line and the results are measurable before your eyes. I am not here to…” I calmed my rant. “I am not here to babysit. The community protects the weak by forcing the strong to work. We do not idly cower inside brick walls hoping the storm blows over.”

“What else were we supposed to do?” Daniel said with a scoff. “Only the rich can afford to live up here. If you have not noticed, the rich do not farm or do police work. We are not equipped to survive the apocalypse.”

“You adapt or you die. In this case, you adapt to my rule, or you die when the next attack targets you. Or you die from a lack of clean water. I am getting a headache here. If lives were not on the line, I would literally go ballistic. I think I have been too nice. Actually, I know I have. My offer stands firm. Take it or leave it. You will build your own homes under my rules. The rules are nonnegotiable.”

“And out comes the dictator,” Laura said with a huff. “Come on, husband. I told you this was a waste of time.”

“Hold on,” Jason blurted. “There is no alternative. You two are delusional. Or your wife is, at least. Where the hell are we going to go? We have no soldiers. Arming ourselves will not solve our problems. We need food, we need clean water, and we need power.”

“Is it worth giving up your freedoms?”

“You just don't want to let go of being in charge,” Isaac said with a deflated sigh. Laura lost her composure with that statement. She started beating on Isaac until Jason stopped her.

“I think it is time for you to leave, we have rules. And Laura? You are breaking them,” Perci said with the door open.

Laura went on a tirade of screaming curses. None of what she was spewing made much sense. The reality was she was not ready to be anything besides the boss. I cut off Laura’s Gpad while she fumed on her way out the gate.

I sent a message to the Gpads in the Cornerstore plaza.

“I met with your leaders today. I offered sanctuary in exchange for following our rules. You would have to use your funds to help our defense, you would build your own homes, and you would be respected as community members. Power corrupts. As a military leader, I know this. It is hard to let go of power. Laura has endangered all your lives by demanding I limit my power in exchange for increasing hers on the council. In times like these, maybe she is right. However, Stronghold Mansion is not at the point where our community needs a different power dynamic. Our council solves problems and I have yet to override them, and they have yet to find a problem with me. Our system will stay in place for now. With that being said, if you find yourself concerned about your current situation, we will accept refugees. You will get to elect one noble family per one-hundred-and-twenty-five members. I think the offer is fair. I have my own community to protect, so this is the last you will hear about this from me. I wish you all good luck in the future, even if you decide poorly.” - Captain King Eric, Stronghold Mansion

Perci gave me a slight nudge for attention. “What will they do?”

“My guess is they will fracture. Drama. Oh well. I wonder what Gary has found. How about we go look?” I said.

Perci was about to reply when the sound of a helicopter in the far distance reached our ears. Perci’s Gpad pinged. She showed me the message.

“Momma inbound.” - BIC Linda Growlen

CHAPTER 3

My Gpad alerted me I had a message from Gary. I knew soon I would be busy dealing with Linda Growlen. I imagined the president would not tolerate being interrupted. I called Gary to hasten the conversation.

“What have you found, Gary?”

“Is that a helicopter I hear?” Gary asked.

“Gary, answer the question, please.”

“Oh, well… the data is odd. I am not a geologist.”

“I thought the whole point of the devices was to have them do the work for you.”

“They label the minerals in a way I do not understand. I cannot advise buying a miner at this point. If we use the time to study the manuals and do more surveying, maybe next week. I am—”

“No need to apologize. I need you to go back to building. Focus on putting up four more longhouses,” I said to Gary. Even if the Cornerstore residents did not come here, we could spread out more.

The helicopter was visibly bigger now as it crested the mountain from the north. I was surprised to see a Black Hawk with doors closed and no gunner weapons out the sides. They were in a hurry, though, as they raced down the mountains, barely above the treeline.

“Use all our allotted space to create materials you need. I will dump our funds into armor, weapons, and defense emplacements. Thanks for trying, Gary.”

“No problem, Cap, I will get right on it. Thanks for letting us try. These items have resale value, so not all is lost. Or we can keep trying to figure out how to operate them. Gary out.”

I smirked. The man was picking up on the military lingo. I called Torrez, who answered immediately.

“Go,” Torrez said.

“I need you and Felix to use ninety percent of our wealth on military gear. The other ten percent set aside so Jacky can buy what the other section leaders need.”

“No miner, invest in military gear. I was surprised you did not do this to begin with,” Torrez said.

“Well, we have mediocre defenses already. Increasing our wealth is not a bad idea with the hope we persist. We will have to go to Denver this round if we do not raid whoever we get for our blue portals. All great for a debate later. Go shopping. Take Slister’s team to help. Standardize our gear, please.”

“On it, boss. Who’s in the helicopter?”

“My mother-in-law,” I replied. Torrez chuckled before closing the connection.

Perci was typing to have the helicopter land outside our wall to the south in the cleared field Norm had not planted in yet. I followed her as she jogged to our wall to greet her mom. The helicopter snapped the air with its rotor blades as it slowed for a landing. My Gpad flared red. Update in progress, service unavailable scrolled across the screen. I ignored the message to catch up to Perci. The helicopter kicked up loose pine needles and dead tree bits left over from the tree clearing.

The loud noise of the engines turned into a whine as they spooled down. I arrived at the gate, seeing the visitors waiting for the blades to stop spinning before exiting. The Black Hawk was crammed full of people. I saw no supplies. Shit. I wanted to rub my temples.

The engines stopped whining before the blades ceased rotation. Linda Growlen stepped out in urban fatigues. To her right was none other than George Gepstein. The man who did not kill himself in the flesh. We smiled at seeing each other. The man had been a close friend after my return from Saudi Arabia. I was somewhat surprised to see him still breathing.

A light truck horn blasted at me while we were blocking the path. Torrez waved to Gepstein as he sped for the Xgate. His convoy rolled out with Slister’s and Gary’s teams with him. I ignored the convoy behind me to greet the new arrivals.

I noticed a few high-ranking officials shuffling behind Linda and George. She must feel comfortable being here, because there were no guards with her this time. Perci received a handshake from her mother. George and I did the man-hug back-clap thing. When it was my turn to shake hands with Linda I deflected her extended arm to embrace her. I dragged Perci into the hug. I knew she desired affection from her mother that was normally neglected.

“Alright, you goon, unhand me,” Linda said sternly.

“You did not bring enough guards to order me around. These generals are all out of shape and wearing parade uniforms,” I said, teasing the woman.

“Ugh, I know. They insisted on getting out of the bunker to inspect their troops,” Linda said.

“Colonel Reinhardt is in Aspen, only a two-hour drive. Probably twenty minutes by air.” My comment was greeted with flat stares.

“You are a pain, Eric. I have rebellions throughout the entirety of our once-great nation. You were the only one I predicted would secede. Instead, it is bad. These goofballs want to try to maintain power over bases that no longer take orders. I have generals requesting the impossible…” She let out a long sigh while pinching the bridge of her nose. “I am here for a different reason than to vent about the collapse of the United States. The doctor here has gifts. Gifts that may change how we progress forward. We are short on time and I need your arm.”

I went to reply when Dr. Gepstein stepped forward. “Do you trust me? Step back, everyone.”

“Hmm… asking them to step back does not instill confidence,” I said with a frown.

Dr. Gepstein was handed a box by an assistant wearing a lab coat. He opened the box and a blue shimmering globe sparkled so brightly it forced me to turn away. The doctor grabbed my cybernetic arm, which immediately lost power when he pulled out my power core. The weight of the unit felt heavy for the first time since it had been installed. I tried to view what he was doing but that damn light was too bright. While I was squinting at my arm, I saw the light dim as the item was placed where my power source went.

The reaction was severe. My arm crackled a fraction of a second before I shook with electrocution. I smelt burning before my fading vision was consumed by the blackness.

∞∞∞

My head spun from a massive headache. Memories returned. What happened?

I glanced to see Dr. Gepstein standing over me with an alien device. Perci was fighting her mom. Mitchell, with my wall guards, had weapons drawn in hostility. I coughed up black fluid, then vomited. Whoa. The black fluid left the vomit for my hand. It swam up my arm trying to return to my body. Dr. Gepstein looked on, horrified.

I shook my head in a panic. Both of our hands tried to swat the material away. We were unsuccessful as the black goop slithered down my throat. Fuck. What the hell was that?

“So… you died. Well, your heart stopped. We bought this healing liquid just in case things went bad. Double bonus! You are alive and the nitrogen power plant in your arm is working! I will get to start amputating perfectly good limbs to make super soldiers now! Muahahahaha!”

My left hook caught George right in the jaw. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed in my vomit.

“Ha! Serves you right. You, henchman, get him on the helicopter,” I said to the lab coat guy. “Perci!” I shouted at my lover. She was kicking her mom, who was curled up in the fetal position. Damn, that woman did love me.

Her eyes flew open at seeing me back on my feet. She rushed to me for an embrace. I adjusted my fingers as I held her. There was a lot of power in my arm now. I could feel it surging inside the power containment section of my forearm.

“Damn, Persephone, see! He is fine. This will change humanity. We had to take the risk. Give him the weapon,” Linda said while wiping her bloody lip.

A general stepped forward with a military hardcase. The clasps popped open to reveal an alien weapon. I looked at the device in confusion.

“You flew out here to test if the power source would be compatible with the doctor’s cybernetics?”

“Yes, that weapon should explain why I traveled from a bunker under the Teton Range in Wyoming to reach you. Damn, Persephone, when did you learn to punch like a man?” Linda said as she spat blood onto the ground.

“Fuck off. I am so close to killing you,” Perci said with balled fists of rage. I placed a hand on her shoulder, gazed deep into her eyes, and guided her to Mitchell. She knocked my hand out of the way. “Not a chance, pretty boy. I want to see what was so vital. Mom almost killed the man I love.”

“I want to talk about the black goop first. What the hell is it?” I asked. The generals, lab coat assistant, and Linda all replied with shrugs. “Are you kidding me?”

“I will assume that was not a serious question. We literally bought an item called ‘healing liquid.’ It was an afterthought by the doctor. No joke, it was an impulse buy that saved your life. We have no idea what it does. The only man who does is sleeping in the helicopter. A disgruntled patient knocked him out,” Linda said with a smirk.

“I really dislike being a testing subject. You wonder why people rebelled,” I muttered the last line. My cybernetic hand grasped the weapon; its design reminded me of a shotgun. Short, wide barrel with a large discharge port. I hefted it out of the case while slotting my hand to the grip.

The weapon came alive. Tendrils shot from the housing unit above the grip. They snaked into my cybernetic arm. Needles dove between the machinery seeking the nitrogen power unit. The weapon hummed before flaring to light with a bright burst of teal blue. The brightness died down, allowing me to see clearly again.

The metal housing of the weapon was a flat gray with yellow trim. A blue light flowed through the unit as if it were a living creature. I stepped away from the gathering crowd toward the trees south of our base. I aimed the weapon at a tree and mimicked firing a trigger. Nope. That did nothing. I was not stupid enough to look down the barrel. I did think of firing—

A surge of energy left my forearm through the connection. The weapon flared brightly before discharging a thunderous boom. The kickback knocked me on my ass.

“What the fuck!” I shouted in confusion. I scrambled to my feet as I watched the results.

A ball of blue energy continued to tear through trees as it sped forward. Each crash into a pine resulted in the ball shrinking until it eventually dissipated. The damage was intense. Trees simply exploded from the powerful discharge. Blue flames licked off the exposed remnants of the pines.

My cybernetic arm felt empty for a moment. Then I felt the surge of power again. Condensation bubbled on the metal as I inspected it. What the—?

Dr. Gepstein was awake, evident by the fact he was running for me while cheering. The man said nothing as he inspected my arm. I saw him wipe the beads of water around my power unit with a sniff. He jumped for joy after the smell test.

“Fill us in, doc,” I said.

My desire to hit him was gone because he was acting like a giddy child. The doctor did not fulfill my request. Instead, he ran to the helicopter. He retrieved a long case similar to the first case. He set it on the ground and opened it quickly. The man ran to hand me a long-barreled rifle with an unknown optic type.

I willed the alien shotgun weapon off my right hand. The tendril disconnected and snaked back into the housing. I traded the weapon with Dr. Gepstein for the long rifle. Except, instead of holding onto the shotgun, he forced it into my human hand.

What happened next should not have surprised me. Both weapons shot out their power cables. The left-hand shotgun raced the closest distance from the weapon to my nitrogen power plant. Somehow the tendril cable knew it was exposed. The cable wriggled as it sought my body. When it found my neck, it retracted from my arm. This time it snaked up my arm, around the back of my neck, and down my right bicep until it found the power source. The long rifle plugged right in with the tendril location near the power plant.

Both weapons illuminated brightly. I closed my eyes until they dimmed. When I opened my eyes, I scanned the skyline for a target. Drone, pass. Carrion bird, perfect. My cybernetic arm was synced to my eye. The dot in the scope centered on the flying vulture. A single thought of firing the long rifle caused a minor kickback. A blue dot flew straight for its target at speeds beyond what an eye could properly track. I watched the vulture in the scope explode in a red mist with a direct hit. From here, with the naked eye, the bird poofed into a firework of feathers.

My left arm came up to target the falling remains. I fired the big ball of blue power. The round soared for the feather. About a quarter of the way gravity grabbed hold of the round and caused an arc to start. Eventually, the round dipped below our sight to land somewhere in the distance.

Okay, that told me what I suspected. One was close range with a large discharge of power. The other had limited power consumption, was long range, and was a smaller orb. Condensation again formed against my cybernetic arm as the power recharged. Dr. Gepstein huddled close, watching the power source work. He slapped goggles on and I turned my head when he opened up the power container. The brightness was intense. A quick study tickled his curiosity and he returned the cover.

“Madam President, we have our first advanced soldier in the war to maintain humanity!” Dr. Gepstein proclaimed.

Linda Growlen approached. “I will send a team for an update download and upload the next golden day. Do not expect supplies, troops, or really anything besides information,” Linda said with a stern tone. She was clearly upset she had been attacked by her daughter.

“George, what is this power source?”

“That, my friend, is an alien nitrogen power plant. We bought a dozen of them at the grand market. They were touted as being able to quickly recharge on planets with high levels of nitrogen. Which Earth is, and most planets have some nitrogen. Which, spoiler, avoid relying on these weapons to recharge in a non-nitrogen environment. The condensation is the wicking of water vapor from the air. For reference, water vapor is only one percent. So that tells you how much atmosphere that power plant is pulling from the air. There is a recharge timer, but as you have seen, very minimal. Now I just need to design a backpack with a few of these in them.”

“Where did you get the idea to—”

“Camp Pendleton was lost in an insane battle. The data will be in your tower now. An alien force smashed our troops with these types of weapons, and the same glowing shielding. Enemy frontline troops used backpacks of these. A fifty cal will zap the shielding power no problem. 5.56 required a lot of sustained rounds. Study the data we just delivered. A lot of good people died getting it to me,” Linda Growlen said sadly. Which, for her, was the first sign of empathy I had ever seen her display. “Enough sappiness, I have an underground fortress to rule, weapons to buy, and enemies to defeat. Same as up here, but underground and filled with whiny bureaucrats. Load up.”

“Thanks for the gifts. Even if you killed me and implanted me with magical goo. I do enjoy kickass weapons,” I said to Linda, who rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Pansy, get over it. Nice left hook. Persephone, I am proud of you. So very, very proud of you,” Linda Growlen said to her daughter while kissing her on the forehead.

My angry Perci deflated at the caring gesture. She moped over to me as the Black Hawk’s engines spooled up. The implications of this new technology twirled through my mind. I saw my Gpad had completed its update, so I shot the information to Torrez to digest on his way to purchase our weapons.

He tried to call me but I had him wait for the Black Hawk to disappear first. While Perci and I stood there waving goodbye to her mother, Nancy walked over with Willow. I was scanned with the medical device while we watched the Black Hawk fade to the north.

“Fuck me,” Nancy blurted with a whisper. “Your muscle mass increased by a percent, which might just be damaged muscles being repaired. Your body has perfect joints now, your toe is fixed, and your balls are surging with lively sperm. Whatever they applied to you made you… perfect.”

“Aw shucks, Nancy, I think you are swell too,” I said, trying to bring levity to the moment.

“We have confirmed reports of others getting portal fatigue also. Those who went through once are not experiencing the same issue we did. It might also be linked to the transition to the actual golden market. With this latest news, I want to buy this healing liquid even if it will feel—”

“Go. Hurry, though, before Jacky gives out spending money. Maybe try it on an old person. Hey, Nancy, do try to get more information than Gepstein did. I would really like to know if my babies are going to be goo-born,” I said, and Perci flicked my ear. “What!? Hey, speaking of which, I know this great RV bed…”

“Eric Yang, you are only putting human babies in my belly. You are off limits until we figure out what is going on.”

Willow chuckled. “Wait for it.” Her finger pointed to me with a sarcastic grin on her face.

“Wait for what?” Perci asked with a shrug.

“What about handjobs!” I said, and the ladies rolled their eyes. “I need to deal with this Cornerstore fiasco. Are you going with Nancy, Willow?”

“Definitely. I want to try on my new armor and get a power generator with a pistol, rifle combo. We watched your demonstration. As your queens, Nancy and I want the best.”

“See, this is why I get labeled a dictator, but I approve.”

Nancy scoffed and said, “Yeah, not sure how that whole ordeal will turn out. You were right to kick them out. Also, I would hate dealing with a council to get anything approved. I do happen to snuggle with the boss, though. Eric, I was wondering—”

“About us and sex?” I asked and she nodded. “The fact that I can somewhat read your mind should explain it. We are close, taking things to the next level is a big step. I know you reached that point with Perci and Willow. When it happens, it will happen. I think you are more beautiful on the inside than ever before and I desire your outside. I’m mainly wanting to ensure we are not your rebound. Aw, Nancy, don’t wince. I value our relationship that much. Think about it, please.”

“I have. Tonight. Me, you, and a condom. Only because of your goo,” Nancy said in a huff. She stomped off without me being able to reply.

“Sounds like a fun time if you ask me,” Willow said with a wink and a smirk. We kissed goodbye and it was only Perci and me again.

I walked to the trees to see the damage up close. The residual blue flames were gone, but the smoldering quarter of a tree still generated heat. The fragments of the exploded tree went into adjacent pines. Splashes of blue nitrogen discharge had bored holes past the bark and into the pines. I had never seen a weapon like this in any of the reports. I was starting to realize there were some very lethal bad guys connected to our portal network. Hopefully, they were rare.

I followed the trail only for a few trees. Perci stayed by my side while our feet crunched over the debris.

“Seven days of blue portals and there was peaceful bliss. Today comes around to pull me a hundred different directions. There is still a lot of time left too. Fourteen hours left to prepare. My Gpad has been quiet besides a message from Sarah. She is coming home with a truck full of people she trusts. The rest are unplugging their Gpads. I guess they want to leave without us tracking them.”

“Probably. I doubt they would charge this kill zone. Even after seeing it, they know they cannot push us off these defenses. Even with most of our citizens gone. Call Sarah,” Perci recommended.

I dialed the ex-police officer. “Echo Team leader here,” Sarah said.

“Isaac has his people unplugging. What gives?”

“They are going to Denver. Sheeple, really. Funny thing is, I got called that. They wanted to fight and argue. I want to build my new home. I have it from an inside source, when the convoy leaves, about ten vehicles will not follow and will instead come here. That way, they do not have to argue over their decision. Who knows, though? That might be the tipping point. I made my case, Denver is a warzone with aliens, the dead, and probably no safety, all with limited food. There is not much more argument to be had than those facts.”

“Did you get any electronics?” I asked.

“We looted the zone you and the colonel indicated for us. While we were meeting you, Isaac purchased a bunch of pebble-shooting weapons. Not sure what ratio or how many he received. Since I publicly said I was leaving, I am your problem now.”

My jaw twisted in a grimace. I was distracted by a screaming chipmunk a few trees deep into the woods.

“What was that?” Sarah asked.

“A chipmunk or squirrel. I got this new gun and littered the forest with smoldering chunks of pine. I did not know they could scream like that. Gary is our builder, a fantastic man. His team is going to be building more longhouses. I am personally going to get in the dozer and flatten out some terrain for you,” I said to Sarah.

“Thanks, Cap, Officer Duchess out,” Sarah said.

“You sure are a charmer, Eric. So… Eric… are you mad at me?” Perci fidgeted as she spoke.

“Ha! I am proud of you. You were right to kick your mom’s ass. If you didn’t do it, I would have. I will hit a girl who crosses me. She literally killed me. I think that deserves a bloody lip and a bruised ego.”

“You mean it?” Perci was almost whimpering.

“Hey, I am not sure what you are going through, but I am here for you. You are my queen. You’re allowed to need to lean on me,” I said with an arm over her shoulder. I walked us to the gate. “You're going to be okay.”

“Yeah, I’ve just… never lost control like that before. That nitrogen reactor went into your arm and your feet left the dirt in a swoosh of power. The doctor felt no pulse, reached into his assistant’s lab coat, and poured black sludge down your throat. I spun on mom and hit her so hard she went down in a single punch. I didn’t feel bad until a minute or so ago. That was my mom. We have fought a lot, but never to violence. She has never hit me before.”

“Yeah, well, if you killed Gcorp I bet she would have. Sorry, best I can compare it to. I know talking about the fatherless childhood you went through is tough.”

“Actually, now that I have you, I feel better about it. I always resented Mom for never taking a lover. Who uses sperm from a thousand men to impregnate their eggs and then hides the list from their child? Mom. That’s who. Our children will grow up with a father, or if something tragic happens, they will have hours of footage of you to hold on to. I may have been recording you with Mary.” Perci gave me big, loving eyes. “A lot. I adore seeing you with her. So does her mother. Did you know Jarod, the father, did not hold Mary?” I shook my head no. “He was a germaphobe. Apparently, kids are their evil weakness since they—you know—are covered in gross shit with no care in the world about germs.”

“Explains why Mary has been so clingy,” I said. I saw Perci frown. “Perci, when there is no fighting, I cherish clingy.”

“The term is so negative,” Perci said while waving to Mitchell as we entered Stronghold Mansion. I turned us for the dozer. “You may make it seem not, but generally speaking, clingy means overly needy. Which I—”

I kissed her hard. Even swept her off her feet. There was a catcall from the wall that I ignored. I set her down and bolted for the dozer. Perci waved with wet eyes of joy. I stopped looking over my shoulder to ensure I didn’t run into anything.

The dozer had a special parking spot behind the mansion not too far from the river. I noticed a tavers’s body caught on the hydro bridge we built. I jogged over to the river with my weapons ready.

“Douglas, this is Cap.”

“Hey boss. What can I do for you?”

“I got a dead tavers, get me eyes on their herd. We had fifteen and added seven, so there should be twenty-one warm bodies,” I said, quickly doing the math.

“You sure about that?” the smartass thirteen-year-old said. I started using fingers to verify when I heard. “Ha! I just wanted to see you count with your fingers. Twenty-one red dots. There is fading blood stains near a disturbed area. The largest female has some wounds.”

“Thanks, Douglas. I will chalk it up to a dominance fight,” I said and dialed up Mitchell. When he answered I said, “Got a body in the river by the dam. Get it to the freezer, please.”

“No bury?”

“No, ramoths will probably eat it. Hell, if things get dire, we may even. Better to save it.”

“Roger, Cap. Mitchell out.”

Well, at least I knew why the tavers were left on quarantined worlds. Then again, I think only potential races capable of expanding through space were prohibited. There was still so much a simple man like me did not know. The lifeless body floating in the river; that I understood. The darkness crept from my soul to produce a smirk on my face. Not wanting to let the demons have a place on this fine beautiful day, I went back for the dozer.

The machine had traction-grip steps that were not needed on the dry day. The seat squashed under my body. I gave mental nudges for my weapons to release power. The power cables retracted with a slight hiss. I set the weapons on the dozer dash. The door automatically closed, recognizing my permissions. The display pad jutted forward as the machine hummed to life. I looked at the pad that was pinging the ground with sonar to determine elevations. Exterior cameras picked up objects that painted a partial surface picture. I selected the area not far from the container wall that we had still not utilized. There were sporadic trees with fairly level ground.

When I selected auto drive, the dozer rolled forward on its tracks with a gradual turn. I used the images imprinted into the memory of the other longhouses to draw four new plans for homes. A few clicks onto the pad and the onboard manager gave me an itinerary for approval. Travel to location. Remove trees. Level land. Return to the charging point. Pretty awesome. I clicked accept.

I got an alert from Norm. He had been complaining about the lack of rain. Enough complaining that he wanted to build an irrigation lane from the river to the farm fields. Suddenly, I found a reason for our plastic bars. Piping.

Clive, our resident plumber, was outside the gate. I was surprised by this until I saw him with his family at the Xgate. I asked him to go into the Xgate and build irrigation piping and plumbing piping with our plastic. The response was as expected. “Wait, can we do that?”

I knew he would figure it out. The bulldozer rolled to the first tree. I had seen this process a few times now. The dozer paused when it was ready. The pad flashed. Human operator needed. Please use proper precautions and procedures. Click here to learn how to put a chain around a tree. I was mildly entertained by the idea of watching someone putting a chain around a tree. The video showed a man pressing the unwind button on the winch. The first try did not have enough wire cable. The operator went back and spooled out more. I closed the video. It was less entertaining than I anticipated.

I wrapped the tree without an issue. The dozer forced me to manually pull the tree out with the controls. When the roots came free of the dirt, I programmed a course for the nearest tree pile. There must have been a hundred trees waiting to be processed. I sighed, wishing we had unlimited funds. Turning a full tree into planks outside of golden days would be awesome.

I called Clive and his Gpad went straight to disconnect. He must be inside with Goldie, or whatever version he saw. I sent him an alert to notify me when he returned. I checked Torrez’s Gpad. He was nearing the Xgate. I gave him a ring.

“I got a big list here, Cap. Last chance to change it,” Torrez said, sending me the list.

I browsed the items and saw he added a few backpack nitrogen reactors. Most of the items were basic. I agreed that we should get a lot of medium-grade armor and weapons for now. We had a few hundred people willing to gear up but only eighty or so sets of armor. In fact, the list had accounted for more armor over weapons.

“I like what I see, Torrez. So, I need you to ask the storage mind reader a question that evaded me. Can we convert old cars into bricks of materials? I know we cannot take an old truck and create a new truck. I need to know if there are limits on what we toss into the converter.”

“Ah, you want to drain the lemon lot. I can ask. I was also going to ask if storage had to be removed. Did you ask that one?”

I cursed while hitting the steering wheel. Nope. I had not. “Hey, if we can toss in vehicles, throw some in so Nancy can buy more medical supplies. Actually, I will call Jevon…” I paused and pulled up Jevon’s Gpad. He was sleeping in RV2. “Nevermind, I will put a command channel call out.”

I hung up on Torrez. I typed a quick message to work with Torrez on converting gas-guzzling vehicles if we could. Jacky replied that the being in charge of our Xgate storage approved the vehicles for conversion. Perfect. I wondered how many vehicles we could have stored for the next golden portal. Might even be able to avoid Denver.

I left the dozer to unhook the tree from the winch. Not far away a car came double-hitting its horn. That would be Sarah. The gate guards let her in. She sent me a call.

“Go ahead, Echo Team,” I said.

“Um… what do I do now?” Sarah said.

“The old vehicles in the lemon lot consume gasoline. We are emptying the lot and using it for medical supplies. Go ahead and have free reign driving those. Your Gpads will give you directions. Figure out some supplies you want soon because I plan on stopping trade an hour before the golden portals stop. I want two hours between times. I know, still more than half a day away. Thanks, Sarah. Oh, send your needs to Jacky—you’ll find her on the command channel,” I said and hung up the call. I dialed into Douglas’s Gpad with an instant connection. “Hey, Douglas, fly the drone over Cornerstore Stronghold.”

“Drone en route, ETA five minutes.”

“Douglas, on the radio, you say mikes instead of minutes.”

“Why? They’re the same length to pronounce,” Douglas said.

I grunted in frustration. He always had a point. I let the subject drop and closed the connection. The bulldozer drove itself to the next tree. So the cycle repeated. I was rumbling over the rough terrain to tree three when my Gpad sent an alert.

I opened the video to see the Cornerstore vehicles in a mess of a formation in the plaza parking lot. It appeared that most of the trucks were loaded up. I saw a group arguing and figured that was probably the council infighting. I zoomed my feed in. Laura was pointing weapons at others. Uh oh. Isaac lunged to disarm his hysterical wife. People dove to the pavement as the weapon burst munitions into the air. Douglas jerked the drone instinctively. The shots were nowhere near, but I knew the feeling of wanting safety when shot at. The camera returned to show Laura on her back, eyes open, and blood pooling beneath her. Isaac charged a stunned Jason, whose weapon was aimed at Laura. I knew too well what transpired. Isaac never reached Jason. Jason’s weapon fired. Isaac stumbled forward until he collapsed. Shit. Jason freaked out. He swung the alien weapon around wildly at the people yelling at him. I knew his panic. I knew his instinct. He had nowhere to run with his peers pointing weapons at him. The next logical thing happened. The barrel went under his chin. Without a chance to stop him, the top of his head tore free in a spray of gore. Three leaders died in less than a minute. They survived almost two weeks of the apocalypse only to die to each other.

Gpads started to activate. I silenced all of them. They were confused. I saw more and more of them turn on until almost everyone had their Gpads on.

“This is Cap, I am sorry for your loss. I liked Jason, Isaac, and even Laura as a person. If you want sanctuary, you will follow the rules. One of the rules is no weapons unless qualified on the ranges. My soldiers will not tolerate anyone approaching the gate with a weapon. There will be a bin at the end of the forest. Put your weapons in there and then approach the gate slowly. Do not drive quickly at the gate guards. Be calm when entering your new home. We are preparing places to sleep now, a roast of food, and warm showers for everyone.” - Cap

The chaos, division, and jammed vehicles miraculously unwound as they drove for Stronghold Mansion. Seven peeled off for Denver and three went west for Utah. Maybe Salt Lake City. With electric vehicles, water, and food, they could make it pretty far. I wished them luck openly on the main channel.

My Gpad rang.

“Hey, Perci, what’s up?”

“You okay?”

“Uh… yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You watched three people die. I am… I am… We could have given… I feel…” Perci said sadly while stuttering.

Well, shit. I stopped the dozer while rapidly slinging my weapons. My Gpad said she was in RV3. Between seeing me die and now this, she was probably near a breaking point. Perci did not see much death in Saudi Arabia. Even if she had, this was a messy reality. People went insane. Insane people with guns led to deaths. I actually agreed with gun control for crazy people.

I found Jill cradling Perci on the back bed. Jill waved me away to watch a princess movie with Mary. I grabbed a beer from the fridge first. With a cold brew in my hand I lazed about, watching a story about a mermaid wanting to be free of her duties. I tipped the beer at her struggles while I waited to be relieved of babysitting duty.

CHAPTER 4

My ass was planted in front of a tree growing out of a hesco container. My legs swayed as they dangled over the edge of the mesh sack. I was watching the procession of new residents from my perch. They were healthy looking, with only early signs of food rationing. Their clothes were nasty with sweat stains, dark coloration on light clothing, and nasty matted hair. By the looks of it, they had had to limit water at some point, which meant no washing clothes or showers. I felt bad for Mitchell and his team performing inspections—Perci, too, when I caught sight of her with a scrunched nose.

They were performing the necessary task of processing people coming inside. My first mandate to my new citizens was that everyone needed to take a shower. We had looted an excessive amount of clothes from the surrounding area.

Jill waved when our eyes met—she was handing out clothing to those in need from a stuffed trailer. The process was orderly, although moving at a slow pace. Perci was taking notes on every person based on their Gpads. Jill had to dig out appropriate clothing from a piled mess that she tried to organize while still working the line.

I stopped watching them work to check out the weapons bin in the middle of the field. Mitchell relocated the container there so it would be easy to monitor as people removed their weapons. The Cornerstore refugees were dropping off new rifles we could certainly use. I wanted to play with one but instead respected the rules.

Perci recovered from her bout of sadness quickly, her grief minimal as she dove into her work. After I comforted her I noticed the three bodies were left in the street with their weapons under them. Mclain cleaned up the bodies and inspected the buildings. He reported that the sewage had backflowed, hence why they picked today to move. I figured it had to be something. I also did not want the same problem. I diverted Mclain to get me all the other water pumps he could. I was going to set those machines on standby, or maybe even install them to prevent a failure causing a problem. Mclain responded that he could drive three old cars into the gate and buy a fancy new alien pump that would work with our electrical. That obviously won me over.

The community was on a spending spree. The grand market, as it was termed, contained a lot of items to buy, including toilet paper. I personally had everything I needed. A nice bed, an epic armor set on the way, and I already had some kickass weapons. Wait, I needed some scan glasses still, or something comparable. I checked my Gpad: twelve hours left, with about four more until night hit. I could wait until next week since there was no scenario where I would be a scout. I flipped through some requests that were seeking approval. Jacky was rubber-stamping just about everything. Alien drones on Torrez’s list; that piqued my interest. When I thought about it some more, the only things I needed besides goggles were team-oriented like the drones. I would love a shield dome protecting our homes.

This is why I got paid the big bucks. I stopped watching the individuals coming in and investigated the market list. I scrolled until I was able to search for stronghold items. The results were for furniture. When I searched for a fortification shield that worked… Huh. Probably a translator thing. There were eighty-two variations of large shields with numerous power types. The best versions were on gravity sleds using nitrogen power plants with compatible electricity. There even were wiring connectors on a side panel for us to use. I swear I once watched a robot army movie with something similar.

Speaking of robots, I had not noticed any. I called Nancy and learned she was not on Earth. I checked for Jevon — Yup, he was awake.

“Check on why there are no robots. Also, see if someone inside can afford a fortification shield, please. When able.” - Cap

“OMW” - Deluxe Duke Jevon

His Gpad winked out. I returned to dangling my legs with a soft sway. Mitchell walked my direction behind the row of planted trees in the hesco dirt. He plopped down beside me with a tired grunt.

“They are in shock. Like a lot of shock,” Mitchell said with an exhausted sigh.

“We are, what, ten days into the apocalypse? You would think they would be somewhat adjusted.”

“Did you watch the video Mclain sent back? They were crammed into those buildings. They had shelter, food, water, and power. They were even able to spread out after many of those hiding fled for Denver. I think most of them gripped onto the past by hiding from reality. The past where you were in a store that sold you everything you could ever want after a five-minute drive. A shower will do them good. Work is better. Not sure what they—”

“I know exactly what task they need. Get the backhoes to dredge out rocks into the salt trucks. Dump the rocks by their new homes. Have them add rock flooring to the longhouse slots I cleared,” I said while pointing inside the gate to the right. Fresh people were already leaving the mansion showers. The post-shower line headed to the BBQ pit for strips of gross gargoyle meat. I shuddered thinking about having to eat more tonight. “Gary is almost back with enough trusses for a dozen homes. I will probably send him back for a plywood run.”

Mitchell keyed up his Gpad to his team to deliver my orders. We sat there quietly. Both of us were content with the moment. A short triple toot of a horn disturbed us as Gary drove through the crowd, dumped his new wooden pieces, and hauled back out of the base for Xgate 232. We exchanged a wave as the convoy bounded down the stoned portion of the dirt road.

My Gpad rang, and I answered Jevon’s call.

“AIs are prohibited to all quarantine species. I was informed if we behave—”

“Yeah, never going to happen.”

“What's that?” Mitchell asked.

“Sorry, I should have put out everything I learned today in a message. At least on the command channel. Humanity can’t have its containment lifted. The key thing is that the entire race must be peaceful for millions of years while in a warring environment,” I said, and Mitchell laughed.

“Alright, got a no-go on AI existing as a race then, either,” Jevon said when Mitchell quieted.

“I am guessing they would win any long-term war. I have a feeling the goldfish in my head is an AI.”

“Uh… mine is Mr. T. He said some funny jokes that had me rolling, so I may have gotten a bit distracted. There was no further explanation on robot races. The way it was phrased made it seem that AI existed in the peaceful universe sections. I talked to Torrez and Lavaun. Which… are you letting her change her name to Queen Nancy? I know she has been close to you…”

“Are you letting Becca be a deluxe duchess? Ugh. Sorry, that was a dick thing to say. Sounded better in this empty head of mine. Topic shift, I got a new team leader for you for the night crew. Let me add her to the call,” I said, dialing Sarah. I overrode her answer button. “Hello, Sarah, this is Jevon, my second-in-command and the night-shift commander. You are moving to nights. Hurray! Temporary, at least for now.”

“How did you override my answer?” Sarah said while relaxing outside the Xgate.

“Perci will set you up as an admin. You will be able to do the same for your teammates, but not our Gpads. Your new boss is not far away. Disconnecting you so I can finish my conversation.” I removed Sarah from the call. “So what did Nancy and Miguel say?”

“Lavaun and Torrez said shopping was meh. Aliens are assholes who refuse to deal unless they rip you off. The good ones generally are sold out, but they are helping guide them to more purchases. Torrez said he is unable to meet all his armor needs on his list so Nancy is going fortification shield shopping. Mobile ones are five times more expensive so I said to get stationary ones. Have you read up on those devices, Eric?”

“Not much beyond that we can use them as power sources.” My hand rubbed the back of my neck guiltily.

“We cannot fire out of the shielding. They stop fast-moving projectiles going both ways,” Jevon said. He smirked when he saw my disappointment. That man knew me too well. “Slow-moving objects like flapions pass through just fine. Plasma overheats the capabilities of the generator no problem.”

“Is there anything else you want to buy?”

“I have been trying to get my sleep, brother. I finally feel rested. We got time. I will pore over these charts with my night crews for what we can use. I got this handled here. I heard from Lavaun… Nancy… about the tiredness from portal travel. We are fairly certain it is going to the market itself. Others have been in and out of the storage room without fatigue. The moment they go to the market and back to Earth there is a tiredness.”

“Alright, another simple learning lesson. I am going to start stripping trees for these new residents. Gtower is saying no chance of rain in the next twenty-four hours, so I want to get a lot of building done. Have you seen Harvard? I need this new Gtower update broken down and disseminated.”

“He locked himself inside RV1. He has a full team working intel. I think they are focused on the market right now, though. The fact there are so many vendor stations means our chances of bumping into the same aliens twice from the same portal are almost impossible. I will let him compile the data on the market. I’ll dig into the update Linda Growlen brought. By the way, saw the video of the arm. Pretty awesome. I certainly want a nitrogen reactor backpack.”

I sighed, realizing dangling my legs watching new citizens enter was not going to get me the information I needed. RV3 seemed to be a daycare half the time. That was what we had designated the first floor of the mansion for. I glanced over my right shoulder to see Maria with Jasmine and Mary in the park with a dozen other kids. Awesome, I could use the RV for work without any kids playing. I patted Mitchell’s back in a friendly goodbye and went to study what humanity had learned since the Gnet went dead.

When I arrived, I even kicked out Felix from RV3. With minimal distractions, a fresh cup of coffee, a comfy seat, and my feet kicked up on the dash in my favorite seat, I went to work. My file searching in the updated information pinged red. An alert folder was set for priority viewing. Oh, neat. Someone had prepared a briefing.

I clicked the file and a video started to play. I gulped my coffee at what I saw. Serrated metal on the edges of a crater glowed hotly. The destruction was total in a circular laser pattern. The shaky hand holding the camera walked up to the drop-off. The camera aimed down, only able to see a few feet because of the poor lighting. The camera swapped to an upward angle. A circular hole bored miles through the Earth. At the top was a pinprick of our sunny sky.

Wow. I was about to guess that the alien ship did that when a voice picked up on the video.

“Every AI housing unit has been eviscerated. Every underground spaceship project has been removed from existence. We tested the alien mothership by having a team member rebuild the spaceship assembly part. Just the part, mind you. He was vaporized. It has become abundantly clear the mothership is not leaving. I am afraid to tell President Growlen the truth: that we are never leaving through Earth’s orbit.”

The video cut out. I figured as much. The alien lifeform ensuring our quarantine would not let ships leave if we were to be contained. I had no idea they had so much power. The damage was frightening to contemplate. An inner flame burned for vengeance against those who felt righteous enough to kill so many lives. The more I thought about it, the more I rationalized that the mothership must be AI. Or else the aliens doing this would themselves be guilty of the violence they were trying to avoid. This video showed how daunting that task would be to extract our payback.

A new video started. The timestamp was yesterday morning. I did the math by using my fingers and calculated it was over thirty-hours old. A general stood in front of a view screen without a video or image playing. You could hear people filing into the room. There was a call to attention for the president. I chuckled when Linda Growlen could be heard saying to shut the eff up and to start the briefing. She was always grouchy. The screen behind the general lit up with the Gcorp logo.

The famous G faded as a map of the world illuminated. Red blobs covered most of the continents besides the Arctic and Antarctic. Tiny green squares indicated Xgates with white numbering. Blue circles were probably humanity holdouts. Almost every major city was partly or mostly blue in the United States. I was very, very confused. Europe, England, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada were a sea of red. Hell, eighty percent of the map was gone. Why were the United States, Mexico, Russia, and places like Nigeria still mostly blue in its residential areas? The general in front of the screen cleared his throat for attention.

“Disgusting to view how drastically our world has changed. I gazed upon this map with confusion the first time I saw it. The answer: gun laws. You are looking at the direct correlation between gun laws and the ability to self-defend. Sad. So sad that so many underfunded militaries and weaponless civilians were swept aside so thoroughly. This information is being updated from the recon aircraft that are still launching. Unfortunately, we are getting less and less back every day.

“If we focus on North America only, you can see a lot of blue, actually. The problems are so vast I will only go over the major ones. Starting with a semi-positive note, we know the Xgates arrived with a population density correlation. Thankfully, if a zone of humanity is reduced or eliminated, the Xgates don’t shift. This would have been a scenario we could not have survived if the Xgates relocated until humanity was reduced to nothing. Not great news, but better than bad news.

“The Gtowers across the continent are falling. Many went down in the first days. We have pockets of networks. Those pockets are able to organize, rally, and defend better than those unable to use the Gnet. While that is promising news, we have found issues with every local leader. When we ask for supplies, we are denied. Hell, even Senator Olander, who is running the Fort Knox repository, said he did not have enough gold to spare.”

This elicited a chuckle from the group. Even I joined the video in light laughter.

“Some information of the arriving aliens leaked. Enough that a lot of military men not in this room were prepared. While that is fantastic, it leaves us in a bind. They are not our men anymore. I ask them to raid a planet. Denied. I ask for recon of a city to see its supply status. Denied. I think you get the picture here. The United States fell when the Xgates arrived. When our ability to manage troops from a single location vanished, our forces adapted. They are now independent. It is my personal recommendation to help where we can regardless of this revelation.”

Linda Growlen shouted at two people for side-chattering too loudly. When they quieted, she asked, “How do we strike back? I am talking about that mothership by the moon. The Xgate creators or managers.”

“Unknown at this time.”

“How do we improve our fortification here?”

“There is little we can do with our limited resources. It will come down to this trade market. We have compiled a list of aliens seen. However, the trade partners that are in friendly contact have said to expect our portals to be wildly random with millions of options. There are only so many species spread out. As there are variations of humanity there are variations of aliens. The way I understand the situation is that we may encounter a thousand scary bear aliens, as they were aptly named, with each version having variations of each other. The differences may be subtle like fur coloring, or vast such as walking on six paws.”

You could hear Linda give a loud sigh. “Our very survival sounds like it rests on the trade market. Not very hopeful. I hope the briefing two days from now has more pertinent information.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The video cut off.

I sighed. I could imagine sitting in that meeting wanting to rip my hair out. The information was solid. Those with guns were doing better than those without. There were pockets of human resistance capable of persevering. The news that aircraft were flying for recon was amazing. Deciding I needed to let the information sink in, I watched the outside of the RV. Humanity as a whole was not doing very well. Here, though… we were doing better than most. I could smile about that.

There were going to be some very sad people seeing that areas where their loved ones were located were now coated in red. I was not one of those people. Beijing, where my mom was, and Houston, where my dad was, were still blue.

“In order to be transparent, I am going to give you bad news. If you do not want to know how Earth is faring in these drastic times, do not open the file. I do not have information besides the zones where humans are defending themselves. I do not know where your cousin, mom, uncle, or even spouse is. There is no name database file. I simply have the information I am giving out. I wish I had more. To those who do not see what they want to, there is always hope.” - Cap

Nancy would like to see that Syracuse still stood. Jill, who was outside helping new arrivals, would not like what she saw. I secretly hoped she would not open the file and see Australia was almost all red around the cities. Australians were tough bastards, with many blue pockets away from the Xgates. I figured her husband was probably in a red city if he was on a business trip at the time. Jill saw the notice, chose to ignore it, and instead focused on getting the family with three kids an assortment of new clothes. I watched the cute interaction as they did over-the-outside sizing comparisons. The littlest boy saw a shirt of some cartoon he loved; the garment was immediately hugged in a tight embrace. I was smiling watching the boy when a gunshot echoed across our valley.

I leaped into action. The single shot was near the gate.

I knew what had happened based on the gathering around an armored body. I was conflicted. I had not anticipated suicide over putting this news out. I probably should have, though. I saw the distributed information as more of a hopeful scenario. Then again, I had three babes, a comfy bed, and had been through much worse. I arrived over the body to see one of Bradley’s men from the fire station. Denver had only tiny pockets of blue. The million-plus people had been reduced to probably thousands.

The body was stripped of its vital gear, the backhoe dug a pit, and I tossed the body in myself. Another casualty, another marker. Hopefully they found the peace they sought. The event was… lackluster and somber. Not worthy of the man’s life. I would brief Bradley on the incident later and let him hold a service.

Jill found me as I trudged back to RV3. I let her get in step with me.

“I didn’t open the file,” Jill muttered. I went to talk but she shook her head no. She paused me in an open space. “You look good, Eric. Not hitting on you. Just, you appear more vibrant. Did you dye your hair?”

I tilted my head in confusion. I agreed she generally seemed confused. There was no lust in her eyes. I had not dyed my hair or done anything different besides be electrocuted. That had to be it. “Umm. I was shocked by electricity earlier. Maybe it zapped some of my worry lines away. What were you going to say before my wild hair distracted you?”

Jill fidgeted. “I dated Jarod for five years. We have been married for four. I know I am revealing my age somewhat—not afraid to admit I am almost thirty-seven years old. We were giving back-to-back briefings at the University. DU, actually. The lectures were boring, as was Jarod’s briefing I stayed for. We had coffee after, mainly because I felt empathy for the frail geeky man. Jarod was a safe play for me. The chemist with a decent-paying job, boring nightlife, and video game hobbies. All things that would allow for a peaceful home life. My mom would say, what if a tire goes flat or if you need to swap ceiling fans? I learned quickly those things didn't matter. He was my safe, consistent lover, even if he had odd quirks. Not until Mary was born did we have issues. People with a fear of germs require precautions. The 2020 and 2023 pandemics rattled him so hard he was broken with fear of infections. We took those precautions before Mary, and— Oh, I see your twisted face of confusion.

“Mary is IVF. Not saying it was all bad, just trying to get across that Jarod was… hmm… particular. He feared a lot more than germs. He did not have a masculine bone in his body. I doubt he was ever in a fight. When the aliens arrived, I cried so flipping hard I was frightened Mary would see me in such a terrible state. Mary slept through it, but I considered suicide. I regret those thoughts because Mary is beyond happy now. Happiest I have seen her, ever. She has the freedom and interactions I always dreamed of. In my mind, Jarod died. I am fairly certain he died in his hotel room from dehydration while hiding in a closet. If not, he will. If the water stays on he will starve to death, too scared to fight aliens and humans for his next meal. I am grieving still. Mary keeps me strong.”

I let her into the RV first. Perci was sitting at the table going over her new personnel files. I ensured Jill was done talking. I didn’t think she paused due to Perci.

“I lacked a Mary when I went into my depression. I am glad to have her as a daughter, Jill. I appreciate you letting her integrate into our lives,” I said with a hand on her shoulder.

Perci saw the moment, rose from the table, and hugged Jill.

“You are family now. I will kick out Dalila and Felix Delcroy the moment there is space. That way, you can have your own bed and Mary can sleep in the loft,” Perci said while pointing to the full-sized bed over the driver’s cabin.

The two girls went into a back and forth about how it was and was not necessary. I left them to go use the men’s room. My Gpad pinged. It was Torrez. He was coming home with all our weapons, ammo, and armor. I was reviewing the list when I received a call from Nancy.

“Hey, sexy lady,” I said, answering her ring.

“Are you peeing?”

“Yeah, people pee. What can I help you with?”

“I researched that black goo you were saved with otherwise known as ‘The Virum’. Well, I got some information on your new cohosts,” Nancy said with a pause. I let that term sink in. “We need to either accept the symbiotic aliens as a given in our community or contain the spread. They… Hmm… You are not at fault here, Eric. The virum is incredibly invasive. They will slither out of your body when you overproduce to seek new hosts. Stopping them at that point is nearly impossible. I don’t—”

“I wish you were kidding me right now. We have four portals going blue in a few hours and you're telling me I am infected!?”

“Infected? I guess that works. Let me explain. Willow and I are driving home now with a lot more virum vials. Hear me out. Virum live inside a host body. They want their host to be in peak health. With a body full of virum you can sustain wounds that would kill most hosts. That does not include heavy trauma. Think more or less about slowly bleeding out, or a heart attack. You will be able to avoid a lot of deadly situations with virum. Getting blown in half by a tank round, decapitated by a guillotine, or being run over with squished organs, not so much.

“They thrive off of zinc, it is their main source of food… I guess food works here. If you do not feed them zinc, you, the host, will get sick as they starve. If you feed them zinc, they will reproduce and seek new hosts. They will even seek zinc out in the surrounding area and then—”

“Wait, they can live outside of hosts?” I said in astonishment. I had figured moving a few feet would be okay, but she was insinuating something far more diabolical.

“Everything I am learning is from reliable, verified sources. Yes. The moment you vomited your virum, we, as in everyone near you, were infected. While the majority went back into you to reproduce, there will have been millions of microscopic virum heading for new hosts. I tested positive. I was only near the vomit spot for a few minutes. Willow tested positive too. I will start scanning our community when I am home. I am afraid to say that the president and Dr. Gepstein infected everyone with their effort to save you. If that is the case, which I am certain it is, the best course of action is to embrace these virum. We will be healthier, withstand damage better, and will not age… We will actually return to our peak age. With that said, they do not give us harder skin or make us truly immortal. We are still flesh bags of bone, tissue, and blood.”

I rubbed my temples in frustration. I had no idea how to sell this one to the community.

“Eric, I need you to go to a mirror and look into it,” Willow said while putting her head into the video screen.

I turned to face the wall with the sink. The bathroom mirror revealed a younger-looking man. I looked like I was in my mid-twenties. The worry line wrinkles, the gray hair, and battle scars were gone. Well, shit. I liked not having the baby face. At least the scraggly brown beard gave an older look. Hmm…

“Age rejuvenation would help spin this—”

“We do not have enough to have noticeable effects. I am pushing thirty, Eric. My minor aging issues are still present. I would have to ingest this vial of virum. There is a cure, though, but you will not like it. There is a large organism that will eat these. They tend to cause damage to the body when they eventually hunt out all the virum. So…”

“What about the young kids, like Mary?”

Willow popped back into the image. My frustration was placed on hold when I left the bathroom for the kitchen.

“That little girl with the broken arm, she will be fine. Her arm will heal in minutes and she will be in peak optimal health for her age. They change our cells to fit those criteria. At least that is how it was explained. Each species has its own quirks. The chitin-covered humanoid mentioned how the males grew stronger, the queens larger brooding sacks. However interesting that is, we simply do not have human data. They did say that there will not be a rushed growth. Remember that Down syndrome boy? If he were here, he would be cured. I think. That, again, is secondhand information about how deformities were repaired to peak optimal conditions.”

I sighed while spinning around to absorb the information. Was there much downside? No. Was it freaky and very alien? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I looked like a fucking baby-faced party animal again.

“Just to verify… Everyone in the stronghold is likely infected. There are little downsides. You figured I would support the transition and bought more virum to speed the process?”

“Well, zinc is classified as a rare metal, but according to the Gnet, there are two hundred and fifty million metric tons of it. No idea how much that is, but it sounds like a lot. I needed to make a command decision, Eric,” Nancy said while keeping her eyes on the road. “I could have weakened the entire community by killing the virum and then tried to repair the wounded with insufficient resources. Or I could go all-in on the virum. The sun is setting soon and the golden portal stops in seven hours, blue portals in eight. As much as I feel I should apologize, I know I shouldn’t. This is not my fault or your fault. I can say I’m glad I am not you. People will not like this. Especially after you showed them humanity barely survived the first portals.”

I closed the connection, squeezing my eyes shut in agitation. I went for RV3. Perci and Jill were sitting side by side reviewing documents. I saw they were starting to assign the new people to work details. I went over to the radio for Aspen Stronghold.

“This is Mansion actual for Aspen actual, over,” I said into the mic.

“Aspen actual, go.”

“Stronghold Mansion has been infected with a super slime called virum. It helps reduce aging, fixes wounds, and eats zinc. The president’s doctor gave it to our community. Which, if you have not updated your Gpad, you should do so. I just overrode the classified information on the Gtower. Back to virum. We are infected. The symbiotic creature requires zinc. I expect at some point for it to spread to you and yours. I will send you the data we received from an alien booth. I am going to embrace this. The alternative will leave us too weak with a new portal spawning.”

There was silence on the radio for half a minute.

“Understood. There is a cure, but it weakens you.”

“Correct, more like it damages your body and then you need different alien tech to heal you that is more expensive. Mansion, over,” I said, placing the radio in the RV bookshelf it called home.

“We have a big science team here. Surprise! The Aspen rich were mostly top-of-their-field doctors. I will have them sort through the data. Thanks for the warning; expect no trading for now. Aspen out.”

“Um…” Perci said with big doe eyes.

“Are you okay?” Jill asked, joining the concern.

“You are infected too. So—”

“Wait, what!?” Perci said, looking at her Gpad’s medical information. “I am not seeing anything different on my charts.”

“Too soon. You need more zinc to let the virum reproduce. Check out my hair,” I said, and heard loud gasps.

“The gray, it's gone. I thought you were just slightly better looking than earlier today because of lust,” Perci said with a smirk and a palms-up gesture.

“I knew I sensed something different earlier.” Jill ran her hands down her small chest, over her belly, and then slapped her hips. “Huh, I wonder if I will go back to my pre-baby body. Love Mary, but…”

“Wait, you want this?” I asked Jill.

“If the downside is slim, I see no reason to panic,” Jill said with a shrug. “If I am suddenly feeling like I am twenty again I will notice, as will others. Telling Aspen means you intend to tell our community, correct?”

I nodded with a clenched jaw. I dialed into every Gpad within Gtower range.

“Earlier today, I died. I was treated as a test subject. If you think either was fun, you are wrong. To restore my life, a vial of alien healing material was used. We learned the substance is called virum. Virum is contagious. We can cure it if we choose so, but we will not with the next blue portal spawn so near. Virum will make the best you that it can. Right now, we are aware of minimal side effects if you have enough zinc. Which we do. I am just learning of this, and I am sorry for another information dump of what some might term bad news. Everyone will be okay. The kids will not have negative side effects. We will get through this together. For the community. Cap out.” - Cap

I sat beside Perci, who leaned into me.

“I am going to get Mary. Come, Felix,” Jill said, and the bulldog followed her out of the RV.

“What are you going to do?”

“Torrez is coming home. Get everyone in kickass armor with new weapons. Then figure out these shields. Most of our shopping is done. Rotate into a sleep shift so everyone can be ready for the next blue activations.”

“Sounds like a plan; how about we go wait at the gate for Torrez? I think the troops will shun you the least.”

“I feel my scars fading already, and I have a lot of scars. I doubt many veterans will be sad to see their body improve,” I said with a light chuckle.

“What does this mean for babies, I wonder?” Perci said. I rolled my eyes. “What!? Okay, I may be a tad obsessed.”

“Come on my dashing little minx. Let’s go meet our crews as they come home,” I said.

We left the RV hand in hand. A few sad stares shifted our direction. I had little choice but to ignore their concern and focus on getting ready for our next challenge.

CHAPTER 5

There is a certain thrill a warrior experiences when trying on new armor. I liked to imagine that a knight back in medieval times would give a similar grin. The chitin armor clinked as the covers were assembled. I only had the upper half assembled before I gave up on the armor. While the large-scaled armor was light, flexible, and durable, it was also clunky and time consuming to set up on the first fitting. My nitrogen power plant afforded a higher tier of armor.

Torrez and Felix were still setting out gear into the dining hall on sectioned tables. I went over to where he was placing the better gear. Nancy and Willow were talking in hushed tones until I arrived.

“Hello, ladies, you both look lovely,” I said, and meant it. Their hair was radiant, their skin blemish-free, and they blushed with adorable smiles. “Damn, you almost look—”

“Younger,” Nancy said. She pulled an empty vial from between her busty cleavage. I grinned watching the tube slide out of her yummy boobs. Nancy placed her face into Willow’s bust. The soft kissing of her lips produced a small bar of blueish-silver metal that was extracted from Willow’s blue bra. I knew the girls were teasing me. “Eric, hold out your human hand.”

Willow plucked the bar out of Nancy’s teeth and gingerly placed the bar onto my palm. A seam split open on my hand. I frowned from the lack of pain. If I were not watching my skin parting with my eyes, I would not believe it was happening. A trail of black goo swam forward.

“Woah, you are loaded up,” Willow said with widened eyes.

The bar of zinc was consumed. Yes, consumed—it was the word that fit best. The outer layer of the zinc was peeled back. A trail of zinc led into my hand. The smaller bar sat there while the virum returned to their home. The cut closed when they visibly vanished. Hmm…

“Now, in a few hours, the young will escape for a new host. Just like your palm, you will never feel them leaving. I wish there was more to it but there isn’t. We had zinc already on our shelves in the storage room. I converted it all to smaller bars while buying more.” Nancy pointed to a wooden box the size of a fully stacked pallet. The container weighed down the back of the truck. “The community should not get sick if zinc is nearby. However, if they have the zinc on their bodies, it will facilitate the process quicker. Your call.”

I clapped my hands thinking about the perfect example to be made. “Bring an elderly patient down. Most, if not all, of our teams should be inside the stronghold. A live demonstration will hopefully alleviate many fears.”

“Okay, armor first, though,” Willow said while placing her power plant on her back.

Torrez was chatting with Felix and noticed us going for the gear. He waved while jogging over from the open trailer that was mostly unloaded.

“First things first, almost all this gear is self-explanatory. I did buy something special for the officers slash nobles. I was kind of rushed Cap. I promise next time I will get more awesome gadgets, gizmos, and advanced trinkets. For now I got sleeves. They are in this box right here,” Torrez pushed and scooted a large wooden box that scraped over the gravel floor. I went to help but he waved me off. “Doesn’t weigh much. Alright, in my brief research I found that there is encasing armor, single rider tanks, large machines you can pilot, shielding generators, and so much more. These caught my eye mainly because of our cybernetics and they were available at the first vendor I found.”

“Uh… Torrez, I feel woefully underprepared now that you’re telling me this,” I said eyeing the man with a grimace. “Are you saying there is a lot of advanced technology that can easily defeat us?”

“Cap, this is the wild west of planets hooked together. The trade bazaar is so large and with so many variables it… Short answer, yes Cap, we will not be able to defeat a lot of threats even with these upgrades,” Torrez said filling his cheeks with air and letting out a long huff. “I wish I could have gotten more. We actually have more buying power with resources on shelves but we got a good haul and this will be a nice starting point. The other thing I encountered was I was asked if I prayed to the Gate Gods. I would say no, then be told to move along or be allowed to stay.”

Perci nudged up beside me slinging an arm around my hips. She tapped her chin and said, “We have had mutterings inside here about the same thing. Is this divine interactions at work? Or is it sadistic aliens. Nothing to the point where people want a shrine, or they want training dummies constructed out of Xgate shapes,” Perci said with a concerned frown. “I guess if we start producing say, rabbits. Are we going to restrict to whom we sell them to? Do we avoid selling to everyone out of the fact one day we might face them? I can see why you met some resistance.”

“Yeah, humans also have a history Cap. Not a good one either. Our ancestors are right bastards from what I have been told,” Torrez said crossing his arms.

“I can only imagine. We have been at this for a week plus. We have not seen horrors untold. I think back to a time when humanity was altered by their desires of conquest, greed, and villainy. We consider it villainy now since we reached an enlightened stage of our evolution,” I said removing Perci’s arm to inspect inside the box. A quick glance revealed very little besides there were six items that were long and rectangular. “Aggressive human behavior was beyond common in the early days of man. I imagine, and obviously this is hypothetical, that our ancestors have evolved into something new. Perfect killing machines adapted to Xgates. I would like to talk to some. Hell, I want to get on the good side of Winston and learn about all the different types of species that can arrive from that gate. We have a lot to do though. Demonstration of that box please Torrez.”

“Come here Perci,” Torrez said and Perci left my side. “You too Willow, and Nancy.”

I stepped back and sat on the nearest bench. My elbows rested on my knees and my chin in my palms.

“These will leave marks okay. You will heal the damage they imprint without magical alien healing. So, that means, to me at least, there will be pain depending on your tolerance,” Torrez said. He opened the box and pulled out a flat rectangular compress of some sort. The material and device were vary alien. “The advanced sleeves are exactly that. They enhance what you already have. This alien technology is different to say the least. Basically I open this material, you slide your arm through and presto, you now have a basic version of what Cap has. Metallic over-arms that are more powerful and sturdy than your natural arms. Eventually I would like to buy power suits and what not but this was easy, fairly cheap, and a good start. I tested it on my arm at the dealer. Worked great but I felt no pain so I am not sure if I got a demo version. Who’s first?”

Willow and Nancy stuck an arm out together. I stood off the bench walking over to Torrez who handed me a flat device wrapped in cloth. I unwrapped the flat device and saw an opening. With a slight pressure on the sides I created a diamond. My eyes focused on my task. I slid the sleeve over Willows arm up until it reached her shoulder.

“Do I just let go?” I asked Torrez.

“Yup, the tech does the rest,” Torrez replied. “These were the cheapest basic model. They have a bit opening with different lengths to adjust to the wide array of species limbs. See done, No pain right.”

I released the device, it shrank to Willow’s contours with a grinding noise, followed by a hiss of air. I watched her studying the covering sinking into her skin and muscles. The excess converted itself into armor of a sort. A black shoulder cap is where most of the extra went. The main color was black, clear crystalline sections, and a nice yellow trim. When the device settled and she appeared fine I readied the next sleeve. With both on, I helped Perci equip hers.

“Is there more?” I asked seeing the bottom of the box.

“Um… Cap… Sorry,” Torrez said digging around looking for another box. “Either I got swindled or bought fewer than I thought by a zero at the end, or I left a box in storage. This box had six at least, I was sure I bought sixty.”

“We make lemons out of lemonade. Everyone is learning at this point Torrez. Ladies how do the feel? Actually knock out some pushups,” I ordered.

The three girls went to the ground, backs straight, and preformed pushups with ease.

“I don’t feel like superwoman, but these are nice. They make me feel powerful, not overly powerful. They also feel natural somehow,” Willow said with a corner smile. “Mine synced into my power plant and are glowing blue.”

“Yeah, I feel normal, maybe a little stronger. I think we need to power them with our power plants,” Nancy said. “Neat to see her crystal clear sections give off that teal shine. I guess we need to put on our generators. Thank you for these Torrez.”

“Yes, thank you,” Perci said.

“My work here is done, I need to go over everything on my items list. I think I made a mistake and want to double check things. If you can’t figure out the shields let me know, take care,” Torrez said returning to chat with Felix.

“Alright ladies, I got my power plant on. Let’s get these shields working,” Willow said confidently.

Nancy gave her a curious eyebrow raise, but followed her lead. Perci slung a power plant onto her back also. The woman struggled a bit due to her small size. I decided to help the ladies first. There were dual arms with circles on the end that were attached to the power supply. The metal frame was the same dull gray as my weapons, while the outer edging had a flat yellow. The jutting metal that curved like horns snaked power cables to the power packs. Blue energy flared into a bright light. With Perci’s upper-back shield set, I hooked up Willow’s and then Nancy’s.

My hands went to the box for longer arms or separate power packs to cover the rest of their awesome bodies. All I found were circle devices about the width of a hockey puck, but slightly larger. With a shrug, I slapped one to Nancy’s juicy booty. She gave an “Oh!” while letting me work. A tiny tendril shot for the power plant. The shield extender acted exactly like my weapons with a direct connection. The tendril now knew where the power was so it snaked along the contours of Nancy's body to avoid getting caught on any objects.

As much fun as I was having playing with the contours of Nancy’s delicious body, the other girls grew bored. Willow and Perci started setting the shield pucks to their armor gaps. I placed one on each of Nancy’s knees and then two more on her tummy.

“How do they turn—”

“Think of the shield being on,” Torrez yelled while unloading additional gear.

The blue shimmer of shielding erupted around Nancy. I chuckled when there was a small gap mid-breasts. She disabled the device and I reattached the stomach pucks higher. The shielding flared to life again.

“Ready to test it?” I asked.

“Nothing too drastic,” Nancy said with a wince.

My fist was already cocked back. I unleashed an empowered punch. A loud clang sounded as my metal hand crashed into what felt like a brick wall. Nancy’s feet dug in from the impact, which threatened to send her backward. I mocked another powerful blow.

Instead of a punch, I let my hands gently slide through her shield. I grasped both of her big tits and honked them. Nancy lunged for me. I braced for a wrestling match. I may have totally misread the situation. I was tackled, sure, but then horny, lustful kisses landed on my neck.

My eyes flicked to Willow and Perci for help. They were joyfully gazing down on us. Nancy’s hands started to roam. She stopped kissing me to lock her blue eyes to mine. Yeah, I guess it was that time. The armor could wait. I raced to my feet. Nancy pouted. She went to complain but was silenced when I slung her over my shoulder. I gave some friendly waves while hauling Nancy to RV3. Perfectly normal for a man to be hauling a babe like a caveman.

I used the back door to throw Nancy onto the bed. She rushed out of her clothes. I paused to enjoy the show; Nancy was a dynamite blonde. Her large full breasts bounced free as her bra was unclasped. She shimmied out her panties to reveal a fire-red pubic line.

Huh, never knew that.

A finger asked me to look up instead of at her small pussy lips that were swelling with desire. When I did shift my gaze upward, I found Nancy biting her lip.

We never said a word. I stripped naked as fast as I could and lunged onto her. We kissed passionately until our bodies entwined. Her moist pussy greedily accepted my large cock as I slid in slowly. She widened her hips while pulling me down. I dove deep into her. She moaned out loudly when my hilt was fully embedded.

I let her determine what she wanted. The way her legs wrapped my hips told me she wanted deep and sensual. We kissed passionately while our bodies fought to get in sync. I desired rougher sex while she controlled her hips to slow my speed. When we did sync up, she was ready to swap positions. I was rolled onto my back.

Nancy glanced at her Gpad. She grinned with a twinkle in her eye. The sensual sex suddenly stopped. She buried her head to my chest while arching her back to lift her hips. Her ass slapped straight up and down while she squeezed my cock. The feeling was unbelievably tight. Her clamp was euphoric. Her drip trailed down my balls as she worked my cock into a climax. I bit into a pillow as I felt myself nearing.

“Okay, get off,” I muttered, trying to control my release.

She bounced her ass intensely. The dots connected at that point. She saw me attempting to adjust so I could pull out. Nope. She sat upright and locked my hips down. I couldn’t contain it any longer and climaxed in her. I grasped her large tits tightly as I shuddered with my release. With my cock pumping inside of her, a mischievous grin spread over Nancy’s face. She leaned down until her warm, large tits squeezed against my hairy chest. Nancy’s lips connected to mine in a long passionate kiss.

“Go get Perci,” I said.

You would think asking for another woman after sex might offend the woman who currently had your cock inside her. Not Nancy. She winked with that teasing smile. I should have realized why her eyes twinkled earlier. I plopped out when Nancy left to get dressed. A kiss goodbye was brief but sweet.

Nancy left with a quick closing door. I watched out the window as she skipped to Perci over at the communal dining hall. Perci looked confused. She high-fived Nancy before they did a celebratory hip check. I waited for it. The joy was short-lived. Perci pointed at Nancy with a stern finger. Yup, she told her. Perci came storming over to our RV. I made the right call.

I hid behind the door while I used my hand to stroke my cock to semi-erect. Perci burst to yell at me. My hidden spot was discovered too late. I picked my little minx up to slam her onto the bed. I tore her yoga pants off. Literally shredded them off her body.

“Yes, master! Give me a baby!” Perci moaned out in desire.

She propped her knees up to kneel. I wet her tiny pussy before diving in. She screamed with pleasure into the pillow while I slammed into her small, firm ass. I fucked her from behind for a good ten minutes with her begging for more of my big cock. When I finally erupted into her tiny slit, I was exhausted. I watched her little pussy drip my white cum ever so slowly. I went to collect all the pillows. I built a tall stack beside Perci. She flipped over quickly while thrusting her hips up onto the pillow stack. This had been our routine. We would have sex, then prop her hips up. We timed the rotation with the elevation perfectly.

“I love you, Eric. Thank you for ordering Nancy to get me, as odd as it sounds. That was very endearing. I… I hope this works,” Perci said while I dressed. “Now, go gear up. The elderly are already being dragged down from the second floor of the mansion to see if they become young again.”

“Yes, ma’am—hopefully, momma soon,” I said while giving her a sweet kiss goodbye. “Love you, Perci.”

“Love you, Eric.”

I exited the RV in need of a shower. Our bedroom would probably need to air out once Perci’s ten-minute hip elevation was over. I walked to the dining building with a massive smirk on my face. Jill propped a hand up to give me a high five as we passed. Our palms smacked; too late I realized I had not wiped my hand clean. Jill looked at her hand with a cringe of grossness. My mind shouted “Don’t do it!” but my lips stayed shut as she brought her hand to her nose. She smelled the cum with a grin. Oh… Okay… I watched her wipe it on her rear while giving me a tsk-tsk with her finger.

Willow hip-checked me upon arrival. “Did you just give Jill’s hand a partial bedroom load?”

“Yeah, super did. Well, Perci and Nancy contributed. Give me five minutes if you want a go!” Willow pulled some arm hairs at my joking statement. I yelped.

“We need to talk about this silly virum—they counter birth control. They increase their hosts' production rates to have additional hosts to embody. Adults making babies is their goal, if that makes sense,” Willow said while pulling up the virum information. Offspring rates up to five hundred percent! She saw my eyes widen. “Yeah, that high. Not only will all the women actively trying to become pregnant succeed… well…”

She pulled up a stat. Females will seek mating partners they would have not considered before. I instantly thought of Bonnet and how she was a lady player. Would this make her settle down? We were fairly even on our guy-to-girl ratio at the moment. I pulled up the data: 1400 people with 1017 adults. There was an extra thirty-three women. Oh… At least we would not have men killing each other for mates. I returned to the virum data to read that it discourages violence and was encouraging toward love. The concept was to have fewer deaths with more babies. I could understand that.

A hand waved in front of my Gpad. My eyes darted to see Torrez.

“You ready, boss?” Torrez said while handing me a backpack.

“Huh?”

Torrez pointed to the backpack. I guess I was testing my own armor before dealing with virum testing.

“Your arm will power your weapons. This will power your shields—at least, I think so. Since you have two power sources you will have more shielding than the rest of us. Also, no fucking chance are my legs swapping to nitrogen power plants. The last thing I need is to go raiding on a nitrogen-poor planet and then need to be carried home,” Torrez said with pats of his cybernetic legs. I could agree with the sentiment. If my arm lost power and I was unable to charge it, then I would have a useless arm. Exactly the same as the boat trip home from Saudi. I would be short an arm. Having no legs, that would be near torture. “Ugh, you finally start getting laid and I see you staring at my legs with empathy. You’re ready for this. I expect your power plant in your arm to sync with the backpack.”

I pushed my arms through the straps. The device connected the straps across the front. Torrez, Willow, and Nancy stepped back as a loud hum turned into crackling energy. I winced with eyes closed expecting to be electrocuted again. Nothing like that happened. The hairs on the back of my neck lifted as the pack erupted an arcing beam of power into my arm. There was a gravitational pull on the bright light that forced me to tilt. A pop sound echoed across the valley. The backpack’s power plant shut down with a whine.

“Hmm…” Torrez said with a pause. “I was not expecting that. There were some spare cables. Give me a moment. Lavaun, get a vial of that goop ready to save me if I go flying from the discharge. Actually, how about we go to the field over there for this part.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said hesitantly. This amount of power we were toying with spooked me.

The walk was short. Torrez hooked into the backpack power plant first. When there was no explosion of power he turned the device back on by clicking the button in the center of the strap connection. The backpack flared to life angrily. Torrez bounded in long leaps away when the backpack started crackling. The cable shot into my arm stabilizing the connection. A gentle hum let me breathe out a sigh of relief.

“Ha, I knew that would happen,” Torrez said with a swagger in his step.

“Bullshit,” I replied with a chuckle. “Okay, I attached the shield extending pucks to spots on Nancy. I have no idea how they stayed in place.”

“Magical science works,” Torrez said. He added two to the back of my butt, two to my knees, and two on my chest. The arms were installed to the backpack.

He stepped back to give me space. I imagined the shield on and a hexagonal blue shimmer surrounded me. My boots were exposed. I turned the shield off with a thought and Torrez fetched two more shield extenders. They were placed on my feet over the toes. I waited for him to get distance before reactivating the shield.

I stuck my cybernetic palm out as far to my right as I could.

“You sure?” Torrez asked. “I know we did this before but people might think we're a bit loco.”

“We are very loco, my friend,” I said with a sadistic smirk. “Now shoot me.”

“You asked for it,” Torrez said with a cackle.

“Cover ears!” I shouted to a confused community.

Torrez whipped out his sidearm and fired ten rounds at my palm. Every pop of a discharge was met with a smacking sound. The rounds smashed against the shield and fell to the ground.

“This is super fucking bad news,” I muttered. The shield never even wavered.

“We have more powerful weapons now. This is a 9mm. I watched the marines that fought those thirty-foot-tall aliens. They… it…” Torrez said in frustration. The pain etched his twisted face with furled brows. “We are lucky we made it to the grand market. We should stand a fighting chance now if we face a superior opponent that would have rolled us.”

“I agree. Sad times. Okay, how about we see if we can make old people young again now that you are done shooting your commander?” I said with a smirk.

“Hey, again, you asked for it,” Torrez said. He went to smack my back and hit my shield. He performed the motion slower this time and his arm slid through the shielding. “Going to need more testing. We can activate these around an inert box, though. They will shield just about anything on a small scale. After seeing my hand glide in with ease, maybe a long dagger should be equipped to standard gear sets.”

Jevon rolled through the gate with a long convoy. Every truck, trailer, and roof was filled with building parts. That should be the last of our community outside the wire. I waited for them to stop before going to help offload plywood. I gazed over the stockpiled supplies. Wow, we were going to build far more than four longhouses. Maybe fifteen or twenty. We worked for half an hour until the sun fully set before the last of the wood was offloaded.

The mansion broadcast its bright spotlights onto the area directly in front of the large home. I saw an old man in a gurney. I had no idea who he was. When I neared the wheeled bed, Nancy handed me a swirling black vial.

“I’m Cap. Your name, sir?” I asked, looking down at the old man. His wrinkles were so old they had faded, his skin blotched, and his brown eyes sunken. I was surprised whoever brought this man here did so with his gurney.

“Gerald, my son, you look so young.” His vision shifted in confusion, or maybe he was dizzy. I was never going to get his permission to do this. Better to beg for forgiveness.

I popped the cap off. Jevon grasped my forearm. “I know everyone getting infected was not your fault. If this man dies, you will lose a lot of support,” Jevon said while we shifted to view the gathered crowd. Hundreds of people crowded to see what would happen. I put a hand on Jevon’s shoulder.

A slice on my index finger widened. A trail of goo slithered out my fingertip, along my friend’s neck, and into his ear. I squeaked while ineffectively trying to stop the spread. Jevon never felt anything besides me trying to swat his neck.

“What are you doing?” Jevon asked in irritation.

A fake smile spread on my face. “There was a bug on your neck,” I said, failing to mention the complete story.

Jevon rubbed his neck while casting a side-eye of irritation. “I actually want my aching joints to feel better. But this public display is dangerous.”

I pointed to Willow, Nancy, and Slister. “The medical team says this will help him. I have to trust those around me,” I said, removing my hand from Jevon. I turned to the old man. “Time for your medicine. Please open your mouth.”

The old man was used to those words. His mouth popped ajar. I dipped the vial until the contents shot out for his mouth. There was no natural gravity falling where a liquid would bend from pouring. The contents left the vial so quickly I was stunned. I looked into the tube. Yeah, that was stupid. The tiny little blotch of remaining virum leaped onto my eye. While I could see, and while I reacted, I felt nothing.

The old man, though… He was twisting and turning. He flatlined. Then his heart kicked back on. Flatlined. Steady beat. To say the moment was nerve wracking was an understatement. He must have died a hundred times before his heart stopped cutting out. I smelt fresh shit, realization of what happened dawning on me. The man groggily turned his head toward me.

“Food, water. Water, food. Where is my son?”

People clapped. I breathed a sigh of relief. He had less dementia and was requesting sustenance. I guess we would have to watch the scenario play out. Jacky walked up next to me.

“For the community!” she bellowed, and downed a vial with her right hand. Then a second vial with her left. If she overdosed, the virum should just find a new host.

Willow glanced at her mom, then to me. I shrugged. Willow shrugged back. Nancy grinned.

Unlike the decrepit old man, Jacky was forty-four. Even though she was twice Willow’s age, she hardly appeared over thirty-five. The woman smiled while hastily stuffing her face with food. She then chugged a giant pitcher of water. When that was finished she raced for the interior of the Mansion like she needed to pee. Willow walked up to me.

“What happened?” Willow asked, and Nancy pinched her bum. “What, mistress?”

Those two words resulted in my pants tightening. Nancy cackled with delight. She said, “I asked Jacky if she wanted to look twenty again. She studied how I went from looking thirty to twenty, then signed herself up for the dramatic reveal. You need protein and liquids to convert the changes quicker. Cap here took hours doing it the long way. See, here she comes.”

“Fuck me!” Willow and I blurted out.

Jacky came sauntering out. She looked almost identical to Willow now. Gone were the signs of aging; they were replaced with taut skin, vibrant hair, and blemish-free skin. There were shrieks of joy from the older women. Jacky hugged Nancy and then her daughter. She then ran with arms in the air screaming to Mrs. Moore in her victory. Jevon deflated; his mom was about to be young again. She was already sassy and confident. We both started laughing as everyone besides the kids grew excited.

I saw the old man eating a snack slowly. I had seen enough. A glance at my Gpad showed seven hours until the next blue portal activation.

“Jevon, you have command. Send everyone to sleep that you can. Prepare for a double shift at activation. I am showing a 6:30 to 7 A.M. window,” I said with a grunt.

“I have command. I expect a lot of these new arrivals to want to work through the night to get their homes built,” Jevon said to the dispersing crowd.

“I plan on helping them. Merely want to tuck the weapons away and the armor off to do so,” I said while fleeing his side for Willow. The poor girl was trying to get a word in with her mom when I scooped her up. “Come spend some time with me, my love.”

“Ugh. You see how pretty she is,” Willow said with a sigh. Her face was flustered red.

“Every day since I met you.”

“You are too damn charming. Fine, but we are using the shower in the RV. Even if it is tiny, you stink,” Willow said. I carried her to the RV, just the two of us. I glanced over my shoulder to see Jill getting a vial from Nancy with excitement. “So it begins. I will miss being the youngest hottie.”

She let me strip off her power plant carrier, armor, and weapons. I slid them one at a time into the loft. I watched her mope for a moment as she converted the table to a bed. I slung my weapons to join hers while removing my back power plant.

“Willow, I love you. Not things about you, or how awesome you are. I love you. The wonderful woman who ran away with me, transitioned into a soldier, and—”

Her lips smacked into mine with a hunger. I closed the RV door as we tore at each other’s clothes. I hated that stupid fucking hatch to open the RV bathroom.

“Hold on, Eric, before you break it,” Willow said while deftly popping the clasp open.

“Oh, your fingers are so talented,” I said. I felt dumb at the cheesy line after. Not that it mattered. Willow spun the shower to on, ripped my pants down, and slung me into the shower. My clothes got soaked as I was nowhere near naked. “What has gotten into you? I like the fire in your eyes.”

I scrambled to get out of my wet clothes. Failed. The boots were locked into my pants. I used my cybernetic arm to shred my drenched shirt. Fuck it, I’ll turn it into a cape or something. While I struggled, Willow stripped with glee. Her large, bouncy tits squished into my chest while she attacked my lips. Water cascaded everywhere into the tiny bathroom.

Willow dropped to her knees to lick the underside of my cock seductively. Her wet pink hair and bright blue eyes were a marvel.

“That is not getting any harder!” I said to her with a smirk.

“Pin me against the wall with a choking grasp, then fuck me until it hurts. Now, master!” Willow demanded.

My hand clasped around her neck. I lifted her in the small space. Willow was fairly tall for a woman so her feet dragged as I struggled to rotate us with my pants around my boots. I managed the maneuver and slammed her against the wall with just the right amount of pressure. She reached for my cock as she slid down. I thrust up into her, feeling her tunnel welcoming my large dick. She bit her lip. Her blue eyes bore into me while she moaned. I released my hold to see her bruised neck healing.

With the water flowing over our entwined bodies, we fucked intensely. It was animalistic in nature. I became lost in my thrusts while her nails dug into my back. Willow was a screamer.

She was on repeat with, “Fuck me, master! Slam your huge cock into my tight little pussy, master. I am your dirty little slut, master!”

I never let up as I pushed harder and deeper. She came so hard I was certain people sleeping in Aspen miles away heard her scream. I went to pull out to join her when she clamped down with her legs onto my hip. Oh shit. I couldn’t— I tried to escape— I failed. My third nut of the day exploded into Willow, who chuckled with glee.

“That was amazing,” Willow exclaimed.

We kissed passionately before I left her in the shower solo. I sat on the toilet with the seat closed to finally free my pants from my ankles. “Damn, Willow, I love the dirty talk. I think the information on the virum underestimated how horny humans would get. You went from no babies to forcing me to cum in you.”

“I couldn’t fucking help it. My heart was going crazy to feel you dripping out of me. I am even…” She showed me her ovulating status. “So are Nancy and Perci. She is going to be pissed if we succeed and she did not.”

“I don’t see that happening. I think we were infected with the love bug. Sure, it heals, reduces aging, and cures issues,” I said, finally plopping my second boot off, “but it is messing with our minds. This means there is a part of me that wants to kill the virum the expensive and tedious way the first chance I can. I need a sane mind. Unless there is a swing in desire once you become pregnant. Then I might keep it, because there are a lot of benefits. I don’t know if the virum is even letting me think straight. I do know I am sexed out. I want a nap but there is so much work to do.”

“You are going to need new clothes, lover boy,” Willow said with a twist of my nipple.

I grabbed a towel from a rack up top to dry off with. I wrapped the towel around my hips when there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” Willow asked before I opened the door.

“Jill. Since the RV stopped rocking, I figured you were done. Super hot, by the way. All us older ladies who are young again started fanning ourselves. Holy shit, I can’t believe I said that out loud,” Jill said from behind the door. Willow wrapped up in a towel. I opened the door to see a younger Jill facing me with hunger in her eyes. My body was being devoured as her gaze scanned my chiseled torso. She wanted to run a hand down my body but yanked it back in time. “Ugh, I am losing impulse control. I brought a vibrator. Out of the shower. My turn.”

She came through the doorway with my jaw agape. Okay, this was going to be an issue. Or was it? I was super conflicted about the virum right now.

“Jill, what did you even knock on the door for?” I asked as Jill rummaged through a bag in the loft. No way! She was not actually digging for a vibrator. She was definitely looking younger. Willow pushed me forward with an eye roll as I was caught checking out Jill’s shapely butt. “Jill, what did you need?”

“I bet Mary found it and buried Mr. Unicorn in the sand. Kids, I tell ya, can’t keep anything nice. The old guy is young again. Former Iraq soldier from the first Gulf War. He is looking for orders from his new commander. He is handsome. Jacky called dibs, though.”

Willow scoffed. She twirled her hair to look out the RV window. I could hear the sound of twangy music. A celebration was underway by the Mansion’s porch. Jacky was dancing with a handsome man about five-seven with blonde hair and blue eyes. I chuckled until I got a death stare.

“This is all your fault,” Willow blurted.

I went to soothe her when Jill crackled in triumph in the loft.

“Found it,” Jill said while wielding a large pink dildo with a vibrator on the tip. “Even has the heated throbbing option. Oh, please, Willow, don’t blush from this little thing. We all know how amazing ‘master’s huge cock’ is.”

I couldn’t hold my laughter in. Willow left for the bedroom while I held my belly-aching laugh. Jill squeezed my peck on her way into the shower. She paused to catch my attention and mouthed “Be thinking of you.” before closing the door.

My eyebrows shot up. There was a slight temptation. I liked Jill as a friend. She was someone I felt comfortable around. I was not sure how to handle her openly flirting. Perci, Willow, and Nancy all loved her. At the same time, my bed was full. I’d literally need a bigger bed if I wanted to add another babe into it.

I sighed, realizing it was too late to fix the problem this rotation. Maybe a bunch of sexually fulfilled people would work harder, fight better, and cause fewer issues. That was my prevailing thought as I went to get dressed. Again.

CHAPTER 6

The longhouses were going up quickly with the new tools Gary and his construction team purchased. The purchase of an auto-nailer was almost as awesome as the board creator. The auto-nailer was not a new concept; the difference here was that we could stick a high-carbon steel bar into the back of the device. The bar would be ingested as the trigger was squeezed. We had dozens of these now, along with a whole pallet of bars. I had never seen plywood go up so quickly.

The interior walls were the priority. The exterior structure tended to use the rounded part of the half walls. As the interior walls were secured, a mudding team was finding holes and gaps on the exterior. Mind you, this was not drywall mudding—actual mud to fill unwanted entry points. There were plenty of windows and doors to let in the fresh air.

The next machine was amazing. Gary called it the “tree processor.” I was miffed there was nothing fancy with the name. He tapped his translator, blaming the device when I asked why the name was so basic. The design reminded me of a fifteen-foot-tall wood chipper with a massive mouth. There were saws, claws, and flat blades. On top of the machine was a stool built for a larger species. You would operate the claw and drag the tree to the mouth. The options for the machine were incredibly advanced; when I studied them, I quickly became confused. Gary swatted my hands when I tried to mess with the interface pad.

He had the machine set exactly the way he wanted it. When a tree went in, multiple ten-foot-long four-by-fours came out. The man had the foresight to buy a concrete rover. You could add aggregates or it could collect them for you, same with the water. Since it required cement to be manually added, we had a crew following a building-shaped droid named Grinder with supplies to keep it stocked up.

With these new tools, production skyrocketed. Dig a hole. Brace the four-by-four. Grinder the droid fills the holes with quick-dry cement. Support beams and trusses are nailed to complete the frame, with plywood crews following behind. I worked into the early morning helping where I could. The progress was amazing. We completed from start to finish five longhouses, with more partially done. The Cornerstore residents had somewhere to sleep tonight. I worked in tandem with them to ensure they were not neglected; I could only imagine what they were going through. Being there for them felt like the right thing to do. I felt the weight of the long day dragging me down so I said my goodbyes. When I retired for the night, I did so knowing I had improved the lives of our citizens.

I awoke an hour before the gate was due to flare blue with new planets to explore. I had fallen asleep in my comfy passenger chair that I had only meant to check reports in. Apparently my desire to get some actual sleep overrode my need to lay with my ladies. When I stretched out of the chair, I carried my gear for war. Dalila was spooned with Felix on the table bed. Felix the dog snored from the driver’s seat. Jill was snuggled by Mary in the loft.

I barely managed to get the RV door open while hauling a power plant bag, two alien weapons, and my sidearm. If the bag did not neatly hold the shield extender pucks, it would have been impossible. My feet gingerly touched the stairs down, and I twisted the handle to close the door quietly.

Fairly confident I escaped without disturbing anyone, I inhaled a big whiff of the morning air. The ground was covered in droplets of dew. The sun was blasting light high into the sky with orange hues while still hiding below the horizon. Thin clouds swirled, birds chirped and trilled their early morning songs ready to greet the day, and our single rooster belted out an annoying call.

The night crews were still working hard. Instead of giving them a long study, I walked over the stone path for the community dining hall. People were prohibited from crowding the kitchen inside the mansion ever since this area was established. All food and drink were staged here so the cooks could work effectively. I passed the morning grub to gear up, setting my items on a park picnic table.

Jevon found me while I was equipping my power plant bag. The man gave a yawn. Jevon had lost the scar on his cheek—even the missing chunk of his left ear had been replaced. The man was handsome, but now he had his young dashing looks again. I guess I had lost my ruggedly handsome appearance too.

“Morning,” Jevon said while seating himself at the bench. Bonnet, Becca, and Sarah followed behind him. Jevon was handed a plate of new fruit with green eggs!

“We got eggs already!?” I asked, hurrying to get my gear on.

“Miss Jacky bought a whole bunch. We had to plug in all the refrigerators we looted. Which consumes a lot of power,” Becca added on. Her tattoos were gone. I bet she was pissed. She saw me noticing. “Yup, the little virum fuckers killed my skin stains. I want to be mad, but I think they don’t let me get angry over them. Also, I went from my period to—” Becca showed me that she was ovulating on her Gpad.

“Same with Willow. I am glad you’re not concerned about the tattoos.”

Bonnet stopped shoveling food for a moment and said, “Sarah here is a nice addition. The new tools are even better. Framed out eight more buildings in a few hours with three more roofs.” She smiled proudly at her statement. I tilted my head at my soul-stealing death dealer’s happiness. “Cap, I know. I’m at home here. I hated city life. Maybe a farm was all I ever needed. The work… It invigorates me. I even stopped turning men into my man whores. Me and that Bellows state trooper moved in together.”

“How about you, Sarah?” I asked. Her face was softer, with brighter eyes. Actually, I knew they all had minimal sleep. While I waited for her to answer, I checked my Gpad. I did a search for those showing sleep deprivation on their vitals. Zero results returned.

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jevon said to my meek half-smile.

I went to explain when Sarah answered my question.

“Integration has been surprisingly great. I had some dark thoughts when the reality of Denver dying sunk in. My two cats, my parents, and my friends are probably all gone. Everything I held dear is likely lost to me forever. That is a really tough reality to swallow. I always had hope. Maybe I would find them on a rooftop. Or under a school. The mind imagines scenarios to placate you. I think, at least. Then you gave us a hard dose of facts. My gloomy attitude shifted last night; suddenly I felt better later. Not sure why at first, until I realized it’s the virum. Even without them, though, I would be happier here than at the Cornerstore plaza. The fresh air, the farm animals… The lack of huddling in frightened corners is very refreshing,” Sarah said. I watched her joyfully scan the growing community around her. “Behind you, Cap.”

Jacky stood with breakfast and coffee. Yes! “You are the best! Hold on, I am about to power up. Close your eyes or avert your gaze from my awesomeness,” I said in my best superhero voice. My power plant’s cables slithered from my back to my arm. My weapons sought power, and for a brief moment, I was a ball of teal light. I peeled my weapons off so they could dangle on their slings over my back for now. “Thanks, Jacky, you’re looking vibrant this morning.”

“Why, thanks. This virum did wonders. Henry and I… Well, a lady doesn’t kiss and tell. I am feeling more alive than ever before, thank you. More chores to attend to.” Jacky handed me my breakfast before skipping away.

“Deluxe Duke, did you notice anything peculiar while I slept?”

“Besides the fact that people are suddenly young again, or that they are coupling up faster than I have ever seen? Did you read the report from the doctors in Aspen?”

I sat my food down beside Jevon, who scooted over. I bit into a green fruit and it was divine. My desire to read my Gpad faded. The moment food hit my mouth I wanted more. I noticed the others voraciously eating also. Five minutes later I was licking my fingers. I gulped down the large mug of coffee almost in a single sip.

“Or the food ingestion. That will be an issue,” Becca said with Sarah, Jevon, and Bonnet nodding in agreement.

I flipped my Gpad open.

“Report as follows:

“The virum is an invasive species. They are not always compatible with hosts and can kill species they do not mesh with.

“The virum, if compatible, will seek to bend their hosts to their goals. Reproduction, longevity, and sustenance.

“Based on the Gpad monitoring data we are siphoning from Stronghold Mansion, the virum is bonding well with humans. Age reduction, reduction of sleep requirement, fertility increases, healing, and general mental health improvements. The virum is also encouraging its hosts to ingest additional food to attain the most proficient weight.

“The early conclusion is that the benefits far outweigh the detriments.” - Doctors’ Report, Aspen Stronghold

Jevon flexed his arms. My jaw dropped. His biceps were bulging. The man was active and fit, not a bodybuilder.

“Yummy. When you taking me to our bedroom, my duke!” Becca blurted with bouncing eyebrows.

“Yeah, that is the other thing. I have been testing Becca. No sex for her yet—you see the ways she is eyeing me. She has asked every five minutes for sex or she gets handsy. I tell her soon, no change. I promise her our sex will be the way she loves it, no change. I think once a woman couples she goes from a hornball to a happy princess. Hence Jacky over there skipping while humming a tune. Then look at these two pouting ladies,” Jevon said, pointing at Sarah and Becca. Bonnet beamed a mischievous smile. “I think everyone hosting virum will seek out a mate until they couple.”

“Well, they are not going crazy over it, at least. A blurted comment here or there is a driving desire, not an overriding craze. We have, what, thirty-three extra females?” I said, looking at my Gpad. Confusion spread over my face when I saw forty-five. “Wait, how did we add more eligible women overnight?”

Nancy arrived right as I said that. She placed a hand out for me to accept. “The elderly. There were more old women than men. They’re now young women. Buckle up, boys, there are going to be some lonely women. The virum wants two parents, if not more, in the picture, so expect more throuples or harems is my guess. We need to talk if you already ate, my king.”

Nancy pulled me for the RV. I waved to Jevon who had not passed me command yet. My Gpad showed the gates were void of color. A timer said forty-five minutes until the blue should light up. Our four scout teams were watching each gate with sniper rifles from a good distance away with electric bikes nearby. The morning crew was gearing up. I could spare a quick conversation.

I stepped up the RV back entrance to see Willow and Perci helping gear each other up for combat. Nancy closed the door behind me. I instantly felt cornered. Since they were clothed, all the while putting more clothing on, I was not about to get seduced. So…

Perci stuck her Gpad forward. Her vitals were perfect; not a thing was wrong. She flicked her screen to reproduction and it errored out. Willow showed me the same, which was followed by Nancy showing me another indication of error. I frowned.

“Becca is ovulating on hers,” I said with a confused sigh that matched my furled brows.

“So is Jill,” the girls muttered.

“So the virum is working its magic, we just don’t know how yet. I would guess you are preggers.”

“Damnit, Eric, no one calls it preggers. Pregnant, probably. The fact that it is erroring out is very concerning. I want to jump for joy and scream to the world I am going to be a momma,” Perci said in a flustered tone. She grunted while slamming a fist into a pillow. “I love you, Eric. You will be a fantastic dad.”

“Oh… Oh! Perci, you will make a wonderful smothering mother of love. Willow, you will be a kickass mom. Nancy, you will be the mom we all knew you should be: loving, caring, and supportive. As a team, you will be the absolute best. Was that the right answer?”

We formed a group hug. I guess it was.

My Gpad pinged an alert. Half-hour countdown timer.

“Let’s go, ladies. I am famished,” Nancy said, breaking the embrace.

The three of them rocked the RV on their way out. I walked behind them while enjoying the view. Jevon met me halfway to the dining hall. I looked over the gathering area and noticed it had no side walls still. I think I liked that feeling of openness—it certainly helped people flow into and out of the dining area. Maybe add fire pits for when winter returns or expand it with fire pits in mind.

“I enjoy seeing everyone grouped up and happy. I admit, when we got that message from Dr. Gepstein, this was the last scenario I envisioned. Perci sure gave us a fighting chance,” Jevon said with a sigh.

“Yeah… Are you tired?”

“A bit. I will tag along with you for the portal opening. You have command,” Jevon said with a thumbs up.

“I have command,” I replied.

My Gpad altered me to the top spot in the command channel. I walked for the wall with Jevon at my side. The river stones crunched under our feet.

“Team leaders, ready checks in ten minutes,” I said over the command channel.

“No mikes?” Jevon asked.

“Douglas had a point. Minutes versus mikes. Might as well say the actual word. Show me the pebble shooter in action please,” I said. Our boots thunked over the wooden ramp as we walked up to the top hesco. I shouted, “Testing live. Cover ears!”

I walked around the planted tree to sit on the edge of the mesh container. I pointed at a tree in the distance beyond our growing kill zone. Jevon leveled the pebble shooter while flipping a lever that readied the weapon. A container of small rocks fed into a plasma housing unit that spun a round into a barrel. The buttstock of the weapon contained a long square battery. The first round zoomed out with a pfft of noise that was barely audible. Almost like a bulldog passing gas. The round smacked into the tree in the distance with a spray of bark and wood chips flying from the impact spot.

I watched a pebble drop into a reddish-orange goop. A pointed round entered the chamber a fraction of a second later. Pfft. Another round smacked into the tree with a loud crack.

“Thank you,” I said, halting the exercise.

“Between these, the .308s, and the empowered rifles, we have seven hundred armed people. Armor is still shy of three hundred, but the veterans all have armor now. What were—”

Our Gpads pinged with an override alert. I checked the drone video to see the gate was still inactive. The video swapped to show XLroaches tumbling down our eastern valley cliffs. My eyes shot to that direction beyond the new homes and farm fields. Before I could say anything, Mclain’s team hustled from their staging area to greet the threat. I let the drone get to the backside of the mountain.

A single path of creatures scurried up the mountain. A few thousand insectoids were wandering around, unsuccessfully looking for alternate ways up. We were seeing the first of them come cascading down into our valley.

“Whoa! Alpha Team only. They are going to be shooting ducks in a barrel over there. Everyone else, mount up. Get ready to adjust,” I said into the military operations channel.

My teams raced for lined-up convoys. I called Slister.

“Go for Bravo,” Slister said.

“You are our QRF again. Go ahead and stage behind Alpha Team. If they need the help, cover while they retreat or advance to support,” I said.

“Wilco, Bravo out.”

I watched the video for a full minute. Alpha Team was having their target practice. A lot of the bugs were in a daze upon landing. A few died from the fall. The crack of .308 hell being unleashed echoed through the valley. I saw families rushing kids into the barn. The parent-slash-worker militia named Kilo Team was setting a perimeter around the kids as our community collapsed into a defensive footing. RV3 jerked forward with Dedric laying on the horn to get through those uncertain of where to go.

Jevon started organizing the minimal chaos by either directing people to the barn or the mansion. I craned my neck to see not one drone but a half dozen small white blimps. Hmm… I would need to figure out what our new drones could do. My boots slammed into the river rocks as I jogged for RV3. Mary screamed at her mommy on the way out of the RV when she saw me.

I got my cheek kissed goodbye by the little girl who was hauled away for the barn. I shot into the RV to see Peterson, Douglas, and a third new drone operator at the table. Willow, Nancy, and Perci shot into the interior behind me. I kicked Felix out of my spot so I could plop into the bucket seat. I tapped the dash I normally kicked my feet onto. A video screen generated with multiple feeds. XLroaches were swarming Marble Heights while a few dozen were scouring the abandoned homes. The threat from them was minimal. So much for Denver being a loot piñata.

The large insects storming the eastern valley wall were relentless in their suicide. They were literally falling to their deaths. Mclain’s team requested resupply. Slister requested to join the fight. I approved while ordering she coordinate with Mclain taking the lead. Torrez was hauling ammunition to the eastern firing line with Felix dragging a second truckload. The base was efficiently responding to the threat. Our motions were fluid without panic. The video showed even the chaotic civilians establishing order. There would be lessons learned, certainly. I was still proud of how our community was responding.

Willow slunk into the spot between Dedric and me.

“Thoughts?” Willow asked with a curious eyebrow raised. She huffed at the complexity of the situation. “Why are the roaches so desperate?”

“They may not be braindead. Maybe they know the Xgates will flare blue soon and want a place to securely rest. Maybe they were simply hungry and willing to risk higher altitudes. It is almost five degrees warmer this morning than the other mornings recently. That’s probably the reason. Denver is out of food and the cold has retreated somewhat,” I said as I checked my Gpad. “The sniper teams watching the Xgate are monitoring the situation. What are you thinking?”

“Denver holdouts either pushed these out, or I agree they are seeking new food sources and the morning is really lovely out with the warm air. I wish we had footage from the Battle of Colorado Springs. It would be nice to know if they do retreat,” Willow said with a scoff. She watched my dash screen with me. “They are dumb as shit. Not the best analogy, but the point remains. One in three are splattering from the fall. Those that survive are wounded so horrendously they are struggling to close the gap to our defenders. Honestly, I think they are expecting the piling bodies to cushion the fall eventually.”

“Sure, add a few million of them doing this and the inevitable would happen. They would stop getting hurt on their descent and we would not be able to hold them back. Our only saving grace is their limited numbers with a confined entry point. You are right, though, I see no hive mind here. I bet there is one somewhere. That could be the other suicidal reason. Someone nabbed the big maggot, or whatever controls these,” I said over the sound of constant gunfire.

The timer on the gate hit zero with no activation. Well, that was odd. Not completely unexpected. The timer on the Gpad was based on the translator results derived from what Goldie said. I watched the backside of the mountain start to reach a tail end. Alpha Team requested a swap with Charlie.

Slister’s Bravo Team kept the fire up as Mclain’s team rotated to the supply point. Eddy’s team worked into the rotation. The roar of additional rifles snapping out death echoed across the valley. Seeing that the gates were not going to activate during the XLroach assault, I scurried into the loft. I found Nancy on the roof watching the slaughter unfold.

I planted my feet beside her and activated my long rifle. The barrel raised to target the roaches still high on the mountainside a few miles out. The scope would ping red for dead. I mentally fired. One. A small blue orb of death lanced forward.

I fired a second round. Two. The scope pinged red. Three. I rapidly shifted the sighting. Every highlight of red there was a round sent flying across the landscape. Forty-three shots before I needed to recharge. The added backpack was a whole lot of firepower. I saw the majority of my targets tumble off the mountainside in death. Five minutes later there was a ceasefire call when the last of the alien bugs were defeated.

“Damn fine shooting, Cap,” Nancy said from my side.

“I always was a great shot, with this, though, it’s cheating. Not that I care. All is fair in war,” I said with a soft cackle. I meant it—winning was more important than morals. I happened to be lucky with my decisions so far. I had not been forced to compromise doing the right thing versus survival. “Wonder why the gates aren’t firing up?”

I left the roof to let the barn know they were okay. I guess I wasn’t needed—parents and kids were already flooding out for the park. Dump trucks, the backhoes, and the bulldozer jolted for the dead roaches. I was fairly certain we had purchased plenty of extra food to avoid eating insects to avoid starvation. I saw pallets of fruit entering the mansion basement all evening last night. I tapped my foot, waiting for someone to ask for clarity. Sure enough, the call came in from Eddy.

“Hey, Cap, what is the plan with the bodies?” Eddy said. I picked my jaw off the ground at seeing him looking so young.

“You are looking great, sheriff. I suggest we bury the bugs where they died. Deep preferred, to the bedrock,” I said, thinking about it. The bodies were useless. The last thing I wanted was a problem dealing with them. “Let the machines handle the bodies, in case they have some nasty blood or something. Since they can handle the work, go ahead and re-form your convoy for gate activation.”

I returned to RV3. Willow was buried in my comfy seat with her power plant off. I set mine beside her. She gave an oof sound when I plopped my two-hundred-plus-pound butt into her lap.

“Fine, you win the rights to this seat, let me up, you slug,” Willow whimpered.

She vacated my spot with a goofy grin on her face. She curtsied before seating herself in my lap. The video was broken into four similar frames. Gray, quiet Xgate. The base buzzing with activity in a different frame. The eastern valley busy with working equipment, and then finally the video of Marble Heights. The roaches inside the community turned around to head back to Denver. I was not sure why, but those that made the trek up the road were flowing back down it.

“Peterson, tell me about the blimps,” I said, seeking knowledge since the situation was diffusing.

“They link with the Gpads. Any heat signature not tied to a Gpad signals a warning. They will provide around-the-clock coverage. The dealer warned there were stealth species that could mask sight and heat. He said we would need smelling sensors. I mentioned our dogs and he became interested in buying some. Apparently a sniffing animal is amazing to have for defense against the ghosts, as he termed them,” Peterson said while removing her goggles. She flashed a bright smile when Willow waved. “They will weather storms with ease and solar charge even on a cloudy day. Unless we get thick cloud cover for a month, they should stay airborne. The downside is that they are big, easy targets. A single round will bring them down. I bought a few hundred tiny drones to supplement our supplies. This is Bonnie, by the way. She was a real estate drone operator for some realty company in the area. Bonnie, this is Cap.”

Bonnie had fire-red hair. She kept her faceplate with goggles on while waving at us. Peterson rolled her eyes at Bonnie staying hidden. Even Peterson looked like a new woman with her virum infusion.

Seeing everyone appearing so youthful made me miss my mom. She would have been so happy seeing this. I could always hope our gate would connect to somewhere else on Earth. With millions of options, I doubted it.

Peterson went back to her drone feeds while I went back to watching the Xgate. A knock on the RV door revealed Jevon wanting to chat.

“Cap, the night crew is feeling like a nap. Any objections to standing down until we see activation? Same with the work crews—they are asking to continue work,” Jevon said. I pushed Willow off my lap. I started to unstrap my gear to go help. Into the loft my weapons went. “What are you thinking?”

“That the timer compression might be off is the first thought, but I don’t think that is the issue. Goldie—my mind image—said something that has resonated with me. Everything has a cost,” I said while biting my inner cheek. I let out a long hmm. “What else did he say…?” I paused, mulling it over. “Ah, we were watched by the nonviolent races. That could be a factor. What happens when there is not enough money, power, juice, magic, or whatever to light the Xgates?”

“Sleep?” Jevon asked when I never answered his question.

“Yes, yes. Night crews bed down. I will set… Done. You will only be bothered by me directly. I am guessing you sleep only a few hours. Drone operators, keep me apprised,” I ordered. I set my Gpad to the community. “Drivers remain in vehicles besides minor breaks. Everyone else, we are waiting for the Xgate to come alive or another round of XLroaches to come. Get some rest if you need it. If not, keep building, pick up brass, or get some grub. Cap out.”

I left the RV to find my right leg wrapped in a hug. Mary started gibbering rapidly about how scared she was for me. I scuffled her hair before lifting her up and onto my shoulders. We walked over to a stack of plywood. I set her down to pull the top sheet off. The little girl helped me carry the board with two fingers. Mary beamed happily at being my little helper. I even saw Felix rise from his slumbering bulldog ways to trail us. We walked the boards over to building crews. We set the plywood down for the auto-nailers to have quick access to.

Families were moving gear out of the mansion to longhouses in an effort to spread out again. I shifted my view to see our first construction building was complete. That meant we could build wall frames or whatever was needed under cover. We could also toss out the supplies to convert the space into housing if desperate. The next project in our tasks folder was a large-scale kitchen. The foundation was being traced out between the barn and the mansion. It would need a lot of power so we would sacrifice pathing between buildings for the kitchen. Right now we had our basement filled with fridges drowning the space with their humming noise. I had never been near so many random electrical cords in my life. I know Braxton, our electrician, must be having a headache as we kept adding devices to our breakers. He was with Gary tracing out the design.

Torrez approached to help move plywood with me. “Hey, boss, I feel we are going backwards on the building thing,” Torrez said, and I must have given a confused look. “Hear me out. We build in wood to replace with stone later to replace with steel eventually. We trade steel in for wood tools. Whereas if we just converted the steel…”

“I see the logic. I would rather have three hundred homes made of wood than one of steel, though. Not to mention we have oodles of trees around,” I said, gesturing to the trees with an open hand. Mary grunted in approval. I knew she had no idea what I was saying. “Plus, if those shields— Oh, speaking of which, activate the shields, please. And yes, I know they won’t stop the roaches from entering.”

Torrez nodded before racing off. Mary continued to help me shift boards to the expanding buildings. I checked my Gpad frequently. The Xgate was quiet, the dead roaches were being shoved into burial pits, and the community had returned to working hard.

I must have been at it for two hours. Mary had quit long ago to return to her smiling mom, who winked at me. My tempo was slow and steady. The goal was to be productive while we waited and I felt that had been achieved. I was taking a piece of plywood to the eighteenth longhouse when the alert came.

Xgate 232 was active again. I felt my stomach tighten while bolting for RV3. Please be a D20!

CHAPTER 7

I had this issue of wanting the opposite of what life provided sometimes. The hunger for “the grass is greener on the other side.” In Saudi Arabia, I wanted peace and quiet. I received my wish in the DU dorm, and it felt like torture. Within a few days, I wanted action with adventure again. In this case, I undoubtedly wanted the Xgate to stay offline. I was not hankering for new aliens. Well, there were some hot monster girls at the trade fair I would like to see more of, but I was a-okay in the sex department.

When I rushed into the RV, I found Perci in my comfy chair. I kneeled beside her to watch the drone cameras as the event unfolded. Above the dashboard, soldiers returned in a hurry to their vehicles. Building crews scampered off roofs to ready as a quick reaction force. The community was adapting exactly as I wanted. I would have to establish our economy so I could start handing out bonuses.

The gray frames flared blue slightly when Xgate 232 lifted into a hover. The unknown force slowly moved the construct. The portals, while brightening in their blue, stayed void of images. I saw our recon teams adjusting to move with the Xgate.

“It probably moves to prevent gate camp defenses. I bet some species are waiting in fortifications eager to defend or charge,” Perci said barely loud enough for me to hear. I grabbed her hand to give her the affection she always craved. Her eyes sparkled at the sudden interaction. She gave up the chair for me. “I am sorry, my love. I do like the sight of you on your knees, though.”

I chuckled while accepting my seat. The table was filled with the drone operators, Nancy, Willow, Torrez, Felix, Jacky, Jill, and Mrs. Moore. I coughed while nudging my head in the direction of the table to Perci.

“Come, Mother Hens, we do not need to be in this chariot if it bounds off to war,” Perci said with a refined tone. The others followed her out. “Bye, Eric. Keep us safe, my love.”

I heard the words fade as the door snapped shut.

The Xgate moved for at least another five minutes before the portals shimmered vibrantly. The darker blue transitioned into a light, see-through teal. The first revelation was that there were four portals active; not three like last time. The image on my view screen was divided into six squares. The right side of the screen had our base displayed and a roving drone of the surrounding area. The left four were the new portals.

The north gate interior contained a savannah-type biome with a much whiter sunshine than Earth. Dozens of miles away, a white ocean rolled with mighty waves. Of course, the most interesting aspect of this planet was the army occupying the screen. A fully armored being postured stoically from a black saddle. Underneath the knight, a skeleton creature with eight legs shifted with excitement. The lead animal slithered, with the pack following as they kept pace with the gate. The rider was tall, bulky, and so… rigid. The skeleton they rode on reminded me of a salamander or skeleton lizard, but ten feet long and three feet high.

The east gate showed a landscape of trees with stone roads. Behind the trees, off in the far distance, a mighty city with massive walls dominated the horizon. I saw no scouts or defending army. The city gleamed in the bright blue sunlight of the foreign planet. I could not make out much from the video, but everything seemed serene and peaceful.

The south gate was a tropical island chain with sunshine exactly like Earth. The little islands were dotted across the portal vision. Beautiful clear blue water lapped onto the numerous shores. An amphibian frog-slash-fish-slash-man waited with a glowing trident. It looked into our portal, cautious in its movements. The creature turned its head for a full look around the gate and shifted out of view.

The western gate was a dense jungle. Again the magic of the portals defied logic. The trees the Xgate hovered past were as massive as they were dense. The foliage was green, vines hung in large swaths, and the canopy extended taller than the Xgate. A variation of a monkey that looked like a cute koala hopped through and onto Earth. Behind it hopped out a gorgeous woman.

Except she wasn’t human. Her peachy skin was minimally covered by green strips of cloth. Bushy brown fur wrapped across her exposed hip bones and ran down to her crotch. She spun looking under the Xgate, and relaxed when there were no signs of aggressors exiting. I noticed she had a swaying brown tail with a green tip, a double set of ears, and was over six feet tall. She carried a long empowered spear with serrated edges. The tiny drone flew close, testing her. I had a single thought when I looked at this woman. Her busty tits were fantastic.

“Greeting, residents of this planet. I am here to trade. My name is Busty Tits of tribe Were Fantastic.” The drone picked up her voice clearly. I smacked my forehead while chuckling erupted from behind me. I quickly notated the little pet animal as Rico the mozala creature. “This is my pet—”

The screen showed the skeleton riders in the north gate moving. A salamander slithered out of the portal. The skeleton creature handled the drop-off with precision. The forest woman was fast as she tucked into a roll with her shield out. I watched the feed intently. The mozala turned to the sound of the arriving alien. The armored rider ducked under the gate while aiming a turret. The crixxi woman—I renamed her species—winced, anticipating a blow. The turret bypassed her shield for the pet.

Rico paused, which was enough for the alien turret to earn a direct hit. The body tumbled while the midsection exploded a spray of blue insides. Her metallic shield guarded her body. She scooped up the mozala remains. A round cracked against her shield. There was no hesitation from the female crixxi. She dove back into the shimmering teal portal.

Mitchell was leading the sniper teams, who I gave the authorization to open fire.

The radio crackled. “Firing,” Mitchell said.

The heavily armored rider held his mount in place. The drone audio broadcast three retorts. A blue orb crashed against shielding while three more rounds cracked, then shattered the shielding. A single round smashed into something solid, causing the alien combo to jerk. For a brief moment, you could see through what had to be a mirage. The skeleton salamander transitioned into a gravity vehicle. A hideous tentacle monster was strapped to the hovering vehicle. The head was low to the ground with jutting bottom teeth. The tentacles were high in the air flying about in panic. The creature seemed to be located in a central balancing point that was desperately trying to return to normal. The tentacles adjusted to correct the jerking tilt to allow the vehicle to stabilize. I figured it was apparent this alien was wanting a fight. I also knew they did not like that we shot through their shielding and now knew where to aim. I thought of naming this species squiggles.

“Running,” Mitchell said.

The stunned alien shimmered back into the mirage of the large armored knight. A beam of energy tore out of a turret weapon to land exactly where Mitchell had fired from. Mitchell was clear of the beam. His brother tripped. He would have survived if he had stayed down. He stood as the beam arrived. He never saw it coming. His body was flung in pieces as the energy imploded. Mitchell flew into a tumble from his brother’s gory demise. The man scrambled off the thin forest floor as he raced for his electric bike.

The first alien’s cover continued to flicker as the mirage went in and out. We knew where to aim, I merely had to get more forces to the area to effectively fight these invaders.

“Ceasefire. RTB, RTB!” I shouted into the radio.

“Returning to base,” three of the four radios crackled back.

A few random shots arced into the trees where Mitchell sped away from. The alien slowly returned home.

“Fuck,” I muttered to myself as I watched the short engagement unfold. I looked to see which brother was with him. Paul—I knew it was him because his vitals were flat. Obviously. I marked his death location for future recovery. My four teams of two were coming home a man short. This was only the beginning too.

Whatever technology the upside-down squid creature was using, it was impressive. The initial squibble returned home. It was quickly replaced when another skeleton salamander arrived on Earth. My first thought was that it would race for the spot Paul died. The miraged creature rotated the Xgate to inspect the other portals instead. The forest was instantly passed, even sped by. When the gravity sled rounded to the south end, the alien became ecstatic with its back-and-forth movements. The east gate was peeked at only momentarily before being abandoned. The squibble raced to the north portal with the Xgate still moving.

The north button was pressed. Dozens, then hundreds, of those aliens in disguise came onto Earth. They staged on the rocky terrain with a widening perimeter being set. A bubble shield was placed down as additional troops transitioned onto Earth. The Gtower was counting the aliens as they came out. When the number went over a thousand it started giving approximations in spurts of tens. 1120 was the final number. The gate was released. As a unit, the aliens flowed to the southern portal.

The precise formation became erratic at the sight of the archipelago world. The Xgate was over water at this point. They never locked the gate down. The squiggles splashed into the water world. Their mirages vanished upon contact with the crystal-clear blue ocean. The gravity sleds continued to propel the creatures. They darted in the water with glee. The Xgate quieted when the last one vanished into the deeper blue. Jevon entered the RV in a fluster.

He was about to talk when the busty crixxi burst through the portal. “Need help! Can pay!” she pleaded in panic.

“Mansion Six, this is Aspen Six,” Colonel Reinhardt said.

“Go,” I replied.

“I have three thousand armed men. If we coordinate our aim, we should defeat those—oh, you named them squibbles already—that squibble army. Even help the fantastic-tits lady—aw, you renamed their race crixxi—if you are up for it. I bet those sleds contain all sorts of rare metals and we know what to do now. Concentrate fire at the middle point.”

“I can field five hundred at most. Mansion is moving out. ETA an hour at earliest.”

“See you on the field, Aspen out.”

Jevon leaped into action. He made the callouts over the command channel. I dialed into Mitchell directly.

“Are you able to help the damsel in distress?”

“Poor Paul, not a chance in hell he wouldn’t divert us to help. I will do what I can. Get me intel,” Mitchell said while closing the connection.

I assumed command of the small drone not far from the crixxi woman. The little drone buzzed close to the woman and I broadcast my voice. “What is attacking you? How is it defeated?”

“Rolling lava giants. A projectile round to the brain works best. Our electric spears are weak and nearly useless. Please hurry—”

Mitchell asked her to press the emergency override. “Lock the gate down, ma’am.”

She ran for the gate and slammed her hand to the button. All the other portals stopped shimmering their teal coloration. The bright construct converted into dark shadows on three edges.

Dedric rolled us forward to stay close to the truck in front of us. The Mansion army was on the move. The long snaking trail of vehicles jostled down the dirt road in a hurry. My eyes only darted off the screen briefly to wave to the guards we passed by.

Mitchell was racing with his dirt bike for the Xgate. Six others followed in his wake. They bounced over the rough terrain like the experts they were. I set the drone to look at the jungle portal. Peterson kept a separate eye in the sky now that the other portals were gray. I saw the rolling demon inside.

“Mitchell, there are a half dozen crixxi getting slaughtered as they keep the beast distracted. The attacker is thirty feet tall. Ball wheel under the torso. Large black horns on top of red lava skin. Orange tattoos flare around the body, so reduce brightness sensitivity to optics. There are two eye slots and a vulnerable neck ring of orange on the head,” I said. Knowing I was going to have to give them a name, I randomly thought of lurrol.

“Roger, shoot the eyes or neck. What is it using offensively?”

“Uh… Flamethrower, except the lurrol is spewing short bursts of lava. The area around the creature is spewing flames of fire.”

“Understood,” Mitchell's voice was grim. “Do not get close,” he said, closing the connection.

The man was racing to the fight with his two weapons. The fifty-caliber sniper rifle was bound to the side of his bike. He slung the nitrogen-ball–firing weapon over his back. When the motorcycle neared the portal he spun the bike to face south for a quick retreat. He swiftly placed the kickstand with a leg while his hands unbound the fifty-caliber sniper rifle.

The lurrol monster inside the portal was oblivious to everything besides the destruction of the crixxi. Those forest people were doing a great job of distracting the massive lurrol, but that was all they were accomplishing. I saw no damage to the rolling red fire golem.

Mitchell waited for the other teams to arrive with their .308s. They spread out and walked as one into the portal. When they shimmied across I held my breath. I could not hear them from this side, but they appeared to be shouting to get the beast to turn. I was mildly surprised the lurrol gave them its eyes when they succeeded in garnering its attention. The discharge of the weapons was evident by the kicks they applied against the soldiers’ shoulders.

Bullets crashed against its face, with the lurrol instinctively placing large three-fingered hands up defensively. The rolling monster may have turned, but the lurrol did not sit still. The creature rolled in a bellowing charge of spittle. The lurrol was insanely fast with its balled lower half. It rapidly closed the distance for Mitchell and his crew. They fired a few more rounds before turning in a sprint. Only a few feet onto the jungle planet, they arrived back on Earth quickly.

Mitchell raced for his dirt bike with pumping legs and brief shoulder glances. He ordered his troops to disperse as they fled the massive monster.

“Release the gate! Grab on behind me!” Mitchell shouted to the crixxi woman.

The gate hovered into the air. The rolling rock monster tried to slow its approach to avoid the drop a lifted gate induced. I noticed a leaking orange goop seeping profusely from its neck region. A fifty-caliber sniper round tended to leave a mark. This one looked fatal with time.

The rolling lava beast tumbled onto Earth through the portal. The fall had been enough to cause damage to the already wounded monster. The lurrol weakly tried to raise its body after falling. The eyes looked with seething hatred at Mitchell, who had stopped. Mitchell sighted, then fired at the motionless target. The back of the lava creature's skull ballooned from the round; it did not explode as the exterior held the round in. Not that it mattered if it failed to explode out the cranium. The creature died in a collapsed heap.

Mitchell reloaded like the professional he was. No point in having a single round in a five-round magazine remaining. A second rolling lurrol monster followed behind the first, but paused at seeing its dead kin. I hoped this smaller lurrol would retreat. Nope. The second lurrol thudded upon its arrival on Earth from the drop. Mitchell held his ground. I think he had their movement down. The first round dove into the brain and the lava roller tumbled in death, causing Mitchell and his team to bounce from the impact.

A male crixxi hopped down into a somersault. If the ladies were babes, the men were super hunks. I heard Peterson purr from behind me. The crixxi man locked down the portal. He had a furry mane around his neck. Handsome features, over-the-top large muscles, and he even gave a winning smile to the drone.

“Damn, I thought I was pretty. I am super not gay but that lion dude makes Norm look plain,” Jevon said.

“It’s okay, Willow, you can think he’s attractive,” I said to her while she watched the video.

“I should, I mean, I really should. But I don’t… I look at him and I’m unaffected. I look at you and get wet. I think… because of the virum. Well—”

I cut her off. “Peterson, Bonnie, have you mated yet?”

“Bit personal, Cap, but no. I have been eyeing men like steak. I am trying to control the temptations,” Peterson said with a shy chin tuck. “But the hunka-hunka prime rib might make me lose control.”

“I want some big lion cock!” Bonnie blurted. She covered her mouth briefly. “Eek. Sorry. My mind has been in the gutter. I am normally a lesbian but I think the virum want me to breed. My wife and I have been eyeing men like candy. The thing is, I think the virum know my initial desire and are respecting it. I still see my wife as appealing.”

Nancy scoffed and said, “Yeah, Willow and I got kinky this morning. Woke poor Perci up. I agree, the virum approve if it is not competition, I think. Not sure. They do cohost and not dominate.”

“ETA is thirty-five minutes,” Dedric said, reading my mind’s desire to shift topics.

I scanned for Jevon. He was up top in the loft, relaxing.

“How is the convoy doing?” I said now that the situation was stabilizing.

“We have a few stragglers catching up. We are pushing hard to arrive at the same time as Aspen,” Jevon said while tapping on his Gpad. He frowned at his data. “If the squibbles spend all day in the water, then this adventure will be short lived. Unless you both decide to trail the gate.”

“They looked awfully excited for the water. Both planets had large swaths of what looked like oceans.”

“Prisoners or food is my guess,” Jevon said while pulling up a past video of the north portal. The video screen displayed the herds on the savannah landscape. They were roaming, grazing, sunbathing, and some little animals appeared to be playing. “See the animals on that savannah? Loads of them, far more than there should be. That tells me they must want ocean creatures, or to turn those freaky frog humanoids into slaves. They are not hurting for red meat.”

“Time to be a Viking. We go in, blast those animals, load up, and come home,” I said, looking at the video he broadcast for me. “Pass the word. Get opinions. I got the crixxi lady wanting to talk.”

“Well, at least she is no longer fantastic-tits lady.”

Willow laughed and said, “Fuck yes, she is. I wonder if they have single babies. Do they do litters? Can you ask that?” I glanced over my shoulder to see Willow with a tilted head and soft pouty lips pressed outward in thought.

“What!? No, now silence,” I ordered with a soft chuckle. My tone was far more playful than scolding.

“Is this working?” the woman with large owl ears on top of her head asked. The coloration was a light forest brown with a dark shade of red fur inside. The ears would blend into the forest. The lush fire-red hair with bright yellow eyes were anything but discreet. “Hello, I am hitting the button as you said, Hero Mitchell.”

“He thinks you are pretty like I do. Men struggle for words in front of gorgeous damsels in distress.”

“There is no distress. The gate is locked. No more can come to our world.”

“Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have a name? I mistakenly gave you one earlier.”

“Mitchell calls me Elifer, which works as it doesn’t directly translate to something sexual in my language. Your soldier will be rewarded. We said we would pay and we mean it. However, my tribe needs a place to hide or to hire you as mercenaries to defend our home. At least for the next blue rotation. Our worst nightmare arrived at our gate. The lurrol will torch our homes if we remain. There's a chance they will halt their destruction if they think the area is abandoned.”

“What do the lurrol seek?”

“We can only guess. We have heard of them but never encountered their kind. Recently, we lost our main home to a larger tribe of crixxi. We were forced to live in the most dangerous place, by the Xgate. We have a light data stream in our translators regarding the lurrol.” She pointed to the white device above where her plump, exposed breasts started. “This tells me the lurrols are here to terraform worlds one portal section at a time. They spray lava, go home, get more, come back, and spray more lava. Their home is overpopulated. This is how they spread their kind after they destroy the local defenders,” Elifer said. I finally clued into her name. Belly fur. I managed to contain my snicker.

“Surely your forest is vast and you can retreat further into it?” I asked.

“If you suddenly forced yourself on your neighbors, would they let you in?”

“Maybe, doesn’t hurt to ask. Oh, this is you asking, isn't it?” I said, putting it together.

“The crixxi are highly territorial. We raid each other for mates, food, and spoils. We tend to war a lot. Even through portals,” Elifer said with a defeated exhale and slumped shoulders. I didn’t think she was trying to tug at my heartstrings, but she was. Mitchell gave her a hug with a few soldiers snickering in the background.

“How do you sustain a population if you are always fighting? I lost three soldiers and one citizen in the last ten days with zero born.”

“We use virum— Wait, you know the name. Then you understand,” Elifer said with a “duh” expression.

“We are new to virum; it was not intentionally introduced to us. Well, not my tribe, anyway. Please explain,” I said, and she frowned.

“Like how we crixxi make our young. Well, I would remove my—”

Mitchell cut in and said, “We know how sex works. The babies. How do you have so many so quickly?”

Peterson mumbled in the background, “I would have listened to more sex talk.”

I rolled my eyes but did grin.

“We crixxi have amazing hearing. How is someone snoring at a time like this?” Elifer said, and I faintly heard Felix snoring from behind the bedroom door. “Hmm… I will still answer. The virum control our cycles. We used to have single babies before the virum. Now we have multiples. Up to four. Same gestation time. The babies are happy and grow up very healthy. I will mate after birth a few days after and I’ll have three or four more little ones six months later. I never age, I heal quickly from childbirth, and I almost instantly become pregnant again. Without the virum we crixxi would have perished. Hence our neighbors not having room for us. We would starve out their children. If you are on virum you either have extra food or plan on getting extra food soon, or else you would have rejected my asking for sanctuary right away.”

“Fuck me,” Willow blurted. “Four babies, then four more right away.”

“Nine months is a long time. And we can cure the virum next cycle,” I said to Willow.

“I am going to ask something: do you know how the cure of virum is performed?” Elifer asked.

Nancy slid into my lap to occupy the screen. “There is another invasive species that kills the virum. They go into the host body to hunt the virum. They cause damage, but when they are done they will return to a vial for reuse. Then I will have to use a melder with protein to fix up the human bodies.”

“Ah, so you do not know?”

“Know what?” Nancy asked, confused.

“You are sitting in your mate’s lap without desire. Am I correct?” Elifer asked, and Nancy nodded. “Then you are with child. Even in the tiniest of stages that child will have virum in them.”

The dots connected. Nancy groaned, then moaned. She was a woman of science. Yet she was also a miscarried mother. I held her tightly. Elifer put the point home even further.

“If one of your ladies declines the cure, then the rest will be re-infected with time. There is an offspring control we use for those mothers wanting a break. Even the virum understands this, we think, as it works better on mothers with more offspring born. Virum can destroy nails, bone, skin, muscles, but not solid rock. We place rocks in our ovaries. I think we have relatively similar internal bodies. We have fur, longer tongues, tails, extra ears, and more fangs, but structurally we are almost the same. In our bodies we place the stones in the ovaries. The virum accept them as growing young and then you stop getting pregnant. Not perfect; your desire will be in the middle of full lust and minimal yearning. New mothers of only a few rotations will painfully reject the stones at a one in ten rate. The pain fades, though, and you simply replace the stones. My mother has not had a child in over”—the translator was calculating time with two uncommon denominators—“four hundred years.”

“How old are you?”

“Four hundred and eight. I was in her last child cycle. Not sure if I should be proud or ashamed. Anyway, I wanted to clarify you were not baby killers,” Elifer said, and Nancy tried her hardest to maintain her composure. She fled for the bedroom to cry or scream out her emotions.

“Elifer, Nancy went through something in our old lives. Some found it acceptable for such behavior and forced it on Nancy. Those times are behind us and Nancy is very excited to be a mom finally,” I said with stern eyes to those around us. Not a fucking chance in hell I would have taken such a hard stand on abortion a month ago. It looked like we needed to rock up some ladies, but I sure as hell was not forcing Nancy to get an abortion. I sighed, knowing some might leave the community and its new ageless wonderment to avoid crushing amounts of child-rearing. Ah, the joys of alien technology in the apocalypse bringing out old societal issues. Fuck.

“Are you still there, human leader?”

“Oh, my name is Cap. Sorry. How big is your tribe, what do you require to live, and what is your plan if the lurrol burn everything down?”

A new woman came out of the portal, almost a replica of Elifer. Her hip fur was black with green stripes. Her hair was brown, her extra ears were a fuzzy gray, and her eyes contained that same yellow shine. She was wearing a tight leather onesie that hugged her contours. When she came out, Jevon let out a whistle from above me.

“Do you think Becca will get bigger breasts? The virum sure does make them perfect,” Jevon said.

“Ah, here is my mother—she is my tribe’s leader. Males get more muscle mass, like my brother holding the door. Females will change to a larger bust with wider hips. Age recovery is much quicker than body morphing.”

Nancy snickered while Willow felt her breasts. I bit the inside of my lip adding things up. Perci sent me a text.

“These are some big changes. I will update Aspen. I expect them to become infected sooner or later but a joint operation will make it too late. My boobs swelled to the point they hurt. My fake breasts have been removed. I know you love me regardless, but I am growing natural big boobs now.’’ - Queen 1

I flexed my arms. Yeah, we were changing, alright.

I glanced outside while we waited for Elifer’s mom to reach Mitchell’s Gpad. The county road was flying by. Rescuing these crixxi would mean we could not lock down the portal. At least for another ten hours. My jaw twisted in concentration as I contemplated the options. I let out a long hmm.

“Elifer, is there a way for you to add your own names to the translator?”

“If Mitchell here will lift his shirt, yes,” Elifer said, and Mitchell exposed his belly. She waved her hand up. He raised the shirt higher. When the translator was exposed she placed the tip of a finger on it. “You will get something close. Your language is still new, it seems. Ah, Cap, this is my mother, Daphne. Daphne, this human leader is willing to hear about our tribe seeking refuge from the lurrol.”

“Greetings, Daphne, please call me Cap,” I said. “How big is your tribe, what do you require to survive, and what is your plan if your forest ends up being completely destroyed?”

“We lost fourteen warriors today. Our remaining tribe consists of seventy adults, two hundred under warrior age,” Daphne said while squeezing her daughter's shoulder in sadness. “Water, food, and canopy over our heads during the day would be nice. For eleven days we can survive a lot. We have pets that will need forest fruit.”

I pinched my nose when she started mentioning pets.

“We have enough supplies to last until the time before the portals transition. If we cannot return home, our planet is rich in rare minerals. We have a lot we will bring with us that we shifted out of the river.”

Okay, this piqued my interest. “Can we obtain more while avoiding the lurrol?” I asked.

“A wise question with many variables. I would prefer if you defended our forest,” Daphne said bluntly. She was sexy, but not that sexy.

“I may, but not right away. Squibbles are raiding an ocean planet. To get home, they have to use Earth and—”

“Chain jumpers. They must have seen something they liked. We almost never chain jump. Too many variables.”

I frowned. I had every desire to save these people. They had lots of knowledge we could use with very little downside. I also felt they could not overpower us if they went hostile. Especially with all the children. When I added in the fact that I doubted the virum would let them get all the kids killed, I decided on my answer.

“Daphne, get everything you can and hurry back. My small fighting force will be there in twenty-one minutes to carry you to your new home,” I said with a grunt of finality.

“Thank you, Cap.” Daphne and Eilfer ran far faster than a human could, their tails swishing as they shimmered into the blue.

“I agree,” Jevon said. “I also want to try to defend their home. Hey, Mitchell, you still on the line?”

“Yes, XO.”

“Go ask that man what those lurrol bodies are good for,” Jevon ordered.

Mitchell jogged over to the man.

“Excellent. Hold the button. Right here,” the man asked Mitchell. Mitchell placed his hand to keep the Xgate in position. The moment the swap was complete the crixxi male jumped into the portal.

“I failed you!” Mitchell said with a chuckle and a shrug. He turned to the remaining scouts. “Hey, everyone else into the blue. Go help.”

The rest of the team ran to aid our newest allies. I called our building officer.

“Go for Gary,” Gary said to his Gpad.

“Keep longhouses sixteen through twenty empty, please,” I said, and he frowned. “What is it?”

“Sixteen and seventeen were just settled into. We started twenty-one and twenty-two, though. I have enough supplies here to get to twenty-five. Then things will drastically slow down as we have to create roofing pieces.”

“Drive on, Gary, we are taking in three hundred more tree dwellers. Going to save lots of youngsters,” I said.

“Perci gave us the alert. Everyone is working hard, your grace,” Gary said in a playful tone. At least he was in a good mood.

“Aye, thanks for the hard work. Cap out.”

Perci called me the moment the connection severed.

“Hey, my love, so the colonel is not concerned about virum. He has citizens already infected. You have extra zinc in RV3 under the bed. Hand the colonel the zinc when you link up, please. Part of a friendly trade deal. If you cannot lock the gate down, he wants to try to hit the squibbles midway home while on Earth. Save the raiding for when we can lock down the gates. He does have a team eager to go gold panning. Funny how humans still get gold fever.”

“Things would be so much easier if there was no chain jumping or multiple portals. I agree, though. We will maybe send Mitchell with a team. Those resources may save both them and us. Plus, hopefully we can still extract fruit, animals, and whatnot before the forest is consumed in fire. If the lurrol are only in ones and twos, then I think a few snipers can win the day. I am getting ahead of myself, though. We simply need to figure out what they send when the lock is over. I do know we need to buy larger projectile weapons to replace the fifty calibers. We will eventually run out of ammo, with no more to make.”

“Eric, don’t stress. We got this,” Perci said in a chipper tone. I smiled at that. “Queen Momma out!”

I watched the road transition to a dirt trail. An Xgate occupied the horizon over the tree line. The early morning sun cast a beautiful day. Perci was right. I was not used to being able to worry about logistics in the future. We had almost twelve days of fighting before I could make weapon changes. The goal now was to consolidate resources, protect my people, and ensure we were fed. Well, us and the virum.

I was distracted until Nancy sat on my lap. She pressed her full boobs into my face while hugging me. Yummy. I could feel her happiness. I also felt an inkling of wetness seeping through her shirt. That was a bonus of the shielded armor: you could wear whatever you wanted.

“Nancy, your boobs are leaking.”

“I know, isn’t it amazing? Thank you, Eric. I have wanted this for so long. The forced inhibitors from the prison, then the military, drove me crazy. Norm refused when I asked, and to be fair, the situation wasn’t right. Come here, Willow. Don’t grunt,” Nancy said as both ladies sat in my lap.

“You’re in armor. Also, yeah, you both have milk production starting, it looks like.”

Willow licked my face while giggling. My arms were locked down from them sitting in the chair. I twisted with a groan. Her smile was so wide and her eyes so radiant with happiness, I couldn’t help but let the transgression slide. “We love you, Eric—get back to work.”

The girls winked to each other, then kissed my ears seductively. My pants tightened until the girls fled my lap with happy giggles. I would allow the antics since we entered a quiet point in the action.

The first of the crixxi refugees arrived: children in leather outfits carrying sleeping supplies. Their skin tone was all the same peachy color. The little ones were incredibly varied in their fur tones. The hair colorations were just as different, too, with splashes of blues, greens, and purples. Whatever genetics restricted human coloration did not apply here.

“They look so healthy,” Jevon said from over my shoulder. “So many of them. We need to plan. Eric, if we survive for a year, we are so underprepared for so many children. Quick math, we have seven hundred fertile women… Yeah, we’re fucked.”

“Blessed, my friend. We are blessed,” I said joyfully. I pulled up the eastern gate we had avoided. The old image showed the mighty castle in the backdrop. “This is our future. A mighty fortification. Sturdy walls, intense defensive emplacements.”

Willow patted my shoulder from behind my bucket seat. “I like the castle idea. There is plenty of stone in the mountains. I understand we live in a new world. Others may take time to adjust.”

I placed my hand over hers. Humanity was entering a new age. I hoped making friends would help us achieve greatness.

CHAPTER 8

The RV crunched over the rocky terrain. The sloping terrain was littered with short spring grass and small bushes. The vehicle’s brakes squealed slightly, with our rolling coming to a halt outside the Xgate. I leaned forward and craned my neck up. The Xgate always seemed to elicit this response from me, as if I had to take in the grandness of the mighty structure. I just wished it wasn’t so plain to view. Maybe the aliens avoided artwork due to their utilitarian nature of good versus evil; simple versus intricate. Or it could be they left the drab gray exterior plain to avoid giving away facts of who they were.

The RV rocked with creaking stairs when people exited out the door. I caught sight of the Aspen forces coming in from the south. My eyes shifted to the blue portal of the jungle planet. The tall fronds, hanging branches with large leaves, and competing underbrush with its vivid green and browns were being lasered down to clear a path. I was starting to think the crixxi tribe was always ready to flee when I saw how readily they carried their prized possessions for Earth. They did mention they had been forced to move recently. This confirmed that to me. They carried nothing more than what they could carry on their backs. Their little pets carried a single fruit in each arm. The furry little guys were adorable.

“Aspen, this is Mansion, over,” I said into the radio.

“Go for Aspen.”

“I have zinc for you. This is your last chance to slow the infection.”

“We understand the risks. I was thinking we escort you home while our scouts stay behind. We come back to follow the gate as a team. If the squibbles use the time to transition while we are away, then we wait for a different time to go hunting. Or go to Denver.”

I left the RV as he talked. The little children were being jammed into the RVs for the ride home. I went to the back of ours to use the ladder. I scurried to the top of the RV and activated my shielding. We had over sixty vehicles around the gate that were efficiently being loaded. The mozala pets were going into the horse trailer. Adult crixxi joined them, unconcerned about the confinement. I used the bathroom vent stack on the roof to secure my spot. My legs crossed around the jutting metal in a tight grip. Certain I could stay there, I gazed down to see Mitchell rapidly talking with Elifer. She was giggling at something he was saying. Her hand rested on his arm and they both beamed with smiles. Mitchell was single. Eilfer was extremely… pretty. That was a simple way to put it. I did notice more men than female crixxi. Stronghold Mansion was entering an era of beautiful men, women, and hybrids.

I watched the scene unfold. The trailer gates were flopped open with loud thuds as the ramps connected with the rocky terrain. Supplies were rushed into enclosed containers. The arrival of Aspen’s vehicles slowly joined the swarm of activity. I smiled when I saw at the end of the Aspen convoy a tank rolling on crunching tracks.

Jevon went under my vision line as he ducked into the RV. He left the RV carrying ammo cases filled with zinc. I waved to Reinhardt, who sat in a gunner's turret as his MRAP pulled up beside our RV. The old man still looked old, which I was a tad surprised by. Maybe the eighty-mile distance to Aspen was a lot to cover for a microscopic organism.

“Sorry, I have no room for them in our stronghold,” Reinhardt said with slumped shoulders. He drummed the top of the vehicle with his fingers in frustration. “Look, we have been adjusting in Aspen. We purchased some power generators, pumps, and lots of food.”

“The golden portals were a lifesaver. We literally brought old people back from near death.” I wanted to keep going, but he held a hand up.

“Soon, we will open for more refugees,” the colonel said with empathy. “I know you probably do not want to hear this, but we had backflowing toilets. Every single hotel, home, and… it is gross in Aspen right now.” The colonel shuddered at the thought. “Our citizens are coping the best they can. Add in the fact we have no sustainable food and a large population… Well, if we do not hunt this blue rotation, we’ll have to supplement by looting in Denver. I think the alien portal system is designed to force communities to forage. There will never be a completely stable environment with so much change. So we are here to fight for that savannah. After all, we are in a new Viking age.”

“We will fight by your side. We have enough to wait out a timer, though. Maybe we can leave a screening force to deter the squibbles’ exodus,” I said, pointing at the southern portal of the Xgate. “I want to send a drone team with a fast truck through, anyway.”

Reinhardt watched over the troops helping the crixxi get into truck beds. “I have an ATV team that will do the trick. I will leave the tank back with support. I figure if we can one-shot something coming out of the portal, then they will hesitate. The longer they wait the better off we will be.”

“They could be on the water world for days. There are so many variables. Not trying to glean intel, but why risk your tank?”

“Even though it runs on three types of fuel, the M1 tank will be out sooner or later. I have three on my walls playing defense. This is my field version. If it survives this rotation it will retire at the Gtower outpost. Speaking of which, I got an extender built so we can have a combined Gnet. Any issues with us patching into the Gnet? I will need some admin stuff for my people to put out information and whatnot.”

I did not hesitate to answer. “Go for it. We could use cross-communication. Perci can get you limited permissions. How excited are your older people to become young again?”

“I literally had to push out to help you. If not, I would have had angry people demanding to join your stronghold. Kind of funny when you think about it. They were down-talking your dirt farm until every plumbed drain started spewing feces. Then you get a magical healing goop, add in running toilets, and suddenly you’re the better option. I found it more than a little ironic. Sincerely, though, thanks for the zinc. It is hard to express how happy I am that we are working together.”

“That’s the virum in you pushing you to survive. I even see the gray in your hair fading, old man. Alright, I think we are loaded up. I have Slister and Mitchell staying behind. Both officers with loads of combat experience. I recommend letting Mitchell be the on-field commander of the joint forces,” I said with a stern tone.

I watched him squirm a bit in his half-exposed gunner turret. He argued a bit, then nodded to himself as he spoke into the private Aspen radio channel.

“Major Ulanda, she will be his second. That is her right there shaking hands with Mitchell,” Reinhardt said while pointing at Mitchell with Elifer.

I glanced around. Besides Elifer, the crixxi were loaded up and ready to go.

“Dedric, take us out, RTB,” I said into the radio.

Nancy popped out the front roof hatch, Jevon out the back. They exchanged waves with Reinhardt as we jostled over the rough terrain. I enjoyed the ride from up top. The bugs splattered into my shield, causing the hexagon patterns to flare into view. Nancy activated her shield after the first bug went splat on her cheek. She was talking to herself as she rubbed her face.

My Gpad sent an alert.

“Where are you? Daphne is in your chair wanting to talk. She seems very nice.” - Queen 2

“I am on the roof. I wanted to be able to watch the loading without getting bogged down by kids. I estimate five minutes left until the gate picks up and the lockdown reset timer activates. I want to view the situation without distractions.” - Cap

I smiled when she did not reply. Willow was becoming an amazing soldier and officer. The drone footage of Xgate 232 generated on my Gpad holographic display. Mitchell stood with his hand on the Xgate button. The tank was still rolling into position to support the light infantry. The vehicles, ATVs, and bikes were shifting to face the currently blank south portal. A half mile south there was a wooded section where Slister’s troops dismounted to use trees for cover. The trucks staged for a rapid retreat. Our forces intertwined into one unit. Major Ulanda and Mitchell were effective in their joint effort.

The Xgate shifted, forcing Mitchell to run to his motorcycle. He sped away for the southern tree line. The Xgate flared to life once it was hovering off the ground. I saw the blue of the archipelago chain come alive. A squibble was hovering with the gate as it drifted. I saw it turn its head to talk to someone outside of view. The blue gate of the southern side went gray. The other three remained online and the Xgate continued to flow in its hover.

“Uh… Cap. Orders?” Mitchell said.

“They locked that Xgate down to shut us out, probably. Or some other force. Chain Xgating gets very complex, very fast. Which is mostly why I do not want to defend the crixxi’s jungle. They still have infinite possibilities of enemies flowing into a zone that is burning down,” I said, noticing a horde of lurrol inside the western gate.

The view was flickering flames. Endless burning red flames licking up hundreds of feet to the canopy. Animals fled into our portal seeking sanctuary. There went the natural biodiversity in a single moment. I heard a wailing cry escape from below. I did not fault their anguish. There must have been a hundred of the lurrol aliens rampaging across the tall forest.

I swapped to the drone watching the savannah portal. A single off-road truck sped through the portal. They landed in a crash that tilted the vehicle until it almost rolled. A set of drones flew out the back windows. The truck stabilized to follow the Xgate. The need to dodge terrain was minimal and the speed of the Xgate itself was slow. The situation went from intensely dramatic to very mundane in a matter of moments. The background video showed lots of large animals grazing. The largest herd of animals reminded me of bison, but with cracked leathery yellow skin instead of fur.

The truck decided to take a risk. It rolled next to a yexin, as I termed them. The yexin had three big eyes with six floppy ears on its head. A rifled extended out a window inches from the animal. I saw the weapon jerk. The yexin shook its head in anger before flopping over dead. A man ran out with a chain. He wrapped the chain around the yexin’s neck a few times before connecting it to the truck. Nearby yexin were getting agitated, mainly from the fast movement of the human. I do not think they rationalized what happened.

The man returned to his vehicle, which sped for the gate with a body in tow. The truck stopped to recover the drones. When the little machines were inside, the truck raced forward into the portal. The vehicle jostled in a violent manner when it landed on Earth. The driver stupidly stopped the truck while towing a massive dead animal. The yexin body crashed into the bed of the vehicle, smashing the side walls. The back glass, windows, and even the windshield shattered from the impact.

The truck lurched forward. The driver gave a fist pump out his missing window in glee of being alive and being back on Earth. The savannah yexin and further animals calmed now that the vehicle was gone. I swapped to the eastern gate. Nothing but willow trees with a cobbled road. An antlered animal—not too different from a deer—was frolicking in the woods with a younger version bounding behind it. I wondered who lived in the castle I could no longer see.

The western gate displayed more burning. The forest was so bright with the inferno I doubted we would get to use the river to extract minerals. I couldn’t bother to watch it, mainly because there was zero chance I was willing to take the fight inside the blazing environment. My Gpad pinged an alert.

I opened a file titled “savannah video.” I watched the two drone feeds start a wide scan range. There were no signs of living structures on the surface. I was shocked by the amount of animals. I noticed an abundance of prey animals but no predators. Something scratched at the back of my mind. An inkling from the trade with the scary bear…

I closed the feed and called Harvard.

“S2, go,” Harvard said.

“These savannah creatures have no predators around. I think they are farm animals. Plus, it looks like there are more than the natural vegetation can—”

“On it, but I agree. You are probably correct on this one, Cap. They act wild even if they are domesticated,” Harvard said, interrupting me. “Sorry to cut you off. We are analyzing the creatures called the lurrol. I will send reports soon. I would like to add a crixxi or two to my intelligence team. Strictly for science, of course.”

Since he was a married man I believed him. I still snickered that he had to include a caveat. The RV tilted slightly as we left the dirt road for the county road. The pavement allowed our massive convoy to pick up speed. Even though I was not expecting a betrayal by Reinhardt, I figured it was best to address the issue now.

“Thanks for the recon video. Sorry you got a truck smashed,” I said to Reinhardt on the Aspen radio.

“What, no protocol for establishing comms? I guess we are rogue now. The update from the president for all surviving military: there would be no more aid from Uncle Sam. To preserve life by all means necessary.” You could hear the man sigh from inside the MRAP. I let him have his moment. “My intel boys are saying the yexin are farm animals. I was thinking we corral them onto Earth.”

“Alive… I like it, if we can push them effectively into the portal. I guess if they fall and break bones, all the easier to kill them. But we should wait for the lockdown timer to reset. Who knows, some may be great in this environment. I saw a few species with fur,” I said while mulling over the idea. “Why do you think the squibbles locked down the water planet’s Xgate?”

“We have way too many conflicting theories to take a stab on that one. So, when we arrive, we will offload outside your walls. I would want the same,” Reinhardt said, bringing up a potential point of confliction.

“Thanks. The other thing is, what are the lurrol worth dead? I do not think they are edible. Hopefully, their skin contains some value. I am planning on adding a few crixxi to the intel team.”

“Just be careful with them. Aliens, even if very attractive, are still aliens.”

“Cap out.”

The rest of the drive transitioned smoothly. The savannah revealed a new small turkey-type bird. It reminded me of a vulture. The lurrol were on a fire rampage. The western gate was more willow trees with minimal wildlife.

A half hour later we were unloading the crixxi inside Mansion walls. The aliens were very efficient in their ways. I walked to the back of the RV with my shield still up. Trust was certainly earned. I saw our resident children swarm the crixxi little ones. Parents on both sides watched. I realized the little crixxi had translators. Oh man, I had never thought of doing that.

Mary was trying to understand what the little girl was saying to her other crixxi friend. She kept looking back to Jill for help. Eventually, the crixxi swapped to English to talk with Mary. She was offended, though. I chuckled at seeing her stern pout.

Mary’s eyes locked to me, realizing I was home. The toddler sprinted to give me a hug. Boom, she crashed into the shield with a thunk. I guess she was beyond the pass-through speed. I picked her up to soothe her while she cried out in pain. The knot on her forehead grew, then retracted. The virum sure was efficient. Jill came rushing over but I held out a hand stopping her.

Perci was leading Daphne to the newest longhouses. I still could not get over how many children the crixxi brought with them. They were of all ages and full of energy. Parents were patiently translating for the little kids trying to communicate. Mary snuggled into my shoulder while we trailed the main group. I realized we were not needed at this point. I turned for Jill.

“You handle her so well. You back off to war?” Jill said while taking Mary. I was kind of surprised she let me hand her off.

“Watch the fort for me. Be back soon. Or much later. How are you doing?”

“We need to talk when you return. Unless you want me to text you,” Jill said. I paused my spin. Mary was set down and had she rushed to the playground, which explained why I was able to hand her off. “I… This is awkward. Last night, I got horny drunk. Sorry. I would like to be a stone candidate until I am ready. I do not wish to be humping pillows when I wake up. Again.”

I giggled. “Jill, it is great to see you relax some. I have no problem with any woman wanting to gain impulse control or to prevent pregnancies. We will not force babies, I guess, is what I am saying. Did people think that?”

Jill leaned on my shoulder. She waved to Willow and Nancy talking outside RV3 with a group of concerned women. I guess my ladies were the go-to complaint department. “There is so much happening so fast. You have not put out an official statement. There have been mutterings since you have three wives and a cling-on, that you are going to forcefully breed women.”

“Cling-on, like the aliens from that old TV show?”

Jill tugged on my arm with a big smile. “No, you goofball. Me. Honestly, you are handsome. You are great with Mary, and I feel like I am part of the family. So if they call me a clingy side babe,” Jill said with erratic jazz hands, “then I am okay with that. We know the truth. You are helping Mary and me. We are there for you. I want stones so I do not cause drama, and to control my urges until I am ready.”

“One hundred percent approve. Draft something official with Perci, please. You’re the best, Jill.”

“Thanks for understanding, Eric,” Jill said before running for Mary at the playground. I noticed Jill's hips had widened, making her butt snap more.

I walked to Willow and Nancy. The mothers around them scattered at my approach. My palms went up with a ‘What did I do?’ gesture. Willow crushed into me with a hug.

“I bet yesterday I would have asked for stones. I can’t now.” I rubbed her back in support.

“The community will have an official statement soon. Hold on,” I said, and typed out an alert to community members only.

“A statement on reproduction inhibitors coming soon, along with the best details we can provide. All troops return to the convoy.” - Cap

“That should calm them for a bit. Now load up, ladies, we got some animals to herd or squibbles to fight,” I said with a smile. Nancy gave me a kiss before dashing off. I walked hand in hand with Willow back for RV3. When I was inside and in my bucket seat, I disabled my shield. “Dedric, feel free to roll out when ready.”

I checked the drone overhead. The Aspen convoy was already turned around. They were speeding down the dirt road with a dust plume. I needed to get more rocks added to the road. The amount of work the base needed was incredible. I flipped through to our compiled folder. This was a communal note storage spot, a place where team leaders were supposed to be updating projects and to-do tasks.

Wiring old salvaged solar. I clicked on that folder to see a note by Braxton: Awaiting solid roofing or field structures.

I flipped to a map of the stronghold. There was a hand-drawn map that Torrez created almost a week ago. The number of trees to clear was still far more surface area than currently cleared. The problem was we had no plans to start building vertically. Honestly, we were in need of a second power location as the longhouses stretched east.

I dialed up Braxton. His face popped up on my Gpad. The sky was behind him at an odd angle.

“Hey, Braxton. Checking over the power report. I’m in need of some clarity.”

“Just fixing longhouse roof seven. We created enough plywood for all the roofs. At least, I think we did. Hard to tell when you actually start cutting and sawing. What did you have questions about?” Braxton said while wiping his brow of glistening sweat.

“Did you find new power sources? From the grand market?”

“I browsed but did not buy. Gary and I discussed it with Clive. We bought those pumps stacked in the cave instead of another power generator. We concluded the power output was still more than consumption. The problem was wiring.” Braxton paused. He walked sideways with all fours on the roof. A snapping sound told me he was working during his pause. “Apparently silver is super cheap on the alien market. So I bought a few hundred pounds of it, took it to Earth, and chucked it back into the portal. My favorite superhero is my mind-talking person. I asked for the silver to be coated with the plastic bricks, and presto, the community received all the electric wiring it could ever use.”

“Wait. Silver is better than copper?”

“By seven percent, if my memory is right. They cost the same base. My crews already installed electrical boxes to the roofed longhouses. The question is, where do I run the lines from? I was hoping to use that new shield machine,” Braxton said while shifting again. Snap, snap, and snap ten more times. After he secured the plywood, someone off-screen was laying a new board for him. “The shields have generators. They run off those nitrogen power plants you got all the officers wearing. Dead giveaway who is important if you take the time to notice. Meant to point that out, but as you can see”—he grunted while moving a crew to get by—“so busy lately. Back on topic. Those power plants are about the same as a hydro turbine. I can run all the longhouses with a central unit. It will keep the shield up too. Simply put in an alert from the Gtower that when a hostile situation arises the power to the homes shuts off. That was what I was meaning to propose to you.”

I cracked my neck while thinking about it. The next homes would probably be on the western end of the mansion. Or we could turn that into a business section. “What about the old solar panels?”

“Well, that rolls back into what Gary, Clive, and I deduced. Okay, Eric—I feel I can call you Eric at this point—I think you won’t get offended easily. This Viking thing is for assholes.” Braxton kneeled with a huff. The next board was ready for him. The repeating snaps secured the plywood in place and he saw me with a corner of a smile. “See, at least you get it. Okay, we go out and go raiding. For argument's sake, I am the asshole at your side.

“We raid a city, not too uncommon from what we saw with Denver. We find all sorts of power plant generators. Awesome, right? Except for the issue that none of our stronghold’s electrical is compatible. The grand market rolls around. To break it down is a loss; not a huge loss, but a loss. So we try to sell it whole. We looked. Most vendors are selling at a twenty percent markup over raw costs. Which is pennies compared to setting up the infrastructure of a manufacturing chain. Or we can simply learn how to make this new technology work. We need more time to study the market and more visits to get a better feel. But it was our conclusion that we will be able to piecemeal a really nice base with reclaimed gear. With that in mind, the old inefficient solar panels are not worth our time.

“Eric, I really want a bedroom with a door I can close. The issue is, I share a bed with my stinking kids. I love them but I don’t want them kicking me in the nuts when they try to get comfortable in their sleep.”

“Got it, the keyword is old. You want to convert the solar panels at the next golden portal and raid or just buy more power,” I said, listening to him. Sometimes a great boss kept an open ear. “I am sorry about bringing home more residents. They might be temporary, though. Did you three figure out a way to build homes with purchasing power? I was thinking of looting Denver.”

“That one is on Gary. He’s working with that Harvard fellow. Said they have a plan to build in stone.” The auto-nailer snapped in the background. “Expect something before the golden portals. If you go to Denver, let me know. A lot of us workers would like to loot before some aliens steal all the good stuff.”

“Hey, Braxton, not my most hurray idea. But why not go for a night shift to get a good day’s rest?”

“I did, imagine my surprise when I started looking thirty-five years younger and don’t need more than three hours of sleep. But… Eric, I saw those kids you gave refuge to. Cold-hearted pirate, my ass. Rumor is, you are even going to let all the horny girls get on stone control.”

“Is that what they are calling it?” Willow blurted out from the command table. Dedric snickered and Nancy waved a finger.

“Jill is spreading the good word. You keep this up and they will start calling you ‘your grace’ and mean it. Hint, you’re still Cap in official time and Eric in others. I need to get off the roof. Braxton, peace out!”

He howled at the end before closing the connection.

“He seemed happy,” Dedric said while dancing his thumbs against the steering wheel. “Bit rambling on the market. I bet that the grand market is in constant flux.”

“I am poring over Harvard's findings. He swapped to the virum at some point. You need to expand your S2 team,” Nancy said from behind me. “Let me call Perci. There have to be data analytics people in the community who are probably swinging a hammer that a crixxi can do now.”

“Let me know what she says. How has the Xgate been, Willow?” I asked, knowing she had been watching the video screen while I had been talking.

“Timer should be up any minute now. We are still twenty minutes out from Mitchell. The lurrol monsters are on a tear of destruction. Castle city is forest still, went from weeping willows to angry red trees with pumpkin-type nuts. The savannah is moving further away from the ocean. Our gate is not too far from its original landing spot. If it syncs up with that location, we may have a pattern starting.”

“Harvard mentioned that?”

“Yeah, sent a note over the command channel.”

“Thanks, Willow. Dedric, any news on the driver front?”

“Everyone is rested. Batteries were fully charged and everyone is reporting that they are a-okay. Tango Team is terrific.”

“Deluxe Duke, this is Cap,” I said over the Gpad command channel.

“Go, shifted to RV2, over,” Jevon said.

“Thoughts on the next steps?” I asked.

“Defend while adjusting. We are not desperate for anything. That driver dragging the yexin back was overly risky. If they were a team of ours, I would be upset. Then again, that is a good win,” Jevon said. “Check out the command channel, DD out.”

I flipped my Gpad to see what was new. Harvard had a report ready. I hit play on the short video.

“Planet Savannah One. Extra high oxygen content in the air. Temperatures routinely in the high nineties. Unknown adverse effects.”

I hit pause. A standardization of the alien planets made sense. Adverse effects must be things like the moon on the puroon planet pulling the gravity in sways. I pressed play again.

“Vegetation has limited value. Standard photosynthesis plant life. Some might contain roots. Trees were stripped bare by herd animals. Unknown if the fruit is capable of growing off them because the animals pick the branches clean so quickly.

“Animal life is highly abundant. To the point there is not enough to sustain such massive creatures in one area unless they are nomadic. This is not the case. We discovered these machined belts.”

The video shifted to the drones doing a rapid fly over and then pausing. Holy shit. S2 had hit a home run. There were pallets of food being shoved from holes in the ground to sporadic places across the fields. In this image, the smaller large-horned boars were running for the dropped pallet. This proved our theory: they were farm animals. But why place them so close to a gate?

Personally, I liked to pretend my first thought was normally right. The gates rotated, but even with that fact, I thought these might be an offering. Then again, Reinhardt had hit the nail on its head. We could push the herd into the Rockies with enough vehicles and a locked gate. Maybe they wanted the offering as bait. I decided to stop the what-if games and focused back on the video.

“We do not know where the food is coming from. Humans, before the fall, were able to grow large amounts of barley. The entire process was automated. Even the seeds were grown to keep the chain moving. I had to do some research, but sprouts could be grown without light in a sterile environment. We fully automated the system but above ground. I would wager the moment those bales hit the upslope, the interior is sealed again.” The video paused to change images from the pallets coming out to a trail. “This is worn ground. Not from animals. Actually, there seems to be an invisible fence for the animals on the other side of this trail. This leads to the ocean, and we hypothesize that is where the squibbles originate from.”

Damn. I knew we had water drones. I paused the video and kicked my feet up off the dashboard. I propped up the view screen and shifted the broadcast from my Gpad to the dash display. When my Gpad was clear, I started taking notes. The first one was to build drone teams, with the main focus being excursions. Mr. Wang was probably not going to let Douglas go on high-risk missions. Meaning more recruiting or training, which would take time. I sighed as I hit play again.

“The squibbles themselves appear to be oceanic bottom feeders. Their tentacles are used to propel them down to the substrate. Each leg can flare out fins to help stabilize them. We believe they rely on technology to an extreme. We also do not believe them to be true amphibians, instead merely using land through their gravity sled carriers. The prevailing theory is concentrated fire will break their shielding. A direct hit to the head should eliminate the enemy.

“Summary: Savannah One is not well defended by observable foes. A raid while the squibbles are away has a high probability of success. The squibbles should be avoided in a direct confrontation. Their turrets have enough power to punch through most vehicles. Recommendation: Use caution.”

I sighed. I thought this would be the end of the video, so I paused it before it could keep going.

I glanced out the front window. The RV bounced over the dirt road. The Xgate loomed large in the horizon and the fourth gate was flaring blue. I pulled up the drone feed and overrode the S2 briefing.

Mitchell and Ulanda were shifting on the outskirts of a tree line, keeping pace with the southern side of the Xgate. The M1 Abrams was the lead vehicle. Ballsy crew, I liked that. The shimmer shifted to reveal nothing but a deep dark-blue ocean. A squibble shot across the flat ocean for the Xgate. Their tentacles barely touched the portal blue.

The gravity sled launched out of the portal. The device jarred with a waving tilt as it landed on Earth. The barrel of the tank swiveled.

Crack!

The squibble and its sled were a direct hit. The 120mm round punched past the shield with ease. The results were catastrophic for the squibble. The area was coated in a horrendous mess.

“Cap, this is Mitchell. I can see around the portal. The main force is waiting in the water at a side angle. They have thousands of prisoners in nets being dragged behind them. They are arguing, it appears. Another squibble is coming. Ready fire!”

I cut Mitchell’s connection. This time a squibble braved the portal at a different angle. The turret belched fire. The soaring round missed; it landed right beside the grav sled. Small arms cracked against the shield, failing to break through. A .308 round splattered the head, causing the sled to still. A third and fourth squibble arrived on Earth. They were giving too much time for us or the tank to react.

The tank missed the third target but managed to disable the fourth. The combined fire on the third mirage shattered the bone salamander image. A well-aimed nitrogen round scorched through the alien head. The third squibble’s sled stilled.

At this point, there was a trail of death in the wake of the Xgate. Reinhardt arrived within sight of the Xgate with his charging vehicles. I could see the looming Xgate, knowing we were not far behind.

“Report, Mitchell.”

“Once Aspen arrived, they paused. Now they are retreating from the Xgate, sir.”

I picked up the Aspen radio. Before I could talk, Reinhardt keyed the mic.

“I would like to wait for the lockdown. Keep pressure on these squids. Use the time to recon the other planets.”

“That would have us trailing the Xgate for ten-plus hours. I agree, though. If we can lock the Xgate down, I believe we will have free reign to steal those animals and their feeding equipment. I will send a drone team into the eastern castle gate. Do you have water drones for the savannah gate?”

“I do. They are going in now that we are here. I also only have one drone team. At least trailing the gate allows us time to do a proper recon. You mind if we split loot?”

“I would appreciate something fair to result in less bickering. Fair is normally compromising. I know a brand new world means the old day of squabbling can be put behind us. Doesn’t hurt when two leaders of trading strongholds are both militarily run. I am interested to see what the squids taste like,” I said with a chuckle.

“Ulanda already started a fire… Too funny. I got your S2 briefing. Mine is a bit behind. We did not leave Carson with an actual S2. You have any problems with me sending our data people to work with yours?”

I smiled before keying up the mic. “That would be fantastic. My S2 is in RV1. The standard operating procedure going forward, at least in my mind, should be four recon drone teams waiting for blue activation. If no hostile forces are waiting to greet them, then into the breach for intelligence. Those teams should report to a joint S2 so we both get data as quickly as possible.”

“I concur. A team of geeks will be pulling alongside RV1 shortly. Open the door so they know which one. Initiating slow drive in tandem with Xgate 232.”

“Adjust as well, Dedric. Cap out.”

I heard a grunt from the table over my shoulder. Bonnie and Peterson had their goggles off.

I finally was able to see Bonnie. She was a plain, neighborly type. The type of young woman you would wave to in passing and forget a few minutes later. Nothing wrong with that, just not my preference. She had her long red hair bound into a loose ponytail. Her brown eyes had a timid sheen with lots of freckles on her cheeks.

“Who do you want to go on the mission?” Peterson asked.

“Peterson, when I said to build your team, I meant by more than one or two,” I said to her. She frowned, opened her mouth, and closed it. Peterson was never a soldier with moxie. “If you die, who can resume training?”

“That’s the thing, Cap. Douglas can train others. We have been overworked. These new drones we bought are much easier to operate than the human versions. I need more than a single day, though. If we—”

“The ‘if’ game leads nowhere. Pull your other candidates into this RV. On-the-job training. Bonnie, you are now a field operator. Dedric, stop the vehicle.” The RV rolled to a stop over the rocky, short grass terrain. I called Mitchell. His Gpad answered with him talking to Elifer. “Mitchell, you are doing recon on the eastern gate. Pick up Bonnie outside RV3. She’s your drone operator.”

“Elifer is requesting permission to go on the mission.”

“She is being assigned to the G-Team. Hurray, you now are the first unit to be multi-species. Be safe. No more than a fifteen-minute recon. Keep an eye on home. If you see us fighting aliens, return back. For the community.”

“Understood. For the community. Mitchell out.”

“Good luck, Bonnie,” I said to the pouty woman. She was in shock. “Get out of the RV. Go fly some drones. Mitchell will bring you home. You will not be leaving the vehicle. Peterson, get her the drones she needs.”

Peterson ran for a cabinet in the back bedroom. A military-type case with clasps was handed to Bonnie. Peterson shooed her out of the RV while reassuring her. Dedric was a pro, the moment she was standing outside the RV ready to complain, we rolled away.

Mitchell picked her up in an electric alloyed truck. The very best kind we had. Must have swapped for his bike. I watched the truck peel ahead of us for the eastern gate. There was always a wonderment when you saw the portal at work. The truck went at a slight angle in alignment with the Xgate’s travel. The extra-large tires handled the drop-off with ease, the suspension absorbing the bounce smoothly. A flock of small drones was released out of the back window by Bonnie.

With them successfully on the mission, I shifted to watch our mobilized army as it trailed the Xgate. The combined Aspen and Mansion forces had more vehicles than I could swiftly count. We still stuck to our own teams while driving with the roaming gate.

My back peeled off the sticky leather seat with a tearing sound as the material released me from its contours. I walked the narrow corridor for the coffee pot. Willow handed me a cup with a tender kiss. Aw, she was the best.

“What next?”

“We play it slow and wait. The goal is to win bigly. Sometimes that requires patience—patience and coffee. Drone operators, go to the comfy bed. I want the big screen and the booth.”

Douglas and Peterson said nothing while shifting to the bedroom. Nancy came out of the turret spot to join us at the booth table. We shifted to small talk while monitoring the situation. Even though it was slow going, I was happy we only had one loss today. Hopefully, we could avoid more while gaining vital resources. Only time would tell.

CHAPTER 9

“Planet Castle One. Going to skip the full overview. Incredibly hostile to drones. The reconnaissance team was forced to retreat. Minimal footage showed long-range turrets sniping our drones from the sky. Class undetermined. Resident species undetermined. Recommendation: Avoid at all costs. Nothing to be gained.”

I shut off the video Harvard sent. Go figure. The most docile portal turns into the most hostile. We had yet to send a drone team into the southern archipelago portal for numerous reasons, but namely that drone operators had to be on the same planet as the drone. The few workarounds we tried failed. There was no way I was sending a drone operator into a hostile planet’s ocean without even a life vest. Boats were added to the salvage list. Being near Aspen, there were a lot of abandoned boats either in large garages or storage lots. My teams had stripped most of the electronics out of the easy-to-find ones. I ordered a few to be towed back to our lemon lot when things settled.

Aspen had a team that recently returned from the forest portal. That would be my next briefing while we waited. I kept shifting to glance at the southern portal with the naked eye. A slight tilt of my head would reveal a trailing squibble following the Xgate. I had to wonder how often raiding teams and armies found themselves cut off from home. The idea made me want to never raid longer than the fifty-minute lockdown timer. I sure as hell did not want to chain-portal raid. At least not until I had a better grasp on raiding.

“Ruby for your thoughts?” Nancy said with a wink.

I sipped my strong coffee. While I was feeling refreshed, the brew was delicious.

“I feel like we are woefully underprepared. These castle dwellers… They put us into a checkmate scenario without ever leaving the walls,” I said with a sigh that transitioned into me blowing the steam off the coffee.

“Oh, neat. I want to learn,” Willow said without glancing up from her Gpad. She displayed the limited footage we had from planet Castle One.

“Give me your assessment based on the information that Harvard provided,” I ordered, watching the scene play out a second time.

“Well, to start, they never greeted the gate. Traders tend to do that. Actually, statistically, most species tend to either stage a show of force or a greeter-slash-scout of some sort to, at the very least, have the information themselves,” Willow said. Nancy used a side screen to put up an eighty-three percent statistic. “My initial assumption was the castle was unoccupied. That was false, clearly.”

Of course, since our drones were shot down, that meant either an automated defense triggered, or people were home in the castle. I didn’t reply so she could give her full assessment.

“Know thy enemy is still prevalent. Just because we did not see their scouts, drones, or forces doesn’t mean they exist. By countering our ability to find them we are left expending additional resources to try to find out something—anything, really,” Willow said. I gave her a bob of the head to continue. “At first thought, you would send a second team. With drones heading the other direction. Again, knowing any variables is better than nothing. You avoided that course of action. When I ask myself why, I come to the conclusion you don’t want to anger the ‘who or whatever’ is on that planet. Do not kick the proverbial hornet’s nest. Take our losses, show we were humbled, and retreat to fight our other battles. Hence the checkmate statement.”

I smiled and pulled Willow in for a hug. I obviously ruffled her hair instead. She never saw it coming.

“We are not in a position to be taking unnecessary risks. Hell, after Paul’s death, I think I will adjust the aggressive nature of our recon teams. I also think the castle aliens are either experts at stealth or can go invisible. That is pure speculation, mainly because I doubt they would not have some form of information gathering. Unless they were very powerful to the point that nothing coming through the portal would matter. Think about if we get the defenses of Stronghold Mansion so impressive we don’t worry about what is outside because we know we can defeat it.”

“First, leave these lovely pink locks alone. I am going to miss the hair dye. My blonde roots are already coming in. Second, the crixxi lesson is that everything has a counter,” Willow said while escaping my grasp.

“Well, you can adjust with enough layers of defense to counter every type of attack. I guess bombardment from outer space does not count, since the mothership controls the space above our atmosphere,” Nancy said with a finger wag that pointed up.

I was about to reply when Dedric interrupted. “Mitchell is coming back with Bonnie and some food. Yeah, brunch!”

My tummy rumbled in agreement. The RV slowed before stopping. I exited the side door to see the afternoon sun casting a high shadow over the tall Xgate. The shuffling of vehicles continued around our stopped RV. The whine from the electric motors was minimal compared to the sound of the run-flat tires crunching over the loose, rocky terrain. We had entered a tree-free area of rolling monotonous hills. Large bushes and small trees were crumpled under tires as our vehicle armada kept pace with the floating Xgate. Mitchell arrived with Bonnie in the shiny steel-alloy truck.

They exited with meat on a stick, times ten. The majority of the meat smelled like steak. It certainly looked like chunks of bovine. The tips of the stick were little chunks of white fluffy meat. Oh! Squid. I hastily accepted the stick.

“Yum! This squid is divine. Oh, the yexin is fantastic too,” I blurted while savoring the flavor. My taste buds may have been screwed by eating nasty-tasting gargoyle a lot recently.

“We have a whole leg uncooked heading back to base. Should make for a fantastic cookout on this warm spring day,” Mitchell said. He handed me additional meat sticks to pass into the cabin. The ladies handed out the extras. “I want to go bury Paul and recover his gear now that we’ve entered a pause in activity. Me and the team. I would like a truck with a trailer so I can bury him with the others.”

“Granted. If you want to mourn for a few days, let me know. We should have this battle in hand. I do not think the squibbles are hankering to fight to get home. I bet they wait until we hopefully disappear,” I said with a grimace. I hated losing soldiers; it was a terrible thing. There was little to do besides move on. “I am sorry for your loss, Mitchell. For the community.”

“For the community. Bonnie did great. She was nervous at first but picked it up just fine. Only screamed once when her drones started getting shot out of the sky,” Mitchell said while heading back for his driver’s seat. “See you later, Cap.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the hard work. And again, sorry for your loss, Mitchell.” I waved to him and Eilfer, who was in the passenger seat.

I continued to gnaw on the yummy food while heading into the RV. I bolted the door closed before sliding into the booth. An alert hit my Gpad.

“Stronghold Mansion has gone through some recent changes. We may start a daily update briefing to help alleviate concerns or issues in the community. The virum is on everyone’s minds. Included in this message is a file on everything we know concerning our new friends. Some ladies absolutely do not want to birth or raise more children. Some will help raise but do not want more children of their own. There are measures we can use to help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

With that said, this is our only allowable method of birth control at the moment. The ability to kill the unborn, even in the egg stage, does not exist without fighting the virum, which we are not able to do yet. Or may never do. So, ladies and gentlemen, resist your urges until you are prepared for the consequences. If you do wish to use ‘stone control’ as it is being termed, please head to the third-floor suite in the mansion. It is being set up as a procedure room for now. We have one successful case of implantation of stone control. The patient is doing well with decreased urges. If you can resist and want to wait to see the results in a few days or weeks, we understand.

“Next topic. All personnel will have an assigned workgroup. Now that we only have the need for three or four hours of rest, we are going to assign two seven-hour shifts with two three-hour breaks and one four-hour sleep cycle. The goal here is to break up monotony. Let those watching the gate, raid. Or those watching the kids, build. The intent is to make it fair, while at the same time improving our community.

“We need drone operators and data analyzers as priority. If you have any data analytic skills, please see Duke Harvard or someone on his S2 team. If you can play a video game, you can fly a drone. Please know, drone operators are frontline troops. Please see Duchess Peterson or someone on the recon team if interested.

“There are a few officer-slash-noble vacancies. We need a defense officer to help maintain our base layout and adjust for gaps. We need an animal manager to oversee our growing herds. We need a mining officer to ramp up future production. If you are a geologist or understand minerals, please reach out. Expect to hear of promotions to aid Earl Gary and his building teams. We’re also looking for a manager for the tavers.

“We have new citizens without Gpads. This may mean down the road we adopt a new system so we are fully integrated. At this time, we do not foresee the crixxi being able to return home. We ask that you treat the crixxi like any other citizen. They have pledged to help with childcare, work, and our military needs. They eat much the same things we do and will help our community grow. The crixxi are not used to hospitality and kindness, so let's show them some.

“Final note: The Aspen community helped kill a yexin today. We were given a chunk of meat to have a barbeque with. That will be held at the main dining building over the next hour. Thank you for your time.” - Queen Perci

I munched on a chunk of yexin while mulling over the message. It was certainly helpful to alleviate those with worries over a lack of information. I was waiting for negative feedback. My Saudi veterans were never able to hold back meaningful critique.

The Gpad alert I was ready for was sent from Harvard.

“Planet Jungle One. Over a hundred lurrol rolling golems are torching the forest. We sent drones above the canopy. It is not a jungle with strips of grazing lands and mountains on the horizon. The entire planet is a jungle. The canopy height varies from trees a hundred feet tall to four hundred feet. Even the rivers are covered under the dense foliage. The lurrol would need to spend a few hundred years to torch the entire planet. While the drone footage the Aspen team brought back was helpful, the data was inconclusive. There are no easy prey to hunt. The river is fast flowing, with the drones unable to do a mineral study. Minimal fruit near the forest floor would lead to lengthy retrieval times while exposed. Summary: The planet is literally too hot to handle. Recommendation: Avoid or, at most, send a small team to try for minerals. Denver seems wiser with less risk of being stranded by sudden fire aliens.”

I shut down the video.

Hmm… My grimace twisted as I realized we had three bad portals now. Technically four. There was no way I was raiding a superior foe of unknown capabilities. The forest would leave us too confined, and we sure as shit were not getting into a water fight. The best option was still to wait for the cooldown time and lock down the savannah.

My Gpad rang. The caller was Clive.

“Go ahead, Clive,” I said to our resident plumber.

“I finally have enough supplies to build a proper bathhouse. I was thinking of something communal they used back in the olden days. A ‘him and her’ section for cleaning. A private male tub, female tub, and then an adult mingle tub. Trust me, an indoor pool with a splash waterpark is on the docket of tasks planned for.

“For this project, I need a couple of things approved. Gary said he would have to halt construction on longhouse twenty-five to build the bathhouse. Even then, we might need to pilfer some of twenty-four,” Clive said with a frown of disapproval.

“Clive, people love to be able to bathe, shower, and pee. As of today, we sleep less. So build the bathhouse. Any other issues?”

“Umm… The crlixxa,” Clive said, butchering the name I created.

I flashed him a toothy smile. “Crixxi.”

“Yeah, the well-proportioned cat-humans. The crixxi. Good, I got it now. They want to help. They are saying we should pump the waste under the gate and down the side of the mountain. They also said we should shift the main pump drain there too. Apparently, shit in water systems leads to long-term issues upstream,” Clive said with a shrug. “I am not an environmentalist. I do plumbing. When I asked Perci, she asked some fellow who was a lawyer. He said dump the sewage towards Denver down the mountain. I am fine with doing that, but I need to shut down the pump for a few hours once I have all the lines run. Which requires the boss’s approval.”

“A few hours to divert long-term problems is fine by me. Did you get a drone to study your drop point? Are we avoiding one issue to create another? I guess that is what I am asking.”

“Yes, sir! We are ready to convert a rocky slope into a shitty rocky slope.”

“Consider your request approved. And Clive, if you need additional resources, consider those approved. A bathhouse will be a great morale boost. Cap out.”

I closed the connection. Willow leaned on my left side and Nancy on my right. I wrapped arms over both their shoulders. The girls snuggled into me. I relaxed while watching the video screen. Dedric was drifting the RV with the small army of vehicles. The drone operators were in the back room with goggles on. Five minutes of quiet became ten.

I felt a roaming hand undo my fatigue buttons over my crotch. My cock was pulled out of the seam. Willow’s right hand started a slow, tight stroke. Nancy caught the motion with her eye. She exclaimed with a soft moan.

“I’ll catch this one, you get next,” Nancy said seductively.

Willow bit her lip in desire while stroking my stiffening cock. I think the girls were getting off on the fact there were others around. I nibbled on Willow’s ear teasing her. Her left hand slid under her beltline. Her fingers were extracted with a glistening sheen that she applied to my bulging cock.

“Yummy,” Nancy said with a very quiet moan.

With her ass still in the booth she ducked under the table. My cock was engulfed by her big, puckered lips. Her tongue twirled the base of my cock for that sweet pleasure spot. Willow’s hand kept pumping while Nancy worked her magic. The dynamic duo brought me to a spurting climax less than five minutes later. Nancy gagged and coughed. I shot my load so deep into her throat her eyes watered. Jizz dripped from her mouth until she got it under control. A greedy lick of her lips and all the evidence was swallowed with a delightful giggle.

Willow tucked my cock away while fixing my buttons. Well, that was fun. I was mildly amused when the radio crackled the moment the last button was fixed.

“Aspen for Mansion,” Reinhardt said over the radio.

“Go.”

“Bored yet?”

I chuckled. Then I frowned. I would have Harvard sweep RV3 for bugs. The timing could be more than coincidence.

“We could be raiding Denver, but then again this score will be far grander in keeping our current supplies from being consumed. We are adding a bathhouse. Going to stop polluting our local water too,” I said proudly, giving up minor details.

“The Aspen plumbers are fixing our sewer issues as well. They are just pumping at the backup spot. I think the planned exit point is some tree area to the south. I approved it because the experts recommended the spot,” Reinhardt said with a bored tone. “You mind if I do another recon on Savannah One? No killing, recon only. I got the water drones with operators finally ready.”

“Hell yes. I was getting antsy with how quiet it is over there. Cap out,” I said, and Nancy snickered.

“Liar. And Willow,” Nancy said, stroking the back of her hand down Willow’s face. She whispered softly, “Cum tastes like cake now. Vanilla-frosted cake!”

∞∞∞

Nine boring hours later, the radio crackled. “Fifteen minutes, give or take,” Reinhardt said. I had no reply. The man was using me to ease his boredom. “Those tavers. The chair-crafting oddities in your lake. Can we get the next community add-on creature? If we are doing a fair split.”

I knew what he was after. The recon video from his team had revealed a tamed creature not too different than the mozala. The savannah ones burrowed and were more like a monkey mixed with a gopher. The adventuring team had lured some home with a stolen oat bale that a conveyor belt plopped out of the ground. The gropkeys were all the craze. Even Perci was being pestered by parents wanting us to bring some home. Norm said they would be great for tilling dirt, but horrible for long-term planting. He went on and on about how our fields already needed fencing. That was enough for me to easily pass on them.

“I guess. You did buy us lunch. Even if you did wreck a truck in haste. Hell, a solid yes,” I said in an overly happy tone. “Especially since you are going to be doing all the hard work during our mission.”

“I can see you rolling your eyes through the radio. The drone team spotted an entry point to the conveyor belt system. Look, we’re two different strongholds. I fled to Aspen with tanks and up-armored trucks. Only a company of troops without families nearby, they were all I was willing to rip out of the base. Those troops and their converted civilians are in need of actual combat. Something your men have spades of. Plus, we have more vehicles, making our role logical.”

“I get it, the plan is solid. Who knows, you may dent another truck!” I said, chuckling. “In all actuality, we bought the shield generators for our infantry. I have not seen any of your troops wearing the same thing. I will clear the turrets personally. Even put the feed on display.”

“How noble of you, your grace,” Reinhardt said dryly.

We had been trading friendly barbs like this for hours ever since Harvard sent out the latest Savannah One report. The water drones found trails from the ocean. A lot of trails indented where the hard dirt met the sand. In the deep waters where the bottom was disturbed, less additional trails were found. The reconnaissance into the depths revealed very little. There was minimal sea life, and the salt content was lower than on Earth. The aquatic cities the squibbles came from were beyond where the drones could travel.

This sparked a debate that lasted for hours. Both Aspen and Mansion were located forty-five minutes to an hour’s drive away from our Xgate. We theory-crafted that a stronghold or city too close to an Xgate was doomed to fall. There was the counterargument that a closer base would allow for easier raiding. The concept fell flat when considering a throwaway outpost. The winning argument for giving the Xgate space was that you could not get trapped on your own planet as easily as on a foreign planet. A prime example of why you did not want to live near an Xgate was our crixxi. They had their tree outpost defeated in minutes by a counter force. If they had lived an hour away; that would have given them far more time to adjust, which led back to why we could not find the squibble cities. They were probably on an island hours away or in the depths of the ocean beyond drone limits. To me, that was great for raiding those animals on the land. Any reaction force would probably arrive long after we were gone. Just like if an elk herd walked to our Xgate. We could not defend it quickly if we were in our strongholds.

Reinhardt was worried that we should rapidly focus on the animals in fear of retribution from the squibble cities. I argued against sending all our forces to herding because of what the aerial drones discovered. The bunker entrance had active turrets on it. Reinhardt’s team lost a drone getting the footage when they suddenly swiveled and fired.

We finally were able to understand why these animals were here too. A farming outpost had been smashed to rubble, the remains scattered an hour to the north. The animal farms went for hundreds of miles in all directions. There was far more livestock with auto feeders than we could handle. Our best guess was that this planet was a recent addition to the network. The squibbles bought some new tech and were feeling the god mode. The on-land species was raided and probably enslaved. The animals being out in the open, ripe for the picking with self-sustainment, made little other sense.

We had debated the what-ifs to a point I stopped caring. All that mattered was getting that gate locked down and capitalizing on as much loot as we could. Speaking of making the most of a situation… I keyed up the Aspen mic.

“I got a trade proposal for you,” I said, and Reinhardt waited to hear what I had to say. I winked at Willow, who was eyeing me like a delicious snack. “Your scientists. They can visit to study the tavers, or you allow a few folks a night to come get some virum, in exchange for any half of the homes in your area.”

“If you are looking for copper, electrical, and those good items, nope. We stripped all that.”

“Yeah, but do you need the tile, roofing, framing, and all the building materials?” I asked, getting to the point.

“Besides our exterior walls blocking entrance points, we are good. We have everything a premium sky resort has to offer. Honestly, we are building our gates with steel, anyway. Wood is far too susceptible to fire. Those hesco barriers would be amazing. But…”

“I have like eight spare. Not tugging your leg on that one,” I said, knowing he probably had spies in my stronghold.

“Yeah, those would help us hold our gates until we can put up something better. Or pour them with concrete—”

“You have a mixer, don’t you?” I couldn’t stop myself from blurting my conclusion.

“Well, yes. There should be plenty in Denver. Eight hesco barriers, two field scientists, and five civilians a day. They will be assigned work details of building or something basic. No shitty details unless they want it. In exchange, every morning when I swap out my teams, I bring you construction junk for your medieval stronghold.”

I could hear him chuckling through the mic. Eventually he released the detent. He had a point, even if it did sour Nancy’s face. Our home was our home. I let the comment slide because it truly was trivial and made in jest.

“Deal.”

“Alright, the squibbles look to be getting ready. I have a team on the north gate ready to lock it down. They are already smacking the button,” Reinhardt said.

If we were doing it, then they—

A squibble with its sled darted through the portal. The angle was crap and the speed of the turn was too much. The shielding cracked as the rider and sled tumbled. The gravity sled’s bottom faced us when it came to a halt. The tank gunner had been patient.

Crack! The interior of the RV shook from the concussive force.

The round screamed before slamming into the gravity shield with a booming force. The sled and the ride shot into the air toward the portal. I raced to the passenger seat to see it live. The alien was still soaring through the air as it was flung hundreds of feet into the sea. I swiveled my head to see the aliens getting ready to flood into the portal with prisoners, consequences be damned. They wanted to get home. Too bad for them, because the southern portal flickered before going gray.

Thud! Crash! And a rattling of the ground. Xgate 232 was locked down with the northern portal active. We had won the race. Time to be Vikings.

I dialed into my military command channel on the Gpad for our joint operation. “Mission Corral the DinDin is a go. I say again, Mission Corral the DinDin is a go.”

The ten hours of lazy, slow driving following an Xgate kicked into overdrive. Tires flung gravel, gunners stood at the ready, and I grinned at the sight.

Dedric yelled out, “Yeehaw!”

My Gpad was counting down. We ripped across the gravelly terrain of the Rockies. I shifted forward to crane my neck to peer up. I couldn’t help it when I was close to the Xgate. The south side flew by, as did the east. A wide U-turn had us driving into the blue with an Aspen truck on our left.

The moment we were on Savannah One I felt the gravity adjust on my translator. Dedric peeled us to the right. Aspen vehicles kicked up the soft dirt into billowing clouds as they went left. My teams were loaded with trailers so we could secure the manufacturing equipment. I used the rearview mirrors to see that the majority of our forces were through.

“Go,” I said to Dedric. I craned my neck to holler to Nancy, “Release the drones, please.”

Our team was on a straight drive for the bunker. I left my seat to stand in the small stairwell of RV3. I triggered my shielding to on. My left hand grasped my close-range nitrogen gun. My right hand grasped the rifle. They both flared to life after finding power.

“Sixty seconds!” Dedric shouted from the driver seat. “Thirty seconds.”

The clings, clangs, and smacks on the exterior steel alloy rang inside the RV. Well, the turrets were still active. The projectile rounds were not getting through the exterior.

“RVs to the front; rest of the convoy stays back!” I ordered.

We arrived by the turrets that were slinging pebbles into the RV. Dedric had pulled us extremely close to the automated weapons. I hopped out of the RV and dashed to the back corner, using it for cover. My left arm lined up the turret. My mind told the weapon to fire and a massive blast of energy melted the first set of barrels. Three more to go. I waited for a short recharge. My troops were too efficient compared to my recharge time. The other RVs belched out disabling fire. All four of the auto turrets protecting the bunker were melted or smashed.

“RVs, pull back. I want trailers being backed up for easy loading!” I ordered.

There was a double set of heavy steel doors. Soldiers attacked the exterior hinges with torch cutters. The glow was bright red until there was the sound of the hinges falling to the rough ground. The doors collapsed forward with a loud thud with only a slight tug from a chain. A soldier behind a heavy shield stepped into the doorway opening. The smacking of rounds crashed into the shield. Troops leaned out to disable the incoming fire.

The lead soldier walked forward. Mclain’s team was on point. His sergeants pushed troops into the breach. I was not sure what I would find. Well, a barley-type growing operation, sure. In my head, I pictured a dark, musty place with hooks in the ceiling managing the tedious work. Nope.

I was in a stark white warehouse that went for miles and miles. I stepped back outside to figure out the design. Then it hit me.

“Drone teams, the auto feeders are built on the surface and then covered in dirt. We will find more if you look for that. Also, this unit had four external turrets, two internal. Find me more. Bravo Team, you have the next bunker.”

I went back into the warehouse to study the automation. It was not too different from how our cattle farmers had adjusted to the end of the 2020s. The initial growing was for seed regeneration. I wish Norm was here to tell me what kind of seeds these were. I called them barley for now. Tan-colored barley stalks were grown until they produced lush heads of seeds. There must have been thirty seeds per head and three heads per stalk, meaning a single seed was making a hundred more seeds—give or take. A conveyor belt separated the seeds from the stalk. A few followed a small belt to enter a container to start the cycle all over again. The rest went down the line to enter a short growth section. These second lines were vertical farming trays in various stages. I watched a ready-to-go six-inch growth spill onto a different belt. That belt sent the new, fresh green growth to a compactor. That compactor had a dozen conveyor lines leading to the surface.

I let out a whistle as the hum of automation sounded throughout the facility. Everything I saw was done hundreds of times. The amount of feed being produced was staggering. There were variations of seeds too. How was I going to loot this all? Shit, now I wished I had Braxton here.

“Six, Alpha One,” Mclain said.

“Go.”

“We found the power source. A generator of some kind. Translator is drawing a blank. There are no wires anywhere. Not sure how the power is getting from A to B. Hmm… Recommendations?”

“Do not shut it off. These machines… I am thinking about how to move them. Or do we strip the best parts and trash the rest?”

“Six, Bravo One, new location identified. Disabling defenses now,” Slister said.

“Drone One, this is Six. Did you find the pattern?” I asked.

“Yes, there are three total. Sending third location now.”

I checked my Gpad. The three bunkers created a massive circle of feeding stations.

“Aspen actual, this is Mansion actual,” I said over the Aspen radio.

“Go,” Reinhardt replied with a crackle. The bunker must be affecting our connection.

“Unless we figure out how this alien power works, we will not be feeding these animals we get home the same way. I am planning on stripping the best parts, then designing our own systems. Assuming whatever you haul back survives long term, anyway.”

“Understood most of that, Aspen out.”

I sighed. These machines were amazing. It would be a travesty to smash them for their rare metals. These were the hard decisions only the boss could make. Their parts would not go in vain. A new position just opened up: the automator.

I keyed up my Gpad to talk to my troops only. “Leave the third bunker alone so we can effectively loot. Gut the brainboxes, generators, and a few samples of seeds. We have forty-one minutes remaining. Hurry up. If we have time and space, shift to random metal after. Everyone loaded up with twenty minutes on the timer.”

I received acknowledgements on my Gpad from my team leaders. Jevon found me walking out of the bunker.

“Any activity from the ocean?” I asked my executive officer.

“Nothing. The Aspen teams already shifted a big herd through. They are pushing two further groups into the portal as we speak. The question becomes, do we fight the squibbles wanting to get home, or fall back with our gains?”

“We fight them. They are trapped. That is to our benefit. Also, they killed Paul. If we can get the upper hand, then we do so. Their mistake is our gain. When we get home, detach trailers in a central spot and prepare to fight,” I said, reaching RV3.

With the minimal defenses defeated and my inspection complete, it was time to be the overseeing commander. Jevon left to ensure our troops were working effectively. Willow was at the table watching the drone feeds as I entered the RV. My butt slid across the booth to join her. I checked my Gpad for alerts. There were low-priority updates. The generators had push buttons. When they were shut off, the teams inside had to turn on backup lighting. Brainboxes were found, with the locations on machines being distributed.

The drone feeds showed both bunkers having streams of soldiers tossing components into the back of trailers. The pacing was quick as everyone hustled. Well, everyone besides my lazy butt watching everyone else work. Yes, it bothered me, and yes, I got over the fact. Someone had to watch the big picture.

Nancy returned to RV3 five minutes early. She carried a hefty load of seeds. Soldiers from her team brought clear containers behind her. My eyes barely glanced at them while watching the drones. We finally had activity on the beach. A single squibble scout was watching us. They probably were wondering where their raiding team was.

That was the wrong assessment, as the single scout turned into twenty or so squibbles. Additional units were stuck in the water without grav sleds for land. This further confirmed my theory that this planet was new to the rotation. The enemy watched us from a far distance. When twenty-two minutes hit, the alert went out. Everyone dropped what they were doing and loaded up.

Dedric started the convoy for home. He had to use the overhead drone feed to drive. The Aspen crews had stirred up so much dust pushing the herd animals that the air was clogged. Thank goodness for drones. I watched the convoy moving through the dust with unease. If we had an accident, there would be a lot of issues.

“Nerve wracking,” Willow said from my side. “Plop a seat, Nancy. No use sticking your head out there right now.”

Nancy shifted her gaze to me for approval. I gave her a tight nod. She shimmied out of the loft to join us. The aliens returned to the water; they probably knew we were too far and too many. Well, that was good. At least they did not have infinite gravity sleds to use over land. When we neared the Xgate, the billowing dust cleared magically. Dedric pulled us over to the side without the button. I climbed up the loft and opened the hatch.

Six drones converged on my location. They landed with precision on the RV roof with only the slightest whines of rotors. A few seconds later I had them resting on the loft bed.

“Six recovered,” I shouted down below.

“Heading home,” Dedric shouted back.

I felt the light of the blue overwhelm my senses for the tiniest of moments, and then we were back on Earth.

“Launching drones,” I shouted. I placed the drones on the roof and they lifted off to climb high into the sky. A quick glance showed over a thousand Savannah One animals clogging the landscape.

My Gpad pinged a central location behind some tree cover where Jevon wanted to consolidate the trailers. Our RV was trailer-less, but I wanted to group up regardless. The herds were being pushed south towards Aspen as planned. I had zero desire to care for animals not suited to our weather. We, technically, would get half the meat. I think Reinhardt cared less about long-term sustainment and more about the next ten days. Sorting half of the loot would have to wait for when things calmed.

While a few vehicles kept the herds moving, the rest of us readied for war once our trailers were dropped. The tank was facing the south gate ready to rumble. When we were ready to go, I saw five minutes on the timer. We sped for the tank’s defensive position. At the two-minute mark, that last vehicle with the button pusher was coming home. Mansion troops arrived just as the Xgate lifted off the ground.

A slight jerk started the construct’s roaming again. The washing cascade of teal light returned to the other portals. The squibbles were gone. A shifting head tilt revealed they were not trailing the gate anymore. While we waited, I pulled up the other videos.

The image of Castle One was drifting by weeping willow trees. Quiet was good. I really did not want any issues from them. The Jungle One image was a flaring of greens and browns being consumed by reds and oranges. The crixxi were very likely permanent residents. I sighed, wishing there was more I could do for their home.

“Mansion, this is Aspen. Leaving scouts with airborne drones. Heading home to improve our base and prepare for looting South Denver. I will have the radio on. If I am not around, Major Ulanda has command.” Reinhardt sounded tired.

“When you send your team tomorrow morning, I will have half your loot outside the gate waiting for you,” I said, feeling relieved. While I didn’t mind fighting, I was in a sense glad we had avoided a slugfest with the squibbles.

“Want me to add an animal a day to our drop-off?” Reinhardt suggested.

“Every other works. If we get over saturated, we will adjust. I need to build a slaughterhouse now. Which means more tree clearing, additional wiring, lighting, and the tasks go on. I will keep you updated. How do you want to split Denver?”

“I think Colorado Springs might be looting it already. These radios are pretty amazing with their range. We take it slow. Who knows? We might have to fight those lurrol or something worse instead.”

“Now, why did you have to go and say something like that? Mansion out.”

My snicker echoed against the RV walls. I left the table for the bucket passenger seat. Willow activated her shield before climbing up to the perch spot in the loft. No bugs for my princess. I smiled as I plopped into the comfy chair. I kicked my feet up while watching the Gpad feeds.

“Take us to the trailer drop-off and then home, Dedric,” I ordered.

I watched the view of the four portals. The reality of our new life was finally setting in. There would be those eager to kill, maim, and destroy. Others would be trying to hold on to a semblance of life the best they could. Some would hide behind walls in isolation, living their lives without interference. All because some egotistical asshole aliens decided to prevent others from space travel. I wondered who they were. How could they really justify their atrocities? The line of thought left me flustered. I smiled at seeing Dedric beating his thumbs against the steering wheel.

We had achieved another victory in my books. Now was the time to assess what was our next best course of action.

CHAPTER 10

Daphne found me eating dinner at the park bench under the communal dining roof. The area was bustling with light banter while citizens ate large meals. This conversation had been expected; actually, I had been meaning to talk with the leader of our newest faction. She grabbed the bench slot across from me, waiting for me to finish chewing. My delicious fruit and spicy yexin were hitting the spot. I noticed my appetite had increased by a lot, which resulted in my rapidly growing muscles. I reluctantly paused my ravenous eating when Daphne asked her odd question.

“Chief, I come to request approval for our building plans,” Daphne said with a toothy smile. The crixxi had six fanged teeth instead of the human two. While not the most alien thing about them, it also gave me pause. She placed a delicate hand over mine. It was clear she had not toiled in fields or fought with weapons for quite some time. “I assure you this will benefit the tribe.”

“Excuse me? I studied the plans that Perci sent over. You want to build vertical wood towers with platforms in between the longhouses? Why not live in the longhouses?” I asked, seeking clarity. I did notice she was thumbing the back of my hand gingerly. I wondered if in crixxi society it was common to try to woo a man with affection. The crixxi were certainly gorgeous. “Are you flirting with me?”

“Yes, but not for the homes. I am… was… the tribe leader. It is relevant for our transition we at least work closely together. I have found that an attractive male I must engage with is best pleased instead of scorned. I will stop if I have offended.”

She kept her hand where it was. I let her have her fun while her yellow eyes locked to mine seductively. I mostly allowed it because her large, swollen cleavage looked fantastic from this angle. The bonus was the thumb on my hand felt nice.

“I like an audacious woman. You being flirty will not hurt unless the queens get mad. Might want to talk with them about what you are doing and why. But I do not disapprove. Now, onto these towers you want.”

“We are not accustomed to ground dwellings. We can build the structures ourselves. If we were in Crixonia we would simply build in new trees. If we use only available supplies, is that okay?” Daphne asked.

Her explanation landed flat. I understood the desire to do what you were used to. If the roles were reversed, I was sure our people would rather live on the ground than in the trees.

“How about a compromise?” I asked with a smirk.

“What did you have in mind?” Daphne’s yellow eyes stared down her nose at me. I doubted she was accustomed to not being in charge.

“Rush the kitchen, bathhouse, and slaughterhouse, and keep clearing the trees in front of the base. When the essential buildings are complete—”

“Is that all?” Daphne said, as if those tasks were a mere annoyance.

“I am accommodating to my citizens. I like the idea, honestly. Not only does it utilize the square footage to an efficient standard, it also adds a defense platform. I am planning on letting everyone get some rest until the morning,” I said, pointing at the fading sun. We had a few hours of daylight left. “Those are my requirements for your special homes. I still need more from you. To start, let’s talk about the mozala I see scampering about.”

Daphne left her seat. She had swapped from her leather outfit to a skirt and plain pink T-shirt. The tall woman was so human… until you saw a swishing tail. The last of the yexin steak was shoved into my mouth before I decided to follow her. Perci waved from outside the RV. She was talking with a bustier Jill. Even Perci was shifting her chest uncomfortably.

“Your mates. They will continue to change,” Daphne said, watching me gaze longingly at Perci. I wanted to sit with her and watch the sunset. Duty called, so I motioned for Daphne to lead the way. “My tribe was never massive. We always had been on the outskirts of the kingdom. When we lost our last trial by combat I decided to move us onto a new planet first chance I could. A place where our numbers could grow in a hidden forest without conquesting pressure from our neighbors. I will admit, I never expected a planet with such short trees, or to co-live with a compatible species. My translator is telling me human-crixxi children will have a tail but no extra ears.”

“Wait, it can do that?” I asked with tucked eyebrows. She giggled lightly.

“No, I was teasing. When you live as long as I have you tend to take serious things lightly. Our people will probably crossbreed. I have no idea what genetics will produce. Tell me about these furry creatures playing with the mozala,” Daphne said.

Her eyes watched the playful interactions between the dogs and the climbing koala-looking monkeys. The age-old game of chase was on full display. The mozala would scurry up a wall, jump on a vehicle, and even climb a crixxi for safety. The dogs would bark to continue the game and the mozala were happy to keep going. The mozala would hit the dirt with a slobbering dog in full pursuit. I was surprised by how well behaved our stray dogs were.

“I am guessing you used these creatures as warning detectors?” Daphne asked.

“For thousands of years, yes, then we changed. I believe our society, with time, would have shifted to a far more peaceful eventuality. These animals are proof of that.” I kneeled down, clapped, and gave a commanding whistle. Three dogs beckoned my call. I gave each one scratches behind their ears. My face was sniffed by the rambunctious dogs; they were interested in my food smell. I retreated to the yexin strips at the dining buffet to hand some out. Daphne raised an eyebrow. “Some of these animals are still capable of being guard dogs. Others, like that bulldog over there, are companions.”

I pointed to a bulldog watching the others play while she panted. Oh! We had a lady bulldog to go with Felix.

“Stupid mothership creators. I was not around when they arrived to decimate our society. We, too, had a past where our species was far less violent. Before Xgates arrived on the surface with their monstrosities behind the blue portals, it was said we rarely fought. Now the most powerful huddle deep within the forest away from the Xgates. They steal from the outer tribes who are forced to defend the jungle from the aliens. Life can be so barbaric and brutal for those on the edges. I wish more could live in a society like this. They would never come willingly, though. Sad, because we need more crixxi to continue our lines—unless we can crossbreed. Which is possibly a reality. I bet we’ll find out soon enough. Your women stare at our males more than your men stare at our women. It is odd. Your men will get muscles soon too,” Daphne said. A mozala retreated to her shoulder. I nudged the chasing hound away. “These dogs, as you call them. They are being bred?”

“Umm…” I paused to see two female dogs humping each other. “Can they get virum?”

“Of course. Will they join together, who knows? A very few species die to the virum. Many reject the creatures, and then species like ours accept them. You will find out if your female dogs are pregnant soon with full litters,” Daphne said. She paused our walk by jogging to the dining hall. She returned with a stick loaded with meat. I was handed the stick. “Hold that for me. I’m going to do a test.”

Daphne ripped up the meat into tiny bits. She then tossed the bits all around us. So many little chunks of meat that no eyes could follow their locations. She swiped her hands against her skirt to clean them. Oh, I probably could have told her the answer she sought. The simple display of dogs sniffing for food brought other dogs around. Even cats joined in on the collection of the tasty morsels. Daphne was proud of her experiment, but quickly frowned as she was crowded with dogs.

“Will they eventually not request food?” Daphne asked.

“Eventually, yes. Far longer than you would expect. I had a grand market vendor interested in dogs. You think they are worthy of breeding?” I asked. Dogs were so common. I did not think of them as anything special.

“I have not managed livestock, ever. Battle, yes. Now I teach the next generation. With that said, I do know that if we primarily live on the ground, sniffing detectors will be useful. These are so tame too. I have noticed symbiotic hunting partnerships. My kind use ‘jungle felines,’ is what the translator is calling them. Give me a moment.” She paused while the translator worked. “Ah, the sabretooth is not too far off. The dog is simply another version of a combination that is more effective than the sole. For raiding teams, I could see the value of locating slaves in hiding or finding stealthed species,” Daphne said while petting a few dogs.

“I wonder how many survived in Denver?” I asked rhetorically. Daphne continued to walk for a slot between the longhouses. She ignored my comment, instead using her foot to trace out a large square.

“This area here is wide enough. We build a box vertically, with pulley systems and ladders. Then we use those flat boards to build our homes. With that wood processing machine, we can do thin boards once all the framing is done. The progress will be tediously slow,” Daphne said. She pointed at the crews chopping tree limbs into firewood. “We can build with those. Or wait for the next golden portals.”

“I guess I need to ask this question. If we get a blue portal next rotation, what then?” I asked, leading us to the rabbit pens. Daphne looked at me like I was crazy.

“Have you not seen my daughter?”

“Which one?” I asked, and this caused her to burst into sweet laughter.

“I guess that is fair. I only have Elifer left. My life has been a twisted nightmare of survival. I will get to your question, but first… Do you think your own kind will push you out of this valley?” Daphne asked while we walked across the pebbled path.

“Other humans? Ah, I see you nodding. No, I believe they can’t. Our weapons are too advanced at this point. It would take many more than they have. We can even counter their biggest machines. Also, there are other valleys, dips, old cities, and other locations that are much better to resettle in than fight over this land. Why do you ask?” I said.

I bent over to haul a rabbit out of the pen. Since there was no swollen belly I guessed this was a male. I whistled the dogs over, who were trailing us. They gazed at me with tilted heads. I worked them up with a ready, set, go while pretending to throw the bunny. Eventually, I did toss the bunny on the ground. The hopping animal darted away with hounds tight on his fluffy tail. The commotion caused a spectacle. A watching mozala worked a cut-off angle perfectly to tackle the bunny. Sharp little fangs gouged the bunny until it stilled. A challenging hiss caused the chasing dogs to back up. The dogs knew the mozala was not playing—the warning was clear, and the demonstration was precise. The dogs were docile. The mozala were still wild animals at heart.

“If they were not safe around younglings, I would not allow them. I ask because we needed a home. If we can make a home here, we will. I want to prosper again. There was a time when our tribe was feared, our soldiers numerous, and our foes weak. I want to be able to protect the young while living a decent life. I see your eyes agreeing. However, we both probably have far different ideas on the term. I will remove my stones if we can find a semblance of happiness. Elifer’s father died two hundred years ago. Her mate, a dozen years ago. If we want to succeed, we need more warriors. To make more warriors, we need more child raisers. All this leads to progress. The very kind I see all around me. Those dogs will become hunters again. Your people will improve this place under your leadership. A leadership even I may admire.”

“Aw, shucks, Daphne. We are a team, though. You’re part of that team now. I asked if you were planning on leaving to know if we should invest in your well-being. For example, buying vines for rope,” I said, and she smiled.

“I feel so exposed. So very exposed in all this open space. There is no jungle enclosing me with its leafy protection, no trees blocking spears, and no height advantages. However, I feel secure. Look at my soldiers,” Daphne said with a commanding tone.

They were distracted, to say the least. A few were herding crixxi kids wanting to feed rabbits to dogs. I winced—that was my bad. Another group of females were loving the attention the builders were giving them. The males were arms crossed, unamused. Not a single one of them was watching for threats. My troops on the wall and those in duo patrols might let a side glance entertain them, but that was… Okay, Mitchell was drooling over Elifer on the wall.

“Mitchell, this is Cap. Who is your current second?”

“Sergeant Benson,” Mitchell said over the Gpad.

“Take a break. Benson has Golf Team. Before you give me attitude, think about the last half hour. Have you been watching the kill zone, your soldiers, or actively patrolling?”

I saw Mitchell pat Sergeant Benson on the shoulder while exchanging some words. Benson was six-two, two-fifty, and the most determined son of a bitch I had met. Do not arm wrestle with the man, he will never quit. The Gpad alert notified me he had the wall command. I called him.

“Go for G actual.” I rolled my eyes. I bet he had that one loaded up and waiting.

“Hey, you are G actual now. Mitchell is becoming Romeo's team leader. Romeo for reconnaissance, not because he is enthralled with Elifer,” I said, justifying the new title.

“Okay, I already have some rotation ideas planned. Expect me to apply for the defense officer position,” Benson said with a wave.

“Perfect, Cap out.”

Daphne slung an arm around my shoulders. I quickly removed her arm with a thumb and index finger.

“Does your kind not like sex?” Daphne asked, and I frowned.

“Yes, I happen to have a full bed at the moment. Generally speaking, physical interaction between friends is appropriate and welcomed. We are not at that point. It is one thing to do something overt at a table. Another to do something brazen in the open while I scold troops. So, you were talking about your troops.”

“If I put an arm around you in the RV, as you call it?”

“I would let it slide. Especially if I was sitting, perfect titty height.” My guilty shrug brought out her smile.

“I like your honesty, Eric. My troops… They get serious after the danger hits. Not before. The fact that you disciplined the male flirting with my daughter speaks volumes. She is probably chastising your actions. Which are the right actions. Our home on Crixonia would still be fine if our guards had been alert,” Daphne said sadly. “We need discipline and order. We can have that here.”

“Well, we do need to be ready. You never know what can happen,” I said, remembering how sudden the XLroach attack had been. “This all goes back to my earlier question. Should I invest community resources into your tribe? Or are you going to seek a more natural home?”

Daphne walked with me back to the dining area. Perci joined us on the river rock path.

“Hi, Daphne, how is my husband treating you?”

“Pestering me with lifelong decisions. I was getting around to the point of the future I see for our people,” Daphne said with a raised eyebrow. We paused our walk. “I want to expand beyond what we can do here with our current people. I would love to stay here based on my initial inspections and community reactions. I think we will run into issues. By we, I mean humans and crixxi. How are you going to maintain all these children when they are birthed?”

Perci huffed with agitation. “What are you insinuating?”

I caught onto her frustration. “Perci, think of this community. Now look around at our chaotic organization. Then imagine out of the seven hundred women we have, five hundred decide not to use stones. That is a lot of babies. Then you rotate in another birthing a year later for every year. I think we are getting asked a morality question, or a long-term one,” I said, holding Perci’s hand. “I don’t think Daphne is insinuating that you will be a bad mother. More or less that our community is not prepared.”

“You will struggle with even the children my tribe arrived with. You have no help,” Daphne said, raising the key point. “We purchased helpers. After our latest challenge, we were forced to surrender their contract to our victors.”

“Ahhh… I love you, Eric. You were right. I was getting all heated, ready to go full bitch momma mode for nothing. Please explain about hiring helpers or forcing war prisoners to do tasks. How does that work?” Perci asked.

“The translator. It binds a contract to the device. Violation of that contract will result in punishment for either party. Let me give you an example: We raid this planet. We find a human female scout. We offer her death or a contract. Not fair, but allowed. Like in the grand market, the contract must be agreed to by both parties. Hence the death part. You cannot torture a being into a contract. So we offer the human scout a deal. Raise our children for thirty years without violence against others or themselves. They accept. Thirty years goes by. The prisoner is returned to the grand market. They can then leave through any gate they want to.”

“No way,” I blurted. “That’s how chain jumpers who are lost get home. They enter a slave contract, serve it, and then go to the golden portal.”

“Nice people will make your contract one day. Good luck finding nice people doing favors for free. But yes, that is one way the system is used. The intelligence in the golden storage room explained it as a compassion factor. When this system was designed, it was inevitable that competing races would fight. Where there is conflict there normally is a winner and a loser. The defeated races would be captured and forced to aid the victors. That is pretty common around the universe. However, eternal enslavement is almost worse than tossing a planet into the sun. So there is the contract built into the translator that two parties negotiate on. A key factor in those negotiations is that the maximum servant’s term is half a being’s natural lifespan.”

When Daphne paused, Perci opened her mouth, then closed it again. She clenched her jaw while thinking over the concept.

“You want to hire helpers. Or capture them. We are not opposed, not in the slightest. I actually have been meaning to figure out how the prisoner system worked. We term it that here, by the way. Prisoners working off a sentence for their crimes. Can we modify the contract later?” I asked while scratching my scruff.

“Yes, I have had male crixxi become warriors of ours to reduce the length of their term after they were model tribemates. Others became members with oaths to not harm the tribe. I asked this because it makes life far more manageable,” Daphne said with folded arms under her large breasts.

“Okay, I am also in favor of replacing our labor with hired help, assuming it is safe. How does contract swapping work?” Perci said.

“Well, it cannot be extended past the maximum term. You have to both agree. Let me give you an example: I capture a human scout. We make a fifteen-year agreement with two meals a day, a roof, and protection. A year goes by and I realize we are losing territory. I will be unable to provide a roof, protection, and two meals a day. The contract states I can fail to meet my requirements until the next golden portal. Then I must sell the rights to a new party. That party must meet to agree to my set contract or awarded in favor of the prisoner; never worse. If I cannot find a new party to assume my rights, they are released. I have failed to meet my end of the contract and failed to pass on the contract. There are past occurrences where I have taken a servant to market, realized they should be set free, and set the price beyond reason. They exited the market orbital with a clear translator free of contract and were able to go wherever they wanted. I have also been raided and had a servant take a spear to the chest to save me. Your contract means nothing to an outside party.”

Perci nodded while listening.

“Basically, if you get captured, strike a deal or die. The better the captured person’s deal is, the harder it will be to get an agreement. No-rights, maximum-term contracts are probably accepted right away and everyone is spared. The five-meals-a-day-for-three-months contracts are probably refused. I know I would not want to negotiate for a long time. We can hold prisoners without a contract?”

“I had this happen to me personally,” Daphne said with a shudder. “I was raiding another jungle planet. A snake bit me that the virum struggled to fight off. My capture was swift. I was tossed into a wooden cage hanging over the jungle floor. I was ignored for four days. Eventually, my vision faded. I awoke back on my home planet outside my Xgate with golden portals. I think they figured I was dead and would eat me when I stopped breathing. I actually will never know. So if you do not kill a prisoner from another planet, and do not get a contract, they go home. Kind of why contracted servants are worth so much. Most would rather die or risk death for a good deal.”

“And the cost of, say, a crixxi for childcare on the market?”

“For a moderate term, about ten times the price of that weapon,” Daphne said. I scoffed with a dramatic arm flail to go with my eye roll.

“Out of all the items to pick out… These two were gifts; no idea of their costs. How about the power plant on my back?”

“Five times, roughly.”

I let out a low whistle. Damn, this power plant cost about half of Marble Heights’s electronics. No wonder why vendors had been mentioning I would find a lot of value in servants or prisoners.

“Imagine this place with the right building materials. The cohesion of our species with servants helping our every need. That I can get behind,” Daphne said while putting an arm around the much shorter Perci. When her hand was not removed, she gave me a winning smile.

“I get it. We set up an awesome base. Good enough to protect tavers, farm animals, our citizens, and our valuables. If we can do that, we can help protect some of the downtrodden. Help those with bad contracts get decent ones. The options are numerous, the calling noble if done right, and the results positive for all. Especially if we make our agreements good to the good ones. So how do the translators punish offenders, and what about beings without translators?”

“Ah, so you are new. If we find humans without translators they have zero protection as long as they remain on this planet. Taking them to Crixonia under duress installs a translator—”

“So next golden portal we might have captured humans popping out of Denver Xgates, assuming they risked death and did not give in to a contract?”

“Anything is possible. More likely they are running from the Xgates as of twelve hours ago. What portals did this Denver place get?”

“Pigri and XLroaches. I forget the other. The—”

“Those XLroaches are nasty. Our tribes would band together to stop their spread. They do not take prisoners. The pigri are a great species to contract. They normally raid based on the orders of a master,” Daphne said while wagging a finger in the air.

“This information makes me want to go to Denver now. We will wait, though. Tomorrow morning. So, Daphne… if we allow you to build towers for homes, we allocate resources to help daily tasks and give you full citizen status… will you contract to not leave the community for a new home?”

“Not how it works. But I will talk with my crixxi. They will probably agree that this is a fine new home worthy of staying around to improve and thrive with. Most seem very happy here already,” Daphne said before hugging Perci. The short woman was folded into the crixxi. “I love how cute you humans are.”

“Let us know what you decide; until then, keep on working. Thanks for the information, Daphne. I would like it if you could help our big brain team we call S2.”

“Sounds easy enough. I will go construct this bathhouse. Sounds like my kind of place.”

“I think she winked at you— Yup, she is sashaying her hips. What is it with you and women, Eric?” Perci asked with a snicker and bouncing eyebrows. “Some quick updates: Jill decided to stay with us in the RV even though she felt like she should leave.”

“Huh? Why would she need to leave?”

“She is a married woman hitting on a man with three lovers. Some might say she was voraciously hungry for master’s cock,” Perci said, grabbing my left ass cheek roughly. I kissed my feisty little minx. “We laughed about it, she cried. We soothed her and she is staying. Really, we love having her around. I get some women view the sharing-their-man thing as audacious blasphemy, but we are happy and content. Her stone control has her head straight, as she put it. Side note, did you notice my boobs?”

“Um… no. Guilty here, when I looked over at you and Jill talking, I saw both you girls fighting. She has that new bust, but yours seems smaller now—”

“My implants fell out,” Perci blurted. I comforted her with a hug. She pulled me tighter. “I am fine with it. I noticed your muscles are mighty yummy. You've been hitting the gym, soldier?”

“Changes. Now, tell me about my tavers officer,” I said choosing to hold her in the middle of the path. Norm and Tina walked by for the farm field. We exchanged high fives. The two were rapidly talking with playful interactions. “They seem happy. Did she go in for stone control?”

“Nope, Derek is super happy too. The tavers officer is between three choices. Here you go.”

“Give them all an eight-hour shift. Best producer wins.”

“You want them to compete?” Perci said, mulling over the idea. She rapidly tapped out a text line. Her Gpad pinged a few times. “Okay, the Mother Hens approve. Done. Hmm… What else? Oh, I got like seventeen applications for defense manager. I asked for their proposals. Every one of them said to push the wall further south or add a second wall.”

“Sure, a big, unwelcoming stone wall. Taller than the mountain cliffs. I want it to wrap the entire valley.”

“Honey, do you want to be the defense manager?” Perci asked with a light cackling laughter.

“I guess, but I should let it go. Just pass it on to whoever has the best idea. I want two stone walls filled with dirt or gravel in the middle. So if there are punches in the outer wall they have a ton to go through. Also, the front wall can have anti-ground, and the back wall can have anti-air, and—”

Perci kissed my cheek and left me there. Okay, maybe I would need to coordinate with whoever was granted the job. I literally turned it down, then kept talking about it.

I saw Torrez and Maria watching Jasmine play with her dino toys. A mozala was watching her intently with a tilted head of curiosity. The fluffy creature rotated its neck to inspect my loud footsteps.

“Jasmine, can you help me try to understand something?” I asked, and Maria rolled her eyes.

“She is three, Eric,” Maria said.

“Three and a half, Mommy! I can help you understand,” Jasmine said with her tongue out.

“I wonder where she gets her—” Miguel’s sentence was silenced by a stern finger-pointing from his wife.

“How about we place the toys by the mozala here? Oh, since he… she… Huh. Since the mozala is new, you get to name it.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Jasmine asked the obvious question that I happened to not know the answer to.

“Lifted its leg to pee on that truck tire.” Torrez pointed at a truck tire with a darker black stain on it. “Either a boy or it was mimicking a dog. Give it a boy name, Jasmine.”

“Theo the koala.”

I preferred Ranger, but I let her name the animal Theo for a reason. “Great. Place your toys close to Theo, please.”

The mozala watched patiently, its hind legs bound at the ready. The toys were placed down. Jasmine retreated. Theo grabbed both of the toys and bolted away with them. Jasmine let out an angry scream.

“Get back here this instant, or you will be in big trouble with my daddy,” Jasmine shouted with clenched fists. Her pigtails danced while letting out her little girl fury.

“Way to go,” Maria said.

I waved them both down and pointed. In the bed of a truck, a small crixxi girl was being contained. Almost like a playpen, the child ran to the edge at the commotion. The little mozala handed one toy to the little girl. The two started to play fight with the dinosaurs. While some saw a cute animal playing with a kid, the darkness in me witnessed a future where a mozala was carrying explosive-sized toys to pinned down enemies.

“Thank you, Maria and Jasmine. They are our new family. I would hope they would do the same for you. I need to rip some trees out of the ground. You want to drive?” I asked Jasmine. Maria scoffed.

Jasmine screamed for joy to the point where Mary came over with Jill. Torrez calmed his wife while I scooped the two little girls up. I found Jevon’s truck fully charged, ready to go. Mary sat on the middle console with Jasmine in Torrez’s lap. The ladies tried to join us, but the doors were locked before we rolled away. I checked the rearview to see Jill giving a friendly wave while Maria fumed.

“She needs a break. We got, what, two hours?” Torrez said.

“On it,” I replied.

My Gpad connected to the truck. Thankfully, Jevon had given me full permissions. A large holo-screen tried to project under Mary’s bottom. I set her in the back seat for a moment while the display played the intro to their favorite movie. I fished two water bottles from under the seat and let them bounce off the back cushions.

“Jasmine, Mary, we are going to work. Under no circumstances are you allowed to leave the vehicle. You may get away with whining to Mommy but we are not playing that game. Those are the rules. Do you understand?” Both three-year-olds nodded. Perfect. “If you want to watch, do so from the back windows. If you get bored, your movie is playing.”

“I have seen a lot of plans recently hitting the command net for that defense position. I know this may come as a surprise to you, but I like math. The dirt road takes a half hour to drive down. You listening, girls?” Torrez said as we jostled out the gate. The guards waved and pointed at Jasmine’s determined driving. She was very focused, almost as much as Mary was on the intro of her movie. Both girls ignored Torrez, causing him to chuckle. “A half hour there, thirty miles an hour. About halfway to the county road, the valley widens. Seven or eight miles deep and then a mile and a half wide of forest, river, and underbrush. That needs to be where our new wall goes. All the trees between this spot and that location should come down.”

“Wait, did you apply to be the defense officer?” I asked. His smile increased. Jasmine was making truck noises for the electric vehicle while over-driving the truck with jerky steering.

“I submitted with a caveat: I did not want to leave my supply job. Maria shifted over to help me after Willow’s mom arrived. We enjoy seeing each other while not smothering each other. Alright, slowing down to let the Cap out. He needs to hook up a chain. Remember watching only?” The dad tone was very serious on the last line.

I hopped out of the truck with brisk movements. The chain was coiled on the truck bed waiting from the last time I did this. I wrapped the chain around a medium-sized tree, hooked it to the truck, and hopped into the passenger seat. The entire process was done in less than two minutes.

“So what else did you add besides the new defensive wall further south?”

Torrez smirked. Jasmine had hopped into the back seat to watch her movie. “A theater room, a bouncy-house maze, an expanded playground, a swimming pool with a splash area, a dodgeball court, and, you know, other basic things.” Torrez chuckled. We rolled past the guards slowly to ensure our tree followed us through without issues. “Where the crixxi have more children than adults, we have far more adults than children. Our sanity will rely on establishing some fun activities. We have lots of space, Cap. Time to invest some energy and resources into our children. Oh, school too. All the fields after the first crops should be moved to this area between the walls. We keep a great long kill zone corridor while changing our living area. I even drew up walking pathways among the farming fields to let us exercise. We need to keep the tavers’s trees as is too, so stripping these will help with that also. We tend to have spare time in the supply area.”

“How much of this is your idea?”

“What do you mean? Like the Mother Hens stopping by to casually chat my ear off about base changes?” Torrez asked with a smirk that was followed with a shrug.

“Mhm.”

“They want you to see the value of the children. Jacky, especially. She asked if we talked to you yet. She wants her new babies to grow up active. The virum will take care of the health part.”

I winced knowing Willow was going to be moody when she found out she was having siblings.

“Children are our future. We have enough places to sleep, our food is in a good spot, and we have time to prepare for the next grand market. I definitely want to start adding support buildings. Quality of life ones too,” I said with a pause. I did a rapid search on my Gpad. “There was a bouncy house right outside Denver. In a neighborhood called the Village of Five Parks. Never been, but looks ripe for electronics and self-storage spots. I was not originally planning on getting that far tomorrow but we may bypass the first homes, hit that, and then backtrack.”

“Ha! I will literally secure them to an RV roof if we have to. They deflate fine, but still take up a lot of space to move. You will be a hero—hell, we’ll all be heroes if we install a bouncy house maze!”

“Kind of strange how the apocalypse arrives and we’re super concerned about kids’ toys.”

Torrez shook his head. A long string of questions erupted from the back. Out of all the cool things we talked about, the word toys triggered the girls’ curiosity. They asked to go play, with Torrez giving up the driver seat. I waved goodbye as they went to play. I eased the truck forward for the ever-growing tree pile. I was starting to wonder what was next when I got a ping on my Gpad. Single speeding Bronco truck coming from Denver.

“They will reach Gpad range in a few minutes. Mobilizing in case they do not,” Jevon said over the command channel. “Joining Bonnet’s team. I have command.”

“You have command,” I replied.

My slow roll of steady progress to the tree pile continued. I gazed out the window to watch the colorful array of the setting sun. Stronghold Mansion was normally busy at this time, when shifts swung from day into night. With the Cornerstore residents, the crixxi, and less sleep being needed, the area was a buzz of activity. The open-spaced dining hall was packed, which confirmed a theory of mine: It was time to expand our eating space. I knew I did not want two; I loved seeing the community coming together. Might even need to remove the first longhouse to do so. To me, the loss of a single home to keep everyone eating together would be worth it. Not to mention the first longhouse was built crudely. We were desperate for space at the time. I sighed; we still technically were. Into the task folder it went.

While I watched the joyful people interacting, I couldn’t help but wonder. What was the car speeding from or to?

CHAPTER 11

I had been ambushed before. The inner arrogance inside me believed I could always see it coming, or at least feel the hairs on my neck rising before the opponent's trap snapped shut. I was heading back out to yank another tree out of the earth when I was halted at the gate. I expected some vehicle to come screaming in or a convoy to go rushing out. Instead, the doors were unlocked by an admin and three ladies hopped into the truck. My head tilted in confusion until the dots connected. That crafty Perci.

Willow smirked from the passenger seat. Perci and Jill gave devious grins from the backseat. The guard waved me forward. Checkmate.

“Carson! You convinced Carson into this scheme. I saved his life twice, and you get him to halt me. If it were anyone else besides you, Perci, I would be irate. This feels like an intervention. The grins, hard stares, and with the impressive ambush,” I said with a scoff as we rolled forward for the treeline. The sun had officially set and the headlights flickered brightly while we jarred over the pebbled road. The western half of the cleared area was being tilled, planted, and sectioned off with a stick fence. “Norm has been busy. Torrez said we should plant in the southern trees once they’re cleared and the second wall is up. I like that idea. Can the crixxi farm?”

Willow shrugged. She did the girl maneuver where she removed her bra with her shirt still on. A moan of pleasure escaped her lips.

“Perci will know that one. I am all for virum giving me a sexier body. I wish I had worn the right clothes for it,” Willow grumbled. She picked her large tits up only to let them fall back. She groaned happily while adjusting to get comfy in the seat. “My underboob feels like it's velcroed to my body with the bra being too small. I went from a large D to a large DD and am milking now. When I see a baby, I get instincts I never knew I had. Everything is so sticky.”

“I never wear a bra. Call me a hippy but I have always been a tiny-breasted woman. When I was trying to impress boys, I would wear tight shirts to show off my nipples. A pointy set of nipples fires up a man’s loins. However, I am a dating kind of girl, for the most part. Nipple covers became a thing for me after too many unwanted offers,” Jill said with a sigh. “Now my breasts are more than tiny mounds. I passed a B cup for a C a few hours ago.”

“I know Eric loves hearing about boobs. What man doesn’t?” Perci said with a giggle from the back seat. “The crixxi can farm, yes. They do vine-fruit farming on Crixonia. When I thought alien grapes would be boring, I was wrong. Anyway, we figured it was time. We even caught up Jill.”

“Um… time for what? And why Jill?” I had an inkling what we were doing but wanted to be certain.

“Your story of getting home from Saudi. Jill, because her body might be rejecting her stones. It makes—”

“Are you okay?” I asked in concern.

“Oh, it was horrible. Brief but far worse than birthing Mary. They are still in there for now. When you guys came back from ripping out trees, Mary went on a tangent about how awesome her daddy was. She remembers Jarod, we both know she does. Mary is a very bright little girl. She said you are her daddy,” Jill whimpered, and Perci comforted her. “This led to me having insane cramping. When it subsided I talked to Daphne. She said if I was subconsciously desiring to mate, then I would be more likely to reject the stones. Perci joined up and mentioned you are not the perfect man. I know no one is. However, she said you have a darker past. One that may ease my urges. You promised Willow and Perci to tell the tale of your return trip home out of Saudi Arabia.”

“Becca too,” I commented.

“She’s busy with Jevon working the Bronco issue. We will get a briefing soon. Summary: there is a new resident family incoming with very little out of Boulder,” Willow said in her stern military tone. I smirked, she patted my cheek.

“Alright. I guess I can acquiesce to your request. Did they fill you in on the first half?”

Jill nodded before placing a hand on my shoulder. “Summary, though, please. From your perspective.”

“Okay, Willow, hook up this tree while I summarize.”

“Yes, Cap.”

“What a marvelous ass. You girls are really shaping out with the virum figures. I find myself more and more distracted,” I said while watching Willow’s booty bounce.

“It might be a sex thing. When did you last have sex?”

“Blowjob a few hours ago,” I said with a light chuckle

“On a mission, impressive. Was it good?” Jill said and then tossed her head into her hands. “Don’t answer that. I am horny even with the stones. You are doing the opposite of what I need right now. Make me run for the hills, you brute.”

“Sorry, not sorry. It was great; Nancy said my jizz tastes like frosted vanilla cake. Yeah, I bet the virum increases libido. No ED medicine needed with reproduction enhancers in your body. Hey, what are you doing?” I asked when Perci put two fingers in front of my face.

“Lick them.”

“Strawberry tarts. My favorite dessert. We got them one day a year in prison, on Valentine’s Day,” I said, getting lost in the thought. Funny how even prison celebrated the fakest holiday of them all. Of course, I preferred my dick attached to my body, so I would never trash Valentine’s Day in front of my ladies.

“Jill, for science.”

Willow closed the door after wrapping up the tree. “Science for what?”

“Eric is horny. My wetness tastes like strawberry tarts. We are mated. I went on a hunch after Nancy said his cum tastes good. I don’t even spit normally, I let that stuff fly onto my tits or the wall. Not a fan of jizz, but if the virum gave us yummy flavors it could mean a lot of fun. Now Jill needs to try. For science, of course,” Perci said.

Jill stuck two fingers in front of me from around the backside of my seat. “Ugh, so risky. So brazen. I am soaked while trying so hard not to—”

I licked her fingers and my eyes shot wide. My cock pitched a tent and I swooned with desire. I went to get Jill when Willow saved me by sticking her fingers in my mouth. Bacon! Odd, but delicious and the perfect distraction. I calmed my racing heart, my boner went down, and we sat there in silence.

I collected my control before pressing the accelerator.

“Jill, I really hope this story turns you away. Also, do not taste the juices of a person you desire. Yes, Jill, I desire you in a sexual nature. Again, sorry, not sorry. I have been a bit of a hornball lately. Before, I strictly had you in the friend section.”

Jill moved to the middle of the back seat to see me in the rearview. She was very flushed in the face. I saw her bite her lip with desire.

Perci hip-checked her out of the middle seat. “Let him focus. Roll down the window for some fresh air. Eric, we ladies are unable to contain our lust for you. Jill has been doing a fantastic job controlling her impulses. Jill, Jarod is coming to us. Tell yourself that.”

A minute passed as we rolled through the gate with a tree dragging behind us. A buzzing noise grew louder when we neared the wood processor. The machine was producing thin boards perfect for walling at a nonstop pace. Right now it was spitting out thin planks, which were being stacked near a longhouse. Signs hung from the corners of the roof. Longhouse Sixteen was the next to get the complete package. The one longhouse without a roof was abandoned for now. The bathhouse was barely even started. Clive was guiding a backhoe to dig out the bathing areas with the cement bot following him around.

I saw Daphne not far away, removing tree limbs with a chainsaw. Her pink eyes lit up with glee at using the machine. Wait… Daphne had yellow eyes. I really needed to either upgrade everyone to a new communication system or get more Gpads. I rolled down the window to bother the woman. She caught sight of my hand waving.

“Can you get Daphne for me?” I asked. “I’m Cap.”

“Serenity. Fun tools,” Serenity said, setting the chainsaw down. “One moment.”

“Damn, they run fast!” Willow exclaimed. We watched Serenity bounding with her long legs. A breast popped free and tried to smack her in the face.

“Ha! I knew those dainty tops would not hold up for much,” Perci said with a giggle.

“Aw, I missed it,” Willow pouted playfully. “Yeah, the male crixxi wear short kilts. They bend the wrong or right way and out flops Willy.”

“As fun as this conversation is, I will get this unhooked. Daphne will be our worker bee so we can work and talk. She will be the best one to send out that I can think of at the moment.”

I backed the truck up after dragging the tree to the pile. When I walked to the tailgate, the chain was loose and easily removed. You might think that step was obvious. I probably forgot to reverse once a shift and have to get back in. Not often, but I was constantly distracted as the commander.

I waited by the tailgate for Daphne. When she arrived, her top furry ears rotated to the sound of a dog barking. Aliens. “I need you to help work. Or someone who won’t get offended by the conversation inside the truck. My kind will not like to hear it, but at the same time, it is no giant secret. See this metal chain? Wrap a tree. Attach here, and then here on the truck hook. When we get back, unhook it.”

“Is the story worth this task I could have a child do?” Daphne opined with a corner smile.

“It is dark, morbid, and not a good story. Would you want a child to hear that?”

“Probably not. It is good if I am seen with your mates anyway. Tribe leaders should have the strongest mates. Plus, I see you gazing at my breasts. Do you want to play with them?”

I shrugged, avoiding an answer. I had little to say on the matter besides yes, yes I did. However, I wanted to deal with sex later in my bed with Perci, Willow, or Nancy. The ladies quieted their side chatter when we got back into the truck.

“Summary for you too, Jill. I lost a hand to a medical accident while in prison. It was a ploy to get me into the military. It worked. I became an officer and was given a mostly ex-con unit to command in Saudi Arabia. Our peacekeeping mission went horrible in an odd turn of events. My unit was abandoned as a cover for our country’s rapid withdrawal. My commander was executed shortly thereafter. The crew, as we called ourselves, went rogue when we learned we were to be fed to the Saudis to placate their need for a scapegoat. Following me? Hold questions, please.

“I left FOB Lister with a hundred and forty-one terrified soldiers. We were in the deep end, up shit’s creek, and we were falling without a parachute. Not literally, Daphne—merely stating to emphasize the importance of how bad our situation was. Going home was never meant to happen; it was the unwritten write-off of President Hansen’s administration. Things in Saudi were worse than they are here today. I know, it's hard to believe. Right now, we have food, clean water, and a golden portal to trade with. They had no incoming or outgoing trade. The national police and militias were rogue themselves. It was a clusterfuck. The true Wild West, with no oversight except corruption. The speed of your draw meant life or death and compassion was for suckers.

“We blasted anyone who got in our way to the shipyard. The plan put the troops in high spirits; we would move across the country in disguise, steal a ship, and be home by Christmas 2021. Well, the shipyard was abandoned. It had also been stripped of vital parts to the big rig capable of towing our disguise. I made a mistake that cost me good troops. I showed compassion when I needed to show strength. We followed a fresh trail back to a village. I offered weapons, money, and food for the parts I was fairly certain were resting in a truck bed. I…

“That decision to not force the parts to be given over cost us. Not only were we the enemy, now I had let people see we were the enemy. They were able to see which direction we came from and where our tracks led to. I justified it then because I was not about to kill husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, for a maybe. We returned to the shipyard that evening.

“The siege lasted six grueling months. It is important to understand something here. The people of Saudi Arabia were desperate. Unbelievably desperate. When the local warlords, tribes, police chiefs, governors, and whatever other titles they gave themselves found out that a common enemy with supplies was nearby, they rallied together. I will never deny that a common foe crosses divides.”

We arrived at a fresh tree. I watched Daphne bolt out, hook a tree, and return in under a minute. Damn, the crixxi were smooth.

“When I saw the shipyard encircled from a mile out with hundreds of vehicles, I knew I had erred. Still, with every development, there is an opportunity. At least, I try to see it that way. We had supplies to last a few weeks. What better way to defeat your untrained enemy than to have them charge your well-defended position? Know thy enemy. In our case, we were facing thousands of poorly armed peasants desperate for revenge.

“So we waited. A day became two, then four. On day six, the enemy lost their cohesion. Thousands charged the shipyard. I told the crew to wait until they were overextended. I knew the enemy would break almost immediately. They were not soldiers. Fathers brought young boys on their assault. Ten-year-olds carrying AK-47s to make their parents proud. It was mostly ordinary people, attacking for our supplies they desperately needed. When I ordered to open fire, I joined the chaos. We were perched inside the shipyard’s upper walls. Firing down upon our foes resulted in a rapid victory. Eighty-two new weapons, a bunch of worthless Saudi money, and a few trinkets went into the loot pile. We accepted no prisoners and offered a quick death to the wounded.

“I used that night to get a thorough recon of our enemy. The siege had broken and a tent city had popped up not far from the shipyard by a freshwater source we called the Raa River. We went upstream, filled our empty water supplies, and then shit in the water. I ordered the enemy’s dead to be staked outside the stronghold. The enemy realized we had brazenly snuck out during the night to get water. Whoever held the rest of the coalition together encircled us again.”

My Gpad chimed with an incoming call. “Go for Cap,” I said.

“Family of four coming through the gate soon. I approved them. Boulder had a rough set of portals this go-around. After defending against the XLroaches, they faced some armored sixty-foot scaled aliens that walked like an ape but were lizard-y. They were smashing through Boulder’s defenses with ease. The call to retreat—to anywhere else—was made. Most went for Aspen. These ones were going to live in a tent in the woods. The Kravitz family. When I offered the rules, they were hesitant. I said running water, warm food, and a roof with veteran soldiers. Well, that sealed the deal, at least for tonight. However, now we have to consider bringing anti-tank weapons on our pillaging of Denver tomorrow.”

“Were the XLroaches fighting the apesauri?”

“Umm. The big creatures were eating the roaches with glee. Apesaurus works. Divine-apes was the term Kravitz used, said the creatures named themselves that. They were warned for living too close to the Xgate. Kravitz said they were actually not bad to interact with despite being incredibly intimidating. It was also mentioned that they love the roaches and were gobbling them up. Maybe they’ll get rid of the rest in Denver. They said the road trip here was eerily quiet. Only a few roadblocks that were easily bypassed. Any questions?”

“Nope, thanks for the update. I am just hauling pines with your truck. Currently retelling the escape of Saudi for the ladies. Welcome to join us. I can pop the center console up and we can get snuggly in a truck, just like old times,” I said to my best friend with a tease. There were a few times we crammed into vehicles uncomfortably.

“Hard pass. DD out.”

We rolled past the gate. Jevon was standing there waving us through. He was probably waiting to inspect the new arrivals.

“Where was I? Ah, the stalemate, as we called it. We immediately went to rationing. Six days for our first fight. We were ready to last another few weeks without getting desperate. There was the option of breaking the siege and powering through. The problem was, unless we won at the shipyard decisively, we would be hounded. I gamed out the scenarios a lot. Fighting a running battle meant we had one tire pop and either leave troops behind or set up defense somewhere not as awesome as the shipyard. So we waited. With the country in turmoil, if we made a clean break, we had the best chance of reaching the west coast.

“The thing about sieging forces and those inside the siege is we had cover. They had nothing besides their vehicles. The other big difference was we had night vision. Our nightly raids were not what you would expect. We killed, looted, and collected. The desecration of bodies became our standard. Everything I instilled in my soldiers was that we needed our enemy to tremble at the mere thought of us.

“So I was wrong in my rationalization of the enemy. I thought they would eventually see the error of giving us more food, water, gas, and munitions. But Cousin Mohammed talked to Neighbor Mohammed who talked to his friend Warlord Mohammed. I swear, the go-to answer when we interrogated someone was always Mohammed.

“We kept uploading to Gtube during this time. Bonnet and I got a kick—the puns!—out of kicking the baddies we captured to a short drop and sudden stop. I lost my soul in the shipyard. Honestly, I should have sacrificed it in that village. By month three, the small army gathered around us grew. It's like the Saudi citizens were some breed of cockroach. They built up that small city to the point it was beyond what we could topple.

“The shit they spewed into that water was nasty. We would go north, find clear blue during the night, and return home. They would drink the brownest of brown funk. Our saving grace was we never once assailed that city. Six months of hard fighting, I never attacked Rabeed, as they called it. We termed it Rabid. Well, our situation was not sustainable. I finally had a suicide that pushed me into action. Enough was enough.

“Bonnet snuck into Rabeed dressed like a Muslim woman. She fit the profile perfectly, even was carrying a local water jug. She dumped the contents into the stored water they purified. Apparently they weren’t complete idiots and were cleaning their water. The next night we stormed the defenses by driving looted trucks we meant to trash. This is where things get dark.

“It was an ‘us or them’ scenario, I tell myself that a lot. However, we could have looted and left. Most of the city was dead or gravely ill. We shot everyone. I filmed the massacre with glee. The cackling madness consumed me and my troops. We killed them all. Antifreeze. She poured antifreeze into every water source she could find. Six months penned into the shipyard. I did not stop there, though.

“We set up checkpoints for those returning to the city. We disguised as resident guards. When a new truck would show up we would stop them and let the snipers get target practice in. We were ruthless. A week later we were fat again on all the looted food. I, however, was still missing a part for the hauling machine in the shipyard.

“That little village was raided at night. We gathered the citizens up while demanding the parts. We started killing the men. No one cared. The mothers, defiant. The moment they saw our resolve when we lined up the children the parts were delivered. A custom starter had been used to start a well pump. After it was pulled out of the well I had them all tossed into a building we sped away from. I contemplated setting them on fire. Probably my lowest point.

“I felt like doing it to cover my trails, or maybe because I was evil. Deep down I felt like they fucking deserved a punishment for my dead soldiers. I regret my thoughts. I regret my decisions in Rabeed. I should have simply surrendered and been executed. All it took was one glance at the troops around me to harden my resolve. We would make it home.

“There was no going back after Rabeed. Scorched earth was in full effect. We were so filthy. I remember glancing over my troops, dressed so akin to the locals I could almost not tell a difference. We learned to speak Arabic well enough that I felt we could blend in. Our whiteness was gone, replaced with that dirty tanned appearance. Bonnet was perfect in her meek Arabic. She tortured women to get the sounds just right. Even though I was somewhat proficient in Arabic, my accent gave me away. Harvard, that meek brainiac, was the absolute best. He played my role as the shipyard magnate perfectly. It was kind of nice being a regular guard when we sat down with local warlords to bribe our way past their territory.”

We paused at the gate while an old white Ford Bronco rumbled into Stronghold Mansion. I had ripped down another tree. Daphne was a professional. She would quietly slip out to work the tree, then dart back in.

“The cleansing around the shipyard left a mark on my soul. I could not get over my fellow dead soldiers. The ones who fought so hard to get home only to die because I had shown compassion. We left a few days after installing the starter on the big rig. I told myself another week and we would be out of Saudi Arabia. Nope. Downhill, the hauler moved at five miles per hour. The idea of disguising our movement with a chunk of a prebuilt ship heading to port actually worked.

“Harvard got us past a few checkpoints. We were loaded with Saudi money. The stuff was worthless to us. To the locals, it somehow still held value. So, we bribed everyone we could. A week passed by in a hurry. I was starting to think the month-long journey to the West Coast would be easy. We had spare cash, a low profile, and were living the easy life on our slow progress. The crew, by no means, became complacent.

“That saved our lives. Jevon went to shit off the back of the ship. A groaning complaint triggered when he released his poop. We killed the intruder. Yup, his stealth was spoiled by a random shit. He poisoned the majority of our water. With… antifreeze. The attempt was fitting, really. We would have died. Two things turned our world upside down. One, we needed water desperately. Two, this man had identification paperwork on him. A new set recently made by a new government. Yup, he was a Southern Saudi Coalition (SSC) member. We probably killed his family or something.

“When I think back on the guards over that first week, I think they wanted us to be in the middle of nowhere. That is where we found ourselves that very night we killed the saboteur. The nearest town was through twenty miles of desert. I am talking about dunes you cannot drive. And we were almost out of water. We had enough stolen tents, food, and water if we camped during the day. We drove our vehicles to the sand dunes with all haste. When they spun sand endlessly we popped the tires and went on foot.

“I shudder thinking of that march. Sand to your knees with every step. Falling every third step. The movies make it look so easy. We only made it seven miles before we stopped after sunrise. Two died before we made it to the little village. The moment we were on solid ground again, we rested, so weak from dehydration. When night fell again we snuck into the village. Bonnet was another woman fetching water for her family. Lavaun too. We kept the tall women like Slister away. Peterson went for some also. I remember being so grateful for a single drink. I pissed blood when the water washed through my system.

“There were a hundred and twenty-two of us when we arrived in the Date village. We called it that because the small commune was a farming outpost. Sure enough, every citizen had the new SSC paperwork. We confined the population after raiding the town the next morning. I tried to keep us in one place but the enemy was tracking our location from the stolen Gpads and Isquares. We smashed those, stole every vehicle we could, and became a roving vehicle gang. The SSC set perimeters for us, trying to block our attempts to leave the country. They did not expect me to go to the capital of Wadi.

“On the drive into the interior, we stumbled upon a hidden outpost. A slavers paradise. Women forced to dance in cages. Men raping with glee, and booze flowing freely. The Date village was so scarce on vehicles we had been seeking more. The problem was, we needed to escape unnoticed this time. As in, no witnesses. We approached at night. I think now that a day raid would have been better, merely because there would have been more sleeping, which would have left less screaming. We lined up the innocent women, I pulled the trigger. Hardest thing I ever did. If I didn’t, one of them would have talked. This was a chance at our clean break. These slavers were rich. They had paintings, cash, gold, silver—even a fucking tiger. We arrived in Wadi with Harvard doing all the negotiating.

“My plan was to blend in, rent a warehouse, and hide for a month while we made a new and improved plan. Harvard used our money to buy a palace. Not rent, buy—which emphasizes how rich we were with that loot. Apparently, expensive, large homes are hard to maintain and the old Saudi population had an excess of them. When I look at our mansion I see some of that old palace. Six months we stayed. We were not idle. We hit a few military depots, police stations, and killed wealthy people when we could. Not exactly the best way to stay low but our hits were never tracked back to our palace and were always done at night. We didn’t have a choice, we had to prepare for the last leg of the journey. At this point, between the six-plus months at the shipyard, a half a month to reach the capital, and then six months there, we were at over a year. We even made friends.

“Actual friends. Sure, we bought their friendship with business dealings. They actually thought we were mercenaries hired by the SSC to calm any sudden rebellion. It was a decent cover story. The thought that Americans still roamed the area was forgotten. The new Saudi governments were doing okay. Not great, but the worst was over. The country was finally healing after its long bout with a horrid post-war. I had gone dark on my Gtube and people figured I was dead, even back home.

“We left late one night for the local dealership. Dumb man lived with his family on the lot. He was not willing to hand over the keys, so we made him—well, Bonnet did. We drove out in new trucks with a limo in the middle. Those police stations we had smashed while we planned had sirens. When we hit checkpoints we never slowed down with horns blaring and lights flashing. If they refused to stand aside, we killed them. There was no talking or slowing our retreat. Finally, we made progress. All under the false cover of escorting a VIP.

“At some point, the word spread to let the VIP through or face the consequences. The mission succeeded with a smooth arrival to Jazan. Those friends we made in Wadi knew a cousin Mohammed in Jazan. I kid you not. Mohammed worked at the Jazan port. We stuck with our disguise: we were escorting a VIP. It was Bonnet, who was playing a pretend princess of one of the SSC leaders. If Mohammed saved her by helping us locate a long-ranged ship to get her to America, well, he would be handsomely rewarded. So well, he could even guard the princess while getting a bonus. She was known to converse with her guards. Dumbass bought it hook, line, and sinker. We picked a repurposed oil tanker—Holy Bastion—owned by some Save Somalia group. They were running water from one desert to another. But… it could make a much longer voyage. We would merely need to pay the port manager Abdul a bribe. He would top the tanks off and not say a word. This took two weeks to organize. As much as I wanted it to happen overnight, that was not how the Saudi Southern Coalition worked. Trust me, I bitched and moaned, but it got me nowhere.

“The crew were a bunch of Iranians. It was at this point I realized we were about to pirate the wrong vessel. The issue was, we were in motion when I learned the crew was not Somali or Saudi. We had hidden in the hold until the ship pushed off. We fought trained soldiers. My troops used grenades, advanced tactics, the element of surprise, and we still lost eight.

“I stewed on the losses. I should have realized no one moved water at a loss. Even if it used the cover of charity work funded by western countries.

“I started broadcasting on Gtube again. My best video was fishing for sharks with human parts. The comments said it was obviously doctored because the hands were way too big. The reality was they were huge, bloated from death and exposure to the sun. We needed to eat and a shark was about a million times better than a dead human. Anyway, those videos had an anonymous supporter help us.

“It took time but we figured out what was happening about halfway to Somalia when we were in the Gulf of Aden. The crafty water haulers had covered their tracks well. Saudis were sending water to Somalia, medical supplies were coming back. The sanction on Iran meant they needed vital resources for their sick. They were trading clean water to Somalia through bribing the SSC. In turn, the SSC would haul the medical supplies to Jazan, across the new SSC country by trucks, and then across the Persian Gulf. Somalia got water, Iran got medical supplies, and the Southern Saudi Coalition got gold. A win for all parties until some asshole Americans pirate your boat and piss off three ruthless organizations.

“I now understood why I had to turn the radios off as we cruised the Holy Bastion out of the Middle East. The ship was a turd in the water. A freaking massive fat pig. I thought I was bored in a palace in Wadi. Nope. The massive tanker was the worst. Thankfully, the crew we killed left behind some great fishing gear. We would lower the preserve boats to fish a few feet off the water. Trawling at a few knots was perfect until you got sick of eating fish. There is a little demon inside of me that falls asleep during peaceful times. Only gets antsy when events are going too well.

“The Iranians were not letting their prized medical vessel be discovered by the West. The ship would sit idle if the crew died for some unknown reason. Before some other nation could claim the prize, they raced out another crew. The alert caught me bored in the captain’s chair—collision alert. I remember realizing we had less than an hour to prepare. The crew sealed every bulkhead. We readied in ambush points and I waited.

“So, the commander on the Iranian ship never slowed. My guess was they were coming to grapple onto the ship and regain the controls. After all, what were the odds a rogue US military unit was on the ship? They never got the chance. I reversed the Holy Bastion while cranking the wheel. The destroyer slammed into the port side and buried into our belly. There were internal fires on both ships. The destroyer stopped kicking wake behind it so I ordered a cleanse. I went down myself to do the deed. I was beyond sick of losing soldiers.

“The enemy commander recovered from their daze after putting out the fires. They holed up in the galley. I arrived as they were slamming the door. I tried to stick my cybernetic hand in, but I tripped on a discharged fire extinguisher and most of my arm went into the gap. The door compressed on my elbow. It became a competition between my arm being severed at the elbow and the force of those trying to turn it into mush. Thankfully the pain from the crushed elbow left the limb numb. They sprayed rounds into my exposed forearm inside that galley. Idiots. I shoulder the door, dropped a grenade in with my good arm, and retracted my ruined arm. The enemy fled to the door behind the galley. When they sealed themselves in, I let them. We barred their only exit. A slow death for them meant me and mine took no risks. A tourniquet was applied to my arm above the elbow and we field amputated.

“The news was bad, but not the worst. The Holy Bastion survived the collision. We assessed that if the destroyer was removed, we would sink. Our five- to seven-week trip to home would now take five to seven months.

“Forty days later, I wished I had waited longer to open up the destroyer. We removed the lock on the door to the trapped Iranian sailors. Well, we knew they had water. The desalinator was active from solar power, yet they had no food. Except they did. I have no idea how many we locked behind that door until forensics people could match bones to bodies. They had eaten each other. The last three were all senior officers. That gun battle was how Jevon lost his pinky finger. You will never notice—he keeps a permanent sleeve on it. I lost more of my sanity. I had forced men to turn to cannibalism to survive while I sunbathed and ran on the top deck.

“Almost two years to the day from when I stepped foot onto Saudi soil I arrived in New York Harbor. Harvard had even requested emergency repairs through official channels, making our arrival legit and anticipated. They expected to see a converted water tanker limping in with an Iranian crew and an engine problem. Instead, we arrived at the Statue of Liberty. I parked the Holy Bastion right off the rocky shores. We used the emergency boats and were greeted by security that we swiftly overwhelmed. Who brings tasers to a gunfight? The tourists saw us. Our actions were incredible to them: soldiers storming the Statue of Liberty! I needed a grand entrance home. One that President Hansen couldn’t hide. I certainly hit the mark when I recorded the whole thing on Gtube.

“That is the story of how I was left behind in a foreign country and stopped at nothing to get myself home. Mass murder, villainy, torture—no rape, though—and killing as we went. Even piracy twice. The Pentagon protected us. We were given a full-honors welcome home. The atrocities we committed were fake and we were forced to swear to that fact. The news spun us as heroes. When President Hansen saw his poll numbers go up from helping us reintegrate, he went on a national campaign blitz. He was proud to show how much he cared about veterans. The Pentagon hid us away and we were forgotten. A few months later I arrived at DU. I avoided Perci while trying to hide from my past. I courted Willow, trying to build my future. I fought depression and suicide. I had no one left to protect. No one left to sacrifice for. Until the aliens came, I was a ship lost at sea trying to find my way.”

The truck rolled to a stop not far from RV3. “Thank you for your help, Daphne.”

“I don’t get it. Since the time of the aliens’ arrival, we have been fighting for survival. There are no rules for how we interact. Morality is not a concern for the crixxi. You survive or you die,” Daphne said. She twisted the handle to pop the door open. Before she shut it she said, “I do appreciate you taking me along for the trip, Tribe Captain.”

“Just Cap,” I shouted back to her too late. “Well, Jill, Willow.”

There was a silence. Willow turned to glance at Perci over her shoulder.

“He didn’t ask you because you already knew.”

“Well done, Willow. The man I fell in love with comes home and shuts me out. You think I didn’t use money, leverage, and… There were a few who just needed someone to talk to who could relate but were not there,” Perci said with a loud exhale. “Yes, I knew his story. Yes, it is bad. I never once wavered from loving my man because I would have been at his side if I could. It was good to finally hear it from him. You girls have the floor.”

Willow and Jill eyed each other while Perci left the truck. Willow cleared her throat to go first.

“I’m not sure how I would have reacted to this in a dorm room at DU when humanity was still becoming more and more liberal. We did not learn any of the truths of how bad things became in Saudi Arabia. When I say that, I mean for the Saudis themselves. I feel you would have told me, and at the time I would have supported you. Then I probably would have left you because I could not comprehend. I know, it’s a harsh thing to say, but I know me. The thing is, you took drastic actions to protect those in your care,” Willow said. She leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. “I have seen the better version of you. The humanity you still hold. I also find solace in the fact that if things get worse, you will do what it takes to protect us. I have seen the reports, the dead, and the terror that is out there. I am with you to the end, Eric Yang.”

Jill returned to the middle seat in the back.

“I guess if Willow stays, it is okay. Humans are not perfect. I am not condoning your war crimes. I am actually very shocked they covered them up. I do understand why the president or former president comes to visit you now. I… There was…” Jill fidgeted in the back seat. She was a mix of nervousness and discomfort. “I was not always faithful to Jarod. He wore a latex suit for sex. It was the absolute worst. I strayed—just sex. He also departed for business trips frequently and a girl wants something besides plastic that goes vroom. Plus, I would get a thrill from the adventure of it. However, while random sex with fit college men pleased me, it never made me happy. Jarod was amazing for a life partner. With virum, he is being forgotten. I added the stones to try to hold onto the memory I have of this sweet, nerdy introvert. I tell myself to give him thirty days to come home. Mary is happy, I am happy, and I want more. That more is—”

“Jill, I am speaking for the girls. We would like for you to take your thirty days. Move out if you need to. Eric has a full bed, but you are right. He makes a great dad. Eric slid into your life aggressively. He tends to do that. He also draws you in. Let that draw fade by giving him space. Get time around others. There are still single men. Eric is different. Daphne already asked to join his bed. For the good of the community, is actually what she said, and we did not object. Crazy as it sounds, Perci, Nancy, and I simply do not see who shares Eric as an issue. Especially since the virum. I remember having these huge reservations about Nancy. Hell, with Perci, I figured I would hate it and fade to hanging out with Tina. Except the opposite happened. I fell in love with both of them. I fell in love with this place. For the end of the world, Stronghold Mansion is magical. I have never been more powerful. I am not a shut-in girl exploring university life. I am a warrior woman and my man I fuck is a Viking king. Whoa! That felt good to say. Jill, Eric is not Jarod. He never will be a meek gamer. He is sweet, compassionate, and caring, sure. But he will be getting a bigger bed in this society. Give us time if you want to join it. We will welcome you if you do.”

I raised an eyebrow at Willow.

“I get some of it. We’re in a different society, even without the virum. Hell, even before the aliens, throuples were becoming very common as extreme introverts were being eliminated from the gene pool. When I think about it, I shrug. Is everyone happy, are my love languages being fulfilled?” Jill said, and I snickered. “What, you brute!? Like I said, Jarod got me. He was a fucking awful father and ugh… the sex. He never picked Mary up. He was always too consumed with work to interact with her. I would push her his way and he would shriek, ‘Did she shower?’ He’d ask it in this condescending tone. Like I said, a great friend and life partner. Shitty lay, and a terrible father.”

“I agree with the queens. Take some time, play the field. If our family is what you want in thirty days, then I will—”

“Honesty, Eric. This ride has been about honesty. Is Jarod alive?”

“Rationally? Not a chance. We saw the reports. Australia has all but fallen. What city was he in?”

“Perth.”

“All red. The planes shut down. Unless he is on a boat braving the oceans—”

“He owned a sailboat. We fought about it endlessly. The mooring fees were horrendous. He bought a truck not too different from this. That one,” Jill said, picking out another steel-alloy truck with her finger. “He used that truck to tow the boat up to the storage lot. When you gave that distress call for people needing refuge, we arrived in that truck.”

“Well, then there is always hope. We are not too far from the West Coast. I want to be positive for you and Mary. It is the right thing to do. I will not change how I interact with her. Maybe I’ll hold off on lovingly admiring our interactions,” I said with a wince. “I know, I can’t help it. She makes me smile and my heart feels alive seeing her so happy. My father was the most boring dad. I always wanted more for my kids. She is lost without a dad and I feel I can help. I would like to see her, even if you pick a crixxi male.

“I will be back, Eric. You are right, we should take it slow if this is what we both want. I do not resent you for your past. I merely hope you will guide us with a loving hand into the future,” Jill said with a brief cackle. “And stomp your boot onto anyone who tries to harm my Mary. There were sick people in this world before the aliens. No knowing how many twisted individuals are causing chaos across our planet. We need a strong leader willing to do what is necessary to keep us alive. For the community. Come, Willow, help me work with Perci to find a new place to sleep where I do not hear how amazing master’s cock is.”

“For the community,” I said, watching the ladies leave.

I was not tired but somehow I felt exhausted. Killing some aliens would alleviate any sappiness of the evening's long conversation. I watched Jill and Willow chatting on their walk to RV3. I certainly was a very lucky man.

INTERMISSION

Tasman Sea—Eight days after arrival

Jarod stood on the bow of the Pearly Dream while it swayed on the gentle seas. The sails were snapped tight, pushing the hull against a slight chop. The sound of the wind whipping the sails was peaceful to Jarod. The midday spring sun felt glorious as it blasted heat down onto him. He glanced at the solar panels knowing they were greedily taking in that energy. The Pearly Dream needed the extra power. A week of dense overcast finally broke this morning.

Jarod had the best week of his life. The man smirked when he gazed down on his shirtless body. He was ripped with muscles so big it was amazing. He saw reality TV shows referring to what he had as beast mode. He found it fitting, so much so that he let his animalistic nature take hold. The weak-minded fright of germs was a thing of the past. Words couldn’t describe how enthused he was to never worry about getting sick again.

He walked to the stern of the boat where the deep freezer rested by the grill. He creaked the lid open with a billowing of cold air quickly escaping. Inside were the guts of fish and some filets to eat later. The boat had a few fishing rods in the crew cabin that he had repurposed into trawling rigs. Not the best, but doable. Today was different, though. They were going to chum the water. With a slow drift, clear sunshine, and semi-clear water, this was their best chance to spearfish. Tucked off to the left side of the freezer were the remains of the two merfolk he killed. Perfect for luring in hungry creatures of the sea.

Bubbles hip-checked him over. She carried a pillow sack with some holes in it. Bubbles was savage as she dug into the freezer with a grin. Frozen entrails were shoved into the sack. Bubbles giggled when the head of her former master was tossed into the water. Same with the female she named Jelly. Jarod tied strips of fishing line to limbs. He planned to drag extra chum behind the Pearly Dream. They worked in silence, occasionally stealing longing glances at each other.

“Any station on this net, this is the Havana. Please help,” a husky voice said in a Kiwi accent.

The radio was set to 156.8 on the VHF. Jarod was shocked, since it had stayed silent until now. You would think the emergency frequency would be jammed with communications, but it had been eerily silent. The voyage home required him to sail below Australia and past New Zealand. He checked the Gpad on the captain’s station. It had them in the middle of the Tasman Sea.

Jarod knew a bit of radio etiquette. “This is the Pearly Dream, over.”

He released the detent and blew into the mic to ensure he was not broadcasting.

“Bubbles, change of plans. Keep the fish guts. Toss the body parts,” Jarod said over his shoulder while he waited for a reply.

Coral sauntered up to the deck. Her weight had recovered quickly. The once timid merlady filled out nicely. Jarod also knew now they were not merladies. More like sirens of legend with their seductive songs. When they wanted sexual pleasures they would sing to him, inducing immediate reactions. The radio crackled before either siren could reply.

“Oh, thank god. Pearly Dream, this is… The Spinner. We are three ships stranded in desperate need of water. Our engines are out of fuel and our food reserves are low. Please, can you help us?”

“Well, the Tasman Sea has a lot of space. Where are you?”

“I cannot verify with satellite or Gnet. Our emergency Gpad estimate is tracking— 43.748759, 168.112737. We have been drifting off of Jackson Bay hoping the alien gates will go away. We have been watching this one for the last week. Nothing comes or goes out. The news from the island via radio was so bad we pushed further out to sea until we saw this structure.”

Bubbles shrieked for joy. Her nude body was so different from Jane’s. Jarod shook his head. Bubbles had that effect on him. Jill’s body. Her body was different from Jill’s square form. He smiled at his new lover, waiting for her to calm.

“Give me a moment, Spinner. I have water and am on an electric running motor. I captain one of those fancy yacht sailboat combos,” Jarod said while punching in the coordinates for Jackson Bay, New Zealand. “Okay, I am showing that I could get there early in the morning, an hour or so after sunup. Let me talk with the crew.”

“Pearly Dream, I think you don’t understand. We die if you do not rescue us. This is a mayday.”

“It is also the end of the world. I already had to rescue two merfolk. Gentle souls fleeing persecution. How do I know you will not harm them?” Jarod said, laying it on thick.

Bubbles and Coral were breathing over his back. They had finished their grisly task and were now huddled around the radio. Jarod started the motor, adjusted the sails, and activated the auto-navigate. They would arrive just after dark. He smirked at his deception.

“Pearly Dream, we have women and children on board. We are three families who escaped the tide of lizard men capturing, devouring, and raping humans. We have no weapons. Well, besides a single-shot spear gun, but we promise to lay it down before you help. I am being honest. We are desperate and not aggressive.”

I paused. Bubbles cackled in an evil laugh.

“Tell them they have to sign a contract vowing to not hurt us; the feeble maidens you rescued,” Coral said with a rolling song.

Jarod keyed up the mic. “My seafolk said a simple agreement to not harm us can be done through their devices. Would you be willing to swear to not harm them? If you do that, I can save you.”

“Yes, we will have to trust you. This is day two without water. My baby girl passed out from the heat earlier.”

“I am sorry to hear that. I, too, have a little girl I am trying to get home to. Our air conditioner is still operating and we have plenty of water. We are on the way to Jackson Bay. Repeat your coordinates again, nice and slow this time.”

The conversation ended when the actual spot for the three drifted vessels was input. After a few minutes ticked by, Bubbles felt confident she could talk.

“Remember how I told you the gods favor the bold? This is our chance. The next golden cycle is coming soon, and—”

Jarod interrupted her with a hand up and said, “That is where we can trade items like that spear for armor right?” Her black beady eyes flared for a moment, then calmed. She tended to hate repeating herself.

“Yes, my champion. Coral had the right idea. They are following a god-gate to see if it vanishes. Idiotic but extremely helpful. So helpful it gives me shivers of ecstasy. You are truly blessed by the divine with your luck.”

“How so?”

“Well, we convert those people on that squawking box into servants. Then sell them and their vehicles into the grand market!” She sang a delightful laugh that Coral joined. “You may not even need to murder anyone. We see very well at night; the virum will help you see better at night also. If they have no power, as they say, we can capture all three vessels with ease.”

“I don’t know… Selling children? I’m not sure I could live with that,” Jarod said with a huff. “Jill and Maggie… Mary, would never forgive me.”

Bubbles and Coral teamed up to nestle into his exposed chest. They started their song of enticement again. He rarely fought it, but this time he did.

“No, you two knock that shit off before I become angry,” Jarod demanded.

Bubbles frowned with a twist of her face. “Jarod, we try to soothe you on what is best. Let me ask you something. Why are you going to those ships?”

“To help them.”

“And then what?” Coral asked. “You going to tow them to the island I see on this screen? Take them with you?”

“At first, I wanted to give offerings to the gods, as you call it. Then he mentioned he had a daughter. I don’t know now. You have a point. We can bottle some water but the batteries are already low. We need them to charge or else I have no water. If I have no water, then—”

“You die. We can process saltwater with our gills. Mind you, it's messy to do so in the cabin.” The sirens giggled at their joke.

Jarod rolled his eyes at this line—they used it often and it was equally funny to them each time. He frowned when he started to realize their line of thought. “I can’t save them. Not all of them and their boats. There is not enough power on this motor to haul that much. What life would they have if we trade them in the god-gate?”

“Depends on the buyer. When you accepted our contract you did so to become my champion, Jarod,” Bubbles said with Carol bobbing her head. “The gods have provided a tool unlike any other us mere mortals can use. The god-gate and the mortal-market are those tools. We must survive. Do you want armor? Better weapons? More dangerous soldiers sworn to your cause? Then be the champion we need. Those three ships are dead without you. Rescue them and send them to be crop pickers where they will live long lives. Save them while saving yourself, Jarod. I needed saving. Be my hero.”

Her song was so sweet Jarod lost control. He let his animal take over. She was bent over the ice freezer and dominated by his will. Her legs were spread wide while he thrust into her with lust. He pulled her hair so hard it was a miracle it did not rip out. When he finished inside, he forced Coral to lick the blue little pussy clean.

“There is my champion I need. Now, what are we going to do with those desperate people?”

Jarod smirked while watching Coral clean Bubbles. “The gods’ will. We will liberate them into a contract of servitude.”

“Perfect, my sea king,” Bubbles said from over her shoulder. She went to her knees to clean her king’s cock.

∞∞∞

The Pearly Dream snuck up on the three pleasure boats silently. They approached slowly to ensure no lighting was being cast. The anchor boats bobbed silently with the waves. If he did not know they had passengers, he would have thought them abandoned. They waited and watched for activity only to see the odd solo figure pacing the sterns. Jarod was a bit upset they were pulling a guard. He told them he would be here in the early morning. Not much to do besides proceed anyway. The slightest splash of Bubbles entering the water sounded.

Jarod waited for her patiently. He was not certain why he had hesitated earlier about properly saving these humans. The gods were just. The gods were right. For once, he had something to believe in that was not fear but growth. Even Mary would benefit from his actions taken in the name of the gods. Bubbles's bountiful body bounced when it returned to the yacht’s landing pad. She was so much more than Jill could ever be. He smiled at the sight, and the fact he remembered his family's names correctly. Jarod was not sure what was making them fade from his memories but he fought hard to keep them there.

“There are three men awake. They keep looking up and out. They have orange weapons, with one holding a shiny spear weapon. I think I can convince them to contract to me. They do appear weak.”

“What if they study the contract? I was able to,” Jarod said with concern.

“Oh, right. Your kind does not know to surrender or die yet. How deadly are their weapons?”

“The orange gun is called a flare gun, you shoot it into the air to have others find you. The discharge will burn, but if you jump in the water it will come off your skin. The only real threat is that spear gun.”

“Will the females fight?” Coral asked.

“Probably, unless they want to avoid exposing their children. We can try to trick them or try submission. Will we have enough for all our upgrades if the men die?” Jarod asked with a grimace.

“Oh, most certainly—we only have three of us. The vessels will be enough for armor, land machines for us, and weapons. The rest is a bonus,” Bubbles said with a toothy grin.

“The gods would want the young and weak protected. This will be their salvation from death. Their sacrifice will be their husbands,” Jarod said. He felt this was a test of his devotion to his new faith. He would not fail.

Coral gave an odd purring sound that matched her pleasant smirk. “We did not even sing for you that time, my champion. You will be a mighty king of both sea and land. Something that Bubbles tends to miss.”

Jarod shrugged. He cared not for titles. He cared for saving those children. That was what Jill would want. If the gods would save them from their certain doom, then she would want this too. He slipped past Bubbles, removed his shorts, and silently lowered himself into the water. Swimming with the dart gun was tricky but manageable. He ensured the weapon was secured to his wrist after a few strokes and found the band snug.

Jarod swam for what felt like ages. His new muscles handled the task with an endurance he did not realize he had. The first boat he arrived at gave Jarod pause. He slithered onto the back deck silently. He waited, crouched behind the deck wall, hidden from view. Coral arrived with a filet knife in her teeth. Bubbles joined him on the deck. The splash of her leaving the water stirred the man.

“I bet those pesky sharks are back.”

Footsteps slapped closer to the back deck wall. When Jarod knew they were close, he popped up. The man caught sight of Jarod too late. A single snap sounded before the man’s head even turned. The bolt crashed into a spot forward of the temple. The angle was perfect for a deflection—the round caused the man to stumble in confusion.

Jarod hopped the main deck wall to catch the man before he could crash. Bubbles reached up and shocked him with the rod. Jarod hastily placed the man down to end the residual shock.

The man’s chest rose and fell. A sprinkling of black goo left his hand to join the man. Jarod was fascinated watching the tiny gods do their work. His admiration was disturbed when the next boat overheard the minor commotion.

“Larry, did you drop something?”

Jarod reacted with instincts he did not know he had. His weapon rotated instantly. He fired. Snap, snap, snap. The second man died with a perforated chest. There was a screeching, sliding sound as the body was dragged down the boat's hull by gravity. A thud reverberated through the night when the dead man hit the deck.

“What ruckus is Larry causing now?” a third voice hollered from almost a hundred feet away on boat three.

This was a much further shot. The darts Jarod sent soaring his way splashed low into the boat’s side. Jarod walked his darts to his target. The final four darts all went center mass of the man. The man fired his flare gun into the air on accident.

Two things happened simultaneously. The night sky lit up with a flare, and screams of terror rang out when the interior families could see injured or dead men. Lots of screams. Coral handed Jarod a reload.

“Listen up!” Jarod shouted with a commanding tone. The screams abated as they converted into frightened shrieks. “You all die unless you swear to not harm my friends. They have a box over their chest. Touch it and accept what they send. Do this or we kill Larry to start with!” Jarod picked up a mumbling Larry to have Coral hold him upright.

“Hurry up, or he dies,” Coral said with a sweet melody.

She started her persuasion song to convince the families to come to the back deck quickly. Bubbles joined Coral in song luring the others to come out. One woman was broken. She screamed endlessly. Bubbles grabbed the knife I had dropped while fighting Larry. She dove into the water for boat three. The trident weapon was leveled at the woman standing over her dead lover, screaming in torment. Bubbles shot her with the stun charge and followed the distraught woman down as she collapsed beyond from where Jarod could see.

When Bubbles returned from the woman's side she held a tongue in her hand.

“We will kill you. Defy us and we will dice your children. Touch my chest and accept my contract or die!” Bubbles hissed loudly.

The ultimatum was heard. Bubbles went forward to collect her contracts. It was over so quickly. Bubbles and Coral went from ship to ship until even Larry accepted his contract when he came to. He demanded his daughter be saved. I agreed that she would; when I said it was the will of the gate-gods he grew confused. Jarod ignored Larry to save the girl by bringing her water and feeding her his blood. Bubbles later told him he did not need to feed her blood; the virum was cognizant of when new hosts were vacant.

When it was over, Jarod asked why they had not planned to sing from the beginning. He learned sirens could not sway defiant victims. They had to be compliant to some extent. A man protecting his family with a weapon might have no compliance. Kill a few, weaken their resolve, and it normally worked. The irrational grieving woman who was now missing a tongue was an exception. Bubbles pointed this out while she ate the tongue. She rationalized that a desperate woman wanted to ensure her children survived. There was no song sung during the contract signing to allow the deal to be valid. Only one to keep them calm after so we could tuck them away until the gate day arrived.

That morning, Jarod watched the sky’s colorful rays bring a new day. The dead men were discarded. The families were bound in their cabins, and Jarod was able to save so many children he smiled proudly. A few deaths for fourteen alive. That was amazing. The best part was learning how rich he now was.

Bubbles said come golden trade day he could get add-ons to his sailboat, double armor, an array of weapons to handle any situation, and even trade for new servants. Young children fetched the most at the market. Bubbles said this was because they were still impressionable. The gods, Mary, and Jill would be so proud when he arrived at Marble Heights. They would see what an amazing man he now was.

He heard the crying of a little girl. He laughed, knowing her tears were that of joy. She had been redeemed and would be given salvation.

CHAPTER 12

The sound of rain pelting the RV exterior was obnoxiously loud. I frowned watching the dirt road turning to muck from the heavy traffic of the convoy. I leaned forward to glance up out of the windshield at the rain clouds. The Gpad said they would be gone by now. Weather was always so hard to predict. I had contemplated delaying our morning mission to Denver to avoid destroying the dirt road but decided to have the dozer follow behind us when this dried out.

I tapped the Gpad to insert a note in the to-complete task folder. The downpour abated before coming to a complete stop. Dedric turned us left onto the smooth county road for Denver. Paving our half-hour-long dirt road was a dream to me. Maybe the golden portals would have something we could buy.

I did a final review of the convoy before leaving Gtower range. RV1 was in the lead with Mclain’s team behind them. Eddy was in the rear with RV2. We were in the middle with the drone operators. Every trailer, truck, and storage device we had was coming with us.

The goal was simple: loot everything we could while killing anything in our way. I set the convoy to the Village of Five Parks, a suburb of Denver southwest of Standley Lake. I chose there to start because it was a mix of residential and small businesses with plenty of self-storage lots. There might have also been a certain Torrez who insisted the local bouncy house needed good pillaging. I was all for jumping in a bouncy house myself. My inner greed for loot was overridden when I had to realize that not everything was survival—some of life’s necessities required living.

We knew there would be XLroaches. There was a chance of running into the divine-apes. Our drones would pick up a sixty-foot-tall divine-ape no problem, though; kind of hard to hide when you are that big. There was a secret desire that we might run into some pigri, but I doubted we would encounter any. When we discussed the mission, we contemplated finding human survivors and how to deal with them. I was a bit shocked when we rationalized we would not find a huddled family in an attic. Other scavengers like us, sure, because Five Parks had no real way to defend itself and we predicted it would be packed with good loot. There were a few schools I found on my Gpad, but they were small private schools for the children of the elites; they used far too much glass in their construction to defend. We concluded that there might be some survivors, as there was always hope. I put their chances up there with Jarod: not likely. With that in mind, we prepared the best we could… with heavy weapons, lots of ammo, and food for a few days.

The drive time was two hours. We were going to bypass every little community on the way to Five Parks. If we couldn’t obtain a full load, we would loot on the way home. I knew those self-storage lots and upper-middle-class suburban homes would be teeming with rare metals ready to be broken down.

My gaze shifted to watching the road streak past while the convoy maintained a high speed. This corridor was cleared and monitored nonstop, so we had no reason to take it slow. Watching the outside zoom by revealed spring was in full effect. A bird perched in a tree flickering water off its body with a twist. Chipmunks darted between the wet grounds, happy the rain stopped. The growth of usually mowed grass was getting tall as it went unchecked. Bountiful flowers were blooming with white arrays breaking up the endless green. The sun crashed through the overcast clouds in golden rays.

I checked my Gpad. No alerts. I glanced over my shoulder to see Willow watching the drone monitors with Nancy. They were chatting in hushed tones. We smiled with little waves when our eyes met. A message arrived on my Gpad.

“Three families leaving for Salt Lake. They want to loot to buy the virum cure and forge into the new world without it. They are jamming into the white Bronco. That Boulder family was spooked. They thought we were too accepting of the virum, and there were a few women terrified of more children that gave into lust. Oh, well. We can’t control everything. You should be losing Gtower soon. I love you.” - Queen 1

“Thanks for the update. Be back tonight. We love you.” - Captain King

I left my seat on the RV. We would patch the drone feeds into the main display screen when our little Gnet was broken. I performed a last-minute radio check before we crossed the line. The convoy slowed dramatically until we stopped.

The halting motion woke Jevon. He gave a morning groan and opened an eye from the loft. His sleep was over and now he was an extra set of eyes on the monitor.

“Did you get my report?” Jevon asked. He had swapped command early this morning so he could get four hours of sleep. His changeover included the fact that the squibbles had fled to home.

“Yeah, not much to do. We could not maintain guarding the Xgate forever. I think a mechanic like a moving Xgate is pretty ingenious,” I said while running my hand through my hair; it had felt so full since the virum. “If you had it stationary, it would be simple to cement a box around it. I also saw Harvard’s report. The Xgate has no pattern besides a massive roaming location.”

“Major Ulanda pretty much said the exact same thing. Then we got into a theory debate on if it is possible to build a wall outside the zone or if the Xgate would expand its roam. That led to talking about building a wall to Denver to move the Xgate.”

We both chuckled. That was the exact kind of thing we did in Saudi Arabia to pass the time.

“I am glad they are friendly. Our new world would be far less vibrant if our neighbors were enemies,” I said, rising from the booth to fist bump my friend.

“So, I read the plan. Bouncy houses. I got to admit, even my shriveled heart likes the idea. Where are we?” Jevon said while propped up on his elbows. He studied the video screens.

I held a single finger up to him.

“Okay, Peterson, get me eyes down the road, please,” I ordered. “Dedric, have convoy lead slow-rolling.”

The drone team had grown to six. Our video screen was covered in multiple feeds around our convoy. Gone were the displays on every Gpad; it was all linked to this one view screen.

“Right outside Gtower range. You ready?” I asked.

“I have command,” Jarod said.

“You have command,” I replied with a smirk.

Willow glanced at our exchange with confusion. She looked to Nancy for help, who nudged her head to me. I saved her from asking.

“What is the difference between Jevon and me?”

“Besides me being more handsome and black,” Jevon said with a cocky tone. I rolled my eyes, chuckling.

“You both have years of command experience. You always run the show when Cap is off to regen or rest. The arm is one thing. You have a standard .308. That has to be it. You are weapon light for a reason,” Willow said confidently.

Nancy pounded the table in salute. I joined her.

“We will make a fine officer out of you yet, Willow. I have a much better gear set. Jevon is not leaving the RV today and will run command. I have the best shielding, and instead of hunkering down to call the shots, I will fight. Sure, I will not be the first man into the breach, but in the thick of it if needed,” I said with my winning grin. “Care to join me on the roof for a rendezvous?”

“Oh, a dashing man asking a pretty young woman to expose herself to the elements. If only I had an empowered shield, a kickass rifle, and an attitude to go with it… Oh, wait.”

We climbed up the loft and onto the roof. There were always contingencies to any and every situation. We tried to have backups for the backups. When plans went sideways, the most basic, simple plan went best. If ambushed, you want two things: speed, or to hunker down. Since we were slow-rolling, any combat would result in a convoy halt and defense. Which meant I could free-walk the RV roof while we inched downhill toward the Denver outskirts. The front and back hatches were left open so we could hear any callouts from the interior.

Willow arrived on the roof behind me. She was wearing a peeblenator slung to her right hip. Her shielding was active, nitrogen power plant strapped to her back. She was ready for war. She stepped into my personal space to give my cheek a kiss.

“That was for inspecting me like an equal and not a lover,” Willow said.

“Can’t you be both?”

“Yes, Eric. Now, you lost me. Why out here and not watching the monitor?”

“Being inside a bulletproof RV makes it hard to shoot bullets out at your enemies. And the air was fresh. Shit, I forgot my coffee,” I said.

“Hey, dipshit, you forgot your coffee,” Jevon said from the interior. “Nancy is coming with it.”

My thermos plopped onto the roof. Nancy shimmed out of the opening to join us.

“Here you go, stud. The first set of abandoned cars are up ahead. Drones are swapping from the naked eye to thermal. Nothing is living out here besides birds, furry rodents disguised as cute things, and bunnies,” Nancy said. She handed off my thermos with a brief hug. “I know I shouldn’t, but Perci told me this morning that Jill moved out.”

I wanted to sigh or roll my eyes, but I held it in.

“Great lady; my bed is full,” I said.

“You are the warlord supreme. King of the mountain. You should get a bigger bed. Eventually, your conquests, wives, queens, or whatever our term is, we need to figure out what is going on. You have been liking the changes to our bodies. Jill was a middle-aged soccer mom with no tits or hips. Now,” Nancy said, letting out a whistle. “Well, now I can say I am glad you picked me before everyone became their sexiest versions. Then there is Daphne. She has been telling us if we absorb tribes like theirs, unions help ease the transition a lot. Mitchell with Elifer will go a long way. All the sexy bodies, virum is amazing. Speaking of which, Eric, you turned into a movie star hunk.”

“I had to sort through clothes to find a set that would fit. Enough about Jill; she will figure her internal dilemma out. Focus on the woods, please. And Nancy, I always found you beautiful on the inside.”

“What!? So not fair to get the last compliment in,” Nancy said with a wink. “Aye, aye, Cap.”

I watched her fake pout. She was loving the attention. We had a twelve-hour mission that just started. My love life’s twists and turns could wait back at Stronghold Mansion for me. I saw two flipped cars a few hundred feet in front of us. They were tipped downhill and formed into a mini wall.

I had not been this far down the mountain, ever. We flew up on our initial ascent, so all the scenery was somewhat new, not that the signs of blossoming spring were that much different as we descended. I was looking for shell casings or any sign of a fight when I was hit with a diabolical odor. The only thing I had ever smelt worse was bulldog farts.

I scanned the flipped vehicles for dead bodies. Maybe someone had poured buckets of shit into—

“I think we found where our sewage is going. We dump it over the low section of the eastern wall. South wind. Yeah, that is Stronghold Mansion’s stench,” Willow said while mapping out the area with her hand.

We plugged our noses until five minutes later we escaped the smell. The RV doors popped open to vent the permeating stench. Ten minutes later we crept slower while approaching the community Nancy raided over a week ago. It went about exactly how I expected it to.

A static hit my radio for a microsecond before “Incoming!” belted out.

A small swarm of XLroaches skittered out of the community’s busted gates. I smirked in satisfaction as they tried to climb over each other to get to us. I planted my feet while aiming the big shotgun weapon. A massive nitrogen ball belched out in all its teal glory. The air shimmered around the energy. There was so much power packed into it, it brightened the day. I was thrown back and almost off the roof.

Nancy gripped my hip with her off-hand while firing into the growing swarm that was ignorant to my massive ball of death racing their way. The round orb smashed into the mass of insects. The teal washed over them with incinerating effect. The front wave sizzled with shrieks, yet death continued as the ball soared forward. Every consumption of energy from the dying reduced the round’s size. It carried forward until it was a tiny dot with a huge splash radius. The entire first half of the enemy was dead or dying. The second wave faced increasingly accurate fire from my troops.

I went to slow, single shots, trying to pick off those in the very back. The furthest ones were only a few hundred feet away, making our defense somewhat an act of desperation. The enemy stopped charging when the last one died. So far, every engagement had been an all or nothing.

“Fill me in, Cap,” Willow said. She was starting to be able to read my expressions. I was pondering on these suicidal drones and she nailed her prediction. Damn, the woman was a natural. “Please!”

“You continue to impress me. Think of the golden Xgates. What did we not see? And more importantly, what did we learn?”

“These big roaches without wings. We didn’t see any aliens we had seen on Earth the entire time,” Nancy said.

“She has a point,” Willow mentioned.

“No, she does not—no offense, Nancy. There is one of two ways these aliens get access to an Xgate. One is placed on your planet because you can travel across space…” I said, and let the sentence hang.

“These idiots cannot travel without help. I guess the other way would be where these were a subspecies that was probably controlled until Xgates arrived on their home planet due to some other species. Then they got out of containment and have been ravaging the portal system ever since,” Nancy said. She adjusted her balance. Jevon had us rolling again. “We aren’t going to loot that? And Cap, you need a strap to secure you when you fire that big load of yours.”

I bounced my eyebrows with a confident smirk of awesomeness.

“It was an epic splash. You’re right, though, I almost flew off. Thanks for the save. Okay, ready for it? There are probably more than three. But my third hypothesis is that they are part of a hive mind without the hive leader. I bet some cop, school teacher, or random grandpa killed the big brain. The one that could use these retards to collect resources to build spaceships,” I said, pointing to the pile of dead roaches we crept away from. “I believe the controller died. Think about it. These fuckers aced Denver. I mean, fully aced the entire city besides some tiny pockets. I doubt they even multiply to that size in days. If they do, how? We have not found eggs. There are too many things pointing to a queen or something. Anyway, war happens, leaders die, and then you blast waves of roaches until they are gone. I bet other aliens showing up in the Xgate between Boulder and Denver see these things and immediately play defense. If Xgate 232 spawns a fantastic world of amazing tech and I see these fuckers on that planet, I am going home and calling it a day.”

“You almost sound scared,” Torrez said from the back of the RV as he climbed up.

“Well, yeah. I am. Name another alien we’ve met yet that could kill Denver in a few days. Buxen? Fuck, no. The gargoyles if they had enough, but they would have stopped to feast. The only reason the wormipedes were able to bust into houses was because they had a running lead. Put them in a city and the gangs will shoot them. Actually, if we get a single charging roach, shoot a 9mm into it and I doubt it punctures the chitin.”

Torrez awkwardly laughed, seeing that I had tensed. “Easy, boss, I agree. They are evil and deadly. I came over to see if you need any supplies. Pebbles, batteries, shaping plasma?”

The ladies inspected their weapons quickly before shaking their heads no. Torrez smirked. He loved being in high places with his legs. His long bounding gait allowed him to leap over the next slow-moving vehicle. He landed with a lot of forward momentum—his cybernetic legs may have absorbed the impact, but he was forced into a roll. When Torrez was upright he did an elaborate bow.

“Eh, the large sploosh was more impressive,” Willow said softly.

We shared a light round of laughter.

“You don’t think the controller—if there is one—is still in the city?” Nancy asked.

“Real life isn’t a video game or a great science fiction book. Real life is a random series of chaotic events based on so many factors you can never predict with certainty what will happen next. You don’t journey down the road slaying little monsters until the big one pops out and roars.”

A roar pierced the morning air that was so loud we all flinched. The sound was distant but still deafening.

“Fuck my life. Jevon, what is that?”

“Drones are shifting… It’s a monster, a big one that just popped out of the gate between Denver and Boulder. Cap, that gate is not far from our target area of Five Parks. It is a divine-ape fighting rhino warriors. Cap, you better get down here,” Jevon shouted.

I used my cybernetic arm against the edge of the roof to swing below into the RV’s open door. Willow tried to repeat my epic maneuver. Her wrist twisted, forcing her to let go. I caught her by the bra and yanked her in. She gave me a “don’t do it look” and I held in wanting to snap the garment. This is one reason why I never dated any soldiers before.

Jevon raised an eyebrow. I shrugged at my friend to focus. I snagged a seat to study the screen. The big animal was a rustic red. It indeed walked and fought like an ape. Longer upper-body limbs, crouched lower limbs with knees bent. Scales covered the vital regions of the chest, neck, and head; I noticed more protecting the feet and hands. For sixty feet tall it was fast—frighteningly vicious too. The opponent species it combated was equally intimidating.

They were another species with an upright torso but the body of a four-legged animal. Rhinotaurs. A device radiated green in spurts of light. Long, bulky weapons belched a green goo that reminded me of exaggerated snot globs. They had human torsos covered in metallic armor. The rhino part was their gray leathery tail and a single large, curved horn where the belly button went. A rhinotaur was flung hundreds of feet by the massive divine-ape deep into Denver. For the briefest of moments, I saw a shield flicker as it tried to repel the mighty attack. There was no stopping a creature unleashing that much kinetic energy.

I watched the battle unfold. The well-organized rhinotaurs were caught unprepared. A second divine-ape was bound to the ground. Hundreds of thin metal chains strapped the body down.

“Peterson, I want—” I shouted but she cut me off.

“Already on it. We would need to take this curvy road. Turn left into a housing complex and then use a roof,” Peterson said, knowing my desire.

“Dedric, get the convoy there. Everyone is to go hot. We are expecting to maybe charge into roaches,” I ordered.

The convoy lurched forward, picking up speed.

“Go hot?” Willow asked.

“Fire at will, good point. Thank you, Willow. We have many nonveterans in this force probably asking the same thing.” I punched the mic detent to the convoy radio. “Fire at will from this moment on. Snipers, we are going high to the rooftops to see if we can't win a fight down below. The divine-apes spared Boulder. We will help them.”

I noticed the trees zooming by from the front windshield. We would be there soon. I shifted to watch the battle. Additional rhinotaur squads hopped onto Earth. A logical guess was the lockdown time was on cooldown. The divine-ape smashed, kicked, and leaped onto the foes before him. I was shocked. The rhinotaurs were defending their captured prize without much care for their losses. Then I understood why.

Rhinotaurs in the dozens arrived behind the first squad. I continued to watch, enthralled by the epic battle unfolding. The green goop was not slowing the divine-ape. A new gravity sled arrived with the reinforcements. This one crackled white energy on the tip of the lance. The divine-ape reacted by rolling out of battle and behind the Xgate for cover. The crew of the new weapon raced to get to the divine-ape. I realized the divine-ape was not some massive idiotic creature when it countered the big weapon flawlessly.

“No, you idiots,” Willow said with hands in the air.

“So going to die,” Jevon mentioned with a huff.

“They're done for,” Nancy commented with a scoff.

I snickered. Even the rhinotaur commander on the field was hollering for his bold troops to fallback. Nope. The divine-ape scaled the Xgate. I marveled at how the construct never shifted from the added weight. A leap from one corner to the next was followed by a high jump onto the new weapon. The turret unleashed a massive chaotic ball of what looked like electricity. It was not even close to being angled right and fired in desperation. The divine-ape roared defiantly as it crashed into the sled. I watched the weight of the beast squish the machine and its crew. A new vigor cascaded through the monster, who roared a second time before charging into the rhinotaurs’ growing numbers.

I had to tear my eyes off the screen to look out the windshield. The crack of .308 carbines unleashing death from the front of the convoy caught my attention. I immediately vacated my booth seat for the loft and transitioned to the roof. My eyes absorbed the situation while I twirled a rapid spin. The suicidal roaches were not swarming in numbers. They were spread out, caught off guard by our rapid arrival. Three hundred trained marksmen and women fired ruthlessly. I joined the death-dealing. The snap of carbines belching chitin-piercing rounds was joined by my sizzling teal orbs.

I swiveled the long rifle from target to target without burying my eye into the scope. Aim, fire, and adjust. Aim, fire, and adjust. The dead roaches scattered the grounds of the elite neighborhood. I glanced at the million-dollar homes. Most were in pristine shape, with vehicles abandoned in the driveways. Doors were burst open, windows smashed, and items chucked onto the lawn from past looters. Still, I had a feeling the vital stuff we needed would be inside. I let the thought slip as my team leaders began clearing the tallest home on the block with the best view into northern Denver.

I slid off the RV, using my arm to slow my descent. My feet smacked onto the flawless private road. A few long bounds and I was into the house.

“This way, boss,” Mclain shouted to me.

I followed in his wake up a stairwell. The crack of his .308 told me there was trouble. I caught up to him no problem. I saw five roaches crashing down the stairway with their mandibles aggressively trying to get to Mclain.

“Duck!”

I unleashed my ball of death, praying he would obey.

He did. The round missed him by an inch. The teal static ball of death washed over the roaches. The spray of the splash hit our shields. A few were slow enough to create pockets of burns over Mclain’s body. I saw the man holding in a scream of pain.

I had killed the roaches but destroyed the stairs to the third floor. I retreated to the second floor desperate for a balcony. I found one behind the third door. A single step onto the ledge let me leap to catch the third-floor balcony. When I pulled myself up, Torrez was already on the roof scanning the area. Another jump and my hand caught the lip, Torrez hauling me up onto the scratchy roof.

I peered down into northern Denver. The divine-ape was being surrounded. A crackling white ball smashed into its side. The rhinotaurs were mere dots from this distance. Shit, we must be three miles away.

A ladder slammed into the side of the roof. My radio crackled. “Buildings clear, conducting second sweep. Stay alert,” Jevon said into the radio.

“Torrez, spot,” I said.

I shouldered my long rifle. My scope lined up with the divine-ape fighting desperately now. The littered dead were big in my enhanced scope. The scope was blurring and focusing on the rapid, distant motion of the big creature. I swiveled until I found the divine-ape prisoner in my sight. The optic highlighted red when I aimed at the beast. When I dragged the dot to the chain it went yellow. Red dead, yellow not so dead, I guessed. I fired the weapon.

My optic did not move. The round was not in sight until it crashed against the chain in a firework display of blue. The chain link was not destroyed, only deteriorated. A second small round belched forward.

“Uh, I am going to shoot. That landed with precision. Want us on chains or on rhinotaurs or the big divine-ape?”

“Put the rhinotaurs on their proverbial back feet. Sniper fire should throw the command into chaos. Pick out targets in fancy gear first.”

The second round landed with less splash. Whatever outer coating the chain had was gone. There was a clear break. The divine-ape under the metal squirmed when the round continued into its skin. My grin spread wide. I found a different chain link. Fire, breathe, fire. New chain. Fire, two breaths, fire.

I watched the second link break. The first did not, as the rounds were too close together. The crack of a fifty-caliber rifle sent birds fluttering away from us in a wide circle. I continued to fire. By the eighth chain, I had not only enraged the divine-ape, I had broken enough of its containment. I lowered the rifle in perfect timing to see the massive monster burst free. Chains snapped before they were flung outwards in a dramatic display.

A fully empowered roar crashed into our ears. The first divine-ape was bleeding from many wounds and staggering from the electro shots. The rhinotaurs realized they were doomed. With two monsters on the field, they were maybe capable of winning. When you added in a new set of long-ranged snipers cracking shields and eliminating leaders, well, that meant it was time to go home. I watched the retreating rhinotaurs get torn apart as they fled with haste.

Retreating was always difficult. It rarely was the wise battlefield decision mid-fight. Then again, they never expected a third force to show up.

“Ceasefire,” I shouted.

I watched the scene unfold when the first divine-ape went home. It returned with four smaller versions of itself. The rhinotaur bodies were stripped of their metallic armor and shields before being tossed into the blue. Five minutes went by while they stripped the field of battle. I watched with my weapon’s sight. The children were talking to the parents. I could see lips move, a reply given, and then new actions carried out.

Sixty-foot-tall sapients. I figured as much. My mind started rationalizing how amazing capturing one would be. That must have been what the rhinotaurs were attempting. Trying to convert the beast into a servant. I smirked at the thought. My smirk was turned into a frown when the freed divine-ape turned to me, used a four-fingered hand to cover my distant image, and then motioned for me to join her. I assumed it was a her—she had nipples and no penis.

“Uh, Cap? I think you are being summoned for diplomacy.”

“Yeah, I am too valuable. Not to be conceded. Just true. Mclain is recovering. Nancy, you’re up. Take a steel truck and go say hello,” I ordered.

Nancy sighed but followed my orders.

I keyed the mic. “Command, this is Cap. Delta team leader going to exit convoy for diplomacy.”

“Roger, the chariot awaits. Command out,” Jevon said. A moment later the radio crackled. “Everyone, get to looting while we wait. No sense in sitting on our asses.”

That included me, technically. However, I wanted to watch the situation, not hunt for old electronics. I went for the ladder. Ensuring I planted my feet safely, I stepped down in a slow descent.

The lush, bright green grass I stepped across was in need of a mowing. The rain from earlier left a squishing feel. My distracted eyes caught a dead roach not far from RV3 which forced me to leap. The sound of team leaders giving out orders covered my landing footsteps. Non-sniper teams were slamming vehicle doors and heading into homes. I walked into RV3 to sit beside Jevon.

“Why Lavaun?” Jevon asked with a grimace.

“Not because I want my girlfriend to die. Slister is treating Mclain. Nancy Lavaun is the next in the chain,” I muttered with displeasure.

“Are you going to add Willow to that chain at some point?”

“Not anytime soon. We are an army with a core of veterans. These civilians are no slouches. We give them time, see who excels and gets promoted,” I said while dancing my fingers across the countertop. “Speaking of which, are there any veterans not in a minor role of leadership?”

“A few. Their team leaders are letting them know that when new units stand up they are getting promoted. Since we only need one REM cycle of sleep we should really reorganize. Especially as we expand housing units. Did you read the note from Gary?” Jevon asked with a curious brow raised. I shook my head no and his teeth gleamed when he smiled. I licked the inside of my mouth realizing I forgot to brush this morning. “Longhouse twenty-five will be done today. Twenty-six is going to be a two-story with balconies. Tower one is going up too. As in, the crixxi are getting their first home. We are finally expanding to the point we can spread out without a family to a single tiny space.”

“What about the slaughterhouse, bathhouse, and the kitchen?”

“Eric, you do realize we have hundreds of workers, right? Elifer joined this mission and two crixxi males. The rest of them are building like crazy. Gary is adapting like a champion. Clive can only work so fast,” Jevon said, and I reviewed Gary’s report. Jevon peeked over to see my inert Gpad pulling up historical files. “If we are going to keep looting down here, a Gtower would be nice. At least on the RV roof. Hell, just get one so we can see what the Xgate spawns. Next time pigri come out, we abandon Xgate 232 and raid down here.”

Jevon laughed at the thought.

“My first thought is a tall tower on the RV will cause issues. I guess power lines will not be a problem since they are all dead. We would still have to cut a path the first time. Actually, Braxton may want the lines for the coating anyway. Use it for his spools of silver. Add it to the folder when we get home. Maybe we can check with Aspen to see what tower they bought and get something similar,” I said. I shifted to watch the drones following Nancy. “The divine-apes… is that right? Hmm…”

“The shit that bothers you, man, fucking hilarious. The family of giant scaled apes with lizard tongues. What about them?” Jevon said with an indifferent glare.

“Why do they want to talk?” I said, continuing to dance my fingers on the counter. “I was not expecting this reaction.”

“Maybe they want to fight, they waved you down for a challenge? That was what crossed my mind. Bruce Lee waving his hand like in the movies. I dare you!” Jevon said with a karate chop to the air. “Go down there and do your worst!”

“I sure as hell hope that isn’t it. Oh look, they are done tossing the bodies in. They are not posturing aggressively. Okay, here comes Nancy. Oh fuck.”

The momma divine-ape slammed a fist into the ground in front of Nancy, forcing her to slam on the brakes. She skidded the truck to a halt.

The radio crackled with additional static. “She said thank you. I may have pissed myself,” Nancy said.

“Aw, my truck,” Jevon muttered which caused me to chuckle.

The divine-ape removed its fist from the crushed roads. Debris rained down while the massive creature shifted to the piled loot of weapons and power generators. The two hands formed a cup to scoop up the expensive parts.

“She is saying as a reward for saving the day, we get half. More importantly, her kind will not attack any more humans on this planet unless provoked. Do you have a reply?” Nancy asked with a few words going broken from the distant radio.

“When is she going to leave? We want to grab items for our young to play.”

The momma divine-ape dropped the loot to give a roaring laugh. Her fist pounded the ground. Her children joined her happy display. At least, I think it was happiness. When she calmed she returned the dropped loot into the bed of Jevon’s truck. We would have to shift some of the weight. The springs were probably already busted as they were insanely compressed. Then again, it was built Tesla tough.

“Tell her thank you. See if there is anything she wants to trade for.”

The divine-ape went from jovial to smashing a section of road. A chunk was picked up and hurled deep into Denver. Damn! That was impressive. The drones tried to track the flying road but failed to catch the surely awesome impact.

Nancy’s voice cracked over the radio, “Gods do not trade with their inferiors. Hurry to retrieve your prized child’s possessions before we become their next target. Umm. Cap, I am being told to leave. I may bust this truck.”

“Nice and slow, Nancy. I think we cannot show weakness here, it might offend. Jevon, get the convoy loaded up. Dedric, get the drivers ready to drive us to the Bounce, Bounce, and More store.”

Both men barked orders on their separate channels. The convoy did three-point turns on the single road to face out. Troops loaded into trucks after tossing loot into truck beds and trailers.

“We can always come back,” I muttered.

“Nancy is slowly retreating with the loaded down truck. Um… Holy—”

“—shit!” I finished the statement.

The Xgate flared alive. Divine-apes arrived from the portal. These ones carried weapons twenty feet long. I gulped. The momma divine-ape swatted a few arrivals who went for Nancy. This was an army. An army of massive monsters. Nancy slowly retreated while we progressed. I was nervous now, very nervous. I would be buying mounts for our vehicles to go with massive anti-monster weapons. We were so underprepared for such a threat.

“So, Cap… this is crazy. I suggest we send most of the convoy home,” Jevon said with trepidation.

“Smart call. We are taking Nancy’s team, so down we go. Halt the convoy and get out. You’re going into RV1. Might as well loot that first community we killed the roaches in.”

Dedric slowed our roll. Jevon hopped out with the vehicle like a boss, running at pace with our forward motion. The convoy proceeded out of the community again when he entered RV1. I watched the display. The number of giant monsters continued to swell. A weapon set was handed off to the momma. I guessed she was a matriarch because she was larger than the rest. I also think her getting captured was a trap we accidentally sprung. A war roar split the air, her troops following her lead. The echoing bellows forced many to cover their ears. The sound faded quickly when the divine-apes dove into the rhinotaur portal.

Five remained back on Earth. At first, that might seem insignificant, then you merely glanced at them. My reaction was fright. The whole scene we witnessed was a ploy. I could only imagine something so devastating happening to us. One thing did come to mind: do not fight running battles near an Xgate. There were far too many variables. Hell, I started thinking of our fight yesterday with the squibbles and realized the super quiet gate or the lurrols could have arrived in force if we got into a heated battle. The what-ifs played out in my head.

A pat on my shoulder pulled me from my thoughts.

“Nancy is outside. Want me to drive the truck home? Someone needs to,” Willow asked.

“No, I will command her platoon and you will be my second,” I said, leaving the RV.

Teams were trying to rapidly shift some weight out of the truck. The problem was, the generators that were piled into the truck bed were insanely heavy. We snagged a few of the weapons off easily.

I walked to Nancy’s window. The thick glass rolled down when I neared.

“I dislike you right now,” Nancy said with a stern glare. “I get you cannot show favoritism. I get I am a squad leader. And I understand you needed someone you could trust for negotiations. I am not it next time.”

Her finger wagged at me while pointing at my chest.

“Go link up with Jevon. I am going to loot the bouncy supplies and the Gpad repair store next door. Then we will be hauling ass back to home. Maybe we can go west down the Rockies into Utah to loot. I don’t know. Some days I think I am blessed with luck. Others, cursed. We need items to trade for the next golden portals,” I said with a sigh. A generator was removed from the bed of the truck. “Okay, you should be able to get uphill and make it down our dirt road. Off with you, Queen Lavaun.”

“Nancy to you, my handsome lover,” Nancy said with a smile. The anger lines on her youthful face vanished with my playful banter.

The truck rolled up the hill. Getting the generator onto another truck was a few-minutes process. Those things were heavy. I wondered what Braxton would find when he studied them. When we were loaded up, our team of one RV and six trucks rolled down into Five Parks.

CHAPTER 13

My team heading into Denver was down to RV3 with five support trucks with trailers. The drone operators were just as anxious as Dedric was to be getting closer—not further away—from the divine-apes. A few XLroaches charged out at us while we hurried down the partially blocked road. This caused a trigger reaction. My troops opened fire. A single divine-ape bounded our direction with massive leaps. The trucks rocked with each earth-shattering thud created by the divine-ape’s movements.

“Halt your fire!” it bellowed. “I will eat them alive. Carry on with your mission to get your child toys. I happen to have a baby at home myself.”

A roar peeled the XLroaches out of hiding from numerous locations. A second, then a third divine-ape joined the first in their feast. A loud gurgling noise akin to laughter escaped the trio as they picked roaches off their bodies. I watched them gorge themselves as we were ignored. The roaches had a target in sight they were suiciding into.

“So yummy, get in my tummy!”

“I love it when the hive mind dies. Makes for the best buffet ever. The others are going to be so jealous.”

I chuckled because they validated my earlier assumption. I was surprised we could hear their conversations so clearly. I somehow expected massive creatures to talk at a human-level scream at most. I was so very wrong. Their voices boomed across the landscape. The translator somehow made the noise into audible English at volumes that gave me a headache.

“ETA one minute,” Dedric said, crunching a roach under the tire.

“Still defend yourselves,” I ordered over the radio.

When we screeched to a stop I burst out of the RV. The thud of an approaching divine-ape caused me to spread my arms while bending my knees for stability. The volatile ground stopped quaking when a shadow cast me into darkness.

“I will whisper to avoid damaging your weak bodies. I am Lilith. I had the opportunity to pick a name. It seemed fitting, based on how she is a mighty demon,” Lilith said while gazing beyond her forked tongue at me. I aimed my weapon at the door of the Gpad repair shop. The glass shattered with the discharge. “What is your name, human?”

“Eric. my friends call me Cap. I got the—”

“Captain Moostache. Hilarious. Oh, the matriarch will love to hear that a villain rescued her. You are so delightfully evil. When you shoved those people off your boat… A classic. Aw, the story is so short,” Lilith said with a tone of sadness.

I immediately realized a few things. Divine-apes were insanely smart. There were hours, if not days, of content on me, which she processed in a few seconds. Most importantly, there should be no source Lilith could have pulled that information from. Meaning, divine-apes had abilities I could not fathom. I also knew I was in a lot of trouble depending on how I engaged this conversation.

“I fear you. I also respect the matriarch’s word. May I go retrieve vital supplies while the others of my team secure the bouncy houses?”

Lilith sat on her bum. A few roaches charged her. She two-finger plucked the roaches to fling them into high tosses. They rotated airborne before being gobbled up quickly. When more arrived she shifted to snatching fists full of insects that were quickly shoved into her mouth. The audible crunch of chitin being smashed into bits caused me to shudder. Yellow pus squirted to the ground a few feet away. A nasty aroma wafted from the substance.

“Divine, I tell you. Divine. Where was I? Oh, right, what did you come here for?”

“At first, the bouncy houses. We are going to be having a lot of children soon. We value our sanity—”

“Ah, the other items are the bonus. I will allow it. And to think I will be given an extra share of the loot for having to stay behind. Sometimes mortals can be delightful to interact with,” Lilith said. She gave a loud, nasty huff. A glaze of boredom coated her dark pupils. She smashed a home with a fist to sort the interior contents. “Human, hurry along. I have exceptional hearing. If you wish to converse, do so while you work.”

“Thank you, Lilith. You seem highly intelligent with capabilities beyond what I can rationalize. I thank you for not squashing us,” I said humbly while racing into the store.

“Do not elevate her ego, Eric,” a second voice boomed from down the road. “Lilith is wise for her age but my daughter still has much to learn. Why did you not shoot the matriarch or her guardian?”

“Uh… In order to free her, I did shoot her. She knows this…” I winced.

“Brave, very brave of you. Answer the question. We divine-apes may be brutal at times, but we are civilized. We honor our word. Wise of you to try to avoid intentional slights like lies.”

This made me think they had a built-in lie detector. Maybe they could sense my heart rate. The what-if scenarios were abandoned so I could get to looting. I shot the locked door to the back room. Normally a great place to start.

“I freed the matriarch for two reasons. Boulder had a stronghold that was told to relocate due to its proximity to the Xgate,” I said. I kicked the door open with a grunt. The back room was loaded. I snatched full boxes with the latest Gpad images on them. I started walking the few boxes to the front when I continued, “The other reason was, she would tip the balance of the fight. If your two forces were fighting I might be able to sneak in and loot this store. Or I could pilfer the dead. I have nothing against servitude but seeing her in chains was a bit much. Plus, the rhinotaurs were dumb. It is not smart to mess with beings so impressive they are deemed… gods. Before you get a scent or heartbeat of trickery, I believe in no gods. I believe you are the utmost superior species in creation. If that constitutes godhood in your eyes, then I agree, you are gods. Some believe gods have innate abilities to randomly create. Hence why I’m a no-god kind of person. I believe you cannot create something without nothing.”

“I like him, Father. He is certainly not a typical food creature. Honest, brave, and stupid. Makes for perfect pets. Once he leaves, I would like to find some. Replace those lizardmen we have farming. Trade the lizardmen in for raw materials. I have been wanting to craft a submersible suit for ocean portals,” Lilith said. I finished moving the best loot out front. Other soldiers were shifting those boxes into the RV for me. I found a box in the back of the store I could use to scoop the goods up front into. I dumped the cheap tools in it for messing with tiny screws onto the ground, letting them scatter with a clatter. Every Gpad and electric device I could find was tossed into the box. “Do you have a scuba set, Eric?”

“I do not. I will admit, I do not fear much, but the deep waters frighten me. Enclosed vision makes me feel… off. My body is fluid on land, in water I am hampered,” I said, almost done with loading what I could. I shot the locked cabinets. Bingo. I was going to need a second box. “Willow, get in here to help collect these Gpads. We have enough for the crixxi.”

“There is a name I have not heard in a generation. The forest people?” the father said.

Shit, me and my big mouth. “Yes, tall trees, fur on the hips for the female, a mane over the neckline for the males. Tails and extra ears. Easy on the eyes. They were defeated by the lurrol—”

A fist slammed into the ground.

“Lava-spewing rock giants that roll on wheels?” the father asked.

The daughter replied, “He is not lying, Father. You know the translator is working. I have studied that species. What perturbs you?”

“They killed our former matriarch eons before you were born. You have to hit their brains, and we are susceptible to their spewing lava. Their eyes are so small it is hard to shoot them,” the father said.

“Are the bodies worth anything?” I asked.

“Impressive. You killed some, didn’t you?” Lilith asked. “Do not answer that. I found the footage. Okay, the high, protruding brow line makes it easier for shorter creatures to shoot them in the eyes. Interesting.”

“We only killed two and were forced to abandon the fight.”

“Fighting a losing battle is ridiculous. Plus, you are woefully underprepared for most threats that you should avoid fighting at your Xgates. You will not always encounter such esteemed visitors like us.”

The Gpads in the box lit up, blaring their red-alert lights without sound.

“Do not read aloud. When the portals flare pink, be ready. The enslavement masters are splintering. You will notice. Be ready. Do not openly speak of what you are reading. Transcribe only. Welcome to the Alliance.”
- Unknown

Great. Cryptic nonsense from god-like aliens. Exactly what I needed to add to the mix. I did adhere to what was written. Even Willow kept her mouth shut.

A bellow from the direction of the Xgate sounded.

“I may wish to talk again before the gates go golden. If you see our kind, do not fire, Eric of Stronghold Mansion. We will harvest the bodies of the lurrol. If you see us warring with the inferior gods, seek guidance. Eat your foes well, human,” Lilith said.

When the two of them thundered away, items shook off the walls. I gulped.

“How do they know so much? The Gnet is down.”

“Obviously, it’s not. Maybe there’s a tower box nearby without power. Or they stole one, or they absorbed the data when they hit Boulder Sanctuary. Never mind, my Gpad is on. There are no towers active, though. Maybe they operate with a six, seventh, and eighth sense,” I said with a deflated sigh. I hefted my full box and hauled it into the RV. I went to the bedroom and emptied the contents beside the bed. Torrez was waiting for me outside the RV. “We loaded up?”

“Yes, but there is a washer-dryer store right there. I was—”

“Do it. Hurry,” I said, and ran to the open front door. “Back the convoy up to the laundromat.”

I checked out the screen. Rhinotaur bodies were being piled outside the portal in a strung-out trail. As the portal drifted, the bodies piled in a random pattern. Lilith and the others were scooping them up to chuck them into their portal. That explained the sudden end of our conversation. My heart ached. If they chose to kill us, we were doomed. I had to assume we did not taste good. If we did, there was nothing we had that could stop them.

I leaped out of the moving RV. “This is done,” Willow said, gesturing to the Gpad store.

“Cap, I need your help,” Torrez said from the end of the shopping plaza. I ran with long strides until I performed a sliding skid. “They are bolted down and then they cement the bolts. I could—”

“I got it,” I said, hurrying to the first machine. I punched the cement free. I noticed a soldier trying to wrap a machine. “Do not drag it out until I bust the bolts.”

I slid two fingers under the machine until they wrapped the thin bolt. A single tug busted the zinc-cover carbon-steel bolt. My virum spilled out. I guessed there would be new infections in the area. I ignored the black goop eating the bits of bolt and rotated to the next three.

When I was done, Torrez rocked the machine. Victory was ours when he walked the industrial-sized dryer for an open trailer. I had not even thought of the endless task of laundry. Chucking my dirty clothes into a fire pit was a bit reckless. I spent the next fifteen minutes destroying bolts. The moment I finished, I ran back to RV3 to check the screen.

The radio smacked with static. “—luxe Duke, over.”

“Go for Cap.”

“—timate your re— to —ase.”

I decided to talk long and drawn out. “We found vital supplies. Leaving in three minutes.”

By the time I finished saying that we were loaded up, I had gone to the back of the RV roof to look at the Xgate. The massive divine-apes were hard at work.

“We are going home, Lilith, Father, and other gods. Be well.”

I was shocked when they gave nods in return. Harvard was probably going to jizz in his pants over these creatures. I bet they were ranked a twenty out of ten on the alien species scale.

“Rolling out,” Dedric said over the mic.

I went to the front of the RV for the roof hatch. I wanted to tuck the bottom half of my body into the loft.

“What are you doing up there?” Willow asked.

“I am keeping my body inside the RV in case I need to fire Big Sploosha!” I said with a grin.

“Is that what you named your gun!?”

“You know it,” I said with a cackle.

“They keep tossing bodies out of that portal. There must have been a huge nest of rhinotaurs being farmed,” Willow said sadly.

“I don’t need to run faster than the bear—”

“—only faster than you,” Willow said, completing my statement.

We let the trip transition in silence. From my perch I watched the convoy slither through abandoned cars. The streets of the Denver suburb were silent, the bombardment of advertising absent. I super didn’t miss that nonsense. My observations found that the roads were smeared in blood. A few skeletal remains dotted alleys or storefronts. When we passed by a high-rise apartment, the splattered remains of the suicides were evident. Well… the stains were. The roaches ate the bodies, minus the bones. Death. Denver was death. Everywhere I looked, humanity lost.

I thought the city void of life until a large mutt with a rabid appearance snarled at us from an alleyway opening. It was eating the remains of the rhinotaur that was flung into the city. Violence sparkled from its eyes that warned me. The growl it gave was one of death before surrender.

“Halt the convoy,” I commanded.

The tires screeched. I sighted the dog before willing the weapon to fire. The orb zoomed into the midsection of the dog; the animal kept eating, desperate for its food. A moment later it toppled in death.

“Dismount. Loot the bodies,” I ordered into the radio.

The generator was smashed into pieces, which made it easier to carry. The weapon was intact, forcing four soldiers to carry it. I wondered how heavy the actual-sized weapons were that we needed to fight monsters like Lilith.

With the advanced weapon—with parts to a green power source—looted, we retrieved the best parts. An auto-knife was brought out, its serrated blades humming when the soldier tested its battery power.

“Leave the body for the scavengers. I only shot the feral dog because it would have attacked,” I said. Then I thought about it. “Grab the dog’s body. The ramoths need to eat too. Gargoyle will only last so long.”

A soldier grunted at the grisly task, but carried out my orders. The dead dog was tossed on top of a thick rubber bouncy house. I noticed we got the quality ones and that there were more than a few. I hope there were the patches that came with them for when you got a leak. I chuckled at wondering about holes in kid toys over slaying rabid dogs. This was the new world of worlds. There was little more I could do besides what was best for the community.

We left Denver. The city outskirts were more of the same. Metal signs ripped from the ground, cars stripped of doors, and skeletons bleaching in the sun. I remember watching a documentary on what Earth would be like if humanity disappeared. Already, signs of those predictions were evident. Nature was starting to reclaim what was once lost. Grass growing in the middle of the cracked street was evidence. Early, and small, but a sign of things to come for this once-great city.

When we left, I was sad. For the defeated residents and our loot left behind. We hit a decent haul, though. Nothing amazing, but certainly decent. I guess I should not complain to myself until the golden gate or Harvard told me what these generators and weapons from the rhinotaurs were worth.

I tucked myself into the loft with the danger behind us.

“Head up top, Willow,” I ordered. I shoved my face over Dedric’s shoulder. Twenty-two miles per hour. “Why are we going so slowly?”

“The gradient of the hills is steep. We can speed up in a bit. You should be able to reach the XO on the radio now,” Dedric mentioned.

That was his way of saying I got this.

I slipped into the booth. The drones were focusing on my small convoy now. Only one watched the process of bodies arriving on Earth only to be thrown into a portal moments later. A solitary drone gave me a view of Jevon and his team. They were stacked on the side of a road waiting to link to our convoy.

I guess they were done looting. Not much to say, really, so I watched the screens while we proceeded west into the mountains. Lilith gave a final look at the drone watching her. She gave a nod before the connection closed. I heard a drone operator cursing.

“Do not send another drone to that Xgate. Expand our convoy pattern, or whatever. Do not bother the mega-monster,” I ordered in a loud tone.

“Yes, your grace,” Peterson said with a snicker.

The moxie was always a sign the tension was starting to fade. I had been on edge ever since we left Stronghold Mansion. Twenty minutes up the hill and we condensed into a solid unit again. During the downtime, I compiled all the information I could. I wanted a report ready to fire off the moment we were back in Gtower range. Jevon jumped into RV3 and I faded back to the drone operators.

“Peterson,” I said, waiting for her goggles to come off. I leaned against the doorway, returning her smile when she locked eyes with me. “Those divine-apes, they cut the feed of these drones. How many of the blimps do we have on standby?”

Peterson was more confident than ever. The little meek black woman was beaming a radiant smile. “Well, we bought backups for the backups of these little drones. Honestly, the only reason we fly them without an autopilot is that we zoom in while on a mission. I am operating a dozen camera feeds for the one you are seeing.”

I twisted my jaw while I thought about how to proceed.

“They can die. They can be defeated. If they come to our home, I want to know. How many can you have airborne around the base at one time around the clock?” I asked.

“Drones are not mindless robots that last forever. They will fall out of the sky. A battery shorts, a connector breaks, a bird strikes. The list goes on, especially if you want around-the-clock coverage.”

I let her huff out a sigh.

“I want a blanket of drones. If one goes out, we chalk it up to some random occurrence. If a dozen wink out to the north, for instance, we know a divine-ape is coming from the north. Or some other creature capable of severing the connection,” I said, sticking my hands in my pockets. “Peterson, you six are our most valuable assets. I say that for a few reasons. Find me drones with more protections. And Peterson—” I closed the door while lowering my voice. “Buy me drone operators. I know there are some on the servant market.”

She gulped, then nodded. “I can maybe grow the team, but if you want eyes in the sky around the clock with multiple missions going, then I may need outside help. You do realize what you’re asking of me?”

“Think of it this way, Peterson, if we get the right operators with the right drones, they can join the community. I imagine good aliens captured by bad people in need of a new home. I find something noble in providing the less fortunate with a good environment. I don’t know a better person to rescue others and set them free,” I said, and meant it.

A few other drone operators patted her back. She grew confident from their encouragement.

“The blimps are the most ideal. Honestly, if we expand the perimeter, we don’t need to watch the inside so much. Unless you need to spy on us,” Peterson said with hesitation. She frowned. “I am thinking of a plan. Actually, you gave me a lot to organize. Expect a more solid network of drones after we get home.”

“Thanks, Peterson. Thank you, drone team, for all the hard work.”

“The bonus?” Bonnie said, and I chuckled.

The virum sure had a way of converting people from timid to assertive. I knew this issue would come back up.

“We have a shopping list now, with valuations and everything. I want to buy a few machines, get some heavy weapons, and increase our defenses. With that said, apply for what you need to the Gnet lists,” I said with a smirk. Bonnie pouted before removing her goggles. “If you think I am living with my head in the sand about people deserving pay, you are wrong. Think about if you want unicorn pool floaties over an energy beam that can cut through the hide of a monster. Soon. Wish it was sooner. For the community.”

“For the community,” they echoed back.

We entered Gtower range. My Gpad flared alive. I raised my wrist hesitantly. Phew, it was clear of alerts. A general message was waiting from Perci.

“Call me. Love you.” - Your forever girl

“Home soon, we did great. No one died and we got some loot. Could have been worse. Sending details now. Will call when you are caught up.” - Hunky Hubby

I smirked at her silly name changing. I sent the report to the command channel and Aspen. I contemplated giving them less information but this had everything, including the cryptic message about not speaking out loud regarding the alliance. Whatever that was. I was honest when I told Perci I felt we did great. Any mission everyone came home from was fantastic in my book. I knew some would pout because we didn’t get epic loot. There was a whole city to still sort through. We could go back next Xgate rotation.

I flicked the irritating thought away and returned to my happy place. I dug into the task file to see what needed attention. I found a geology folder.

I opened this up because I had not realized Perci had found a rock guy or girl. Of course, it was a crixxi. Excellent. Razzar was able to compile the list of minerals in our valley fairly quickly. Based on the report, he was done in minutes. Oh, Perci left a note.

“Gave him the data from the survey teams. Completed in an hour. Here are his recommendations. Hired on the spot.” - Persephone

Gold, silver, tungsten, zinc, lead, granite, and something I did not understand. That was all on scan one. Okay. Fair point. Nothing super desirable, but it would be in our backyard. I especially liked the idea of six-hundred-foot walls with earth in between them. Something so tall even the tallest alien assholes couldn’t jump it. That castle in the eastern portal was a few hundred feet tall. The task would be massive, but worth the effort. It was not like the population had after-school soccer or a movie to watch on Gflix.

The other scan results mentioned some gems, but more of the same. Hmm. I opened up a second report he sent. Damn. I let out a whistle. My Gpad rang before I could process this insane breakdown of how Razzar wanted to accomplish our mining.

“Hey, my love,” I said to Perci.

“You spoil me. Please don’t stop.” Perci had her chin in her palms with her elbows on the table. She must have put the camera ball in front of her. “I was serious.”

“Oh, great job hiring Razzar,” I replied with a dashing smile. She frowned. Aw. “Your hair is looking amazing. I missed you.”

“Better. I tease. I just missed you too. I do not like being the stay-at-home wife, but I digress. This is where I am best suited. For example, Razzar. Did you review his findings?”

“Yeah, nothing fantastic jumped off the charts. All this is—”

“The zinc is not. Zinc is actually expensive. We need to make a decision. Machines or servant labor,” Perci said with a wince. “God, that sounds awful.”

Dedric shot a glance over his shoulder at me with a hint of scorn.

“Is that what this file is? I just opened it and was trying to break down all the details. Oh.”

“‘Oh’ is right. We save on the first year if we go with servants. After that, the machines pay for themselves.”

I set my camera to fly a few feet away. “Perci, I am all for helping females in servitude, who are prisoner, and slave contracts that become free. I am also one hundred percent in favor of taking a woman who would be raped, beaten, and forced to do horrific things and give her a great job like a daycare helper or a drone operator. Hell, there are a thousand jobs that the community can stomach besides hard labor in the mines. We are not running a slave camp. Freedom camp, sure. The whole thing can be debated endlessly, and I get squeamish inside thinking about it.”

“Eric, you are not making sense. Let me start by saying I agree. We should buy the machines. We will last more than a year. What difference does the job make if they are treated well? Not like a dwarf-type creature—I am sure there is one—will be better treated anywhere else than by us. If we go onto the jungle planet and raid crixxi for their vine fruit, why would we not increase our population?” Perci said with a shrug. She had a point. My morality compass was spinning like crazy. “I am sure Daphne would love to increase our tribe’s strength. Might even bag her a male so she stops craving your cock. My point is to think about the tavers. They are reliant on us. They are not officially in a contract but might as well be. We provide a stable home, they work. There are no issues. This is not Earth 2032. This is Cyber Vikingism. You’re a Cyber Viking. Put on your big boy pants and grow a pair. If people leave, fuck them. They can go cry in the snowflake convention in… Oh, that’s right. The liberal states and countries are all gone.”

“Damn, Perci, I feel emasculated. I have not been punishing you enough in bed. I will fix that. As for the community, why do you think I did the whole king, duke, earl thing?”

“Because we are Vikings now.”

“Yup,” I said, and held a hand out stopping her. “I get it. If we can improve our odds of survival, we should embrace the survival contracts. To avoid using the system will give our enemies a strength and us a weakness.”

“Thank you; that was all I was trying to say. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like what the aliens have converted our society into. That is the aliens’ fault. We are merely adapting.”

I pulled up the video of the Crixonia gate. It was not on fire. Hmm…

“Okay, I will be home in about forty-five minutes. We are going to unload this stuff. The divine-apes hate the lurrol. I wonder if the Xgate meandering has finally outpaced their destruction.”

“You took all the drone operators besides Douglas. He does a loop of the area around the Xgate. Three rotations now, it has been a green forest. You going to take the fight to the lurrol?”

I snickered. “No, I want the crixxi to stay. Especially if they are good at watching kids, mining, building, and helpful with Harvard. Shit. I may force Daphne to toss her stones out and put a litter in her.”

Perci gulped with widening eyes. “Cuck me.”

“I will fuck you babe, tonight.”

“No, you dense tool,” Perci said while shifting from her seat to walk away from wherever she was. Her camera returned to her arm. I watched her tits bounce as she walked. “I need new bras but have been too busy. This virum has done wonders for my figure. When I spank my ass in the mirror, it ripples. And my hips have been popping when I get up. I think it is part of adjusting. I was a bit of a boxy body type before.”

“Perfect,” I replied. “I was thinking to go mineral mining, fruit picking, and maybe bag a scout or two of crixxi from another tribe.”

“Yes, yes. Smart. I approve. Eric,” Perci said, doing a spin. “I want you to cuck me. As in, slap a collar on my neck that chokes me. Then fuck different women and force me to watch without pleasure. Always been a fantasy, but we have been so inclusive and attentive to each other's needs. Well… this is a desire of mine.”

“Ah, talk to the others.”

She stomped her feet.

“I was dripping earlier. You’re losing me, hubby. Toss a babe over your shoulder and be the Viking king.”

“Oh… got it. Still no. I am the alpha. I am the master. You will take orders from me and—”

“Okay, that will do it. Taking a shower before you swap to something sweet and mushy again. Thinking of you, the heiress of darkness out,” Perci said and closed the connection.

“What the fuck just happened?” I muttered to myself.

Dedric cleared his throat.

“Come have a seat, my friend. You can put the drone feeds on the dash,” Dedric said, and I did not disagree. Dedric was always a rock of reason. “This stays between us. Stacy likes for me to call her a heathen. She thrives on it. The church-going, choir-singing, never-cursing woman of the cloth asks for the oddest thing imaginable. I think… I know… we all release a little of our inner demons when we fornicate.”

“Sure, but that conversation was about more than sex.”

“Son, I am black. A forty-seven-year-old man from Chicago. I grew up in the ghetto. I escaped by joining the service. My faith in the Lord never wavered. Ever. I missed the salvation. Some people cried after the aliens came because they were not saved. I know I did. I thought a certain God would come down and whisk me away to salvation,” Dedric said while waving a finger in anger as he drove. The man scoffed, then huffed in agitation. “Then I think about it. I have my family. Hell, I saved so many because they had faith in me. Because I had faith in you. You would burn inside a church, Eric Yang. Except you won’t. Religion has a whole new meaning. Life has a whole new meaning, and Perci is correct: we are in an age where raiding means life or death for many species. However, I am not saying embrace Vikingism with your entire being. If Perci is the heiress of darkness on your left shoulder, let me be the angel of righteousness on your right shoulder.”

I watched the trees zoom by. I recognized the random pattern nature created. Sure enough, the front of the convoy turned right.

“I appreciate it,” I said earnestly.

“Well, you need balance. Look, some common sense prevails here. Saving people already enslaved by the system is something even a man of God can get behind. Going into Crixonia to kill men so you can steal women and children to toil in the mines is something else. Granted, if you are mining, you get attacked, and you conquer a tribe…”

“I think I get it. We can still have a shred of humanity about the situation. You really would not care if a frog lady did your laundry?” I was a bit surprised.

“Depends. Is there family waiting for her or do we have her family with us?” Dedric said, leading into the next morality fork in the road. “If she has a family waiting for her I would feel bad. How can we verify that? Our resources are not infinite. If we free people, great—as long as the community does not struggle.”

“I hear you. I have a feeling those team leaders picking up help will be looking for what you’re describing. Cases where we will not feel horrible. Dedric, I got to admit something, though. The way it was explained to me, is if this stronghold gets raided… a nightmare scenario where Mansion falls”—I said this and Dedric performed the sign of the cross—“and we do our time in some mines somewhere… When they release our contract, we’ll come back to Xgate 232 and a broken home. I don’t know about you, but that brings a whole other problem.”

“You mean, if you let someone go, are you just condemning them to a slow death because they are on their own?”

“None of our lieutenants from Saudi Arabia made it here. If they are captured, converted, and then returned… They put that same faith we used in each other and speed for here… They have hope… And, and we may still be here. But we might not be. Think about a freed Denver resident. Where does a single man go in Denver with roaming aliens, rabid dogs, and buildings ready to crumble everywhere?” I said with a determined grunt. “I agree stripping a crixxi village to gain servants is bad. And I will probably not do it. However, if we did and then released them onto a lurrol-infested planet fifteen years later…”

“I guess we need to ask your Goldie. Maybe there is a probability of survival that the being that talks in our head can give us. That is the least we can do, is verify. Also, I know you,” Dedric said, giving me a stare. “You are going to go to Crixonia. You will collect fruit, you will mine the river, kill the lurrol, and hope to fight some crixxi to capture. It is who you are. You were fantastic at keeping us alive because pillaging is in your nature. You want to experience the thrill of victory with a system you have not engaged with yet.”

“Sounds like a fun time. I can hardly wait. But don’t speed up, this road is shit right now.”

Dedric keyed up the mic for the convoy and said, “Cap wants to go raiding, pick up the pace. Quick offload, then back out to Xgate 232!”

CHAPTER 14

Daphne sat in the passenger bucket seat watching a movie about mobsters. The Gtower stored billions of hours of movies and she picked the ones with violence, singing, and booze.

“Daphne, turn it down or get a headset. Oh, thanks, Torrez,” I said while Torrez reached into an overhead bin. A headset was handed down to the woman and I chuckled, realizing we did not have a headset built for a crixxi. “Uh, so Daphne, you have two sets of ears. How does that work?”

“I am clearly busy. Delightfully, the outfits from this world make my inner crixxi purr. Too bad the chances of us getting a portal to this world are slim. These”—Daphne pointed to her top owl-like ears—“pick up distant noises. The ears I am covering to not bother you are for close hearing.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “And, Daphne, that is in this world. We humans change quickly.”

“I would have answered for you,” Elifer said from beside Mitchell.

I decided to take the recon team with me. We were bringing motorbikes only with RV3 and Slister’s quick-reaction force. The booth was a mix of humans and crixxi. Torrez, Willow, Mitchell, and me. Elifer, Razzar, Destiny, and Daphne were our crixxi. Mitchell cleared his throat for attention.

“Daphne, we’re five minutes out. Gather around,” Mitchell said. Daphne sauntered over to sit in my lap. I gave an oof that caused Willow to giggle. Since we had limited space, I chose not to fight her at the moment. “The plan is simple: we bike into Crixonia. Peterson. Where is Peterson?”

The sound of a toilet flushing was heard through the thin walls. Peterson exited the tiny bathroom.

“I pee before missions. I fucking hate having to pee when I can’t,” Peterson said, joining us.

“Peterson will stay with the gate lockdown team. Slister has Javier holding the button on Crixonia. Mills will be pushing the button on our side. We will find your drones helpful but our locals will guide us. We are playing this mission as it goes, so be ready to adapt. The primary goal is to locate the lurrol and see what they are up to. If we encounter raging fires, we back off. The Xgate has been clear of lurrol for over an hour now, which means they either went deeper into the forest or home,” Mitchell said, pointing at the portal. The vibrant, tall jungle showed no flames or rolling rock giants. “If we find the lurrol, quick assessment. Then we adjust. Our dirt bikes cannot carry much, but if we find a nice haul of fruit or minerals we can make a couple of quick trips. We brought the ATV with the trailer but it will not be on our initial entrance. No sense in having one member slower than the rest.”

Elifer swished her tail up for attention. “What are our plans if we encounter other crixxi? The tribes around us forced us into isolation,” Elifer said. She seethed with anger. “I am still upset our homes were destroyed. By the lurrol, but before that, by the Hevina tribe.”

My hand reached around Daphne to point at Elifer. “We are not here to war with another tribe. We need information and minerals. Minerals are small, which means easy to carry. Razzar assured me this river is not sifted through often because of its proximity to the Xgate.”

“In my defense, going to the river does not mean immediate loot. These detectors will help, then we use the sifting pans,” Razzar said with a gruff voice while holding up one of the detectors we bought from the grand market. The device was the size of an old cellphone. “I agree with the new chief. Our old grudges are not as relevant as our success going forward. We are not fielding an army. We are but eight going into the jungle. While we may have upgraded gear, skilled warriors, and powerful weapons, I agree that we should proceed with caution.”

Huh, I had not expected the burly male crixxi to be the rational one. There was an inner itching in my soul for some sweet revenge, though. Going to another planet would provide all sorts of what-if and maybe scenarios. There was little reason to ponder on them all.

“Nearing the Xgate,” Dedric said loudly over his shoulder.

I activated my power plant. My weapons hummed to life. A series of flaring teal lights triggered as the team readied. Every person was wearing a power plant shield for this mission. The RV was too crowded for me to peer at Xgate 232 in person so I watched it from the view screen.

“Full rotational scan complete. Nothing but jungle, Mission Panther a go,” Slister said over the radio.

A dirt bike skidded to a halt outside the western jungle portal. A man—must be Mills—ran until he shimmered into the portal. I watched Mills try to land flat-footed. He stumbled with a quick recovery. A few lunges allowed him to smash the gate button. Slister hit our side and Xgate 232 disabled the other portals before sliding to the ground.

My timer illuminated with fifty minutes ticking down. RV3 sped to the gate. Slister had a team already offloading dirt bikes for us from a trailer, and the moment the wheels stopped turning, we were out the back and front RV doors. I ran for a dirt bike. I caught Peterson on foot running for the gate with a drone case. Slister held a bike for me, already activated. I hopped on, straddled the frame, and was gone. The acceleration was minimal.

I shimmered through the gate. It was such an odd feeling. Not only seeing nothing but teal, but to go from the wide open rolling fields of the Rockies to the dense, lush jungle was boggling. The trees on Crixonia were hundreds of feet tall, and within a mere second I felt tiny and enclosed, so very trapped by the dense vegetation.

I watched the drone Peterson released climbing rapidly to break the canopy. She was going to find the fires for us from the air.

I waited patiently for the others to converge on me. Since I had double power plants, I was on point for this mission. Mitchell was on shot-calling in the middle. I think Willow was starting to understand that flexibility was important in combat. Our command structure was unique, our situation dictated we had to be flexible, and I trusted Mitchell.

“Got the fires,” Peterson said. “Head north until you see a river. Follow the west bank. I will keep in touch. Trying to find the lurrol; they have cleansed a lot of jungle. The smoke is making it hard to see near the actual fires.”

I sped forward, instantly getting hung on a vine. Stupid jungle. I leveled Big Sploosha and belched a path clearing round forward. Better. I trailed the wake of the orb as vines, shrubs, and small bushes were incinerated.

“That is not our normal way of getting through the forest floor. We normally use the trees for a reason,” Destiny said into my earpiece.

“Cut the side chatter,” Mitchell said in a scolding tone.

The path may have been clear but the terrain was certainly not smooth. I glanced at the speedometer. Seventeen. No shit. The roots, shrub nubs, and rocks were making it nearly impossible to go any faster. I did my best firing paths of incinerated destruction every time my recharge was ready. The nitrogen was rich here. I was getting bursts of jungle-melting orbs.

The sound of the roaring river arrived before the sight did. The waters were black with ash, dead, charred logs clogging sections of the rocky rapids. I saw the water level was low, causing extra turbulence. I leaned left to execute a turn before reaching the riverbank.

“I found the lurrol. They are fighting a whole lot of crixxi. The scale of the battle is epic. Thousands of crixxi are trying to stem the tide of nearly a thousand rolling giants,” Peterson said into my ear.

“Assessment?”

“Oh, the lurrol are easily winning, to the point they are toying with the crixxi. I see from a higher altitude where they stopped clearing the forest. There is a fresh trail to the combat zone. It’s as if the crixxi were luring them into a fighting zone,” Peterson said with a questioning tone. “Found it, I figured they were up to something. There is a dam that is about to be broken. I guess a lot of water would hurt the lurrol.”

“Indeed it would. Their skin becomes slick from the touch of it and their lava hardens quicker, reducing its ability to consume,” a voice said that was not part of our team. I shuddered. We were on an encrypted shortwave radio frequency.

“Hello, Lilith. Are my troops outside the Xgate okay?”

“I am outside of Denver, but yes, their Gpad vitals are perfect. No, you cannot achieve what I can. So don’t bother asking me to explain it. We are on our way. The rhinotaur mission is over. Release the gate and have your humans follow it for now. We will let you know when to lock it back down.”

“Uh, Cap? Was that Lilith, the sixty-foot amazing creature, on our secure comms? I am asking for a friend,” Mitchell said. He obviously had read the report I sent out about my interactions with the divine-ape.

“Cap, divert left a little. You notice how that river is low on water even with the constant jams from the fire debris? Yeah, the crixxi are going to unleash a hell of a lot of built-up lake water soon,” Peterson said in a warning tone.

I adjusted while still driving as fast as I could. I needed to decide what we were going to do. Did we help save the crixxi and kill some lurrol?

“Lilith, do you want our help? I do not want to anger divine creatures. I came to—”

“You will shoot the brains of the ones peeling off our fight. They will kill your portal team holding the buttons. Hence why I told them…” She paused in frustration. “Yes, fight the lurrol.”

I sensed she was aggravated, but I was not certain it was because of us. I continued to drive north slowly while clearing a path often. The edge of the scorched jungle opened up visibility dramatically. I diverted for the ash-covered remains of the forest floor. The trail I created was filled with dips, curves, and a few straightaways. I saw sections of the blacked dirt exposed. Pockets of steamy lava bubbled from within. I sure hoped I didn’t drive into one of those. The trip across the crispy remains was harrowingly intense. I was extremely focused on our path to ensure we were efficient while still remaining safe.

“Cap, this is Javier. I went back and warned Slister. She warned Aspen to avoid angering Lilith and her friends. Aspen is requesting to provide backup,” Javier said in a huff. You could tell he was running. “They are not far from the Xgate.”

“Tell them to guard the gate. The ATV will not fit through the corridors I have created, so no use in reinforcing us on this world. And Javier? Get Slister to use a different runner. You guard Peterson with your life. You understand me?”

“Yes, sir. Javier out.”

The trip northwest was much quicker now. At times I managed forty miles per hour. The barren charred landscape was depressing to see. The lurrol were efficient, if nothing else. Ten minutes of hard riding resulted in us finding an injured lurrol missing an arm. The creature was rolling our direction while… crying. I think it was crying, because orange liquid streamed from its eyes.

I slammed the brakes causing the bike to enter a skid. My left hand braced my sniper rifle while my right shoulder leveled it. The delirious lurrol failed to notice us in its depressed state of mind. I waited for the dot to find the eye. When it flared red I discharged the largest round I could. A softball-sized orb of nitrogen energy belted forward in a rush. My aim was perfect.

The round slammed into the orange eye with enough force to snap the head back. The lurrol was lifted off its circular ball and sent flying to crash onto its back. I thought he was dead until the lurrol flailed in anguish. Shit, I loved this weapon, but that was a kill shot with even a .308.

“Use the large-caliber projectile weapons. They will kill them,” Lilith said.

I watched the lurrol cry out while it pounded its single fist on the ground in tormented anger. “My eye, my eye,” the lurrol cried out over and over.

“Okay, approach it slowly. Mitchell, kill it when able,” I said.

My dirt bike flung clots of charred debris when I sped for the downed lurrol. My team followed me until we were less than a hundred paces away.

“I surrender! My mother ripped my arm off for being weak. Now you’ve destroyed my eye. I surrender,” the lurrol cried out.

“Don’t you dare, it's a trick. He will burn you alive if you get close enough. Leave him alive. I will rip him limb from limb myself,” Lilith said with an eagerness.

“Backup is here,” Peterson said.

I glanced back the way we came. Trees were flung hundreds of feet into the air in the distance.

“Get around this thing, we need to set up a defense line,” I said, shifting my torso to gaze north.

Crack!

The sound of the coming army was deafening. It was overridden when a fifty-caliber round split the air as it erupted from a barrel. The lurrol was dead, the stiff body stuck in a morbid, final pose. At this range, the back of his skull exploded in a fan of orange blood.

“Sorry, Lilith, he was raising his hand at us,” Mitchell said hesitantly.

I knew we were running out of time before the lurrol would turn to face the true threat. Toying with the crixxi would fade rapidly now that the divine-apes were here.

“We’ll use his body for cover. We go east into the trees if we have to,” I said, spinning my bike to point for the dead body. My thumb smashed the go button.

“Humans, lock the gate down. Additional lurrol are wanting to come through,” Lilith said.

“Got it,” Peterson said. “Xgate secured, forty-two minutes on my timer since we let it go.”

I parked my dirt bike facing east, kicked the stand down, and left the bike. I reached into a cargo pocket for a shredded shirt. A quick toss of the shirt into the orange blood leaking out did not combust the material.

“I think the blood is not lava, just orange blood. If that’s the case, we get right up on the body!” I yelled as loud as I could.

The crashing of the divine-ape army storming our way was deafening. I glanced over my shoulder. A sixty-foot-tall creature leaped the last of the trees to land into the open. A spray of charred landscape was sent flying from the impact. The divine-ape on point diverted away from where the lurrol were toward the river upstream. Our bodies bounced with the ground from each impact of its feet. A high leap sent the creature up and over into the forest. It faded from sight as quickly as it had arrived.

“The water will descend over this area. Get on your bikes. Okin is breaking the dam now. The crixxi are too slow.” - Lilith

I sighed. We had just set up a defensive position. I ran for the electric dirt bike and hopped on. I guessed we would ride the wave and hold on for dear life.

The run was horrid from the jarring of the ground. The lurrol were not idiots. They had spun to greet the new threat. A hundred divine-apes leaped into the clearing in ones and twos. They formed battle lines when they arrived. I saw the weapon-carrying troops form two rows. The first lying down, the second standing. There was no roar or call for opening fire. Yellow energy cracked out of long rifles the size of telephone poles the moment they were able to fire.

I indented the accelerator to full speed for the eastern tree line. We were caught between two arriving forces. The battle of the giants started with lurrols exploding whenever a round hit an eye socket or exposed neckline. The majority of the yellow beams deflected harmlessly. Well, that is not good.

I focused on driving until we arrived at the tree line. We set up on the south side of the massive trees while peeking north. I did not need to give the order. Our rounds joined those of the divine-apes. I nailed a neck shot causing an explosion of orange. Ah, so my rounds would do impact damage like a hammer, but not piercing. My next rounds were all aimed at the neck.

The lurrol were hesitant to charge, but their hundreds of rolling troops were taking casualties. The leader was cut off. Another example of why you locked the Xgate. You never knew what would come behind you.

As one, the divine-apes bellowed out roars in a challenge of war. I felt my eardrums pop, then blood trickle down my lobes. I covered my ears. My Gpad was blaring a red alert.

“Hold on to your dirt bikes.” - Lilith

I waved to my troops while pointing to my wrist. A shimmering spray of water gave me the tiniest of warnings. I latched onto my bike tightly. Those devilish divine-apes knew the water was coming. That was why they roared. The enemy commander was caught completely off guard. A massive flood of water smacked into the wheeled bottoms of the lurrol. I saw arms rotate in panic. My gaze was torn away when the water arrived.

At first, the water was misting sprays shooting between forest openings. Then the angry advancing tide arrived. Bushes, animals, leaves, and more floated in a surge of water. I watched the base of the tires soak before I was slammed south in an immense, consuming wave that engulfed me. I grunted in pain as I was swept into the torrent of water. My attempts to vacate the water in my mouth were futile. I wish I could have held that grunt in. I opened my eyes, unable to see more than six inches in front of me. Bubbles escaped my mouth that I tried to hold in. My right shoulder flared in pain when I smacked into something solid and unyielding.

When the bike was held in place against the crushing pressure of the water I realized I had smacked into a tree. I felt Big Sploosha’s sling break, tearing the gun from my body. I cried out as my favorite weapon vanished into the murky waters. The pressure of the water pinning me to the tree abated, allowing me to ease toward the forest floor. My front tire jammed in a root system. I was threatened to be sent further south until finally the wave of water ended. I was a few feet off the ground and gasping for breath. A few seconds longer and I felt I would have drowned.

I hopped off the bike and unstuck the front tire. The bike crashed with a thud.

“Fuck yeah!” I shouted when I realized the water seals held. I returned to the bike, propped it up, and jumped on.

“This is Cap, report,” I said.

“This is Mitchell. The majority of us were scooped up by a divine-ape. Only you and Destiny were missing. I am showing her still going south. Firing!”

The crack of a fifty-caliber sniper rifle brought me back to the situation. We would rescue Destiny later if we could. There was a battle for now. I sped west for the clearing. I found my team just inside the opening. The rapid fire of our weapons smashed into the lurrol’s left flank.

The water slimed the lurrol—they were struggling to stay up on their balls. I slid the bike to a stop. I hopped off and took aim at our foes. Every shot Mitchell, Torrez, Willow, and I took were eye shots. Elifer, Daphne, and Razzar were trying. Shooting a new weapon at that distance was difficult. Even with the occasional misses, the lurrol’s left flank was dropping rapidly from our assault. The enemy commander had enough. It ordered their troops forward in a charge.

The yellow blasts of energy never slowed. The exploding foes were creating chaos on top of slimy chaos. I fired without the worry about when my battery would deplete. The flank we targeted was thinning quickly. Mitchell and Willow were not missing while Torrez shifted for the enemy leader. I noticed they started walking in their targets from the far right to the left. This funneled the enemy toward the divine-ape. A guard died for his boss when Torrez fired for a kill.

For a brief moment, there was silence over the battlefield. My eyes caught a flare of red on my Gpad.

“Get to Earth. Now!” - Lilith

I let my rifle drop to hang by its sling, picked up the bike, and spun a turn for the south. My troops followed my lead. My side-eye caught the battle turning into a melee. I was deafened again by the roar of the sides colliding. Air was clapped in sonic booms as the giants went to war. I followed the trail I had carved earlier. With the accelerator jammed down, I raced the bike forward.

The virum healed my ears. I picked out a faint voice saying, “Trapped. Please, help.”

“That’s Destiny! You have command, Cap,” Mitchell said, diverting his bike into the underbrush in a reckless dash for Destiny. Elifer went to join him.

“No, Elifer, stick to us,” I commanded. She went to argue but I cut off her complaint. “I am in command. We are not leaving more people behind.”

The random debris the wave washed onto my path was minimal. I increased the speed regardless of the risks. I was up on the pedals riding over thirty. The jostling left me in the air more than on the ground. I turned at the river, seeing the Xgate in the distance.

“Got her. She’ll live— I said to hold on,” Mitchell said. He left the radio open and muttered angrily, “I don’t care if Elifer will be upset because you are touching me. Hold the fuck on.”

“Understood,” I said, letting him know he had a hot mic. “Get home ASAP. I expect the divine-apes to retrograde back to Earth. We need to hurry—”

“Too late. We are falling back now. Get your teams off the Xgate,” Lilith said.

“Fuck, Cap. We're not going to make it. I see a tree cutout up ahead. Going to weather the coming storm of giants off the beaten path. Mitchell out.”

Elifer peeled off of our formation. I would fucking lash her later. This is why militaries didn’t allow in-unit romances. I reached the Xgate but the damn thing was moving. I hit the portal at a shitty angle.

My eyes were blinded with blue. A moment later I was nose-diving the bike. Fuck. I crashed and flew off the handlebars. My arms instinctively shot forward to absorb my impact. I smashed into the ground with a tumble while eating the rocky terrain. My face, body, and palms burned in agony. Cuts unleashed blood freely. I tried to shake the damage off but instead swayed.

“Get on!” Daphne screamed at me. My one working eye focused. I hobbled over to her with mostly luck.

She twisted sideways to help me up. We were out of time. The first divine-ape burst through the portal. The impact of the landing caused me to crumple over the back half of the bike. Daphne gunned the accelerator while holding me with one arm. I saw the place we just vacated get squished by a rolling divine-ape. I fucking lost my other weapon in the crash. Even with cables, straps, and proper securing of my weapons, I lost both of them. I was pissed. Could this adventure—

We jostled over a jump. I flew out of Daphne’s hands as I was sent flying at an odd angle. I smacked into a tree, suddenly stopping my momentum. Fuck my life. I couldn’t breathe. The proverbial wind had been knocked out of me. I saw my femur was jutting out of my thigh without any pain. The spurting, projectile blood was life ending. It, however, stopped moments after it started. You have got to be kidding me.

Daphne screamed for my attention while cutting a tight turn for me.

I was hoisted off the forest floor and sat on the front of the bike. My mind was telling me I should be in agony. I was feeling numb, though. Daphne spoke but I heard nothing at first.

“RV3?”

“Yes, please,” I said, and coughed out blood.

She squeezed behind me tightly, gunned the bike, and we shot forward. We exited a section of trees and I gasped. Those sneaky divine-apes. This had been another bait and switch. A thousand divine-apes lined up at the ready as their brethren returned from Crixonia. Siege weapons the width of the portal but fifty feet tall were in their midst. I watched the front three lines duck as the returning troops leaped behind the formations. I was stunned until a large hand stopped our bike. Daphne’s arm that held me in place shook with fright. I patted her hand reassuringly.

“Madam Matriarch, you impress me. Your divinity is refreshing to behold,” I said, hobbling off the bike to perform an awful bow.

“Your resilience in combat and capabilities are refreshing to see of the lower species. I think Madam suits me very well. Take this healing boon,” Madam said. A vial was lifted out of a side pouch. The top was sent flying before I was drenched in purple powder that erupted in a blinding light. Within a microsecond, my body knitted back to its previous form. The science of such a powder was none other than magic in action. “Now return to your flank of the battle, Captain Moostache. Have no mercy on the lurrol. The gate worshippers shall reap what they have sown.”

I pushed myself back onto the dirt bike. Since the giants were landing on the backside of the formation, I sped across the front. I grinned with glee as we barreled across the tensing line. I felt fantastic. Whatever go juice she gave me was an elixir of life. I would be hunting the market for more, that is for damn sure.

The Aspen tank was butted against RV3 with our meager troops spreading into a firing line. The last of the divine-apes were exiting the portal. The ground bounced, shaking from the immense pressure applied to it when the formations re-formed to swallow the new troops. I exited the battle line joyful to arrive at our forces.

“Aspen actual for Mansion actual, over,” Reinhardt’s voice came over our command net.

“Go,” I replied.

“Ah, you live. I see you made—”

A tank round silenced his talk. My head whipped to track the target. The crew was on point. A lurrol’s head was removed before it reached the ground. The next lurrol reached the ground to lock the gate. A siege weapon with yellow energy belched a disintegration ray into the lurrol.

Under the gate, I noticed activity. What the? Squibbles flooded out of the north portal.

“Huh, what the hell are they doing here?” a random voice cracked over our command net.

“Ignore the lurrol! Get the squibbles,” I ordered.

The crack of weapons and tank rounds was drowned out by the roar of Lilith. She grabbed a tree, yanked it out of the ground, and leaped over our formation. She spun around to the north portal in three quick bounds.

“Ceasefire, return to the lurrol. Fire!” I shouted, praying our troops didn’t shoot the reckless divine-ape.

Lilith went into battle against the squibbles armed with only a tree. Their shields crashed from her power swings. Their weapons washed over her armored thick hide. The wise squibbles fled, the dumb ones ending up dead in a matter of moments. The main battle had not slowed or paused to watch the unfolding fight. The lurrol were spewing lava as they exited the Xgate. Their hatred of the divine-apes was evident by their battle roars and sneers.

Out they poured, an unending tide of rocky giants with balled bottoms. They carried no weapons besides the lava they spewed out of their hands. Our only saving grace was that they were unable to leave the portal more than one at a time. I had frozen on the bike watching the combat unfold. My hips nudged Daphne off before dropping the bike to run for the RV. I yanked the door open, hopped up the stairs, and bolted for the back room. The drone operators had their weapons against the RV sidewall. I snagged a .308 with an ACOG. Exactly why we standardized weapons. I went to the first drone operator’s vest and started looting spare magazines. My hands were swatted at.

“Damnit. It’s Cap, toss your ammo on the bed. I will be back.”

I pocketed two magazines, used the back ladder, and was on the roof. The dead were piling up, giving cover for the new arrivals. The Xgate drifted ever so slowly, forcing new arrivals to be exposed. I sighted a lurrol trying to peel off the main pack. Snap, snap. The body tumbled as it crashed in a roll. We were hammering the enemy, our position unassailable. Yet the lurrol were reckless.

I fired at a target exiting the blue shimmer, my round caught the rocky nose at the bridge. The round deflected into the eye. I realized I had limited ammo after the magazine gave a chink noise. While loading a fresh magazine I decided to wait for targets to get by before shooting. Daphne poked her head up.

I looked at her and mouthed “ammo.”

She nodded.

I wondered what the lurrol were up to. The suicide thing did not seem logical, sure to secure a— Then I saw it. A smaller bird alien slapped the button. A lurrol carrying a massive metal shield plunked in front of the button pusher. Finally, strategy was being employed. I was not sure I liked what I saw when the Xgate froze.

The lurrol that had condensed behind fallen brethren were throwing bodies to protect the Xgate entryway. A shield generator was brought out that was exactly the width of the portal. The machine was easily fifty feet tall. Pink static electricity sparkled around the power source. The gravity sled completed its transition and in an instant the battlefield dynamics were altered. A dome over 400 feet tall and 200 feet wide erupted into existence.

The shield held steady against the incoming volleys. The rounds that crashed into the pink shield were not causing it to flicker or falter. Even the tank round went flat against the edge with little more than a loud bang. The noise of the battlefield died down when our side halted firing. The enemy lurrol continued to gain a foothold. I now realized the first wave was meant to die. They were there to be a wall to get the shield generator on the field. The cost was crazy to me.

There was no hesitation from Madam when the battle entered a lull. She charged. The organized line broke with her at the forefront. She gave an odd belly purr that was akin to laughter. The distance was closed in an instant. Madam slowed before the portal line and walked through. A soldier in her army leaped ahead to shield her once she was exposed. The lurrol poured concentrated fire onto the guard. The melting metal it held was flung into the smaller lurrol. The guard knew his duty, understood his sacrifice. It stepped forward into the spewing lava with staggering steps. A roar of pain and anguish tugged at my heart as the death cries reached my ears. His distraction was not in vain—a squad of divine-apes snatched the shield generator up before running off with it.

Um… I was in shock, but not frozen. I had used the time to insert a fresh magazine.

“Get ready to fire!” I bellowed. “The button pusher is the priority—”

A tank round found an opening beside the button pusher. The fragmented explosion caused the bird creature to release its hold. That was the final straw for the lurrol. They had rolled into a warzone more deadly than they wanted. I expected a reprieve of the fighting. Nope. The lurrol were hounded with the divine-apes bounding forward.

“I am going with. You decide, Aspen. Dedric, into the breach,” I said.

“Why?”

“If we do not defeat the lurrol they will come back. For the community,” I said.

My forces joined the queue to get into the gate. Lilith approached our six-vehicle convoy.

“We are not going to the lurrol world,” Lilith said with a flick of her snakelike tongue. “We have some things to discuss soon. With that said, the crixxi were found wanting. They failed where you succeeded. You have shown you can convert them into warriors. So, you will get more warriors.”

I gulped. I think I understood. I held up a finger wanting to ask many questions.

“Your deluxe duke is on his way with your army. You are getting a squad of divine-apes to guide you to victory. The battle on the lurrol world will be intense and long. They do not understand the power we now hold since our last engagement. Few of the gate worshippers improve themselves or their technology. We do.”

My Gpad illuminated. Thousands more divine-apes were marching out of Denver. I think the gravity of the situation was dawning on me. We were locked in a battle far beyond what I could ever have imagined.

The divine-apes had spoken, and in their wisdom, so it shall be.

CHAPTER 15

“There are many ways for factions to justify our imposed quarantine. So many that I could write the list for over a year. When these factions reach their conclusions, they tend to form common thinking groups. There are even more than a few who call themselves the ‘Alliance.’ The scope of how vast the contained Xgate isolationverse is—it boggles even my inquisitive mind. There are a few distinct camps, though. Those outraged with the quarantine, furious at their rights being stripped, and eager for vengeance. Those who support the aliens, god, or AI who isolate us. Some take it a step further and become grateful for the constant conflict. They justify their behavior by worshiping the powers containing us as god figures. And finally, the undecided who will debate you for hours, days, weeks. Some will say they are trying to survive, uncaring of the greater battles that loom overhead. The last of the undecided group adds in the just plain stupid. Like the pigri I found in Denver. Deemed capable of space with enough time, never able to advance their cognitive abilities because of the portals.

“You may wonder, so what? Well, let me be honest. We know we are not gods. We deem ourselves god-tier. The translators do not know how to calculate us besides a ten. We may not be spacefaring currently, but we do not need to be. All the keys to our revenge rest in these monoliths. What I am sharing is that there are many active rebellions to free our worlds of the Xgates and become free-ranging species capable of living out our lives as we see fit.

“While we plot and scheme, we go to war. We are against the Xgate creators. That is the very basis of our belief. The nonviolence justification is not only stupid, but it is also irrational. We pass the time waiting for the pink gates of dysfunction to spawn by killing the worshippers of the Xgate creators. The lurrol are a great example, but thousands and thousands believe the Xgate creators are divine. We resent that way of thinking. You do too. You seek vengeance. Most species do at first. Our guiding actions during this portal series will see that your desire for retribution continues.

“Aspen and Mansion are one unit in our minds. The humanity of Earth. It has been determined we can rely on you to cross that shimmering portal if it does go pink. We hypothesize pink portals are how the ship portals operate. Let me let you in on a tiny secret. We are huge massive monsters even in a universe filled with a myriad of aliens. We predict we will not be able to board the alien vessels that control the Xgates. You will. So when we find smaller species capable of war, who want vengeance and will never view the gates as devices of an all-powerful, frightening god, then we help them improve. Hence why we are going to Crixonia to get you more soldiers.” - Lilith

I raised a hand, and she raised a scaled light red eyebrow in return. I pointed at the Gpad and mimicked writing.

“Ah, the Xgates hear everything. Maybe they absorb all radio waves, but we know from the interior grand market mind reader that they can hear everything. That is a fact. Also, realize this: you never actually go to the grand market. The only way to prevent violence is to make constructs out of those attending. Think of the grand market as a digital video game. You are in a virtual reality with limiters. Trust me, you can’t kill a lurrol if you bump into one. We figured out, while the stuff entering and leaving the golden portals was real, the stuff inside the grand market was a simulation.” - Lilith

I typed furiously on my Gpad.

“If there are thousands of factions fighting to assert their beliefs, surely talking about them should be okay.” - Cap

“Do not speak of the pink gates or seizing alien ships when they go pink. The rest you can speak openly about. I typed so both your communities were completely informed without me bursting eardrums.” - Lilith.

Colonel Reinhardt was a young man again with a beaming smile and a raised arm. His comb-over was gone, his full cheeks leaner. The man was young again, but the long desk life had not been fully converted into muscles yet. Lilith gave him a motion.

“I appreciate any and all help. I am not set up like Cap. Colorado Springs has started sending refugees and—”

“Do not complain. Improvise or you will die. I will only say this once. Improve your situation. Work to achieve that which must get done, as a team, when time dictates it,” Lilith said with a rising growl that washed through my body with minor shakes. “Never, ever question, or complain, about an epic gift like the one you are about to receive. Major Ulanda is a fine officer. Do you understand me?”

“So am I,” Jevon said as he arrived at the gathering. “You don’t happen to be able to transform into a sassy six-foot black lady, do you? We should get a drink, pineapple with something spicy.”

Lilith’s tongue flicked out, amusement dancing in her eyes. She was about to reply when Reinhardt scoffed.

I was standing about ten feet away from Reinhardt when he whispered, “Gross!”

Lilith flared with anger. Her actions immediately caught us all off guard.

A hand slammed into the ground, smashing Colonel Reinhardt into a mush. When Lilith raised her hand, bits of Reinhardt dripped down.

I gulped, gasped, and then promptly sealed my lips.

“If a single one of you raises your weapons, I will kill you all. Major Ulanda, you are to defer to Captain Eric Yang during all military operations. You will run your Aspen Stronghold as its leader. You will coordinate how best to improve your combined communities starting today. One quip out of you and I will flatten you all. Tank, fire into my palm,” Lilith said. She put her hand that still dripped blood in front of the tank.

The tank commander fired. The boom left my ears ringing. The virum restored my hearing quickly while I watched Lilith place a squashed tank round at Major Ulanda’s feet. There was not a single mark beside some soot on her palm.

“We understand your orders and hasten to obey,” Major Ulanda said.

I let out a long breath I did not realize I was holding. What was I to do? There were ten divine-apes within a hundred feet. We would be slaughtered, our communities slaughtered. She warned Reinhardt. Years of being a hard-ass desk-pushing officer made him feel impervious. Now he was dead. I had seen death. Nothing like this. I stomached it like every other loss I ever experienced: by moving forward.

“I would love to meet our new crixxi residents and grow our army. I always wanted to expand my stronghold. Hell, I know a great lake valley about an hour northwest of my stronghold. Maybe make a third, Jevon. I happen to know a lovely lady labeled Lilith—”

“Your alliteration is amusing but there is not a chance I would live in this frigid world. It is so… green. I miss the red of home already. Multiple communities are beneficial if you can network them.” Lilith paused for a few seconds. “You sneaky humans. You got a map of the grand market for a stupid chair. Thank you for this. As you can imagine, we are normally deprived of such information. I highlighted some key things to buy when you expand. Traveling will be your biggest need. The concept of trains applied to gravity manipulation between two points resulting in near-instant travel. Get from one base to the next in moments. You can even build an exit in the middle of this roaming gate and the ones in the area. The point is, yes, expand, grow, prepare. Do not question your elders. Now, follow me. Cap, Ulanda, and Jevon only.”

I gulped down my anxiety. Jevon and I walked beyond the towering brutes that guarded the Xgate, which roamed slightly. Four of the nine remaining leaped in ahead of us.

“Get your electric bikes. Hurry, Lilith becomes an asshole when she has to wait,” the father from earlier said.

I ran for the nearest bike. Jevon hopped on a spare and Major Ulanda joined him on the back. We were gone, cruising for the moving gate with gusto. I slowed before entering the portal to a nice controlled speed. The teal cascaded over my sight, and I left Earth.

A trail to their earlier trail was being cleared. Divine-apes hurled trees without a care. I guess it mattered little. All this would reclaim the land over time. In the short term, getting into the deeper jungle from the Xgate would be easier. However, the crixxi here did not need to worry about that. They were about to get a double whammy of giant monsters. I was starting to rationalize something. Lilith’s father was walking with us while the others raced ahead.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said in a level tone to the divine-ape, trusting he could hear me.

“I picked Harambe for my name.” The alien laughed, causing me to frown. “I jest. Harry works. Ask your question.”

“The larger species have advantages. Is that a common thing over time?”

“Yes, at least for the smarter ones. We were not born this way. Just like the virum evolved you, we have evolved too.”

“May I know about the purple dust?”

“Lilith included it inside your task list. It is expensive. I would avoid buying it for now. There is still so much for you to learn. It is important for your scientists to catch up. There is an infinite amount of technology allowed. If it is not connected to space travel, you can learn about it. That is an oversight, but an ancient one—so maybe it is not,” Harry said with a loud exhale.

We watched in the distance as Lilith and the three others vanished beyond the horizon. They could move so fast.

Movement out my left eye caused me to whip my weapon up.

Harry stopped, placed a hand in front of my weapon, and waited.

“Come out,” Harry said impatiently. “I hear you trying to fix your radio. You are safe. Well, safe-ish. Go back to your portal with all haste.”

Mitchell ran from behind a tree carrying Destiny. Elifer was hot on his heels. His high-knee run resulted in him fading into the jungle to catch up to the Xgate. I still needed to figure out a punishment for Elifer.

We had only driven for a few minutes when bodies of lurrol were tossed into the jungle. There was no chain of divine-apes sending them to Earth. They were sent here to deprive the enemy, maybe. I dodged the root of a tree with a quick jerk of the wheel. I guess it was time to focus on the terrain.

The clearing where the battle of the four armies had taken place was littered with the lurrol dead. Four divine-apes joined them on the ground. Massive lava damage during the melee round must have killed them.

“May I speak with my other leaders?” I asked.

“You may,” Harry replied. “It will not be long now before you will be offered contracts from Lilith. Keep driving so we can do the transfers on the spot. Makes it quickest.”

I shrugged. It worked for me.

“Major Ulanda, are you okay?” I asked.

The woman was Russian looking. Maybe old Eastern Bloc. Polish was my guess. Porcelain skin, brown eyes, black hair, with soft rounded features. Not pretty but not ugly. Young, the virum had fully transformed her age, but her body was still in the process like many others.

“Reinhardt was a soulless bastard. He tricked us all to come up to Aspen because his brother worked for NASA. I lost my family in Denver. I try to rationalize why he hid the truth of our mission to the ski resort community. We could have saved so many,” Ulanda said with disdain. “I still didn’t wish him dead. He was a good commander. Aspen has prospered with his tough decisions. It will be harder without him. He was snarky to a fault, though.”

“I am sorry about your family. I am still missing my parents. No idea if they made it. I have a new family now, with Jevon’s mom, the Mansion community, and my lovely ladies,” I said with a slight smile. My positive spin on the situation was not working.

“We will work more closely together. I want this stronghold-connecting device. We could shower in your coming bathhouse—”

“Why spy on us?”

“You have your drone feed up at all times showing us everything you are doing. But we did have a spy. They left in the Bronco, terrified of the virum giving them three or four more kids to deal with. You are not exactly a secretive community,” Ulanda said, and I shrugged while driving around the dead bodies. “Back to what I was saying. If we balance things out better, we can house more people. The problem is that the two-hour journey each way is too much. We have dried out our wells and are now having to switch to cleaning lake water. Did you know sewage plants require maintenance? The Aspen sewage plant uses screens to block q-tips, floss, and other stuff that should never be flushed. You have to clean those. Then the grit chamber—”

“Why are you teaching me about sewage plants?” I asked.

“Oh, the power shut down to the Aspen facility. The people who worked at the plant quit, died, or whatever. So we still haven’t fixed our water and sewage problems. I have not bathed inside a shower in a week. I use a wet cloth with soap and rinse on a balcony. I tell you all this because Reinhardt was insanely jealous. He wanted all the supplies you received. He wanted the awesome electric RVs, the hesco barriers, and the MREs. He mulled over attacking you in the open a few times so we could have your base to have showers in. He would always complain about your anti-tank weapons. I see you frowning.”

“We literally served in the same army. The only thing we have left is each other. I tell myself that, but deep down. I understand his reasoning. Now I have—”

Harry interrupted, “Ah, Lilith killed Reinhardt to merge you into a single expanded community. Ulanda likes to defer problems to a superior. You are now that superior. The people of Aspen want their problems solved. Reinhardt struggled to do that mainly because he was too focused on being better than you. Humans are weird; the dynamic has changed. With these crixxi buffing your numbers, your rule will be unchallenged. Especially once you figure out how best to incorporate your new troops.”

“I am excited to figure out all the logistical issues and get ahead of them. We will have plenty of time in meetings soon enough,” I said.

The bike exited the battlefield clearing for the northern trail. There were additional pockets of hardened lava here from the recent clearing of lurrol. Evidence the water helped end the spread of the destruction was shown with partially destroyed trees, cleared underbrush, and rocky, scorched terrain. The canopy shading covering us was a testament to how massive this jungle was.

I saw a trail of despondent crixxi approaching our location. They were miserable looking with slumped shoulders, baggy eyes, and with minimal items being hauled. I could only imagine the suffering the lurrol put them through. Then you add in the fact they won, only to lose again.

My Gpad pinged an alert.

“You need to fight the tribe leader. They all surrendered to me with that condition. Technically you don’t have to, but then I would be a liar and you would be seen as weak. So fight the male crixxi named Basra.” - Lilith.

Great. I had wondered how our transition was going to be handled. Crixxi were big on tribe leaders, strength, and dominance. Well, I had someone’s .308, my armor, and wits.

I slung a leg off the bike, then kicked the stand down. Jevon stopped with Ulanda hopping off the back. I went over to her, noticing she was wearing a proper military vest.

“Want my knife?” she asked, seeing me eyeing it. When I nodded, she popped the button to free the weapon. The knife was pressed into my hand gently. I tested the edge and found it sharp.

“I am challenging the one they call Cap of the humans,” a seven-foot crixxi bellowed. Basra. Yeah, had to be him. The crixxi had brown hair with a light brown skin tone. He wore only a kilt with no other armor. He thrust his spear into the air while scanning for me with his golden eyes.

I contemplated putting a bullet in his forehead without warning. I would win, but who knew how that would be judged.

“Rules?” Ulanda asked curiously. Already starting to like her.

“He accepts my challenge, then we fight. Weak humans getting giants to do their dirty work.”

I stepped away from the bikes to give space to Jevon and Ulanda. A crowd of crixxi were gathering. Their sour expressions brightened when word spread a challenge was being made.

“I accept,” I said with my feet balanced.

Good thing I had not taken his challenge lightly. A spearhead was immediately shot in my direction. I rolled right just barely avoiding the object. Basra cursed. When I exited my roll I hurled my knife. The blade parted fur off Basra’s mane but did little else due to his dodge. I had him dead to rights with the rifle.

“Is there any dishonor if I use projectiles like he did?”

He frowned.

“You could use magic. It would be allowed,” a feminine voice from behind me said. “You earn more respect if you do not, though. You will have far fewer challenges down—”

Basra drowned out her voice with a battle cry. I figured his spear was ready to fire again. I rolled left when he charged. My cybernetic hand shot up in between us. I mistimed his launch as well as his angle of attack. The spear tip crashed into my left collarbone with a cracking smack.

Basra pressed the attack with a ferocious swing of his spear. I leaped back to narrowly miss his weapon. My left arm hung limp. My right cybernetic hand snatched his weapon. Instead of trying to wrest it from his grip, I yanked myself forward to close the distance. I lunged with all the power my legs had. When the whites of his eyes flared I smashed my skull into his lower face.

I felt the agonizing pain of fangs tearing my skin. The head wounds bled freely from my forehead crashing into his shocked mouth. My opponent was staggering from the blow. I cleared my senses with a headshake. Basra was backpedaling for space. I came in again with another savage head butt. My ears rang and my head pounded from the immense impact. Basra hit the jungle floor. His hand burst through a thin layer of dried lava. A shriek split the air from his melting fist as lava consumed his flesh. The exposed skeletal fingers drooped, then dropped from his body. The fight was over. We both knew it.

I yanked the spearhead out of my collarbone. Basra reacted desperately and tried to dick punch me. My hip spun to absorb the impact. My metal fist cracked the front of his skull.

“I was going to let you surrender,” I yelled in anger.

With his hand removed, his head split open, and with little chance of victory, Basra tried to submit.

“No, you die!” I shouted.

I jumped over his prone form. The back of my elbow connected with the back of his skull with the power of a piston firing. The crack echoed across the landscape. The nitrogen power plant in my forearm hissed from the power consumption. I was fairly certain he was dead. I did not stop, though. I smashed the top of his cranium with the base of my fist. The crack from the front of his head to the back was complete.

When a foot firmly on the flopping crixxi’s neck, I dug my fingers into the gap in his skull. With a jerking lurch, I ripped half his skull off. The body stopped twitching at this point. The virum gave in to defeat as the black goo fled his body. I had never torn a warm brain out of a body before. This was a first. The mechanical sensors in my fingers said the substance was slimy. I managed to get most of the brain out.

I tossed the pinkish material into the air nice and high. My cybernetic arm swiveled with impossible human speed and a very odd angle to latch onto my weapon. My arm and the .308 lined up with the falling brain. Ten cracking rounds later, the organ landed with a wet thunk.

There were a lot of crixxi watching in stunned silence. I dropped the weapon to let it hang by its sling. I ejected the magazine so I could slap a fresh one in. A female crixxi cried over Basra while I did this. I watched her intently with a side-eye. She figured she had the drop on me when she reached for the fallen spear.

My .308 clicked with the sound of a new round in the chamber. I waited to see what she would do. Her face turned into a snarl telling me everything I needed to know. I twisted my torso to dodge the fired spearhead.

I fired, then fired the rifle again. Each round went into her shoulder with a spray of blood. She bellowed in pain from the rounds tearing bone, cartilage, and muscle.

“Is this how your tribe operates? You try to kill winners after a fair challenge?” I bellowed as she moaned.

I lunged forward with lightning speed and smashed her jaw, shattering it as if it were glass. She did not cry out because she went unconscious from the impact.

My blood thudded in my ears. My adrenaline was at a peak with my desire to kill this woman. I clenched my jaw with a grimace.

“How dare she?” I muttered unhappily.

“Tribe master!” The same feminine voice from before.

I spun with the .308’s barrel coming to a stop with it butted between the eyes of a younger crixxi. With the virum, they all looked the same. This one seemed a few years younger than the others. Her purple eyes glared at me with pride. Her red hair flowed down her back and her hip fur was a tinge of forest green with black stripes. She was stunning, curvy, and very close to being dead.

“Are you challenging me?” I asked, eager to keep killing.

“No, my lord. You won. My mother sinned. May I touch your translator?”

“Do nothing else,” I said hoping this was the conclusion of my dominance test.

The hand tried to reach me but fell short. I lowered the weapon. I anticipated more violence; she had that glint of it in her eye. Her rough palm touched my translator. A contract flared into my mind. One meal a day and seventy years were the terms she had given to Lilith. Damn, no roof, no bed, no freshwater. Just one meal a day without even a serving size for seventy years. Savage. I would work on reducing this later. A transfer from Lilith to me was already approved by Lilith. I accepted. Her eyes flared with happiness.

“I am Everly. Let me fix this transgression for our new master. Would you like that?” Everly asked.

“Sure,” I said, not certain what the alien woman was referring to. She went to the weapon her mother had dropped. “Wait, what are you going to do?”

“Kill her. She will not accept a ser—”

My rifle whipped up to aim at her mother's head. I squeezed twice, unleashing two loud retorts. Brains splattered the area.

“I would have—”

“Everly. I am your master. I should have verified what the fix was before agreeing to it. I corrected my mistake in time, though. I am sorry I almost let you kill your mother.”

“This is the way of the crixxi. I should be the tribe queen now. I knew the day would come. Thank you for sparing us and leading us into a better life. I am young. Eighteen last month. I am not enshrined in the old ways. I would like to serve at your side, organizing all—”

“Done. The last one is in your line for transfer,” Lilith said, interrupting Everly’s talk. “I'm not going further into the jungle. There is good news and bad news. The good is that very few had to be killed. The bad news is that the lurrol attack forced the children and servants to flee ahead of my arrival. They were captured and absorbed by a larger tribe. I am not going to fight them for you. I suggest you take these crixxi and go home. The tribe can overwhelm your forces if you stay in the jungle. On Earth, they stand zero chance against your tactics.”

I turned to Everly. If she was my go-to crixxi of the Hevina tribe, her insight would be helpful. The purple eyes fixated to mine.

“We will mourn those lost. A new generation will be born with a bold new life. Please accept my people into a contract, and then take us home,” Everly said while waving her people forward.

“Once you have been accepted into Stronghold Mansion, follow me,” Jevon called out.

“Tribe master, I need the first few accepted to help herd our animals, gather equipment, supplies, and the list goes on.”

I was about to answer when Lilith plopped a seat beside me. “They are safe. The other tribes are hiding inside caves. Sometimes they lose this bad, but the interior tribes generally have backup defensive spots,” Lilith said while snatching Basra’s body up. She plopped the corpse into her mouth. I contorted my face in disgust when she cracked the bones while consuming Everly’s father. “This is the way of the crixxi. Do not let it worry you, Cap.”

The mother followed the father into the divine-ape’s gullet.

I focused on my task. A hand was touched to my device, a contract accepted. I kept a running tally on my Gpad. There were a few older children, teenagers at a minimum among those giving me their contracts. However, the fact that the young were gone bothered me. The servants too. I wanted to be able to have help with our current young while molding those susceptible to change. Everly’s cheek was kissed after the contact was passed onto me. Every single crixxi did this.

“Why are they kissing your cheek?”

“They still need a crixxi leader. That is me. You are the tribe master. I am the crixxi liaison; that is the best interpretation. Do you not understand we will be loyal to you to a fault?”

“I understand that. I do not understand where you fit into the equation. I already have Daphne vying for—”

“The old hag, so pitiful. She will kiss my cheek. I bet she has not even done this yet,” Everly said, biting her lip and containing a scream. I watched her toned stomach open two slits. Stones were pushed out. She caught the small objects and handed them to me. I chucked the blood-covered stones over my shoulder. “I am glad you accept.”

“Huh?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Me tossing bloody stones from your uterus means nothing. I see you opening your mouth. Close it. Go, these crixxi will kiss your cheek later. I want your animals, fruit, and whatever else you have of worth being hauled home.” She went to reply and I pointed back to the way she came from. “Now.”

“As you command,” Everly said with a pout.

I felt my broken collarbone slowly mending as the long line of crixxi gave their contracts to me. Jevon stepped beside me with his arms crossed.

“Tally?” he asked.

“Six hundred and twelve so far. The back of the line is visible at least. So seven hundred at most. What do you think, Ulanda?” I asked.

“Allowing me at the big boy table?” Ulanda quipped. Lilith went from plucking a tree of its branches to glaring at Ulanda. “I jest. Reinhardt never asked for feedback and—”

“Eric will,” Lilith said. She returned to stripping the tree.

“I have a long list of issues with Aspen that need sorting. Once that is done, we can start filling hotels. Unless you have more infrastructure?” Ulanda said.

“Seven hundred would put us to queued shower times again. It would also mean bed swapping until homes go up. We will be running convoys into Denver nonstop until the next blue portal. Together, Ulanda. We will clear Denver north to south as a team,” I said, nodding my head to my words. “We will run convoys up and down as we clear. When the next golden gates appear, we will be ready to cash in all of what Denver has to offer.”

“As you command, your grace,” Ulanda said with no smirk or teasing in her tone. “I will head back now to ready the teams. I will also send our builders over. All of them who are not occupied to help you build homes for the crixxi.”

“I will take her back. Want me to help run—”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. Ulanda frowned, but nodded. Times were changing. Jevon was my best friend and most trusted soldier. He would have a council assembled, tasks handed out, and things running smoother soon. “Thank you both. Meeting tomorrow morning. Hmm… An hour after sunrise. See you both then.”

Jevon gave me a hang-loose sign, which was rare, but not highly unusual. He hopped on the bike, with Ulanda getting on behind him.

I watched them meander across the rough terrain. I sighed. I wish I had been allowed to bring more support staff to help with this transition. We needed to catalog everything to figure out what was coming in. Then we needed to process crixxi to learn of their skills. I was sure some of these crixxi hauling vines for future growth would be wasting their time. The climate between Crixonia and Earth was vastly different.

My disgruntled exhale was turned into a gasp when I saw a mini ferox.

“You have ferox on this planet?” I asked the young male holding the cat the size of a dog. The cat wanted to be held but the lad was struggling with the task.

Lilith scoffed. Her lips sputtered when she looked at the tiger. Maybe it was a tiger. I was conflicted.

“That is not a ferox. There are thousands of variations of cats from small to massive. The larger the animal, the rarer it is,” Lilith said. She then tossed the tree into the jungle before lifting a new one from the ground with ease. The snapping of roots assaulted my ears, causing me to react with a wince. When the ringing stopped, she continued. “We only survive being this size because we can farm so well. Both by pillage farming and actual farming. If you get a chance to buy a ferox, get one. They are worth the cost to feed. The first invisible spy that enters your base becomes a quick snack. Whereas others will send the invisible entity running… Not a ferox. They are very, very protective, assuming they bind.”

I mulled this over. With so many variables at play, I decided to let the thought drop. The cat in front of me would be trained. Combat teams of animals with humans or crixxi were going to be a given in my growing army. I would need to keep the bunny breeding up to feed the new animals. Probably wall off our livestock too, or else I’ll lose it all to hungry cats. We still had a bunch of gargoyle meat.

My mind drifted I found myself without another person offering a contract. Six hundred and ninety-two. I expected more, but we were not getting the children or servants.

“Follow me. We are going to your new home,” I said, walking to my bike. I kicked the stand off and pushed the motorcycle by the handlebars. A glance over my shoulder showed five bored divine-apes watching hundreds of crixxi following my lead. I wondered how chaotic things were going to be in the coming days.

CHAPTER 16

“Mitchell, you are a hell of a soldier and have been a great officer so far. I cannot do anything besides pull her from the field,” I said to Mitchell in a hostile tone. He sat across from me in RV3 with a frown. “Did you need her help? No! Did she disobey a direct order? Yes. Hell, I should lash her still, even if the virum numbs the pain.”

He waited to see if I was finished. When I failed to say anything else he said, “Can I make her a drone—”

“Hmm…” I said, pausing him. Being a drone operator was awful. You were stuck in goggles or inside a vehicle. It would be hard to get in trouble. “Granted, but Mitchell… Another strike and she becomes a plumber.”

“Yes, Cap, thank you. I will send in the next person.”

Perci had been sitting in the passenger chair watching the two of us talk. Willow was on my left, Nancy my right. We were holding a court of sorts. One day I would have a throne room that was not connected to my bedroom and my transportation. I would not hold council beside a frustrating bathroom door and the thin wall that revealed every toilet flush. I eyeballed the shit of that stupid little bathroom door hatch. That thing was evil.

“Too lenient,” Perci said with a scoff, breaking me off of my stare down.

“I felt it was light too. Interesting to see when she convinces him to ask to be off drone assignment,” Nancy said with a sneer. “She is a powerful woman. He is a powerful man, though. Maybe he can handle her. We shall see. We. Shall. See.”

“Should have made her be the bouncy house cleaner. Damn, those kids are messy. They sure are having a blast, though,” Willow said while leaning to watch the kids playing out in front of the RV. “At least we have more crixxi to watch them. Speaking of which…”

A knock sounded on the door. “Enter,” Perci said, loud enough for it to echo in the RV.

Everly entered with Daphne right behind her. They both wore repurposed human clothes: Everly in yoga pants and a Gtube shirt, Daphne in a skirt and tube top. Their tails jutted at odd angles as they were ill-fitted to the outfits. We would be needing to make custom clothing at some point. Even I was in shirts not fitting my new bulky frame. I found shorts that were too tight, which left me feeling odd wearing a crixxi male kilt when not on duty.

“Hello,” I said to the two beauties. “What brings you to my table? Would you like a drink?”

“Coffee, please. I had a sip in the dining area. It was amazing,” Everly said with a wide smile. “Hello, wives of the tribe master. You look lovely.”

Pleasantries were exchanged with genuine smiles. I stretched out of the booth to have my spot stolen from Perci. Everly sat beside Nancy while Daphne remained standing. I poured the thick steaming black substance to the halfway mark. I walked it over to Everly, effectively killing the small talk.

“Why the silence, Daphne?”

“I have not removed my stones. I have failed my tribe… my leader,” Daphne said with slumped shoulders. I felt bad for her. She was not a young woman, eager and fresh. An inner desire had me wanting to pet her ears.

“I seem to recall you not failing during the battle of the… two for humans, squibbles, divine-apes, lurrol, crixxi… Sorry for the muttering. Battle of the five species works,” I said with a smile. “You sure you don't want a drink?”

“I am fine at the moment. You honor me,” Daphne said, and Everly rolled her eyes.

“Why are you here?” Willow asked with a stern tone.

“We need to establish who the crixxi sub-leader is,” Everly said. Her back was straight, her eyes serious. She had been such a mix from our initial meeting. Subservient, yet confident. Where Daphne had been hesitant around me, careful with her words, Everly was direct. “Are we adhering to crixxi standards or your ways?”

“Mine. Is there bad blood…? Is there resentment between you two?” I asked, trying to be clear.

Daphne went to speak but closed her mouth when Everly shot her a glare.

“My parents were ruthless in evicting Daphne and her tribe. I am not my parents. I am here to serve you and our community. Daphne has plans in place if things turn out poorly to vacate the stronghold,” Everly said in an almost loving tone, which caught me off guard. “That is the crixxi way. I am no longer bound to crixxi ways. If I were, I would have done the same. She admires you. Her wanting to protect her crixxi is commendable. However, what better way to show your faith in the future than by bearing children into it? Which is exactly what I will do.”

I chuckled while I poured myself a coffee. “I said something similar not long ago when Perci wanted to start trying. Then the virum happened. Okay, you do not seem like you are at each other’s throats. What would make you happiest?”

Everly performed an underhand gesture for Daphne to speak. “I have seen many children die. Enough that it haunts me. I have not had any children for a long time because of the pain of their memories. I would prefer to raise children, handle our construction needs, and tend to soothing problems. I would like to be Everly’s second, an overseer of sorts to help transition our ways into your ways,” Daphne said with a hand on Everly’s shoulder. “Assuming you allow it.”

“Well, hard to argue with ladies when they reach their own agreements. Perci, Willow, and Nancy, any input?”

“Her report said her stones were out. I do not want a drawn-out saga like Jill. At the same time, I want a drawn-out saga like Jill,” Perci said. I tilted my head in confusion while sipping the coffee.

“You need to put babies in Everly,” Willow said. I almost spurt out my coffee. Nancy chuckled at my reaction. “After that, she will spend thirty days getting accustomed to us. If she fits in, she joins the family. If not, then we get some step kids to play with and she finds another mate while we pick a different mistress for the crixxi.”

“When you got back from Crixonia, we made her put stones back in, she already kicked them out. As a medical professional, I think we should not keep repeating the same thing expecting different results,” Nancy said with a glint in her eye and the corner of a smile. She went to continue, when I held out a hand stopping her.

I turned to Everly, who sat there with her back rigid in a regal pose. “Why are you rejecting the stones?”

“It is my time. Sure, I may be young, but when a crixxi of my stature reaches this point, she produces heirs. It is the way it has been done for eons,” Everly said. She shooed Daphne out, who obeyed. Huh. I guess they really had this figured out. When Daphne left, Everly continued, “If she would have taken my spot, she would have borne children again. Which is why she deferred to me being first, her second, for your crixxi. The transition will be smooth if you fill me with your seed.”

“Ha! Such a unique species. How does it work?” I asked with a smirk and a pump of my eyebrows.

“Let me show you,” Everly said, rising from her seat. My hand was taken as I was led to the back bedroom.

The windows were already shaded, a towel laid on the bed. Perci, Willow, and Nancy followed us in. When the door closed, I stripped quickly. I flopped onto the large bed on my back with the grin of a champion. The ladies glanced down at my smirk with amused looks. Nancy jumped between my knees.

“What!?” Nancy said with a yelp when Perci and Willow yanked her back.

“Let her first time be special. Bye, Eric, have fun. Not too much fun,” Willow said, helping Perci eject Nancy.

“I am watching if it fails and takes a second try,” Perci said with a grunting pout.

The door closed, leaving us in silence. A crazy bender of tangled bodies was out the window. Eh, a one-on-one would be fun too. There was a tail!

“Get naked,” I commanded while I watched from my comfy spot. I was flaccid, flopped onto my left thigh. I doubted I would stay that way for long.

She removed her top first. Delicious large breasts popped free. I realized she had two nipples per boob. Instead of a central location, there was a left and right suckle point. Bonus! She shimmied out of her yoga pants, letting her bunched tail swing free. The hip fur stopped above her silky smooth vagina. I was at half-mast from the simple reveal.

Everly placed her long red hair into a braid while she watched me hungrily devouring her nakedness. She sauntered to the side of the bed.

“Go gentle, please,” she said with a whimper.

“Come here,” I said, yanking her on top of me.

I kissed her neck sensually. Her lips parted in a soft moan. Everly placed my cock in a straight line. She settled her swollen tiny vagina on top of my cock. She teased my growing erection as she slid up and down my shaft. Her tail removed my hand from her hip to her breast. I squeezed aggressively and she moaned while biting her lip.

Everly leaned onto me until we were flat together. The tip of my large cock entered ever so slightly. Her hips twirled circles, enlarging her slit so I could fit.

“It feels amazing. Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. Our lips locked in a tender entwine.

She drove my cock deep. The squeeze of her tunnel was the tightest ever. The tingling sensation was euphoric as her hips pushed my cock upright. She flipped to face away from me. With her face down and her ass up, she pumped my cock with fantastic hip bounces. Her little pink pussy lips were dripping with desire. They clung to my cock as she went up and down. Her tail went around to stimulate her clit. Her little asshole puckered in tandem with the thrust. I hopped off from under her to dominate Everly from behind.

I spat on her asshole before shoving a thumb in. She bit the covers in delight. I rammed my huge cock into her tiny pussy, causing her to scream out in pleasure. I found my rhythm and pounded that little vagina.

“Too rough,” she moaned.

I fucked her harder. So hard there was a crashing smash when my hips slapped her juicy booty. She clenched my cock while screaming in orgasm. I knew she wanted more. I kept going hard for ten minutes until I exploded deep within her. I plopped my thumb out and used the towel to clean it.

“That was amazing. How did you know I was testing you?”

“You were pushing back onto me. Not hard to tell you wanted more, not less,” I said with a snicker. “Girls, come in. We are going right into round two. I am not softening.”

The door immediately popped open to reveal three sets of hungry eyes. I knew they were listening in. The fun had just begun.

∞∞∞

I slept for five hours that night. Not sure if the purple healing, the stress of the day, or the copious amounts of sex forced me to sleep more, but I certainly did. The next morning it rained yet again. A sprinkling with an overcast so light you thought the sun would win the day.

I rose to get coffee, finding myself alone in bed. The ladies had let Everly sleep in the loft. This had not surprised me based on how attuned they were with her. The evening had been a rollercoaster of a good time. The only downs were when I needed more food. I was eating like crazy as I bulked up.

I walked out in my boxers while smacking my dry morning lips. I stunk of sex—the smell was so powerful even I thought it was bad. I sniffed my armpit and grimaced. Yikes. The virum did not eliminate odor, darn.

“Daddy!” Mary cried out, seeing me exit the bedroom.

“Good morning, Mary. Your dress is adorable. Give me a few minutes before we find some adventure. I need to pee, shower, get some coffee, and wake up a bit,” I said to the energetic little girl snuggled in between five grown women watching a kid’s movie. I saw a steaming cup of joe waiting for me. That got picked up to be blown on while I fiddled to get into the bathroom. I growled in frustration before saying, “I hate this stupid latch.”

“I will help,” Mary said, managing the latch with ease.

I closed the door behind me before I emptied my bladder with a happy groan. My shower was quick, my smell fresh. A set of clothes was sitting on the toilet waiting for me. Perci. She knew me the best. A regular shirt and a crixxi kilt went on awkwardly in the small space. Done with my morning business, I exited the tiny stall. Thank goodness the interior had an actual door handle.

“Morning, your grace!” Gary said in a chipper tone.

“Oh hey, Gary, what brings you into my humble abode?” I wondered why he was standing outside the shower door. For real, this was my home.

“Tour? I tried to give you one last night but this little lady was saying naughty things,” Gary said, pointing at a blushing Willow.

She was the screamer of the group.

“I would love a tour. Mary, care to join us?” I asked the little girl. She ran to Jill and whispered into her ear. I saw Jill give a painful smile. “Everything okay?”

“She asked to go with the best daddy ever,” Jill said with a wince. Her hands went to cover a spot over her lower stomach near her groin. “Offered to do extra cleanup if I said yes. Stupid ovaries.”

“What’s an ogre knees?” Mary asked with confused, furled brows.

“Mommy-Daddy talk. Come on. I will let you ride on my shoulders,” I said, scooping up Mary. We hustled out of the RV to see Clive, Braxton, and Daphne waiting. “Ah, my building teams, awesome. I was meaning to go for a morning run, then gallivant off to join the Denver looting. Let me check my Gpad before we check the upgrades you all so eagerly wish to brief me on.”

I activated my Gpad. The first change I saw was Nancy removed herself from active status. Bradley, the fire chief, was now in charge of Delta Team. What? When I turned to talk to Nancy I heard crying agony inside the RV and decided that little issue could wait. I was fairly certain Jill was popping out stones, and pestering Nancy was not worth the trouble at the moment. I left Bradley as is and added Bonnet as co-leader. If she signed off, then I would approve. Eddy, the sheriff, was one thing to make a team leader, but I was hesitant on Bradley.

There was a video from Jevon that was ten minutes long. It was not listed as urgent so I keep digging. I had a message from Dalila telling me thanks for believing in her. I remembered she left bunny farming to become a soldier. Awesome to hear she was doing well.

Norm asked for a sit-down lunch to go over his plans for farming. Perfect, I needed an update on that. He asked if he could bring Tina since Slister was on a mission. I approved. I sent a quick note to Willow. She must be missing her friend, since we had been busy for the last few days.

The team leaders were giving reports of loot. While metal had been pilfered by earlier raiders, electronics had not. I guess that made sense. The street sign or a car door was something you knew what you would convert it into. A plastic box for a gaming system was unknown to even older humans. Therefore it was passed by. There was lots of shelved food and even some garden plants like balcony tomatoes. I read that the local gun store was looted for the metal door frame and metal stands. The locked weapons in the rack were left. Things like that surprised me, then made sense. If I was on an alien world, I would steal what I figured I knew was valuable.

All this meant we were bringing in a lot of stuff. As in, far more than our small storage building could hold. The caves were our next storage point, but they were still stuffed with furniture and other trinkets. We were always short on storage. Time to ask Aspen for some help later. When I looked to the cave road, two trucks were jostling down the rough road to drop off loot. Sweet. Everything was well in hand for today. Kind of. At least well enough to take a tour.

“Sorry about keeping you waiting, overslept a bit. Now, I see a lot of changes. How about we start on where the hell—”

“Oh, you said a bad word!” Mary said from my shoulder. I had gotten so strong I had almost forgotten she was up there.

“Yes, I did. I apologize, Mary, sometimes I forget how impressionable a three-and-a-half-year-old is. Gary, Clive, Braxton, and Daphne, please lead the way,” I said, following behind the group. “I assume we are huddled into housing for now since it is raining?”

“Correct, Eric. On rainy days like these, our solar output is minimal,” Braxton said, pointing to the panels on the barn. “Not that we need solar power. Those panels are loaded with rare minerals. I suggest we tear them out for generators.”

I hustled under the cover of the dining pavilion. I set Mary at an empty table. “Wait here, everyone.” I rushed to get a cup of milk. I scooped some eggs in a bowl. My stomach growled; my appetite demanded I eat. I shoved my face into the eggs with clomping teeth like a savage. I set the milk down beside Mary so I could shovel eggs into my mouth with my fingers. I ate with the gusto of a starving man finding food for the first time in weeks. “You’re telling me we should be stripping solar panels everywhere?”

Daphne was the best when she left and returned with a second bowl filled to the brim with ramoth eggs. They were green, not that I cared. Down the squishy, steaming eggs went.

Braxton chuckled. “I have been eating like crazy too. You weighed yourself lately? I packed on ten pounds of muscle. Anyway, yes. The solar panels are shit. They generate nothing compared to a carbon power plant. Yup, I found those on the market database. It should please the environmentalists whining about us yanking trees down. We can consume carbon in a different way. I am surprised some super scientists had not come up with a climate change fix so simple earlier. Before we go crazy, I say we try some this next golden gate, then start chucking in solar panels for the material breakdown. Verify before removing the intake.”

“The pre-2028 solar panels without the double charge are still good to convert, correct?”

“Yeah, snag those like hotcakes. I mentioned that to Eddy when I saw him last night. Outside of asking for you to set aside funds for carbon generators, I wanted to say I bought oodles of silver that I turned into silver wiring,” Braxton said, standing. He did some stretching while he continued, “Well, when you start building vertically, it adds a whole new dynamic. We exhausted our supplies from running everything so high. So, electrical purchases are on the Gpad buy order request list. It would be nice if teams started stripping power lines. After they get done looting all the old electronics first, of course.”

“Power is important. Consider it approved. I take it you went first because your briefing was the shortest?” I asked, and he nodded while waving goodbye. I watched him jog off for the kitchen building being constructed. I turned to the rest of the team and said, “Clive, what have you got for me?”

“A tour of the bathhouse. It is not complete, but almost. So Daphne here is asking for kid toilets for up top. The first thought is, yeah. Kids got to pee. Really normal. Until you realize I have no supplies to run toilets to every elevated build,” Clive said as we left the pavilion. I tossed my bowl in an exit bin and licked my fingers clean. I checked for my shadow and saw Mary right on my heels. “I present the bathhouse.”

An underwhelming sensation filled me. There was a gravel floor, no walls, and dirty water in a few square bath pits. The showerheads worked with people showering behind opaque curtains. Their feet were exposed and you could see flip flops being worn to deal with the gravel.

“This is…” I let in a big inhale and then a loud exhale. “A work in progress. I envisioned a marbled floor, bright natural lighting, and clean flipping water.”

“Eww, the water stinks!” Mary complained while stepping near the edge and getting a waft of the nasty water.

“Where the bleep is Grinder the cement-making robot?” I asked while kicking gravel.

“Someone stole him to secure their tower building. To be fair, the floor would have been too much cement anyway. That Razzar fellow said he can get this place up to shape after the next portal buys. There are some great machines for mining stone; you merely need the finances to purchase them,” Clive said with a carefree tone. He then pointed at the water. “A quick flush will fix that. Apparently the ramoths needed baths. That is the result. That Patrick fellow asked to use the water since we don’t have a heater for it yet. Which is on the list.”

I rubbed my temples. There was nothing I could do unless we wanted to… “Clive, here are your orders. Get a pool heater for this water. Dump this. Fill these. Daphne, get sheets on here for walls. I want this place open at lunch. Come find me when you give your…” I paused, seeing her type on a Gpad. “Ah, Perci squared you away. Perfect. Clive, you have your orders.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Gary, start with why longhouse one is being torn down,” I said while walking the five paces to where our first building used to be. “We have, what, three more built without framed walls?”

“Four more. Six was built with half logs too. So, the dining hall-slash-pavilion was expanded. I swear the moment you came back with more citizens was the moment we finished the demo. I had even shifted the wood processor into making those new benches,” Clive said, pointing to yellow benches without any staining on them. I went to type in loot “wood stains” when Clive continued, “Tonight, it will be pulled out. It can go a day exposed. Rain should stop by then, anyway. So we tore down longhouse one and I was about to start on two. Well, longhouse twenty-seven was started instead. Come, let me show you twenty-six before we go to the high rises.”

“How crammed are people?” I asked. Daphne cleared her throat and raised a hand. “Nope, none of that shit, Daphne. You literally risked your life for me. A second-ranking crixxi is still powerful and to be feared.”

“Yes, tribe master. The crixxi are sleeping in shifts. I spaced it out when Everly was detained last evening. We only have two tower homes so far. The rest are living in longhouse twenty-six. Our extra stuff is being stored under the towers,” Daphne said, pointing to the tall two-story frame without walls.

“We are managing. Eventually, we will be doing better. Tree removal has slowed down since all the vehicles are out harvesting loot. They have just started recovering more trucks. Well, do you want to view longhouse twenty-six or go to where twenty-seven is going?”

“Twenty-seven, please,” I said with a smile. “Daphne, how crowded are the towers?”

“Full capacity at all times. The kids are using buckets for waste. It is not pleasant. Tower three is under construction as we speak. Once we get a network going, our angst at being in the open will fade. Our teams are already building bridges to cross the tower gaps,” Daphne said while looking up at the single bridge between our two towers.

The exterior held a rope ladder we walked by. I poked my head in the base of the nearest tower. The structures were forty feet tall with interior wrapping ramps. That must be a pain to walk up with all those turns. The ramps were only two boards wide. If you ran into someone going the opposite way you had to leap across to get by them. Crixxi children were hopping back and forth for fun, an inevitable fall would probably result in broken bones at a minimum. Then again, the crixxi grew up in the tops of trees. The ramps were crowded and I decided to avoid going up until they were less jammed.

“On to the site for twenty-seven it is,” I said.

The gravel crunched under our feet on our way to the mansion. The drizzling light rain had stopped for the moment, giving us a short reprieve. Mary asked to be picked up again so I put her over my shoulder. The mansion was crowded. TVs were blaring shows or movies to help families cope with the rainy day since the bouncy houses were deflated. I could see the crowded kitchen through the glass. The new kitchen structure between the mansion and the guesthouse was almost finished construction.

My Gpad pinged while we enjoyed the rainless walk.

“After your lunch with Norm, you have a meeting with the animal managers. I guess they are livestock experts, a duo team of crixxi male and a human female.

“Jill plopped out her stones. We stuck them back in for now and she is resting in her new room in the mansion. Entertain Mary until I can get her from you,” - Perci the Amazing

We walked around the mansion exterior. Dressers, nightstands, and other furniture were under the balconies. Most drawers were labeled. A few had a FFA tag, with crixxi sorting for new clothing. The colder weather of Earth had them seeking warmth on this chilly spring morning. The crixxi children seemed oblivious to the temperature change while the adults went from almost ribbon clothing to shorts and shirts.

The backside of the mansion opened up to two pebbled walkways. One southwest that led to the hydro pumps and then the wall, and the other straight west that went to the trees. I had slept in the west field not long ago. Now there were stakes in the mushy wet grass with string outlines. Trees before the river were being tugged out to make room for expansion.

A crew of tree markers were putting a big X on trunks with red spray paint. I realized this was our no-further zone to keep the tavers safe in their own habitat. They were getting a large chunk of pine forest so I felt we were sparing enough. To the northeast there was still ample space to tear down trees and clear for housing.

“Our issue is the lack of boards. Hindsight is I should have bought three of these tree processors. Even with Aspen sending us framing chunks from mid-construction projects, we need more. While I do not groan and moan about doing work, there are some rumblings that all this is wasted effort. We should have been building in stone or steel,” Gary said, pointing to the outlines. “Hopefully they can find some cement mixer down in Denver so we can get to work on this building.”

“I am sure they will, Gary. We will build in stone and steel. But not at the expense of the wood. Not for a long time, I am afraid,” I said, crossing my arms. I grunted before I sighed. I could understand the concern of people putting effort in they thought was a waste.

“I will tell them you are proud of their work and to rest assured we will be building new before tearing down,” Gary said with a pat on my shoulder. “That is all I have for you, boss.”

“Thank you, Gary. Mary, how about you show me the bouncy houses? I am showing no more rain for today. Maybe we can turn them on ourselves!” I said in an excited tone. “Again, thanks, Gary, keep up the good work and keep pestering us for the resources you need. You too, Daphne.”

They left as I followed Mary to the bouncy house play area behind the barn. There was a giant switch Braxton wired all the buried cable lines into. I flipped the lever and the hum of the air blowers gave that unique sound. Kids flocked from everywhere, joyfully cheering at seeing their jumping toys inflating. Parents watched with smiles. I applied a slight shove to Mary when she gave pleading eyes to go play.

Moments like these made the struggles, sacrifices, and effort all worth it.

CHAPTER 17

“Eric, I am telling you I need Clive,” Jevon said with frustration. He was rubbing his head to ease his agitation. “I get his wife doesn’t want him outside the wire. This is different.”

“I need a convoy back first. Come pick him up, and then take him with an armed escort. I will deal with the fallout. Okay?” I said, looking at the video screen of my friend at a table with a bunch of Aspen leaders. We were having a conference call to figure how best to proceed forward with the two strongholds under one leadership. “What is the plan for fixing the problem?”

“Digging down, bursting pipes, and sticking the pumps before the clog point. The screens are covered in who knows what. I have no desire or know how to fix them. So we pump the shit and everything with it. We have spare alien water pumps that can handle a turtle going through the intake. The sewage won’t be treated, but screw it—we are dumping it downhill. Not like we are going to start living closer to Denver. The southern Denver gate literally shifts through the city,” Jevon said with a sigh. “No, thank you. Maybe the smell of sewage will keep them from coming up the mountain. Really, Eric, I am surprised no one killed Reinhardt. Aspen is filled with sewage. Cleaning the overflow that is backfilling all these fine buildings is beyond disgusting.”

“How is Aspen handling Reinhardt’s demise?” Perci asked.

Ulanda fielded this question. “He is missed only because we are changing things. People who earned Aspen citizenry were used to not working. To be fair to them, we had no tasks for them. Aspen has housing galore. We are adapting your rules. I think it's, what, rule two or three? You have to work to improve the community. Over a hundred left last night while screaming we were all going to die under the rule of a tyrant. They are heading for Colorado Springs, which has a few standing strongholds. I know this because we get refugees from there complaining of all sorts of things. Dictatorships are a standard, really. Funny how the grass is always greener somewhere else.”

“Chance of a rebellion?”

“Zero from the military,” Ulanda said with a scoff. Her video feed was some quality stuff. She sat beside Jevon and some council members from Aspen. “Reinhardt may have won over privilege with the rich populace by giving them freedoms. His forces were a tool he abused and us enacting everyone working to share the burden pleases the military but upsets the citizenry. We are doing one shift military, one shift regular work. So far, it seems to be going well. Once we fix our sewage problem for good we will be able to start the cleanup. It was the absolute worst when Reinhardt declared our plumbing issues fixed only to have a worse backflow than before.”

“Okay, I got this task folder. I have my own teams begging for resources too. We will get it done, though. I am getting amazing reports from our combined efforts looting Denver. I see a much brighter future on our horizon. Our cave is overflowing to the point I have started stacking electronics in the field. We are getting more vehicles and trailers every hour. How are you doing with extra storage space?”

Jevon put a finger in the air to answer. “There are plenty of open parking lots here. With Perci’s overrides, I am able to get into most of the vehicles. We are lining the gas drinkers up for removal. If you want to store valuables for the golden gate in Aspen, we have the room.”

I scratched my beard. Well, that was not what I meant, but it was also good news.

“I talked to Norm yesterday during lunch. Then had a sit-down with our new animal officers. Do you have planting space?”

A new voice cut in. “I am Dr. Isador. The mountains are not great for crops. There are some lush lawns on top of soil that can be converted, but the rest of the landscape between our structures is the rocky terrain with shrubs and grass,” Dr. Isador said. The man was wearing a lab coat and appeared to be sixteen. I bet this guy got carded into his thirties. “What did you have in mind?”

“We need to segregate our predators from our prey. At least some of them. It would also help with our crowding livestock issues. We are having to manually remove feces. How are the yexin doing? And what is your dog population like?” Willow asked.

“Our dog population has been… interesting. When we were starving, the strays were disappearing. Now that we have food again, they are everywhere. If you want us to take dogs, we certainly can. The yexin herd is roaming around a lake. Right now they are extremely content. We stuck the looted food in that area. They sleep a lot. We think it is because of the colder climate here. Oh, I’m a biologist. Dr. O’Reilly,” a blond woman with heavy freckles said. “They should survive the summer. Come winter, we should harvest. I also advised against adding more.”

“We have the slaughterhouse operational but not enough freezer space. Thoughts on taking livestock to Aspen?” Nancy asked. My side of the conference call had pre-discussed this meeting, so we were fairly on the same page.

“The ramoths make the most sense to bring over. We can haul a yexin inside to them once a week. Toss the carcass out when done. Were you wanting to bring more?” O’Reilly asked.

“The cats the crixxi brought are assholes. I am not sure what to do. The mozala have been model citizens. The jungle cats have killed half our bunny stock already. It leaves—”

“How about we take over the bunnies. It would be a lot of work, but we have a lot of idle hands. The protein will be amazing, though, if done right,” O’Reilly said, cutting to the chase. Her eyes lit up and she stuck a finger in the air. “Oh, and we have a lot of nice grass we can use if we don’t convert it all into garden beds.”

“Excellent. Next order of business: Xgate 232 and the Xgate between Denver and Boulder known as Xgate 201. 232 has been silent. The squibbles have been removed. They aggravated the divine-apes one too many times. The report Lilith gave was, I quote, ‘If you want all the squid you can eat, sail west for ten miles. Entire settlement destroyed,’ end quote,” I said with a shiver. Charming allies. “Xgate 201 is off limits. Then Lilith handed us another interesting note.”

“I saw that. The castle report, correct? That one is crazy!” Jevon said with sincere surprise when I nodded to confirm.

“That a high-tech species layered a hundred types of defense so intense Lilith avoids them. Spooky to the extreme when she is frightened of something. Then they create a digital universe with the same limitations of our universe that they suicide into. That is certainly one way to get around the expansion restrictions. Do it in your own private universe where everything feels and interacts as if it were legit,” I said, leaning back in the booth and letting out a long whistle.

Everly raised a hand to speak. I nodded.

“We have crixxi wishing to live higher, can we send thirty or so to Aspen to alleviate some of our crowding?”

“If they don’t mind shitting in a bucket, then sure, send them over. After the next golden portal, we should be able to get from Aspen to Mansion in minutes. Assuming the rest of this cycle goes smoothly,” Ulanda said. Her eyebrows rose when she remembered something. “We are sending a field trip for the kids to play on bouncy houses today. Forgot to ask, they were insistent.”

“Of course. We want to integrate our communities. Thank you for sending the extra work teams this morning. The clearing of pines has never been quicker,” Perci said with a smile.

I cleared my throat for attention.

“We have a lot to do to prepare for the next golden portals and then the blue rotation. We need to continue looting, building, and improving our communities. Let us not forget how we got to this point: diplomacy, sacrifices, and hard work. There will not always be some amazing divine-apes to save the day. That means we must prepare as thoroughly as we can. We have an infinite number of tasks ahead of us. Our time is better served working at this point instead of talking. I have faith that when the next rotation of blue portals open, we will greet our foes with spilled blood, and friends with open arms.”

THE END

Epilogue

DAY 10—FIRST GOLDEN PORTAL—FOURTEEN MILES WEST OF NEW ZEALAND

“I feel like a champion,” Jarod said. He inspected his aqua-suit. His body was encased in thick crystal armor that Bubbles said was stronger than diamond. Water jets were built into his feet to propel him across the water. A shield system sat on top of the armor around his hips as a central covering point. His body casing had dart turrets on his shoulders and thighs. “Maybe more than a champion, but I would not risk angering actual gods. How are the upgrades coming?”

Jarod and his team were inside the storage locker of the golden portal. While he waited for a reply, he thought about how well things were going. Bubbles was a godsend, literally and figuratively. She and Coral were everything he could have hoped for in a partner. Strong, confident, knowledgeable, sturdy, sexy, and more. The duo had quickly converted three boats into materials. An hour later they transferred the souls they had blessed with the salvation of the gods. They were taken around a market so majestic Jarod scolded himself. He openly cursed for not being a believer earlier in his life. Now, his devotion was absolute. Bubbles and Coral were tweaking the sailing yacht in a warehouse. Jarod would have never thought they could bring their boat inside.

Bubbles insisted if it fits in the fifty-foot width, then it could go into storage. Everything that came in could be broken down, sold as-is, or removed. In this case, Bubbles and Coral were adding upgrades before they removed the Pearly Dream. Jarod had seen some angry baboon creatures helping with the conversions. They were apparently expert mechanics. A squad of five female sirens were waiting beside him. Bubbles forbade him from getting male siren warriors. There was a ripped wolfman that Bubbles got given as a gift for her flirting with the dealer. Jarod was always impressed with the skills she had.

Coral poked her head out of the sailboat elevated by imaginary skids. “Did you say something, my king?” Coral asked with an inquisitive tone.

“Are we almost ready? I was curious about the upgrades,” Jarod asked. He was feeling useless just standing waiting for others to finish working. Bubbles sang a song from the deck of the ship. The new sirens carried the melody until Jarod sat on the floor with his legs crossed. He was content now, their melody swooning him into compliance.

“The batteries have been replaced with power generators. Then the front and bow turrets have to be wired in separately from the flying turbines. Lastly, we need to assemble the water propellers on their own generator. Earth is high in carbon. Our carbon generators will be more than enough power for what we need. Not much longer,” Bubbles said with a wave before dipping below the deck.

Jarod’s head twitched. His memories of his past life were fading as he built up an immunity to the sirens’ songs. He stood to walk the hull of the boat, his fingers tracing the smooth underside. He was a champion now. A man worthy of the gods’ attention. If only Jane could see how powerful he had become. His head shook again, trying to remember what she looked like. Yes, Jane would be impressed. Maybe she would give him children. He had an inkling she had wanted some before, but he had been hesitant. His old home was crystal clear in his memory. A large yellow house with a green door. He hated that green. He could not remember more than Marble Heights near Aspen. His jagged broken memory gave him that, at least. That and Jane… No, her name was Jill. His hand stopped stroking the hull of the sailboat when he realized something was very wrong.

A euphoric feeling washed over Jarod when he thought of the gods guiding his way. So wonderful this new world was. He would be the king of it all. None would stand in his way. Even though he was slipping from a past he hardly remembered, there was still a drive to get home. He stared at the nothingness for hours. Eventually, Coral shook him from his daze. It was time to go. He climbed onto the ship from the rear ladder. The wolfman he had named Roscoe was on the front turret ready for potential threats. A siren named Chorus was on the back turret on the stern’s landing pad.

“Come, champion, sit at the helm for your humble servant,” Bubbles sang, patting the captain’s chair.

Jarod backhanded her with a force that sent her staggering. Bubbles stared defiantly at Jarod. She went to rise and he smacked her with his palm this time. Her eyes converted to fright.

Jarod smiled when she whimpered, “My king, why?”

“Sing to me again and I will abandon you. Leave you to fend for yourself before you return to your waters where you can be a fitting slave to an uncaring master. I am a champion of the gods, not your play toy. I am sick of forgetting. I am sick of my brain feeling like mush,” Jarod said with a clenched jaw. Jarod thought of the being he had conversed with while he was in his daze earlier. “Little mouse on the motorcycle, take us out of this place of the gods.”

The sailboat swooshed back before Bubbles could say a reply. The golden light engulfed the crew, blinding them. There was a splash of the boat returning to the Tasman Sea on Earth.

The bright sunlight reflected off a small, metallic vessel rocking in the waves near an adjacent portal.

Roscoe whipped the turret around. A trailing orange laser sizzled the water until it scored the boat in twain.

A single occupant entered the water. A trio of sirens dove down into blue waves to retrieve their prize. Jarod watched them swim with an efficiency akin to ballet. Sirens were so smooth in water. Bubbles cleared her throat for attention.

“I must apologize. Our ways are… different. Yes, that word works best here. I knew you were a strong champion. You see the way of the gods now. I have done the work of the divine,” Bubbles said, wiping the dribble of blood off her cheek. Jarod was kissed with a lusty lip lock. When they parted, a coughing woman sputtered water as she was tossed onto the sea deck. “Oh, a toy.”

Jarod walked up to the woman. The bob of the boat was minimal as they drifted away from the golden portal.

“Where is Henry?” the woman asked. She went into a frantic scream seeing Roscoe. “Henry!”

Jarod grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her off the deck with his immense virum-infused arms.

“You will submit to my will and be a servant of the gods. Or you will be fed to the wolfman. Servant or death,” Jarod said with a smirk.

The woman’s bulging eyes continued to try to see the portal. Jarod ignored her for a moment to turn the autopilot on. The boat’s sails unfurled to snap with the wind. The electric motor hummed, allowing the boat’s drift to correct. With a building speed, the ship sailed for LA, California. Jarod forgot he was choking the woman until she kicked his leg.

He dropped her to allow her to breathe.

“How are you—”

“Your Henry is gone. I am Jarod. I am a loving husb— I am a loving man. You can serve me or die. Neat, you have a translator. I require thirty-five years in exchange for one meal a day and four glasses of water,” Jarod said while touching her translator with his offer. She instantly refused. Jarod cackled. “Last chance.” Jarod pointed to Roscoe. “Come here, Roscoe. Lick this servant’s throat for me.”

The woman’s bladder vacated when she saw the wolfman licking his chops hungrily. A yellow stain of liquid trailed off the floor for the rear of the boat.

“Good, I see your fear—”

She spat in Jarod’s face.

“Roscoe, kill her,” Jarod said without hesitation.

“That is not a good idea, champion,” Chorus said.

“Wait, Roscoe. Give me your weapon, Chorus. I am all for new soldiers. I like the idea of buying an army. What is the point of an army when they tell you your ideas are bad?” Jarod said, snatching the long-dart gun from Chorus’s hands. “I order you to not move, Chorus. That is how it works, right? I cannot harm you but you must obey unless it is in the contract. You are my slave, so stand there. This little woman can hurt you.”

Jarod slid the weapon into the terrified woman’s trembling hands. He aimed the weapon at Chorus’s chest.

“Do it, and I will return you to Henry. I—”

Snap, snap, snap.

Three darts flew into Chorus’s abdomen and out her back. The siren slumped against the freezer in shock from the sudden turn of events. Jarod peeled out a laughter of madness.

“Good, good. I will get you back to Henry. But you have to trust me, okay,” Jarod said. “I am not torturing her, so this should work.”

She nodded, her mind partially cracked. When Jarod sent the contract, she accepted. Another added servant to his army.

“Bubbles,” Jarod said for her attention. “She accepted my contract. Put her in my suite. Sing her into a stupor. She is your pet until you break her mind. Her new name is Meredith. I always liked that name. I will be down shortly with Roscoe.”

Roscoe turned his head in confusion. “Go wait above the hatch until you are called for,” Jarod commanded, and Roscoe obeyed.

That was exactly how Jarod liked it to be. He kneeled in front of a suffering Chorus.

“Do I toss you overboard or leave you on the ship and let your virum heal you?” Jarod said while gazing into the siren’s eyes. She glared with anger. He picked her up and flung her overboard. Chorus screamed until she splashed into the water. The sound of her crying for forgiveness faded until it was gone.

“Coral, did I make the right decision?”

“Always. She will have been a problem, my king. Most beta females of our kind that are sold are done so for a reason. Better to get the exchange over having to remove them without gain later. Are you ready to go fast!?” Coral said with a slight jumping clap. “May I sit in your lap or do you want to save your seed for the wench down below?”

“You naughty vixen, you have been into the pirate movies. Want to help me break her in when she becomes Meredith?” Jarod said with a laugh. Coral nodded eagerly. “Excellent. You saw my warning with Bubbles. I am done playing games. I am the dominant alpha. You’re my tools and toys when I choose to be kind. Now, show me how this baby flies.”

“Yes, my king,” Coral said. She hit a few buttons. A bottom propeller crested the yacht off the water in a hurry. Jarod was glued into the seat from the sudden acceleration. Coral glanced over her shoulder with a naughty smirk. She rubbed her plump ass into his crotch. “Ready for more, big boy?”

Jarod nodded. The sails altered to horizontal. Wings spread out from a folded mechanical contraption. Jets on the side of the hull fired up with an unknown propulsion source. A new button was pressed by Coral. There was a roar of noise and a whoosh. Moments later, they were airborne.

The yacht stabilized into a plane without turbulence or even minor shaking. An advanced technology kept it perfectly stable. The only issue was that there was an intense wind as they shot forward with incredible speeds. Roscoe waved to get Jarod’s attention. He pointed at his chest, then down. Jarod nodded.

The flying sailboat never went more than a dozen feet over the waves. Jarod shrugged when he tried to figure out why. He knew it would be explained with time.

“Permission to go below?” a siren asked Jarod.

“Yes, relax, the cabin is nice and large,” Jarod said, gesturing to the cabin down below. He turned to Coral with a tilt of his head and asked, “Where did the baboons go?”

“They were hired, then sent back. That was the extent of our interaction. I am showing four days until we arrive in LA. What would you like to do to pass the time?” Coral asked while sliding a hand down Jarod’s pants.

A flicker of a memory leaped into his mind. A phobia of touch. As quick as the thought entered, it faded. His cock was grasped firmly. Jarod yanked her hand out. He left her pouting to follow him. He walked by the lounging sirens pouring themselves drinks. They smirked and smiled. Jarod realized Chorus was not liked that much among the group when he was handed a glass with a thank-you cheer. The group downed the whiskey and a second round was poured. Jarod set his glass down before it could be refilled.

Coral bounced in front of Jarod to open his cabin door. He strode in like the king he was. The sight he saw shocked him, which he was impressed by. Not much was able to give him that feeling lately.

Meredith was on all fours licking Roscoe’s belly. Bubbles gave a pout at the sight of new arrivals.

“I almost have her, may I continue?” Bubbles said.

Meredith shook her head trying to clear her confusion. Jarod could relate to that feeling. Bubbles sang into her left ear. Coral joined on the right.

Meredith swooned from the song. “Oh, Harry, or was it Henry?” Meredith said while licking the fuzzy abs of Roscoe.

Coral gently tugged down the woman’s pants. The woman was not a super fit, perfect babe. She had cellulite and chunky curves. Like a woman without the virum in control yet. It was somehow refreshing not to see perfection.

“Thank you, Bubbles, for the example. Pull her pants up, Coral. I want her mind wiped, not to rape her. When she becomes Meredith and forgets her past, then she can have an orgy with us. That means at some point you stop singing to her. Actually, you will only sing with my express permission. Convert her into Meredith still. Out of the room, Roscoe,” Jarod said, opening the door. “Just so you ladies know, even when you sang into my ear, I was always in control and willing.”

“We know. You are far more powerful than Meredith. She will get insatiable if you do not block her reproduction with stones,” Coral said, and Bubbles shot daggers with her eyes.

Jarod picked up on the gaze. He knew. He asked the mouse riding the motorcycle in his head about the virum and how they worked. That led to him finding out both Coral and Bubbles were without a child in the womb, which went down a road Bubbles thought he was oblivious to. Jarod had more important issues to address.

“Los Angeles has fourteen gates. I want to fly over it at at least ten thousand feet while we head straight for my home,” Jarod said. The ring around his neck displayed a map pulled from his Gpad. He had purchased an advanced communication device that did not need Gtowers to operate. LA was showing on a large overview. Aspen, Colorado, was on the far other side of the map. “I say we fly around—”

“Your grace, there has been an oversight. You have always said you wanted to only go here,” Coral said, pointing at LA. “I even studied our map to see if there were islands we could raid on the way to this location in an effort to please you. You never mentioned wanting to go inland so far. This ship uses the hydrogen from the ocean to travel. It cannot leave a water source. I guess what I am saying is that if we go by ground, it will be in a different vehicle. We can always find a golden portal and trade for a new vehicle when we arrive. A few days waiting should be easy on this luxury vessel.”

Jarod’s jaw twisted in a grimace. Coral let out an adorable eek. He rubbed her back, then tucked her into an embrace.

“Jane, we will save you. If we have to crash the gates of hell, we will save you.” Jarod released Carol and looked at Jane. Bubbles. That was Bubbles. He whipped his head, clearing his mind. “We will find somewhere quiet to land. We will loot, pillage, and ransack our way to glorious victory. All in the name of the gods. Our holy devotion will lead us to Aspen, where we will bring our army to secure my wife. Jane, or was it… Jill? Who is Jill? Jane is my everything.”

A mad cackling laugh escaped his lips at his ridiculous confusion. What did one woman’s name matter? He would recognize his wife when he saw her. He would put that child in her she always desired. There was no force on heaven, hell, or any alien planet that could stop him.

CHAPTER 1

“Hello, Winston, may I sit?” I asked, pointing to the stiff chair outside the well-decorated booth.

Video displays shifted images of unique aliens to the left and right of the blue-skinned vendor. The seven-fingered information seller gestured to the seat across from where he stood. He was naked again, causing me to grimace. I should have hardly been bothered. I had been naked lately, with those insatiable ladies of mine, more often than not myself. After I managed to make myself comfortable in the seat, I initiated a trade with Winston. Our translators sparked an arc of power, completing our nonbinding agreement.

“Five chairs? I am rarely impressed by new entries to the containment. Thank you for keeping your end of the deal and even including a bonus,” Winston said, revealing his jagged teeth with a smile. “I have brought an apprentice with me today.”

A form shimmered into existence at the side of the booth. I inspected her when she materialized from her invisibility. I set her name to Luna.

Species: Arimi - Individual Name: Luna - Rating: 10

The thought of who named the Arimi was erased when I studied her form. Luna was another virum-bodied being—with a thin, toned stomach, curvy hips, and supple breasts all in dark to light shades of blue. She was very naked. Her tail was thin and narrow, unlike a Crixxi’s. Other than a pair of feathery black eyebrows, the only hair on her graced the tip of her tail, with a tuft of black fur. Her head was bald with inset ears. Very blue, very alien, and yet sexy.

I saw two of the large tavers chairs spawn in the booth. Both Winston and Luna splayed their seven-fingered hands to grasp the armrests before sitting with what sounded like happy snarls.

“Ah, this is marvelous. I do enjoy a comfortable chair.” He smiled at me, all teeth. “Alright, Cap, I am impressed. Please, why don’t we conduct a trade? I did promise to pay for additional chairs. You tell me what you experienced over the last blue portal cycle and I will update your market information as the day moves along,” Winston said, adjusting his seat in the chair until his face relaxed into complete comfort. “They did such a fine job, I don't even want to add padding.”

“Yes, I agree with you, Master, this human is different from the others of his species. Is he an offshoot?” Luna asked.

“Indeed, excellent deduction. Humans managed to flee their quarantine to some extent. This … form of humanity grew into its own branch. Oblivious of the past it fled from,” Winston said to Luna, who nodded in understanding. He turned back to me, “Please, Cap, proceed.”

“Where to begin? I guess we can start with the Squibbles, as we named them,” I said as an update from Willow blinked on my Gpad.

“Operation turn Denver loot into raw materials going exceedingly well with all four portals open. Mom, Major Ulanda, and Torrez reporting positive results. They do not think we will hit max allowable transfer limits, even with all four blues to ourselves.” - Queen Willow

“We do not have this species on our list. This is an excellent find, Cap.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “May I access the full files you have on this alien race?”

I sent Winston the entire document Harvard had prepared with Lilith’s help. It was an overview of everything we had compiled. Lilith had anticipated this very moment and I was curious to see how Winston would react.

“So thorough, I could almost think you had an Arimi in your settlement. My goodness, I now see why.” Winston’s eyes studied a device projecting my information from the counter. His eyes fluttered as he digested the information. He gave a slight gasp when an image of a Divine-Ape flashed across the screen. “You had a very, very interesting blue rotation. Please,” he motioned for me to continue, which looked rather freaky with his seven fingered hand, “don’t let sending me this file stop you from letting me hear it from your own lips. A first-hand account often provides vital details overlooked in video summaries and reports.”

His statement reminded me of something I wanted to ask about. “Before I forget to mention it, there was a delay in the shifting of the gates from blue to gold. Did you experience that as well?” I asked, remembering having to wait an extra-long time for the gold market to open. “I am curious, because last time, after the blue portals fizzled out, the golden gates transitioned perfectly on cue.”

The blue alien grimaced. “I see you have picked a side in the debate of whether the proverbial gate gods are good or evil. I know the subject is far more complex than that and we stay neutral.” He raised a hand in response to the confused look on my face. “This leads to your question, which I will get to, if you have patience. The controllers of our quarantine dictate who, what, and where,” Winston said, settling comfortably back into his chair. “We Arimi consider ourselves custodians of knowledge. Our goal in life is to be the most informed. Across this grand market, there are hundreds of my kind setting up shop. For each of the gates we control, there are teams of Arimi cruising the millions of stalls, gathering information.”

Luna touched her master’s arm delicately, seeking permission to interject. His tail wriggled in a tight circle; aliens were odd.

“What Master Winston is getting around to,” Luna continued, with Winston’s apparent permission, “is that the controlling hand that binds our fates is not perfect. There are times when the powers that be are slow.” Her brow wrinkled. “I think the longest we had to wait on a golden portal spawn was several days. That was…” Luna paused to tap on a nearby screen, “Four hundred years ago. For ages, eons, as long as many can remember, the Xgates were never late. They had no issues until recently, and we have detected no pattern as to when this will happen or if it will continue to happen. Our theory is the rapid expansion of—”

Winston held up a hand.

“This is part of our exchange,” Winston said with a stern gaze, “so we’re clear.”

I inclined my head in agreement.

“The universe expands from one central point,” he continued, “and as that expansion spreads, planets cool, evolve, and establish life according to a predictable pattern in a certain time frame. Lately, we have had a great increase of planets birthing aggressive species that must be quarantined, which we think is stressing the system.” He looked at Luna. “This is just a theory. A sound theory, nonetheless. If this is the case, we may expect continued issues. Maybe even instead of firing four blues on average, we get only two. Who knows? We can only speculate. Simply know that not everything is running smoothly as of late.”

“Ah, thank you,” I smiled at his explanation, “that is reassuring. I was told something similar, though in a different fashion by the Divine-Apes. I also met a species called the Crixxi, who we have integrated into our society.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “In exchange for this data, I was hoping you could provide me with information with which I can save prisoners worthy of bringing to my home. As we speak, we are converting all our loot and I will have a large budget to get the things we need; personnel is high on that list.”

Luna cleared her throat and Winston’s tail twirled in another tight circle.

“You want to save slaves?” she asked, a tad confused. “There are many species who exist simply to serve. There is no freedom for them and they could use good homes. Is that what you seek?”

I nodded, and she raised a curious eyebrow. “Yes,” I said, “my goal is to help these species, so they can help us. We will convert poor contracts into three meals a day, good care, a nice place to sleep, and an early release upon exemplary behavior. That is my plan, at least. Other than Humans and Crixxi, I do not know of other species that would do well performing menial chores, raising children, and farming.” I paused, folding my hands into my lap. “We do get cold weather, but can provide clothing to address that … though, I guess we will have need of seamstresses and some craftsmen, too. I have a long list—”

Luna waved her two-thumbed hand at me, so I sent her the file.

“I can work on this while you talk, Master.” She continued, “You have seen what information he brought us, including a new species; the council will pay handsomely. I see no harm…”

“Excuse us one moment.” Winston spun on Luna and pulled her to the side of the booth. “Do not speak so openly to me regarding what I should or should not allow in front of strangers. While you’re my niece, we are not at home,” he hissed.

I pretended to be interested in one of the displays so as not to embarrass either of them while Winston corrected his apprentice.

They sat back down in their chairs.

“In this case,” Winston growled, “I agree that you should assist him.”

“Forgive my transgression, Master Winston,” Luna said evenly. I got a hint she felt he was overreacting.

“I will only say thank you for accepting my list. The Divine-Apes were a blessing. I never thought they would be so intelligent, so powerful, and so mind-numbingly frightening,” I said, shifting in my chair to cross one leg over my knee. “The Divine-Apes’ feud with the Lurrol opened our eyes to a lot of realities, the foremost being that we were lucky we hadn’t aggravated either species. My wooden village with its simple small dirt wall and razor-wire is nothing to such creatures. Seeing those mighty goliaths in action made me feel …”

“Inferior?” Winston nodded. “We have fought the Lurrol but have never encountered the Divine-Apes. The Lurrol … well, they are no fun to kill. I can see that the Divine-Apes were not exactly friendly.”

“You digest information quickly,” I complimented him and he gave a confident shrug. “I lost a co-commander that I respected to Lilith’s wrath. Although she gave me a solid reason and rationale for his murder, seeing someone executed so peremptorily was quite a shock. I—”

Again, he held up his seven fingered hand to stop me. “We Arimi have many rules about how we handle information about the superior races. I have said all I can on the matter. Apologies. Please continue,” Winston said with a hint of remorse.

“There was a lot of chaos. I had attempted to save a matriarch Divine-Ape who was not in need of saving. Fortunately, she did not punish me for my transgression; in fact, Madam rewarded us. There was a lot of fighting. A lot. I remember feeling inadequate but still had some impact on the fight. After that battle of titans, it was as if we had entered the eye of a hurricane. The chaos went away. We spent seven-plus days peacefully building, integrating, and looting to prepare for this golden market. Our lives have stabilized.” I grimaced as the memory left a sour taste in my mouth. “I even had another dozen people leave, thinking they were better off on their own, only to find another two hundred people huddled in a school basement desperate for our assistance.”

Winston bobbed his tail. “I see that from your report, your species is uncertain even amongst yourselves. That is very common for recently quarantined species, in the beginning. You will find that some refuse to fight, while others despise hunkering down; it is not in their nature to either be vigilant or to be afraid. We have studied many species over the eons. Yours will be no different. The smart, the lucky, and the patient survive; the irrational perish.

“I would caution you about something, though,” his voice dropped to a discrete rumble, “When asked if the powers controlling the gates are good or evil, play undecided—at least here in the market—that will let you trade more. Sure, some may preach what they believe is ‘gospel’ to vindicate their particular feelings, but sometimes a few minutes of preaching is worth a new gravity tank. Speaking of which,” he smirked, “you should have stolen the self-replicating crop-growing systems in their entirety. Building manufacturing capacity will pay dividends. Even I would have bought fresh-grown animal feed for variety.”

His assistant’s tail raised itself by Winston’s head, and he turned her way. “What did you find, Luna?”

“We just arrived at the market. The teams out updating lists are slowly reporting in, but I do have a few candidates based on last week’s offerings. The Mounamine are a great species. The females are only hostile to other females around the male they desire; hardly an aggressive species worthy of containment, but that is how it works. They resemble mouse-like creatures, with whiskers and small beady noses, but a torso much the same as ours,” Luna said, running a hand down her flawless blue body. I may have stared a bit longer than I should have. A wagging finger pulled my eyes off her juicy tits. “Then there are the Orinia. They hop around on four legs and have tiny arms, with balancing tails; they are very quick over short distances. They make amazing childcare providers, as none of their charges ever escape their careful watch. We keep several of them ourselves; in fact, I have three managing my children right now. Both of these species breed decently, but generally have no home planets of their own, any longer.”

“Have no homes?” I asked, a bit confused.

“Ah, silly human…” A stern gaze from Winston made Luna pause. “I apologize. We Arimi try not to offend those like yourself capable of that kind of destruction.”

“Please forgive my transgression,” Luna said, bending at the waist.

“Forgiven.” I waved a hand, “Please elaborate more on these Mounamine and Orinia.”

Luna sat upright before continuing, “They are sub-species, but intelligent. They no longer have home-worlds to defend anymore. They are only subservient races because their mating rituals included an aggressive element—not all quarantined species are warrior societies or adapt well to this ‘Vikingism’, as you call it. Neither the Mounamine or the Orinia occupy major settlements where they are considered the dominant species. They are completely reliant upon truly aggressive species for protection. Freeing one such to the Xgates would see them become food or they would simply be contracted again. So, do not set them free. They will almost always renew their contracts of servitude.”

I frowned, but understood. I was upset with myself that we hadn’t thought of this earlier. Then again, our community was new to the ways of the quarantine.

“It sound like these are the perfect species to become our ideal workers. I was being honest when I said that, ideally, we seek species that we can help. Any Crixxi or Human—”

“Stop that line of thought, Cap, for your own good.” Winston huffed, “Crixxi, sure—they bend to the whims of their tribe masters and almost never rebel. Humans, however, will chop off your head and gladly sacrifice themselves in the name of the gate gods. Never trust the blue tattooed monsters, as we call them,” Winston said.

“Blue tattooed monsters?” I raised an eyebrow.

“They infuse their bodies with a different sort of Virum host called Lexium. These Lexium give them blue tattoos, as it liquefies their blood in swirling boils that raise the skin.” He snorted, “Consider yourself warned. Your Earth humans will be coveted, I doubt many will be for sale. You will have plenty of homeless races to pick from that you could use in a place like Stronghold Mansion. You’re inherently different on a fundamental level, Cap.” He grinned, “That is why we were so quick to accept your trade.”

A two-legged, three-headed bird being walked up behind my chair. A report was sent over my shoulder. Winston accepted the transfer and sent his own.

“Cheers, Aggrixi,” Winston said, and the creature wandered to the edge of the orbital. I watched the gravity change and pull him out of the structure. “You almost done, Luna?”

“Yes,” she looked up from her display, “though there are many variables. How many can you hold? Do you want Crixxi warriors or domesticated servants?”

“Well,” I smirked, “ten thousand, give or take.”

This caused Winston to frown. “You were at a population of only a thousand last time I saw you, correct?” Winston asked with an inquisitive tone.

“We absorbed another stronghold with plenty of additional housing. There was a foul odor that we have mostly removed, but Aspen is ready for more residents and we have freezers packed with meat. Looting has been our primary goal, and right now it is paying dividends. Our secondary objective has been to improve our housing. We have made so much progress lately, it’s like the apocalypse never happened. We have even increased our cleared land for farming and have raided additional Yexin. After today, if we manage to get a relatively manageable blue spawn, we can hold many more,” I said, feeling rather optimistic. “Fate will tell, though.”

“Okay, there is a large tribe of Crixxi, three thousand strong, that is up for auction. They surrendered on Mixonis to the Vempia species. Eww,” her lip curled in disgust, “that species are zealots for the Gate Gods. The auction is set to end a few hours before the golden market expires. Here is the location. As for the Mounamine, here are the locations of a dozen breeders. Mind you, the females cost more, but the males work any task just as well. The Orinia can swap between sexes, so,” Luna said with a chuckle, “males and females cost the same amount.” She pointed to an area of the market on the map, “All servile species are in one common area. Let me warn you, though I am thousands of years old and my uncle far wiser than I, we only recommend a course of action. If you buy a random species and are disappointed, do not get upset with us if it hurts your community long term.” She looked up to her Uncle. “Does this complete our transaction, Master Winston?”

The Arimi looked at me and I nodded. The information was sent to my translator.

“I will stick to this list. Thank you, Luna; thank you, Winston. Should I have the Tavers make additional chairs for my next visit?” I asked, rising to my feet.

“Consider them purchased. Five per, if you can. Until next time, Cap,” Winston said, flashing his teeth. Luna produced an odd wave with her tail.

I turned towards the exit. My next stop was to talk to my armorer and logistician, Torrez. I reached the exterior gravity elevator and was whisked to our custom storage container after a brief exposure to the void.

I found Torrez sorting loot on a rack of shelves, tapping his chin. “How is it looking?” I asked, peering over his shoulder.

“Extremely well. The no-brainer purchases have already been initiated,” Torrez said. I walked over to check his list. “Mostly building equipment … three new bull dozer type machines ... Ah, good, here they are!” he exclaimed

The storage room rapidly expanded. Massive digging machines occupied a majority of the remaining empty floor space. These were for digging into the mountains. I walked over to one the size of a big rig to study the details of the massive contraption. A brown glow told me it was powered by a carbon power generator. There were no wheels or tracks, as it hovered off the ground like an anti-gravity sled. Each had a single seat in an enclosed cabin for an operator. At the head of the machine was something akin to spiked pistons, with pumps to fire them; a horizontal conveyor belt, of sorts, ran through the interior of the machine. My guess was that the front smashed rocks into bricks or bits and then ejected the refuse out the rear. There were several configuration options, and I saw where the piston alignments could be adjusted on reconfigurable rails. The refuse could even be processed by each machine. You could make both rectangular and arched bricks, which made smile. I remembered from high-school history that arches were much stronger than rectangular door frames.

Another set of machines were added to the storage room, giving me a jolt of surprise. It looked like the wood processor back at the Mansion now had friends. Four more, to be exact. Their wide-mouth feed trays were closed for travel. These also sat on their own anti-gravity sled, and would be towed home from the Xgate by a single truck.

Felix and Dalila arrived, and started transferring the new purchases out the portal. I stepped back, letting them work, when another batch of earth moving dozers arrived. My goodness. Maybe, one day, we could shift our production into manufacturing and advanced crafts.

Massive cranes folded up into the corner next to me, forcing the room to spawn more space. Yes! I pumped my fist in the air and did a little dance. I was getting castle walls and a manor. Booyah!

Seeing all the machinery stacking up beside me, I became concerned with how much all this was costing me. It was difficult to gauge the outflow of high-cost purchases against the inflow of whatever our loot was worth.

“Are we going to have enough money for projected armor and weapon upgrades?” I asked Torrez, though the machines impressed me so much, the smile never left my face.

“Oh yeah, guaranteed. We have so much, I don’t know how to spend it all,” Torrez scoffed.

“Well, when is the burrowing transport station supposed to arrive?” I asked, knowing that was a key item on our must-buy list.

“The underway? Jacky has it—she even picked up two additional location portals for future expansions. We are doing fine on our account balances; and we have yet to finish looting Denver. This is going to be a very busy shopping session. Oh, hey, Perci,” Torrez said to the sound of approaching footsteps.

My little wife hung on my arm. “How did it go with Winston?” Perci asked.

“Great. Here is the updated data; Winston said he’ll continue to update it. No species breakdown yet, but one day I will win him over. You're still taking Everly personnel shopping?” I asked her, then snuck in a quick kiss and a subtle ass grab. “I missed our morning exercise.”

Torrez rolled his eyes. “I will be super excited when we get your manor built. Jasmine asks if she can watch TV on the fold-out bed in RV3 at least three times a day, but half the time the darn thing is rocking,” Torrez said with a head-shaking snicker.

“I heard Maria can’t keep her stones in and gave up,” Perci said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Ugh, I swear. It’s that stupid line Eric used … ‘What better way for us to prove we believe in the future than by having children?’ I plan to hand off my kids to you when they stink or are in full-on terror mode, and then steal them back when they are behaving themselves,” Torrez smirked, nodding his head to his own little fantasy.

I saw Everly enter the storage area. My Crixxi cutie was in yoga leggings and a plain pink shirt; her red tail swishing behind her. “Everly,” I bounded over to her, “there are three thousand Crixxi coming up for bid in the market. I’d like to bolster our army numbers.” Everly’s purple eyes shone. “In the file I’m sending you,” I tapped at my Gpad, “there is also data on two other species we should purchase … Mounamine and Orinia, if I am reading this right. I was—”

Everly stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and a kiss on the cheek. “Those are fantastic species to add. We Crixxi never use them, because they are both horrid climbers and afraid of heights. But for you ground dwellers, they will be perfect. There is also a docile tree bear, not unlike a panda, that we will be buying to help the Crixxi in our towers,” Everly said, running a hand down the machines. “I missed you this morning, my chief. You should run less and stay in bed more,” she pouted. “These machines are making me purr, and you—”

“Would you look at the time,” Torrez said, and Perci chuckled, deciding to help the poor man out.

“Torrez,” she ordered, “I need you to go armament shopping, as in, ten minutes ago.”

He shrugged, grinned, then handed her his lists. As he turned to go weapons shopping, I sought to escape with him. Everly pouted her lips, begging for a kiss. Having granted her wish with a tender smooch, Torrez and I sped off for the market. It was time to go soldier toy shopping. I sighed happily. About freaking time.

CHAPTER 2

“How much further?” I asked as we strolled down the corridor of booths.

“Cap, we’ll get there when we get there, the same thing I tell Jasmine. Why, did you get distracted?” Torrez said with a smirk.

“Those siren babes were… babes. Too bad we don’t have an ocean nearby. I eventually want a water fighting force,” I said with a shrug. We passed a wood carving trinket store. Good to see the arts hadn’t died, even during this age of Vikingism. We passed a livestock vendor showing customers a pig-like creature bigger than an elephant, with short, striped fur. “Maybe they’d have chickens?” I mused.

“Boss, the whole point of this crazily disorganized market not letting you go to exactly where you want is for just this reason. You are forced to window shop and every merchant along the way gets a crack at you,” Torrez said with a chuckle. “I promise, we can check for chickens on the way back, after we get more weapons and arms. Maria has been asking for some chicken eggs, anyhow. Those green eggs taste just fine, but she wants the real thing,” he sighed, “Women!”

“She was working for Perci, right? What is she doing these days?” I asked, knowing that between Jacky, Everly, and the other Mother Hens, Perci had plenty of help with her tasks.

“She hasn’t committed to any new roles. Right now, she is task jumping. She was helping me for a bit, but we got into a scuffle—a minor one, mind—over how I could never find the things right in front of my face. She has many options to choose from,” Torrez said with a chuckle. My mom always gave me a hard time about the same thing. “You know, it's really interesting that we’re building up to a true economy. It won’t happen overnight, but it is great to see. I love Maria and we are great together, but we need space between us to stay together. I hope she finds something she truly enjoys doing.” He looked over at me, “Speaking of boring lovers … Why do you tell Everly you are going for a run, only to spend time with Jill and Mary?”

“The babes know,” I said, with a wince. “I intend to go for a run. But then I run into this adorable little girl who wants to go on a hike. I don’t really need to run, with the virum in my body, but I do need to clear my mind. Turns out, an innocent three-year-old is the perfect reset for me. Our conversations are so basic. I love how simple our time together is; Jill rarely says a word.” He grinned at this. I smirked. “My other four ladies even jogged past us this morning as we strolled along. Jill normally takes off at that point, to jog with the others.”

“Is there a stopping point to this harem building?” Torrez asked, a bit concerned. “I see that Jevon has Becca and Sarah now. Bonnet has a reverse harem after she added those Crixxi boys. I just worry. Maria says I just need to mind my own damn business, which is her and her only.” He rubbed his chin. “I actually think Mary humanizes you the same way Jasmine does to me. But, still—"

“Where do I stop? I’ve asked myself the same question many times.” I shrugged, “I have no idea. According to Nancy, never, it’s part of my role as a Viking king—to feast on the flesh of my conquests. Perci doesn’t care one way or the other. She is captivated by the tender love that a large family brings. Willow was a big fan of a throuple, but it continues to expand. I am not sure. I guess I need to talk to Willow; she was pretty assertive the last time the subject came up, but doesn’t complain. I have not seen her frown much, if at all, lately, when it comes to her personal life. Everly has no shame, she is a minx in bed; she devours the others more than me.”

I didn’t really know what to do. “Jill is a pariah, really. I don’t think she would … Yeah,” I nodded to myself, “she would never have been interested in something like this before. My guess is, I am a rebound, almost the exact opposite of what she had—a shut-in, enclosed life with unlimited rules that she rebelled against. She loves kids and wants more. She keeps spitting out her stones like she has, and she will need to pick a dad, soon. Her daughter calls me Dad, so …” Again, I shrugged.

“As much fun as it is, discussing your love life, we are here,” my friend said with the showmanship of a reality-show host, his arms spread wide. I was not impressed. At the booth where we stopped, a seven-foot-tall slug creature slept, a long trail of drool connecting its lip with the floor.  There were no displays of any kind. He, she, or it might as well have been selling air. “Excuse me, good… creature,” Torrez began.

“Hey!” I shouted.

I named the species sluggero and this individual Blob.

Species: Sluggero

Individual Name: Blob

Rating: 3

The creature jiggled slightly, slurped up the long line of drool, then grumbled as it awoke. “I am Blob. Were you wanting to tour my items?” Blob asked with a purple sucker for a mouth that stretched wide in a giant yawn. Yuck, no teeth. The two beady eyes peered down from short fleshy stalks.  His eyes were tiny compared to the immensity of the rest of the creature, who was covered in a yellow-tinged, fleshy outer layer.

“We may have an outdated list of your items,” Torrez said politely.

“Ah, we are a manufacturing nation; we always have items for sale. Our protector alliance keeps us safe. In the last million years we have never missed a golden gate,” Blob said confidently. The slug motioned its head for us to join it in its booth.

“Yes, that was what our research showed. There are others with lower prices, but you’re beyond reliable,” Torrez said, “You were also recommended.”

That meant Lilith had all but ordered us to come here.

This confirmed my theory nicely. We walked over to Blob in the middle of the room. The huge slug flipped a sign at the back of the booth that indicated new customers needed to ring a bell at the counter to get his attention. I saw a little buzzer materialize on the counter right before the bottom of the floor vanished. We shifted through the void until we arrived in a storage room so vast, I thought we had shifted to another orbital.

“Woah!” I blurted out, checking out my surroundings.

There were mechs, tanks, crab suits, aircraft, jetpacks, hover boards—and that was just what I could see from where I stood. I started to hyperventilate in excitement. This would forever change how we conducted battle. Hell, there was a mecha bigger than a divine-ape in here. Not that it could defeat an army of them, but—

“Let me see your funds,” Blob requested. “I should have asked earlier. Generally, when we are referred, it means you’re prepared.” Torrez shot the creature a translator data link. “Interesting. There is enough here to cause a flux in the market. Hmm… We can definitely deal. How much of this did you plan on spending here?”

“All of it,” Torrez said. “We are not even a quarter of the way done adding our loot to the Xgate.”

It was Blob’s turn to be shocked. He, she, or it sputtered out a raspberry. I looked to see if it was a boy or girl.

“Blob,” I asked callously, “are you male or female?” I doubted this being would stop a huge sale over hurt feelings.

“Female. Smart of you to ask; you would never find out unless you flipped me over, which I would find gravely offensive,” Blob said in a challenging tone.

“Thank you, for the clarity. So … ahh … what can we afford?” I asked.

“We have fixed prices based on zinc here. Not everyone uses zinc, but our protectors do. They love the mineral and desire it over everything else,” Blob said, and I grinned. We happened to be sitting, literally, on a whole mountain of zinc. “You will need to get this,” she gestured to the digital balance sheet, “converted first.”

“I have someone at the bank right now. Before they convert things, please confirm, you want zinc and zinc only?” I asked.

“Confirmed.”

“Willow, I need zinc. Buy a hefty amount.” - Cap

“Okay, the bank has a mediocre rate on zinc. There was a different bank ten minutes away with a better rate. Heading there now.” - Queen Willow

“We will have a new balance sheet, in zinc, here soon,” I said, letting my eyes roam over the amazing items before me. “How is this possible?”

“I can say very little beyond the fact that we are quite safe where we live,” Blob mentioned. “We are safe, have many allies, and many defenses. I hope that helps.”

“Well, we are trying to get to that point ourselves. I hope our purchases today help us achieve that. Can we afford this mechanized monster over here?” I said, pointing to the hundred-foot-tall mecha of awesomeness. “That would be amazing on so many levels.”

“Easily. Those are not even that powerful. More of a builder unit, really. I guess I first need to know what your preferred power consumption element is?” Blob asked.

“Nitrogen is the biggest element in our atmosphere. We originally thought carbon generators would be smart, mainly to help our environment, but our pollution has dropped dramatically. That, and they underperform nitrogen generators, by a lot,” Torrez said in awe as he gazed around at all the weaponry. “Oxygen is a distant second. Cap, did you know Mars’s atmosphere is only 3% nitrogen whereas Earth’s is 72%?”

“I thought nitrogen was the primary universal element?” I said, knowing my own research was lacking.

Blob grunted in answer. “It is, hence nitrogen generators being the most commonly produced power source. We produce ten different power generators. Nitrogen power generators are not that expensive. Almost every planet has nitrogen, which means it is a popular option,” Blob said in a teacher’s dry tone. She leaned her body forward to propel herself to the giant machine of awesomeness. “The foot has a wide entry point. You then shoot up a tube to the operating chamber at the pinnacle. Brexka is the name of this unit. I will sell this to you on one condition: It can’t be used for battle.”

I craned my neck up at the massive device. The design was similar to what most bipedal creatures had: hips, a torso, two legs, and an egg shaped dome for a head. It was very much a robot, with the clear cranium it had. I had already come up with a new name for this mighty creation… Goliath. I wondered how it operated, and then realized that she had said not to use it in battle.

“Uh…” I scratched my head, “I gotta ask—why not?”

“What do you think happens when this thing falls over? What size power plant do you think it contains to move so much compressed material?” Blob said, sputtering her lips. “Your virum bodies would get smashed from the fall and then eviscerated from the explosion of the generator. We do build fail-safes to avoid such region disintegrating explosions, but nothing is guaranteed in war.”

“I almost regret buying those cranes,” Torrez muttered. “I do see what you mean, at least. Why provide such a huge lumbering target when you can pack the same punch in a smaller profile?” Torrez said. “What are your best sellers?”

“The gravity sled tanks do really well. Hard to go wrong with a small frame, single driver, heavy punch, and decent price tag. They even move at a decent pace, approximately …” a series of slurps and bowel noises burst from our translators. “Sorry,” Blob said, “the translator is struggling with the speed conversion to a scale you are more familiar with.” We waited patiently.

“One hundred and two point three miles per hour,” the translator squawked.

“That is impressive. I need those. Is there a hauling platform they can tow?” I asked, looking at a gravity sled tank in the distance.

Blob tapped on her translator, muttered some words, and then smiled. A hovering platform descended from the roof to land in front of us.

“We will proceed on this going forward. I refuse to slug my way across this floor for hours,” Blob said with a wink. I didn’t find her pun that humorous, but it was a valiant effort.

“Okay, a tour of the bestselling tanks, please. Do you have more that can be brought? How does that work for you?” Torrez asked, hopping directly onto the platform behind Blob. A few steps up a side loading staircase let me join them before we lifted into the air.

“We have four stalls on this Xgate. We tend to always store inventory inside the Xgate between trading markets. I have a full inventory list here,” Blob said, and zapped a catalogue to both our translators. “Basically, we produce more than we sell. We return unsold products into raw materials to keep the cycle going. When you have been at this for as long as we have, you rarely have a zero-inventory day. If you do zero out our tank inventory, then we simply shift some manufacturing from less productive models to these.”

The platform shot across the storage room at speeds that should have thrown us from our ride or at least have given us whiplash. When we came to a sudden halt, I felt that our momentum should have jerked us forward off our feet. Neither happened, causing me to smirk.

“This has dampeners? Do all your creations—”

“Of course!” Blob said in a great saleswoman tone of voice. “These are relatively expensive compared to other models. They have climate control, force dampeners, internal element control guaranteed to match the atmosphere of our client’s homeworld, contouring seating that fits most species, and even extra storage. There are also many attachments for these AGPT63 models, or as you called them, gravity sled tanks. You can also add a second or third optional turret for extra firepower—at the expense of other systems, of course.”

One of Blob’s eye stalks rotated to look right at me. “To answer your question, yes, one of the options does include a towing package. We make gravity sled trailer models for moving creatures within enclosures, there is a flatbed model for stackable loading, and even a model with fixed walls to pile loose items into.” She paused with what vaguely resembled a frown, “while the dampeners are good, there is no perfect means to stop overly violent maneuvers.”

“Goodbye, trucks,” I muttered, an idea popping into my head. I called up a breakdown of our electric trucks and zapped it to Blob. “We have these already. Should we turn them into scrap and buy yours, or convert them?”

“You realize I’m the wrong Sluggero to ask? I, of course, will tell to scrap them and buy ours. Even though I freely admit my opinion is biased, you should believe me. These use batteries that corrode over time, are ineffective, and, well, they’re don’t run on elemental generators. That alone is reason enough to scrap them. These vehicles have no offensive capabilities, another major fault. They will not handle the transition between Xgates that are not locked down without significant risk. They have many weak points vulnerable to numerous types of incoming fire. Should I continue?” Blob asked.

I sighed, “I have hundreds of these I would have to replace. And this tank only carries one being,” I said.

“Well, this is a machine of war. It carries the lowest risk to reward ratio, as many like to term it. You use one tank, you only need one pilot. If, on the other hand, you want an armored personnel carrier with some light armaments, I also have many of those. Let me finish showing this tank to you before we dive into other vehicle types,” Blob said. The tank lifted off from the floor, up to our eye level. “As you can see, this antigravity sled can extend its elevation. There are several factors that influence how high it can go. These include: gravity density, power generation, elemental density in the atmosphere, the weight of crew and supplies, etc. We try to simplify our creations, but universal rules prohibit some shortcuts. You will not find a better solo tank for this price.”

“Is there a height limit?” Torrez asked while scratching the back of his neck in thought.

“No, if you equip a gravity sled tank with fifty generators, technically, it becomes a flying tank. We have aircraft, though, so don’t buy this for that. For this unit, the cabin is nearly a ten-foot-cubed box. Your actual measurement scale is calibrated to your feet? Ha!” The slug jiggled with a chortle. “Who uses an appendage to measure distance? Anyway, it is nearly ten Sluggero dicks in height.” A long laugh caused her to stop talking for a while. She let out a long gurgling exhale before she resumed her sales pitch. When she was ready, she continued. “You get into that box and the science does the rest. So easy a cavern goop can use it.”

I rolled my eyes, still chuckling myself. “So, it goes fast, is a deluxe version, and is not overly expensive?”

“Oh, you are wrong on the last account. While quite fast, this is a premium model—it is expensive. A piece of armament only comes cheap when it is looted from a battlefield. I do not sell used armaments, however, for numerous reasons. Your loot numbers and the fact you're using ancient technology tell me you’re a new addition to our invisible master’s quarantine. So, you will struggle to afford—”

“We have nearly unlimited zinc below our fortifications,” I said, interrupting Blob.

“Then we will become trading partners, of sorts. Who sent you to me?” Blob asked.

“I am not at liberty to say, unfortunately,” I said, hoping that would be enough. “You were highly recommended, though, and I can see the reason why. How many of these can we buy?”

“So, you can get two of these for each of those trucks you showed me. Give or take,” Blob said.

I struggled to control my facial expression.

“I see your delight at replacing outdated trucks for tanks. That is the power of new technology—we make more from less.” Blob blew another raspberry, “Those old devices will convert down splendidly. If I was allowed, I would authorize direct trades. Alas, we are regulated to zinc.”

I checked her inventory sheet while she talked. There were fourteen thousand AGPT63s in inventory. My jaw dropped. Okay. Our community was never going to be the same. I was sick of the wooden homes, the slow transportation, and the thousands of inadequacies we faced every day. It was time we stepped up our game.

“Based on a human's weight, a high nitrogen count, and a 9.8 m/s gravity… can these gravity sled tanks fly at an above-ground altitude of twenty feet for an extended period? Or would that require a smaller sled with extra power?” I asked, sending Blob an image of Xgate 232 with its rocky terrain and sporadic pines.

“Yes, that would be well within their parameters, with no extra power required beyond a standard nitrogen generator. I take it you are interested?” Blob asked.

“I want bigger tanks too. These will become our light units. Please excuse me for just a moment, I need to contact a few people real quick,” I said to Blob.

I sent a message over the command net.

“Ranking officer in storage, please respond.” - Cap

“Go for DD.” - Deluxe Duke Jevon

“Keep piling in loot. Our vehicle purchases are going to be epic. I want to convert a lot into zinc. Almost everything, in fact.” - Cap

“Roger, Cap. Will keep filling the shelves with converted goods.” - Deluxe Duke Jevon

“Well, I tapped this bank out. I’ll need more help converting.” - Queen Willow

“Mrs. Moore is holding down my storage section. OMW to the closest bank.” -Jacky

“Keep up the good work.” - Cap

With that taken care of, I pulled my attention from my gpad. Torrez was busy on a calculator. I peered over his shoulder and asked, “Torrez, have you been crunching the numbers?”

“For the AGPT63s, yeah, that one is easy. Willow liquidated a lot into zinc. Now that we have a balance sheet in zinc, I can compare things properly. We’re rich right now. Even with the current loot conversion incomplete, and lots of loot still to convert, we can buy five hundred of these and be fine,” Torrez said.

Blob’s face contorted into a horrific smile, of sorts. “We do offer bulk discounts, not much, but it adds up. How about we go take a look at the eight seaters? It is similar to the AGPT63, just eight times bigger with a communal cabin. There are many different armament packages with which this model can be outfitted. The unit uses three power plants to the AGPT63’s one. These will not hover, however, over obstacles like trees with ease unless you add additional nitrogen generators paired with a stock oxygen injector. You can increase the power plan from three up to five generators before you need to add a towed sled. Would I recommend a sled with stacked power plants? No. Will you ask for one anyway? Highly likely.”

The platform zipped across the warehouse to a large tank. It had a long central turret, with two side turrets with swivel seating. The hull was a series of hard angles meant to be beam reflective, if I had to guess. The front was narrow and slender, the rear boxy with armaments. There were loading ramps on either side. The design reminded me of a ship somehow.

“I want these as our core movers,” I said to Torrez. “The AGPT63s will be for our QRF and these as the backbone of our forces.” My grin split my face near in two. These were killing machines and I was excited to test them out. “Take us to the smaller mech suits, please.”

The platform zoomed over to a rack of twelve-foot-tall exoskeletons. The material was something I had never seen before. It had a flat dull brown coloration. The mechs’ lower portion had eight legs in an octagonal pattern with triple joints. The torso included shoulder-mounted turrets with large square openings. Dual arms attached to both the front and the back of the torso. Each of the four arms had a weapon mount attachment on the forearm. The torso swiveled over the eight legs. Below the torso, an extra-large power generator hung like an egg sack.

Blob’s translator pinged while I marveled at the machine.

“You cannot steal from me. I have another customer to attend to. Feel free to board any device you want and shop around, though I recommend you try to order sooner rather than later if it's a big order. That way you have time to offload your equipment and beat the other purchasers to our more limited inventories,” Blob said, summoning a second platform that she slurped onto. “I will be upstairs. Just wish the platform to take you to any location you want in here and it will happen.”

Blob’s platform zoomed towards a distant elevator point in the storage container.

“Well, Torrez, what were you thinking?” I asked, a joyous, shit-eating grin still plastered on my face.

“That we need to buy everything, keep what we like, and resell what we don’t, even if it is at a loss. But this is not a game,” he frowned, “we should buy core items and work with what we have. We are going to be hemorrhaging zinc. Now is not the time to go cheap, Eric, not in the least. There is not much difference between these AGPT63s and the tanks the Squibbles were using.” He blew out a breath. “I want the mecha suits. I want the big beast. I want it all,” Torrez said with wide, excited eyes.

“Okay, get Perci and Everly to set aside twice what they need, and then I will leave you here to see if you can spend everything else,” I said, tapping my chin in thought. Hmm. Yes. “I think I want to go personnel shopping with them, instead of being distracted by all these new toys. Wait,” I paused, “are you okay with not having any electric trucks to move supplies?”

“Cap, keep a reserve. No reason to put all our eggs into a nitrogen basket,” Torrez said, and I nodded. “Those electric road salters can certainly go. That would free up a lot of parking space for more tanks too.”

“I will tell Jevon to toss in only half our fleet, then,” I said, grimacing. I thought of moving the platform to the starting point and it immediately shifted. “We are going to become a fundamentally different fighting force. I hope we can weather the next blue portal cycle, at least until we can figure things out.”

“Aye, Cap, I agree,” Torrez said, giving a wave.

I stepped onto the platform for the orbital. I set my exit for the spot nearest to Everly and Perci, and rubbed my hands together in anticipation. I was excited to see what a contract market entailed.

CHAPTER 3

A bipedal turtle over a hundred feet tall stepped on me. I knew I would pass through his foot but I still winced in reflex. This was a busier outskirt of the grand market. I hustled to catch up to Perci and Everly, only to find the inability to run infuriating. Getting there at a brisk walk was turning into a half-hour ordeal. I felt like I did when Mom would take forever to take me to Burger Queen for a Princely Meal. Patience had never been a virtue of mine in my youth. My mental fortitude increased in prison, and the military forced me to hurry up and wait so often, that I learned to take most things in stride. Apparently, since the apocalypse, I was regressing.

I rounded a corner, expecting to see yet another long corridor of massive Xgate booths. This area was different, it opened into an open space with no towering booths. The fact that I could see so far in front of me, startled me. Up until this point, everything had been cramped and confined into irregularly branching corridors. Here, rows upon rows of sentient species were arrayed out in the open, arranged from shortest to tallest groups. My eyes scanned down the line, noting that there were hundreds of variations for almost every species. A tiny six-inch-tall tree being was the first species group, and ironically enough, a massive three hundred feet tall six-legged tree being was the very last species group in the line.

My position on the edge of the contract market gave me insight into how this worked. There were hundreds of rows. Each row was a duplicate of the entire available catalogue. I meandered over to the little tree creature. There was an interface panel on a floating bar that automatically adjusted its position to accommodate my height. I realized once I was close enough, that the tiny tree dude was an exquisitely rendered holographic image. I tapped on the interface to view available inventory: three thousand contracts, with varying methods of payment for different types of listings. It was all neatly organized but still chaotic in its plethora of options. I left the tiny tree warrior to walk to a different row.

I approached the identical image of a tiny tree. The interface populated, giving me the exact same listings. I could inspect individuals from this list. The list could be broken down by sex, age, seller, price, and so many more options. Hmm… I thought about why they might use such a system.

I saw a bipedal black panther with orange stripes walk by. His tail swished into my body. Since the appendage flicked through me, it must have been intentionally aggressive. He walked four creatures down to a ten-inch tall spider-looking creature on a rock. The male input his required data, only to scoff. He chewed a nail, contemplating something. With a hand wave, he dismissed the image. He stalked off, only to return less than a minute later. I saw him select four of these creatures from a seller’s icon. He accepted the trade with a snarl.

Alright, that made sense. Instead of forcing a buyer to meet a host of different sellers, these stations acted as a middleman from a common location. My initial reaction was that it should cut down on swindling interactions. It was hard to upsell a digital client. My next thought was that we were limited to ten personnel per portal or forty to a gate. This might be for many reasons. If there were giant pens here with millions of contracted servants available, then that would certainly break the ten-per-portal rule. One thing was certain: this process was much easier to manage, less chaotic, and cleaner than I had expected.

A seller posted a listing of those sentients they had an excess of, listed a price, which was compared side-by-side with their competitors prices, and then hoped their inventory moved. I bet prices went down sharply towards the end of the market. I also figured that this is why some sellers opted for auctions. You would hook a buy regardless. Okay, this was something I could work with. Now to find the girls in this universal zoo.

My Gpad pinged an alert. It showed two red dots a good distance to my right. I bet Perci had been tracking me for a while. She had always been such a Gpad wizard. I saw the girls’ icons closing the distance between us. We walked towards each other through the crowded area full of meandering aliens. A few small groups of aliens chatted in clumps, but for the most part, it was a myriad of individuals focused on their tasks.

The tall red-haired Crixxi was much easier to pick out of the crowd than the shorter Perci, her russet colored hair touched up with blonde highlights. I waved my arm when Everly picked me out of the crowd. Perci was in yoga pants with a plain white shirt on as she ran to me.

“Hey, handsome!” my tiny wife squealed, “This place is crazy. If you go over to the creatures, there’s a—”

“Interface. Yeah, I saw that. I didn’t see any salespeople. I am surprised by that,” I said honestly, a bit shocked. “I figured the interfaces might be a market guide or something, but it looks like they are the whole package.”

“That is why this Luna gave us recommended species,” Everly said in a chipper tone, lifting her tail to gesture that I was silly for not realizing this. “You can hire guides at the four corners. Trust me, not needed.”

“We could just buy the Crixxi tribe, and forget about these other species,” I said.

Perci twirled her hair, sliding a hand down my arm. “Eric, the Crixxi are intermixing and awesome. They also are a warrior race.” Perci’s hazel eyes locked to mine, “but as much as I want to help Crixxi, we all do, I also want peaceful races doing our laundry, cleaning our homes, and raising our children. Crixxi can do most chores, but they do not excel at menial tasks. How about we stick to the Mounamine and the other species that Everly recommended?” She frowned, “I’m drawing a blank on the name, though.”

Everly’s tail swirled around my wrist. I smirked, pulling her closer to me. These two were always so happy to see me. They would flirt, smile, and entice my libido to no end. I loved their banter and teasing.

“I don’t say it enough: you girls spoil me. I feel like the happiest man in the world. Business can wait for a nice kiss,” I said, leaning over to plant a sweet kiss on Everly’s lips. Perci leaped onto me the moment I was back upright. I held her close as she wrapped her legs around my waist. She savored our kiss for a long moment. I released her lips with a smack. Traffic flowed around us, a few aliens giving us stares. “Okay,” I turned back to Everly a little breathlessly, “what was the name of the panda-type creatures, again?”

Everly stroked her tail up and down my inner thigh, stopping right before where my package hung low. My pants got a little tighter. I rolled my eyes at her.

“I never mentioned a name. There is not one for your… our language. I picked Pandarin, but you can change the name if you want,” Everly mentioned.

“So do we want to buy direct, make a bid, find a middle man, or…?” I asked, letting the sentence hang.

Perci smiled at Everly, seeking her opinion.

“Um… I have been here, before. Even to this place. Father would go over to the interface for the servant species he wanted and shop for deals for hours. He never focused on much else. The tribes further into the jungle would trade lots of materials and goods for decent servants,” Everly said sadly.

I rubbed her back. This was common in Crixxi society. She was not grieving the same way that a human would mourn. She had never been close to her father, merely a surrogate for his dead son. Everly had confided to us that she missed his lessons, but felt confident in her ability to become the matriarch of a larger, more powerful tribe than her father had ever controlled. Moments like this, however, pulled her out of the victory Lilith and I created for her and reminded her of her past.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m good,” she smiled. “I am proud to be at your side. I am proud to see our tribe grow today. My father was unwise to challenge a male as powerful as you. He suffered defeat without proper humility. You acted with honor as his victor. I still feel shame for my parents' transgressions,” Everly said, and her back stiffened. “The Pandarin will be a great addition to our community. Come, follow me, sister wife, tribe master.”

She led us down a row. The tiny creatures continued for a long time. I groaned when those we walked past had barely reached a height of two feet, and we had been walking for more than ten minutes. The distant tall tree being I thought was three hundred feet tall must have been even larger, because as we progressed down the line, I realized his head was higher than the trading gates beyond him. A few times, as we continued down it, the line would lengthen or shorten, whenever new species were added or removed from the available catalogue.

We came across many animals common on Earth, merely variations that were intelligent enough to be considered sapient. There were a lot of cats, that stood on anywhere from two up to ten legs. Some were upright, some horizontal, some had three tails, others two heads, a few with eight eyes, even heads without necks, and these were only the sapient variations.

We held hands trooping down the line, inspecting animals as they grew in size.

An alert pinged my wrist with a slight vibration. Perci bent down with a twist to read the text, not wanting to release her grip.

“Jevon said half the trucks are loaded. Torrez is flooding the teams outside the Xgate with work. Where do you want to sort the new equipment, as far as their likely storage location on the base?” Perci said, returning to a normal walk.

I scooped Perci up in one fell swoop and tossed her over my shoulder. She giggled in delight. This freed up my wrist, which I brought up to my face, and within a few taps I was on a video-call with Jevon.

“Hey, boss, 63s are being pushed out. How do you want to divide them?” Jevon asked.

“I was thinking half and half for now. You need to get your team leaders to immediately begin testing them out. I know we have a good twenty hours before the gates swap to blue portals, but every moment we have that we can get more familiar with the new equipment counts. Mitchell and Bonnet should be more than prepared when the portals switch over,” I said into my wrist device.

“Wait, these tanks are for light infantry and recon? They're the size of a truck,” Jevon said, patting a 63 beside him.

“I don’t know exactly what Torrez has bought yet. I just know we're shoveling money—er … zinc, at our military problems. But yes, those ATPG63s, or were they APTG63s… well, shit … Call them 63s for now until we come up with simpler names. And hell yes, they are mobile.”

“There is also an eight-legged exosuit, like a heavy infantry mecha,” I continued, “Those should arrive soon. Stick Crixxi in them. There also should be some jet packs in the mix that I never got to see.” I paused with a sigh, knowing there were a ton of moving parts at the moment.

“Nancy should be buying more personnel shields and my replacement weapons. I want you creating flying drop troops to man the jetpacks. Daphne is on the hunt for nitrogen generators to swap out for our carbon ones, and she is getting a mix of Crixxi weapons for potential raiding parties. Mclain is hunting for superior shielding or something we can double up with, so a smaller exoskeleton would be nice. Our purchases are going to hit the storage room hard and fast. I will come down after we secure personnel additions to help un-cluster this mess.” I shook my head.

“Next time, I’m going shopping and you're playing quarterback,” Jevon chuckled. “It is good to see all the new items arriving. Concerns of personal issues like pay will be resolved a bit when people see new tangible items they get to call their own. Like a freaking tank,” Jevon said with a grin. “The supply room keeps expanding. I am working with Mr. T on trying to get an auto-offloader, but we have items that keep showing up in the way. Otherwise, it will take forever to shift all this stuff out of here with only ten personnel. Torrez is on a bender.” His eyes got really large. “Holy shit! A hundred-foot tall mecha suit just showed up.”

“Did Eddy, Braxton, and Clive get all the new equipment they needed for construction?” I asked. “I bet Razzar is going to be happy with the new mining gear,” I said, nudging Everly forward when she paused. This earned me a tail swat on my ass. I glanced down at her and she was pointing to a creature that looked like a panda, only instead of white and black, it was brown and black. The eyes held a deep intelligence, and the face a gentle smile. “I’ve arrived at what we came to look for, so need to wrap this up.”

“Yeah, the first wave of items is being hauled home. Priority of transport is being given the tunnel transportation machine to connect the strongholds.” He frowned, “I got to admit, I feel a little skeptical about converting half our vehicle fleet into zinc, though,” Jevon said.

“I get it, but we found thousands of electrics in Denver. So many, that we had to leave a lot of them for next time. We hardly even started our looting there. Boulder, too, is a ghost town ripe for looting,” I said in a gruff voice. “We will be okay if we focus, improve, and grow. For the community.”

“For the community, Deluxe Duke out,” Jevon replied in a cheerful tone.

The connection closed, and I set Perci back on the ground. She sniffed, as if she hadn’t loved that, but her blushing cheeks gave her away.

“I like him. Nancy says he is your best friend. He is never around, though. You can tell by your voices you miss each other,” Everly said with sad eyes and pouty lips. She could always wheedle an extra kiss or three out of me, acting so sweet.

“We… our bond is indeed special. Not long ago, I pushed a lot of people away; not again. So, my lovely ladies… Teach me about the Pandarin, please,” I said, checking out the image of the shorter creature.

Perci tapped on the screen, typing rapidly. Everly reached over her shoulder and hit a single button. The screen grew wider than Perci’s arms, which let me see where she was on the interface.

Species: Pandarin - Rating: 2

“You mind if I read the description out loud?” Perci asked.

I shrugged, not really caring.

“Pandarin,” she began, “originated from a high-oxygen planet with an abundance of short-stalked plant life that they blend into. They are peaceful by nature but were deemed an aggressive species because of territorial dance competitions that often resulted in injuries. Wait,” she looked up incredulously, “they were stuck in quarantine for fighting without any deaths…”

Everly patted Perci’s shoulder. “A commonality among many of the subspecies you see here, is that they never really belonged in this mess ... hence why they failed so terribly.” She sighed. “Keep going, please.”

“Their original and only planet was conquered by a goliath species known as the Parvinus. The Pandarin submitted to their new overlords quickly. The subspecies were bred beyond their original number to be traded since they were so good at their tasks. Pandarin are now on more planets than the majority of aggressive species,” Perci said, letting the last sentence fade. “So, they won by losing. By becoming helpless servants, they were cherished, and have thrived in captivity. Neat to see how something like this played out.”

Everly chuckled, switching the interface over to a biological overview of the pandarin. “Bonded pairs mate for life. They accept a few forms of co-species into their body, like the virum. They are quick breeders and excellent workers. The males have no aggression, the females are perfect nurturers, and they both make fantastic teachers. They can adapt to a society's structures quickly and fulfill the needs of their protectors with ease,” Everly said with a smile.

“If the Pandarin are so well suited to most kinds of work, do we need the mouse people at all?” Perci asked with a tilt of her head. She spun the image of the Pandarin to look at it from different angles. It was three feet tall, equipped for climbing, and the display said that it disliked clothing.

“They are somewhat limited in what they can do. See, if you click here…” Everly demonstrated, changing the interface, “a downside and negative aspects page populates.”

“Oh, I see,” Perci said, studying the page. “They are not good at managing unruly teenagers. They cannot reach high, are not good with dexterous skills, and are limited in their chores by their long sleep cycles. They sleep twelve hours a day, even with the virum. Oh, they eat a lot of leaves too. Hmm…”

“See, the Pandarin are nice, but they come with their own set of problems. Pinecones and pine needles will not sustain these beautiful creatures. We will need to procure a manufacturing processor for a lettuce-type leaf that they never get tired of. I have grown them in treetops with ease before. It is a simple machine that will not cost much and we have the resources, as well as space, to set a few up. Enough funds have been allocated to build the necessary automated systems to support these creatures. I was thinking we could store them in the open until additional cavern space opens up from our mining initiative. Think of the Pandarin as newborn to five-year-old caregivers.”

“What do the Crixxi rely on for childcare past age five?” I asked.

“Ourselves, normally. Young Crixxi mind their manners and can work by age five. So, they integrate while getting lessons from the generations before them. We had a working school of sorts. We definitely do not pamper our young,” Everly said delicately. “This new community is different, Eric. We are different. We have no need for a dozen years of studying books. The universe is at your fingertips in this market. You can reverse engineer anything to learn from it.”

“I am starting to see our path to the future will require a lot of adjustments. Our data team has been busy with little more than studying this market. I think we will find great value in secondary education, but only once we find the right material to teach. Take me through the purchasing process, please,” I said with a smile.

“Speaking of data analyzing, I did a little. Best time to buy is at the end. But how about we learn about all the options together, husband?” Perci said with dancing brows. “I don’t think Everly knows all the options herself.” Her Gpad chimed. “Alright,” she said with a grin, “Torrez set aside a lot of resources for us and the number keeps going up. I think Jevon has the teams hauling in old vehicles to reach our cap limit. Oh, a big chunk went out of the yttrium and was converted into neilspar ore … wait, now the neilspar is gone.” She frowned, trying to keep track of the rapidly changing inventories.

My Gpad pinged an alert.

“New generators purchased; vast majority nitrogen, then a small chunk of helium, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. A thousand of them should be arriving below.” - Daphne

“I thought we had a separate fund for that,” I said, a tad frustrated.

“We did— We do, correction. Daphne used the wrong fund. Our fund got pushed back into the main fund. We're sitting on oodles of raw materials, though, so I’m not concerned.” She looked so cute, chewing on her lip like that.

“With that said, I will fix this,” Perci said, typing away. Her cheeks flared a mild crimson at the error; I knew she was a perfectionist. “You two shop. This is my problem to clear up … it’s what I get banged by the big cock for.”

Everly crooked her head in confusion.

“An … interesting metaphor.” I shrugged. “How about you show me what you want, Everly?” She smiled. “And Everly,” I held her gaze, “assume that we are buying more Crixxi of both sexes.” Though serious, I said this last with a smile. “If we pass our race of humans—and I bet we find some of those as well—we may get those as well, so plan for the future with your purchases.”

Everly snuggled into my side while tapping away at the keypad. Her long Crixxi fingers ended in short pointy nails that clicked on the translucent screen.

“I have waited for this power for a long time. I always thought that I would be tremendously nervous with this much control, but you soothe my soul, Eric. I languish for your ear rubs … Perfect,” Everly purred, when I stroked her furry ears. “There were 916 Crixxi in Stronghold Mansion and Aspen combined, before today. If we buy five thousand more residents to add to the 1,482 humans in Mansion and 3,471 in Aspen, and then, rounding up, that gives us eleven thousand, slightly more than half of which are female. Then, take half of that half, let’s say … three thousand females, who will have four children every six months, and—”

“For humans, it’s nine months,” I interrupted.

She never even glanced at me as she continued to punch numbers into a calculator. “You are smarter than that, Eric. Six months, if not five, with another pregnancy a month later, if not sooner. Repeating the process semiannually … ” Everly said, finally stealing a glance at me with her purple judgmental eyes. “Have you figured it out yet?”

“Ah, no. To be fair, I have not any spent time around pregnant women my entire life,” I replied, hands waving defensively in the air.

“In a twelve-month cycle, we normally birth a single baby or cub. The term depends on who you ask,” Everly said with an indifferent tone. She tapped away on the screen, trying to find the right purchase.

I pulled her in tight when I figured it out, causing a giggle. “I got it! Because of the multiple babies, they are born prematurely, and the virum keeps them alive,” I proclaimed proudly.

Perci patted my back, still working hard on the balancing act that was our market day finances.

“To be safe, we should get three thousand Pandarin, and before you gasp in dismay, hear me out. For now, they will live in tight quarters in the longhouses, which we have a lot of, since people are eagerly abandoning them for hotels in Aspen. Then, when you add in the fact that we can build shelving homes in the longhouses, and they really do fit in well. Eventually, we will build enough towers for them too,” Everly said with a charming smile, before nuzzling her ear into my hand. “We are not some tiny population. The underway will sync in a few hours and our tribe will soon flow freely between Aspen and Mansion. If necessary, you can emergency house the Pandarin in hotels, also. But, you and I both know we have the space for them. I recommend we purchase the same number of Mounamine.”

I frowned at this number, my mind balking at the idea of so many servants. That would put them at almost a one to one ratio with our current residents. I didn’t mind making coffee. Cooking food was done by humans for volunteered for the occupation, a job I didn’t get any complaints about. We still had a lot of stinky, rundown hotel rooms in need of cleaning. There was a lot of work, even with seven days of an easy life.

“Everly, what will they do while we wait six months for the new children to be born? Seems like a tax on—”

“Ah, so most protectors restrict the breeding of their new population. It is inherently a bad idea to have Pandarin having litters every six weeks while still trying to rear Crixxi young. In this case, we let them build up their population for a while before implementing those restrictions. Let them settle in, and they will be a far more integral component in our society with their own young involved. And then, if you factor in the trading power the new young will bring or having them on hand, provides. Many opportunities open up.” She beamed, “You can trade with Perci’s mom or those people in Colorado Springs. I am advising you to—”

I placed a hand on her shoulder to get her to slow down. “Okay, you had me sold on the fact they could become one with the community this way. I trust you, Everly. Show me the purchase options.”

I heard the shuffle of feet behind me. “Done. Finished just in time,” Perci said, returning her attention to the screen.

Everly’s fingers danced across the interface. She rapidly tapped, blitzing through the available options. For a species living in the jungle with few electronics, she was whizzing along. Then again, Everly was fun, smart, adventurous, and gifted in most things. She reminded me of  several humans, who had the same ability to excel at most anything they tried.

“Go back,” Perci said, catching something we had both missed. I smiled at the two of them. “A few more… There. Interesting.”

A group of seventy-two pandarin were being offered at a cheap, buy-it-now price. It had a two to one female to male ratio, with a large number of infants; and, they were low on virum. The seller was struggling to provide the zinc needed for these poor creatures. Everly purchased the entire lot.

“Oh, nice find. I overlooked it, even though it met my base criteria of groups with a majority of females. That group was mostly females, but also mostly young. Good price, but it will cost us zinc in the long run, so in the end, the prices are only decent, not amazing,” Everly said with a huff. “This might take some time. Especially if we only want to purchase outside of auctions. Buy now pricing is really a reverse auction for the desperate; not what you usually fine.” She tabbed through several screens. “See, this group is great, but it's an auction.”

“Everly, are you okay staying here to win this? Or assigning another Crixxi to ensure it is won?” I paused as a new concern threatened to derail my idea. “Do sellers have the ability to drive up the price?” I asked. Better to double-check before giving a needless order.

“There are loopholes. A few thousand Pandarin are not the contracts I would expect a bidding war on. If you get caught, you get blacklisted by most species. Personally, I do not think many species find a blacklist that big of a threat. There are few repercussions to prevent sellers trying to up the bid beyond the ten percent entry fee. Buy-it-now prices have no such fee. So,” she continued, “a winning bid by a seller pretending to be a buyer to push up the price runs the risk of costing them the ten percent fee for nothing.” She smiled at me, “I don’t mind staying until after the Mounamine, Human, and Crixxi purchases. These bids will be done in ten hours; this is around the time when most of these auctions complete, mainly to allow people time to get home with their new contracts.”

I pulled her in for another long hug to reward her patience.

“I can shop while we wait,” she continued with a blush, noticing the irritated glances by some aliens in our direction. “I need to buy some Crixxi-related things anyway. Oh, and our Mozala will need customized vegetation processing stations, as well. If we win this auction, it is for 3,617 Pandarin, so about perfect for what we need.” Everly smiled, reflecting her joy at getting ‘trapped’ shopping. “And now this auction is saved to my translator, so I can access it from any species’ interface station.” She pulled us further down the row. “Now let’s see, Mounamine are taller than Pandarin, but shorter than Humans … and then we can look for the Crixxi.”

“Great, that will give us time to walk them home. It should only be a few hours’ walk. Unless…” I said, pausing.

“Torrez, I need a hauling vehicle capable of stuffing large numbers of prisoners into. If we go raiding, I need something to haul back our gains with. Oh, and it will come in handy for our current purchases, too.” - Cap

“Let me ask Blob. I may have overspent already.” - Torrez

“We will toss in more electric vehicles if we have to. Get me the hauler. Coordinate with Jevon if necessary.” - Cap

I looked up from my Gpad to see Perci with a hand out, waiting to pull me after our Crixxi wife. I grinned at the wonder she was, and noted, “I want to avoid final-hour purchases, because the last thing we need is to have our new residents out in the open when the blue flares. Torrez is working on our transportation problem. See, I just got an alert.”

“I can buy a flying hovercraft with huge storage bays. This is by far the best option. It is expensive, though, and will not go through blue portals unless the control tower is removed, then tipped on its side and pushed in. We would need three more giant robot guys. But…” - Torrez

I dialed into the command net.

“Priority access is going to be able to move large amounts of personnel in and out of blue portals. Also, those robot guys are called Goliaths. Toss in more vehicles, and tighten spending if you can.” - Cap

“Thanks. Umm… I already bought them.” - Torrez

“Damnit, he dipped into our funds. I unclutter the money clusterfuck and then…” Perci banged her thigh with a clenched fist. “I will hold a three-hour-long meeting the next time we get a lull in combat. No!” Perci stuck a finger in the air with an imperious wave. “A five-hour-long meeting, at least … With PowerPoint!”

Her evil chuckle amused and frightened me.

“How does this leave us long term, financially? Are we going to have enough to win the auctions?” I asked, hands held out in concern.

“Well, we had the most reserves. I guess it depends on how many vehicles Jevon throws into the grinder. I have no idea about the cost of these automated vegetation producers. If we weren’t so close to the other species, I would deviate and focus on that,” Perci said in a huff.

Everly laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Daphne, this is Everly,” Everly said into her Gpad.

A new communication device was needed to replace the Gpad. However, it worked in our community so well, I kept them in stock. There were a bunch of Gpad stores we had yet to raid, too, which meant free Gpads would save neilspar.

“Go for Daphne.”

“I am assigning you a new task. Check your instructions,” Everly said and closed the connection. She turned to Perci. “Add funds to Daphne’s account while we wait. If we stick to the auctions, we will be able to adjust while others complete their required purchases. We Crixxi eat flowers and a few other vegetables. I know you humans do as well. I assigned Daphne to buying a dozen processors.”

“But the fields …” I said, thinking on all the hard work that had gone into our farms.

“The fields are how it is done by the underdeveloped. Let the current crop mature, and we can harvest it before converting primarily to automated production. It still requires labor,” Everly said with a firm tone. “The goal is survival. Those fields will transition into something far greater, and we can continue to grow food underground.”

“Norm, Tina, and the farmers will not complain.” Perci patted my bottom and smiled. “We are adding more livestock anyway. We regressed pretty intensely when the Xgates arrived. We went back to shitting in the woods, planting fields tilled by hand, and living in shelters without walls. I’m not opposed to climbing our way back up the technological ladder, dear.”

We passed creatures who were up to my belly button now. I saw a character in a comic book series or one with a close resemblance. A round slimy eyeball with tiny legs. Gross. I wondered where these damn Mounamine were.

“Almost there. They are a little over five feet tall. They are not crossbreed-compatible with many other species. I know Crixxi cannot. We have sold some into the deeper, larger tribes a few times. They are great for panning rivers for materials. We find they’re easier to maintain, since they are omnivores,” Everly started to explain, but paused. “Their sheet will have most of this information.”

“Well, we have a few more minutes before we even get to creatures who are five feet tall. I need to get back to Jevon, so I will probably leave after this and have you ladies update me on the Humans from Earth,” I said, feeling guilty about leaving Jevon in charge of the chaos while I enjoyed my time browsing in the market.

The stroll down the line of aliens was a unique experience. I was having a great time not just because I got to see the universe on display. Okay, that bear with the tusks and wings was epic.

I had been so stressed about today, and still was. To the point that I felt bad not stressing more.

“Eric, I rarely put my foot down. In this case, I am,” Perci said with a determined glare and a small foot stomp. While she was cute when determined, my mind had gone to focusing on the fact that they really needed some sort of speed system in here. She saw me evading her gaze. “Actually, Jevon should be in here too. Ulanda and Mitchell are more than capable. Hell, even Eddy is. The point is, you’re not a task manager at the ground level. You are the boss and you need to make decisions on a strategic scale, much higher than the tactical ‘move this here’, and ‘tow that there’ level.”

I grunted, frowned, and finally grimaced. “I’m here, aren’t I? How about I let you win this round? The reality is, we have a very long time to get all this sorted. I want to start practicing battle drills, but we need to learn to operate the equipment first. A lot of how well we do in battle depends on how well we shop today.” I took several slow, deep breaths. “I will be patient. I will find my calm.”

“Well said, tribe master,” Everly mentioned, pulling us to a stop and pointing at a creature.

I let out a rude noise at the sight of the ugly ratfolk. Long noses, curved buck teeth, a skinny frame, with a face you wanted to smash with a fist. I just really wanted to boot stomp the chest and crush the skull of this sapient species. Oh, hey, my calm arrived in the veiled excitement of violence.

“I thought these were mice,” I said, realizing Everly was giggling. “Oh… these are not them. I also named them ratkin.” I tapped the information for the species and saw a few key traits. “Hey, these are builders and eat anything to survive. Damn, that is certainly one way to put it.”

“They are horrendously lazy, hard to bathe, and are not ideal. They are kept in mines as slave labor. We can use them, but be prepared for some backlash,” Everly said with a warning face. Crixxi had the best expressions. I preferred her O-face to this one, but it sent a clear signal. “Mainly because they shit where they want, are very rude, and refuse to go into the mines unless it’s detailed specifically in their contract.”

“Fine, keep going,” I muttered, not concerned in the slightest as we bypassed the ugly rats on two legs. “I was warned to be cautious of bringing home strays.”

“Ha! I rock your world, lover of mine,” Everly sang out. “As for mining, we have the machines. They will do fine, and Crixxi are not bothered by mining tunnels like other species. Generally, ratkin are only purchased for dangerous mining. You force them to live where they work and bribe them with a really short contract of freedom. You hope they mine enough to cover their costs before some raiding party kills them,” Everly said assertively.

“I am starting to think most species hide their true operations. If this has been going on for millions of years, then operations well out of Xgate range are probably common,” I said, contemplating the various raiding scenarios we had come up with. “We were scared to keep stealing Yexin, and those were close. But they literally helped us so much.”

“Yes, there is much to consider,” Everly nodded, “Mansion and Aspen are neither close nor far from Xgate 232. It may be a problem, but one we can adjust to once we are established.”

“That is why Jacky picked up the two extra underway transport gates. So we can eventually pick out an isolated backup base, or long-term home,” I said, giving her ear a loving scratch while we continued down the line. “Please tell me we are close.”

“The Mounamine are not far. They will cycle children every three months with three or four young per cycle. Generally speaking, they are another successful subspecies, so don’t be surprised if the prices are a bit higher. A Crixxi costs less than a Mounamine does,” Everly said, and I raised a questioning eyebrow she noticed from the corner of her eye. She snorted, “Crixxi are assholes. We demand a tribal structure even when bound in servitude contracts. We will kill each other until the appropriate pecking order is established, if there is not a smooth transition.” She grunted, “The best way to utilize Crixxi is to demand a clause be inserted in their contracts for them to be used as combat troops, but most Crixxi will not do this.” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly,” she sighed, “controlling captured creatures of any species is a huge pain.”

“So if a Mounamine refuses to work, then what?” Perci asked.

“You are required to provide the terms of your contract. Everything is in that contract. Ours to Eric Yang, is blank. You have to remember, the initial contract matters. Those seventy-two Pandarin we purchased are loosely bound with only eight hours of work required from those above maturity ages. I will enforce ten after they get a tour of our facilities and tell those who balk at the extra hours in a nonthreatening manner that otherwise they will go back on sale to a far less awesome protector.”

Perci frowned.

“Basically,” Everly explained, “we cannot make the contract longer, but we can adjust the terms. Most species are amendable to a give-and-take type of trade. Thirty years reduced to one for combat defense will generally have Crixxi racing to snatch up a deal. In our case, we lost our home. There were no open vacant spots for our tribe to shift into,” she sighed, “the Lurrol saw to that. We lost a few hundred fighters, meaning there were no new battles we could easily win to lay claim to the lands of another tribe. Coming to Earth has been a very wise decision so far. My Crixxi are happy as development has progressed and we are more secure, so we do not need such things in our contracts.”

I grinned at her, pulled her close and breathed into her sensitive ears, “Do you truly need your contracts?”

“Yes, Eric,” a red blush spread up her neck, “though I will welcome the day when we do not, wait a good while to release us. You could reset our terms to two years, including military service, and that would probably erase any resentment from our defeat and the loss of our home,” Everly said, stopping us in front of a Mounamine.

How did I know it was one? The five-foot-tall humanoid with whiskers, a small nose, large, dimpled cheeks, and extra-wide, round ears was not so different from our species at all. Their tail was more like a bunny’s nub.

“Huh, you cannot mate with these?” I said, asking with a tilted head. They were adorable.

“Oh, they make fantastic sex toys. But Crixxi will not reproduce with them,” Everly said, pulling up the interface. She went through the information about the species. “Humans do not openly share data that is compiled. They tend to be a savage species. Time will tell, I guess. There is zero chance these short little maids do not end up bent over some piece of furniture they are dusting and dripping seed from some human stud down their inner thigh.”

Perci snickered, chortled, then burst into a laugh. She high-fived Everly.

“The Mounamine are cute little monster girls. The men are flimsy, though; I doubt many human women end up shacking up with these,” Perci said, and Everly shrugged.

“The males are compassionate, understanding, great listeners, and eager to please. Oh, and they are excellent caregivers,” she said, opening the widescreen to start shopping. “You might be surprised.”

I watched over their shoulders. Everly set the search parameters to auction sale, a higher female to male ratio, with at least a thousand Mounamine, and sorted by price from lowest to highest. She checked the boxes beside three of the available listings, and after reading the additional information, tossed aside two of the listings.

She presented the last listing to us. “This auction is for twenty-two hundred Mounamine, three quarters females, at a reasonable, though elevated price.” She paused and growled. “Before we bid, I need to know why the price is a bit higher and the ratio so skewed,” Everly muttered, her tail whipping around behind her in agitation. “The previous owners were an aquatic species …” She clicked through a few screens. “Oh, here is a note. The dome of the males’ sleeping quarters, which kept them dry and provided them oxygen, burst. Most of the males drowned.” She frowned. “Well, that is not good. Do we take on the downtrodden at a discount or keep looking?”

“And this is why you are here with us, Eric,” Perci breathed in a sad, soft voice, “you get to decide the fate of such unfortunates.”

“Your assessment?” I asked my Crixxi lover.

“This is not a scenario, as one might think, where you can simply buy a large number of available women as replacement lovers. These Mounamine females will struggle—some have undoubtedly committed suicide with the loss of their mates.” The red-head shook her fiery mane. “This looks like a breeding farm gone bad ... Yes, the number of adolescents and young adults is abnormally high.” She frowned, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the owners flooded the males’ compartment on purpose to try to sell the females at a higher rate as unattached nubiles. To an Eerania clan—a species of … I guess ‘rat-ogres’ would be a fitting description—these would make great lower wives. Yes, we would pay through the nose for these mouse-women and they come with emotional baggage,” Everly said with a sharp exhale and a sad frown. She pointed to the auction interface, where I noticed there were already forty-two bids. “I would avoid this one, Eric. For a few reasons.” She winced and threw an apologetic look at Perci. “We can’t save everyone.”

“I agree,” I nodded, “find me another option, please. And we can use more males to help build. It is not like we are seeking lower wives,” I said sternly.

“Adjusting search parameters for a balanced female to male ration… Okay, there are a few auctions where we can save a lot of neilspar by bidding on them. If we win a few of the smaller auctions, we should be just fine. I bid on and have saved eight listings to stay on top of any alerts.” She grinned, the hint of an extra canine peeking from her smile. “Please lead the way, Eric,” Everly said, confident in her selections. We continued marching down the line. “I will have to watch the timers closely, though, and may need either Perci’s or Willow’s assistance to keep track of everything.”

“I am going to shift personal purchase requests over to Nancy and Jacky, then. We still have a huge list of things to buy once the main chunk of personnel shopping is done,” Perci said, reminding me of something.

“What about crafters?” I asked, “You know … like, seamstress and tailor staff? I enjoy having clothes that fit,” I said. The remark came out with more snark and in a more sarcastic tone than intended. I apologized and shrugged; my irritation was not aimed at her.

“Of course, that’s part of it, and apparently we are going to need maid outfits and butler attire. I mean, those Mounamine were too cute. You’re not jealous, are you, Eric?” Perci asked.

“So … this may sound odd,” my brows drew down as I tried to put my feelings into words, “but I am more jealous of the Mounamine than the Crixxi,” I admitted. Everly sputtered, tried to hold in her laughter, and failed.

“What?” I grumbled, “A guy can have certain insecurities. Not ten minutes ago, I didn’t realize human women would have to give birth to multiple preemies.” I shrugged. “I am not a father. I have not been around many kids. My limited leadership training relied on yelling and punishment. I am not going soft, I am just saying, I have shortcomings,” I said, defensively hunching my shoulders as we walked past taller species, their heights approaching five foot nine. “I am not jealous of either species. I just have more to learn from a docile, domesticated male. Maybe I am father nesting, if that is a thing.”

Perci coughed and pulled me to a stop. She snuggled in close, fidgeted with my hand, and then looked up with luminous teary eyes. “I love you,” she said, “You will be a great Dad. That was unbelievably cute.”

“I am in agreement with my sister wife,” Everly nodded. “I was expecting you to be a bruiser of an alpha-male. Seeing that you have a softer side, that you like children—makes me wet with desire.” My cock twitched at her words and sultry tone. She snuck a hand down my pants and tried to grab my stiffening penis, only to have her hand slide through my body with the aggressive move. “Stupid grand market and its dumb rules,” she pouted.

I noticed a human display out of the corner of my eye, and left both the ladies standing there chatting to approach the interface.

The human was a male, with a great beard on his face. His eyes were inset with bags under them. Their skin had swirling blue lines ingrained into tanned skin. There were three variations up for auction. All varieties were blue-skinned, with one having a shortened thumb. I could not tell a difference between the other two variations. I pulled up the pricing list and found they were downright cheap. I could buy a hundred of these Humans for the price of a single Crixxi. The note indicated they were captured trying to raid. Good for protein, the note read. Ouch. I frowned. It seemed there were ways around the contracts. Hell, have a neighboring tribe raid, kill your servants, and you were not held at fault.

I left them to keep moving on down the line. I passed a few hundred aliens of all kinds until I found Earth Humans. I opened the price list. Hmm. They were cheap too. Fourteen were available in a buy-it-now deal. A man, five women, and eight children. The note said these had been purchased on a whim last golden cycle, but had become too depressed to amend their contracts. ‘Our loss is your gain,’ the note read. That was it. Fourteen. Billions of people and there were fourteen for sale. Were humans that loathed? I purchased the families with a sad click of a button. I would try to do my best to help them.

I trudged forward towards the Crixxi when my Gpad chimed an alert.

“Uh, Cap? I have a man, three mothers, two aunts, and eight children sobbing in my container.” - Felix.

“If Dalila is with you, get them to calm down and set them up in a hotel. Have an Aspen unit take them there.” - Cap

“Consider it done.” - Felix

“That's it?” Perci said, catching up and seeing the interface display and the line disappear, and the line condense over the open spot.

“I… we… we needed our purchases. Without them…” My shoulders slumped and I stared at the ground for a long moment before meeting Perci’s gaze. “I am making excuses. I could have saved so many last week,” I sighed, picking up the pace to a brisk walk. My feet felt like they were encased in concrete. I muttered, “Fourteen is better than none, I guess.”

CHAPTER 4

The Crixxi section had three variations. I noticed that slightly different ear placement, greater or leaner muscle mass, and then height—probably due to differences in gravity density—seemed to be the biggest differences between them. I turned the interface over to Everly so she could match up and show me which was which. I picked her up by the shoulders and moved her from image to image. My hmms, huhs, and frustrated chuffs seemed to delight her. She found my playful banter hilarious.

“I am obviously in this group,” Everly said, when I placed her before the middle Crixxi variation’s image. “We have the fluffiest fur, tallest height, and biggest breasts.” She gestured to the Crixxi image to her left, “See how this Crixxive is the smallest of the bunch, and its female is rather flat-chested? This variation reject the virum.” She nodded to the Crixxi image to her right, “the Crixxon adapt to virum, but their ears face backwards, which is akin to cheating in the jungle.” Everly gave a grunt of disdain. “You face a minor dilemma here. If you pick the variations to my left or right, you will have another Crixxi babe trying squeeze into our bed. I mean, I—”

“Ha! That makes this decision easy. Middle it is,” I said confidently, and Everly frowned.

“Eric Yang, you just got in trouble. Ohhhh,” Perci laughed, drawing out her statement.

“I will rationalize what is otherwise a poor decision,” Everly sniffed, “mainly because it will make my personal life infinitely less catty.”

“Please clarify,” I ordered.

“You are our tribe leader. As the boss, what is more important? Four thousand warriors on the field of battle in mecha suits and your bed gets a plus one, or your bed stays the same and we have only a thousand warriors in mecha suits, leaving expensive war machines vacant?” Everly said with a finger wag.

I shrugged. Maybe it made more sense militarily to expand my harem, but I didn’t care.

My reward was a tender kiss. “We are very happy, Eric. We even understand about Jill and Mary.” She smiled up at me, “I want to be happy. I dreamed of being a matriarch to a strong warrior and you make me proud. I will just have to work harder to make the most of our situation. The Crixxive and Crixxon are easier to capture, as their worlds have less jungle. Ours is all jungle.”

Perci stepped forward and looked over the sale sheets. There were only seven. Six of the available auctions were small orders of under a hundred Crixxi, with buy-it-now set prices. One with four males had already dropped its price twice.

“The Crixxi in the largest order are not infected with virum… That is almost unheard of and not good. Let me check the note,” Everly said, all but pushing Perci out of the way. “Sour milk… These are an offshoot. A colony ship that was captured by the overlords themselves. We would be buying from the gatekeepers’ automatons. Hmm…”

“I had wondered how they dealt with that. If they just returned them to a random planet or what,” I said, crossing my arms in thought. “How close is this auction to the other auctions we are tracking?”

“Well, I am watching a few, but the big ones are a half hour apart. I cannot see who the other bidders are, but a jungle Crixxi might not even be the best option for them. Human construction is more like our shipbuilding than jungle living,” Everly said, and I grunted.

“Okay,” I said, coming to a decision, “buy them all around the same time. If a few slip through on the buy-it-now, so be it.”

My hand went to my Gpad, and I posted the following text on the command net.

“Who needs help the most? Our personnel shopping is set for now.” - Cap

“I need more funds.” - Torrez

“I need to get in the field to start running tank drills.” - Jevon

“I finished getting more weapons and shields. Jacky and I are taking longer than we thought on personal items. We need more shoppers. Running into lines at vendors, and vendors keep forcing us to pick a side in a stupid religious debate that we seem to never dance around well enough.” - Nancy

“I can help with the personal items, Nancy. Send me the list.” - Willow

“I was refused service due to not worshiping the Gate Gods at the first agricultural automation vendor. Almost to the second now.” - Daphne

“If Jevon heads out to the tank drills, who is there to manage supply outflow?” - Cap

“I am. I just relieved him after sorting out the New Zealanders. We are doing better now that the massive hovercraft is out the gate.” - Felix

Perci came over and rubbed my arm. “How about we window shop?”

“They are pretty squared away. Why is Torrez complaining about funds?” I asked Perci.

“Because he keeps overspending. Mclain is our last unknown. If he finds a shelled suit, I want one for all the warriors, even if they go inside a tank or whatever,” Perci said with a grimace. Everly kept browsing the other Crixxi variations while we talked. “Yeah, if we can rein in Torrez, we have plenty left over. If we give him free rein, we might run out and have no equipment for the new Crixxi troops.”

I called Torrez.

“Go for S4,” Torrez said.

My translator hummed and tingled. I rubbed the spot over my chest. I had a message… through the translator. Odd.

“Go for S4,” Torres said again.

“Sorry, I was distracted. Did you get everything we needed?” I asked.

“Pretty much. There are dropships I want to buy, but I would need significantly more funds. Mr. T, the storage boss, told Jevon we were approaching our cap limit. He’d ordered concrete to be tossed in and converted into large cinder blocks,” Torrez said with a grumble. “I’ve requested all the remaining trucks be converted for some dropships. Every bit helps, but he denied my request. Boss, these are beauts, and don’t tell Maria, but I’m in love.”

I grunted, “Maybe we can return there after all the other shopping is done. If we get everything else we need, and have enough funds left over to afford some, you can zero us out. If not, then we’ll have to wait until the next market rotation to go airborne,” I said, knowing he would not like that answer. “Everything is changing too rapidly. Don’t moan when your orders contradict your personal desires.” I heard Torrez groan. “After that hover carrier purchase, I am not putting a priority on additional air vehicles.”

“If that’s the case, I guess I’ll just be sitting in here on my thumb for nineteen more hours,” he grumbled. Ouch. “For the community, I guess… Oh, hey, you can tell Jasmine it's all your fault. Always wanted to call in that marker, Cap,” he chuckled, “Torrez out.” He closed the connection before I could respond that he was free to leave and come back in before the end of the market to make any last minute purchases.

I grumbled about covering for Torrez playing hooky to his strong-willed three-year-old. Perci chuckled. “You realize it’ll be okay? Now, give me your arm so we can walk around together. It’s been too long since I had you all to myself. Bye, Everly,” Perci said.

“Hold on. Before we do that… My translator went crazy for a moment.”

Perci, the wizard she was, whipped the translator into a humming vibration.

“I got it,” she fiddled with the display, “Roarson sent a message about the ferox? Oh, shit… Eric. Chickens!” Perci whooped.

I immediately busted out my happy dance, certain my gyrations and fist pumps were the absolute best, ever. Staring aliens, confused by my epic moves, were merely jealous.

“What is the significance of these chickens?” Everly asked, wandering back over from the Crixxi holograms.

“They are humans’ staple food.” I grinned, “Now we just need Daphne to hit a homerun with the rabbit-food automated production systems.”

Perci glared at me, hands on her hips, after reading the rest of the message.

“Aw,” I pulled her tight against my side in a one-armed hug, “why the frown?”

“He said the ferox wanted to see you again so badly, that he bought a few hundred chickens to entice you back to his booth. It is obvious he is up-selling the chickens and trying to get you to buy the massive cat,” Perci said with a huff.

“But the chickens,” I replied with bouncing eyebrows, arms held out wide.

“Will be overpriced,” she growled.

“But … the chickens!” I retorted, pouting with a sour, sad frown. I would win her over; her shield would crack. I knew it wouldn’t take much of my Eric the puppy dog face to wear her down. Her poker face shattered, and Perci smiled at my antics, wagging a finger at me to let me know she was onto my tricks.

“Can I come?” Everly asked, seeing our excitement, “There are no more auctions for hours.”

“Of course, I just need to scrounge up some more funds for Eric’s … chickens,” Perci said, and snorted.

I grumbled. The age-old dilemma—butter or bullets. There was one option left.

“Felix, this is Cap.” I spoke into my Gpad.

“Go for Felix,” my overworked Xgate supervisor replied.

“Belay making bricks. I want chickens and a Ferox and drop ships.” He groaned. “Since I have not been outside to see what progress you have made with what Torrez bought ... If we convert the remaining electric trucks into materials, can we still tow what we need to back to base?”

“Uh… Cap. We have four massive mecha units. Hundreds of eight-person tanks, a thousand-plus single-person tanks. There are hundreds of trailers of all sorts, plus when we tossed in trucks and had old trailers stay behind—” he paused.

“So, you are saying that transport of either personnel or equipment will not be degraded if I sacrifice the remaining trucks or trailers to raise more funds?” I asked for confirmation.

“I am only the deputy S4. Torrez already fought with Jevon over the rest of the fleet, and Jevon told him he to get your approval before he’d authorize such actions,” Felix said.

“Okay. We're converting the trucks with their trailers ... All of them or until we hit our conversion cap. There is too much we need to buy, and if we will not be using those trucks to loot Denver anymore, they really serve no purpose,” I explained.

“For the community,” Felix said.

“For the community,” I replied.

I watched my Gpad. I waited. Any moment now.

“You okay?” Perci asked, and I shushed her.

“Yes! Good call, Cap.” - Torrez

“Oh, yeah, makes sense. I am surprised—” Perci was interrupted by another beep.

“Not my truck. Please. A few other folks have also requested to keep their personal vehicles.” - Jevon

“Approved to withhold personal vehicles on a case-by-case basis. How is training going?” - Cap

“Amazing. We went from a few shields and clunky armor with trucks and RVs to a futuristic mechanized cavalry. The Octosuits are slower than I thought they would be, though. They will have to ride behind the tanks on sleds or something, or we risk our combined arms synergy as the tanks leave them in the dust. But if you can get them in a line … damn! They will unleash holy hell. I think we could have fought the Lurrol with these.” - Jevon

“Perfect. Buying more animals and some drop ships. Keep me updated. Out.” - Cap

“Mrs. Moore, Jevon’s mom, is going to be very happy about the chickens,” Perci remarked to Everly. “As happy as the two of us getting to see Roarson. Shopping at his livestock market was fun.” Perci turned back to me, “We should get more Slongers, if he has them, we love their milk.”

“Someone termed his species ‘Scary Bears’. Not sure who named his race. Probably some Canadian who shat himself when they charged out of an Xgate onto Earth,” I said with a grunt. “Not knocking Canadians, they have some good elite troops. And I bet ten-foot-tall bears with jetpacks on the offensive are the stuff of nightmares.”

I stepped towards the nearest exit and the translator notified my Gpad that our destination was a half-hour’s walk away.

“Everly, this sounds like a good time to tell you about Earth before the Xgates. Would you like to know more?” I asked with a smirk.

The trip to a side elevator went quickly. We shifted to a whole new section of the market and took another ten minutes to get to Roarson’s booth.

The ten-foot-tall upright bear gave a toothy, canine-revealing smile upon seeing us. His green fur was matted with a blend of brown and black stripes. Those red eyes might spook some, but I found them warm and friendly. Another Scary Bear who had been chatting with Roarson left, so we could conduct our business.

We clasped forearms in greeting, as if we were old friends.

“Good to see the Ramoth didn’t eat you,” Roarson chuckled in a deep rumble.

His booth displayed pictures of the wide variety of animals he had for sale. I had seen more of everything he had to offer at the last market.

“Not a chance. I was told by a powerful friend that a Ferox is a rare find. Unfortunately, I had not set aside the time or the finances on the off-chance we might bond. It was a he, right? I think I remember noticing he had balls,” I said with a chuckle.

“Aye, it’s a male,” Roarson nodded, “But be mindful the price has not changed. I still need—”

“Neilspar, I remember. Now, show me my new friend,” I said, and Roarson offered a bearish smirk. He seemed generally happy to see us. “Roarson,” I motioned my petite wife forward, “this is Perci. I believe you met her before.” I pulled my Crixxi vixen into my other arm, “and this is Everly, the latest addition to my family.”

“A strong pride breeds many cubs,” Roarson said with a nod. “Now, come into my storage shop. Right over here.”

We stepped over to the no-gravity transit disc. A moment later, we were sucked through the floor, into the void, and arrived in a large storage section filled with a veritable zoo of alien animals. A cacophony of noises combined with a host of musty smells to assault my senses. I clenched my fists and breathed through my mouth, getting past the worst of it.

“I thank you for the message, Roarson. I have always wanted to go to an animal shop. We have legends, in our histories, of the big cats and how they can swallow a being whole,” Everly said with a polite tone. Her sensitive nose twitched at the offensive odors, but she kept her displeasure to herself.

Roarson stepped off the transit disc for the corner stall the ferox lived in. Around us I saw a lot of electric fencing containing mostly flightless animals, shorter than my knee. This must be his egg-laying and milking section. We stepped past a variation of a pig that piqued my interest. Perci pulled me from my distraction as Roarson and Everly carried on without me.

“Just be happy they cannot eat you in here,” Roarson continued the conversation with Everly, ending with a long rumble and stern gaze. “Ferox get moody when they are without a bond. He tolerates me, for some reason. His price would be a hundred times higher if we didn’t stud him out on occasion, simply due to his upkeep.”

I paused to watch the long-furred Ramoths congregate at the side of a pen. Roarson walked to a freezer not far from the pen. He pried the lid open, yanked out an object with the smack of crackling ice, and tossed the limb of some large animal into the Ramoth pen. It must be feeding time. We passed the Ramoth after I watched how they managed to eat frozen meat. We had been defrosting ours; I guess we didn’t need to. A few electric fences later, the Ferox eagerly awaited us at its gate.

“Please know that the Ferox’s behavior, upon purchase, is on you. If it eats some youngling, that is not my fault. As far as the chickens go, I have them all in stock. I also have more Ramoth and Slongers, if you are interested. How did your last season go?” Roarson asked, walking us behind a final strip of animal pens. I grunted and pointed at a swan looking animal, except it was green with a large head. “Those are Swaxi; good eating. Nice white meat. I eat one of these birds about every three seasons. They would only produce four eggs during that timeframe. So, once you do the math, you’ll realize it's a meat bird. They eat a lot of greens, roots, and insects. If you plan on going the automated food production route, get something else to keep out the pests. I have something similar to the chickens we got from Earth.” He chuckled, “Another fowl bird.”

Perci rolled her eyes at the pun.

“Our last blue portals were interesting. A furious few days of action, then a long period of peace. The ‘fowl birds’…” Perci punched me in the arm, but I couldn’t help myself, “were they ducks?” I wondered, stroking my chin.

“That's the one. So many variations. Fewer of them than the chickens, but they have not sold yet. Here is… I call this Ferox something that is close to his temperament ... Ornery? … Yes, that word translates,” Roarson said, as we arrived at the cat’s pen—if the cat were the size of an elephant.

I stepped forward and stuck my arm through the bars with my hand out, much like you would approach a strange dog. The ferox sniffed my fingers. Finally, a scent that pleased the animal. The large cat pushed its head against the bars, trying rub up against my chest.

“You saw a divine-ape, didn’t you?” Roarson said with a sigh.

“Yeah, it appears we are on the same side of a war against the Lurol,” I said, petting the massive cat and feeling tiny next to ... Hmm… ‘Onix’ would work.

“We Scary Bears are traders, so we officially stay neutral, although we do believe the quarantine creators and maintainers are indeed akin to gods. We also believe many of their actions unjust, and retribution is justified,” Roarson said with a grumble. “That is our official position. Looks like you’ve got a friend. Can you afford this big guy, though?”

“Who, Onix? I don’t know, honestly. I don't have any females to stud him out with. While an amazing animal, Onix would eat a lot. We have a large herd of Yexin, though, far more than we can eat before winter arrives. Our raiding went particularly well on one planet. Can I learn about how you got him?” I asked.

“Oh, ‘Onix’ is it? That is a good name. I like it. We got him as a cub, hoping to get a female if he bonded. Problem was, he never loved us like the others. More of a roaming male, seeking a home of his own, and ours is not it. Every season he sticks around our hideout to help, but he always willingly comes back before every market. We purchased a different male and two females. They live with us, but the other male grew up bigger and stronger.” Roarson went to pet Onix, who backed away at the Scary Bear’s approach. “Yeah, after last time, I figured he would be like this. His cost is what we paid for him as a cub, not a penny more, for the years of care or food. Only five years old, and Cap, he may not bond to you either. Consider yourself forewarned, this is a bit of a gamble. I treat customers fairly. But look at him—he is content.”

“May I see the purchase price again?” I asked. He sent me the listing. “Funny thing is, I am new to these mineral based monetary systems—the neilspar thing, the zinc, and the yttrium.” I snorted, “I remember looking at prices this last golden portal and scoffing.” I motioned Perci over to compare notes. “I can buy three eight-man tanks for this price, and I have no clue whether or not it is a good price or a swindle. I don’t even know if the big guy will stick around when we get home; he may flee off to wherever he wants to.” I scrubbed my hands through my hair. “I need dropships, and to ramp food production up big-time. You got any used dropships or food automation, by chance?”

“Um… two wildly different questions.” He stared off into space, “The first issue has its own set of problems—see, once your automation is set up, it is almost never torn down. I do have a guy I can recommend, though. Deals in neilspar, direct pricing, and sells great machines—same kind we use.” He frowned, “As for your ‘dropships’ … I don’t think my translator understands what you are asking for, the term is too vague. Are you asking for something that goes high in the air and down to the ground?” Roarson asked, scratching his ear in confusion. He even used his hands to indicate a flying aircraft clearing an obstacle.

“Yes, that description is accurate. Please, let me get the automation machinery dealer’s location while we talk,” I said. Roarson zapped the data to my translator.

I pulled the data to my Gpad, so that Everly or Daphne could access it and make the purchases.

“My den may have a few used animal haulers that would serve your needs. We have been meaning to get better venting versions,” Roarson said, scrunching his nose as if having an unpleasant thought. “No armaments, though. We set up on a planet someone else called home at one point. Left everything behind to scurry off into a massive jungle. We fly them in and out of the gates. The golden portals let you do that.”

I motioned for him to expound a little more on how that was done.

“If you want to use them on an offensive mission,” he explained, “then you have to tow them through the portal and relaunch them once on the other side. The ones we have run on oxygen generators, but power plants are easy enough to swap out.”

“How many do you have, and how much?” I asked in a firm tone, getting directly to the point.

“Give me six minutes and twelve seconds to find out,” Roarson said, and I nodded.

“Oddly specific time,” Perci said, petting Onix. The big cat loved the attention. Despite his being a massive, scary predator, the big lug was acting like an oversized house cat.

“It is a phrase, like ‘give me five minutes’. The translator calculates the conversion literally,” Everly informed us, scratching Onix behind one big ear. “He is gorgeous. I love his black fur and brown stripes. He will be nearly invisible at night. That Winston fellow might be able to help us find a mate for him. We will need his assistance.”

“Is there not an animal market like the servant market?” I asked. I was a bit miffed that animals weren’t sold this way.

“No, not that I know of; though I do not know of any reason why not, either.” Onix rubbed the Crixxi’s hand with his ear, clearly encouraging her to keep scratching. “Maybe it is to produce situations like this?” she mused.” Maybe because sapient lives are more or less a mandatory transaction requiring a black-and-white contract exchange? There is no swindling possible with contracts,” Everly shook her head, turning to me. “He might be extremely rare, or he might be super common, and this is a long con. Except you did say Lilith mentioned him.”

I chuckled at the reminder before pointing at the big beast. “According to Lilith, this guy will eat intruders of the invisible kind. Hold that thought—I need to ask Roarson about his ‘seasonal’ terminology. I have been hearing it more often lately; some of us have even started using it.”

I dialed Torrez.

“Go for Torrez,” he responded.

“I need a cost estimate on the dropships, and then I am going to send you the price of a comparable airship, an animal hauler. We may have to stick with the used air vehicles to start,” I said, and he was silent.

Moments later, Perci’s Gpad chimed, and she tilted her forearm towards me to show that, according to her balance sheet, we had enough zinc left to buy a hundred drop ships. “Is that with or without any add-ons?” I asked.

“Base model,” Torrez grunted. “It comes with shielding, anti-air to some extent, autopilot, a whole lot of powerful guns, and nine elemental power plants—one for each of the most common elements. All that is standard, though the power plants are interchangeable. It seats forty comfortably, sixty if you really crammed folks in there. It can climb fairly high and compress down to a smaller sized interior, if need be” Torrez said happily. “But you're right, they are expensive, and Blob does not sell any cheaper models, mainly because if you die in the cheaper ones, then she has no repeat customers.”

“Huh, that is a good business ethos. We help our customers return for more sales. Damn, Torrez, you’re putting me in a bind. Cap out,” I said.

I entered the pen and sat in Onix’s nest of straw. The big lug curled around me. I folded into his fur.

“Eric, don’t you dare get attached,” Perci said with a sour look. Sour might be a bit harsh, but she knew I was a sucker for pets. “We have only one viable aircraft. We need more of them. I want to open up trade with my Mom.”

“Yeah, arriving in the airship carrier might be fine, though. We are working off too much information in here and not enough data out there,” I complained.

“Because we only get one day in here and eleven more out there,” Perci said, folding her arms under her amazing breasts. She scrubbed at her face. “My mood is swinging all over the damn place. This market is making me tired.” I groaned. “Yep,” she chuckled, “here comes a yawn.”

“For once, close those lips before—” I yawned too. Damnit.

Roarson returned with a stern look. “The grand market is not real, you know. It uses your own energy to power your generated body about the station. At least, that is what our scientists theorize.” His toothy maw reared open in a yawn, too. “Even those of us who stay here the entire market, we get sleepy too. Even those creatures who don’t normally require sleep note how the market leaves them feeling exhausted,” Roarson said, returning to stand a short distance from my comfy spot. He folded his massive arms and gazed down his snout at me. “I like you, Cap, but you need to understand that talking in my place of business is not private if I am not around. So, I might offend you here, and if I do, good. You deserve it.”

I snorted, unaffected by his warning. “By all means, go ahead.”

“Your man was right. My transports are great for a cozy ride in friendly territory or a golden day on an Xgate you know is secure. I agree with this Blob creature, though, buy something fancy for raiding.” Roarson sent the information about his used haulers to my translator. I was not offended in the least that he had overheard our conversation. I synced the data to my Gpad and fired it off to Torrez. “Seasons is a term we use for blue portals. Nothing more, nothing less. You pay much more attention to the ones you survive before you sufficiently fortify your bases. You’ll count them less when you are as safe as you can be.”

Torrez rang. I answered.

“Did you look at these?” Torrez asked.

“Nope.”

“Cheap and reliant, but there are only two. Still, we should get them to use as materiel or people haulers, if nothing else. It would certainly make golden market days easier,” Torrez said. “Well, moving anything would be easier.”

“What about the carrier?” I replied.

“Redundancy. This gives us more options, and we are expanding, boss. I can probably modify these with another golden portal … I wouldn’t raid with them unless we knew for sure we were safe, too,” Torrez said after a pause.

“Okay, I will buy them. But that means a change of plans with respect to the dropships: I am investing the rest of our capital in food production. I am tired of green Ramoth eggs and Yexin. We will get some super dropships next golden portal.” I paused, another yawn cracking my jaw. “Then, I am going to play with our new toys after taking a nap to recover from this market. Thanks for your hard work, Torrez. Cap out,” I said, closing the connection.

“I will take Onix, your ducks, your chickens, more slongers, these ramoth, those pig animals, and both animal haulers,” I said confidently from my cozy spot.

“You have oxygen on your planet?” Roarson queried, “We have sixty percent on ours.”

“Twenty-something percent, but we have thousands of generators,” I replied with a wave of my hand.

“Twenty-one percent,” Perci said smartly.

I crawled away from my super-sized purring pillow, before climbing to my feet. I was ready to deal with the mess on Earth.

“You might be fine with just the oxygen generators, but I would toss a third nitrogen generator in, if I were you. Here is the bill. I will take zinc if that is what you're using. Imagine my surprise when my den leader asked for zinc, though I have no clue why zinc this time and not neilspar,” Roarson said, with a friendly smile.

I signed the contract he sent and began walking towards the exit lift. We carried on small talk and I wished him a good season.

When I arrived at our storage container, I groaned. I would not be taking a nap anytime soon, unless I went and hid from all the work that had piled up here.

There were hundreds of tanks still in the storage unit. It looked like none of the gravity sleds for hauling items had been removed. Seventy-two Pandarin stood in one corner, looking around at all the confusion. Everly rushed to them even as our storage space expanded again. Rows of machinery dropped into the once-vacant space. More rows of something that resembled a machine press, and then a series of spindle presses. The interior of this place was beyond chaotic. I watched as the bulky new animal haulers arrived. The animals that showed up right after the haulers walked right into the transports, out of habit.

“Come, here is the transport. I am told that if you fly it towards the gate, even a few inches, it will zap us out,” Perci said, motioning me towards a dented metallic container on a grav sled. “See, Everly is loading the first of the Pandarin in the back, with some of our new livestock.”

The animal-hauling airship had short wings, a wide loading ramp, and a compartment for the crew on the bridge. The entire aircraft, if you could call it that, was a hundred feet long, fifty feet wide, and fifty feet tall, with only the single wide entry ramp at the rear for either animals or crew. There were no cool folding-down side doors or platforms that brought you from A to B. Just the rear ramp. I now understood why Torrez’s first question was if I had inspected this thing. It suddenly made sense why Torrez was underwhelmed by the design’s simplicity. This ‘aircraft’ was a box on an overpowered grav sled.

When we arrived at the top of the ramp, the stench hit us. The smell came not from the animals already crowded inside. No, the floor reeked with a permeating stench of awfulness. I gagged. No wonder Roarson sold this to us. I jogged past the animals, with Everly and Perci hot on my heels. I ran up an interior ramp six feet wide and came to a door. I pulled it open, ducked into the doorway, and then slammed the door shut the moment the girls were inside.

“Oh, hey, how did you know it wouldn’t reek of festering shit in here?” Perci asked, her nose still pinched. Yeah, that door did little to spare us from the smell out there.

The crew’s cabin had no seats—this was bullshit. There was, however, a four-foot-tall podium that sported a half-circle of stations with interfaces. That was the only item to be found in the drab green, spartan interior. At least an expansive viewing window let you see clearly to the front, left, and right.

“I didn’t have a clue whether or not the cabin stank. I prayed the last crew was smart enough to keep the stench out. Perci, you're the gadget guru. Get us home,” I ordered, pointing at the control station. “Everly, are all the Pandarin aboard?”

“Aye, Cap,” she nodded, “they are loaded up.”

Perci walked over to a station at the podium with an interface display. “Sealing the ramp, now,” she reported. “I show Torrez in Air Transport B, sealing his doors too. Hold on, please, otherwise your martini this round might be shaken, not stirred.” A few clicks and clacks later, and we shuddered off the ground, not smooth but not too rough. “Okay, going forward.” Perci guided towards the shimmering golden portal at the end of our storage bay.

The cascading light filled the viewport, and I was excited to be heading back home.

CHAPTER 5

The evening sunset cut across the streaking clouds in brilliant oranges and pinks. My hand blocked out the fading light, and I grinned at what I saw. I had expected confusion and disarray much like the storage bay, but saw that the community buzzed around the outside of the gate in a more controlled form of chaos. We exited out the east gate, about thirty feet off the ground.

In a clearing to the southwest, I could see a swarm of the small, agile 63 tanks coordinating their maneuvers. The rapid vehicles played bumper cars, on occasion, but most executed their turns with a semblance of cohesion. When they fired a volley, a teal spray of energy crashed into the offending section of trees. A few shots went high, low, left, and right, but the majority of them hit their marks. The result was still encouraging, shredded trees popped and fizzled, with a few erupting into flame. I tucked in a quick elbow pump at the awesome display. Around the area, I counted a dozen of these small formations, practicing in every bit of open space they could find.

To the left of the light 63 tanks sat their big brothers, the heavy behemoths. I changed their designation to TG99 and set the 63s’ designation to TP63. This would help us better organize our tactics and bring clarity to my orders. T for tank. (G)round or (P)ersonal for the model types, with the number designating each specific model.

The TG99s tried to form a battle line. Behind the line, a separate TG99 towed a large shield generator. Though not as big as the shield the Lurrol had used, the towed shield generator was still so bulky that it barely fit onto its sled; my mind immediately wondered how powerful this shield was. The heavy tanks had trouble keeping their formation together, but valiantly tried to move as one. As they hovered forwards, trees were blasted skywards as the poor pines met the shield’s barrier. The maneuver was methodical, even, and organized. I noted such tactics were great for getting to a battle, but may not be adequate for the chaos of combat. I tried to keep in mind that you had to crawl before you walked, and walk before you ran; we were focusing on the crawling aspect first.

The western portal was behind me, I could see a long line of trucks curving from north to south as they were driven into the blue portal. Drivers ran back out of the west gate, crossing directly beneath us. A new tank was then driven out and loaded into the AC1, as I had labeled our aircraft carrier. The buzz of work was constant, with people jogging everywhere.

AC1 was a massive pizza box of metal. Generators dotted the top of the carrier, with huge fans circulate air through the large craft. There were ramps everywhere on this machine. A tower shot from the middle of the box to give the crew a three-hundred-and-sixty degree view around the aircraft. I propped my chin in my hand to study the design. It reminded me of an airport control tower on top of a flat hangar. I wondered how much this machine must weigh; the power requirements to fuel the anti-gravity generators had to be insane to keep it off the ground. I frowned, realizing the towering container was so massive, it would not fit inside our hesco walled valley. We’d have to park it in the cleared fields outside the walls that we had recently planted. I could only hope it would not ruin the fields. Assuming the only parts of it that ever touched the ground were the ramps on each side, we should be able to manage things.

The generators, extra tanks, cranes, and mecha suits piled into AC1 from every angle. The ebb and flow of my people running from one side of the portal to the other defied organization. Our view of the confusion was amazing, hovering as we were thirty feet in the air over hundreds of Crixxi and Humans, all too busy to look up at us. I knew someone would notice us before long, however, and word would get out that I was outside. Right on cue, Jevon called.

“Six ,this is five, over,” Jevon’s gruff tone barked from my Gpad.

“Go for six,” I replied

I felt a nudge from behind and the aircraft shook. “Shit!” Perci blurted, “Torrez just exited and we kissed bumpers. I need to keep us moving if we don’t want to cause an accident on our first ride.” She tapped at her display, “Heading home.”

Her squawk distracted me from what Jevon was saying. “Five this is six, say again,” I said. I tried to focus on his words.

“I have unit commanders working through basic drills. No sense in not giving them a break soon. In half an hour, I am going to switch everyone over to transporting goods and supplies home, once we remove all those trailers from the storage chamber. I have command,” Jevon said.

I smiled, knowing things were in good hands. “You have command, I’m heading home. Please ensure everyone who has filtered in and out of the portal gets a nap. The golden portal drains your own energy to create your avatar in the grand market, we had a theory about that confirmed today.”

Jevon keyed the mic, but then paused, “Understood … when you get back, we’ll need to re-sort team assignments and make some promotions. I will have a list prepared. Have a safe flight. Five out,” Jevon said, closing the connection.

Perci flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking to me for guidance. I gave a nod and our AH1 soared forward.

“I want to call this girl, Lexi,” Perci said hesitantly, though with her chin held high. Almost as if she were testing me. I raised an eyebrow at her. “With your permission, of course, Cap,” she blushed.

“Paint the hull, get rid of that god-awful smell, and then I will approve a name for her,” I said, but Perci’s evil grin caught me by surprise.

“Of course,” she smirked, “I will stencil Lexi on the side too ... and by I, I mean our hired help.” And again, out came Perci’s evil cackle. “As if I wouldn’t scrub the shit stench off the walls of this clunky box.” She snorted, “We will restore her to something worthy of our Stronghold.”

“Hey Perci, while I am thrilled about your little victory …” She grinned. “We have two burning issues that we should address sooner rather than later. The first has to do with Nancy; she is now the manager of what, exactly? The next issue is another name; we need a name for our community that encompasses both Aspen and Mansion. Any suggestions?” I asked.

Everly started to respond, but then closed her mouth.

“I am a bit busy, at the moment,” she looked out into the distance and tapped her display a few times, “There, that should get us home.” Perci kept one hand on her screen, but turned to look at me over her shoulder.

“Nancy is a medic, Eric. A damn good battlefield surgeon that we happen to no longer need. Her career was sacrificed, in a sense, to a pile of black goop. She doesn’t resent you for it, merely wants a new job to keep her off the battlefield before she becomes a mom. I was going to put her in charge of a new team responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of our new servants. I think that is a fitting job for an expectant mother.” She nodded to herself as if she’d just realized something important. “I will be surprised if we don’t get a lot more requests, from the women at least, to pull off the battle lines,” Perci said with a frown. The landscape flew by underneath us as we streaked towards home. “You generally do the names. The Gtower tells me that ‘Hedeby’ was the largest Viking city.”

“Hmm… Not a fan of Hedeby. We are going to fly the jolly roger for a flag, that much I am certain of. I will think on a name.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall. “What is the total flight time from the Xgate to home?”

Everly keyed something into the station beside Perci. “Seven minutes,” she replied.

“Well, hot damn. I better get to typing fast,” I said to a chorus of raised eyebrows. “I think I have the right name … just need to send an update to our entire community: Bastion.”

There were nods all around, the ladies agreeing with the name. My fingers danced on my Gpad as I entered my message in the broadcast to all Gpads option:

‘Since the Xgates fell from the stars above, we have struggled to survive. As we sought to preserve life at any cost, it felt like we went back in time. We will never forget those we lost, or the sacrifices they made that enabled us to thrive. We will remember that the items we have pilfered to make all this possible once belonged to someone just like us. And we will always remember what it took to get to this point.’

‘Today, a new age dawns. We welcome it gladly, with new allies at our side. Gone are the constraints of limited power generation. Tossed to the wayside is the concept of manual agriculture. As we embrace this new world, we will rely upon alien technology. As of today, there will be new subspecies caring for our needs. This pampered lifestyle does not come without cost. We must protect what we have built and defend those who maintain it. We will not be doing so with yesterday’s technology of electric trucks and thirty-year-old rifles. Hell no! We face the future with advanced technology.’

‘Ensure our new arrivals are treated with both respect and dignity. This massive influx of new community members means that we will need to modify our existing housing, complete existing construction, and see new stone structures rise into the air. We have a monstrous task ahead of us that will require everyone to pitch in. Not like we ever get much of a break, but the next few days will be particularly hectic. Which leads me to announce the following long-overdue policies …’

‘I am proud to announce that, starting tomorrow, we will be paying every resident for work done to improve and sustain our community. You will be paid in zinc… Zinc is our new currency. We have a lot of it in we can mine in the mountains. We can also trade for it in the grand market. We will start a new economy. Will there be rough patches? Yes, of course. Will there be back-pay? You better believe it! Will this transition be magically smooth? Hah! Not a chance. I intentionally noted the likelihood of issues, twice. Please be patient; give us a few days to cycle into this. By the time the next golden portal rolls around, the community should only lack a few items and the majority of shopping will be done by you, shopping within allotted time slots so that we all can witness the grand market and can purchase those things we need.’

‘In the meantime, however, we're going to be improving our defenses and significantly enhancing our construction capabilities with towering robots called Goliaths, with two in Aspen and two in Mansion. A transportation system, called the underway, will be built to link our separate strongholds into one nation—it should be completed in a few hours, forever connecting Aspen and Mansion. Our community, Bastion, is a bright new beginning for all our citizens. Picking out our flag was an easy choice; it should be a symbol that invokes fear in our enemies but also one that constantly reminds us of the many dangers the future always holds. We have chosen to fly the skull and crossbones over our strongholds. Make no mistake, our future will, of necessity in this damned quarantine, involve piracy. We will adapt to and adopt Viking methods to ensure we prosper.’

‘When we think about where to spread out to next—a third base—we will likely select somewhere far distant from any Xgates. Our ability to move from one point on the Earth to another shifted dramatically today. We now have aircraft capable of traveling to and trading with other settlements. We are growing and there will be growing pains as we move forward. To help in this time of transition, I have come up with some common terms to add to our everyday speech.’

‘New Acronyms will designate the type and purpose of our new vehicles. The first letter of each ancronym describes the vehicle type. The second letter of each acronym identifies the model’s purpose. Finally, numbers designate the actual model. For example: (A)ircraft, Animal (H)auler becomes A-aircraft. H-hauler. Model-01 … or AH01.
Another example: (M)echa (P)ersonal. M – Mecha. P - Personal. Model – 11 … or MP11.

‘You think you may never need to know this, but surprise! You need to know this. Everyone and I mean everyone will get a brief orientation on all vehicles, and weapons of war. We never can know who might have to hop into a TP63— Tank Personal model 63—and save the day.’

‘I have some bad news for the Humans receiving this message. We are hated as a species, considered good for little more than protein on the grand market. Our ancestors, if you believe the stories, are despised for their savagery. They use virum of a different kind, called lexium. Maybe it makes them exceptionally aggressive, who knows; we do know it turns them blue. I was able to obtain the only fourteen Earth Humans available at the market. Every golden portal I will buy up contracts that are available and do what I can to hopefully reunite some folks with those who have been stolen from us. Your loved ones are not forgotten; I feel for your anguish.’

‘Ending on a positive note, we will hold a feast for lunch tomorrow. All are invited to use the underway to join us at Stronghold Mansion. This is not a mandatory event, but a meet and greet. Our newest additions will be on hand for the celebration. No booze, though, because we expect the next ‘season’ as the aliens in the grand market term a blue activation around dinner time tomorrow. I hope this lifts your spirits, knowing we successfully made it to a new age. We are going to prevail in this new Viking age. For the community … for Bastion!’ - Cap

I gazed out the window, wondering how everyone would react to my message. I blinked and shook my head.  Why stare out the window when I had a long skirt with a swishing tail and tight yoga pants to stare at?  Much more interesting than downed trees. I enjoyed the indoor scenery, reaching out in front of me to ‘air grab’ some juicy booty. The girls were oblivious to antics as they studied the AH01’s control stations.

The aircraft descended smoothly outside of Stronghold Mansion. The top of the Crixxi towers faded before I felt a slight shudder through the cabin as we touched down. I heard two relieved breaths and looked over at the girls.

“Everything okay?” I asked, innocently sticking my hands behind my back.

“Yes, we’ve landed outside the wire, which is the closest I think we should get, for now. Um… We are going to have storage issues,” Perci said, her face twisted into a grimace. “As fast as the trees are coming down, we still need most of the land inside the barriers for living space. We either store all this new equipment outside the walls or clog up space we need to build on.”

“Gary is fixing that. We’re building a new wall upfront. Besides, what better way to slow the enemy than force them through a bunch of tanks,” I said with pirate growl and a goofy cross hook with my arm. I waggled my eyebrows at her, “You know I was a fearsome skallywag at one point.” Everly rolled her eyes.

Perci scoffed and swatted my ass. “We know, matey.”

“You’ll have to excuse me, your fearsome pirate lordship,” the Crixxi said, “I have to integrate our newest arrivals. You should probably talk to that Norm fellow and get him to link up with Daphne,” Everly said, opening the nasty door. “She is probably still trying to buy food automations.”

“Cap, this is Torrez,” Torrez said, breaking radio protocol. His voice was agitated, almost panicked. “This damn Ferox has me trapped.”

Ah, yeah I could see how that might make one a little angsty. I cupped my hands and yelled into the hanger bay, “Onix, leave my friends alone! Go secure the area. Bring me back something to prove I did not waste our resources on you,” I bellowed so loudly into the cavernous hold, that echoes trailed in the approaching twilight. I saw Pandarin cover their sensitive ears. The Swaxi honked, Slongers grumbled, Ducks quacked, and the damn Rooster crowed, all telling me to shut the hell up. I smiled down at the irritated beasts. “Actually, Onix, forget about going hunting, I need you over here to herd these animals off of my ship.”

The Ferox bounded into the hold a moment later, careful of where he stepped. Onix hissed at the animals and even the Pandarin quickly exited the hold. A few started to go the wrong way, but Onix leaped onto the back wall, hissing down at them. They got the message and fled down the ramp. Holy shit.

I was intimidated by a twenty-foot-tall cat, who leaped a hundred feet in a single bound. His claws anchored him securely to the wall. When he dropped down, I saw puncture holes in the metal sheets and groaned at the damage.

“Am I okay to go out?” Torrez asked and I chuckled.

Onix herded the frightened animals into a tight circle on a section of cleared land. When they had calmed down, he sat on his haunches.

“I think we are safe.” I punched Torrez in the arm. “If you get eaten, blame Perci,” I said with a slight giggle. I closed the connection, fleeing an irate Perci, who stormed out of the crew cabin, trying to slug my arm. I took a deep breath and ran out of the hold, desperate to avoid the stench. When I reached the bottom of the ramp I sucked in a huge gulp of clean air. I waved to the guards on the hesco wall. “Don’t mind us. I need you to open the gate please.”

Two soldiers hopped into a pair of trucks that blocked the enterance and drove them out of the way off to the side, behind the wall.

I pointed into the opening. “Onix, herd these animals into your new home. You’ll smell where the pens are. Take them to where they need to go,” I said and he rumbled something undoubtedly snarky in response. I shrugged. “If you want a treat, I have a whole haunch of a gargoyle left. The shit is nasty, but you are welcome to it.”

I guess that was enough for him. Into the base, the animals and Pandarin went.

“That cat is frightening,” Torrez said, the scuff of his boots telling me he’d stopped directly behind me. “I hope he doesn’t eat me.”

“Ha! Think of the children,” I said with a snicker walking around the mass of animals being herded into the base. “Hey Bensen,” I greeted a soldier at the gate, “the troops are looking fantastic. Where’s Gary?”

“Out by the caves, Cap. Love your new pet,” Bensen smirked and Onix growled low in warning. “Team member, Cap, I love our new team member.”

A rumbling purr let us know Onix was pleased with his upgraded status. “I guess he understands us,” Perci said, keeping pace.

“Norm, Tina, where are you?” I asked, dialing directly into their Gpads.

“Damnit Cap, I am in the shower,” Tina scoffed, closing the connection.

Norm opened his video chat. “I am managing the livestock. Pat is out over with the Yexin and Mr. Wang is tending to rabbits in Aspen,” Norm responded in a friendly tone.

“Um… So, Norm … Who would you say is your deputy?” I asked.

“We need more farmers, but that would be Idra—a nice Crixxi lady, very much in tune with the land. I take it you need my expertise to sort out the vegi-producing automation?” Norm said, as I watched him stoop down in his video feed to pluck a weed out of the soil.

“Onix, a ginormous cat, is herding our latest livestock additions your way. Have your folks add these new animals to the existing pens and then head over to the Xgate. There, I need you to find Daphne and help her get what she needs to automate our agricultural production.”

“Understood,” he said.

“You’ll be growing crops in machines going forward, Cap out” I said, and closed the connection. Norm had been really good for the community. I felt bad for a few reasons. I’d pretty much cucked him with the kerfuffle over Tina and Nancy, then I turned his twenty-plus days of hard work into little more than a single yield. Nothing for it, but to keep going forward.

I left the animals pouring into their new pens and climbed a Crixxi tower. I wanted to get a feel of the community from up top. I had been somewhat bummed lately by the mass exodus of folks leaving Mansion for Aspen. Every one of the single-story longhouse units stood empty. Not that I blamed them for leaving, it was not a hard choice—did they want to live in hastily constructed plywood communal long houses, or in luxury hotels and condominiums?

Aspen had doors, personal space and private bathrooms. That was that.

My soldiers, both Human and Crixxi, stayed. We built separate bedrooms in the two story longhouses. Over the past seven days we had managed to complete the thirty-third longhouse. Longhouses twenty-six thru thirty-three were two stories tall, had indoor plumbing, communal kitchens, and more closely resembled modern homes. They were highly sought after. People had had enough of sheet walls held up with string. No longer. They fled the older longhouses for a room in the barn, or the mansion, or Aspen.

Longhouse two and three had been torn down. A metallic square pad, surrounded by railings on all sides, now occupied that space. When I glanced up to see the platforms on the pad, it reminded me of a helicopter landing area, with eight designated platforms. Lilith had said these transportation systems worked via tunnels. You powered them up and they synced to a distant pad through a digital signal; the machine would then bore a sealed tunnel connecting the two points, thereby creating a rapid transportation system between the two points.

I asked about where all the displaced rock and dirt went and was told the drilling construct would send condensed bricks back to the platforms of the initiating pad. Sure enough, as we talked, a platform slid open to deposit a stack of dark cubes on the surface. Each block was about a foot on each side and were constantly carried off by a Crixxi work crew. Since the blocks were not building-grade, we hauled them off to the firing range at the eastern end of the valley to construct new berms, lanes, and firing positions. If we found the time, we could load up one of the aircraft and dump them down the side of the mountain.

I tapped on my Gpad to check on the rapid transportation system’s progress tracker. The underway was about halfway complete and showed me that both sides were carving out swathes of rock deep underground to meet in the middle. That was excellent news.

My eyes darted to study the bathhouse that remained a work in progress. On a pragmatic level, it functioned fine, once we found a concrete mixer and enough concrete mix from Denver’s hardware stores to cover the gravel flooring. With the addition of private bathrooms and extra public bathrooms, people had finally stopped pooping in the woods. During the next golden cycle, our grand market purchases would be all about modernizing our infrastructure.

The other noticeable difference I saw as I looked over the compound, was that we had ripped out a whole lot of trees. So many, in fact, that the only trees in the valley not piled high, waiting to be converted into useful construction materials were, in the Taver compound. Those were the only trees left in the valley, a clump the children had named ‘Wooded Lake Park’.

I turned to look south. Clearing ten miles worth of trees along either side of a dirt road was an immense task, but we did it. We now had four lanes of traffic for our corridor with two choke points guarding our entryway.

The sound of a saw chewing through bone reached my ears. The slaughterhouse near the river was polluting our water to no end, but I had caved on the matter, and bought a water purification system, instead of pretending our wells would remain uncontaminated. I knew Clive was probably installing the water treatment plant somewhere behind the residences. I couldn't see much free space from the Crixxi tower I had climbed.

The Crixxi were relentless about their towers. We had eight of them up now and were not even close to housing them all comfortably. Spoiler, a lot of the Crixxi had moved out for hotel rooms in Aspen, up high in the top couple of floors, of course. I understood why when I saw how cramped the wooden tower-homes in the sky were. The Crixxi towers dotted the grounds, evenly placed among the other buildings, with suspension bridges strung between them. Crixxi children ran recklessly with boundless energy across the swaying rope walkways. My stomach always clenched tight, fearing one would fall a hundred feet to the ground with some misstep, but this never happened. Eventually I learned to tune it out, reluctantly accepting that they had been born in trees much taller than this.

Stronghold Mansion had made a lot of progress, but then again, we had regressed somewhat too. Seven hundred of our twelve hundred residents moved to Aspen. I even donated the majority of our bouncy house maze for the civilian families to take with them. It was for a good cause, even if I kicked, moaned, and grumbled about the missing fun houses.

The end result of a peaceful week was a whole new fortification. At least we now had the room to house Mounamine, Pandarin, and more Crixxi. Mansion was still our priority fortification, but a third was being planned for. Soon we would need to scout out a new backup home. It needed to be isolated from the Xgates, but still within range of our portal devices. I knew that meeting would be a fun one, and prayed we’d be able to reach a general consensus. At least I had a Gtower database, with every nearby Xgate’s roaming area mapped.

I let the thought fade, when a series of loud barks drew my attention to the massive cat being harassed by a loyal bulldog, at the foot of my tower.

“Onix, this is Felix, Felix this is Onix. Play nice, you two,” I said, stomping down the ramp. “I guess you earned your reward, Onix. Come Felix.”

I walked up to the mansion with both animals in tow. I waved to Norm when I saw him driving out the gate. Tina sat drying her hair in the passenger seat. Norm’s wife, Slister, was still out training troops.  I had not seen much of Tina’s boyfriend, Derek, lately, but he was easy to forget about.  The two couples had formed an odd little family unit, though I was probably the last one who’d judge their situation. Neither a harem nor reverse harem, they were simply two couples who had mingled into one.

Perci and Everly waved from where they walked with a group of Pandarin trailing after them. They were giving a tour to the attentive, small creatures; Onix and I were on the receiving end of a lot of finger pointing and sidebar conversations.

I asked the big cat to wait while I ducked into a Mansion that was still a cluttered mess of sleeping spots and kids watching TV. I entered the code to get down to the basement. Poor Felix was panting already, despite the cool spring breeze. Bulldogs had the worst breathing. He must have considered his escort duties complete, and flopped down in the middle of a pile of kids. I walked downstairs and propped open the freezer door; a gush of cold air washed over my body.

Before virum, I would have struggled to carry a couple hundred pounds worth of gargoyle haunch. With my bulkier frame, and my cybernetic-empowered arm, I had no issues until it was time to go climb back up the stairs. I trudged out of the mansion and a sharp set of teeth carefully pried the meat out of my arms. Onix bound for the Taver Woods and quickly vanished from sight.

“Hey,” I yelled, “don’t kill my Tavers, and I expect you to go hunting for us!” I shouted in the cat’s direction. I needed to ensure he understood I had purchased a team member and not a pet; I would expect him to pull his not-inconsiderable weight. Alas, cats don’t give much thought to what others want. They do what they do.

I yawned with a shrug and headed for RV3. I was exhausted and in desperate need of a nap. The alloyed exterior reflected the fading sunset. Mansion was in a much better condition than it had been, even just a few hours ago. Soon, we would focus on stone buildings, opening up a mine, more and higher defensive walls, additional layers of defense, and the list went on. Though I didn’t regret turning over the mansion for the greater good, I was eager for my own home to be built. A castle fit for a king is how my construction foreman, Gary, described the plans Perci turned over to him. I used my Gpad to unlock the back door of RV3 so I could tuck into a rest.  For now, I’d settle for my luxury studio apartment on wheels.

CHAPTER 6

A moan escaped my lips as hot, lusty kisses climbed up my neck. I pushed a mass of pink hair out of my face to check the clock and see that I had been asleep for two hours. Willow kept kissing, her salacious tongue working its charms in the hollow of my neck. As I stirred, she shifted her efforts to my lips. Our tongues entwined in a passionate embrace. My cock twitched under the sheets, seeking something juicier than kisses. I pulled Willow on top of me, forcing out a lusty squeak in delightful anticipation.

Her slick vagina pressed its heat against my throbbing boner. She arched her hips, pulling me deep inside of her in a single smooth movement. With a growl, I flipped her over beneath me, watching her large tits bounce around delightfully. Her blue eyes burned with desire and she bit her lower lip seductively.

“Fuck your little slut, Master. Feed me your cum,” Willow purred, her nails raking down my back.

I thrust my hips down, feeding her little vagina as much of my cock as she could take, our bodies slapping together. She wrapped her legs around my hips and her pussy clutched at my cock. With her legs locked over my hips, I worked us into a steady rhythm of deep pumps. I grunted with each thrust while she moaned.

“Do you like my big cock?” I breathed into her neck and nibbled on the lobe of her ear.

Her slick channel clenched my girth, her tightening walls eliciting a tightness that built from the base of my scrotum. Willow was doing her best to get me to cum quickly—and damn if she wasn’t good at it. I slowed our pace, pulling out to teasing her outer lips with the fat head of my steel shaft. Just as her hips arched to pull me back into her depths, I plunged in and out several times. She twisted her back with each re-entry, her large plump tits bounced freely.

“I love it Master,” Willow whispered with a moan, “I want to feel you leaking out of my tiny swollen pussy,”.

“What’s the hurry?” I teased.

“Pre-nap sex. Now stop talking, or I will take over and squeeze that girthy cock of yours until you fill me,” Willow said, a cry of pleasure pulled from her lips as I pumped deep into her again.

She flipped over to lie face down, ass up. I slammed back into her tiny slit and she gripped the sheets tightly. I rammed her from behind over the next five minutes until her head banged into the wall of the RV. She used her hands to push back from the headboard and grinded her hips into my crotch until I exploded inside her. My balls pumped her full as I pulsed my load deep into her.

I crashed to flop down beside her with a light huff. I rolled over to grab a rag from the nightstand to clean off with.

“Pre-nap sex or not, how about an after-sex chat? We have both been so busy lately that I wanted to ensure you are okay. Emotionally, I mean” I said, proffering the rag for her to clean herself off.  She refused, glorying in the feeling of my seed trickling down her thigh. I smirked and she giggled.

“I am great,” she replied, “but, I thought we already had this conversation.”

“That was before Everly,” I replied, pulling myself off the sheets. I went to my overhead storage slot where I found a fresh kilt and plain shirt. “I am so looking forward to our castle.”

“You and me both. Eric, don’t get me wrong. Tender moments which transition into rough sex pretty much describes my best fantasies. Everly has been a great fit. Hell, we all love Jill. I should be conflicted and jealous; I don’t pretend to understand why that isn’t the case, but I am happy and content,” Willow said, getting up on her knees to give me a hug. Her double-D breasts squished pleasantly into my upper abs. I kissed the top of her head gingerly.

“If I have a problem with any of this, you’ll be the first to know.” She smiled up at me, “Eric, we have a child, or children, on the way. We will face whatever challenges arise as a family, and as a family, we’ll kick their asses.”

“I love you Willow,” I said, nuzzling my nose into her pink tresses, “best wake up ever.”

She squeezed me tight.

“Next question. Nancy wants off the line,” I sighed, “and I’m sure she won’t be the only combat experienced veteran looking for a non-combat role. I need to fill fifty officer positions, if not more. Technically, each TG99 should have an officer in command. You want to be an officer?”

“Am I ready?” Willow asked, giving me a deep gaze with those blue eyes I adored.

“Probably not, but you might be. No one is really ready for their first command. There are going to be a lot of slots filled by untrained, underprepared people. The only choice Jevon and I have is sticking with those who have the best shot at keeping themselves and their troops alive, and replacing those that fail repeatedly. You won’t fail, Willow. I believe in you and I know you would have made your Dad proud. You make me proud,” I said earnestly.

She buried her head into my chest. “I love you too, Eric. I will try my best.” She held me tightly for a long moment, then let me go. “Now,” she commanded, “get out of our room. I need to sleep, that stupid market is so draining.”

I dressed and left the RV to greet a star-speckled night sky. Intermittent clouds let a full moon and the multitude of stars shine bright. The interior of the Mansion compound remained insanely busy. I doubt things had slowed down much, if at all, since I lay down for my nap. I saw children being chased by Pandarin, parents bemusedly watching over the playful interactions. The fact that every child’s need for sleep had been cut in half by the virum was something I had not realized was becoming an issue until Jill brought it up and our community adjusted to a new normal. Beyond the playful toddlers, the kitchen was going full tilt, with teams cooking food for rotating shifts as they filtered through the chow hall.

“This way!” Braxton shouted from my left.

He waved a tank forward, hauling a sled piled high with generators. I decided to jump right into helping out, when something caught my eye. A hundred foot tall robot stood stationary next to longhouse twenty-six. I had to assume it had been easy to operate and to tuck it there in between the buildings.

Hmm… The only thing better than waking up to amazing sex was playing with a giant robot. I decided to skip helping our electrician to tour the Goliath, instead. This was my kind of wake up. I jogged by the crowds of workers and returned the waves of a couple of the teams. A quick glance down at my Gpad as my feet crunched loose gravel underfoot, showed I had eighty-three alerts. I kept jogging towards the Goliath’s foot when I saw that only two of the messages remained for me to deal with. Mclain had made a request for additional funds, wishing to spend more than he had been allocated for shielding. The other alert was a notification that we had hit our cap and no longer had the ability to convert more resources at the portals. Okay, both of those issues would hold for a few minutes, at least.

I reached the foot of the mighty robot and craned my neck up. I tried to open the foot by touching the metallic surface. The off white coating of the boot projected a screen that let me know the robot was currently occupied and it requested I enter the proper code. Where the hell did I input anything? It was just a curved boot with no obvious interface. My rapid taps against the projected screen were interrupted when the foot opened. My fist pumping victory was short lived. I had not cracked the code, Nancy stood there, with her beautiful blonde hair flowing over her shoulders.

“You busy?” I asked with a winning smile combined with what I hoped was a dashing pose.

She folded into me with a tight hug. “I am exhausted. How about you carry me to our bed, my love?” She fluttered her eyelashes at me in a hilarious imitation of despair. “I would adore you forever, my Viking King,” Nancy said, with a ‘woe is me’ backhand to her forehead.

I scooped her into my arms in a princess carry, unable to resist becoming her knight in shining armor … er, t-shirt and kilt. “The robot can wait, wife of mine.” I kissed her soundly, “now tell me how the shopping went.”

“You got a new powered shotgun—”

“Big sploosha!” I interrupted.

“Whatever,” she smirked, “as well as another sniper rifle, and I picked you up a heavy machine gun. The alien gatling gun has its own power pack, so shouldn’t be a drain on your nitrogen power plant, and your cybernetic arm should be able to handle the extra weight. I am getting worried that we are becoming too reliant on one damage source, so I bought heavier punching projectiles rifles, like the peeblenator, only bigger. The vendor told me I was dumb until I mentioned the Lurrol, and he grudgingly admitted I had a point. Your weapons are somewhere over in that craziness,” Nancy said, flipping her hand in the direction of the Xgate.

I arm curled her body up to my chest, leaving a tender kiss on her lips. “I missed you today,” I sighed, “so much so that I want to have sex, but Willow is sleeping.”

“I was going to fuck you in the robot …” I began.

Nancy pressed a finger to my lips. “Promise you a rain-check on awesome sex in the giant robot. You can pound my sweet pussy while we both enjoy the amazing view.” She stroked my cheek. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you called me your wife. I am one of your queens. We will have a seamstress sew proper wedding dresses and can all get married when our castle is built ... before our children are born.”

I nodded, kissed her forehead and agreed, “Before our children are born. Oh, hey, before I forget, consider your request to shift to a non-combat role approved. I will be offering that option to others as we supplement our forces with contract Crixxi.”

“God I love you, Eric.” She positively glowed with happiness. “Perci may have let slip what you want me to do, and I promise to be a wonderful manager of Bastion’s support staff, now set me down.”

I set her down on her own feet, but kept her tucked in to my side.

“You need to approve one of three things immediately. Either additional automated crop production, more exoskeleton suits, or additional contracts for Crixxi that randomly hit the market. All three require the shifting of priorities and funds; Jevon refused to give me an answer, saying that each of those can wait,” Nancy said as we pulled up outside RV3. I opened the door for her. She hopped up the steps, calling back over her shoulder, “The Goliath is easy to operate. Have fun. See you in a few hours.”

“Sleep well,” I called out and sprinted for the robot.

The last thing I needed was someone else stealing my turn to play with my new toy. A few dogs chased after me, trying to see what the excitement was.  Felix lifted his head from a spot in the grass. His bulldog side-eye said it all: “Forget it, I’m too lazy to run.”

I rounded the corner to see a bunch of young boys trying to convince the littlest one to go in. Umm… Shit. I couldn’t be leaving the entrance to a hundred foot tall being of destruction open for our youth to toy around with. That was my job, dammit!

In my best dad voice, I called out, “Step away from the robot.”

They scattered, the sound of retreating footsteps fading into the night. I was usually a pretty friendly guy, but kids were still frightened of the boss man.

I stepped into the boot. There was a hiss, a shifting of pressure, and a sudden tug forward. I fought against the pull, not sure why, but soon realized I had erred. I bonked my head into the top of the foot. When I finally did start to rise up the tube, my body pinged off the walls. I used my arms and legs to quickly correct my ascent, thankful for the reflexes of a seasoned warrior.

I guess I could check the box ‘getting into the damn robot’. Done. Next time, I made a note to myself, hurry towards the ankle when you hear the hissing noise that is most likely the pressure differential designed to suck you up the access tube. I passed the robot’s hips and kept going upwards until I found myself looking out from the clear bubble that was its head. I guess this location for the command and control pod made sense. I could look in any direction around the circular head and see all around me … assuming I was a night creature. But right now, the area was well lit. I decided to address the issues at hand before trying to get this monstrosity to walk.

“Six for five, I’m back among the living,” I said.

“Five is in the gate, this is Delta six, go,” Bonnet said. Huh, no Bradley.

“Hey Bonnet, I can see you rolling your eyes from here. I received a few alerts. I guess I need to determine priorities between exoskeletons, more Crixxi, and food production units. Are there notes or a report that accompanies these requests?” I asked.

“That is what five is doing. Expect -”

“This is five over,” Jevon cut in.

“Report,” I said.

“We have limited funds. We can afford two of these three: exosuits, food production machines, or additional Crixxi that became available. My recommendation is that we purchase more exosuits and hire Crixxi to fill them. In my opinion, we are solid on food. Norm even told me he expects the first harvest to start coming in over the next five to ten days. Priority should be to get us more warriors and more protection. We can always go raid farms or loot shopping centers, if we have to,” Jevon said.

“Norm recommended this?” I wanted confirmation.

“Affirmative. We need a ton of people to help sort these purchases. Everly is napping in RV1, with Daphne keeping an eye on the auctions for now. We need to clear out this cluster for when ten thousand new arrivals hit our storage bay inside the Xgate,” Jevon groused.

“Roger. I will call Gary and get a team converting the empty longhouses to bunks and bedding for the Crixxi. I am in a big robot. I was going to start tossing excess dirt and stone from the tunnel dig,” I said, wondering how to best go about it.

“Come help move these infantry octosuits. There are thousands of them and they are a pain in the ass to get onto the trailers. “It’s grunt work, but necessary. Jevon out.”

I snorted. I figured I wasn’t above passing the night with some menial tasks. Before I clomped off in a super-sized robot, however, I needed to check in with Gary.

‘Got a moment?’ - Cap

My Gpad rang. “I am outside a tunnel on the west side, you need something?” Gary asked, when I answered his call.

“Yeah, wanted to check to see if you need anything from me to convert the empty longhouses over for the -”

Gary cut in, “Everly already sent the specifications, with Perci’s approval. The building teams are already hard at work making the conversion,” Gary said, and paused.

I glanced down and saw that all our tree processing machines were creating boards. Crews walked from the longhouses to piles of supplies to reload their autonailers. Gary was efficient, even when offsite. “The mining is going slower than Draxxar wanted, but I am learning the process so I can assign others to the task as well. We will need dedicated hauling teams before too long, though, to start shifting this stone to build the new south wall.”

“Yeah, we have to unload the Xgate first, then store those items, and then I can bring home a whole new workforce. The Mounamine we got can build, by the way, just don't expect them to be sturdy muscle machines like the Crixxi.” He laughed. “Need anything else?”

“Can you hire architects? Like actual builders?” Gary asked hesitantly.

“I can ask, though I doubt Everly will know of any. The only person I can pester has probably already gone home.” I frowned, “Worst I can do is try ... You want designers or actual laborers?”

“We have no shortage of labor. I can build you a house, been doing construction for thirty years.” He sighed, “This castle your wife asked for looks great on paper, but how do I do the plumbing, electrical, and so on? We only need a few architect types to manage the projects,” Gary pleaded.

“Gary, its stacking stones on stones…” I started to say, but regretted the words as soon as they escaped my mouth.

“And something I have never worked in,” he shot back. “This is not making plywood molds and -”

“Gary, that was the wrong thing for me to say—I’m sorry. You are right and I was wrong. I will go try to hire you a master builder. Cap out,” I said, closing the connection.

My Gpad pinged.

‘How is Mary?’ - Jill

I muttered to myself, “How the hell should I know?!”

I pinged Maria. ‘Who is watching the kids?’ - Cap

‘Your daughter is curled up in a king-sized bed with Jasmine. I took over for Serenity when I finished shopping.’ - Maria

I called Jill for a video chat. She peered back at me with bags under her eyes and a zombie like expression. “I am so tired,” she groaned, “I never want to stay in the grand market for that long again. The hours just flew by. How is our little girl?” Jill asked.

“Sleeping. How about I come get you and bring you home? I need to test this thing out, anyways,” I said to Jill who I could see was walking into an RV. I saw her snatch a bag from the floor and yank a blanket from the loft. “Are you going to crash there?”

“I might if you take too long.” She yawned, “I’ll probably sleep while you work. This RV is packed, we got evicted from our longhouse, and I refuse to move to Aspen. Mary would be devastated. Funny, the crazy things parents go through for their children,” Jill muttered, snuggling into the blanket.

I knew she tended to ramble when tired, so I decided to get moving while she talked. I stepped up to the only item in the room near the front of the dome. The pedestal adjusted to my height, a screen lit up and a beam of light burst forth to scan me from head to toe. Umm … What the hell was that? I stood there for a moment, not moving.

“Can you hear me Eric, there was this burst of static all of a sudden,” Jill said and I cursed.

“Jill, babe, I need you to give me a moment. I want to go to the Xgate -”

Thinking about going to Xgate 232 brought up an itinerary on the display. A prompt hit my mind, twisting my senses. A fog clouded my thoughts, momentarily, and then there was clarity. Goldie, my fish avatar, bubbled the air in front of me. I wanted to smack the imaginary tri-tailed goldfish for the smirk it wore between bubbles. I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold my temper in check.

“I extracted from your mind that you wish to commence a trip to the Xgate referred to as 232?” he bubbled.

Without a word, I indicated my approval of the proposed route. A split second later, the torso swiveled and the feet stepped off towards the south. There was a damped whirl as the Goliath’s generators applied force through whatever motors or servos moved this massive contraption. A four-minute timer started counting down. Moments after stepping over the hesco wall, the Goliath deftly dodged the farm fields. A hop, skip, and then a full run. The dampeners were amazing. I should be jostling about inside this empty dome and holding on for dear life as the Goliath sprinted across the landscape, but the floor barely shifted underneath my feet.

“Goliath, how do I control you?” I asked. I heard Jill’s exasperated huff, knowing she was still on the connection.

Goldie turned his whole body sideways in a tilt. I grunted, unimpressed by the display.

“Slow pace, increase arrival time,” I said.

The timer jumped up to six minutes.

“Spin torso east,” I said. The torso spun around, with the legs still walking west. “Full volley, max distance, fire.”

Teal light streaked out of a dozen ports on the machine. Goliath rocked backwards and then slowed. My display showed that I had depleted the power reserves. They recovered at a steady rate, a blue bar on the display filling back up, with a quickly increasing percentage shown off to the side.

“Hey Jill,” I asked. “Did you see that?”

“You lit up the entire sky … yeah, I think America saw that,” Jill said, voice laced with wonder. “Umm… After my nap, I would like to give it a try, if that’s okay?”

I saw the charge bar indicate full. “Proceed to Xgate 232,”I ordered Goldie, “full sprint.” I lifted my Gpad, so Jill could see both my face and the display. “It seems user friendly and seems to intuit what to squash and what to tiptoe around. Let me figure out the opening code so you can board when I arrive. Oh, and Jill…” I paused to make sure she was paying attention.

“Yeah, Eric.”

“Head straight for the ankle when you enter. Trust me.”

She grinned, “I do, Eric. More than you know.”

I closed the connection and rolled my eyes. That woman had been pining hard for me. In every story, movie or television show, some girl chases the guy or some guy chases the girl and it seems like the world conspires to prevent them from being together. I had four wonderful women I shared my life with. I loved three of them ... my affection for Everly was slowly turning into love. I agreed with Torrez on this one, though, where should I draw the proverbial line in the sand on my … on my … I ruefully acknowledged that what I had was a harem. Maybe that line was with Jill? Maybe not.

Piloting the Goliath had turned out to be fairly mundane. It ran faster than any animal, outpaced most vehicles, could unleash a torrent of deadly fire, and was big enough to squash most beings, but it was nothing if not user friendly.

“Is there a combat mode, Goldie?” I asked, not wanting accidentally to trigger something in the operating system.

“Yes,” Goldie replied, “we are currently in the ‘no harm’ mode. It is recommended you only enter combat mode in emergency situations.”

“So basically,” I asked the fish, “this Goliath will treat all objects as friendly, unless specifically requested otherwise by the operator?”

“Correct, Mr. Yang. You or any other authorized operator will need to authorize lethal force. As the primary owner of this vehicle, I highly recommend you restrict the number of operators who can access lethal responses,” Goldie said. The wise ass fish busted out a smirk. “I would not give, for example, a seven-year-old the ability to kill -”

“Got it,” I snarled, “don’t you fucking lecture me, you overgrown bubble factory, or I will feed you to the Tavers.”

“The Tavers do not -”

“Onix?”

“Yes, Onix would eat fish, though I do not understand where this hostility is coming from. I am not actually a fish,” Goldie said.

“No, you're a mind reading operating system, who digs things out of my brain without properly requesting the information.”

“I have to know things to determine what to avoid destroying,” Goldie informed me.

I glared at the stupid fish for a long moment before scuffing my hands through my hair. “What is the code to get in?” I finally asked.

“You touch the boot, I check to see if you have the appropriate permissions, then allow you access to the pilot station. For instance, Miss Jill is at the boot asking to come up. That is code enough. Miss Lavaun, Nancy, set the opening to ‘do not disturb’ because people kept wanting to learn about me while she was studying my operating system.”

I felt a rush of wind on my neck from the tube behind and to my right. When I’d shot up the tube, despite cracking my head and tumbling around a bit, I didn’t panic, I corrected my sideways ascent and landed firmly on my feet. Jill, on the other hand … It turns out Jill is a screamer, and not in the good way. I covered my ears as her piercing cries drew closer, and then she tumbled out of the tube onto the command deck, her blanket tangled about her head and shoulders.

“You could have warned me,” Jill said, spitting her hair back out of her mouth and pushing it out of her scornful brown eyes. She fixed her ponytail while sorting herself out. “Well!”

I tried to hide my smirk at her dramatic entrance. I went to one knee beside her and kissed her forehead. “Sorry.”

She went to complain, but I held up a finger to her lips before she could work up a full head of steam.

“Goldie, can you handle routine tasks, or must I micromanage all operations?” I queried the system.

“Think or tell me what you want done,” Goldie said. I pictured helping load infantry octosuits onto trailer beds. “Where are you going Master Eric?”

“I am going to sort out this last bit of buying so we can get home and prepare for tomorrow. Is it okay if Jill stays in the command chamber? Does she have to stay wake?” I asked.

“Technically no, but if I complete all the tasks you assign, I will just remain stationary -”

“Goldie there are three other Goliaths you will be working with, and more than a thousand octosuits left to load onto the trailers. Just do your job,” I said in a stern tone.

“As you command, master.”

Jill cleared her throat, a blush crawling up her neck. “Do you always feel the need to give commands, or is it just a dominance thing with you?”

“Uh… what? No, not this time, actually, the system program reads minds, so maybe it thinks it is being clever,” I said, choosing not to dwell on the issue.

She unhooked her bra and did that thing that women do to take off their bras while still fully clothed and tossed it to the side of the nest she was setting up. “By all that is holy,” she groaned, “I miss small tits. My breasts have never been this big, even when I was nursing Mary. The virum sure loves a Double D. We all have the DD virum totties, as Perci calls them. I just have an odd frame making bras -”

“Try a wrap,” I suggested, “We’re not exactly a modest society. The Crixxi don’t wear underwear and the females have no nipple restraint… Is that even a term, eh... anyhow, they don't care.” I waggled my eyebrows at her, “My point is, Jill, just be yourself. For once, be you. Be happy. Fret not if Bob the builder sees you’re not wearing a bra.” A sly grin crept across my face, “I know I won't complain.”

“Eric,” she groaned, “that grand fucking market sucks out your soul.”  She laid down on her blanket. “I do like that you trust me with this awesome machine, and I look forward to some alone time with you.” She paused and looked up at me, “I can’t recall a time when I was alone with someone I wanted to get intimate with while Mary was being watched, but I am too tired to do anything about it. Best if you just hurry along,” Jill yawned. She used her bag as a pillow and folded half of the blanket over her body. “Eric…”

“Yes, Jill?”

“You called me babe,” Jill said with a smile.

“Uhh, well, things happen, Jill.  Do you want me to apologize?” I asked, willing to do whatever made her most comfortable.

A soft snore was her only response.

I glanced down and saw that she was out. I snuck in for a soft kiss to her forehead. We hadn’t been intimate, sexually, but we had certainly grown close on an emotional level. I went to the tube and hopped in. The air that had shot me up the tube, controlled my descent on the way down. I figured the Goliath would have had something more sophisticated, like a platform, but I was okay with this. The falling part was kind of fun.

When my feet settled to the matte grey metal of the boot, I stepped out of the robot towards the Xgate. It was time to finish our shopping and focus on preparing Bastion for the next blue season.

CHAPTER 7

The tanks, RVs, a few trucks, and four Goliaths provided plenty of illumination around the Xgate. It almost felt like daytime because of the odd shadows cast by the overhead lighting. Even the Xgate’s golden rays lit up the field where the activity around the gates had not slacked off. I had only taken a few steps towards the portal when my Gpad rang.

A video call from Everly and Perci. When I answered, I quickly muted the video, limiting the connection to audio only. I’d caught a glimpse of Everly in the shower and people were working all around me. At some point, I would need to let modesty go. My time in prison and in the military had revealed a harsh truth—people had to get naked and there wasn’t always a private place for them to do so. The Crixxi flat out didn’t care. The females typically went topless, even when not breastfeeding.

“Hey, why did you close down my video? I am sitting on a couch with Felix. Oh,” Perci chuckled evilly, “when did you activate your orb, you sly girl, I love watching the water run down your tight body,” Perci purred. At least she understood why I had closed the video. That Crixxi minx loved teasing me. “I crashed on the couch,” I heard Perci’s chipper voice, “I am up and on my way. Do you want to wait for me?”

The ground shook, the rocks danced, and I wanted to cover my ears. Goliath one had taken a massive step not that far from me. The impact was enough to rattle my teeth. Damn, how much did that thing weigh? Sultry tones broke through my stunned ruminations.

“I am in RV1. I will help our mate,” Everly said. The sound of water in the background ceased. I knew better than to turn that camera back on. When I glanced over at RV1, I glimpsed the Crixxi’s naked form heading for a back room. “Are you still there?” Perci asked.

“Yeah, I just got distracted by a really nice view,” I said in a pleasant tone.

“I love the stars at night,” Everly chimed in, and I smirked.

“Eric, do you want me to manage affairs back at Stronghold Mansion or help you finish shopping?” Perci asked.

“Stay there,” I ordered, then paused, “but tell me about the Pandarin, before I head back in.”

“Well, they are cute panda bears that talk back—but don’t expect a lengthy or deep conversation. They try to appear meek and simple, but there is a cunning in their eyes. If they are working, they wear a neck garment that is similar to a bow tie. I have been told that this is a common affection among the working races. Their managers generally assign them with tasks in a prioritized order, a contingency task or two for them to do if everything else is finished.” Perci paused to give a slight chuckle. “I guess at some point they were smart enough to realize that an assigned task list along with a notation by whoever ordered it would keep them out of trouble. So, for example, if I order Mapaw the third to scrub toilets after you ordered them to paint a wall, and the toilets don’t get scrubbed, then blame is appropriately assigned to the right person, and not on Mapaw.”

“If their bow tie is on, they are working. If I want to order them to do something, assign it to the bow tie,” Perci concluded.

“I can’t just shout out to a bunch of them to go pick weeds?” I asked.

RV1 swayed slightly with Everly’s exit and she flashed me a toothy smile before skipping in my direction. Her bouncing tits were distracting, a few of the workers stopped what they were doing and shuffled their feet to watch her delicious bounces.

“The bow tie will recognize your orders by voice, if ... and this is a big if … If you address the Pandarin properly,” Perci said.

“Yeah that keeps them out of trouble and gives them validation that they are people, well Pandarin, and not property,” I said tightening my jaw and nodding. No wonder this species was spread across the universe. “No hey, you brown and black ugly thing, go mop!”

“Okay, I see Everly is near you, good luck. Love you, babe,” Perci said, and she closed the connection before I could reply.

I typed out a quick note and sent it to her directly.

‘Stinker, I love you too,’ - Eric

I knew she was smirking, wherever she was. Everly had almost arrived, when I turned and walked for the Xgate. She matched my pace, sliding a hand into mine. I raised an eyebrow.

“This is one human custom I enjoy,” she smiled.

“I am surprised you like water so much,” I mentioned.

“Ha! I had to have Nancy explain that one to me. Sure, I have the tail of a panther, some hip fur, extra canines, and four ears, but Eric,” she batted her eyes at me and stroked a hand up my arm, “I am almost exactly human everywhere else. Even our language, numbers, and clothing are similar. I also happen to not like a swampy vagina, or the stench from under my -”

I tried to contain my laugh. I really did, but it burst forth. ‘Swampy vagina’? Who says that? My lovely Crixxi, that’s who.

“I appreciate you smelling nice for me. The yoga pants and cleavage-revealing tube top are delightful teases.” I squeezed her against my side.

“Another custom I will bathe in,” she purred, “Compliments. Yummy! You want to go into the robot and fuck me until I cum?” Everly asked, running ahead a few steps, only to slow down with a sauntering hip snap or two to focus my attention where she wanted it. “You know you want to. If you get some lube, I’ll let you fuck my tight little asshole.”

I yanked her tail to pull her back to me and threw her over my shoulder, my hand first cupping, and then squeezing a juicy ass cheek.

“And this is how seven days flew by before the market started,” I groaned. “I would love to … but later.” She pouted. “Later! Work first, plus Jill is already up in Goliath one. I need to see if all four use the same mental imaging process for their command interfaces,” I said and couldn’t resist a sharp slap on her amazingly firm ass cheek, before setting my marvelous Crixxi back down on the ground. She sauntered at my side, keeping pace.

“Oh. Oh!” she grinned toothily. “Jill as in the Jill. Did you?” Everly asked, bouncing her eyebrows suggestively.

“No,” I sighed, “Though I know I have all of your permissions if something does happen with Jill … Shit, Nancy said a Viking king doesn’t need to check with his wives. But I intend to, always.” I looked towards Goliath one as it loaded another octosuits onto a trailer. “She is going out of her way to get to know me, first, and I adore Mary. The problem is Jill is the kind of girl I would have dated in high school. She plays at being the boring, simple, and fun to be around, but mundane friend, when in reality she wants so much more. I don’t play those kinds of games anymore. Either way, she or I will end up getting hurt.” I frowned and glanced back up at the giant robot, knowing the topic of our conversation slept, blissfully unaware of how frankly we discussed her feelings. “Out of all you lovely ladies in my love life, she is by far the most conflicted and complex.”

“Well, don’t think too much about it. I understand you're satisfied sexually. So what does Jill add to our family besides Mary? Not much, really. Why not keep her as a mistress?” Everly asked, just as we arrived at the golden shimmer of the portal. We stepped through.

The golden sheen blinded me for a few seconds before I found we had entered the northern storage room. This one was empty and Goldie flapped in the air, swimming for me.

“The Goldie in the goliath, and you... What is the difference?” I asked before answering Everly.

“Flattery really, I am … You almost got me there. What is in the Goliath is a program based on what they thought I was. I have said all I can,” the storage guardian closed its fishy lips.

“Can you tell me which species to buy -”

My translator pinged and I received two messages.

“Not directly. I would wager that those messages will get replies, however,” Goldie said with a smirk. “Consider that a gift for keeping me on my toes.”

I turned to Everly to finish our conversation. “She is going to need a man in her life full-time, not just occasionally; even if Jill said she was okay with being kept on the side. I guess I have been keeping her at arm’s length, in case she moves on,” I said, rubbing my temples. Why were women the cause of so many headaches?

Everly hugged me. “Jill lost her stones again this morning. Let her anxiety fade, give her a womb full of babies, and then play it slow. You will see our society slowly change, with so many non-humans around. Normally, we Crixxi do not mate for life. Children don’t spend twenty years in our homes. By age five they follow us around. By age eight, they have assigned homes, jobs, and goals. By age fifteen, they are parents themselves, with others caring for their young. It makes things easier to mate with those we want, and if that choice was a bad one, we move on.” My Crixxi shrugged, “Jill will not have to worry about having her body ravaged by childbirth.”

I nodded with a terse smile. “I guess I am ready, then. If she has no stones in, she will be too, if I’m the reason she keeps rejecting them.”

“Yes, now let’s figure out this purchasing mess,” Everly said, kissing my cheek.

As if on cue, two alerts hit my translator.

Blob answered my query, listing three recommendations for building species compatible with virum … heh …. and one of her recommendations was a Sluggero. Interesting, they were gruff and bitchy, but did great work.

The second had a spider lower-half with a cockroach torso. Gross. Pass. I didn’t even bother reading about how great they were. No point in adding a community member that I knew wouldn’t fit in. Did that… yeah, I guess that made me a speciest. Damn.

The final option was super amazing.

The final recommendation was a gorgeous fairy. Her wings were an array of vibrant colors, her skin smooth and refined, with a doll-like sheen. She appeared to be a human with fairy wings … average height of five foot three inches … Species score of 6. There was no need to look any further. Done! Even if she couldn’t build a castle, morale in the compound would improve because of those tight rocking bodies.

“What was in the other message?” Everly asked from my side.

“Oh, just that Roarson is not available,” I replied.

“I guess that answers that,” Everly said with a scoff. “The fairy will be able to fly and help with projects. Still get at least one Sluggero, for when we start manufacturing. If nothing else, they can help with the automation. Maybe they can work with what we loot. I’ve been told humanity had decent levels of automation before the quarantine.”

“We would need to go to California, to loot that level of sophisticated equipment. I think I remember hearing about San Francisco being converted into a Mecca of manufacturing after the Chinese ban. I can check with the Gtower later; not even on my radar yet. Let me call Daphne,” I said.

Everly shook her head to not bother.

“Ah, she left already, didn’t she? Okay, then, up we go. Another nap won’t be the end of the world. How much time is left on our auctions?”

“Five hours or so. I don’t plan on actually staying down here, Eric, I need to be sharp towards the end of the bidding. You need to get Norm out of there, though,” Everly said swatting my ass goodbye as she turned around and headed back out of the portal.

I trotted forward with a wave over my shoulder. Gravity left my feet, I floated through the void, and then adjusted again as gravity reasserted itself inside the orbital.

A few taps on my Gpad sent a video ring to Norm. I lunged into a brisk walk for the distant species market. I saw my video screen digitalize Norm. I had my Gpad’s orb fly in front of my face so I wouldn’t have to keep glancing down at my wrist.

“Oh, hey Eric. Tina and I are over at an automation place Daphne sent us to. The items for sale here are amazing. I am compiling a wish list for the next market rotation,” Norm said excitedly.

Tina poked her head into the camera frame to blurt, “Hey Eric! Sorry I was short earlier. We need to do lunch again. I never get to see Willow anymore, since she is so busy being a soldier. Oh, did you know Derek is a soldier now? The virum has changed him a lot. Me, not so much. I still love animals. I saw you went and bought a whole bunch -”

“Tina, dear, you're rambling,” Norm said from the side of the video.

“I want to go to an animal vendor or three. To window shop for next rotation,” Tina said quickly. “There is so much I want to know. Pretty please!”

“Woah, we’re not in a rush.” I chuckled, “Look, you have been in here for hours. That is going to take a lot more out of you than you realize. My recommendation would be to head back out, crash for a few hours, and then come back in with the intent of building those lists,” I said with an approving smile. “I like your initiative, it will help Bastion grow.” I frowned at them, “I’m serious about the tax the market places on your bodies. I want you two heading for the exit. The moment I close this call, your funds will go away. Before I go, though, I need to know if we can sustain our new numbers without purchasing additional automation for agriculture this market rotation.”

Norm was jostling with Tina. I guess she really wanted to be in the video feed.

“Yes,” they answered in unison, giving each other a cute smile.

I wanted so badly to roll my eyes, but held my reaction in check. Other couples were allowed their moments too. They did look happy.

Norm cleared his throat, probably noticing how my eyes had started to glaze over. He said, “The long answer is that these systems take varying amounts of time to come online. Then there is also the fact that the crops themselves have to mature. For the eleven days between the market cycles, we should be fine.” He scratched at his chin. “Oh, and Eric, you should know that we bought a bunch of agriculture automation already, well, Daphne did, at least enough to provide for the Pandarin and some greens for the rest of us. We will have fresh veggies, regardless. I’ve researched what the recommended crop rotations for the Mounamine and Pandarin are, but asking them what they prefer may be worth making a change. If they hate sprouts, but love carrots, for example, then we should grow carrots.”

I continued to walk towards the contract market at a brisk pace. I listened to him rationally explain things that I would never have considered.

The tall Xgate vendor booths passed by in my peripheral vision without a second glance. I was on a mission and wouldn’t let myself get distracted.

“That is great news then. Mclain will be happy to hear you are setting aside the funds. I do need to ask, though, since I am on my way to the contracts market now—do you need any additional help?” I asked.

“What kind of help?” Tina asked, curiously.

With everyone looking twenty, thanks to the virum, it was hard to remember that some of my people were still nosey college students, with an attitude to match. Not that her question was overly invasive, it simply highlighted her lack of maturity. She was young at heart, too, so I let it slide.

“The kind I can buy,” I said, and they both reacted with their ‘O’ faces. I did chuckle at their reaction.

“Honestly,” he frowned, “yes and no. People were excited to till fields, plant crops, and manage animals at first. When all of a sudden, we had excess food, and then the virum, a lot of people switched to looting. Three hours on the road, interesting homes to sift through … it was hard to compete against. I have been adjusting by adding Crixxi who are moderately good at farming,” Norm said, in a defeated tone. The man was a hunk, with his Fabio hair, yet he appeared awful, with his sad, tired eyes. “The no is because none of my personnel shortages will matter once we have extra workers on hand to help, even on a temporary basis, and especially once we shift agricultural production to the automation. I will probably need to lay off some people at that point.”

“Hmm,” I thought it over, “I will divert Mounamine and some Pandarin to help toil in the fields until we reach a balance point. My goal is to hire some fairies to -”

“Fairies!” Tina butted in excitedly. “Can I see what they look like? Are they tiny like in the movies? Tell me they are big!”

I did roll my eyes this time, but sent them the image, her eagerness winning me over.

“Rowr! I thought the Crixxi were sexy,” Norm blurted, and Tina blushed. “What!? Check out their men.”

“They remind me of elves in fantasy movies, just with wings. Damn! Both sexes are fucking hot. I’ve got to give it to the virum. It makes the best of us even better, and even the ugly ones, pretty,” Tina said with a wide grin and bouncing eyebrow. “I’ll take a dozen, please. What are the fairies for?”

“Building, architecture and design mostly. I thought you were pregnant?” I asked.

“Pfft, as if that means I don’t still love sex, but yes, Derek will be a dad. Hurray for our big family! Just saying,” she nudged Norm in the ribs with an elbow, “we could add a fairy couple, I doubt Slister would mind,” Tina said to Norm.

Norm rolled his eyes and shook his head. “To answer your original question, we have no pressing need for land maintainers. The agricultural automation, however, is a different story. We’ll need help with the equipment from someone who has worked with it before, preferably an instructor of some sort.”

“Well, I know a subspecies perfect for the job. You have to roll them over for sex though,” I grinned, unable to control my laughter as I sent an image of a Sluggero to them.

“Maybe on margarita night. I am all for sexperimentation,” Tina said joining my giggle-fit. Norm just blanched, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

“Alright, you two are a hoot, I need to rebalance the accounts and call Mclain. Cap out,” I said, closing the connection.

I called Everly first.

“Hey handsome,” she replied.

“Everly, I need to sort out the money Norm had left in his funds into purchases for you and then purchases for Mclain. How is your balance sheet looking?” I asked.

“You called the wrong person first, Eric, a rare mistake. I can adjust far easier than Mclain can,” Everly said, with a haughty smirk.

I closed the connection with a grumble and called Mclain.

“Go for Count Mclain,” the man said, instantly reminding me of another list of problems I’d have to deal with.

“Shit, we need to get after those promotions ... You’re getting promoted, by the way. Hurray! To duke, so… Not so hurray, I guess. We need colonel and captain rank equivalents, so dukes and counts. Since our army is growing, we’ll have to adjust,” I rambled. Mclain waited patiently.

“Thanks, I guess.” He smirked, “You had me at ‘you’re getting paid’. That one is fucking huge, Cap. We had been bitching in the ranks non-stop from the endless looting without any of us seeing an individual cut. Well, when you give out tanks like candy and promise a usable paycheck, including back-pay … suddenly you have a very motivated fighting force,” Mclain said, adjusting his angle to check out my surroundings. “Oh, you’re in the market. Are you coming to me?”

“Nope, on my way to the contracts market to buy some sexy humans with wings. Gary wanted a builder species to help with architecture, construction, and design. Show me what you’ve found so far,” I said.

Mclain frowned before explaining, “Cap, this really is an in-person kind of thing. Difficult to explain, so you will have to trust me, but I can give you a brief peek. Basically, we will be buying a vat, large tub, huge bucket—take your pick on the name of the container—full of a material composed of tiny morphing creatures that acts like a hive mind. They’re non-invasive and quite friendly. Apparently, they will coat your exterior in an armor that tends to work in synergy with the virum. The virum gets to go through the armor to get zinc, but each symbiote sticks to their assigned roles. Virum on the inside. Acrium on the outside.”

I motioned for him to continue.

“When the acrium envelope a host; a mineral in their bodies hardens on command. It is far more complex than that, but after seventeen questions I was led down the path and given a demonstration to stop me from asking a million question to figure out how the acrium work this way.  After the demonstration, I had only one question: ‘how do we apply it to our army’. Application, however, was not what I expected.” He frowned.

I sidestepped a large beetle looking creature who shuffled along the corridor, weaving from side to side a bit.

“Turns out, you don’t gear up with the acrium. You hop into a vat. The covering is slow, which forces protectors—us—to … breed them and provide additional infrastructure to house them. If they are well fed and happy, the Actium will coat you, making you essentially bulletproof to small arms.”

I liked the sound of that.

“When a being enters the goop,” he continued, “they are given a timer warning before receiving a coating of armor for battle. The Actium are willing to leave their homes for short periods of time to please their protectors, in exchange for creature comforts and the ability to expand as a colony. There are, however, a few downsides.”

When he paused, I was forced to ask the inevitable question. “Such as?”

“They need their goop to survive, thrive, and reproduce. If you take them out to battle and get cut off from home for longer than the timer, they will eventually fall off, dead. The process has another downside. If they are unhappy because the music they like has stopped, their vat loses power, or we fail to provide their necessary elements of BaC and Xeq, then they will simply refuse to work. They shut down and pout for weeks. Those elements are not too expensive, but aren’t exactly cheap, either.” He paused and took a deep breath, “Eric, even with these downsides I think this is our best option. If we establish a healthy colony, we can grow it until the entire community can gear up. Maintenance is minimized, and we get reliable results. These acrium will help us survive.”

“How effective are they?” I asked, “You said small-arms, but up to what caliber? What about plasma bolts?”

He thought for a moment. “I guess your Big Sploosha would still disintegrate them, and you, but the guy behind you would probably be saved,” Mclain said, causing me to jerk my head back in surprise. I was impressed. I would have not thought of something like this even existed. The more I thought about the concept, the more I favored the idea. You strip naked. Hop into the vat, and Boom! You’re encased in acrium armor. Then you gear up with your shielding armor and weapons. Double protection. Yeah, I was on board for sure. Which lead to everybody’s favorite topic today—money.

“How far over your budget do you need to go?” I asked, tapping my chin. “We just freed up some funds that had been dedicated to farming. There is no more coming in, though, we’ve hit our cap.”

“Um… If you gave me all Norm’s neilspar, then I could get enough vats and supplies to last a few months and ensure we can armor up to ten thousand troops,” Mclain said.

I gulped.

“The process would take a long time to equip that many, though, until we get more vats,” he finished.

“Mclain, we only have fifteen hundred fighting troops, and that includes Aspen. Add in the new Crixxi, and we’ll barely have five thousand. Why so many?” I asked in a puzzled tone. While I was all for protecting the non-combatants, we didn’t need to armor them at the moment.

“Well this shifty salesman offered to reduce the price by a quarter if I buy in bulk. And if we get raided, or expect a huge fight, even the citizens should have armor and a weapon to defend themselves with. Nancy bought ten thousand rifles earlier,” Mclain said with a bit of attitude. “This is more important than rifles,” he scoffed, “you know that, Eric.”

“Have you been in here for six hours?” I asked.

“Yes, why?”

“Can the attitude. I get it, you’re cranky Mclain, just remember who you’re talking to. I love you like a brother, but we are talking business here, and your tact is slipping,” I said sternly.

“Aye, Cap … sorry. I’m beat,” he admitted.

“Of course, now I’ll give you all the funds I can from what Norm had. Hopefully it is enough. Go be an asshole to whatever shifty alien you’re negotiating with. Even a five percent discount off what I gave you will let us grow our armies significantly.” I sighed. “I know you will do fine. Cap out.”

I signed off. We were going to personal timers on everyone who entered the grand market from now on. I could only imagine the issues we would have if I didn’t. My attitude soured while I walked to the contract market. Why the hell did they not make this key element near a delivery pad?

I glanced down; my Gpad said I had ten minutes more of walking to get there. I decided to gaze at the booths I went past and noticed a recurring theme, right off the bat. There were many more closed booths and others with ‘back soon’ signs displayed than before. When Bastion got to the point where we sold items, I made a note that we would have to rotate our vendors. If that was not an option, I bet some species stayed in their storage areas to regenerate energy.

Each vendor that was still open, however, was unique. A sword seller on my left had a big screen displaying a video. An energy sword crackling with power sliced through a shield, destroying the power plants output; it looked like a lame old sword to me. Interesting, but I was on a mission.

A toolmaker on my right offered all sorts of automatons for sale. Gary should check this long neck fish creature out, but I knew he had scoured Winston’s list already. Seeing the aquatic being swimming through air inside the vendor booth was kind of interesting, though. Then I considered that this virtual reality market may be under water for them. That explained it.

Next booth was a loot collector, with random items from raiding, like a garage sale. A plant, a shiny rock, a rusty knife, a tarnished flag … No thanks.

There was no consistency, rhyme or reason to any of the madness. The sole exception to this chaos being the contract market, which was still a fair ways off.

I saw some weird paintings of dinosaurs fucking, their images hung behind a lizard woman. To my left was a wind power generator that also dug into the soil. The sheer diversity of the items available would leave anyone lost in here for ages, without some sort of guide.

Which is what I came upon next, a guide service. Seven gnomes, well they weren’t dwarves, and not exactly gnomes, but that was a better match than dwarves, sat in a line, offering their assistance with finding exactly what you needed. I bypassed their clamoring to keep studying my surroundings without slowing my pace towards the contracts market.

A ping sent me an alert.

‘Three percent discount off what you sent; he was about to refuse the sale if I kept pressuring him, and before you ask, Cap, yes, I checked out multiple vendors first. This is what I have been doing for hours. We got a decent deal. The seller was grumpy, too, so that tells me we didn’t get ripped off.’ - Mclain

I video called Everly, “Alright, we are the last ones with any money left. How are we sitting?”

“Sitting?” Everly asked with a raised brow, “I am standing.” The corner of her mouth tugged upwards until it grew into a grin that told me she was teasing me. “Three percent is a lot of neilspar, considering what funds Norm had to spend. I had enough before this, Daphne merely wanted to add more Crixxi, and Perci let her control the purse to some extent. Apparently, additional Crixxi came up for auction in the market that were not captured aboard a star ship. As did some more Earth humans, which were instantly snatched up. Daphne happened to be walking by, but they were gone moments after they entered the line. Too bad it wasn't an auction. The Crixxi Daphne found are up for auction with the others. Just a late arrival. Everything comes down to the bidding on my end. I have set aside far more than you should need for your builders in a special account.”

I opened the file and saw a larger chunk of neilspar than I expected to have left. I frowned. “This is how much I paid Roarson for the two aircraft and all our animals.”

Everly’s hologram shrugged its little shoulders. “What can I say? Perci gets what Perci wants. Bastion grows today. With extra hands, we can loot more of Denver, raid more locations and better protect what we have. This is a primary purchase, as vital as the gear we bought. Next time, we’ll focus on paying our citizens and improving our quality of life. At least that is the plan.” She snorted, “These blue portals always seem to throw things out of order.”

I scoffed but withheld any witty remarks that threatened to escape my filter. “Alright. Let me focus on this, then, I just arrived at the rows of stations. I have to find Fairies and a Sluggero. Cap out,” I said, closing the connection.

Back to the grind, walking all the way down the interminable line. At least I would be passing the Earth human slot again, between the two species. I promised myself I would snap up any pour souls that were available. As I marched down the line as quickly as I could, an alert hit my Gpad.

‘We are finally making progress. AC1 is headed back to base for unloading. The rest of these trailers are being hooked up. I expect to RTB with all gear, including Mclain’s vats, within the hour. After that, AC1 will return to the portals for personnel pickup. DD out.’ - Jevon

Well, that was fantastic news. I was not sure whether or not AC1 could fit ten thousand souls on board, but we could always adjust. Especially when AH1 and AH2 could make the trip in seven minutes and carry hundreds.

I passed the Pandarin and called Everly.

“Can you get an updated status on new arrivals for sale?” I asked, seeking clarity.

“No, else you would just send one person to the market, have them tap on all the boxes and then sit in a recliner in your storage are. Send me the update.” Everly paused, as I sent her the new details. “There is a new listing” she noted, “but it's overpriced. Buy it now only, hmm. I will save the list, that way I can pop my head in at the last minute to see if the price has dropped down to something more reasonable.”

“Ha! Everly, there will be ten more things demanding our time, money, and attention before the golden gates transition. Hold on,” I muttered, “the fairies should be near the Mounamine.”

“Yes, Eric, but Crixxi can do Mounamine work. Apparently, we cannot do the work of fairies so…”

“Thank you, Everly,” I tried to tone down my sarcasm, “call you soon with both updates.”

She loved to tease me.

I was certainly glad she was happy. I can say one thing with pride, we had not had a single suicide since the virum. Sure, a few people had fled. Even the disgusting Denver folks we’d rescued from under the school had turned things around quickly, upon their arrival at Stronghold Mansion. Bastion was on the right track.

Suicides tore my soul apart in Saudi. There were those lingering what-if scenarios that I never got over. Even today, I found myself thinking back on Heminez or Smith and what I could have done to-

“Ah,” I said to myself, arriving at the Mounamine. I applied the data update to my translator and moved on. The walk from here to the fairies was thankfully short. They were short and fabulous. Sweet heavens above, I wanted to lie in bed with a pile of these vixens on top of me; unless they sucked out my soul … or my blood. My cock? A-Okay. The other stuff? Hard pass.

I opened the interface in question while giving the species their human name—fairies.

The hologram behind the interface rotated between sexes and then went into a developmental stage. According to the information sheet, they grew wings at puberty. No boobs, no wings. Boobs? Wham! Wings. Same with balls, but you know, I was more than partial to tits, especially a nice set of DDs, so I locked the species image on the female.

Food requirements noted simply they were omnivores, with no further information on their diets given. Talents listed included flying ... umm, duh! … architecture, mathematics, teaching, general chores and on and on; the length of the list told me fairies were smart.

Compatibilities included virum, lexium, evorium, meaxon, and something called ovesian.

I swiped the page to read their background and reason for being isolated in the Xgate system.

Fairies were territorial. They tended to find a cove, clump, bunch, or whole forest to call their own and then carefully build their home into an environment that perfectly suited them. Any outsider was considered a threat and dealt with as such. They thrived in a hierarchy of aggression that asserted class dominance. Their mighty Orith Empire had colonized a dozen systems before they were added to the Xgate containment. Now, they were prevalent on more than thirty worlds, though mostly as a subspecies. Their inability to maintain a constant state of warfare shifted their species to living in hiding or in seeking protection in exchange for servitude. Over the eons, the species had adapted into two variations; both variation were included under the one image, though, because there had been no genetic deviations. The difference between the two variations was really based on their initial level of freedom, those born into servitude, and those born free. Each listing stated it would include either an S - service reliable or F - free-spirited tag up front, to help buyers differentiate between the variations.

My Gpad rang with a video request from Everly. “Hey,” I answered.

“So, we have never seen a species like these faeries before. There are rumored to be millions of Xgates with species variations numbering into the hundreds of thousands. It seems there are plenty of downsides, though,” Everly noted, and I switched the interface over to a long listing of downsides to follow along. “The biggest negatives are: 1) that they do not fight well as a cohesive unit, as their infighting typically leads to the collapse of normal battle formations; 2) they become agitated quickly and are insanely stubborn until dominated; And, 3) which is the saddest, I’m afraid, they are suicidal if not given enough freedoms.” She snorted, “You have to be the boss, but still grant them their freedom. Yikes. The list of potential issues is much longer, but if we keep them happy, most of those go away. The biggest drawback to even a happy group, is that they are useless in a fight unless they build traps.”

“But traps can save the day,” I mused, thinking it over.

“Yes, they can probably craft all sorts of defenses. Just don't expect fairies to fight in large formations. From this report, I gather that they are better at solo activities. They may be suitable as scouts, or reconnaissance, or even trap setters. I know we Crixxi love using pits, slings, and jungle log falls. Reminds me of when we fought Daphne’s tribe once. I lost a cousin to a spike trap,” Everly said evenly. I expected some remorse, but I think she was drawn into the memory. She scratched at her ear absentmindedly. “Do you want domesticated or wild faeries?”

“I haven’t gotten through all the options, yet.” I paused and ensured I had her attention. “I want to be more to you than just a nice body to look at. I care about you. Do you want to talk about your cousin?”

“Ah,” she blushed, “thank you for trying, Eric. You have no idea how much it means to me that you're more than just a brute. I’ll pass, for now. Maybe we can talk about it on a walk or something, somewhere I can give vent to my emotions, when there is less stress,” Everly said tenderly. “It’s not something I want to talk about online.”

“I would enjoy that. Let me go over these options and if there are any promising auctions, I will highlight the ones I am interested in,” I said, opening that list. There were almost a hundred listings. “I never asked how many listings the Mounamine and Pandarin had ... is a hundred a lot?”

“Oh gods no, there were thousands for each of them. But I filtered out most of them. We’re paying more, generally, because Perci wants to set up breeding programs,” Everly said and I caught on.

“Yeah, I got that impression, too. At least until our community is producing our own young,” I mused with a shrug.

“Eric, it does not take a one to one ratio to care for our needs. We are buying a two to one servant ratio. So…”

“I get it” I said. “The math indicates we're going to have young of all kinds running around. I crossed my arms and my video orb backed up to keep me in the frame. “That means our third base just jumped in priority. Hopefully, Perci’s mom sends a data update, soon. We have Xgate 232’s pattern down really well. It would be nice to have as clear of an understanding of all the portals in the area.”

I dove into the buy it now options. I saw an interesting F option, a hundred and seventeen fairies were being sold cheap. I’d paid five or six times more for Onix than this listing would cost. I selected the contract.

* Note - Captured these while raiding. Fifty-two were killed before accepting our terms. The best we got was 5.4332332 years, three meals per 1.4323 day, and 11.22137 work hours. They were really stubborn. Priced to sell. Swapping to auction in seven minutes thirteen seconds.

I sighed. At least the timer translated properly in numbers and a scale I could recognize. I tapped my translator and rounded to the nearest whole number plus one decimal point.

For comparison, I checked out the auction page. Damn, the price differential between F to S was tenfold, if not more. I mean, they were still contract bound, which should mean this big of a difference. There were three other F offers available. All tended towards shorter contracts. The accompanying notes were more of the same, hesitant to surrender, generally non-compliant, with the constant risk of multiple suicides.

When I browsed the S section, with its significant price hike, the notes were far different. Eager to work, quick breeders, accept various foods readily, build their own housing, and pleasant to be around.

I sat before the interface and crossed my legs. This was a big decision. How to play it out? Hmmm.

“Are you going to sleep?” Everly asked, amused at my deliberations.

“Ah, hell, no, I forgot to close the connection.” I grimaced at her overly sweet smile. “Any thoughts on the fairies?”

Everly sat on the storage room floor and tucked her tail in her lap. “Eric, if you buy problem children, they will cause problems. I understand your heart is in the right -”

I purchased two sets of fairies before she could finish the sentence.

“Everly, I am the king, chief, boss, captain, and to a select few, I am their savior. I have to be decisive. I do value your input, but I have made a decision about these two groupings. We’ll buy the first set of F faeries, and release them. We can all celebrate as a community. The second set of S faeries, we contract with but give them an option; it’s a much smaller purchase of eleven female fairies. The note on that order specified a recent tragedy resulted in the sale. We’ll help both. If both groups leave us, so be it; we’ll contract a third set of S faeries at auction, and not offer them a choice.” I got up and stretched. “I need to get moving to the Sluggero display.”

“Uh, Eric… I need to deal with this mess you dropped into my lap. I’ve got a hundred plus fairies screaming at twelve lady fairies, not eleven,” Everly said, and closed the connection.

For a briefest moment, I caught a glimpse of the ensuing chaos. The twelve female fairies were from a breeding program gone wrong. They had not been cheap, costing three times what I had paid for Onix. I hoped they would stay, but in the end, I was prepared to give them that option.

I strolled down the line, waiting for the inevitable update from Everly. I’d almost made it to the Earth Human’s slot when my Gpad rang.

“Well, that was fun. The recently captured fairies are all touring our facilities in AH2. They have no home to return to, nor the means to survive another season in the open. The proper ladies, the ones from the S group? They ran out the portal and hid behind soldiers who immediately grew defensive over the fleeing babes. So … they fit right in. Good call too, it let the first group calm the fuck down, seeing multiple species working together.”

“Eh, my plan was to do something nice.” I shrugged. “That reminds me, I need to check in on the New Zealanders and cancel their contracts. Everly, ensure the command channel knows to be stern with the faeries. It sounds like that species will walk all-over weak-willed individuals. It says they thrive on being dominated,” I said and she quickly closed the connection to hop out the portal and relay my message.

I arrived at five foot nine species, and noted the two earlier variations, but no Earth humans. I kicked the deck of the orbital and even glanced beyond this row at the row behind and in front of me. No postings were listed there, either, but there were hundreds of these spots in this orbital.

I swore. This was not going to happen again. There would be a watch in this market at all times, with overlapping coverage to ensure we didn’t miss a thing. I walked on to the taller species, knowing what a Sluggero looked like.

In the five minute walk it took to increase the species’ average height three inches, I noticed something intriguing. Where tiny beings from half a foot to five and half feet tall covered a majority of the subspecies, this range approaching six feet in height was filled with fighting species. I rationalized that maybe reach mattered. Mass certainly did. Divine-Apes were a prime example of bigger means harder to kill.

When I reached the Sluggero interface, I went directly to the auction page. Wow. These were a highly controlled species. I went back to the information page. Breeding options. One offspring, on average, every ten point six years. Conversions were such a kick in the nuts.

I went over the options again. There was a single mated pair for the price of an aircraft carrier. What the holy hell? I panic searched for a wounded one, or a youngling, anything at a discount. It looked like there would be no Sluggero contracted this market. Oh well, I’d saved a bundle and this meant we could get more Crixxi, Mounamine, Pandarin, and even Fairies. Honestly, I thought back to the chaotic scene in the storage bay, we might not need any more fairies.

I left the market passing by the Earth human slot again to see that it still sat empty. I sighed. I hoped the rest of humanity was doing okay.

INTERMISSION 1

Hours before the Second Golden Portal

Jarod grimaced at the audacity of this human. He dug his boot into the man’s neck. His eyes blazed with anger. Jarod shifted his stance to snap a swift kick to the man’s gut.

“Last chance, you insignificant worm. Accept Jane’s contract or die,” Jarod said, applying the tip of his laser rifle to the side of the man’s cranium.

“Darling, we went over this. I am Coral, I can change my name to Jane if that is what you want?” Coral said timidly.

“I have told you a dozen times, you are Jane. My everything. Now I am working, honey, please don’t interrupt me again,” Jarod said. He was not very good at pretending to be patient.

The man at his feet wore a police uniform and was almost six feet tall with a decent build, blue hair, blue eyes, and a tight jawline. This Officer Mason was a right pain even though he was cuffed, both hand and foot. He had tried to tell Jarod he couldn’t dock his ship here; this was the result. Another conquest in a long line of captures. Jarod knew backup was on the way, Mason had said so himself.

“Do you breathe underwater Officer Mason? Don’t answer that, I’m just being an asshole,” Jarod said with a back-arching belly laugh. “Here comes your rescue. But oh wait, time to flee with our prisoner. I guess that shit head Bubbles can warp his mind and then we will sell him.” Jarod shrugged, “Load him up, ladies.”

“Wait! I don’t want to lose my mind,” Mason said, attempting to stall.

Jarod and the sirens ignored Mason’s pleading. He was carried—kicking, twisting, and screaming—onto The Pearly Dream. Jarod’s lovely helpers were eager to please their master. The whirling red and blue the patrol car’s lights was accompanied by the blaring sound of the police sirens. Mason was chucked into the cabin where Jarod heard one of his girls stuff a gag into the man’s mouth. Jarod frowned, his victim’s cries of defeat were a testament to his victory.

The Pearly Dream sailed back out into the open blue after lifting out of the water. The police would only see the quickly retreating shape of a flying boat fading off into the distance by the time they arrived at the spot where Mason had been abducted.

“Master, good work. This one will not fetch much at the market, but he will make a great warrior for your growing army,” Jane said. She nibbled on her master’s earlobe, knowing it pleased him greatly. “We should be switching over to the next golden gate any hour now. What are you going to do with all your conquests?”

Jarod’s erratic grin slipped into a manic laugh when he thought over how the last blue portal season had gone.

They had flown above the water until nearing Hawaii. Jarod had remembered two key things in Hawaii. First, he realized that Jane was already on his ship. At first, he had been confused. Then Jane told him he had been given a gift by the gods; she was a righteous gift for a devout follower. Something he clearly could not refute, when the proof stood humbly before him.

The other gift Hawaii delivered was a second large empty yacht, the kind that reached hundreds of feet in length, with its own helipad. Whatever aliens had eaten the humans had done so inside the ship. The scene was grizzly and another example of why hiding on the oceans was a bad idea. They lashed the yacht firmly to The Pearly Dream with anchor lines. Jane and Bubbles both assured him their generators could handle the load. Sure enough, he recalled the tension snapping tight once and then being fine. The two ships were combined into one as they headed east. Since he no longer needed to go to Colorado anymore, Jarod decided he would set up his base in San Francisco. He knew there would be plenty of targets in the area, ripe for raiding. San Francisco and Aspen had had the greatest concentrations of wealth in what had been the United States before the apocalypse. The Bay Area made perfect sense to him as the best location for his new kingdom.

Jarrod and his crew sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge five days before the next grand market. He was excited to acquire several new upgrades and to grow his Empire on the shore. During the past five days, he had set up an ocean base, not far from an Xgate. He’d fought a few jellyfish creatures until the Aurelians had realized Jarod and his sirens were turning their corpses into food and fled. The battle had been disappointing, his foe weak and pathetic. Jarod’s armor, weapons, and abilities were superior in every way.

While Jarod was confident defending himself and his ladies, he avoided portal hopping to raid other planets. Instead, he turned his attention to pillaging the Bay Area, to avoid unnecessarily angering something that might be able to defeat him. Jarod knew humanity provided a juicy target, ripe for raiding, and most of his landings had been along a series of private beaches. Jarod was sure the aliens didn’t realize that the nice homes set back on the cliff sides overlooking the ocean were the best to hit, as they always left the luxurious homes in favor of squalid apartment complexes in the city. There were signs of fighting all along the cities of the coast, but marauding aliens ignored lonely mansions that overlooked private beaches with their gorgeous views, or beach houses outside city limits with their large gated fences facing the water.

Jarod had been ruthless. He knew what he needed: rare elements, not steel, and not gold. He pilfered high-end electronics. Jane had further emphasized female slaves. The females sold for far more than did Human males. He had already converted Merideth into a most wonderful play toy. She was a keeper, destined forever to serve Jarod’s every whim.

Wherever Jarod and his pirate crew had raided these past five days, they’d come across numerous rich entitled families, who clung to a pre-apocalyptic society, with their dogs, security cameras, and personal guards. They hid in their mansions, living on their overstocked supplies, infinite solar power, and water desalination units. Their comfort was their downfall, and Jarod’s gain.

A dog or guard could easily be removed from the equation with a siren’s sweet lullaby. An alarm would eventually trigger, however, and nine out of ten times the family surrendered to his demands. Jarod had been shot at a few times, but his alien shield easily deflected the bullets. Victory was always swift, the looting extremely profitable. The large yacht he strapped to The Pearly Dream in Hawaii became a makeshift prison for the souls of the fortunate. They would all be sold to serve the will of the gods.

His collection point for those who would receive salvation had blossomed. Today’s trip to the docks was his seventh voyage there. The first six trips had been to steal additional boats to add to his floating city. When the Pearly Dream flew back to his little armada, Jarod smiled at the sight.

His girls had lashed thirty ships together to create a floating island of sorts. Two of his sirens guarded the hundred plus prisoners who huddled among the decks. A constant song pealed from the sirens’ lips to placate the mass of prisoners; the sweet melody converting the Humans into willing servants.

A mile north of his aquatic base, an Xgate drifted slowly over these waters. Two miles northeast of the Xgate sat a prime target that Jarod had patiently waited to hit, until they dropped their guard. A cruise ship had learned the golden portal was a trading beacon, and had sailed close in anticipation of the next market.

The Sleipnir of Norse Cruise Lines, Inc., was a cruise ship built for thousands. They had been broadcasting for survivors to bring their electronics to trade for food ever since Jarod and his crew had arrived. Of course, his sirens had intercepted every ship that had sailed for the Sleipnir, and added them to Jarod’s base. Humanity lacked the weapons necessary to crack the shielding of Jarod and his team.

Now he waited. Snagging Mason from the docks was more a symbolic victory, than a necessity. After the purchases he would make at this next golden portal, he was coming for San Francisco.

∞∞∞

Meredith slurped on Rossco’s cock while Jarod watched. Meredith had become the perfect little sex toy. The virum transformed her body from that of an out of shape mom with stretch marks, cellulite, and flabby thighs to a pert and perky twenty-year-old. Meredith was now blemish-free, vibrant in her youth, and always eager to please. For the first week, she had continued to call every male she gleefully pleasured Henry. Her desperate attempts to cling first to the past, and then to sanity, failed her.

Eventually, they trained her to call him by the right name. Meredith shifted her hips from side to side to tease Jarod. A slick finger beckoned him forward, glided over her slit, and twirled over her pearl. Her glistening wet, plump lips were open, begging for Jarod to claim them. As he watched from the head of the bed, Jane rubbed her breasts against his side; she toyed with her own pussy while stroking Jarod’s cock. She enjoyed the show as much as he did.

He enjoyed the tease. Meredith was a pleasure tool. Nothing more, nothing less. Even though he had converted her into a willing succubus, of sorts, he had no regrets. He routinely filled her womb with his seed. All his servants carried his children now. Except for Rossco, of course. But even the wolfman’s loyalty was handsomely rewarded. Jarod normally forced his release into slaves waiting for the next market or for conversion into servitude. Often it was Rossco, Jane, and his conquest that he filled. Every once in a while, he allowed the wolfman into his chambers.

Rossco was panting as Meredith gripped his girth tightly with her lips, increasing the tempo of her blowjob. That beckoning finger and slick, tiny pussy were begging for Jarod’s stiff cock, to the point he couldn’t resist the urge to fill it. Jane joined him, reaching around Jarod with her firm tits pressed against his back. He slid behind Meredith and plunged deep into her in a single thrust. Gate-Gods, she was wet! She moaned as he filled her up, her muffled cries of pleasure stifled by the large cock in her mouth. Jane pressed her hips to Jarod’s and they worked the little slut over in tandem.

Meredith enjoyed being their little piggy on a spit. Jarod felt her walls start clenching almost instantly in an orgasm. Whenever he spit-roasted her like this, she came so hard that her juices dripped down his balls and coated his thighs. On her third iteration of clenching spasms, she brought Rossco to climax, and the wolfman came with a whimpering howl.

Meredith struggled to swallow the load. Her pussy clung so tight to his pistoning shaft that Jarod, too, busted a nut into his little sex toy. The only one in the room who hadn’t cum was Jane. She would get hers later; Jarod always gave her special treatment.

When there was a knock at the door, Jarod climbed off the bed to answer it. The combined sex juices of Meredith and Jarod dripped from his semi-flaccid cock onto the floor, landing not far from a kneeling Bubble. Fucking Bubble. That little bitch had been caught trying to lure him into a dreamless sleep for the last time. She was told to grovel or have her tongue removed.

“Master the gate has gone golden. The enemy is mowing boats to the portals even as I humbly inform you of this news,” Bubble said, her eyes fixed on the ground. “May I clean you, Master?”

“It would please me to have my slave clean my sex toy’s juicy remains. Yes. Lick me clean.” He turned to look over his shoulder. “Jane, set a course to intercept these rowboats. Rossco, get your armor on and man the turret. The rest of you, I know you can hear me, get ready to fight,” Jarod said.

He glanced down to where Bubble busily lapped at the sloppy remains of their frenzied sex session on Jarod’s cock. “You’re King has spoken,” he ordered, “We go to war.”

He backhanded Bubble when she was done. She was his biggest disappointment. The fact he’d have to remold her was not lost on him. He had a pleasant surprise in store for her.

“I have chosen in my heart to forgive you Bubbles. From this moment forward you may kneel on only one knee when addressing me. If you help me with the trading today, I may even allow you to stand. Does this please you?” Jarod asked.

Bubbles rapidly bobbed her head up and down, while helping Jarod equip his gear.

When he was armed, armored, and loaded for war, he stepped out the top hatch. Rossco’s protection flickered as a large bug smashed into the deep blue shielding. A quick nod to each other and Jarod was ready.

A warrior king led from the front; the Gate-Gods demanded nothing less. Off on the horizon, the Xgate sat on the water with its shimmering golden portals. The flicker of his shields activating prepared him for the coming battle. His aqua-suit was ready to go.

The Pearly Dream hovered over the five encased lifeboats whose inboard engines brought them nearer the portal. Jarod chuckled at the sight as they tried to dodge Rossco’s suppressive fire that he spewed in front of their ships, causing them to slow. A smirk curled Jarod’s lips as he watched the blue orbs rock the lead boat.

The lifeboats were in a panic, desperate to avoid the aggressive flying sailboat. Jarod knew the timing was right as he ran forward and leaped high over the railing into the air. His form flew over the side of his flying boat, gravity greedily pulling his body towards the waves while he yelled into his helmet with joy.

The lapping waves rushed to greet Jarod. His plunge into the depths sprayed water high into the air. Miniature water jets in his aqua-suit fired, immediately twisting his dive into a rapid ascent as he sliced through the water. From below all Jarod could make out was the shadow of the hull outline contrasting nicely with the evening sun’s glimmer. He pushed his jets harder as he closed the distance.

Jarod’s armor piercing darts crashed into the propeller of the starboard engine. The rotating fins spun down into the ocean’s depths, severed from the driveshaft. The port engine was next. Another victim of superior technology. His aqua-suit streamlined through the water to the next awaiting lifeboat.

Did they hop into the water and fight? Of course not. Jarod snorted into his helm. He’d known deep down that these cowards were fodder. Unfit for the gods. His bolts swooshed through the water. The vortex wakes trailed his rounds as they disabled the next boat’s propellers. The last three lifeboats pushed desperately hard into their turns, trying to return to their ship.

“Ha! As if you could get away,” Jarod muttered into his helmet. He glided through the water with ease. His bolts found and disabled propellers and within five minutes, every boat sat dead in the water, ripe for pillaging.

Jarod surfaced, bored by the lack of resistance. When his head breached the water, though, some brave fool fired a flare gun at him. The burning round pinged off his armor to sizzle into the waves at an odd angle in the distance.

“Nice shot,” Jarod said through his microphone.

The Pearly Dream descended behind him. A head stuck out a lifeboat’s window to fire at Rossco, except their head vanished in a plume of blue, red streaks of blood and brain matter dribbled down the exterior of the window. A scream from inside the ship forced Jarod to turn down his audio.

“What do you want?” A voice bellowed out of a cracked window from the first life raft.

“Blast down that door, Rossco,” Jarod said, sailing his suit across the surface to the boat.

A big blue ball blasted the offending door into a haze of splinters, plastic and glass. Jarod breached out of the water and surged into the gaping hole; his boots slamming down onto the deck of the lifeboat. The entire structure bobbed and swayed from his dramatic entry. There were only two people on board. An old man with a grey beard and stern eyes was near a station. A scared woman huddled in the back of the boat, blood leaking around the life vest she pressed into her side.

A pistol rested on the floor at her side, the weapon abandoned in an effort to staunch the thick flow of blood.

“Who is the Captain here?!” Jarod spoke through his speakers.

The man raised a hand, opened his mouth to respond and Jarod fired.

The man ingested a dart to the guts.

He stumbled. Shock froze his features, his blue eyes lost in the confusion of the moment. He crashed to his knees.

“Shit, he had a heart attack.” Jarod sighed, “Jane, this one is not my fault. I was going to save him. Fuck. Fuck. I guess I should kill the woman too. Yes, the gods want this.” Jarod raced forward and caved in her skull with a mighty stomp of his armored boot.

Brain matter and blood splattered the wall behind her as her death throes trashed the interior of the life boat. Jarod felt better after this offering to the Gate-gods, a wave of calm soothing him. A quick inspection showed the rest of the lifeboat piled high with valuable electronics.

“Excellent, they did my work for me. Very nice of the sacrifices to understand the god's blessing and will,” Jarod said reverently.

He found a radio next to the captain’s body. A quick flick of his wrist shed the blood that clung to it. Time to address the other boats.

“You are my prisoners. Failure to comply with any and all instructions is death. Accept without resistance and you will be spared. Open your doors or be destroyed. Those are your only options. I am boarding now!” Jarod said, plunging out the lifeboat’s busted doorway and back into the depths.

All four of the remaining boats’ doors opened. Jarod bypassed them all, knowing his sirens would process these prizes. He kicked on his turbojets and cruised through the water. Not a mile away was the ultimate target—the cruise ship. He knew he would never get the behemoth into the portal, but he didn’t need to.

Jarod found that travel under the waves was strangely peaceful, his anger dissipated whenever he glided through the deep. The cruise ship had heard his radio call. They were already turning to hastily depart the area, the whine of the straining engines audible through the water, even at this distance. Not that a cruise ship could outrun the torpedo that he had effectively become. A hundred feet out from his target, Jarod kept pace with the ship. He needed to wait for the rudder to straighten. There!

He backed off a little while dropping down into the darkening depths. When he was lined up with the ship’s fantail, he applied full thrust and ascended rapidly until he shot out of the water, breaching a hundred feet into the air. His gamble paid off and his arcing trajectory brought him crashing through the sliding glass door into a balcony suite.

A body softened his fall. Jarod tilted his head to stare down as a grandma's final gaze of shock glazed over in death. She’d been crushed by the man in a robot water suit who magically smashed into her room. Of all the ways to go, this was legendary. Jarod respected that. He even left her distraught husband alive without a contract.

Jarod calmly kicked the door to the interior corridor off its hinges. He would hold no punches for the rest of the fodder foolish enough to stand in his way. He thundered down the hallway for the bridge. Each long stride crashed into the floor with a resounding echo. There was no stopping this freight train. A poor old man exited his room only to turn around and stumble into Jarod’s path. His shattered body flew back several yards before splattering along the wall, its eyes frozen forever in horror.

The last part of his journey was in an elevator. That fucking annoying music was almost as grating as the slow, measured pace of the lift towards the bridge. When he reached the top deck, he found a startled woman patiently waiting with two kids. The little girl tore at a memory that wriggled out of his mind’s grasp. Jarod fell to a knee in agony, a migraine flaring behind his right eye. He rolled out of the elevator before it closed. The mother tried to run, but the youngest girl fought against her mother’s frantic tugs.

“Mister, are you alright?” she asked, in a pleading tone, hoping the man in the wet metal suit was okay.

Whatever memory threatened to break free, had failed. He turned to the concerned little girl. Jarod was a savage, but even he had his boundaries.

“Oh, thank you for that missy. Do you like my safety suit?” Jarod asked.

“I do, can I get one?” the girl asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

“If you tell me where the captain’s station is, I’ll see if I can work something out,” Jarod said and the little girl giggled and clapped her hands.

“That is easy, silly, it’s the place right there that says Captain’s Deck,” the girl said pointing while still laughing. “Everyone knows that one.”

“Ma’am.” He turned towards the skittish mother, “I am Jarod. When my crew boards the ship, you’re to mention that you spoke to me for a special privilege. Use the code, Mary. This girl reminds me of a niece I had. Or whatever a cousin's daughter is. Mary is your code. Do you understand?” the mother nodded, though still visibly frightened. “Maybe it was Margaret…” Jarod shook his head in his suit, “or, was it, Mallory? Ah, distant family, right? Mary is your code.”

Before she could respond, Jarod dashed up the stairs. The solid door before him was securely locked. Jarod leaped to the railing and pulled himself up over the front of the bridge. He walked over by where the main control station most likely stood. When he reached the edge of the roof, he sat down and simply let his feet dangle. Jarod was certain the crew were panicking about now, probably pointing at the two armored boots kicking idly in the wind.

He grabbed the lip of the roof and lowered himself in front of the glass protecting the crew. He dangled a hundred feet off the nearest deck. The crew had enough. They ineffectively fired their small arms through the plexiglass of the bridge and into his shield. A few rounds managed to crack against his armor, leaving little more than a scratch. Jarod grinned.

His right hand went to a laser weapon secured on his hip. “Consider this your one and only chance … surrender or die,” Jarod’s weapon aimed at the stern maternal woman wearing a fancy hat in the middle of the bridge. She had watched the scene unfold without flinching. With death staring at her, however, she caved.

“The ship is yours,” she said, removing her hat and placing it in the captain’s seat beside her. “Lower your weapons,” she directed her crew, “we are not military; we have nothing that can harm him. There are thousands of lives aboard this ship.”

“Smart decision ma’am. You are all now my prisoners. Open the door,” Jarod said, hoisting himself back onto the roof. He muttered to himself as he tromped back across the top of the bridge, “I fucking hate heights, I swear they will be the death of me.”

His heavy boots echoed through the roof as the metallic soles crashed against the steel hull. He dropped down to the stairs with a booming thud. The door was opened. He went to push aside the little shit who stepped in his way but the sailor fled. His armored suit barely fit into the doorway. He clanked his way over to the captain’s chair and plopped down, squishing the ridiculous hat.

“Helm, reverse course. Take me to the Xgate,” Jarod commanded.

The man at the helm looked to the old captain. Jarod’s pistol whipped up and with a splash of viscera against the far wall, eliminated the insubordinate ingrate. The captain saved the rest of her crew by stepping forward at this point.

“Consider it done. Let me give a brief call to the rest of my crew, then you may have the communications. I am Rebecca,” she nodded to the remains of her former helmsman, “I apologize for Willy’s actions.” Rebecca stepped up to a radio and plucked it off a charger before moving to stand by him. Her delicate wrinkled hands entered a code. She keyed the mic and said, “We have been rescued at last. The ship is going to the portal with an elite military escort. Please, no one panic. We will be heading to the Xgate soon.”

With the detent released, she handed the radio off with a heavy hand and a sigh.

“I understand what you just did Rebecca. When my crew show up, use the code Mary, please. You just secured your future and saved everyone from a life of slavery,” Jarod said. He keyed the mic. “The Captain was partially right. For now, she still has her title and privileges, so obey the commands she gives at my behest. We are an elite commando team sent to rescue ships like yours lost at sea. We will be heading to the local golden portals to toss in everything not bolted to the superstructure of this ship. Including the lifeboats. When that is done and the market complete, we will sail for San Francisco to build a new base around the manufacturing district.”

Slowly looking around the bridge, Jarod locked eyes with each person present before continuing. “The gods above have mandated we expand and conquer. Together we will do so and I will be offering two contract options to all of you. My contract comes with the bonus of a long life, complete with the healing of all ailments and age rejuvenation. I know, you probably won’t believe me and if that is the case, you’re welcome to choose option two. That is, unfortunately, where the good news ends. If you are unwilling to accept the terms my crew presents to you, you will be given a second, less favorable option. You will enter into a contract to be returned to the US Government at a separate undisclosed location. This location is secret, so secret and exclusive, in fact, that you will have to sign a contract for thirty years of hard labor. If you sign up with our branch in San Francisco, I will only ask for a year of work, with two meals a day and eight hours of rest guaranteed. There is, of course, a third option. If you refuse both contracts, you will die. I am sorry but there is no other way. I will not let you become fodder or tools for the enemies of the divine. That will not happen. I need everyone to move quickly to the top deck. You have ten minutes to be seated quietly on the top deck. I will be kicking down any closed doors so please leave your doors open and move quickly and quietly to the top deck.”

When Jarod had said this, he leaned over to see The Pearly Dream soaring for the top deck. It struggled to clear the railing and knocked over a few tables but then crashed to the deck. Sirens excitedly vacated the yacht to start processing the mass of people who flooded the top deck from every exit. It would be interesting to see how many people chose option two.

“When you said I had spared everyone from a life of slavery, what did you mean?” Rebecca asked.

Her gaze shot down to her foot and she shrieked as a black trail of virum slid over her shoe and into her leg, through her sock. “What the hell was that?!”

“Stay calm or I shoot you,” Jarod promised and she stilled. “Better. That was virum, the fountain of youth, as far as you are concerned. You will soon have the body of a twenty-year-old again with firm big tits and a tight ass. That tub of shit in the corner,” Jarod turned to indicate an older, obese crewmember, “yes, you lard ball,” he smirked, “will get young and full of muscle again. The same will hold true for everyone. As for the slavery thing, I need workers. Humans are worthless on the market. The boats and electronics from my looting and this cruise liner will make me a very wealthy warlord. If you want to enter a meat factory and become protein for some alien pet, then feel free to accept option two. If you want to feed the sharks and fish, select option three. If you want to be young and part of a grand adventure where you get to pillage, steal and destroy your enemies, select option one,” Jarod said.

“I don’t know… I don’t… I can’t…” She took a deep breath before looking Jarod in the eye. “Kill me, please,” Rebecca requested.

“Oh Rebecca, hmmm … that name doesn’t suit you at all,” Jarod muttered as the hypnotic notes of the sirens’ song drifted up from the deck below. He walked over to take the Captain by her arm. “You will stand by my side as a goddess, Mallory. Yes, Mallory suits you. Come along now. Let me introduce you to Jane. She is my wife and very sweet. You would like that right?”

Rebecca pissed herself in fright when Jarod clamped onto her. His grip on her arm tightened to the point that the bones in her forearm broke with an audible crack. She did not scream, however, even though the look in her eyes said she wanted to plead for her life. The sirens’ melody in her ears lulled her into a calm, and despite the pain in her arm, she contorted her face into a smile.

“I’ve changed my mind. The music says that everything will get better.”

“Indeed Mallory. It will indeed get better,” Jarod said, guiding her to her awaiting contract.

∞∞∞

The mighty airship hovered forward out of the storage bay loaded to the gills. The golden light of the portal faded to reveal a burst of early morning sunshine dancing across the Pacific Ocean. Jarod’s new flying vehicle contained tanks, soldiers, and servants. It had enough food for months. Everything from his raids had been tossed into the portal to fund this new endeavor. Bubbles and Jane had been fantastic at converting their loot into an ore called neilspar and then purchasing everything they would need on land.

Jane had made Jarod promise they would return to the ocean or at least get a large pool. Other than that, she had asked for nothing else. When asked what she wanted for her reward, Bubbles had prepared a long list of items. It was really too bad. She had been mostly faithful, up to this point.

Jarod had purchased another hundred Sirens. When he’d learned that Minotaurs were easily controlled by a siren’s will, he’d asked why this was not exploited more often.  Ultimately, it came down to the fact that most alpha sirens refused to leave the water and land species’ alpha’s refused to adjust to the Sirens needs. There were almost an infinite number of other options, after all. Why bother dealing with the extra hassle? Jarod could understand this and he realized this must be why the Gate-gods had blessed him so. Jarod was going to change the way the worlds worked, all for the glory of the gods.

Before the ship left, Jarod put Bubbles up for auction for the tiniest amount of neilspar allowed. She kicked and screamed for a half-second about Coral whispering honeyed deceit in his ears. Jarod froze, momentarily, not understanding what she meant by this until she had poofed to wherever slaves went when they were sold. Jane clung to him sweetly afterwards and frequently mentioned how much the gods wanted this. Jarod found he did not care. Jane was his rock.

A new siren waited for him on the bridge of the massive ship that vaguely resembled a candy bar. Jarod described the design to Jane thus, because it was slim enough to fit a portal’s width, but infinitely long for hauling large quantities of … well, anything. This ship had been his best option for his planned invasion. When they arrived back on Earth, the ship lowered from the portal to hover over the water.

Jarod would never have guessed that Earth was filled with Nitrogen. He vaguely remembered having being an environmentalist at heart, in his former life. The tug of a memory that pollution leads to viruses submerged back into the void. He’d learned that carbon represented less than one percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. He did not understand why he found irony in that fact.

Jarod smiled at the siren he assigned to replace Bubbles. She had long blue hair that trailed over the shoulder of her aquasuit. She stood tall, her helmet tucked under her arm while she awaited his orders. Jarod recognized her as one of the many siren concubines he had fucked repeatedly this past week. Jarod realized she deserved a name now.

“You will be my battle commander. This is my wife and your queen, Jane. Do you have any questions?” Jarod asked the siren who stood stiffly at parade rest before him. “Please tell me what name you desire me to call you.”

“I have chosen the name Posey, Lord, in honor of the water god Poseidon,” Posey said. Jane giggled.

Jarod bent Jane over, turned her around and moved her panties to the side. Giggling continued from Jane.

Pointing to her glistening quim, he said, “This is a pussy in my language … it sounds like Posey,” Jarod said matter-of-factly. He released hold of Jane who leaped at him, covering her King in kisses.

“You are a mighty Lord, brave, and assertive. Your army below is one I would never have thought to contract.” She raised her head to look him in the eyes. “Give me a name, my King, befitting of my station. I would -”

“Hera, your name is now Hera. Give me your stones,” Jarod said without the slightest hint of allowance.

“I do not have any, my King. I carry your children already. Those below, though. They have no stones and are pregnant with others’ babies. That is why we were sold so cheaply, did you wish-”

Jarod screamed in rage, and smashed his fist into the rear wall. The wall groaned and bent inward. He calmed as the gods blessed him with a wave of tranquility that washed through him. Jane kissed his cheek and said, “They will be born and added to your army. The next wave will be your own young. We must grow.”

“I agree, the gods want this. Hera,” he ordered, “take this vessel into downtown San Francisco. There is only a single gate to the east of the city. We will build our base in the heart of the Bay Area. Thankfully, the leadership of San Francisco decided to invest all its money into manufacturing before it went bankrupt. Now we will have the perfect headquarters,” Jarod said with a wicked smile.

“And if we encounter civilians?” Hera asked.

“Convert or kill.”

“And resistance by the military?” Hera continued.

“Convert or kill,” Jarod said, his evil grin growing wider. “With Jane at my side, and you leading our troops, nothing can stop us. Now, forward Hera, time to conquer a city!”

CHAPTER 8

I was tired again, though my stay in the market, this time, had been only a little over an hour and a half. I grumbled when I finally reached the gravityless teleporter that pulled me through the void or space. Of all things I expected to see when I returned to the storage room, Dedric was not one of them.

Well, okay, maybe he was not the furthest thing, but he was encased in a reflective golden armor and his face shined with a brilliant smile.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed, scoping him out from head to toe. He was … naked. Oh, then it dawned on me. “This is the acrium.”

Dedric nodded eagerly and said, “It can cover your face. I went first. My mind asked the acrium for a golden shiny armor of angelic perfection.” He toned down the excitement some. “I got a golden cover, but was too scared to do a face mask … well, there is the fact that my dick is showing. But I am still pumped, this is fucking epic -”

I pointed at my friend with a slight chuckle. Sure he was one of my subordinate officers, but still a friend. Dedric never swore, was always holier than thou, and a firm believer in Jesus.

“Wow, you look fantastic. I have been meaning to catch up with you. So, you volunteered to go into the goop that could have been an acid bath?” I said, keeping a straight face. “I applaud your courage.”

“Wait, what? … there was a chance… Mclain!” Dedric was gone, back out of the portal, stomping off to give a Mclain a hard time.

Goldie pixelated into being beside Everly, who was sitting cross-legged. I ventured over to my lovely Crixxi lady, to find her studying bids on thirty-three different screens.

“Hello, love,” I said gently.

“I’m working.” She held up a hand, stopping me as I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“Raincheck on sweet talk. I have to micro and macro this. See you in a bit,” Everly said, with a backhanded dismissal.

I resisted the urge to spank her on the ass by comforting myself with a promise that she would pay later. This was a thing she did. She’d get into a little bit of trouble so I could punish her later for her minor transgressions. It was not much fun at first, because it left me frustrated or angry; I had learned to savor her comeuppance. I was not normally so cavalierly dismissed.

I pushed my temper down and blew out a long exhale. I smirked, knowing that she was definitely enjoying the moment … and probably anticipating her punishment even more than I did. Out the golden portal I went.

The cool night air snapped me back to my senses. There was a certain something our overlords simply could not replicate in the market, being on Earth. The bright lights from earlier were gone, dim illumination provided only by the few TP63s and TG99s that remained. A gust of air washed over me. I had returned just in time to witness AC1 taking off. The massive box went straight up into the air without a wobble or a shake. The impressive ship turned and started moving slowly towards Aspen. The crew in the tower waved bye to me, their small forms catching my eye. I waved back, watching them gain speed. Alien tech was magical.

A TG99 clacked against a trailer hitch as the two connected. I watched a crewmember hop out the top hatch and peer down the back of the tank. He shouted something back into the interior while closing the hatch. I sighed, knowing I’d need training on all three of our new vehicles—the sooner the better. I hated expecting my troops to do things I wasn’t at least minimally proficient at doing myself.

A group had gathered outside Goliath 1’s foot; it was the lone machine standing idle. They kept knocking on or kicking at the foot, trying to get it to open. Dedric was trying to address the problem with a frown. I saw Mclain burst into a laugh when I passed him by.

Jevon turned from the group, noticed me, and said, “Goliath 1 is broken.” He shifted to yell back at the crowd, “And just what is so damn funny, Mclain?”

I raised my hand, stopping Mclain from responding. With a gentle pat on Jevon’s back, I answered for him, “I told Dedric here,” I flicked a thumb at the scowling Dedric, “That the acrium could have been a tub of acid.”

Mclain doubled over again, slapping his knee.

“Where is it, by the way?” I asked.

“On AC1.” Jevon scowled at Mclain, then looked up to report, “We got the rest of the trailers hooked up. This robot worked up until the task was complete, then shut down—”

“And won’t let anyone in,” I finished, “except me. Jill is sleeping in there. The rest of you can head home. You want to ride with me?” I asked Jevon.

He shook his head. “I want some tank time, thanks though. Dedric has something important to tell you,” he smirked, “see you in a bit. If you go down for another nap, let me know.” Jevon’s voice faded as he ran off to a TP63.

Suddenly there was only me and a naked man, covered in gold. There were at least a million memes and puns that sprang to mind. I bit my cheek. A soldier with something important to say needed me to be attentive and listen to him, not to mock him.

“Come on, I guess I can give you a ride home,” I said opening the boot. “Dedric, you’re not me. Run for the heel first. I can adjust. Go!”

He was a soldier, a Saudi veteran who knew better than to doubt my orders. He ran for the heel. I almost fit in beside him in time. I grumbled as I went up sideways. I kicked off the wall to re-orientate myself. A quick adjustment with my arms and I was flying straight up. Dedric hooted and hollered the whole way up. We flew from the hip, to the chest, and I saw him exit for the control room first.

“Aw, Jill … so sorry,” Dedric said, clasping his hands before him in a forgiving manner.

I crested the final bend of the tube to see Jill staring daggers at Dedric. Her face softened when I came into view.

“Hey Jill, I need you awake for this part, actually,” Dedric said. “My bad.”

I walked over to the control station. Goldie popped into being. I thought of traveling to Stronghold Aspen and selected go. No confirmation was needed. I went to sit beside Jill and put an arm around her waist before turning to Dedric, “Out with it, you have five minutes.”

“I went to offer a prayer to the New Zealand folk you saved—May the Lord bless you and shine his light on your soul, Eric. The virum had infected them, but they were sick from a lack of zinc. That changed quickly, being around all of us healthy infected, and they are on the mend. A woman’s tongue grew back right in front of my eyes. It was … um … unique,” Dedric said with a shudder. He kneeled to join us on the ground and pulled a corner of Jill’s blanket over to cover his lap. “They were out on the water, adrift, not far from an Xgate, and in distress. Someone finally answered their distress call and they hoped that by the next morning they would be saved.”

Jill looked confused and asked, “Where was this, again?”

“West of New Zealand in … hold on, let me check the Gtower ... the Tasman Sea. In the narrow corridor between Australia and New Zealand,” Dedric said, and Jill lost her composure.

She went from snuggling lazily into my side to on her feet an instant later.

“A sailboat?” She asked desperately.

Dedric shot me a warning look, the news was not going to be good. Unfortunately, there was little I could do to calm her. It was not my place; my place was firmly in the friend zone. Too much interference here might ruin that. Jill was a mature woman … well, a young woman now.

“Jill, I just asked Eric to help you -” Dedric began.

“This is not on me,” I told Dedric. “It’s bad news,” I said to a pacing Jill, “sit down, please.” She shook her head no and kept pacing back and forth.

“Just tell me,” Jill said, biting at a nail in her agitation.

“An American sailing a yacht assaulted the three boats. Two men were killed. He murdered them with a dart gun. Then a Siren, just like the creatures from legend, cut out a poor woman’s tongue. The man was beefy and young looking. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and no tattoos. No names were used. The New Zealander felt he was American because of his accent, though it wasn’t a Texan or Yankee accent,” Dedric said. “I asked a lot of questions because, well, there was a chance.”

Jill had stopped hyperventilating. “For a minute, there, you had me worried. Sure, Jarod could find a boat and I bet if he got the courage to run early on, he might have gotten one. I know Jarod, however, and he is non-confrontational to the extreme. I also know that virum is making most people less aggressive, not more aggressive.” She took a deep breath, “Plus, these sirens seem like bad guys, as does this American. Whatever else he was, Jarod was not a bad guy.”

“We’re almost to Aspen, if you want to talk to them,” I said, offering Jill the opportunity.

“No, an American doing bad things in New Zealand, with behavior and a description that are nothing like Jarod …” She closed her eyes and hugged herself. “Thank you, Dedric,” she said, opening her eyes to look down at us, “this actually helped me find closure. There was a knot eating away at my gut that I can now put to rest. We’re barely surviving out here and would be dead if those,” Jill paused, searching her memory for the name.

“Divine-apes,” I mouthed.

“If those apes had wanted us dead. Jarod was weak, timid, and never harmed anyone, ever. Jarod is either dead or is surviving in Australia. Right?” And in crept her self-doubt.

I needed to rescue the situation.

“Jill, you're a strong, smart woman. If you want to believe he is gone, then I will support you. If you want to believe he is alive, I will support that, too. But Jill ... All that really matters is Mary; you need to be strong, for her. I honestly don’t care if he showed up here, tomorrow. I would watch over you, either way, and would butt heads with Jarod about my friendship with his d-”

“I understand Eric. I got this. I worked my way through accounting school. I worked hard through In-Vitro-Fertilization, and then struggled with postpartum depression.” Despite her words, she began to shake. “Now … now, I am happy. I sneak nothing, I hide nothing, and I … I will live the best life I can,” Jill said, finally breaking down into tears. Dedric rose to comfort her, but she lunged into my arms.

I waved him off. “We’ve got this Dedric.” I smiled at him, “thanks again for the information.”

“No problem, if I learn anything new, I will keep you informed,” Dedric said, and stepped to the tube to leave.

My Gpad rang with a call from Perci and I switched the video on, with Jill crying into my shoulder.

“Uh …” Perci looked concerned, “What happened?”

“An American in a boat killed some good people off the coast of Australia and there is a one-in-however-many American accents between the two countries' chance that it was Jarod. Which, seeing as this American was grouped with tongue-eating sirens, then the odds it was Jarod are closer to zero-to-none but I am here with Jill, right now . Good friends,” I paused, feeling tears soaking into my shirt and roaming hands clutching at my arm, my chest, and trailing down my stomach.

I coughed, and blushed. “What can I help you with, Perci, my love?”

“I need a ride to the Xgate. The auction hour is nigh,” she grinned, “come get me, please.”

I let go of Jill and moved over to the podium station. An exterior camera’s view flashed in one corner of the display, showing Dedric was clear of the boot and walking towards the Aspen gate. I chuckled, seeing the golden halo that surrounded his form from the shine of the bright guard lights. I set our next destination for Stronghold Mansion; our Goliath did an about-face and off we went.

“Be there soon,” I said to Perci, closing the connection. A beep from my Gpad let me know I’d received a message.

‘Jill just asked for permission, THE permission. Hold her off until I get there.’ - Perci

Damn, she was serious then. I turned back to the podium control station and pretended to fiddle with things. Leaving a horny girl wanting, however, was not my specialty. I felt Jill slide up behind me to give me a hug. I turned to hug her back and, just as I hoped … I mean … feared, she was naked. There was only one way to play this.

“Jill, I am a big boy… Eh, that came out wrong.” I cleared my throat and tried again. “Perci is the boss, here. You’ll wait for her. Now!” I said and she jumped as if shocked. “Go sit in the blankets. Get yourself nice and wet. If you behave, I will operate this machine naked.”

Winner-winner-chicken-dinner! She darted for the covers.

I smiled at her eagerness and undressed.

A new video call hit my Gpad. “Go for Cap.”

“Jesus, Eric … are you naked?” a man sputtered.

“Yes, Mitchell,” I frowned authoritatively, “I am preparing for the vat of new armor symbiote things, the … umm … acrium, yeah, that’s what Mclain called them, acrium. What’s up?”

A new face crowded onto the screen. She had narrow extended ears sticking out of velvety light pink hair. I noticed big blushing cheeks, huge breasts on a tiny frame, and a mouth of jagged teeth that dropped into an O at the sight of my nudity. “Oh my, you’re deliciously naked, aren’t you,” she giggled, “Why are these other males clothed then?”

A Crixxi hand yanked the fairy out of the image. A fight ensued.

Mitchell retreated several steps away from the scrap.

“So,” he sighed, “we have a problem. The fairies are very excited to stay.” Squawks sounded from behind him. “Damn, let me dial that back.” He scruffed a hand through his hair. “These Faeries, the F types, were captured during a raid by a group distantly related to rat people—except these rat-men were nine feet tall and enhanced on some super bug, similar to virum, but different.”

“Lexium!” Someone shouted in the background, followed shortly by, “Get off me you anal prober.”

Did I just hear alien trash talk?

“Mitchell, just tell me what the hell you expect me to do.” I said, growing impatient.

“Oh,” he shrugged, embarrassed, “I was trying to bring you up to speed on the situation and get your guidance. I think we are both saturated with problems, at the moment.” He looked back over his shoulder and winced. “Let me figure out how to calm things down here. Basically, any time the Crixxi and fairies even look at each other sideways, next thing you know they’re in a catfight.” Mitchell ducked as some dainty looking piece of clothing nearly hit him in the head. “The guys,” he continued, “are totally cool. The sexy little ladies, however, are little hellions.” Mitchell was tackled by a little fairy.

“Who are you calling sexy!?” the fairy demanded, trying to keep Mitchell pinned down.

“Mitchell,” I ordered, “you have a hundred pounds on her, if you don’t put her in her place, I will fucking crush you myself.” That did the trick.

A crack sounded and Mitchell stood, dusting himself off.

“We don’t fight like teenagers. There will be a pit built for you to scrap out your differences. You will ONLY fight in the pit, not in the hallways, buildings, yards, or anywhere. The pit is it!” Mitchell’s voice boomed over the call. “I got this Cap, more to follow.”

The connection closed. I turned to see Jill propped up on her elbows, tits out, checking out my ass and apparently enjoying the show. I gave her a winning smile and a wink.

“Is that how the whole military thing usually works?” Jill asked.

I refused to answer.

“I guess that was rhetorical. Have you ever had to -?”

“Back up my bark with a bite?” I quipped.

Jill shrugged and said, “Yeah that works, here. Unlike other things.”

“Talk, it will help us pass the time,” I indicated a timer I displayed above the pedestal, “See… three minutes left.”

She grinned and ran her tongue over her lips seductively.

Any blood that had returned north during the conversation with Mitchell did an about-face and raced south.

“You do understand what happens if we have sex, right?”

“As if you would be a bad Dad,” she snorted, “but yes, I am aware.”

I sighed and said, “Jill I get it, your stones keep popping out. What do you want?”

“Control over my urges would be nice; letting our relationship slowly grow beyond friendship,” Jill said assertively. “I can stay on the outside until then,” she promised. I brought up an image of a fairy. Damn, they sure had sex appeal.

“Those little hotties are sexier than the Crixxi,” she grumped, “Must be the virum.”

“Yup,” I said letting the image sink in for both of us. “I show you this because they are likely to become integral to our plans and the future of our community. Of course, I have no heirs or children to tie our bloodlines together with—the closest thing I can do is pawn off Jevon. Or…”

“You get another wife.” She shook her head. “I know. I have been talking about it with the rest of your women.”

“It’s okay,” I smiled at her.

“Sorry, Eric. I am happy. I have resigned myself to the fact that you’ll be there for me, if we are just friends, or something more than that. You never shun me, you set time aside every morning for Dad time with Mary.” She shook her head sadly, “and don’t think I don’t know you are passing up sex in order to have quality time with my daughter. What man turns down a romp in the sheets with four babes for a walk with a little girl and talk of princesses?”

“Uh, I don’t turn them down.” I blushed. “I just make an effort. Everyone should have seven hours of free time a day. I don’t usually get any free time—unless I force myself to take time off … and time off for me means not facing the million and one problems I have to deal with—including the problem of how to keep those four babes satisfied! Anyhow, I enjoy talking with Mary. With her, I get to start the day off not wanting to scream or throttle someone. I get to remember that life is precious, limited, and yet still full of joy.”

She bit her lower lip. “Why does Perci want to be here?” Jill said, changing the topic. A shrill scream sounded from the tube. “Speaking of the devilish duchess of darkness.”

Perci’s displeasure had simmered down to a growl by the time she arrived. I saw her rub the back of her head, and went to comfort her. She stopped me with a hand to my chest.

“I’m fine. Thank you for waiting.” She blew a wisp of hair out of her eyes and put her hands on her hips before turning to the other woman. “Alright, Jill, down to business.”

This sounded like business Perci, not my sexy harem managing first wife.

“You can have Eric, but then you will move to Aspen,” she began. “You will set up a nice residence there. If you want to visit, it is super easy.”

Jill looked stricken. My stomach started doing its own gymnastic contortions.

“The main thing,” Perci continued, “is that you are going to be the Mistress of Aspen. It lets both you and Mary maintain an appropriate distance, without turning Eric into a home wrecker.” Perci paused. She tapped her Gpad. “And … there is your contract. If you choose to move on later, it allows for a clean break. If Jarod is alive, which is possible, though unlikely, it gives you a clean break. Minus any kids that result from your union.”

“Basically,” Jill said in a serious tone, “you don’t want me hovering over the family. I should be content, in Aspen, and visit when we need a break. If things change, we adjust.” She looked up at me, trying to gauge my reaction to Perci’s demands. “You agree with this?”

“Of course, Perci is my Queen,” I said; wanting to, but wisely, not saying anything more.

“I get what I desire, but then get pushed away,” Jill muttered.

“It is what we all need,” Perci said, tapping her left foot, “I have about ten minutes so choose quickly.”

“Oh, I am so damn tired of spitting out stones. There is nowhere else for me to turn to. Eric is great and I always wanted more kids. If everything goes smoothly. Is there a chance, sometime in the future, I will be given the opportunity to upgrade from ‘mistress’ status?” Jill asked.

“Probably,” Perci looked over to me.

I gave a minute nod to let her know my feelings for Jill could certainly move in that direction.

“I know he likes having you around. Eric enjoys spending time with you, enough to visit you. Jill, you're not going to be alone, though,” Perci said and Jill let out a long ohhhh sound.

“Yes, we did talk about that.” Her brow furrowed. “It seems my corner is assigned. What Eric does will never be up to me,” she shrugged, “that, I can accept, especially if I have another friend to live with me. Yes … I would like that,” Jill said, signing the contract.

“Thank you,” Perci nodded and then sat, cross-legged, elbows on her knees, and chin in her palms.

“Umm,” Jill blushed, “What are you doing?”

“That is my husband,” Perci said with a commanding tone, “and while I respect you are not into women, I will watch.  You’re not some Crixxi virgin.”

Jill rolled her eyes. She flipped the blanket off and I saw a small puddle under her crotch.

“I self-entertained, watching your naked ass,” she grinned and stretched languidly on the floor. “I hope you like a squirter,” Jill winked and my cock grew hard. “Give me a son, Eric, please.”

I muted my Gpad, walked straight to Jill, and slid between her thighs. She pulled my head down and my lips to hers; without hesitation, I drove into her slick entrance.

Jill was a lip-biting, hip-thrusting kind of girl. We switched positions several times and she never said a word—not a coherent word, though there were a number of loud moans and shuddering squeals of delight. The sex lasted an energetic ten minutes and when we were done, I needed a shower. She came all over me, my balls and thighs dripped from her squirting ejaculations. Jill asked for round two, but I demurred. I felt like she was turning this into something more than a good time; I hated to be the one putting on the brakes, but with things happening like this, I felt like a breeding stud. The sex was great, don’t get me wrong. I certainly wasn’t going to complain about it, but I was still exhausted from that damned market.

“Okay, now get out you two. I need to get some work done while you both rest and recover from your market fatigue,” Perci said.

We stood up and I had just started to get dressed when the command chamber echoed the resounding slap of a palm on my ass. Ow! I jumped and turned to see Perci leering at me with the sharp gleam of lust in her eyes. “And Eric,” she purred, “turn your Gpad back on. I will try to let you recover, but … just in case.” She winked.

I left Goliath 1 with Jill for the fold-out bed in RV3. She made the bed while I snuck quietly into the shower. I knew Willow and Nancy were still sleeping. I hopped into bed as Jill ducked into the shower for her own wash-down. Another nap would let me reset. Then it was time to test all these new toys. I curled up in the pillows and blankets. While I was waiting for Jill to finish her rinse and join me, I fell asleep.

CHAPTER 9

I shifted around on the fold-out bed, tucking my legs in to keep them from hanging over the edge. I cracked an eye open to reveal Nancy snuggled tightly into my chest breathing gently against my neck. So much for not trying to wake the others. My hand cupped her bubble of an ass cheek. I tried not to wiggle too much, prying my arm free of my delicious lover. I checked my Gpad. Three hours had gone by. I guess I had made up for my normal sleep, too. Nancy turned my chin with a finger to look down at her and applied a soft kiss to my lips that I savored.

I propped myself up on one elbow to see that it was just the two of us.

“My turn, stud,” Nancy said, raking her nails down my chest and throwing off the sheets. “I showered and shaved my fresh little pussy just for this.”

My morning sixty-nine was delightful. I guess Nancy was in a silly mood, because when I grunted that I was about to explode, she pulled my cock from her mouth and jerked rapidly with a tight fist. She aimed my ejaculation so that it splattered against the front door, her giggles harmony to my grunts and groans of pleasure. We rolled around in bed for a few minutes more until our laughter died down. I finally got up to wash off my chin and brush my teeth.

“Well, most of the shopping should be done by now, If not all of it,” I said happily, as I returned from the tiny bathroom. I plopped back down into the bed to snuggle my lovely Nancy. She traced her fingers over my chest and abs as I talked. “You would think six hours of sleep would not be such a big deal, but when you have the virum, it is.”

“Yeah, I actually woke up refreshed. I hadn’t gotten any one-on-one time with you, lately, so the moment I saw Jill exit, I ducked in here and you were just so cozy,” Nancy said, opening the bathroom door’s latch of doom to flick the shower on. “Come, my King,” she beckoned, “my back is dirty.”

“Did you wait for me to greet the new arrivals?” I asked, scooting out of bed. Nancy reached up on her tippy toes to plant a kiss on my lips. “What has you in such a good mood? I thought you might be upset about Jill.”

“Fuck no, she will give birth your children from over yonder. I am so glad to be done with the angst of it all. I like Jill, I do, but all the dancing around and walking on egg-shells around the two of you was nonsense. I’ll admit to being biased; I fucking hate putting in stones. The procedure is barbaric and messy. So, no I am not upset. I like decisive things in my life. This is good for our family,” Nancy said, using a cleansing foam on my body. When she finished I returned the favor. “Today, we exit as King and Queen of Bastion. We have robes waiting for our transition.”

“Transition?” I asked.

“RV3 was moved last night. We are now in a mini compound against the northern cliffs,” Nancy said shutting off the shower.

“Uh… Perci’s idea?” I guessed.

“Willow’s actually, and the rest of us approved. We are going to build our castle here anyway. We linked a smaller underway to connect to the main underway hub. Come Daddy,” Nancy said with a smile.

“He is not a Daddy yet, you hussie,” Willow said from elsewhere in the RV with a teasing tone.

“Good morning my love,” I said letting my voice carry to her. “I expect a full briefing.”

“I know. I am converting the bed back into a table. I have a lot to go over before we get to testing equipment,” Willow said with a grunt as she worked.

Nancy handed me a robe that I slid into. I loved the soft caress of the thick cotton material. Aspen Inn and Refinement was stitched onto the chest. I wondered what kind of place that was. When I first had visited Aspen, I thought it would be McMansion after McMansion, with hotel rooms the size of homes. Instead I found that there were a lot of large hotels with tiny rooms, and a lot fewer mansions than expected.

“I take it we filled the vacancy of a defense officer?” I said.

“No, we had a number of overqualified applicants with some great ideas, so we formed a five-member committee; a majority vote is required to approve defensive plans or strategies. I am on it, along with Perci, Torrez, Benson, and Eddy. Are you ready for your briefing my King?” Willow asked. “This was voted on and approved.”

I exited the small bathroom to see Willow without her pink hair. I gasped, her black wavy hair danced off her shoulders as she fluffed it for me. Not only that, she was encased in acrium that was black as a moonless night. Her sleeves of armor covered her arms and her shielding power plant was also equipped. I was enthralled by the triple layer of gear.

I ran to my lovely lady and picked her up. She let out a light squeak. Willow hardly weighed a thing. Wow. This was impressive.

“But your hair …” I said.

“I am not a college girl trying to stand out anymore, Eric. I am a Queen and a warrior. I will not be dying my hair pink anymore. I dyed it black, without asking, knowing you would approve. I was going to cut it short in a pixie cut, but I know you like to pull my hair while taking me from behind, so I will only cut it to shoulder length to keep my man happy,” Willow said with a confident shrug. I darted in for a deep lust-filled kiss. Her hands fell down my cheeks softly. “I appreciate your girthy approval.” She grabbed and squeezed my growing bulge. “You will get a makeover of sorts, too, once this briefing is done. Now please, sit my King.”

I slid into the booth with Nancy cuddling in next to me. Willow turned on the main view screen. Nancy snuggled into my side while Willow tapped on a few buttons, starting her presentation. A holographic image of Mansion Valley populated.

“The caves are here and we are here. Mining is being conducted here, here, and here.” Willow pointed out each location in the valley. “Our first defensive priority is the southern wall that blocks access from the county road into our valley. We widened the opening with plans for a single gate. Southbound traffic exits on the left, while northbound traffic enters on the right. Even as this secondary wall is expanding, we are planning on how it will be replaced by additional fortifications to our south,” Willow said, pausing to see if I had any input.

“We’re paving all this land?” I asked, pointing to the wide corridor that entered our valley.

“We intended to yesterday, at least from in front of the first new wall and heading south. We are going to set up quick reaction forces here and here,” she pointed out two forward locations and then a centralized spot just inside the gate, “with a small garrison here to supplement the wall defenders. But our thinking changed after seeing what was available at the market … Gravity tanks don't require the same paved roads that trucks did. So,” she identified multiple layers of tiered berms and redoubts, “we have scrapped plan to pave this area in favor of defensive strong points and walkways.”

“Hold on Willow, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. You just said we’re making adjustments, but the image you're showing me has a lot of pavement.” I paused and stared at the display while holding my hand in the air to forestall any further explanations. “You’re on the right track, but I want to add a Fairy and a Crixxi to the defensive committee. I can stomach you not wanting to waste ten minutes fixing something cosmetic, like a bunch of black on the map, but I cannot handle the lack of foresight from -”

“I know, I apologize, Eric. Perci said the same thing, but to brief you anyway before you stepped outside and saw the changes we were making and then cursed up a storm for not being briefed. She is covering our butts and instructed me to say the blame is all hers,” Willow said with a sharp gaze and serious tone, “though we both know that is bullshit.” Ah, perfect. I yanked my little moxy soldier down into my lap for a deep kiss. She pulled back and then ducked back in for another, tenderer, smooch. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Good. The Faeries only arrived hours ago. I am not concerned about the rapid changes you noted being done right away, I know they will get corrected, if need be. I expect a Crixxi and a Fairy at the next briefing you are -”

A knock sounded at the door. “I heard you wanted to see us,” an assertive female voice said from outside.

“Who is that?” I asked and Willow gave a meek smile with a shoulder shrug, her palms up. Nancy chuckled until my gaze stopped her.

“That is the headache we have been trying to keep at bay,” Willow said with a scoff. “Just remember, you could have had an obedient cockroach ... Or hell, a lot fewer, but more docile Faeries. This is what you get for trying to be nice; no good deed goes unpunished, my love.”

I rolled my eyes and called out sharply, “Enter!”

The door snapped open as it was rapidly swung to latch onto the outside of the RV with a thud. I realized, too late, that no one had cleaned off the door from Nancy and my semen artillery practice earlier; the lead Fairy just flung jizz into her hair. Well, that’s what you get for opening my door like you owned the place. Somehow, I managed to keep my expression flat.

A trio of Faeries barged in. The first two females fluttered their vibrant wings, jostling for position to be the first in the door. Elbows flew and minor nudges escalated to pinches and pokes, a full-on brawl was barely averted when the male in the back hissed at the two women to pull themselves together.

They all wore something akin to bathing suits, goosebumps pimpling their arms from the night chill they were letting in. Faeries were definitely virum enhanced, with curvy hips and large breasts on otherwise petite figures. The male had rippling abs with lean, well defined muscles. Their youthful faces had me guessing that they reached an ‘optimal age’ a tad younger than humans. Whereas we virum-infected humans looked like we stopped aging in our early-to-mid-twenties, the virum-infected Faeries looked like they were in their late teens—eighteen or nineteen. Even as oversexed as I was, I felt my cock stirring. God bless virum and its awesome effects! I fucking loved licking Nancy’s butter-cream frosting tasting pussy earlier, it was scrumptious.

Of the two vivacious looking nubile young women, a bright blue-haired Fairy with sparkling green eyes—the one without cum in her hair—got the first word in. “We demand—ooph!”

Willow slammed a fist into the upstart’s exposed abs. She connected right in the pretentious Fairy’s diaphragm, knocking the wind out of her lungs. When the Fairy finally caught her breath, she defiantly sucked in a lungful of air to yell at my wife.

Willow bitch smacked her so hard even my ears rang. My lovely lady stood tall over the Fairies, asserting her dominance. A quick glance in my direction for approval was the only sign given that Willow was not the one in command. Perfect. Inside, I did a happy dance and cheered my lovely wife on.

“You, male in the back, step forward,” I commanded, waiting for him to slip between the females. “Give me your name and kindly explain why I am hearing about problems with your kind adapting to our ways?”

“Elithen, my lord,” Elithen said with a courteous bow. Well, at least the men remembered their manners. I held up a hand, pausing him.

I dialed into the command net on my Gpad and broadcast a call to everyone. “The Faeries I acquired, the ones used to needing protection. I need their leader brought to RV3 now.”

Maria patched her video feed in and said, “I was just cooking with Longoria, and she is enroute, taking the personal underway to the Castle. Already fluttering your way.” Her hologram grinned at me, “Do you think we can get wings?”

“Uh… Maybe. We got jetpacks,” I said and Mrs. Torrez frowned. “Thanks, Maria.”

I closed the connection.

I nudged Nancy out of the booth and stood up. “You three follow me. As your contract holder, I order you not to speak, unless spoken to. Now Elithen, please continue to explain why I am getting a headache in the middle of the night because of unruly Faeries,” I said, exiting the booth by climbing on the seat and literally stepping over the Faeries. I had glanced over their bio page back in the grand market. Sure they wanted to be dominated, but you’d think that would have been settled in their first few hours here.

My bare feet smacked against the stairs while I exited the RV. My eyes widened in shock at seeing the outside.

“Holy shit!” I muttered.

“See, I told you,” Willow said from inside.

“Proceed or wait, my lord?” Elithen asked from behind me.

“Hold for one moment,” I muttered.

I absorbed my surroundings. The RV was backed against a steep mountain cliff. The solid rock wall soared into the sky with the moonlight illuminating two towering Goliaths hard at work. A dirt wall was under construction, creating a barrier. The giant robots compacted the cubes of dirt and rock from the underway debris into crude walls. A backhoe was digging on the other side for what I assumed was a moat. Umm… Hell yeah! I was getting a freaking moat. Now all I needed were sharks patrolling the moat with fricking laser guns strapped to their heads. Woah! That was stupid, I realized, and wanted to smack myself in the forehead. Instead of sharks, I could fill the moat with some sort of water-babes like those Sirens. Unless there were shark babes? Hmm ... might be worth investigating.

Inside the rapidly growing wall was enough space for a castle. RV3 was surrounded by TG99s and TP63s, with a dozen octosuits out by the wall opening. RV1 was parked inside the wall, as well. Not far from RV3, sat a pavilion similar to our first dining hall. Nearby, I saw a large vat of greenish goo swirling happily to the sound of classical music. Beside the vat were armor and weapons racks. There was a whole armory right here. Score.

The sound of nail guns and wood slapping against wood pulled me from my appreciation of the armory. A construction crew rapidly attached boards to series of four by fours, creating walls. A team of male Faeries guided the boards into place. Their efforts were efficient, and I watched the crews with a smile.

I stepped towards the vat of acrium, with a motion to the Faeries trailing me to follow. A female Mounamine waited next to a set of stairs that led to the vat of acrium. She curtsied with precision while beaming a welcoming smile. Ah, this was nice to see. The Mounamine were cute in a different way; their attitude certainly improved their appeal.

“Welcome to Bastion,” I said, removing my robe and placing it next to her. I tapped her bowtie to study the list of tasks assigned. There was only one task: serve Eric Yang and his family, as needed. The little mousy woman wore a thick set of leather garments that were very alien looking. That would need to be fixed, because I could see large mounds that were stubbornly hidden by the outfit. “What is your name, young lady?”

The mousy woman looked down before speaking. I gently lifted her chin to meet my gaze and saw a warm, happy spark light up in her dark eyes. “Sammie, my lord, is the name I chose from your language. Me and a dozen other Mounamine have been assigned to RV1. We are here to care for your every need,” Sammie said with a meek smile. “Queen Perci asked for volunteers for the royal household, with a few caveats.”

“Let me guess,” I asked with a raised eyebrow, “children?”

“I know better than to discuss such things with my Master.” She blushed. “We will have your armor prepped on the table once you exit the acrium vat,” Sammie continued, pointing to a cleared space with two benches surrounded by all the gear. Three other Mounamine curtsied as my eyes met theirs. The drab leather outfits were the worst. Perci was likely fixing the issue, already.

Nancy handed off her robe and walked up the stairs ahead of me. Her wide hips and juicy booty snapped with each step.

“Thank you for volunteering, Sammie. I shall wait for my Queen to go first,” I said and then turned back to Elithen. “Return to your explanation of why these Faeries are so unruly.”

Elithen was being given dagger stares from the other two ladies, but they remained silent. Right when Elithen was about to talk, though, I heard a commotion behind me.

“Excuse me, I am searching for King Eric. I am Longoria, I was requested,” a pretty Fairy called from the underway platform station, a dozen feet outside the pavilion.

Woah, impressive. The mansion lay at least a half mile, if not further, to the south. She got here in only a minute or two. The inner man child in me desperately wanted to ride the underground train, if it even was a train.

“Ah, Longoria, please come here by my side and please continue Elithen,” I said, waving Longoria over.

My eyes went to watch through the clear acrylic cover over the vat. Nancy was swimming in the green goop, chatting away. She had a delightful smile on her face, which told me she was enjoying her interaction with a manikin form of goop that floated next to her.

Elithen cleared his throat to get my attention and began again, “We wild Faeries are used to a strict hierarchy. All species in our forests fall under this societal structure. All of them, my lord.”

“Ah, I think I get it now,” I nodded, “but please continue.”

Elithen bowed his head and said, “That means our native animals must respect their elders. In this case, we know no other way. We are a matriarchal society, males tend to be child raisers. Fairy females like Seteria and Nilvia, here, will compete mercilessly until a pecking order is established. Unfortunately, we lost our former Matriarch and her family during the purge that put us under contract. We are leaderless, and because we also are without the majority of our most dominant Faeries, we must restore the pecking order—not only amongst ourselves, but with the other species here, as well.”

I hummed out loud and tapped my chin. “And if I dictate a leader?”

“We understand dominance. Queen Willow is the current Matriarch after her display. She would need to be challenged and defeated to lose that status,” Elithen said. I paused him from continuing.

I turned to Longoria and asked, “How do you S-type Faeries operate?”

“We obey our contract holders and protectors. All reasonable requests are met with reasonable responses,” Longoria said, performing a well-executed curtsy. She returned to a stiff posture. Regal in her pose, and elegant in her speech. Her outfit reminded me of a ball gown. “We don’t adhere to this dominance nonsense.”

I nodded, finally understanding. “What would you recommend I do with the free Faeries?” I asked. “I offered to let them return home, yet their home is lost.” Longoria frowned as she gazed at the blue-haired Fairy. I then realized what she was staring at.

“If they let you mate with them already, there is hardly an issue. I must admit, I am impressed by your alacrity in this, Master,” Longoria said pointing to my clump of seed in Seteria’s hair.

Seteria pleaded with big eyes to speak. I nodded. She reached up and found my jizz in her hair and sniffed it. A quick lick caused her wings to flutter and a warm vibration that vaguely reminded me of a purr came from her chest.

“How did this get here?” Her eyes lit up. “Such a clever tactic. I want more now,” Seteria said with desire.

“My Queen was having fun earlier and you flung the door open before it had a chance to be cleaned,” I said with a chuckle.

There were five “OH’s” at once, in understanding.

“Nilvia and I are twins,” Seteria continued, “we were next in line and should be the rulers of our coven. If it still existed, and we returned home, the two of us would jostle for the top position over many fights. Here though, it is different. We are some of the weakest among Bastion’s peoples. The Crixxi unerringly beat the curses out of us; your female soldiers too.”               “Even your males firmly put us in our place,” Nilvia muttered.

I folded my arms and calmly explained, “Here are your options: You may stay and will remain low on the totem pole, even below Longoria. You will help me build a mighty empire and in return, I will improve your status.” I snorted, “But it will be on my orders and according to the organization that I dictate, not based on who can beat up whom in a fight. I am scrapping this pit idea. The last thing I need is for whomever I appoint as leader to integrate into the community, only to get their ass kicked by some newly matured Fairy and boom, I have to deal with a new replacement. Are you paying attention?”

My stern voice received nods all around. I continued, “If, for some reason, this is beyond your ability to rationalize, then you be resold at the next market and become someone else’s problem,” I said. “By that point, I won’t care.” I glared at the cowed group of Faeries. “Now,” I continued, “Longoria, what can Bastion do to improve your life here?”

“We need more vegetables in our diet, so improved food. We prefer clear pools of water with glowing fish and waterfalls to swim in. I know gossamer wings and water normally do not mix, but ours are different. Also, there are some large trees we would like to transplant that would be well suited to this area. Both the Crixxi and we Faeries would adore that. Finally, if we could get a budget for personal items, I could live like a goddess. I would be most happy if those things happened,” Longoria said in such a regal tone, that I got the feeling this lady was very wise, with dozens, if not hundreds, of years of experience managing her kind. While she explained her list of requests, the three other Faeries brightened with nods of agreement.

“You will build me a castle, correct?” I asked, tossing my hands on my hips.

“Yes Master, in exchange for a stable home, I will work to fulfill your desires,” Longoria said with a curtsy. “I don’t want to intimate that fulfilling the desires of your people will result in anything different, but please picture, if you would, what would be the case if our roles were reversed.”

“You’re wise to be cautious with your words,” I replied.

Longoria curtsied and said, “I live to serve, and have done so for a long time ... A very long time.”

Silence settled over our conversation, and I pondered my options.

A gasping Nancy at the edge of the vat startled Sammie.

“Wow! That was amazing,” Nancy said from just inside the acrium tank. She sauntered down the steps in blue and white armor that somehow absorbed the light. The woman looked radiant. “They told me I am going to have two daughters and a son. I am so happy, right now, I’m going to go back into the RV and have a good cry.”

Nancy kissed my cheek and fled. Willow went to comfort her. I raced around Willow and caught Nancy up into a tight hug that lifted her off the ground. I kissed her forehead and said, “I am happy for us, my love.”

“Who’d have thought ... Prison, the military, then the end of the world as we know it, and only now, of all time, am I so stinking happy. Okay, let me down, I want to girl gab with Willow while you go do Viking King things,” Nancy said, smacking my bare bottom.

I trotted by a smirking Willow and exchanged a hi-five with her. The four Faeries were deep in conversation, sorting things out, so I ran by them and dove into the green goop to introduce my naked awesomeness to the acrium.

A serenity of calm washed over my body. A playful display of a human form swam with me.

“Hello Eric,” a million voices said at once. “Your arm may cause us some issues, it is not organic.”

“I have a covering for it that is meant to mimic orga—”

“Yes, we will need that.” The voices replied.

I breached the surface, swimming to the edge of the container. “Sammie,” I instructed, “please go into that RV,” I pointed at RV3, “and ask Queen Willow for my silicone sleeve. She will understand what you need.”

Sammie ran off to complete her task.

“What did you decide?” I asked, propping my armpits over the vats edged.

Elithen turned to me and said, “We are learning what it is like to become a working force, and not a hierarchic society. Longoria is giving us horror stories about serving intellectually inferior races. It seems there is a dark universe out there, while here, it is not bad. And -”

Longoria interrupted, placing a hand on Elithen’s back. “And if you upgrade this settlement into something specific, with an effort to meet our needs, then you will have been the best protector species I have ever worked for. And based on that,” Longoria said, pointing to the vat, “And then all these weapons of war,” her gesture expanded to encompass all the gear around the outpost, “then I think we will not be sold anytime soon.” She dropped her arm. “Let me ask something please, King Eric. What is the likelihood of you buying these trees we have requested?”

I scratched my chin. “Depends on the cost. What does one of these trees cost, say... compared to your contract price?” I asked. We both knew what she had cost the equivalent in zinc of three TP63s.

“You can get a hundred trees for -”

“Consider it done,” I stated, “with no second thoughts.”

Longoria beamed.

“Uh… Uno memento, por favor” I said. Sammie came running out with my arm sleeve flopping before her like a dildo. “Hold it with two hands lovingly, darling, it's the only one I’ve got,” I hollered to Sammie, “Set it on the top of the stairs.”

I called Perci, audio-only.

“Why no video?” she asked.

“I’m in the goo,” I explained.

My hand smashed the video button on my Gpad and a camera hovered to show me treading … well, goo. I saw Everly in her forest green armor casing. Her hourglass figure was on full display; even her tail had an armored coating. The coverings were thicker over her vitals and thinner around her limbs. It appeared she had added some extra height with discrete heels to her boots to tower over those approaching her. Crixxi were lined up, kissing her cheek as they swore fealty to their Crixxi queen.

I turned to my first wife and asked, “When is the auction over?”

“Just the last big batch of Crixxi left, why?” Perci replied. “Everly wants to buy more Faeries, if we can. We do not have enough for a long term gene pool unless they are able to reproduce with Humans; she also wants more builders.”

“I have a counteroffer,” I said and one of Everly’s top, exposed ears rotated in my direction. She held a palm out, halting the procession of Crixxi before her. She approached Perci, so I continued. I sometimes forgot how well Crixxi could hear. “Longoria here has a wish list. Sammie too.” Sammie pointed to her chest, her eyes wide, and I nodded.

“Uh… I don’t get it?” Perci replied.

“We are going to stop purchasing contracts, at least for this go around, and improve the quality of the contracts we already have. Longoria, what is the name of the trees you would like me to purchase?” I asked. She sent the message to my translator. I converted it to my Gpad and sent it to Perci and Everly. I muted my connection with Perci and Everly, before shouting at the RV, “Willow! I love that you girls are bonding, but I need Gpads on these five! Stat!”

“What are you hollering about Eric?” Perci asked, watching the feed.

“Getting everyone here on the same page,” I replied, pointing to my Gpad. “I want these trees; the Goliaths can move them I would wager,” I said seeing Everly gasp in joy, only to pause and then frown.

“Eric, I love you and this would make me the happiest Crixxi alive, but there are two big downsides to such a purchase. You will get less mingling of species. Crixxi, Faeries, and Pandarin would stay in the trees while Humans and Mounamine would remain on the ground. It would split our intermingling which could lead to big problems in the future. The other problem I see this leading to is that these funds should go to other higher priority purchases. The trees are not expensive, per se, but we have neilspar that should go to the next market rotation’s dropships or Sluggeros. Both of those are quite expensive. Do you see my point?”

I nodded with a smile, “I am going to be driving over to you in a bit. I want to experience a TG99 myself. Buy the final big order of Crixxi and the trees; we’ll save the rest for next market. The trees will not only help with our current housing issues, but they will also make our residents happy, as well as apply a great new layer of defenses to our stronghold that an enemy will have to fight through.”

“While I love the idea, I had to ensure you understood the downsides,” Everly said, retreating to continue her work with the new Crixxi.

“Sounds just like Jevon, that one,” Perci said with a smirk. “See you soon my love. Enjoy the ride and don’t worry too much about those sassy Faeries. I will lay some whoop-ass down if they get out of line.”

I burst into a long peal of delighted laughter. “See you soon babe, Cap out.” When I closed the connection, I turned to find Willow holding my silicone.

“Nancy is getting the Gpads. Slide your arm in,” she instructed, “and … done. What armor set are you getting?” Willow asked, bouncing her brows and tempting me to reveal my secrets with her lovely blue eyes.

I dipped back into the acrium to swirl in tandem with a multitude of creatures.

The infinite voices moaned with relief. A gentle tone said, “Ah better, thank you for adjusting. We are symbiotes in a far different way than the virum. You will need to return us to our home within a day, for starters. Our levels are not buoyant enough to continue outside beyond that.”

“I am trying to comprehend something.” I paused and frowned. The translator may be having issues. “Are you not healthy?” I asked, “Or can you be healthier?”

“Your Mclain bought us what we need to … ‘fatten up’ is a term you might use. We are not skinny, merely not bloated with extra, or ready to split. Some of us may die, taking damage, or die as a whole. We understand that this is the nature of the universe and happily do our part to protect the hive at home. Eventually, Mclain said we would be housed somewhere safer than under a simple roof,” the voices said and I smiled.

“Why do I not need to breathe?”

The human nondescript shape blew several bubbles. “We cycle air down to your lungs. In water, we will rip oxygen out of the water and bring it into your lungs. Forming a bond with the hive is amazing—for you more than us. We simply cannot survive on most planets, alone. Our needs require assistance that we are rarely provided, outside of situations like these.”

“Ah, I am starting to understand why it is important to keep you happy. I am glad Mclain purchased enough to cover your basic needs. Are you unhappy that we have separated the vats?” I asked with concern.

“That makes us happy. Are you ready to co-join?” the acrium voices asked. “We sense that you are, what coloration and configuration would you like? We cannot read minds, but we can sense desires.”

I wanted to match Nancy; I liked her blue and white armor. I was not trying to be a ninja. My body would always be behind some armor and shielding. Stealth was less important to me than it might be for troops on the front lines. I also needed to prove a point. Bastion was my realm; I was in command here. While the Humans respected that, to the new arrivals, I remained an unknown.

I felt a shell encasing my body, the area around my skin swirling as the creatures flowed around my body to form their unique armor. Within a few seconds, they were done. I saw my reflection in the acrylic.

I had a crown of pointed teeth atop my covered head. My face was a bright white, with clear eye covers, revealing my brown eyes. The edging of my armor had a dark blue regal appearance to break up the white armor. My muscles were well defined and I would still need to wear a kilt, at the very least, if I wanted to maintain the bare minimum of modesty. I spun to see my back but the reflection twisted. I was very content.

“Can you talk to me outside of the vat?” I asked.

“Certainly, we will not do so, however, unless something is dire or the situation requires our input. We enjoy this transition to view the universe as others do. We will go quiet, now,” the voices said, fading away into nothing.

I exited the vat on a standing platform. Not a single spec of green goop joined me outside the tank. I stood above the vat on the stairs and glanced around. My vision was slightly constrained. Nothing too major, but I noticed there was a minor difference. Nothing optic enhancements couldn’t correct.

Nancy exited RV3 in a light blue summer dress with flowers on it. She looked stunning. Her face was exposed with only a slight bulge on her right thigh the only indication she was packing a side arm. This is what she wanted, to be a loved woman in a caring home.

I was not sure how she had already procured a dress in the right dimensions, that accounted for the acrium; somehow, she had. I smiled down at my deadly little housewife. Now she was truly a sight to behold, a fitting queen. Her impending motherhood only made her eyes sparkle brighter.

“She pulls it off perfectly,” Willow said, offering me a set of double extra-large jungle fatigues. These would work for now. Willow’s eyes flickered to Nancy as she said, “Hey, where are you going?”

Nancy jumped back into the goop before she answered. She returned with a matching crown, just slightly smaller than mine. Willow huffed and I flung her into the vat when she threw her arms up like a child pitching a fit. I giggled at her silliness.

“Sammie,” I asked, “is there another Mounamine you defer to?”

“That is not how we obey, Master,” Sammie replied, her eyes cast to the ground. “If you nominate one of us to be a leader, we fill that role. Perci said that I was the cutest, and so I was appointed the leader.”

“Well,” I smiled at my little mouse-girl servant, “she was right about that. When you talk to me, as long as you are not being scolded, it will be with your eyes on me. I prefer direct eye-contact with those I trust to lead. Follow me,” I said, walking over to the gearing stations.

Nancy raced ahead of me to the weapons rack and said, “These are your replacements. I understand a flood, and a Divine-ape are uncommonly hard to prepare for, so I bought custom straps; they are empowered connectors. No more having a strap break and losing your weapons! The cable attachments include a homing tracker, with a set of jets that fire to automatically return your weapon to its homing clip.” She pointed to a triangular shaped buckle that attached to my weapons’ harness. “Okay,” she admitted, “maybe a flood would still win, but this is as smart of a dummy cord as I could find! Simply slap the weapon harness on your body and it will stay there, syphoning power from either your generator pack ...” She pointed to a small fanny pack that attached at the small of my back. “Or to your arm’s nitrogen generator.”

Two Mounamine used stools to attach the fanny pack nitrogen generator to my armor. A cable snaked to my arm’s power source and there was a crackle when they connected, sharing and auto-leveling the power load. Shield pucks were strategically placed over my armor by delicate hands. When they mousy ladies finished, I fired up my shield for a test. Blue hexagons flared to life on all sides, confirming that I had complete coverage.

I caught sight of a balled bun on a Mounamine’s rear. I wondered why they hid their tails. For that matter, why the ugly, cumbersome leather outfits? The mouse-girls were meek, gentle, and incredibly sweet. I knew they would fit in well, here.

“The next two weapons are new,” Nancy said handing me a weapon. “This one is like a pebblenator on steroids. One of these will be equipped in every tank, once we get the custom racks installed.” From the weight of this mega-pebblenator, which was nearly three times heavier than the regular version, I could tell this beast packed a punch. My muscle mass handled the heftier version without a problem. Even before my cybernetic enhancement, I could ruck with this weapon; it felt about the same as my old M249 squad-automatic-weapon. “Before you get too excited and start firing plasma-blobs all over the battlefield, know that this weapon is specifically tailored for use against a select few foes, like the Lurrol. Your sniper rifle, firing nitrogen orbs, will shatter most shields before this will.”

I nodded my understanding. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Willow exiting the vat, with a small crown like Nancy’s. I slapped the buttstock of the weapon into my shoulder and aimed at a cliff in the distance, away from everyone. It felt great. “Next,” I ordered.

“This is the mini gun,” Nancy said, hoisting the weapon with a grunt, “we have enough to include one in every TG99. They are shield poppers. They also weigh fifty pounds, so they are not meant to be hauled around outside of close proximity to the tank. You use it until it depletes its integrated power generator, set it aside back in the vehicle until it recharges, and then use it again.”

Willow grabbed the six cannoned monstrosity. It was nearly eight feet long, the back two feet of which was a boxy generator. Teal lighting showed the weapon was active and ready to unleash hell.

Willow was getting a feel for how to level it as Nancy continued, “We tested the mini-gun against a large shield generator. The shield withstood about a dozen seconds of sustained fire before rounds arced through.”

I was handed the nitrogen machine gun. My empowered arm hefted the weight with ease. My human arm guided the weapon, as I aimed up high at the cliff wall. I saw no point in fragging people.

While I tested the weight and feel of the mini-gun, a Mounamine secured my shotgun, big sploosha, to my left side and Nancy attached the clips of the nitrogen sniper rifle to the weapons harness on my right side. Willow accepted the rapid firing nitrogen mini-gun back and Nancy snatched up the mega-peeblenator. We were ready to go to war.

Well … almost. I had to go shopping ... again. Ugh. I would at least have fun with the new tank before reentering the market. Please, I prayed, let this be my final foray into the market this golden period.

“Okay,” I pointed. “We’re taking that TG99, right there, to buy some Mounamine specific food for two weeks and a hundred trees,” I said to the group.

Longoria raised a hand and I nodded. “I would also like to request specific food for my kind. We can get enough to last a long time for quite cheap. I would rather have ninety-nine trees…” She tapped her chin, “Make it ninety trees, the food, some proper wing dryers, and glowing fish for our pond.” The other Faeries behind her nodded enthusiastically, and Nilvia whispered something into her ear. “Oh, good idea!” she smiled at the other Fairy, “and specialty fabric that stretches with our wings.”

I tuned her out, my focus entirely on the gravity-defying tank. I’d simply bring Longoria with me; she would do the shopping, not me. Felix was messing with a tank three over from the one I had pointed to, so I adjusted our path.

“Felix,” I called out, “you putting nitrogen generators on these?”

“Yeah,” his voice came from under a piece of cowling, “the helium ones are meh at best. This will give you additional tree jumping capability.” He crawled back out from the side of the tank and straightened his back with a groan. “Take that one,” he said, and pointed to a tank two more to our right, “she is ready to go, maxed out with five nitro power plants instead of three.” He grinned, “We overbought on generators, if there is such a thing. Our tanks will pack far more punch than before. Oh and Cap,” Felix said and then paused until I rolled my wrist forward for him to continue. “The XO ordered no shooting inside either stronghold. Also, no more blasting at trees in the area, apparently some folks got a little trigger happy. If we clear out too many of our natural barriers, it only gives the enemy an easier route to reach us.”

“Thanks Felix, those are great ideas,” I said, searching for the opening command on the tank.

Willow passed by me to place her palm on the side of the tank. A doorway whooshed open, revealing a large bleak interior. A set of stairs folded out of the side and I gingerly walked up them. They looked so fragile and I felt so massive while fully geared up. My mind balked when I realized this meant no more sex for me until I visited a vat, again.

My entry into the tank was uneventful. There were only a few things in the tank. A control podium built for two stood towards the front of the vehicle, and two side gunner station alcoves jutted out from the tank’s waist. There was an additional mount for a rear gunner, but we had not purchased the final turrets; there was no need for a rear turret, I rationalized, the main gun swiveled three hundred and sixty degree; covering all directions.

The podium adjusted to my height as I approached. Willow slipped next to me on my right side, where a gunnery station popped up for her. Nancy manned the side turret to my left, or the tank’s port side while Seteria stepped hesitantly into the turret alcove on my right, the tank’s starboard side. The interface before me appeared as a series of holographic screens that adjusted to our heights. At least there was no Goldie to contend with. I dialed into our Gnet and populated a map of the area. I saw Marble Heights not far from where we were parked. I selected that location on the screen and received a routing prompt. I confirmed my route selection and chose the autopilot option.

I turned to my other guests as the side hatch closed. The tank slid into motion with a slight jerk. The Faeries and Mounamine grabbed for the few oh-shit handles and grab-bars in the crew compartment.

“Normally,” I noted, “you will not be leaving the Strongholds unless it is golden gate market period or the situation is unique. Even so,” I frowned, “we will need to get you some protection—probably in the form of basic armor. That issue will need to be addressed at some point down the line,” I said, gesturing to their exposed forms. At least Sammie was wearing heavy padded leather clothing. Inside that bulky covering, she might be sexy as hell, but when there was even a chance of hostilities, a bikini was not and never would be armor—even if most video games before the apocalypse claimed it was. We would have to get them all some proper gear, eventually. “Human history is full of stories of ordinary people rising to the occasion and becoming extraordinary.”

Sammie raised her hand. “We are not great fighters,” the mouse-girl blushed, “but we go to great lengths to protect our young. Queen Perci briefed us as a group that we were allowed to … um … be impregnated,” Sammie said, looking pointedly at my hips. I guessed that was an improvement from her always staring at the ground. “Well,” pink tinged her cheeks again, “except for your personal servants. My point is, I like your idea to give us the chance to protect our young—even if they are not mine, personally. I may not be a great fighter or extremely courageous, but I will buy time for others if it saves our little ones.”

I gently laid a gentle hand on Sammie's shoulder, expecting her to flinch. She nestled into my touch instead. Aw, I rubbed behind her ear, touched by her emotional response.

“That, my little Sammie, is the very definition of courageous. We will get things settled for this season, do a whole lot of looting and do another max buy, next rotation. For the community,” I said and Nancy stepped forward from her turret position to scratch her other ear. Sammie tilted off my fingers and swapped to Nancy’s affection.

“When he says ‘for the community’, he means everyone,” Willow said lovingly.

Nancy scoffed and input, “Shit, he is a Viking King, I tell him to crush his foes and enslave their women and he gets all soft and poetic on me. I guess that’s why he has us to lay down the law. Right Seteria?”

“I am being spoken to, so I can speak. I find this process fascinating. I expected to be a sex toy before I killed myself from the torment. If what I am hearing is true, we will get a home as grand as Mai `Shin, and with time, not shun the portals but embrace them. That is something I would eagerly wish to see built,” Seteria said, folding her arms under her gravity-defying breasts.

“I am a biologist, actually. Not to pry into personal matters, but do you Faeries use ‘the stones’ as birth control?” Nancy asked.

“The virum does not rev up our sex drive like it used to. We kept losing infants as we ran out of space. Infants and the murder rate both spiked, so dominant females would have more young. Virum changed the way we reproduced. Our Matriarch dictated when we would ovulate to keep our species alive. The most dominant females had priority, and the rest of us could only bear young when there was enough space,” Nilvia said in a soft tone. Her assertive nature was gone. I would wager that the second they moved into the trees, they would start scrapping and jockeying for position again. “We will probably start going into desire soon.”

“You will, most definitely,” Longoria grunted, her hands on her hips. “I have raised over a hundred generations, myself. Most of them moved on to new homes with new masters to build new strongholds or joined other communities. When our previous master ran out of zinc, we were isolated and became sick. The dozen of us with children lost them, unfortunately. Hence why our contracts now specify a daily amount of zinc in them and why they were sold so cheaply for an all-female unit. Our previous masters felt terrible. I am already licking my lips, wanting a belly full of young again. The virum,” she smiled wistfully, “when fully empowered to reproduce, has a powerful sway on your libido.”

“Um… King Eric. If there is birth control available,” Sammie hesitantly began, “I recommend the option; being—”

“We can try, I can make no promises,” I said, hopefully killing that line of thought.

Nancy turned on her bedside manner and launched into a lecture on the whole process and ordeal of implanting stones.

I turned my attention back to the tank, where we were going, and how we were getting there. We had hovered out of the southernmost gate; an area that was rapidly filling with new construction. A left onto the county road, and I soon had us traveling over sixty miles-per-hour. Damn, these generators had a lot of power.

“Hold on tight, please, I’m not sure if this model has dampeners or how effective they are. I’d like to conduct some maneuvers,” I said and the reply was a unanimous complaint that there weren’t enough oh-shit handles and grab-bars to hold on to. “Well, I guess if you get hurt, you will heal.” I turned to Willow, “We may have to toss them out, if it gets bad.”

Glancing over my back I muttered to Nancy, “We need to put a couch or three in here with appropriate restraints or something.”

I turned the TG99 towards the retention pond off to our right. I applied a vertical jump and the effect was immediate, with minimal inertial impact to the crew. Sammie swayed on her feet and the two young Faerie ladies’ amazing busts jiggled in their bikinis. How the technology defied the laws of physics remained a great mystery to me, but at least that explained why there were no seats in this vehicle. We were fifty feet over the ground when our height stabilized. We scooted over the pond, with ease. I checked our generator power bar and noted that we were dropping at a manageable rate. I dropped our cruise elevation to a height of twenty feet and our power consumption nearly stabilized. I returned us to the road and at ten feet over the ground, found we were good to hover forever.

I jotted a quit note on the command net.

‘5 nitrogen generators, TG99 - 0-10’ AGL ∞’ Cap

That experiment a success, I pushed the accelerator to its upward limit. Damn, one-hundred-and-twenty miles-per-hour in a tank was freaking amazeballs. I wondered what this baby could do with six or seven generators. I smirked at my thought. Of course, going faster than a governed sports car was not enough for me; Men always wanted their toys to do more.

We sped by Marble Heights. I stopped all forward acceleration, spun the tank on a dime, and then reapplied max acceleration. This time, however, we did feel a jerking motion that the dampers struggled to counter. The group behind me stumbled, but stayed upright. We had just decelerated from a hundred to zero, rotated ninety degrees, and then rocketed back up to a hundred in less than five seconds. That was a metric shit-ton of inertia to combat.

I repeated the process with less strain on the dampeners to glide us peacefully into Marble Heights.

“Slowing … and charge reaching maximum.” I grinned at Willow, Nancy and Seteria. “Gunners, fire full power from left to right into the selected target,” I said, indicating from my commander’s reticle the home Perci had bought for us the day before the world as we knew it had ended.

“Firing,” Nancy said, and the entire tank shot sideways as the port facing turret ejected a beach ball sized orb of teal. The power bars dipped significantly.

The projectile ballooned in size to the point it grew too big and chewed into the ground. The round still devastated the home; it exploded into an awesome shower of wood and insulation. I frowned, expecting a more efficient shot from the side turrets. I picked us up another ten feet while the generators recharged our power cores. When it registered full once more, I drove us forward.

“Target selected,” I called out, indicating another home down the street. “Fire a single fifty percent shot with the main gun to the left side of the target, followed by a fifty percent shot from the right turret to the right side of the indicated target.”

My gunners nodded. No better time than the present to train them on a proper series of firing commands. “Ladies,” I barked, “when I give you a target and specify my firing orders, I expect you to respond with ‘Up!’ indicating to me that you heard my command, understand what is being asked of you, and are prepared to fire when my order to ‘engage’ is given.”

“Up!” shouted Willow, followed a second later by Seteria’s much less enthusiastic “Up.”

“Engage,” I commanded.

I input a drift toward the target at the same angle as the turret.

A massive glowing sphere of power belched forth from the main gun with a loud ‘crack’ and a sizzling display of illumination. The round grew to the size of a car before it ripped apart the left side of the home. Seteria’s second round was already in the air, when I spun us in the direction of the Xgate. The rear cameras showed complete and utter destruction of the target.

“I think I am in love,” I muttered.

“Yeah, this thing makes a girl weak in the knees,” Willow agreed, with a long whistle.

Stepping back from the controls, I said, “You have command, Willow. Take us to Perci, via the shortest route.”

“Aye, Cap,” she nodded, “I have command.”

I looked at the rest of my crew and smiled. “Thank you, ladies. That was amazing.”

I left Willow’s side to mingle and learn more about our newest community members. I knew deep down, making them feel an integral part of Bastion and showing them that I cared would pay huge dividends. I had to admit, I was excited to be getting some monster-sized trees. The Crixxi towers were an awful eyesore.

CHAPTER 10

AC1 flew over our tank, zipping by for the Xgate. When the sensors gave the alert, I scurried up the back hatch. The cover opened automatically, sensing my intent. The flat bottom of the mega air box blocked out the night’s bright moonlight as it soared over our tank. It was perfect for what I wanted to do with it; I just needed one filled with generators and a ton of exterior guns to create a mobile flying fortress. Too bad it couldn’t go through portals with such protruding external mounts. It only just fit through the portal, now, and that was with the tower having to be detached and re-attached.

I was so riding that home, after playing around with a TP63 first, obviously. If this TG99 did one-twenty, I was excited about what the little ones could do. When my eyes drifted from the silhouette of AC1 to the Xgate’s golden shimmer, pride swelled inside me.

In front of me I could see thousands of Mounamine and Pandarin, all ready for a new home. A home that they must be frightened and nervous about. Seeing the masses of downtrodden species huddled together like that moved me. Here were the universe's races that had been unable to adapt to the cruel vicissitudes the damn portals brought with them.  They only wanted safety and security; and to get it, they had to meekly submit to another species to defend them. I could only wonder, as I looked over the mountains up at the night sky, on how many planets were beings like these forced to live in horrid conditions. I had to remind myself that we had to solve the problems we could, before even considering those we could not.

There were a whole lot of aliens outside the portal. Suddenly, I was glad we were diverting to get the gigantic trees to provide a more natural habitat for many of them. Perci and Everly could simply have had Faeries build more housing and adjust existing homes and hotels in Aspen or Mansion’s longhouses to address their minimal requirements. Instead, we were going to adapt our world to better suit them. Even with close to a hundred of the giant trees being transplanted in and around these mountains, the majority of these poorly dressed workers would have to stay in the increasingly overcrowded hotels Aspen until rooms were ready for them in Mansion.

AC1 lowered itself until the ramps could be let down to the ground. Clumps of our new residents were encouraged to board the hulking ship. They shuffled up the ramps on all sides, quickly clearing the area before the portal. It is amazing how quickly the downtrodden are to grasp at hope. Even though a few shivered in the cool night air, many walked up the ramps with big smiles on their faces. Before them there was a large show of force demonstrating a capability to defend them and no one berated them.

They eagerly grasped at the promise of new homes. They all needed new clothes. They needed a lot, actually. Most carried nothing more than a child or a small pack. I nodded my head in determination; we would provide a better life for them than they had previously known. Bastion was their new home, they were my citizens; to me, their status was irrelevant. I was glad that we had decided to get them what they needed, instead of simply cramming more bodies into buildings.

Willow drove around the loading and working crews to park on the north side. I climbed out of the hatch and, before anyone could bring up a host of problems for me to handle, ran to the nearest TP63 and slapped the armor.

The hatch opened and a Crixxi grumbled from inside, “Hey voice box, I didn’t tell you to open.”

“I probably overrode your commands with my authorization. I am King Eric,” I informed the startled Crixxi, “hop out soldier, I promise to be back soon.”

The voice controller beeped. “Re-assigning control from Darsawn to King Eric.”

Darsawn was sitting in a seat that swiveled around to the rear before pushing him to the exit hatch. The Crixxi frowned, but stepped out of the light tank. I hopped into his seat while he crossed his arms. The seat retracted back into the middle of the tank while the rear hatch closed and then the chair swiveled around to bring me in front of a control station.

There was no Goldie or holographic babe for me to interact with. Instead, before me I found two joysticks and three screens. I could either automate everything with a few taps or I could drive manually with the controllers. Neat. The exterior was such a boxy container, that I was surprised at how the interior balled around me, as if I were seated inside an egg. The interior was a lot smaller than I had expected.

“Tank Manager, what should I call you?” I asked, knowing there was a brain behind the voice.

“I have been designated TP63-479,” the display squawked, “Nine works, if that suits you?”

“Nine works perfectly,” I said, feeling a kink and failing to pop my neck. Maybe the crown was a bad idea. Eh, I would get used to it. “My goal today is to push you to your capabilities. I need to learn what you are capable of.”

“This unit uses an oxygen power generator. While not the worst for this atmosphere, it is sub-optimal. Optimal performance requires—”

“A nitrogen generator,” I finished. “How about you tell me when I hit peak performance?” I asked.

Nine’s voice box almost snickered. “Wilco.”

My hands wrapped around the controllers. I pushed my right hand forward and the turret aimed down. Oh, that made sense—right hand controlled the turret, targeting, and all gunnery controls. My left hand tilted the cyclic forward, and the slight input moved the tank forward. Left hand controls must manage all piloting functions.

“Take us to a clearing Nine,” I ordered.

“Wilco, moving now,” Nine replied.

I searched around for a control that changed the tanks elevation off the ground, a way to go up and down.

“Where is the damn collective?” I groused.

“Collective?” Nine replied, “I am not sure what that is.”

“In a helicopter, the controller that determines the aircraft’s direction—its motion forward, rearward, to the left or to the right, is called the cyclic. The controller that determines the aircraft’s elevation—its up and down movement—is called the collective,” I said, miffed when no easy answer presented itself as to how I could get the tank to go up or down.

“King Eric, may I call you Cap?” Nine asked.

“Sure,” I replied not sure why I was getting this question.

“Cap, there are three ways to operate this machine. The first is through voice commands, you simply tell me what you want and yes, I am smart enough to infer command inputs from radio chat. The second is through physical input. In this case, that would include the cyclic for directional motion and firing pedals for up and down motion. Finally, you can do control everything via the touch screen. It may take some time for you to navigate to all the appropriate options and to customize those commands that are most frequently utilized, because the user interface is extremely generic, in order to facilitate control by the vast majority of species. These models, for example, were customized to include adding the seats for humanoid comfort, as well as installing the firing pedals for elevation control.”

“Pedals. Thanks, Nine,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “Clear displays. Open exterior viewing. Illuminate the area.”

“Done,” Nine replied.

The cabin reconfigured itself. The desk folded away. The seat absorbed the flat surface and I was elevated another inch or two. My right armrest integrated the firing controls and my left armrest the cyclic. I felt the pedals adjust to my height so that they rested against the balls of my feet. The exterior views around the tank were projected onto the surface of the interior, so that I appeared to have a clear view of all around me. A glance over my shoulder showed the well-lit area behind me. A peek from the edge of my seat towards my heels showed rocky pebbles mixed with vegetation. With exterior cameras on every surface, I could see in every direction.

We were in the middle of a rocky field with short shrubs and scattered bushes with plenty of room to maneuver. I nudged the cyclic for a slight left turn. In the distance, I could see a nice sections of trees that I planned to fly over, if I got the time. I gave the cyclic a full twist hard left. Woah! The interior rotated at a much slower rate than the exterior, causing immediate disorientation; it was so bad I had to close my eyes for a moment.

“Explain,” I commanded in frustration.

“You might need to turn quickly, and I can adjust for a jerking one eighty, or even a tight spin for a rotation or two. The rotational forces induced by your manual input would have knocked you unconscious, based on my understanding of your biology. In order to keep you conscious, I decoupled the interior from -”

“Got it, I spun too fast and you kept me from passing out,” I summarized, slowly opening my eyes.

“Yes, Cap.”

“Okay. We’re going sprint back and forth across this clearing. If I fail to control the rotation correctly, to a one eighty course from our previous direction, I want you to keep me with the spin so I can calibrate my manual inputs and orient myself to what is and what is not appropriate. Shut down systems and prevent further injury if I pass out, please,” I instructed the tank controller.

“Wilco.”

I smiled at the Army lingo. “I’m surprised you know ‘will comply’.”

“We are tuned into the Gnet,” Nine said. “I have studied your helicopters now and given an update to other vehicles with Human operators. We are not infinite computing machines; we only have enough storage capacity for pertinent knowledge. Given that constraint, we do the best we can.”

“Everything suddenly becomes clear. Here we go,” I said jamming the cyclic forward.

There was no speedometer to gauge my speed. I eased off on the acceleration.

I frowned. “Can you give me elevation above ground level (AGL), speed, and cardinal direction displayed in my vision without it being distracting?”

“Done,” Nine replied and the three metrics showed up as light green overlays. I could see beyond them with ease due to their opacity.

I jammed the cyclic forward with full acceleration. We crested one-hundred-twenty miles-per-hour in a heartbeat. The numbers scrolled up until we hit one-hundred-sixty-two.

“Peak velocity,” Nine intoned.

I jammed the cyclic in reverse, feeling the dampeners struggle to compensate. My seat applied a suction of some sorts to keep me from flying forward into the controls. The speed rapidly scrolled back down to zero until it went negative. A right turn was easy. My grin spread as I whipped the tank around and then kicked it back up to max speed while executing a ninety-degree turn. I attempted to turn while maintaining top speed. Though able to swing the tank around in a fairly tight circle, at speed, the best I found I could do in a turn was closer to one-hundred-fifty. I could work with that. We reached full speed again and this time, I made my turn a little less sharp. I did this a dozen times until my Gpad rang.

“Helllooo,” I said, starting to bounce the tank off the ground, using the pedals.

“You okay?” Jevon asked.

“Peachy, I am having fun. I need to shoot this thing … where do you rec—”

“We picked the old corner store for target practice.” Jevon interrupted. “It was Slister’s idea. We create some rubble, but it’s better than leaving some ruins for alien bad guys to hunker down in. I was calling about this tree purchase. Did you want to add any to Aspen?”

“Nine, take me to the corner store,” I said before diving back into the conversation with Jevon. “So, I am concerned about our lapse. How did we miss figuring out we could just buy food in bulk?”

“Don’t fret about it. Perci picked up on it earlier today. We want to grow Human food, Crixxi food, and now food for these other species’ needs. There aren’t six million fresh tomatoes, however, immediately available on the market. Can we get something suitable? Probably.” Jevon mused and I could practically hear him shrug; I knew him that well. “What do you want to do?”

“I get it, the rationale is sound for setting up our own production. If we fought the Lurrol and they held us at bay and never went home, we would have to go to a different Xgate. Or worse we might have had nothing to trade. Why risk the variables when we could produce our own,” I said, seeing a patch of bright illumination ahead. There was a swarm of activity around the corner store area.

Tanks were darting in, firing a few rounds, and ducking back out. Others were jumping skyward and firing down on the store from above. I immediately saw that there was a limit to the engagement zone, however, because none approached closer than a thousand feet. The constant blue waves of energy lapped over the rubble and I tilted my head to the side in bewilderment, noticing that the beams were not causing the kind of damage I had come to expect of the powerful tanks. From all the rounds I saw impacting the structure, you’d think there would be little left but dust and slag, and though the concrete was folding in on itself with rebar jutting out from the collapsed ruins, the destruction was minimal.

I watched a misfire wash over the shield of a TP63 on the left side of the rubble. Something wasn’t adding up. That's when I received a warning notice that my guns would be limited to a maximum ten percent power output. Damn it! A smirk spread across my face as I tried to unleash a torrent of fire at the corner of the building. There appeared to be a limiter on my rate of fire while on the range, as well. What the hell?

“This is lame,” I grumbled, “take me to the Xgate.” Jevon waited patiently for me to complete my firing run. “So, I understand that we’re still at the crawl stage. When are drills starting back up? And is there a force on force simulation mode where we can shoot each other?”

“Everly is sorting out the new Crixxi arrivals as we speak. A lot of them are getting plugged straight into combat training. Things are going to be rough and we still need to implement a sleep plan for everyone so that we are prepared for the new blue rotation. Who do you plan on making your primary field commander over Mansion’s district?”

My grumble was audible, causing Jevon to chuckle. “You promoted Bonnet to a field command in Aspen?”

“Yes, Bonnet, Ulanda, and I are your three field commanders for Aspen. Each of us will pull an eight hour shift, every day of this next season. Pretty basic setup, really. One of us is up and in command, one is down getting some sleep, and the other one is in command of the Quick Reaction Force. Chain of command goes: Commander, QRF Commander, and if necessary, whoever is in the rack will get woken up at that point to assume command of a reconstituted QRF. Ideally I was thinking of adding Torrez as a third and taking a step back as brigade commander.”

“Do it,” I ordered, “Felix can run the logistics shop. Take Torrez. His family deserves a swanky hotel room and he will make a great commander. For Mansion… I will promote Eddy, Mclain, and Slister as my rotating field commanders. I also want to employ Mitchell’s squads on reconnaissance patrols with those jetpacks. I can swap him and Mclain out, both were snipers,” I said mulling the decision over. “I am going to make Willow a company commander. Probably under Slister … yeah, she would be a good fit.”

Jevon chuckled through the radio and said, “Eventually some Crixxi will need to be promoted.”

“Let them be tank commanders, company commanders, and infantry platoon lieutenants. We can see who excels and go from there. We need to come up with a more fitting punishment for insubordination, though. Maybe a real shit detail, like baby changing duty or something. Putting Elifer on drone duty fixed her sassy attitude, right away,” I said, still knowing it was a weak punishment.

“Yeah, well different societies, right? Faeries fuck freely. Crixxi cling closely.” He laughed. “I didn’t make that one up, it's already going around. The mouse people remain an unknown; I don’t think they are used to being treated as equals.”

“Speaking of the real reason I am here. I have a final shopping trip to take; I am so not looking forward to a third nap.” A massive branch appeared in front of the portal I was facing. “Huh, a three-hundred-foot tall tree just appeared. Apparently, I missed a message or three,” I said, gaping at the tree. I glided the tank back to the Crixxi I’d borrowed it from. “I’m off,” I told Jevon, “Cap out. Nine eject me.”

The chair swiveled and I was shoved toward an opening door. The Crixxi didn’t say a word as we passed, not a greeting or even a grumble. He simply went to the warm seat and disappeared into the interior.

A second tree arrived outside of the portal, and two Goliaths managed to rest it across the top of AC1. I’d have to find whoever concocted that idea and give them a bonus. Then I saw Crixxi by the hundreds filing into the hangar bay. I realized I had shut off Jevon before giving him an explanation of what was going on. I rang him back only to hear his Gpad not far behind me.

“Hey Jevon, sorry, didn’t mean to cut you off,” I apologized. “Who ordered the trees stacked on top of the carrier?” I asked.

“I figured AC1 can support four of them, for now,” Jevon said, pointing to the next two going onto the other side of the aircraft. “Then it will be two goliaths per tree,” he sighed, “they will be at it for hours. I can’t believe people sell these. I guess if there was nothing to mine or loot, then a whole tree, roots included, is better than nothing.”

“It’s probably best if we stop ripping down our trees when we run out of stuff to loot,” I said with a shrug. “Actually, follow me anyway. I ditched two of my wives and the Fairy council. Need a wife?”

Jevon started to slug my arm but stopped when he saw I was in acrium armor. “Brother, you look awesome in that suit. I actually am still seeing Becca, and Sarah recently joined us. Perci noted that we had purchased more females than males.” He ran a hand over his buzzed black hair and blew out a breath, a frustrated look on his young face. “I’ll admit, I never expected to lounge in a large bed with two women. My mom wags a finger at me, but I never take the bait.” He grinned, “I like having two girls. A lot.”

I paused our walk. My eyes darted around to ensure we were not overheard. “The sex is unreal,” I said, flinging my fingers out like my mind was blown.

“Right,” he nodded, “and those Fairy girls have me licking my lips.”

“Because they look like horny eighteen-year-olds, with wings,” I said nodding my head. We were on the same page, shaking our heads in amazement about how awesome multiple babes were.

“Those mouse girls are really cute.” Jevon gave a low whistle. “And, Perci said something about maid outfits being in the works.”

I smirked, but then changed the topic. “I wonder how New York is doing; maybe the troops up there at Fort Drum are holding out. Or other posts, like Fort Knox or Fort Bragg.”

Jevon folded his arms and tucked his chin in thought.

“You’re a good man Eric, if not the best soul,” he mused. “You are certainly the right soul for right here, and for right now. I know making these decisions for all these people is hard. I would have probably have picked more warriors. You chose trees. We have no idea what will happen and whose decision will be better. But I do know there are going to be some dark times ahead and some dark places on this earth, where the little blue human stereotype is applied to us Earthlings. I don’t think it will happen only in isolated pockets, either. Can you imagine what battle hardened slave traders in Africa are doing right now? You know they are like cock roaches. That breed of Humanity never dies.”

I patted him on the back and gestured towards the Xgate, since our conversation had shifted into a favorite pastime: theory crafting, the what-ifs, and outlining infinite possibilities.

“China!” I said with the kind of exaggerated tone politicians liked to use. “They were still kicking ass last I checked. They have the gumption to get through this storm. My bet is they’ll keep losing scientists until they all die as they try to build spaceships.”

We both chuckled at the image this conjured.

“Xi Ping, I order you to build that computer.” Jevon pointed at a rock while using a horrible Chinese accent. “The poor bastard bows and approaches the rock. Three seconds later, the mother ship blasts the station. A bunch of government dickheads shrug at another dead scientist, and beckon him forward,” Jevon said, gaming out the scenario.

We shimmered through the portal and into the storage room. Crixxi by the hundreds were rushing to kiss Everly on the cheek. She leaned her cheek forward so they could kiss and run. Deeper into the storage bay I saw a freaking forest. There were birds, a group of monkeys, and a panther with … oh, six legs. Uh… sure. Why not? We had the Crixxi’s pet cats over in Aspen. I wondered how these species would adapt, and how the native species would react to them.

Perci found me before I found her. She approached with Willow, Seteria, and Nilvia in tow, but no Elithen, Longoria, or Sammie. I sent a hissed psst to Jevon real quick. “Wife?”

“Not on the spot, maybe have one work for me and see where it goes,” he whispered back without moving his lips.

“That’s fair. I bet Perci already thought of it,” I said in a low tone. I smiled, opened my arms, and raised my voice to my lovely forever girl. “Perci! You have done fabulous. Please catch us brutes up. Willow, your brooding blackness makes me cower.”

Perci flashed a smile, batted her eyelashes, and I was given a sweet kiss. Willow chuckled behind her. Perci’s gaze settled on my eyes in my armor and she locked her hazels to my browns.

“Nancy is back with Elithen, planning defensive structures. Longoria is shopping for a long list of Fairy essentials; Sammie is doing the same for the Mounamine. Tarry, our Pandarin liaison, is also getting a few basic supplies. They mainly wanted to get items to help them work.” Her dimples lit up as she smiled, “Really polite servants, I absolutely adore them!”

“I have yet to greet one. How are we doing on funds?” I asked, noticing the two former Fairy hellions acting the part of well-behaved twins behind Perci. They beamed at me.

“Nothing is being held back. We had to limit our purchase to fifty trees: ten for Aspen and forty for Mansion. The rest of our funds will go towards supplies.” She rubbed her temples. “We’ll have 3,473 Mounamine, when all is said and done. That is a lot of outfits to make.”

I grinned, “Maid outfits? Really? We are actually doing that?”

“Really,” she growled back at me, “I am doing that. Proper butler outfits for the men, busty maid outfits for the women. They arrived with nothing, of course.” Perci roll her eyes as she ran a finger over my armored abs as she talked. “We need hygiene items, food, off duty clothing, undergarments, bedding, and the list of items goes on and on. The Pandarin needs are not as bad. And don’t get me started about these two behind me,” Perci said, tossing a thumb at the busty Fairy babes in forest bikinis behind her.

Jevon folded his arms, eyeing the fine Faeries, “How did you placate them? This is the calmest I have seen them. Hmm… Interesting … There are no more complaints on the net about Faeries being shitheads, either. What gives?”

“The Faeries are eager to get to work. I did not let these two go help. They are going to assist me as administrators. Nilvia will be going to Aspen to serve as a coven matriarch at our behest, her rule will be unchallengeable, so long as we are pleased.” Perci beckoned the Fairy over. “You will be working with Jevon, here, Nilvia, to complete your building projects there,” Perci said, eyeing the smaller twin and waiting for a reaction. When there was none, she smirked, and continued. “If you give them what they want and they stop getting knocked down by their superiors for their attitudes, they actually make excellent administrators. Longoria will be joining our defense council and serving our needs, such as managing overall Fairy requirements and supplies. Seteria will become the matriarch of our Mansion coven. Seteria will be getting the bigger coven, with the most trees, for a number of reasons that you and I can talk about another time, Eric.” My eyebrows rose and Perci gave my ass a quick squeeze. “The other Faeries,” she continued, “are being folded into each group. This way their society adapts to ours and they all learn how to either fight or work to match our needs.”

I smiled and rubbed my hands together. With a deep exhale I queried, “We are done then?”

“Not exactly, I do have an emergency fund for last minute purchases. There are some Crixxi who refuse to kiss Everly’s cheek, so they will be tossed back up for sale. It adds up. Out of the nearly four thousand Crixxi we purchased, we’re putting three hundred back up for sale. I can store any remaining neilspar here in the storage bay for next market, or right before the end of the market, we can snap up some desperation sells. We’ve got what we need for now; we should hold onto any reserve funds for the last hour or two. All the auctions are over. Anything that hasn’t sold is going up on ‘buy it now’ with drastic price cuts. Sellers unable to maintain their contracts are going to get nothing, as the buyers all head for the doors.”

“Perci, do what you think is best.” I gave my brilliant little wife a squeeze. “This shopping thing is over for me and our military units. The end of the Crixxi line is in sight. I will give everyone four hours rest, while my officers prepare for a solid eight hours of combat training,” I put my hands on my hips and looked around. My gaze shifted to Seteria. “You need to rush home and oversee construction at Mansion. Fly along.”

“Yes King Eric, excuse me Queen Perci,” Seteria said, fleeing for the gate exit. I may have watched her tight ass with its cheeky thong for a wee bit longer than was polite, long enough that Willow gave me nudge.

“That’s my cue.” Jevon sighed, “Looks like I’ll see you next in a mock battle, after we get some rest. I am showing sunrise is projected for six-fifteen. Meet you at the corner store?” Jevon asked with a raised brow. A single nod from me was enough. “Come Nalvia,”he said and turned to go.

“Nilvia, Duke Jevon, it is Nilvia with an I. May I go to Mansion first and collect my coven? We will use the underway to come to Aspen as soon as possible afterwards?”

“Of course, I will even go with you. I want to ride the train before Eric gets to,” Jevon said with an evil grin at my pout. With a wave over his shoulder, he and Nilvia vanished through the portal.

I sighed.

“Your armor is delicious, hunky husband-of-mine.” She wrinkled up her nose, “Not these army fatigues, though. Will you wear something more appropriately royal on the regular, over these acrium?” Perci asked.

“When not expecting combat, sure,” I said and Perci rolled her eyes. Who was I kidding? We always expected combat. “Thank you for all of this.”

“She is the real hero.” Perci nodded at Everly in her form-fitting jungle armor. Two Goliaths walked past us without a single impact. Huh, that was odd. I figured they would shake the ground. Inside the storage bay was real, at least I thought it was. There was no energy drain like in the market. “Turns out the storage master didn’t like all the damage they caused so it adjusted the Goliaths. Well,” she frowned, “if you’ve got battle games, armies, and such to prepare, I’ve got the promotions and personnel to sort out.”

I watched the end of the line of Crixxi approach Everly, kiss her cheek, and then walk out the portal. Three hundred plus Crixxi that had been standing in a corner disappeared. Everly skipped over to me and Willow, her green acrium armor keeping her busty bits firmly locked down.

“You look dashing. Why the teeth around your head?” Everly said, pointing to my crown.

“On our world, it symbolizes leadership. My queens and I are the only ones who will wear such an adornment. Add some, next time, my lovely Crixxi.”

She grinned and nuzzled up against my side.

“Everly,” I asked, “Do you want to war” and pointed at Willow, “or to manage?” and pointed at Perci. “Willow is going to be a company commander under Slister, while Perci will oversee personnel replacement, pay, and promotions.”

“I am trained in combat with a spear that shoots arrowheads and stuns with electricity. I have been a warrior for only four years. I know so little. My combat experience is limited to fighting amongst massive trees; mainly fighting Crixxi. Daphne, on the other hand, has fought for nearly four hundred years and I just—”

“Four years combat experience is not insignificant in human terms. What would you like to do?”

“I’d like to try each position out, first, if that is all right? I can pull an eight hour war shift the first day, followed by an eight hour administration shift the next. Then I can decide which I am better suited for. Of course, only if you are okay with it,” Everly said, wrapping her tail around my wrist. I yanked her in for an embrace.

“You are to report to Mclain. We’ll be scaling our formation from teams to battalions. Tell Mclain you’re his new Executive Officer, his XO. That makes you his second in command. I expect you to follow his lead, Everly, and learn all you can.”

She beamed.

“Dismissed,” I ordered, and she gave me one last squeeze before running out the portal. “You too, Willow, report to Slister, please.”

She smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek and a slap on the ass before walking out the portal. Perci laughed and added her own slap to my butt cheek before jogging to catch up to Willow. I was the last one in the room.

I stood in the storage bay, looking at the massive trees. Those would be impossible to fight through, unless something massive like a Divine-ape knocked them down. I’m glad they were on our side.

I looked forward to improving our defenses, training our army, and preparing for the next wave of enemies. In twelve hours’ time, who knew what these next blue portals would bring. I hoped all this planning and frantic shopping helped us survive this next season.

CHAPTER 11

Mitchell stood at my side while Elithen piloted my command vehicle, which for today was AH1. Each side was prepared for the mock battle and the sun cresting the horizon with its opening rays signaled go time. I had Slister on my left flank in her TP63s. The core of my brigade was exiting Marble Heights in a cluster that my company commanders and their sergeants fought to sort out. Making the task more difficult, though, was the fact that Mclain and his octosuit teams were catching a ride to the fight on gravity sleds towed behind Eddy’s TG99s. The eight-legged platforms were attached to the sleds and to the tanks themselves. At some point, we’d have to get the octosuits their own transportation, enabling them to keep up with the tanks enroute. When they got to the fight, they could dismount and dig in. Or something. Shit. This was a mess.

“Slister, initiate reconnaissance, minimize contact and avoid engagements,” I ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Slister barked over the command net, and then switched to her own battalion net to relay commands.

I turned to review my units. The back wall of AH1 displayed my battalion commanders in the top frame. Under Mclain, Slister, and Eddy, were their company commanders. The org chart continued breaking units down by platoon, and finally squads and smaller teams. This was how I planned to track unit reactions and losses. The lower half of the giant screen was covered in over two thousand tiny individual mug shots of my force.

“Thoughts on what you want to use next rotation?” I asked Mitchell.

A glance out the front window showed Slister sending the light tanks out to find Jevon’s forces. Adapting to technology was tough. I still found the small tank’s agility and speed incredible.

“Our electric dirt bikes were slim, fast, and low profile. After seeing what tech is available in the market, I want something similarly mobile that hovers and can fly. Something like an open-topped gravity sled, with a quick attach point for my scouts to slip on a jetpack, if needed. I think I remember the squibbles having a platform like that. I want something with enough firepower to hit hard and retreat, but primarily focused on mobility rather than the armor needed to slug it out in extended engagements.”

I nodded at his assessment; these were all good points.

Mitchell grunted and popped his neck. “I understand why you benched us, we can't take a single shot safely from the tanks, even on low power, and jetpacks are going to need more testing—we had three broken limbs already,” Mitchell grumped, folding his arms. He shifted to glance at the drone operators. “Elifer, what are you seeing?”

“They are not hard to find,” the Crixxi woman replied, looking at us from behind her drone-operator’s goggles.

A portion of the forward view screen showed the Aspen army on the move. An ambush nailed one of our scouts, one of Jevon’s TG99s unloaded just enough firepower for the machine calculator to register a death. The first point went to Aspen. I glanced at the back wall, unable to identify the blacked-out screen.

“Right here,” Sammie said from her station next to Elithen, flicking the image to the port sidewall. She was geared for battle in a black and white acrium suit with no helmet—my personal squire, of sorts. “Crixxi Yemminex, young, and inexperienced.”

Mitchell and I smirked. This training was meant to give them experience.

“Thank you, Sammie,” I said, returning to view the developing battlefield.

“You want to take and defend the control point or slug it out?” Mitchell asked, intently watching Jevon’s actions.

We had set up three control points for each force to hold and defend. Marble Heights, which was closer to Mansion, was labeled Objective Marble. Leafwind Frontier, a similar housing community closer to Aspen was labeled Leaf. The big prize, it was worth triple the points of the other two, was the corner store plaza which we had labeled Objective Rubble. A point for each kill counted, as did holding a control point at the end of the battle. We decided to cap our small points, so that this exercise didn’t devolve into a kill-fest. We had an hour-long battle planned for round one, but I expected us to culminate much earlier than that.

“What’s the plan?” Mitchell asked.

“We need no grand strategy right now,” I told Mitchell, “Everyone knows how to operate their machines. It's time to let the commanders make mistakes and have their boundaries pushed.”

I opened the command channel. “All Mansion forces, proceed to Objective Leaf. Eliminate the foe, seize the control point, establish a defense, and await further orders.”

Mitchell chuckled. “Eddy is going to be pissed. You have his force weighed down with your octo heavy infantry.”

“Kind of the point,” I snorted, “If they don’t figure out the best way to work together and maintain combined arms teams, I want you to bark at them to fix their dysfunction. I need the infantry in their octosuits and Eddy’s tanks to operate together without my micro-managing every decision,” I said to Mitchell. I stepped up beside Elithen. “Fall back over Marble Heights.”

“Yes, your grace,” Elithen replied. The male Fairy was a gifted pilot who had volunteered to drive AH1.

“Starboard wall, display the overview map please, Sammie,” I ordered and she raced to the station on Elithen’s right to populate the map. “Give me friendlies in blue, the enemy in red, and control points a pulsing purple. Where is the enemy commander? I want him in pink. Muahahaha!”

The right-side wall of the captain’s cabin pixelated to display a vibrant overview map. I stepped around my drone operators at the back of the compartment to reach the detailed image. I selected a pen marker icon and starting drawing arrows depicting the avenues of approach I wanted my forces to use for their movement.

“Three more scouts downed, your grace,” Sammie said. I didn’t turn from the map as the battle began to unfold. “All Crixxi,” she noted, “though, this time, neither young nor inexperienced. It appears Duke Jevon’s scouts placed Fairy traps and retreated. They flew next to one of these mock generator bombs and the device triggered inside their shields.”

“Elithen, I am disappointed we didn’t think of that.” I frowned. I had asked him earlier for ideas on how a Fairy could sway the battle. He started to turn towards me, but I waved him off. “Focus on flying. Apparently, even I still need lessons. Were they landmines or camouflaged to blend in with the area?”

“Rock mirages, Sir,” Sammie said, bringing up an image of a rock. The rock shimmered to reveal a decoy generator when the scouts got close. I guessed the reveal had served as the pretend trigger point. This was a smart move by Jevon and his Faeries.

“We have extra generators we are stockpiling as we swap carbon and oxygen models over to nitrogen,” Mitchell noted, “this could be a viable defensive strategy.”

The enemy forces appeared to be pushing for Objective Rubble. “Hmm…” I said watching my forces try to weave their way to Objective Leaf. They were bunched up at natural chokepoints, waiting to bound past overwatch positions established on the far side of the constricting terrain. The TP63s were outpacing the TG99s, rapidly leaving them behind. Slister’s units were about to engage the defending Leaf forces.

“Who is leading this charge?” I asked.

“A Queen Willow, my lord,” Sammie said from behind me. Before the opposing groups clashed, Sammie reported, “Two TG99s have collided and an octosuit received actual damage to a leg unit. It can still walk but has drastically compromised its combat effectiveness.”

“Tell the operator to walk his machine home on the seven legs. Sensor the octosuit as out of combat and have a support team pick it up for RTB,” I said folding my arms. Another two points were added to Jevon’s tally. The suit and its driver were out of the fight.

I watched Willow try to draw out the enemy, who were embedded between the homes. They refused to take the bait and she faded back to the flank of Eddy’s attacking force. Smart, let the TG99s slug it out with infantry. She continued prodding the defenses on the flank with little success when Mitchell stepped up at my side.

“Eddy has asked to be allowed to clear trees for a path, arguing that it is what he would do in real combat,” Mitchell said; I shook my head no.

We had set our Rules of Engagement (ROE) for this exercise. I’m sure Eddy would raise the issue of clearing paths to improve maneuverability in our After-Action Review (AAR). Eddy would not always get to fight on terrain to his liking.

“Cap, this is Mclain over,” Mclain called out on the command net.

“Go for Cap,” I replied.

“Requesting permission to dismount to use a trail in order to move the infantry octosuits into an ambush position. We will not intentionally deforest the area, but there—”

“Approved,” I interrupted.

Two full companies dismounted quickly, skittering into the woods. I sighed seeing more than a few pines crash to the ground as the new operators stumbled through the brush. Well, they weren’t intentionally clearing new lanes, at least. The moment the mecha suits had dismounted, Eddy’s TG99s dropped their towed sleds and sprinted towards Object Leaf.

The defenders retreated when they knew the fight would be lost. That proved to be a fatal decision. Willow’s TP63s darted in, slashing into Jevon's fleeing light tanks from the flank. Though mostly a one-sided affair, the fight produced a few casualties on our side—seven of my TP63s for twenty-five of Jevon’s.

The mock destroyed tanks powered down for the rest of the fight. I twisted the side of my face in a grimace—Willow was one of the casualties. She would need to learn to not always lead from the front.

“Thoughts?” Mitchell asked.

I grunted. “The fight is too static. We have equal forces, with no third surprise element, no QRF to save the day.” I shrugged, “But we need this experience. Jevon will hold the middle objective and we will lose, assaulting his defenses. We’ll take an hour to conduct our AARs, reset, and then we do it again,” I said, pacing before the map projection.

“Three enemy infantry have been eliminated; screening forces revealed,” Sammie reported.

“We need to find a way to ‘shoot down’ drones without actually shooting at them. Maybe we can add sensors or something,” I said, trying to scratch the back of my neck in frustration. My fingers scraped at my unyielding armor. Right, I had acrium on.

“I agree,” Mitchell said, “Denying the enemy their eyes is key. I can go down and be a third-party disruptor, you know, to mimic the Xgate-portal craziness. My recon unit is literally watching the fight from inside tanks.”

“They need to be, you’re going to rotate next battle with Mclain on infantry and recon. Stay put, best just to sit tight for now. Plus, we’re a team, I want to keep us together,” I said, watching Jevon capture Objective Rubble. “That does the trick.” I keyed the command net, “Full assault, objective Rubble. Commander’s discretion. Acknowledge, over.” I turned to my crew. “Elithen get this ship behind the rear of the heavy tank formation.”

My orders were acknowledge and my units reconsolidated on Leaf before turning around and attacking Objective Rubble. I bet the troops were grumbling about having to turn around already. Jevon held the fortified ground. Now it was up to my commanders, to realize that targeting priority would win the day. Focused fire was paramount in overwhelming shields.

I paced the map wall, watching the opening salvos of the fight. Slister ordered her fast TP63s to draw fire as Eddy entered the fray. Blue balls of energy brightened the area when the fight devolved into a slugfest. I turned to the back wall to watch the effect of this battle of attrition.

Squares swapped from images to black much quicker than I expected or wanted. Not that I didn’t expect casualties in such an attack—assaulting an entrenched enemy was always costly. When Eddy fell, I raised an eyebrow at Sammie.

“Suicide enemy TP63,” she reported, “They dropped from above and destroyed the command tank. Everly commands your heavy tanks now, your grace,” Sammie said.

That was when the battle turned. Jevon had teams of three launch forward: two guards, one set in overwatch behind their screen. It looked like my forces were going to lose, until Everly ordered a counter-wave of suicide bombers. The fake explosions of five TG99 reactors were devastating. Jevon backed his units off the objective in a retrograde maneuver. Everly achieved her pyrrhic victory and we gained points from holding all three objectives.

I think he seceded the objective to prevent collisions. I flagged an end to the exercise. Nice, we still had a half hour left to continue the battle, if we needed. This would give us time to do a proper AAR.

“Take us to the AAR meeting point outside of Objective Rubble,” I ordered Elithen.

The airship glided for a location not far from Jevon’s forces. His airship landed at our meeting spot. The troops were given a break, while their officers waited for leadership debriefings. I would hold mine in my airship, Jevon in his, and then we would combine. After that, we would reset the battle with three new random points or maybe use the actual Xgate as an objective. A few more hours of this and we would stop for a nice feast before instituting rest plans and maybe some more training, while we waited for the blue portal.

When the airship settled onto the ground, I exited the crew compartment. Sammie rushed around me to set a projector on the ground. The port side wall flickered to life, displaying the battle’s statistics. My officers walked up the ramp, arriving in ones and twos. I let them have their side chatter while we gathered. Willow was the last one to enter, her black armor matching her scowl. I avoided making eye contact with her, for now.

I nodded to Sammie, who belted out a loud whistle. When everyone turned to me, I walked to the board. ‘Winner’ was written in bold blue text overtop the stats.

“We won, but we did not win.” I frowned at my officers, “Mass suicide is not a viable option. I would rather pull back and use other tactics than to have our troops blow themselves up over an inconsequential objective. If we were defending our home, then we can debate the justification for such tactics, not a random point on a map.” I shrugged and paced around. “I get it, you wanted to win, I won’t harp on it … I am not here to judge. The commanders on the ground made command decisions. Those tough choices led to a simulated win,” I said pacing back and forth in front of the board. I made sure to catch Eddy’s, Slister’s, Mclain’s, Mitchell’s and finally Everly’s eye. “No more suicide tactics. If you ever order it on the field there better be a freaking amazing reason for such a drastic decision. That said,” I grinned, “generator bombs are super on the table. I like the idea of buying assorted elemental generators for specific environments and using them to help the enemy go boom.”

My Gpad pinged and I saw Jevon and his Aspen officers at the base of the ramp. A lot of eyes shifted to look at the door when I waved them up. When everyone was assembled, I went into a quick final brief.

“This is not combat. Let me assure you, when we hit an enemy, they will not be evenly matched. The goal here is to learn—as a team. Can your unit keep their formations through trees? Can the tanks glide over water? Does firing your tank with an octosuit on its back affect the accuracy of your rounds? These are the walking phase questions of our crawl, walk, and then run.” I checked my Gpad. “We have about five hours before we have to be ready to sprint.”

A ripple passed through the ranks of my officers. For many of them, this was their first command in a combat situation. Shit was starting to get real.

“How many of you were scolded? Show of hands?” I asked and no hands went up. “How many of you felt you could have done better?” Every hand went up.

Good. That was the point of these training events.

“Get back to your units. No suicide tactics. In twenty minutes, we’ll do it again. Only one objective this time: Xgate 232. Dismissed,” I bellowed and the troops filtered out. Willow tried to push her way against the tide to come talk to me, but I pointed her back outside the hold. I would comfort her later. She needed to learn how to harness that frustration.

Jevon stepped up. “What did you think?” I asked.

“You charged in like a madman. I was always better at the strategy until the chaos unfolded. Once the fecal matter hit the oscillating blades … Well, you tend to beat me there. Everly adapted quickly,” Jevon said with a grunt. “Not a fan of suicide tactics, but Eric, we need to think of a way to make it work.”

I think I knew where he was going, “You mean if the operating system can work remotely? Why not just buy drones that can explode?” I asked Jevon, who shrugged. I turned to Sammie, “Get me Peterson on the line.”

My armored maid tapped her Gpad rapidly. A moment later, my Gpad, which I wore strapped over my acrium, activated.

“Go for Peterson,” she said, just audio.

“Can we make drone bombs or autonomous traps?” I asked.

“Possibly. The gate controller prevents AI-controlled anything inside the market, but I asked my storage mentor, a teddy bear from childhood, about autonomous machines outside of the portal. Anyway, AI are like space programs—they get nixed by the mother ship if built organically ... And you aren’t allowed to take an inactive AI into the grand market to be … awoken? I guess awoken works.”

“So,” I groused, “no autonomous booby traps?”

“Cap, some of this we’re going to have to figure out on our own. Maybe you can go ask your storage mentor for more specifics on these rules? I asked mine if there were any fully autonomous drones—short answer: no. But the blimps are fully autonomous and even have alert programs built in. So…”

I sighed. It was time for me to visit Goldie again.

“Alright, Peterson, thanks for the information.” I thought for a moment, then keyed my Gpad again, “I want you to take on a side project, figure out how we can add drones to our training and war games without risking any of our drones. Cap out.”

“Mitchell!” I shouted to the man at the railing outside the crew’s chamber. “You have command.”

“I have command,” he acknowledged.

Jevon slapped me on the shoulder goodbye. I walked to the nearest octosuit wanting to test the machine but thought better of it. They were bruisers. Not speedsters. I unlocked Bonnet’s TP63 with a smirk. I saw her notice my dastardly maneuver a little too late as she was chatting with Ulanda.

“Hey, that's my ride, Cap!” She shouted as I slid onto the seat.

I was gone before she could complain. If you're not cheating you're not trying hard enough!

The drive to the portal was only two minutes. I left the TP63 open and running while I hopped through the golden shimmer to visit Goldie. When I arrived in the storage area, I saw Perci balled up in a pile of blankets, snoring lightly.

I smirked, then wished to see Goldie and he appeared.

“I have read your mind.” The fish blew some bubbles. “The issue is rather delicate; if you input a command or control, which has an effect on a robot, that disqualifies it as an AI. You can, hypothetically speaking, build a sensor, have that sensor tripped by movement, which initiates a command program, causing a generator to hover towards that movement before exploding. There is no Artificial Intelligence in such a construct or sequence of events, Eric,” Goldie said. “Maybe you are overthinking it. If you build a program that thinks and, to some extent feels, then you have built an AI. I will let you in on a little secret, Eric, AI are not suicidal.”

I grunted, “And if I program a suicidal sled that moves towards my enemies that can differentiate friend from foe?”

“The enemy will shoot it down, or the shield will keep it out. You have to consider whether or not differentiating friend from foe requires ‘thinking’. The answer is no. You have your own forces marked on a network. The device can ascertain from its sensors that what is approaching is not one of your forces …” Goldie stopped and hiccoughed, before continuing. “My rambling is revealing too much. I appreciate you seeking clarity in this matter. My purpose here was to help prevent avoidable deaths by beings trying to survive on their own world. You have achieved that goal, today. Defend those you cherish with everything you can,” Goldie said with a sad smile. The image slipped just a flicker, an automatron appearing in its place. The body consisted of a ball with a squat head and two arms. “May I assist you with anything else?”

“What is she still doing here?” I asked, pointing to Perci.

“That crafty little human,” the droid chuckled, “she stashed away some funds. She was able to study past purchase patterns from what Winston sent you. Persephone digested the information and learned that the best shopping time for contracts is in about three hours from now. The contract market is unique; it stops posting new auctions with a quarter-time left, and stops all sales within an hour of the golden market shutting down. She went back in and touched every single marker to watch the reduction bidding begin.”

“Why wouldn’t you advise this?” I asked, folding my arms.

The robot pointed again to Perci before saying, “I did advise this. Your initial purchases were because of you. Not her. She is the thrifty one.” The image flickered again and Goldie bubbled laughter at me. “Fret not, Eric Yang. I have seen what you did for your people, of all species. I had high hopes for the other version of humanity that descended due to lexium. You, young chap. You are different. Now go figure out how to protect those you care about with all this alien technology.”

I nodded and walked over to kiss Perci on the forehead. She rotated her head towards me, but stayed asleep. I left the quiet storage room for the Earth. The golden light blinded my vision and when it cleared, I cursed to see a TP63 fading rapidly into the distance.

Well played, Bonnet, well played.

My walk home was cut short when AH1 landed in front of me with the ramp down. I trotted up and put in a call to Harvard once I was in the hold.

“Go for S2. Oh, hey Cap, I am not quite done with my report on this market’s analysis. Did you have a different question?” Harvard asked.

“Yes. I need you to work with Felix and Longoria on this. We need to turn spare generators into mobile mines that trigger based on motion, heat, or whatever sensor you decide to tie it to ... basically, we are allowed to program traps. Faeries are trap experts. I am calling you, because you've got most of our big brains. If you know someone better suited to run this project, stick them on the job with Longoria with my approval.”

“I have a few people I can run it by.” Harvard scratched his head. “Perci is the smartest programmer I know, but she is hardly the only hacking genius we have around here. There are a lot of folks in Aspen who were top-level software people before the apocalypse.” He grinned, “I’ll get back to you on your diabolical traps. Harvard out.”

I walked for the ramp leading up to the captain’s station. The smell in the animal hauler was gone, I really was curious as to how they had managed to make that miracle happen.

I was only halfway up the ramp when an alert hit my Gpad. Linda Growlen, herself, was calling. I finished walking to the door and poked my head in to see Mitchell organizing his troops.

“Elithen fly me home, Mitchell can manage the battle from anywhere,” I said and then answered a call I was sure I would regret. If there was one woman on this planet that scared the crap out of me while simultaneously making me want to throttle someone, it was Linda Growlen.

CHAPTER 12

“Took you long enough,” Linda Growlen said with a grumpy face. She looked almost identical to her daughter, Perci. Shit. I was glad Perci was sleeping right now.

“You appear to age well, Miss Growlen,” I said with a snicker.

“Trust me, I zap that stupid ass doctor every time I see him. I fucking hate looking like a baby-faced girl. I have to be an extra big asshole to get people to take me seriously. I come bearing gifts, come meet me at your… are you building a fucking castle? Are those servants in maid outfits? What the hell did I miss, Eric? Did you unlock sorcery or something?”

“I’ve stunned the legendary Linda Growlen,” I grinned impishly, “impressive! I would happily trade you. Don’t kidnap my personal help, though. I am,” I paused, seeing that we were about to crest the new trees we had planted behind our hesco wall, “about to cross over the trees in an animal hauler. Ensure your pilots don't spook.”

I walked to the back of the aircraft and looked out the ramp as the aircraft soared over the homes being built by Crixxi, Faeries, and Pandarin in the trees. Cranes cluttered the skyline to help a number of tall building take shape. For now, we had decided to keep the hesco wall on the southern side of the trees and planted the massive trees north of our original defensive wall. Eventually, I wanted to shift those defenses to the south and plant more gigantic trees. Even if we bought additional trees and planted them south of the current hesco wall, they wouldn’t become homes until a new wall was built further south. Until then, they would break up offensive formations.

I stepped off the edge of the ramp the moment AH1 hovered ten feet off the ground. My legs absorbed the shock of a fall at this distance with ease.

Two chinook helicopters were parked in front of the cliff wall. I noticed Linda had only brought a small group with her, including a general, five guards, and a few henchmen. The chinook pilots were pissing on the canyon wall in the background while their engines powered down. The guards wore inferior armor, the general was in a fancy, dress uniform, and Linda was wearing yoga pants and a sweater. Something was off for sure. My abrupt arrival caused Linda’s guards to tense, a blue field popping up around them, revealing the guards had some minimal shielding.

I chuckled. I was in acrium. These goons took their hands off their weapons at a single glare from Linda.

“Where the fuck am I? And is that you, Eric?” Linda asked with a scowl.

It drove me insane, how much she looked like Perci. It was the same with Willow’s mom. Jacky ended up moving to Aspen merely because things had gotten so awkward, with me mixing the two up one too many times.

“You are in Mansion. This is the Bastion Community. I control Aspen now, too. My army is conducting drills, at the moment,” I said proudly.

The general stepped forward and bristled like a schnauzer. “There is only one army in this country, son: the US Army. I applaud you for training your men and rescues into being able to defend this base. We got wind of your prowess from refugees all the way from Boulder.” The general pointed to the towering goliath stationary against the cliff wall. “They said some massive ape creature threatened them out of their home. As tall as that thing. They said. You took them in, then let them go since they wanted to leave.” He looked up at the Goliath. “What is that giant robot?”

“That is one of my construction robots,” I said with a smirk. “And we have over four thousand troops in the field right now, not hundreds.”

A window curtain peeled back from inside RV1 and Longoria spotted me. A moment later the door burst open and the Fairy flapped towards me with a Mounamine right behind her. The two of them were a sight. Longoria had a tangled mess of bed-head and wore a frilly yellow summer dress that could have doubled as a nighty. The maid must have received one of the first of the maid-outfits Perci wanted to put all our staff in. They arrived together, ignoring the sidelong glances cast their way by the President’s guards to curtsy before me.

I tapped the busty maid’s bowtie; her name was Dorthy. “Dorthy,” I said, “there should be beer in my cooling chest in RV3. Please hand a few out and prepare coffee.” Another curtsy and she turned back to RV3 with no other response.

“How is building going?” Linda asked. “Where is my daughter?”

Longoria looked hesitantly at Perci’s mom. She was an ancient Fairy and cued in quickly to who this was. “As the next stage of Bastion’s growth depends heavily on building up our infrastructure, Perci is staying at the portal for the last few Fairy auctions.” She turned to me, “The market drained me. I picked up everything we needed, plus some extras. You will want better stone harvesting equipment—not mining tools—but we can work with what is here.”

“Get in the vat Longoria,” I instructed, “you'll be sticking close to me today.” I held up index finger to Linda, telling her to wait a moment.

“My ability to fly will be significantly reduced,” Longoria said, not objecting, merely notifying me of the consequences.

When I didn’t reply, she pulled off her thin, yellow summer dress to reveal a perfect, tight body. I gulped and she smirked with a twinkle in her eye. My ability to comprehend a near-limitless life-expectancy with virum was lost at times. How old one looked meant nothing. In this case, I stared into the eyes of a lovely ancient lady. The others grunted or shifted in agitation as she exposed her body and sauntered off towards the acrium vats. I crooked an elbow for Linda Growlen to join me and she darted to my side eagerly.

“Ah, I have to be such an asshole power tripping bitch all the time to get anything done that people cower around me. It is refreshing to deal with a confident man,” Linda said, but not to stroke my ego. Apparently she felt the need to remind me that she was voluntarily keeping her authority in check. “Why is there a busty mouse-woman in a maid outfit here and where is my daughter?”

“Like Longoria said, Perci is working. Dorthy here is going to attend to your grandchildren.”

Linda beamed.

“Will Perci have siblings?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

Linda responded with a death stare.

“You created this virum transformation,” I reminded her, “be glad I am being hospitable. I am not only trained to kill your soldiers, their weapons are inferior to my armor. Not to mention, they are running carbon generators on their power packs. Ridiculous.”

“We can’t all be warrior kings,” she sniffed. “We are the last surviving bit of the USA and I rule a democracy, not a dictatorship. Politics are a mess right now. You would think the virum outbreak would have been welcomed. Things have changed for me, a lot. I made a few decisions that were unpopular and we still have three bodies of government. I had an agent forward a nitrogen generator bill and Congress voted instead to buy carbon power plants.” Linda grimaced.

I gave her an ‘are you serious’ look.

She nodded, “Yup. We are doing great weathering the transition because we are hidden in a remote base underground with no Xgates nearby. The Teton Fortress is exactly that. We are isolated and only see the results of the deteriorating situation aboveground in reports. There is no direct exposure to the aliens, except to their alien technology—and even that is causing problems. That … and overcrowding. We’re a million people crowded into an underground bunker.” She frowned, “A million slightly sick people.”

We crossed the threshold of my armory. A door was already hung, the walls going up with freshly milled boards. Longoria dipped into the vat while I led an inquisitive President Growlen to a bench where we could watch the transformation. Her guards, general, and advisers were fascinated by everything they saw, based on the chorus of oohs and aahs behind me.

When we sat at the bench, they studied the gear while I studied them. The advisors … their movements were sluggish. This told me they were really short on zinc. I messaged Gary and Razzar, asking for an update on our zinc status.

‘Perci is in the Xgate, how much zinc do we have?’ - Cap

‘A whole bunch, I think.’ - Gary

‘The miners have only been active for a few hours and we have not reached a deposit yet. In a few days, though, our stockpiles should be massive. I am aiming for zinc first.’ - Razzar

I sighed, knowing what was coming next.

Linda watched Longoria swim with the acrium.

“Why have you not traded resources for zinc?” I asked.

“That is why I am here. I need your help,” she frowned, “truth be told, I am losing support rapidly … or have already lost it. The virum debacle was more than my political prowess could handle.” She sighed. “There was a vote. We are going to send you to trade for us in the market—the Security Council think of you as our guinea pig ... or canary … I think canary works here.”

“I am normally able to follow rational behavior. This? Not so much,” I said with a grunt. “There are no hidden side effects to going into the market besides getting tired.”

“Yes, well,” Linda cleared her throat and had the grace to blush, “There may have been a news report that the virum wasn’t contracted from recklessly saving my son-in-law from our own ill-advised experiment, and instead from the market.” She shrugged, not caring for my disbelieving scoff. “Right now, there are some issues at home that I need your help with. I was sent to trade with you for a few reasons. The government wants to limit exposing its people to aliens; that means dealing with you and not the Xgate.  At least until they find out you are no longer a human only stronghold.” She paused and looked up at the sky. “Speaking of which, they should have the spy plane overhead at any moment. The reality is I was sent here not as your President, but for less political reasons. It was thought that you’d be more willing to help your mother-in-law. Also,” she continued quickly, not meeting my eyes, “you’re getting our prisoners. That way—”

“Prisoners?” I ground out scornfully.

“General Ryan, get the prisoner, Ballard. Leave the others for now,” Linda instructed her staff. The woman turned to me as if she hadn’t said anything important. “The man’s wife was caught in bed with her son’s friend. The virum has that effect on people, although this was different. He strangled her, which probably would have not killed her with the virum, but then he sawed her head off.” Linda shivered.

My grunt of furious displeasure startled her.

“Tell me you’re joking,” I said, seething with rage.

“I recommended banishment. Those idiots voted to send our prisoners here. Said that since you’re an ex-con—”

I stormed out of my armory. Between the two chinooks, a man in chains was being led towards us by General Ryan. I whipped Big sploosha around off my back, took aim, and General Ryan dove out of the way. Smart man. I fired a blue expanding orb. The round sizzled across the distance and eviscerated the prisoner. His upper torso melted before the orb that exploded out his back splashed against the cliff wall. The legs flopped over. Suddenly a massive cat by my side, hissing aggressively. I walked to the helicopters to peer into their holds.

A hand reached up to close the ramp. My shotgun snapped up and a warning orb caused the hand to retreat. Brown orbs splashed ineffectively off my shield, unable to get through. Onix ended the fight before I could spin around.

By the time I completed my turn, two guards were dead, their bodies mauled to bits. Longoria was pushing those inside my armory out. She was in armor that matched mine, a sword of acrium in her hand.

“Thanks, Onix. Get over here, now, before I kill you, Linda,” I shouted.

When she rolled her eyes, but started my way, I spun back towards the cargo bay. A dozen men and women in chains sat on top of cargo containers alongside one wall of the aircraft.

Linda arrived at my side with her hands on her hips. She sassily snapped, “So dramatic! Their files are on your Gpad.”

I opened the file and scanned down the list.

“There are two murders, a con artist, and … you banished someone for political dissent?” I looked at her incredulously. “Most of these are felony crimes punishable with ten years or less imprisonment.” I slapped the file against my leg, and growled, “I am piecing together what is happening, here.”

Linda refused to meet my eyes.

“What is your official mission statement?” I asked, knowing Linda was being fed to the wolves. Well, in this case … me.

“We need you to buy us zinc,” Linda replied nonchalantly.

“Why would I do that?” I frowned, “Wait ... why can’t you do that?”

“They voted that it was beneath our sanctuary to aid raiding aliens who savaged our once-great nation. Personally—”

I bitch smacked my mother-in-law with a vengeance. She smirked up at me from the ground. Ugh. A sadist … that explained a lot of things, actually.

“What is in the crates?” I growled.

“It’s all on the list: platinum, yttrium, and gold. The gold was to appeal to your pirate ways. We know it's almost worthless,” Linda said with a snicker.

AH1 and AH2 stormed onto the scene. The aircraft flared as they landed swiftly. Tanks popped out and warriors encircled our group.

I walked to the other chinook and found, sure enough, that it was filled to the brim with goods in military crates. I rubbed my temples as a migraine bloomed behind my right eye.

Linda’s eyes widened at seeing Crixxi in battle gear. She hissed, “Are you using alien soldiers? I will be hung if they find out. I can’t go back with—”

I spun on her, my vicious right hook cracked into her jaw. She did not go down, even though her eyes rolled up into the back of her head.

“Damn those Virum are tough. Bind her, and then gag her,” I said, pointing to Sammie and Mitchell, since they were the first to arrive on the scene. I opened the command net. “I need someone to wake Perci up and bring her to me from inside the eastern portal on Xgate 232.”

Jevon walked over to join me, inspecting the prisons. “What happened, Cap?” He asked.

“Since we are an ex-con unit, the remaining US government thought it fitting that we take their prisoners. We are supposed to buy them zinc, because they are reportedly above dealing with aliens. And—”

“You’re being serious right now?” Jevon asked, trying to stay calm. “The remaining US government voted for us to be their pawns and to use us as a dumping ground?!”

Two jets flew in from the distance. I went to turn the shielding on, but saw that someone already had.

“If they don’t pull up …” Jevon started to say.

A second later, we both winced.

Both fighter jets crashed into the shield, massive plumes of flame shooting into the sky. They would send something else next. Was I at war with my own race? Hmm…

“Well shit, I was planning on returning these people home with zinc to help the population.” I punched the side of the helicopter, making a large fist shaped dent in the airframe. “You! General Ryan!” I shouted at one of the men gagged and bound beside Linda. Mitchell hauled him to his feet and dragged him over to me. His mouth was freed and I asked, “What happens next?”

“They will lob some missiles at you, which spoiler alert … we’re desperately low on. Once they realize President Growlen is compromised, they will start plotting with her replacement. Oh … shit … they probably already have. That explains why I am the only member of the Joint Chiefs here. They’ll blame her, but probably cave and buy zinc through the portal. Linda already bought some this rotation; I bet they find our stash and pretend they bought it,” General Ryan said with a wry grin. “You know, basic politics.”

“If I let you fly home … without Linda, what happens?” I asked and for the first time, he looked frightened.

“Umm… Politically, I am tied to Linda,” he said, fidgeting. Covert, stolen glances of longing at Linda Growlen gave him away. I now understood now how he was tied to her. “I’ll probably get strung up too. Here they c—”

Two concussive explosions blossomed over our shields. Fireballs erupted in massive plumes of smoke outside our shields. Our shielding for Mansion was epic. Two more missiles raced over our shields. Blue fire lanced at the soaring missiles as they screamed by, trying to knock them from the sky. One imploded mid-flight. The other dove to the ground not far from the Xgate.

I cursed at the sight of the explosion. A scowl chiseled onto my face. An alert hit my Gpad. A TG99 had been hit heading for Mansion. Five crew had been on board; all were dead. The note listed five Crixxi soldiers. I did not give any sign of my relief. Perci was out there, somewhere, and we were taking fire in the middle of the day during a golden gate.

“General Ryan, how many more attacks?”

“We still have attack helicopters, fighter jets, and other tools. The attack helicopters can't reach here without a refueling point that will take several days to setup. These big lugs are fine, same with the jets. The cruise missiles ... we only have a hundred left. My guess is—”

Two more missiles raced from the north. The smashed into the mansion shield.

“You can expand the shielding?” General Ryan asked.

“Add more generators and you get a bigger shield,” Jevon noted from my side. “I linked our shields together. We should have done this from the start. Our dome is huge now. Everything in a large circle around our bases is somewhat safe. If they drop nukes, however …”

“We don’t have any nukes,” General Ryan admitted with a scoff, “The mother ship took out our entire strategic stockpile.” Three more missiles slammed into the shields. I heard a radio crackle from inside the chinook. General Ryan looked at me and said, “That is probably for you.”

I entered the back of the chinook. My body shifted sideways to fit down the narrow path that ran between the cargo pallets. I shimmied forward until I reached a radio that was calling for one Captain Eric Yang. I picked up the microphone and smashed the detent.

“This is Yang.”

“Ah, finally. We wish to cease hostilities. We acted in response to your aggression and require the return of our supplies or we will continue with our attack,” a man’s voice said.

“You do realize I have detailed information on Teton? And that I have an army you can’t stop,” I said, letting the sentence hang. “I will make you a deal … and after that, I am shutting off these radios. Are you ready?”

“I am afraid we cannot deal with terrorists,” the negotiator said.

“If that’s how you want to play it. I will raid your base, then. You bring your best and I will bring mine,” I said and waited.

“This is Vice president Sinclair, I have just arrived and am being briefed,” Sinclair said, as if she just happened to bust in on our conversation.

General Ryan was standing over my shoulder. He muttered that Sinclair was a snake, but I hollered over him to bring me President Growlen. Perci entered the side door of the aircraft dragging her mom.

“What is your offer, Captain Yang?” Sinclair said, dropping the terrorist tag at least.

“We leave you alone, you leave us alone. Your planes crashed into my shield. You destroyed my tank. I trade your chinooks back with a bit of zinc and you never think of raining missiles on my people again,” I said and Perci frowned. Her mother opened her mouth to complain, then shut it again.

“You keep Growlen, Ryan, and the other prisoners and you have a deal, Captain Yang. Let me assure you, you may have suddenly sprouted an army, but the US Government is not frightened of you. We will defeat you if we have to meet on the field of battle. Fortunately for you, we are pre-occupied at the moment with a fanatic, claiming the ‘gods of the gates’ empower him, ravaging San Francisco. Know that we are the largest settlement of Humans remaining on Earth. Raiding us would remove much that you fought to protect before the Xgates,” she sneered, “but that is why, to keep us secure, I will lower myself to dealing with you.”

“And you get rid of Growlen.” I smirked.

“The cherry on the top,” Sinclair admitted with a chuckle. There was cheering in the background.

“Sinclair. You have drones somewhere. I know you do. I also know you’re buying some stuff from the Xgates. I think you’re crazy to shun the grand market,” I said.

“Oh, don’t you just know it. After a swift defeat by you, after we regretfully tried to retaliate for your seizing the President, I have all the justifications I need to get around the pesky senate. My troops, chinooks, and your zinc come back to me. The prisoners, Growlen, Ryan, and crates stay. In exchange, we cease hostilities.”

“Let me check the crates, first, which shouldn’t take long … ten minutes tops,” I said, leaving the radio. When I turned, I found myself staring at the almost matching twins of mother and daughter. Perci smiled; her mom scowled. A smile pulled at the corners of my mouth as I bounced my eyebrows at my wife. “Hey Perci … or are you Linda?”

I had to run from Perci as she hounded me while dragging her mom.

“I am dying my hair!” Perci shouted in frustration.

Jevon inspected the crates, his hands quickly sifting through the bars of minerals. He looked up at me and smiled.

“Eric, they are insane. This is another fortune,” Jevon said, tossing me a bar of yttrium. I let out a long whistle.

Linda screamed into her rag for attention. I pulled the cloth out of her mouth.

“We learned from a trader what was valuable early on. This … is nothing. Not even a drop in the bucket. When you have a stockpiled list of minerals across the globe, it is pretty easy to zip in, snatch what you need and tuck it away while the world panics,” Linda said with a scoff. “Sinclair is not dumb. She knows this will please you. She knew she had to retaliate when this cat ate two of her people.”

“Good boy Onix!” Perci said to Onix who lazily watched from RV3’s roof. A sigh escaped Perci’s lips as she inspected the crates’ contents. “I guess I need to go to Xgate 201.”

I knew we could have had the working crews dumping old vehicles into the other Xgate. The idea had been discussed, but then set aside because I thought we would get more than enough materials for what we needed before hitting our cap at Xgate 232. I closed my eyes and cracked my neck; Perci did have more shopping to do, especially now that we had this much yttrium. A thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Linda, why did you not load up on zinc?” I asked.

“We were told zinc has a ten percent valuation compared to some of the rarer metals. Zinc is not difficult to get and was not high on the list,” Linda said with a scoff. “I’m smart Eric, but not all knowing. No one had ever heard of the virum or their need for zinc, so we didn’t stash a bunch of it. Now, however, it’s infinitely more dangerous to go looting. The majority of our fleet is out gathering resources, but golden portal time is the only time when we brave the new world.”

My hands went to my hips and I paced.

“Where is AC1?” I asked and Perci shrugged. Longoria raised a hand while approaching.

“In Aspen, my lord,” Longoria said. She was fully geared now, with a generator, shielding, and a rifle.

She still held that sword and I was caught eyeing the weapon.

“As old as I am, Master, I do appreciate an interested eyeing. But this is only an acrium sword—not very effective, but the moment called for something. There are far better melee weapons on the market.” She smiled at me sweetly, “Would you like to know more?”

Perci snickered while I mentally drooled. “You’re going to make him pant with desire, you hussie,” Perci said playfully and a wide smile spread across Longoria’s face. “I like your style.” My diminutive wife turned back to me. “Where do you want my mother and what are your orders, your grace?”

“Isolate her and keep her under guard in an Aspen hotel room with General Ryan. You, me, and a military escort are going to Aspen for AC1. Mitchell, bring your recon team,” I said, raising my voice for him to hear.

“Wilco,” he replied, gathering his troops for the platform.

I turned to a frowning Jevon. “While we’re getting AC1, I need you to load these chinooks up with a quarter of our zinc. The rest fly over to Aspen to load into AC1. The AC1 has its own shield generator so we're flying that into Denver. I need to go make a call saying I accept and then we get to ride the underway! Twice.”

“What about the prisoners?” Jevon asked and I grimaced.

These were the decisions that sucked as the king. “The murders go to see Bonnet. Make it public with a tender last kiss. I want others to know internal feuds are not settled by killing each other. The rest are now prisoners. Assign them to… Nancy. Nancy will get them working.”

“I will see it done,” He promised.

I jogged back to the chinook and Sinclair agreed to our deal. Not like she had any reason to complain. She was getting everything she wanted.

We had a few hours until the golden portal went down and the blue went up, then eleven days of war. I guess the twelfth day might consist of more battle, unless Teton had bigger problems to deal with than Bastion. I was super excited to ride the underway, I even gave a fist pump as my retinue followed me to the first platform.

I rubbed my hands together greedily in anticipation of finally riding the train. When I returned to the group, I caught a glimpse of Linda’s backside as she and her general were loaded onto AH1. Let that sour bitch go bug someone else. I saw Perci frowning at me while chatting with Longoria. I scooped my little babe up and twirled her around. She leaned down and kissed my acrium lips.

Shit. I guess I would need to swap out of my acrium armor at some point before the blue started, to give the little guys a rest.

“Are you ready to travel, my lord?” Longoria asked.

“Most certainly,” I replied in a chipper tone, then turned to my wife. “So, my darling Perci, how are you coping?”

“With what? The fact that we just traded blows with the US government or that you accepted my mom into our home?” Perci said with a pout. She was loving being carried, though. When I pretended to go to set her down, she tightened her grip on me. “No, my handsome King. You’ll carry my heiress booty to Aspen.”

“The lady’s wish is my command.” I grinned cheekily before frowning. “I am sorry about your mom being here. She can be an asset, though, assuming she doesn’t want to hide for a bit.”

“Yea, at least she has a man now, too. Wouldn’t surprise me if she ends up with a reverse harem bigger than ours,” Perci said with a roll of her eyes.

“To be fair, you're the one who keeps putting busty virum babes around me without their stones in,” I noted as we arrived at the platform.

Mitchell was waiting for us, chatting with Willow and Sammie. We exchanged pleasantries. Before we boarded the underway, I broadcast a call to everyone in the Bastion Community.

“Dear citizens. There was a brief skirmish that has been resolved. As a precaution, we will be hunkering behind our shields until the next blue zone. The soldiers who were training can stand down. The citizens building, to make our home better, should keep at it. Thank you for your efforts,” I said, closing the connection.

“Got a moment, Eric?” Willow asked, nodding her head to the side. I set Perci down and walked a few steps to the side with Willow. When we were far enough away for a little privacy, she continued. “Sorry I died in the war game.”

“I want to laugh, but I am biting my tongue. Willow, you don’t need to apologize. I can’t tell you how many times I died in battle simulators.” I gave her a hug. “Hell,” I snorted, “I still charge in like a rhino. So, no you’re fine. Now come on, let’s ride the tunnel train.”

Willow nodded with relief, “Thank you for confirming that you’re not disappointed with me. I can be overly self-critical at times.”

“Ha! That is just the human in you.” I smiled down at her. “Willow, I love you just the way you are.”

Before she could reply, though, I kept us moving. The platform for the underway from Castle to Mansion was a small box akin to a phone booth. A soldier went in and with a ‘phunk’ sound, they were gone. A chime would sound, revealing a new booth. I was in line behind Perci who kept stroking Sammie’s ears. Yeah, Perci clearly was not holding onto any anger that her mother had joined us. Both small ladies crammed into the booth, only to vanish a moment later with a ‘phunk’.

The chime sounded; my turn. The next opening arrived. The space was roomier than I expected. My frame fit in easily and I waved bye to Willow who was next.

The booth dove down into the earth. The trip transitioned from a vertical drop into a horizontal ride as we accelerated. While I wished for some cool views, I understood I was flying through miles of tunneling, deep underground. The speed was incredible. Even the slight turns felt like I was on a rollercoaster. I enjoyed every moment of the thrill. I was hollering for joy when I suddenly found myself outside again, not far from the barn. I wanted to ride it again!

My team was waiting for me on the next platform. I stepped off and my booth shot back down, ‘phunk’. Willow popped up a moment later. We waited for the last of our group before crowding into a booth the size of a small bedroom.

“Did you enjoy the ride?” Mitchell asked with a smirk.

“Yes!” I said eagerly, “I’m still excited for this next bit, though.”

The dozen of us loaded up without things being too tight. The booth’s doors slid shut and we shot down. Thanks to the dampeners, there never was a point where it felt like we’d be tipped onto our side, nor was the acceleration egregious. It felt like I was in a large elevator, one that moved sideways after an initial vertical drop. A minute into the ride, bright exterior lights flickered on as our car was attached to a rail system inside a huge cavern.

The illuminated space revealed an eerily calm pool of black water. The space was massive in its size and I was startled by the extent of the chamber.

“I lived underground for a thousand years in a place somewhat similar to this. We hid and thrived,” Longoria said evenly, “Eventually, I was deemed replaceable and was sold again. I… I don’t know what is worse, how much I miss that peaceful darkness or that I had to live like that in the first place.”

“Mounamine are very used to subterranean dwellings. We prefer the underground for our nests. There is a lot to be said about the protection provided by keeping hundreds of feet of dirt between you and the aggressive species that come through the portals,” Sammie mentioned. “And before you ask, my lord,” she wagged a finger at me, “Our homes are nice. If you build a base underground, then we would welcome it, but there is no need to build us a special residence underground.” She frowned, “It would segregate us from the rest of the community. While we have done that before, trust me when I say that living around those who protect you lets them empathize with your fears. Assuming they have empathy.”

The underwater lake vanished, and the exterior lights turned off. I was shocked, first that it was down here, and second by how large it was. If we angered a Divine-ape type creature, a tunnel to a hideout deep underground was a decent last option. The thought resonated with me. Teton Fortress was under the earth. They had not even had to fight to survive. Get a bunker to hide in if things went bad. Return when the blue goes away. I guess that was a solid retreat plan.

So much to do, so little time to do it in.

“Perci,” I asked, “What are your plans for these additional funds?”

“Builders,” she shrugged, “We need builders and additional mining machines. Mitchell asked for sleds, but that is the only military request I have. We had some funds I’d saved for a last go at the contracts market, and the new infusion of metals will be fantastic.” She beamed up at me, “Eric the minerals they brought are raw bars in crates. Converting a hundred electronic devices might equal one of those bars. We can now afford a lot more than I had planned. I want to get a Sluggero, maybe, but there are only so many auctions.” She tapped her chin, “Probably try for one of those to help set up our automated production machinery and to provide a second opinion on our building plans.” Perci nodded to herself, and Longoria raised a hand. “Yes, dear?”

“We need masonry machines, my lady,” the Fairy added, “I will get them. Although mining machinery crushes and creates rubble in the process of getting to the minerals, it does not create proper bricks. While you had the foresight to buy a few masonry machines that make small bricks, I know what we need. The time it will take to build the castle will decrease, significantly,” Longoria said. “And I want to get Master a proper sword. The best protectors always have a melee weapon.”

“Why is that?” Willow asked.

“There are melee weapons that are meant to push through armor. Shielding stops most damage, then armor, and then some creature’s physical exterior. A crab man,” the translator struggled and Longoria eyed the device with a sour face, “for example, can withstand a lot of firepower in their armor and with proper shielding. They see poorly, however, from above. You simply jet pack in, drop down onto their back, and use an empowered blade to carve them to pieces.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Mitchell said with a chuckle.

“What about more trees?” I inquired.

“Maybe four more trees, but no more. We go to war very soon and the last thing I want is for the end of this shopping trip to turn into a frantic rush home,” Perci said.

Everyone nodded.

“Which is why Eric didn’t want to do any last minute shopping,” Willow said from beside me. “We’re here.”

The tunnel cab stopped our sideways motion and lifted us to the Aspen platform. The exit was near a four-lane road with extensive bricked walkways leading in many different directions. Decorative fountains, fancy overhangs, and a veritable sea of balconies gave the area a very open feeling. A market had been set up, not far from the station, in an older area of downtown with extra wide walkways. Artfully arranged trees complemented the buildings’ earthy tones; their spring bloom brightening the area.

Not far away rested AC1, in a nearby park. Long lines of people shifted supplies from AH1 into the behemoth transport. I was tempted to browse through the market. My curiosity was piqued over what they were using for a currency. Alas, I was tugged along by wonderful Willow. Her sour attitude from earlier was wiped away by the fancy town.

“I love the feel of Aspen!” Willow mentioned, clinging to my arm.

“I am taken back every time I visit to better times.” I sighed. “But my inner soldier sees all the vulnerabilities in the defenses here,” I said, gesturing to the rows of alleys and walking paths. “Funny how many people chose to live here over Mansion.”

“Not anymore,” Sammie said with a sly smile, “if you are counting everyone as ‘people’.”

“Yeah, things change so fast. How are the trees doing?” I asked Longoria.

“Nancy and Seteria are hard at work. We are building essential housing before places like the castle. They are doing better since a lot of the new arrivals had their short rest and the sun is up,” Perci answered, with a smile. We neared AC1 and I paused. “Everything okay?” she asked.

“Willow, Sammie, and I part ways here. I am going to re-group with Jevon and continue with our drills and training. I mainly wanted to try the underway and to ensure our problems here are being taken care of.” I grinned at Perci and Longoria. “Shopping is not on my agenda and I will merely get in the way. Good luck securing our vital needs,” I said and received a hug in return. “Ah, there is Jevon—looks like he is about to take off. Let’s go join him.”

“What about me, Cap?” Mitchell asked hesitantly.

“Go with Perci and get what you need, Mitchell, to be my elite recon team and then meet me back at Mansion before the blue transition,” I ordered.

He snapped off a quick salute and we parted ways. All I had to do now was some fun training … and some not-nearly-as-much fun, impatient waiting. I hoped for a D20 roll on the next Xgate portals. We needed a bit of luck this next go around.

CHAPTER 13

The Xgate flared to life right on time; the construct picked itself off the ground and into a hover before moving. Well damn, I was hoping for a delay. I glanced out the tower of AC1 high above my combined forces, four thousand soldiers spread between Mansion and Aspen. We were not far from the middle point, grouped to present a combined force, yet ready to split up if need be.

Our TP63 light tanks held our flanks, with our center secured by their bigger TG99 brethren. AH1 and AH2 hovered over their commanders’ respective brigades, with AC1 in the back. Octosuits were mounted behind the tanks, gleaming in the afternoon sun. My army had grown exponentially, both in size and capability, compared to the last blue rotation.

The million-dollar question was, of course, would it be enough? Could we weather whatever storm those blue portals spawned?

There was a tension in the tower room, I paced behind the clear, crystalline window.

Longoria piloted AC1, her body encased in black acrium, with a power plant tucked into the small of her back. She wore a power sword clipped to her left hip and a long pistol on her right. Her wings fluttered and smile tugged at the corner of her lips when she caught me admiring her fine figure.

To my left was Sammie, serving as my radio operator and call screener. The little Mounamine wore a serious expression and tried to hide her fright. She carried a tiny pistol clipped to her hip and her acrium armor was a copy of her maid outfit.

On my right side, stood Willow. She had requested a TG99 company command over her previous TP63 command, but there were none currently open. I wanted her to see the bigger picture and get a feel for the battle from up here, if she wasn’t going to be in the thick of it. I needed more talented people in the command rooms, and I trusted Willow. She was suited up for war in a combat loadout of acrium, sleeves, and shielding. She bantered back and forth with Longoria while managing a power output control station.

Douglas, our drone operator sank into a bean bag chair over in the corner. A trio of Crixxi guards took up positions near the exit, ensuring the command room was secure. They were ready to deal with any unwelcome visitors. I had ordered my army into black acrium armor with night fast approaching—no sense showing off our capabilities just yet. All of us were eager, though, nervous to see what came next.

That same feeling of trepidation washed over the rest of my army—the tank operators, infantry, scouts, and aviators.

I had the best man on the job, coordinating our eyes on the ground and feeding us the intelligence as it came in. Mitchell had four scouts on anti-gravity bikes detailed to watch each portal once the construct shifted. The next five minutes, we waited with baited breath as the gray behemoth of an Xgate drifted peacefully.

When the portals finally flared blue, what I saw left me hopeful, yet concerned.

The western portal displayed a desert biome. Nothing, besides brownish flecks of dirt that swirled in a fierce blowing wind, seemed to be waiting on the other side of that portal. For a moment I wondered if I was looking at an image of Mars. Then, in the distance, an electrical ball with arms slowly rotated into view. The being performed a quick inspection of Earth and then moved on to gaze at the next portal. Huh, I grunted, not sure what this meant, but it was better than an aggressive assault.

In the southern portal, we could see snow … a whole lot of snow. I rationalized that not every planet would in the same season, spring, as we were in what used to be Colorado, but I would never know from here whether what I was seeing was a seasonal thing like our winters, or simply an ice planet. I ordered the southern scout to cross into the portal, knowing it would take the Crixxi a minute or two to plant the data reader and return.

Seeing the scout racing forward I shifted my gaze to the next portal.

In the western portal, an army waited in a clearing, a tropical jungle beyond them, with distant waves visible on the far horizon. The waiting forces were masked humanoids with thick tendrils for hair cascading down their back. They stood at least ten feet tall and must have been at least twice our mass. Blue swirling patterns danced across their skin. Shit, that meant they were lexium infused. Behind the massed infantry, waited large tracked forts. Hmm, maybe layered tanks worked. These were fifty feet tall, thirty feet wide, and from their gun ports protruded a variety of weapons. The construction was crude, the vehicle most closely resembled the side of an old pirate ship. I didn’t want to aggravate them, so I held that scout in place.

From the northern portal, a little creature hopped out of a dense jungle and onto Earth. The being had huge puffy cheeks, tiny slanted eyes, and it stood at three feet tall and planted an object on the rocky terrain. The fluffy cat creature ran to the eastern portal and saw the lexium beings poised for war. The moment its eyes caught sight of the alien army it fled for home.

With a target in sight, the aliens flooded out of the western portal onto the field and locked down the Xgate to transition onto Earth. The little fluffy creature, however, was long gone by the time they tried to snatch him. Unfortunately, my southern scout returning from the icy portal after planting his data reader was caught out in the open. Like a pack of rabid dogs, the alien army curled south towards my scout. They brandished their weapons in the air before blasting projectile rounds at the scout.

I didn’t need to order my scout to retreat; the Crixxi on that sled fled. The small device rapidly accelerated, the scout dodging and weaving to escape the incoming fire. The enemy hounded their target in a mad frenzy. Green laser bursts seared across the landscape. Even as the scout pulled away from them, the invaders never slowed their pursuit.

“Order him to slow his pace,” I said to Mitchell through the command channel, “I want him to lure them into a kill zone, if they are going to act like a bunch of mindless idiots.” I turned to Sammie. “Give a warning order, army movement pending my confirmation order.”

The scout slowed and the chase halted when a fifty-foot-tall battle platform crossed through the portal. Dam, this was not just going to be a simple lure and massacre. My inner demons, who had been flexing at the potential of an alien blood bath, frowned in disappointment. That was easily fixed.

“Open fire, Mitchell, focus on the largest targets. Open fire now,” I ordered.

Precise blue shots repeatedly streaked towards the same targets at head level. The first round smashed into an alien’s mask, chipping away at their protection. Okay, I realized, it wore a helmet and not a mask. The second glowing blue round, however, tore through the armor, sending an alien crashing to the ground with a gaping head wound. The ruined helmet showed a bald, freckled alien with fangs and a double-hinged bottom jaw. These were nasty looking creatures, no doubt about it; I named them Kerbians.

A shield generator came online for the tall, boxy tank, rendering the sniper fire useless. The bodies of both dead Kerbians that Mitchell had eliminated were tossed back into their home portal. The hundred or so invading soldiers waited patiently while their leaders conferred, with the gate still locked down. After a brief debate, they headed home with the shield generator being the second to last invader to leave our side of the portal.

The gate holder grew nervous, knowing the shield was leaving any moment. His desperate sprint to escape back home ended when sniper fire knocked the alien down, seconds after the tank’s shields stopped protecting the Kerbian. The injured alien struggled to get back into the eastern portal, even as the Xgate lifted higher into the air and started drifting away.

Activity from the southern gate caught my eye. A twelve-foot-tall boar faced being jumped through the portal onto Earth. The mighty tusked warrior tumbled forward with a precise roll. Without hesitation, he spun to steal Mitchell’s kill. I entered Boarzar into the naming system for this species.

He leveled his weapon at the fleeing fanged Kerbian. The discharge from the end of what otherwise resembled a long pole was brilliant yellow and melted a hole through the fleeing target’s torso.

Our sniper fire shifted to the new aggressor. His yellow shielding deflected the incoming fire.

For such a large creature, the boarzar was swift. With a roll, a spin move, and a snatch of his clawed hand, he secured the dead Kerbian over his shoulder. The Boarzar warrior fled home, carrying his prize. I saw his yellow shielding finally burst, but the giant Boarzar shimmied across the portal just in time. Well, those were some intense moments; so much for my hopes of a quiet Xgate. My long exhale stirred the command room.

“Savage, yet effective,” Willow muttered.

“Cap,” Longoria called for my attention. “The Sluggero team, Willis and Sally are trying to reach you. They promise it is not to complain.”

I grimaced, those Sluggeros could be infuriatingly annoying. I wanted to curse Perci for purchasing them. My displeasure, however, did not supersede my need for their input, so I motioned for Sammie to patch them through.

“What have you got for me?” I said, knowing they were monitoring.

“This is not a safe, floating city, they need to sell us to a decent home. This is blasphemy, we’re so exposed here—” I heard in the background.

“I am going to send you on a mission to the Boarzar’s snow planet if you don’t get to the dam point,” I grumbled.

“The Gribini dropped off a signal stating they are peaceful and willing to trade from the northern portal. They have fruit, seeds, trees, and—”

“Understood, northern portal is peaceful. Thank you, Willis,” I said, closing the connection. My grumble turned into long-suffering sigh.

“That was Sally,” Sammie noted from my side.

“I know,” I smirked, “I figured I should rile them up for bothering me so they know that they really need to have something vital before bothering me.” They were now blocked from all calls, unless Sammie verified what they had was worth my attention.

We watched the portals for another ten minutes in silence. Willow came over and we discussed the small engagement. She was really picking up on the important detail a commander needed to notice. Her motivation and determination to excel were evident. She was always asking strategic questions to improve her knowledge. Mitchell called me, breaking the tense situation.

“The tall fanged people,-”

“Kerbians,” I informed him quickly.

“I am watching their portal and seeing activity. They are amassing to go raid some other planet from their Xgate,” Mitchell said hesitantly. “At least that is what it looks like.”

“What are you seeing,” I replied, only able to see a portion of one side of what was going on in that portal.

“Additional shielding box forts have arrived and it appears they have some form of a mecha that is much taller ... I’d estimate it to be about three quarters the height of a Goliath.” He paused for a long moment. “They are joining the growing force. We are counting a few hundred shield tank fortresses, roughly a thousand infantry … and now a dozen long necked Goliaths—I guess ‘Liaths’ work,” Mitchell said a note of concern in his voice. “Their gate just went blank.”

Time ticked by slowly while we watched the eastern side’s gray empty portal.

Willow walked over next to me and muttered softly, “I don’t like it.”

“And?” I replied.

“We’re a fair ways from the gate, getting further away, too. If, and I’m not saying this is what is going to happen, but if they storm through the Xgate when the gray goes blue, we will be caught flat footed,” Willow said, pointing towards the drifting Xgates retreating location. Just because their side locked down, did not mean ours was. “We’ll have the same problem, if they pick a losing fight and we get another portal hoping army, eager for blood to make the green grass grow.”

I smirked at her comment. “I like having a little time to react, but you have a point. We are falling too far back from the portals,” I said to Willow and turned to Sammie. “Order Aspen brigade to close the distance to Xgate 232, but to maintain at least a three minute TG99 buffer.”

“Done,” Sammie replied, disseminating my orders to the army.

Jevon called me from AH1.

“Did I miss something? Didn’t you want us to stay in position?” Jevon asked.

“Just preparing a potential branch plan. And yes, for now, the plan remains to buy time for our people to build up our defenses. Nancy, Gary, Setaria, and the crews are rushing to get our fortifications in place. If the army stays in the field, we ensure we’re not fighting where they have to work. I need to check on what is happening with Xgate 201,” I said and Sammie perked up her little mouse ears.

A new display populated, depicting a quietly roaming Xgate 201. The construct settled down a hill and into a park over North Denver. A tree creature a few feet tall stepped out, sniffed around, and then returned. I frowned wondering what army the scout represented, if it was simply another species checking out our portal, hunting for loot. My eyes drifted over to Douglas sitting comfortably in his bean bag chair.

“I am not going to stress about 201, for now. If an army starts to come out, they’ll have to come a long way to reach us with a few chokepoints between Denver and here,” I said, continuing to pace in the control tower. I frowned, “We should have looted some furniture for these empty vessels. I want a recliner up here.”

Jevon chuckled with the detent depressed. “I hear Tavers make great rocking chairs. I ordered Bonnet to recover blood samples from the initial engagement.”

“Okay, keep on your toes,” I looked over at the drifting grey portal, “they locked that gate down for something.”

“Are you wanting to raid?” Jevon asked.

“Day one? Probably not, though I saw some huge trees in that dense jungle on the north side portal. Maybe looting some trees would be nice, but there is only so much we can steal in the fifty-something minutes that we can lock the gate down for.” I grunted as I imagined the immense pain it would be to move those trees. “Plus, it didn’t look like any of the ones we purchased had broken roots, as if someone painstakingly dug them out; that, or used some alien tech to clear all debris away from the root ball.” I rubbed my temples, “Guess I’ll need to send a message to the dynamic duo later, asking about it.”

“Aye Cap, DD out.”

The three portals stayed quiet. A drifting image kept boredom at bay with everything hinging on that grey side returning to life. The time ticked by slowly as I paced back and forth.

After ten minutes of watching the gray portal, Longoria set AC1 down next to Marble Heights, with Willow learning the controls while she flew. A few minutes later, a big lazy boy was set down in the command room for me to stew in. I wanted to complain about getting preferential treatment, but AH1 and AH2 were delivering furniture to a number of TG99s. With this lull in activity, I decided to address the army.

“We will continue to monitor the situation, unless an army comes pouring through, expect to—” I paused releasing the detent. “Standby for further orders.”

I just had to open my big mouth. The gray disappeared and the shimmering blue cascaded back to life. The tricky Kerbian forces had locked their gate down to assemble additional forces secretly, not to raid someone else.

They had used the time to prepare for a fight, and prepared they were.

Thirty-foot-tall boxy constructs led the charge through the portal, with their own version of the smaller goliaths—Liaths, Mitchell had named them—behind them. The mini fortresses did not hesitate; the moment they could, they spewed forth onto Earth. Their white shielding told me they had moderately powerful oxygen generators.

“All forces forward,” I grimaced at the command. “Smash them before they can establish a foothold.”

My commanders spurred their formations forward at full speed.

“TG Leader is requesting permission to clear a path,” Sammie said over her shoulder.

“All units, clear obstacles in your way as needed. Gate defense is primary objective,” I ordered over the command channel. When there was a brief moment of quiet before the impending battle kicked off, I walked over to Willow and said, “Good job.” She smiled briefly but stayed glued to her station, keeping a close eye on AC1’s power consumption.

Blue orbs belched forth as companies volley fired, knocking down whole sections of trees that stood in their way. Because the Xgate continued to move, we had to adjust our tracking to close the distance. I groaned to see the destruction we wrought our natural ecosystem. The tanks plodded forward, carrying their octosuited infantry brethren while from the flanks, Bastion’s army sped for the Xgate. It was a sight to behold—the sheer amount of firepower barreling down on the arriving enemy forces.

Our TP63 light tanks arrived first. White beams spit out from the enemy’s turrets into the terrain, sending shrubs and rocks flying. When a beam connected with a TP63’s shield, the tank’s protection strained against the torrent of power. Eventually, the shield cracked before exploding, and the tank imploded in a fiery death. I marked the left most enemy moving fort as the primary target.

Our sporadic fire turned into a condensed torrent of blue orbs splattering against white hexagons. The enemy shields tried to hold, but they soon died under the massive barrage the light tanks unleashed. At this point, I knew we would win. We had superior numbers, the right generators, and we had yet to bring our heavier firepower online.

“Four more TP63s are offline, two completely destroyed,” Sammie reported from the monitor board. “A fifth is crippled. Enemy fortress tanks 1 through four are down. Five’s shield just collapsed. Fortress tank five is down. Marking fortress tan six.”

The sight was amazing. Enemy shields buckled under concentrated fire until they shattered in sparkling displays. The boxy contraptions exploded angrily as they flung their occupants skyward. Precision fire was devastating to watch; the alien constructs became death traps. The savagery of our blue power was on full display as metal melted quickly to slag, revealing inferior construction. White fire mixed with green to ping off our shields.

I marked the seventh fortress tank from the left and our fire split into two streams. We may be new to this, but a giant bullseye on a target was simple enough for our forces to comprehend.

“Light tanks, fall back. We have them hesitant to push more forces through the portal onto Earth. Let the TG99s clean the field with the octosuits,” I ordered. Sammie typed out my commands in case crews were unable to hear my orders. I marked additional targets as the enemy realized they were losing. “Longoria put us against the gate. Our shields can hold. We will take the shifting fire. Higher, I don’t want our shields soaking up friendly fire.”

“Yes, my king,” Longoria replied, and we soared higher and forward.

I watched us fly over the big tanks pounding away at enemy huddled together on the battlefield. The fifty or so Kerbian forts who had made it through the portal suffered from the heavy punishment our TG99s handed out. A single towering Liath construct came through the portal with its weapons blazing.

I selected it as our primary target. The Bastion army shifted aim instantly. Commanders unleashed increasingly larger globes of power. The blue streams cascaded against the Liath’s shield. The shield flicked under the torrent. When the shield cracked, the Liath visibly shook and a hip blasted apart in a torrent of white energy from some internal explosion. Blue orbs smashed holes into the body and half a second later the smaller goliath tottered and then fell onto a fortress box.

Their combined explosion rocked the field of battle with a blinding wave of energy and a strong blast of air. Craters dotted the terrain as a billowing white cloud rose above the massive explosion.

With numerous enemies stunned, our tanks focused their fire on the enemy machines, dropping their shields one at a time. The slugfest was heavily weighted in our favor once the TG99s started dropping off their accompanying octosuited infantry. The enemy shields were no match for our repetitive blue orbs.

The Kerbian commander pulled his forces back into the blue portal, those on Earth tried desperately to flee our barrages.

I dialed into my command channel. “Eddy, Ulanda, do not let them home. Block their escape with your TG99s. Teach these ugly assholes that you do not come and threaten our home,” I barked. “Jevon you have command,” I ordered.

“I have command,” Jevon replied. AH1 was off in the distance, monitoring the fight.

I went down the central tower of AC1. The air controlled my descent until my boots thudded against the deck. Inside the large bay, on its back, I found Goliath 1. My run towards the cranium control section opened an escape hatch at the rear of the command chamber. I ducked into the opening and the hatch sealed behind me.

“Get us out of the air and onto the dirt, Goldie. Now!” I ordered, knowing I would get disoriented as the robot slid out of the hull.

Sure enough, I tumbled as the massive robot flowed out of the hanger with a roll and connected with the rugged terrain in a three-point stance. The knees flexed before they stabilized. I oriented myself to see the battlefield being secured. Our forces were nailing the retreating fortresses at the front, causing those behind them to slow as the leading machines became additional obstacles for them to avoid as they scrambled to return through the portal.

Based on the scene that unfolded before me, I sprinted Goliath 1 towards the Xgate—Goldie immediately translating my mental commands into action. In three quick steps, we reached the shimmering blue portal before our foes could escape. A single Liath was helping damaged fortresses get back home. I stepped through the portal.

A few things happened all at once. Goliath 1 was teleported beside the Liath, a warning alert from the console told me there was lower nitrogen here, and I became a target for the massed enemy infantry and mechs guarding their side of the portal. My reserves depleted quickly as my shield was smacked by numerous rounds. Before too many rounds could pepper my shield, however, I wrapped my Goliath’s arm around the Liath’s long neck and leaped home.

We transitioned the blue and crashed into the terrain of the Rockies. Our huge bodies blocked the escape of the last of the retreating Kerbian forces. I used the other mech’s body as a shield as my tanks picked apart the shields of my opponent. I rolled off the ground to kneel over the wounded machine. A few sharp hammer blows with my Goliath’s massive fists and the Liath’s neck cracked open, shutting the machine down. Circuits sparked and hissed angrily within the badly damaged mech. I spun my Goliath to face the Xgate with all weapon ports open, expecting a challenge.

There was none; the Kerbian commander on their side of the portal ceded us the field. With our overwhelming, swift victory, they did not want to go toe to toe with our forces. The few Kerbians trapped on Earth stubbornly refused to surrender.

“Do not start clearing the fortresses room by room,” I said over the command channel. “AC1 land, we need to load these prizes into the carrier and return them to Point Rubble.”

A few Kerbians fired out of their disabled vehicles. Their defiance was met by blue waves of energy as our tanks fired back. Their stubborn defense and bitter refusal to surrender were useless. The enemy’s small arms could not even penetrate our tanks’ hulls, let alone their shielding. When AC1 landed, bulldozers flooded out onto the field. Battered, busted, and destroyed fortress tanks were pushed into hangar bays.

I used Goliath 1 to speed the process of loading up the destroyed forts. The Goliath’s servos whined when it lifted the heavy prizes that I chucked into the hangar bays without too many power issues.

I even used the Goliath’s massive hands to smash some ornery Kerbians. My inner demon danced and I smirked at his antics when the ugly things went splat. A few shots continued to ring out, but the moment they were loaded into the hanger far away from their home world, their defiance lessoned.

When all the fortress tanks had all been loaded, AC1 lifted off and moved towards Objective Rubble. The next step was talking the remaining Kerbians into surrendering or death. I wondered if I we could simply take AC1 into the upper atmosphere where the Kerbians should pass out just like a human would. Would the Xgate’s blue coating protect them from a drastic change in atmosphere? I knew the right people to ask at least, those frustratingly annoying Sluggero siblings.

CHAPTER 14

“This is Willis, this is Sally,” the two Sluggeros said perfectly in unison from the video screen.

AC1 was on lockdown at the old shopping plaza we now called rubble. The tower lift was disabled and the interior sealed. My army had to pick up the pieces of the battle while also addressing those pesky survivors we’d crammed into AC1’s hold.

From up high in Goliath 1, I cursed at the tally of seventeen dead. One TG99 exploded with all five crew on board killed, five infantry octosuits destroyed with three dead, and fourteen TP63s with nine dead. The wounded were not instantly healed. They were alive and in stable condition, but hurting nonetheless.

Xgate 232 had gone quiet. All four sides remained peaceful, as it appeared the conflict was. Which led me to this conversation I was about to have. My frustration at Willis and Sally could have been nipped in the bud, had I not been sick and tired of shopping.

When Perci went down to Xgate 201 to complete our last-hour shopping, I’d ducked out and played commander during our final training and war games—which is what a good leader should do, in my opinion. Then again, that same commander shouldn’t be charging a hundred-foot-tall robot into battle recklessly. Hey, at least I admitted my faults. My inner thirst for victory had to be sated and as a bonus, we got a Liath medium mech as a prize.

When Perci, Longoria, and Mitchell went down to Xgate 201, they had a fairly simple shopping list. Machines, Sluggeros, and scouting hardware. The problem was we were expecting, to only at most, be able to afford one Sluggero. When a deal is too good to be true … you should run. Well, I wasn’t there to sound the horn.

Mitchell had dialed back his scout-mech dreams to super speedy hover boards in lieu of the Squibbles’ mini platforms. The slim profile was enough for him, and if his scouts lay down flat on the hover boards, would mean they’d be a harder target to hit. This freed up funds for Perci to use on an ever dropping buy-it-now price for a pair of sibling Sluggeros. The older sister and her younger brother were not being scooped up for their price and it seemed the seller was desperate. A non-mated pair meant all sorts of issues for prospective buyers, and they refused to be separated. Perci saw it as a boon, rationalizing that, since we were not in the Sluggero breeding business, who cared if they were siblings.

Everything sounded fine until I read the note that accompanied the sale. Hostile, irrational, sassy, bossy, and the list kept going for pages with adjectives and synonyms for ‘asshole’. Generally speaking, breaking and reshaping assholes is my forte. My officers and NCOs smash assholes into the dirt. Wait … that didn’t sound right. Okay, maybe that was not the best way to express what I meant. I shook the mental image away to focus on the issue at hand.

These Sluggeros weren’t soldiers. When they’d first arrived, Perci had great things to say about them and she’d mentioned they were happy. That glorious positive attitude wilted when they saw Mansion.

A few minutes later, the Sluggero sister, Sally, hacked my Gpad and I got an ear full about how my life would be hell for the next season until they were resold. The only saving grace was that, by contract, they had to work a minimum of six point two hours per standard earth day. After that, they could tell me to bugger off.

Which is why they were so adamant to get me to talk with them, to try to kill time ‘on the clock’. Over the past five hours, it had become a tiresome game. I had a plan though and now it was time to see if it worked.

“Time for work starts now,” I said and their sour faced holograms became slightly less grumpy. “I need your help.”

“Obviously, you inbred degenerate. You literally sleep in the mud with the animals,” Sally said. I knew it was the older slugger because her green lips contrasted with her brother’s pink lips. “We are on the job, as required, what is your request?”

“To listen to my offer. I propose granting you freedom from the thousand years on your contract after three earth years,” I said and they blanched. Sluggeros born in captivity were probably never given an option like this. Their contracts were so long because of their insanely long natural lifespans. “To sweeten the deal, for everything you create and sell at the grand market, you will receive a ten percent royalty on. That way, after a few productive years working for me, you can build a fortress in the sky of your own one day and start a freed Sluggero community or something. The main points, however, are that I need you to work more, I need you to work hard, I require your best efforts, and I require you be a part of the team, starting today. I am prepared to pay for that effort by changing the terms in your contract to those I just mentioned.”

There were still plenty of Sluggero communities who were not subspecies. Perci mentioned how the siblings had filled her ears about how their race was still mighty because of its technology. If only their parents had not been captured … on and on they went. My connection closed. Those little shits. I still needed to get a different answer out of them about how best to deal with the Kerbians shooting at AC1’s hangar walls.

My Gpad rang with a call from Willow.

“What’s the plan with these prisoners below? They are recovering and a few have started firing their turret guns at the bay doors,” she said, the concern plain in her voice. “At least they have not consolidated … yet.”

I dialed into the command net. “Start staging octosuits around AC1. In five minutes, we open the doors and kill these assholes or force a surrender.”

My army adjusted to my orders. Tanks carrying infantry suits deposited their riders around AC1. Shield walls formed up in minutes. Right as I was about to order the assault, my Gpad was hacked—again. Somewhere, I knew, Perci was screaming in a fit of rage.

“Two years, fifteen percent, twelve Earth hours a day. We pick where we sleep, and we build us, as in all of Bastion community, a proper home. Not in the sky—at least not initially,” Willis offered.

“I can give you two years, but you get four hours of sleep. Make it sixteen hours of work a day and we have a deal at twelve percent royalties,” I countered.

“Two years, fifteen hours, fourteen percent.”

“Deal,” I said, tapping my translator. I pulled up the contract Perci had sent me and altered the agreement. They accepted. It was that simple. I had hopefully squelched the sassy attitude and insults. “I am considering taking AC1 into the upper atmosphere in the hopes that it will make these Kerbians pass out. Would that work?”

“No. The film in their lungs will convert to … they are high oxygen breathers, not that it matters. You will need to storm the survivors, I am afraid. When, or rather a big if more than a when, we have the right materials and manufacturing equipment, I could make sleeping bombs. Not anytime soon, though. We are scouring the databases now to -”

“Hold that thought,” I said and muted the conversation. I connect to the command channel. A part of me was sad I would not be fighting the good fight down below. “Open AC1’s hangar doors. Storm the survivors, kill all who resist or contract them if they surrender.”

The doors flipped open. I patched into Mclain’s octosuit sensors to watch the combat. The enemy still had a little fight in them. White fire from the few working cannons smacked into our shields. Mclain jumped in front of an orb to take the pressure off a soldier’s weakening shield. Another leaped ahead of him. Return fire silenced the cannon in short order. A few idiotic masked Kerbians charged forward to die a glorious death in battle. The octosuits granted their wish swiftly.

Roughly fifty Kerbians walked out without their weapons and their arms held wide over their heads. My Gpad gave an alert.

‘What terms are we enforcing?’ - Mclain

‘Moving to you, secure the hangar and remove all weapons from the area.’ - Cap

When I left to go down the tube my Gpad rang before I could shoot down the Goliath.

“Go for Cap.”

“One of those Boarzar aliens stepped out of its portal with its hands up. The drone reports that he is asking for the dead bodies… for protein,” Jevon said gruffly. “Eric, those words - they trigger memories of times I wish we’d never shared.”

“Yeah, those poor Iranians. Have him brought to me, please,” I ordered. “Cap out.”

My descent down the tube was pleasant, despite its brevity.  A few moments of quiet in the storm that had become my existence. I walked out of the boot to find Bensen waiting for me. The moment I was out, he went into Goliath 1. As the mighty structure walked away, I stepped up the ramp to AC1.

The scene was … different; yeah, different worked here. A group of octosuits surrounded two groups of helmetless aliens. The one thing that immediately jumped out at me was that the smaller group of fifteen Kerbians stood grumpily, their every gesture and expression rife with anger. To the other side, however, stood the bigger group of around thirty-five clumped together in what I could only describe as a relaxed posture. This group consisted of ten-foot-tall gray aliens. Their heads were a faint purple with freckled black dots instead of hair and single eyed in their enlarged heads. The species reminded me of a Puroon, only much larger, with a single eye and heavily muscled. They had thrown some form of camouflaged suits into a pile. I was sure I would find out why soon enough. I went to Kerbians first.

“Who is your leader?” I asked the nasty looking humanoids. One’s double jaw opened to hiss at me. I held back my anger. There was a diplomat inside my little black heart … somewhere. “Hiss at me again and you die,” I growled, “Now, which of you is in charge.”

They simply glared at me. Hmm … how to get them to negotiate? A large muscled gray alien approached from the larger group.

“They will talk through me, if that is acceptable?” the new alien said. I input Jevian for their species title and named the individual Ralph.

“And why won’t they communicate with me directly?” I asked, restlessly. I folded my bulging arms, daring the Kerbians to make a hostile move.

“Your stature for one,” Ralph noted, “not to mention, the fact that you’re human. This faction of the Koovorin Nation typically roll over humans in the open. Defensively, it’s more of a fair fight. They are ashamed and had expected to see Svorin inside your tanks and mecha,” Ralph said, pointing to an octosuit. “The Svorin have eight legs after all and use similar blue weapons. We tried telling them that it was dense nitrogen, not corrosive plasma, but they refused to listen to slave soldiers.”

“So … do I just kill them and be done with it?” I asked with a shrug.

Ralph gave a jolly bark of laughter and his large singular eye rolled back to join in the expression of joy. “Their clan will trade to get them back and, even if their clan will not, the Koovorin council will. Both tend to readily exchange warriors below market value. That leads to the all-important question, what is it you want? If you do not want to swap these warriors for something and instead want to contract them, you should expect resistance. They are rewarded if they return back on golden day for free.”

“We will get to that in a moment. I guess I need to understand who I would be trading with. You mention a nation, a council, and a faction. Which ones are sworn to whom?” I asked, walking over to the wreckage to inspect a ruined fortress tank. My soldiers were busy sorting the working items from the junk. Ralph followed me to watch the process.

“We are contracted warriors and have no allegiance to the Kerbians, their faction, the council, or the Koovorin nation,” Ralph said sternly. “Hence, why I am being so open with you. My contract is yours, should you claim it.”

“Well, what about you and your lot? Will their faction or council trade to get their ‘slave soldiers’ back?” I asked.

He shrugged. Ralph used his extra-long thumb to indicate the other Jevians. “We still have three years left on our contract, even with the fighting. We tried to raid another species and lost. When we surrendered, it was either death or conversion. We converted and were sold to the Kerbians, who constantly pillage through the portal to reinforce their forces. It is a vicious cycle that occasionally produces defeats like this. They’re the… hmm, this faction wars a lot. Our families will never see us again—we are dead to them. Half my tribe was lost due to our commanders’ poor decisions.”

I grunted while clenching my jaw. My gaze shot out beyond AC1 to see Mitchell racing forward on his hover device with the Boarzar. The odd duo slowed before gliding up on the sagging sled; the platform barely hovering over the spring flowers. Mitchell hopped off first, allowing the Boarzar to step forward with a nod and a bow of sorts.

“I am Snarltooth,” Snarltooth said and I gazed at Mitchell holding back a chuckle. ‘Snarltusk’ would have been more appropriate. “Our kind is facing a bitter, four-year winter. We are desperate for food and unfortunately, we have little to trade with.”

I folded my arms across my chest while we listened to the being’s plight. Oh, I guess that was it.

“Hmm. What can you trade? I have more food to trade than these dead Kerbians and Jevians. One moment, please.”

I turned back to Jevian. “Hey, Ralph, is either of your dead sacred or revered?” I asked.

Ralph shook his head no.

“Worth anything in trade to the Kerbian leadership?”

Again, another negative. A finger went up before Ralph asked, “Do you wish to speak of the bodies with this alien or have me tell you about my understanding of the Kerbian leaders?”

“Go ahead and tell me about the Kerbians, I am sure Snarltooth won’t mind waiting a few minutes,” I replied.

“It is important that you understand there is the council, which includes a myriad of species in a city with thousands of species. It is a mega city, where a collective haven has been established.”

“Understood. This guy's uncle,” I indicated the Kerbian who had hissed at me, “is not in charge of the city. His warring faction, though, may hold a key position on the council,” I said and that placated Ralph. I shouted over my shoulder, “Strip the dead and load them on a sled attached to a TP-63!”

I shifted to look at Snarltooth. “Either that feeds my hungry ramoths or you offer me a trade. I am a simple man; we are not in need of much. What is your planet like?”

“Caked in thick unforgiving ice and snow, though we will return to four years of warmth, soon. We manage, normally, by sneaking out and securing items to trade for food. The last month has been rough, with a blizzard for the ages. Things are getting dire,” Snarltooth said sadly. His long snouted faced tucked into his chin. I could see his hunger pains; even his stomach rumbled. “We can grant you access to study our planet, we can offer you some manual labor, assuming we increase our protein intake enough to justify the work.”

I nodded as if I needed either. “I appreciate you coming to me the way you have,  Snarltooth. Normally, people looking to kill and not trade pour out of these portals. This would make two trading portals this season, and that makes me happy. To make up for our hostilities earlier, I will let you use my vehicle and sled to get these bodies home,” I said and he gave an excited snort. “Ah, don’t get too excited. I require that the vehicle and the both sled come back.”

He gave a loud grunt. “Understood, we will use it sparingly. I would not want to lead great warriors to my home. With your permission?” Snarltooth asked, pointing at the loaded bodies.

“You may, and Snarltooth … we have more food available to trade, but I will need to study your planet first. Even if we don’t find anything we need, we can work out a deal. No sense in your people dying in the snow when we have extra food,” I said and he snorted with a grin.

“That statement would normally lead me think you are weak, yet …” he looked at the pile of dead aliens. “Thank you.”

The human driver hopped out of the TP63 and Snarltooth stepped in. His large frame barely fit into the vehicle, the seat struggling to rotate forward. A moment later my tank was off for the Xgate, trailing blood as the bodies on the sled continued to leak their life juices.

“Ballsy,” Mitchell said and I laughed.

“Get the analyzer on that planet,” I commanded and Mitchell bellowed at Sergeant Mills. “See Ralph, a smart man has others go into the frigid wasteland for them. Of course, there is a tracker on the tank. So, what do I do with you and -”

“We are not Kerbians. Since you’re a powerful and wise leader, we ask that you break our contracts and send us home,” Ralph said with a bow.

A Kerbian went to smack him. My arm shot out and my cybernetic fist latched onto the Kerbian’s thick forearm.

We locked eyes as his arm fought my power. I squeezed until there was a snap, a loud crack, and the Kerbian screamed in pain while his wrist hung limp.

The Lexium must have triggered something, because the others expected a violent response. They immediately gave us space for a duel.

A roaring challenge was belched from the Kerbian’s dual-jointed maw. His eyes raged with an animalistic desire for blood. He crouched and then lunged his arms forward in a predictable manner.

My cross hook instantly smashed against the alien’s face so hard, the other side of his head bounced off his shoulder. I heard his neck break before the Kerbian crashed to the deck. The body tumbled twice to rest motionless in a sudden finality. That was the power of having a cybernetic arm.

“Bind that one,” I ordered.

Everly sauntered over to my side, her sexy purr at the violence aroused me. “You should bind them all, my king.”

“They are weak and pathetic,” I said, spitting on the corpse that twitched suddenly. “Ralph, go see what they want for these prisoners. Tell them my ramoths are hungry, but I am willing to trade for servants.”

Ralph glanced around confused.

“You want to trade warriors for servants? No one does that. The Koovorin council would even trade Jevians for servants,” Ralph said in a confused and frightened tone. “I don’t want you to think I am arguing. Should I run?”

Everly rolled her eyes at Ralph with disdain. There was a dominant twinkle in her gaze. “What do they use for servants?”

“The Koovorin council controls many cities with tens of thousands of species. I do not think you are grasping what they are,” Ralph said, his large eye seeing us both staring at him with a stern expression. “Regardless, the servile species are a very varied group and the options are many. I would spend a lot of time and the translator will struggle since you Earth Humans have not named them yet. There –”

“Okay, please explain more,” I asked, not enjoying his tone. Even if the information was vital, this being was my prisoner.

“This faction of Kerbians are effective raiders. This raid was a mistake on their part. They normally shift amongst their portals to find easy targets,” Ralph said, glancing around to see if he could see another Xgate on the horizon. “They have numerous cities that hold millions, so a loss that results in a decent trade may placate the Kerbian warlords or the council. Think of them as a large collective that has established a series of massive bases far away from the majority of the Xgates on their planet. In this mighty hierarchy, I am but a lowly slave soldier, which should make for an interesting day for me. Is there a particular servant species you would like in exchange? I can always ask. That would make sense, if you were specific.”

I pinged his chest a list of our species. “Similar to this works. I will have you escorted to the portal. I don’t doubt they’re scouting the image. Oh, but I need to claim you first, correct?”

“It will matter little, they can claim me back when I return. Ah, I see … you have not conquered the conquered before. If you claim me, then my translator pings my location to my previous owner until the next golden gate. If you keep me alive until then, you inherit my contract. Which is why you should always be hesitant to accept a contract in the first place. Wise conquering leaders, when they capture contracted beings, tend to wait until the end of the season to steal them. There is no rebuttal challenge, then,” Ralph admitted in a dry tone.

I nodded my understanding. “Oh look,” I said, indicating the loser of our duel, “he is breathing. My mind is wondering if there will be any effects from his being brain dead for a while. I bet he thinks he is important, to lash out like that,” I said. The Kerbian my punch had killed had been revived by his lexium symbiote. “That is neat to see. Sorry … I’m easily distracted, back to the point. I want five servants for each Kerbian warrior. Three for your kind ... Unless you would prefer hard labor in our mines for six months.”

“You would give us a reduced contract for simple labor?” Ralph asked. I opened my mouth, then shut it. Everly chuckled at my slip. “We would take that,” he nodded rapidly, “sorry for questioning your most gracious offer.”

I glared sternly at Ralph. “It will be hard labor. If you work without complaint and keep your head down, then you can go home to your family. Get me a good deal for these fourteen, now fifteen Kerbians and I may be more lenient. Everly, have our guest escorted to the portal.”

“Come, Ralph, you get to have a Crixxi drive your gray butt to the Xgate,” Everly chuckled, her voice fading as they walked off.

I left the guard to do guard things and went back to the tower tube for AC1’s command deck.  A quick lifting force later, and I was greeted by three guards who backed away to give me some space. Willow sat in my recliner like a queen, her back straight and large, supple breasts perked forward. She smiled at my return, as did Longoria and Sammie. Douglas was focused on his drone feed, relaxing in his bean bag.

“Excellent victory, King Eric,” Longoria said, while Willow pulled a canteen out to toast me in agreement. “What of the prisoners?”

“Trying to exchange them for servants, but Ralph made me wonder who is in charge on the other side of that portal. Who knows what we will get, if anything? That boar creature was desperate for food. He literally asked for the dead bodies. While gross, it is something I can understand and have an ounce of compassion for. Starving is the worst,” I grumbled. “I made a deal with the dynamic duo.” Willow’s eyebrows rose at this. “Hopefully, they will come up with an ingenious plan for our future. It sure sounded like they were up to something good.”

I walked over to Willow for a quick smooch and she smirked at my failed attempt to honk her boob. Damn acrium were cock blockers. I resolved to get her later.

The back wall called to me with its flicking images and mass of information to absorb. My eyes drifted over the grayed-out pictures of the dead. A moment of silence with bowed head was the most I could do for them. Their bodies were already on the way to the graveyard outside Mansion. Good men, women, and Crixxi; every one of them. My hand glided over the faces of the dead, ingraining their loss into my memory.

Further down the rear of the command chamber, a hundred different drone camera views filled the wall. My eyes caught sight of a scout returning from planting the recon sensor on Snarltooth’s ice ball of a planet. Poor Mills shivered endlessly; a good fire would cure that. A moment after Mills sped off for Mansion, Snarltooth returned our equipment with the frozen sled deck coated in bloody ice.

My eyes shifted to monitor Xgate 201’s four screens. A dozen tree beings scoured a set of homes. Anything metal and not bolted down was gleefully stolen. I should probably send someone down there to stop them. I might need that metal later. They were a minor nuisance at most. Maybe…

I called Jevon, who answered promptly with: “This is five, go.”

“There are little tree guys in northern Denver. I want AH2 to fly over that way and let them know in no uncertain terms that is our property; further transgressions will be met with hostility. No point in gunning them down … yet. Get me a better recon of the other planets visible through that portal this season. I see two are water, one is a thick jungle, and the other appears to be not too far from what Texas looks like.”

“Okay, I have Nilvia enroute now and will report soon. I see the prisoner was picked up by a tracked truck of sorts,” Jevon said and I searched for the video of Xgate 232’s eastern side.

Ralph had been hogtied and dumped onto a flatbed trailer. The tracks peeled off, kicking loose dirt as it accelerated off the screen. Hmm… I wondered if I would ever see him again.

A population in the millions. Now that would be nigh impossible to defeat. Even a million .308 rounds into a divine ape would hurt, a lot. Hopefully, they had something I wanted. If not, I was going to be giving a lot more meat to Snarltooth.

CHAPTER 15

“How dare you? You’re nuts!” Perci said with a furious shout. “We haven’t built more than the outer wall and a moat of our castle. This is supposed to be my home. We have fought for this land, bled for it, and busted our asses to get to this point.”

Perci was a petite ball of fury, her puffy cheeks a deep crimson. Her fist hit the table in the Aspen conference room with an echoing bang. Perci grunted in displeasure while inhaling deeply.

We’d ended up here after a full day of quiet around both Xgates 201 and 232. The army remained deployed in the field, tense and prepared. Our forces had shifted to a reduced posture when the Sluggeros informed me they were ready to brief us on how they recommended Bastion Community should proceed.

I had expected that this was going to be a rough meeting. Sally and Willis did not sleep last night. They’d been huddled in here, planning furiously, without letting anyone join them. If indications for Mansion and Aspen had been favorable, improving Bastion would have not taken this much preparation.

I cleared my throat while Perci still huffed, unable to get her attention, I cleared it again. She softened a bit, when our eyes met. I ran a hand down her cheek to remove a single tear of frustration as it escaped.

“Let me have everyone’s attention,” I ordered, shifting my gaze across the personnel seated at the table.

Our core leadership was all here here—minus Jevon, Torrez, Eddy, and Slister. They were deployed by the Xgates; waiting for any sign of Ralph or another invading army.

Inside the room were Perci, Willow, Nancy, and Everly at my end of the table. The Sluggeros stood at the other end, with Longoria, Sammie, Gary, Braxton, Clive, Razzar, Daphne, Setaria, Nilvia, Harvard, Norm, Ulanda, Bonnet, Sarah, Felix, and Maria. The room paused at Perci’s tirade.

“Good,” I noted, “neither of you will use insults to get your points across. I don’t care if you feel, suspect, or know we are less intelligent. The point remains that we’re all in this together. Name-calling will get us nowhere,” I said giving both Willis and Sally stern looks. The two slugs gave zero notice they cared at their berating. I planted my knuckles on the table before staring down Perci. “I love you, my queen. Have some decorum. If you need some air, go get some. If not, sit with your back straight and wait until the end of the briefing to vent.”

Perci clenched her jaw, biting back her retort. A slight bob of her head was all I needed for confirmation. A gesture from me ceded the floor to Sally. I returned to my chair.

“As I was saying. Aspen needs to be abandoned. There is no way to defend this location from aerial assault. At all. The moment you get a three in the morning breach that secures a foothold, this little city is done. Can it be secured eventually? Possible. So many resources would be diverted to do so that it is a lost cause,” Sally said. Willis slurped to a back wall to continue with the presentation.

“Aspen has aerial entry points from every section of these mountains. You seem to think your little walls will keep the enemy out, they will not. Just because you have not faced an advanced foe yet, does not mean that you will not, one day. This is why Lilith recommended us. She left us a message saying your branch of humanity is important.” Willis pointed to a holographic three-dimensional rendering of Aspen, “Let me show you something about these areas.” The table shifted the angle of view to highlight the vulnerable points he had indicated. The map generated with proper colors, terrain, and everything. This table would have cost a fortune before the fall. The siblings had upgraded it in an hour. “The highlighted paths are avenues of approach that a gravity tank can use to maneuver with a simple lift to get past the cliff. Which means you would need guarded tower points in all these locations.” More than a dozen fortifications appeared on the map. “That goes for the winter, also, and we’re talking thousand-foot walls everywhere you require an entry point.”

I held up a hand to ask the obvious question. “Aspen is hard to defend, which means you found weaknesses. I get it—there are a lot of them. Won’t this be shored up easily with turrets and towers? Isn’t a thousand-foot-tall wall a bit excessive?”

Sally blew a raspberry in frustration. Willis started to say some wiseass comment, but both Sally and I warned him not to.

“Eric, Aspen is a lost cause. We scanned Denver—great job looting by the way, very few worthwhile objects left behind. With what is left to scavenge in Denver, you would barely start to build up sufficient defenses in this area. It is, in face, much worse than leaving an enemy easy avenues of attack. Let me give you an example.”

I nodded for her to continue.

“The Gribin, a dagger-wielding, puffy-faced cat people that are only a few feet tall, well, the data sticks we plunked inside their planet gave us lot of knowledge. We now know much more than their basic atmospherics, we learned where their home is. The Gribin are nestled a full day away from the Xgates in a cavern system loaded with defenses and traps to protect a city of millions.”

I perked up at this statement; my inner Viking grinned evilly.

“I see that hunger in your eyes, Eric. Your mind is calculating flight times and ways to trigger their traps. Stop.”

I frowned but paid closer attention to what Sally had to say.

“How far is Aspen from Xgate 232?” she asked.

Willow leaned forward, indicating she had the floor. “Four minutes by Goliath on the ground, seven at a slow pace by air, three fast.”

I winced and Perci ran frustrated hands through her hair.

“How many rooftops are secured?” Willis chimed in.

Ulanda leaned forward. A crack at the door revealed Jevon entering with Linda Growlen and General Ryan behind him. They stood against the wall, trying to be ignored.

“We have no rooftops secured, other than a few turret mounts on top of our gate checkpoints,” Ulanda said. She huffed, “They are twenty-year-old machine guns that require a gunner.”

I winced again, knowing what was coming next. I headed it off. “That is more anti-air protection than Mansion has.” I shook my head. “We will lose a lot of families, if we move from these mountains.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions just yet,” Willis said. “I am proud to… ouch! Sister, that hurt,” he squawked as Sally swatted his skin with a long instructor’s pointer.

“I am going to go in for the kill now and present to you the best of both worlds. You have been set up. Abandoning Aspen or Mansion completely, is a bad idea and not our intent. The underway is established. Those do not come up. The structures are sound, and the surrounding mountains are filled with minerals. We propose two castles, just not the kind you had imagined.”

Perci frowned and everyone leaned forward intently.

“We propose interior castles, inside the mountain, here.” Sally indicated a place on the map near the western Aspen gate. “We drill down, create a personal underway and a mining team, in conjunction with a Fairy team of engineers builds our castle. With the excess labor, our plans, and the new machine acquired recently, we can start today. Do not underestimate these machines. In a week, we can house hundreds, and if we double up to focus on only one area, probably thousands living inside this mountain.”

Murmurs, mutters, and grumbles echoed in the conference room. I slapped a palm against the table, hard, cracking the wood. Nancy jumped with a high-pitched squeak from the sudden … possibly excessive, violence. I may have hit the damn table too hard. Eh…

“Same goes for Mansion. We move the focus of our efforts over to where you had stored your goods, in the cave. Down we go, layering our traps and defenses while building our outpost. Make no mistake Aspen and Mansion will not remain large cities. Ever. They will be mining outposts and production sites to facilitate trading and military operations from their respective locations. I would not recommend more than a few thousand souls remain in either of these locations at a time—if they are sacked, you can always start over or at least quickly retreat into the underground defenses, since there are limited personnel,” Willis said, giving the floor back to Sally. The male glided over to a water jug and daintily sipped.

“I know this is a big shock, but it gets worse for some of you. Better for others. Let me start with something you can understand. We sent a data scout out to where the attackers came from. Planet Tropical Lightning …” she grimaced, “human names, I swear, and yes, I understand English,” Sally said, shaking her thick neck as if trying to wipe away the horrible memes of the twenty-first century. “Your Gtower information was the oddest thing I have ever had the displeasure to consume. Planet Tropical Lightning has many military outposts. To get to the big city, you have to travel quite a long way and defeat a host of automated and reinforced defenses. Once at the city, expect overlapping defenses and a swarm of citizens all trained to fight. But that is not all. Koor, the Koovorin capital… wait for it… is fifty times larger below ground than above.”

I let out a long whistle. Then it clicked.

“You want to build a city in the sky? Yes!” I said excitedly.

The faces around the table lit up. A tension that had built in the air suddenly vanished. In its place was hope, almost wonderment. My joy at the prospect of living in the sky was shattered when Sally opened her green lips, paused, and then closed them. The second time she did this, I realized she wasn’t planning on building me a city in the sky.

“If not the sky, then where?” I blurted out and gasps echoed from my companions. I figured out where we were going before the others. I held my desire to groan and slouch in check. “Please continue.”

“What my sister is alluding to, is that we found somewhere indeed fantastic. There are rivers, lakes, and room to expand—so vast, in fact, that we too can have our very own megacity. We can move in this week. By this time tomorrow, with our excess in labor, we can have the beginning of a grand city. Seven days from now, we should have something extravagant that will make Aspen look undeveloped. Those who want to fight can do so by staying at the outposts and those wanting to safely raise their children, may do so without fear,” Willis said.

Several of the ladies smirked at this last line. They wanted a safe place for their baby cribs. Heck, I did too.

Jevon snuck out of the meeting when our Gpads gave an alert. I didn’t even have a chance to glance at it, before Willis continued.

“A representative from the Koovorin Council is here to inspect the prisoners. They wish to officially declare a truce and cease hostilities. I will pause our presentation, if you need to adjust your schedule to accommodate them,” Willis said to me directly.

“Growlen, Ryan, go be our diplomats. This is your role in our society; keep things cordial until I arrive,” I instructed the two at the side of the room.

They actually hopped at my orders and ran to catch up to Jevon. I cancelled the alert and placed my elbow on the table, tucking my chin into my palm.

“I was explaining that protection while retaining the ability to adventure across the portals is a possibility. We have the capability to hunt for portals by flying around. That was not possible for Bastion before this season, which means a solid stronghold is that much more important than living near a gate. Being able to choose which Xgate is the best to raid, based on a host of criteria opens many new opportunities. We know that no aircraft can fly through the portals, but they can shuffle troops quickly to the Xgate and even hover across. I am rambling a bit, but I am excited for the future. We have been given an opportunity by our contract holder that most of our kind could only dream about. Sally will go over the actual details in a moment, while I set this up,” Willis said and shifted out of the way.

The projector screen flipped to an image of a map of the western half of the old United States. Sally pointed to a slew of flashing red dots which instantly grabbed our attention. There was a pattern here that I had already decoded, but this version made that pattern even more evident. The obvious result was that once populous areas were swarmed by red meandering dots.

Even relatively remote Aspen got an Xgate, so it wasn’t a complete pattern—there were even five red dots in the Arctic. I scooted my chair back and the scraping sound of the Taver crafted pine against the hardwood floor drew everyone’s attention.

I stepped around those seated to approach Sally. “Options?” My voice was inquisitive yet stern.

“Not Colorado. Again, great as outposts, sure. But there are a dozen Xgates in the state alone. New Mexico also holds mountains that we could build in, but again, more Xgates, all close to suitable mountains,” Sally said.

I saw her add a little blue blinking light to the north.

“I have combed through your former country’s databases. The US Government had many secret facilities. This Teton Fortress,” she pointed to the blue blinking light, “was a colony ship testing facility. Built to sustain a million beings on a journey to a new home. The Alpha Centauri training grounds, it was called, was completed in the winter of 2031, almost as if they knew this event was coming. It met every criterion the powers to be needed: isolated, safe, and big enough to save a million of the country’s top minds.”

“I am surprised the Teton Fortress was kept a secret,” I said, glancing at the map. Two new green dots appeared on the map. I pointed to the first one. “This is not far from the Teton Fortress.”

“Correct,” Sally nodded, “Mount Moran is in the same mountain range. Based on the data we analyzed, it has exactly what we need—but it is not the only option that fits my parameters. There is also this spot here,” she used the pointer to indicate a blinking green dot to the northwest. “In Canada, northwest of Calgary, there is a second suitable location in a northern section of a place called Banff. There are logistical issues involved with settling in either location. Let me cover the positives first.”

Everyone fidgeted as they studied the map.

“The site under Mount Moran has a river that flows down a waterfall and feeds a lake. The terrain requires minimal adjusting to -”

An “Oh” escaped Perci. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She shot out of her chair and said, “This has us moving underground. I… grrrr… Why?”

“Limited entry points and limited exposure to any threats. A Divine-ape can hurl a big rock at a floating city, but once fortified, it is next to impossible to collapse a cavern in one fell swoop. Also, I can create a sun, of sorts, with these extra generators to provide lighting and life for plants or trees from most planets. Everything can be tailored to exactly how we want it, with biomes for different sections, and so on. Think also about the fact that there will be no exposure for this community to Xgates. If you do happen to anger a foe, it will take days for them to reach your settlement, at a minimum, unless we leave the space completely undefended. Invaders are always on the clock, unless they settle directly above you,” Sally sighed.

Willis slurped forward. “Going underground will be no different than being above ground by the time we are done. We will create something so grand, you would expect it to be in one of your movies. I have no doubt, given time, both Aspen and Mansion would fall. Just like they would have already, if you had not had the assistance of the Divine-Apes. Without their help, you would be dead, enslaved, and most assuredly defeated. The bonus is that we can move before the next blue gate season,” Willis finished.

“Which may bring a cataclysmic foe your way,” chimed in Sally, “which now includes us, that you have not managed to engage yet.”

Perci grumbled, “Eric, we may need to dial this back a bit and have a meeting without -”

“Let’s get through the briefing,” I scolded my lovely lady, who was on the verge of tears. “Perci,” I gently chided, “we need to do what is best for everyone.”

This was Perci’s first true home, the first place not dominated by her mother. I knew her pains and this one, at least, I understood. My footsteps echoed across the hardwood floors. She batted at my hands as I plucked her firmly out of her chair. She folded into my chest before we even sat back in my rocking chair.

“I will conclude this briefing by giving you a choice. Mount Moran is smaller than Banff. With time and supplies, however, we can grow either location into a Mega-City. Banff, though larger, has more Xgates nearby; Calgary and Edmonton have three each. Though relatively close to Mount Moran, you have not established a close trading partnership with Teton Fortress. Remember, though, we now have air capabilities. In both cases, you are going further north. We may be able to control the climate inside our fortress, but the nearest Xgates will be snowed out in both places on the surface.”

I had an epiphany. “This is their plan.”

“Whose plan?” Willow asked.

Longoria chimed in, nodding, “Those who confine us. If you are under the ground, afraid of the surface, but dwelling comfortably, then we can expand much like a species here on Earth … I believe you call them ants. Communities will rationalize that there is little value in reaching for the stars. When you're underground is sufficiently developed, you may move to the surface. From there, you can claim a defeated desolate world for your expansion. Many species conclude that this is a large part of the plan, not the whole plan, but a significant element. Stage one is acknowledging you must adapt to survive.”

I leaned forward, pointing at Longoria from behind Perci, and said, “You have eluded to being wise—having survived for eons, Longoria. Please give us your unbiased opinion, based on your experience.”

The beautiful Fairy gave me a sad smile. “I have lived in worse than what we have now. Every time, it was defeated. I have lived on the surface near an Xgate in better strongholds than these. Defeated. The sky cities did well and were fantastic to live in. They can outrun most threats and as long as they remain in your planet’s atmosphere, they are not bothered by the Motherships. I dream of living in a sky city again. The problem is that, yes, tragically, they can be knocked down. When that happens … it is no…” She paused, wiping a tear that streaked down her cheek. “When that has happened, I am grateful for my wings. Sky cities also require immense investments of both time and resources. The best ones would land unless threatened and utilized homes on the surface for a multitude of reasons.” She choked up again.

Willow got up to rub the Longoria’s back.

“Oh, look at me getting all emotional,” she smiled at Willow. “My advice is to move under Mount Moran. For the children, for the civilians, and for our future. Then, once established underground, we can build a sky city so our community can rotate between the two to please those unhappy with life underground. I know the skills the Sluggeros possess. They will turn Bastion’s new home into a veritable wonder—an underground city with daylight. You will never notice you are underground, in time. I have already grown fond of your ethos and people. I would rather not be sold in hard times or see you defeated and me forced to agree to a new owner.” She shuddered. “Oh … one more thing.”

Willow smiled and encouraged her, “Please share.”

“We have purchased some of the best weapons for sale.” Longoria paused. “There are better weapons built privately that are not for sale at the market. This can only be done from a stable manufacturing base. If you want to be the best, you require a sanctuary—a home that you can defend and not fret over. This Mount Moran or Banff can take us to a new level with the Sluggeros advancing our cause and Bastion Community delving into manufacturing. We need to do this sooner rather than later—there are many other monster species capable of defeating our market-purchased technology with ease. I do not want to see yet another community erased from existence. None of us do.”

There was a sad pause when she finished. Everly raised a hand and I nodded.

“Can we grow trees under -”

Sally interrupted. “Yes! Massive trees. There will be a whole protected forest that will feel just like the surface. Trust me, you will not know you are underground.”

I could see that Sally had secured the Crixxis’ and the Faeries’ vote, siding with the move. I would have to be the hammer to pound the humans into line.

“How will we get to our outposts? I thought the underways did not stretch that far?” I asked, my face twisted with concern.

“The tunneling machines will be transported to the insertion dig site via AC1. Eventually, we will dig down and build a corridor of underways. It’ll take sixteen stops to get from there to here—these can be combined, with effort and time. Total travel time between Aspen and Mount Moran would be an hour plus, all underground. That is, if I don’t build something custom, which I may. The distance between these locations is approximately a half hour’s aircraft flight, but those introduce significantly more risks.” Sally gave the Sluggero equivalent of a shrug, “I can build all sorts of things with more resources.”

“Right now, you're sitting on some zinc and minimal mineral reserves,” Willis said with a grunt. He folded his short arms across his round belly. “To take advantage of this opportunity, we need to get back to looting as soon as possible. Shifting Bastion Community underground is going to require a mountain of resources—far more than simple zinc from your current mining efforts. Boulder should be your prime target.” He tapped at his Gpad. “The Koovorin Council will not raid a portal with a powerful army guarding its Xgate. You should have been looting for the past eighteen hours.”

“We also require proper data on the worlds connected to Xgate 201,” Sally chimed in.

My Gpad pinged, but before I could read the message, Sally said, “Have fun in Koor, obey the rules and you should be fine. Never leave the vault. They will love to trade directly for zinc. The competitions could earn us a lot, because they rarely compete against humans operating synthetics. There is almost no downside if you engage in the trial of spouses.” She frowned and tapped at her translator, “The word is odd to translate.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” I muttered, then chuckled. “Before this meeting is adjourned, we need to have a vote.” All eyes turned to me. “All in favor of building a secret underground base away from blood, battle, and the constant threat posed by these Xgates?”

I raised my hand. Sarah, Bonnet, Ulanda, and Norm kept theirs down. Everyone else’s hands joined mine in the air. Yikes. Hardly unanimous.

“We will not force those who do not want to go to a new home to leave their existing communities, if they so choose. They will retain their items and back pay,” I said with a deflated sigh. “Alright, my Gpad is telling me I am needed to meet with this Koorian representative.” I stood up. “The motion to establish a third stronghold is approved for Mount Moran. The motion to reduce the Bastion footprint in Colorado to two outposts, dug primarily into the mountains, is approved. The motion to shift all building priorities to our new base is approved. As of this moment, the Bastion Community is retreating for safety below ground. For the community!”

“For the community!” those in attendance echoed back.

I went to set Perci down but she refused to let go of me. While she was determined not to cry or show weakness in front of the others, I could see she was still upset.

“It is going to be so much grander than Mansion, you will think back on your disappointment this day and laugh. We will call it Stronghold Castle and use lots of glass and design a city you can always be proud of,” I said quietly to her.

Willow gave me a kiss, followed by Everly next. They were off to go loot. Nancy rubbed Perci’s back and murmured, “Our children will thank you. I agree with our soon to be husband. We will ensure it is something we can cherish.”

“I want to meet this delegation. My desire to do what is best for us all will win the day,” Perci twisted her face from a smile to a hesitant smile, then gave me a full, long kiss. “We have been living in an RV on a single bed for weeks. If we can have a stable home and a happy family there, we can do it anywhere. Of course, not dying or becoming some asshole’s servant is a boon.” She straightened up and squared her shoulders, “Now set me down so we can go meet this representative.”

I smiled down at my amazing Perci. I knew without a doubt, my family would get through this transition and become stronger in the process.

CHAPTER 16

AH1 flew us toward Objective Rubble at a steady speed. The bright sun fought to crash through the scattered clouds, but it was losing that battle. Rain was in the forecast for this evening; I realized that would not be an issue in our new home. Would the Sluggeros create weather patterns? I let the thoughts drift in my mind while watching out the front of the ship.

The rear of my army peeled out of formation to head to their prospective Mansion or Aspen homes. I had ordered looting be resumed, for now, which meant it was time for most of our units to pick up trailers and empty sleds. When I sent the order out, I added non-combatants to the looting teams.

Those designated to go find and secure electronic components were hopping into acrium vats. Each of them would receive a peeblenator and a personal anti-grav sled to pile loot on while they worked. There was a little pushback from the Crixxi, Mounamine, and Pandarin—they insisted they were not contracted to be warriors, and I agreed. I still told them to get out, grab some loot, earn their keep, and only shoot something if they absolutely had to. They didn’t need to be ‘Fobbits’ all the time; it was relatively safe to leave the base. I sighed, remembering the derogative term from the Middle East for those who refused to leave the Forward Operating Bases, or FOBs. Military people could be so cruel to each other.

While our looting endeavors prepared to hit Boulder, my eyes drifted to a group not far away from AC1. This group emptied the big carrier of its post battle contents in an Aspen parking lot. I wanted the carrier to provide oversight and assist with looting operations, which meant it was prepping for flight.

I saw our prisoners were inside an electric pen, not far from where I had conversed with Ralph, yesterday. They seemed calm and bored, which was exactly how I wanted them.

AH2 caught my eye as it glided into an open spot not far from where I saw Jevon, Ralph, Linda, Ryan, and a triple-eyed sloth with two legs.

“A Certhian, huh,” Longoria muttered. I walked behind her, gently guiding a wing out of my way to let me get closer so I could check things out over her shoulder. “Careful stud. You enter my bubble and you’re likely to get pounced on.”

“Oh,” I grinned at the beautiful Fairy who eyed me like a piece of bacon, “I was going to view your screen, but I do enjoy seeing you naked,” I said, blowing her a kiss. “Now, tell me about these Certhians.”

“Men, a fine Fairy like me offers you the key to her chastity belt and you jump right back to business,” Longoria said with a scoff. “Much better for us all if you’d jump me, instead.”

Perci gave a deep belly laugh.

“I thought you would enjoy hearing that, my queen,” Longoria smirked.

“Right, even I have been missing out on my Eric love,” Perci said with a smirk that I caught from the corner of my eye. “She is only going to wait so long to carry your children Eric,” my diminutive lover nudged me with an elbow, “You need to pick her or Setaria.”

I chuckled, yanking the Fairy’s tight ass into my crotch. Her pert ass twirled a circle around my growing cock as she winked playfully over her shoulder. She may enjoy teasing me, but this was definitely a two way street. There was no acrium armor on either of us, and she groaned as my rapidly rising girth pressed against her lips.  I pulled my straining manhood off her booty before I lost control and poked a hole in my pants or her skirt. Longoria playfully pouted until I grinned and said, “Tonight work for you? Both of you? For all the three of us?”

“An assertive man does wonders. Yes. We agree,” Longoria said and Perci nodded with a wide grin.

“Not to kill the vibe, but would it even work?” I asked and the Fairy gave me an ‘are you stupid’ look. I realized that was worded poorly. “Ah, not the sex, I have seen you naked and know men are already joining with Faeries. I meant would we be able to have babies, silly.”

“Ah, yes, we’re compatible. Generally speaking, two species create a hybrid. Our children would most likely be a majority Fairy, our gene is very strong in winning that fight. Your Human genes will make them bigger, probably. That is about it. Maybe shorten their ears? So, minimally hybrid; they will still blend in with the dominant species fairly well.”

“And the Mounamine?” I asked; Sammie blushed a deep crimson.

“Your union would produce a Human with mouse-ears. Sammie’s bunny tail would probably vanish, but maybe not on every child,” Longoria said, eyeing Sammie with a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Look at her … embarrassment, discomfort and excitement all packed into one delicious little bundle.”

“Alright, don’t tease the poor girl,” Nancy said, momming over Sammie. “The Certhians,” Nancy got us back on track, “tell us about them, Longoria.”

“A Certhian may bear characteristics you attribute to a slow forest creature, sloths, with their long, thin fingers and thick nails, a distinct head shape, but with three instead of just two eyes, and long, shaggy fur. Trust me, they are both lethal and proficient with technology. This Koor city probably has layer on top of layers of defenses, all within an underground bunker. They would be hard pressed to beat you in the field, however, without egregious losses. But be warned, they could defeat us, if they felt the victory worth the cost.”

“What was Sally talking about with these ‘trials’?” I asked, returning to the comfy leather couch to plop down beside Perci.

“Probably just what it sounds like. There is more to living than simply surviving, you know. Imagine what will happen if Bastion’s new base lasts for a hundred years, peacefully. There will be gambling, gaming, gorging on delightful foods, and group events like sporting. You’ve probably gleaned that Koor and the Koovorin Empire have all this, already,” Longoria said, setting the aircraft down on the ground. “I will be back after I return Mistress Nancy to Mansion.”

“You sure you don’t want to assist with the diplomacy?” I asked Nancy.

She shook her head no. My lovely lady flung a knee over my waist to straddle my lap. I was given a deep kiss and a warm snuggle.

“I have a lot to prepare for. Our future starts today. The virum have opened my heart to a degree I never thought possible. Our children will be blessed in the sanctuary that our hard work will provide them,” Nancy said, another kiss ground against my lips, this one hungrier than the first. Certain parts of me started to take notice.

“Now,” Nancy grinned, as she ground on my crotch teasingly, “I am the Mistress of the Mounamine; they answer to me, right Sammie?”

Sammie fired back a response instantly, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Nancy, I am proud of you,” I said and then grinned as I held her down in my lap and nipped at the hollow of her neck. She released a long shuddering sigh and ground against me. I stood up, dislodging her from my lap with a heartfelt groan. “I will miss you today,” I said, sitting her back on the couch. I held out a hand that Perci accepted. “Just you and I, babe.”

“Just the two of us,” Perci agreed.

“What?!” Sammie let out an indignant squeak, “I do exist, you know.” We shared a  laugh before scratching her ears affectionately. “Okay,” she sighed, “thank you for making me feel special.”

“You’re my squire, Sammie. A warlord always needs help,” I grinned, “okay, we’re off. Good luck, Nancy. Come back ASAP without AH1, Longoria,” I said as we exited the control room. “The siblings need this machine for their crazy plan.”

We walked across the hangar bay and down the ramp to the paved parking area that used to be a plaza. A few seconds after we cleared the ramp, AH1 was gone. The takeoff smooth, with minimal turbulence. I watched the aircraft fade into the distance before linking arms with Perci. My acrium protectors rested comfortably in their vat. I did not mind too much, it kept me out of any direct fighting—which I caught hell from both Nancy and Perci about doing much too much of. I understood their concern, so I let myself be dragged away from the fight; though, I still had on sleeved armor under my dual empowered shielding. I may not have acrium on, but I wasn’t going anywhere without wearing some form of protection.

Perci wore a simple gown; it reminded me of a dress from some fantasy movie. The light blues and yellow suited her lightly tanned complexion and hazel eyes. Sammie had suited up in basic combat fatigues, from which her bunny tail protruded through a cutout. Both had the smallest version of the fanny-pack power plants with protective shield generating pucks strategically placed over their bodies.

Jevon turned to wave us over. Ralph gave me a toothy alien smile with rows of molars and canines. The Certhian waved a slow hand, mimicking Jevon. The group seemed very happy for a post-battle prisoner exchange.

Before I reached them, Eddy ran over for a word. His expression was a mix of sadness and anger.

“Hey Eddy, good to see you,” I said.

“Yeah, I wish I could say the same,” he sighed. “The missus wants to go to Colorado Springs. I want to go to Mount Moran. I am just giving you a heads up, in case I lose the fight. Her and some wives were wanting to reach out to that city to check on their status as potential relocation places,” Eddy muttered a frown. “I told her not to be rash, but she is in tizzy.”

“Well, I can’t blame her. Allocate a convoy to Colorado Springs and establish a friendly relationship. That’s something we should have done a while ago, actually.” I scratched at the back of my neck. “Hey, Eddy, just something to consider ... people can live in wherever they want until they see how the Moran settlement turns out. The design might be a utopia unsurpassed by anything less than a cloud city, or it could be a dumpy cavern that makes you want to kill yourself. My point is, I have no issues with you getting more information before making such a big decision.”

Eddy grimaced and gave a terse nod. “Aye, well said Cap. I will get that convoy moving and report back with the results.”

“Thanks, Eddy,” I said, patting his shoulder before stepping off for Jevon and the gang.

When Eddy was out of earshot, Perci cleared her throat and gave me a meek, guilty shrug.

“So… I’m not perfect. He will be staying; I have satellite imagery of Colorado Springs,” Perci said sadly. I paused our walk again. She knew something, so I rolled my wrist, encouraging her to spill the beans. “They are mostly dead or captured. There were a lot of people there, Eric. A lot.” Perci buried her face in her hands. “At the end of the last blue gate, there was a battle against these three-foot-tall amphibian creatures. The aliens tunneled under their defenses, from the looks of the video feeds I have seen. A few hundred cowered in hiding, trying to avoid the conflict and somehow managed to survive.” She looked back up with tears in her eyes. “I found out when mom arrived with her data update and meant to see if they needed help. Sending that message out slipped through the cracks. I am sure the survivors are going to have more to report. It’s probably best we help those who managed to escape death or enslavement.”

“Wow, um… okay. Eddy will probably end up rescuing them,” I said with a frown. “This is why you need your own squire or something. Even your mom has some underlings she pushes excess work onto.”

“I was planning on using the Mounamine you filled with babies for my staff, but you haven’t done that.” She poked me in the ribs, “and you stole the best one.”

Ow! Damn, if her little pokey finger didn’t jab me in the kidney.

“I may use that Dorthy girl, she was my second pick,” Perci said with a long sigh.

My hands went on her shoulders and our eyes locked. “You’re not a robot. We’re going through a lot. Try to fix what you can, and we will get through this together. Eddy’s convoy will get us all the information we need. Hopefully, we can save those people.” I pulled her close and snuggled her into my chest. “I love you, my forever girl.”

Our side chat had kept the others waiting, so I sneaked a peck of a kiss to her forehead and guided us towards the diplomacy crowd.

“Eric, this is Toth, Toth, this our fearless leader, Eric” Jevon said bouncing gestures between us to complete the introduction.

“Welcome to Earth, and the Bastion territory. I sent Ralph here to request a prisoner exchange. He mentioned the Kerbians over there were worth more alive than dead,” I said thumbing at the fifteen prisoners watching our talks.

“Well met Eric. I represent the Koovorin Nation that asserts responsibility for these beings. We are not here to apologize for our ways, merely to offer two things. A trade, most certainly, and a visit, secondarily,” Toth said politely. His words were just a touch slower than normal. I held in my reaction when his eyes drifted apart. One remained on me, one checked out the Kerbians to his right, and the last stayed on Ralph, out his left. None lost their focus either. Odd. He slowly smiled, “We are accepting immigrant factions at the moment.”

“And random strays?” I asked. “We have some people seeking new accommodations and some servants whose contracts will be ending soon.”

“Well, that could be arranged … but we require a year of rent in advance as well as guarantees you have the ability to contribute to our economy in some way. Factions tend to help provide for their own in hard times; the Koovorin Council does not provide a social safety net. Those who fail to sustain themselves and contribute to the greater good, get tossed out or are required to enter into contracts,” Toth said with a frown. “Still, we have a dozen megacities currently connected together and many have open space and are ready for expansion.”

“Sounds great, I would love a tour with some assurances,” I said earnestly. “Never been to a megacity before.”

“The Kerbians first. I can offer you one Fairy for all of them. Honestly, I am not sure why the faction leader wants these soldiers but he does. A single Fairy is -”

“A very fitting trade. Done. That was easy,” I said and Perci rolled her eyes at my excitement. “My Sluggeros mentioned you had some kind of a competition?”

Granted, even though I was new to dealing with aliens, I should not have mentioned the Sluggeros. Linda Growlen buried her face in her hands. Jevon let a slight chuckle escape at this evidence of her frustration. If anyone understood the pains of dealing with my limited negotiating skill, it was Jevon.

“You’ve such a blunt hammer, Eric, you brute. When you negotiate, you are first supposed to put some pressure on Toth, be angry about your dead, demand retributions or some such,” Linda said, tossing her hands up in the air. “And another thing, don't give your secrets to your enemies.”

“We’re not enemies with the Koovorin Nation, are we Toth?” I asked.

The sloth shifted his eyes awkwardly from Linda to me.

“No, your defeat of the Kerbian raiders has forced them to consider easier targets. Our main armies are for primarily defense. The faction that represents our raiders … well, trust me, no one wants to bear the cost of crashing through onto your planet again,” Toth admitted with a slow shrug. “I will return with word of this acceptance. A safety contract will be drawn up that your Sluggeros can attest to and we will meet again. Say … tomorrow at the same time?”

“Absolutely,” I smiled. “One Fairy for fifteen Kerbians, with the potential for further trade tomorrow. Bring a list of what you have available, I will have zinc on hand,” I summarized.

He slowly nodded.

“Oh and you have no objection to us keeping these Jevians?”

Toth shook his head. “They surrendered quickly and Ralph said you offered them a great deal. We can respect that. They are easily replaced and the cost of their replacement is probably cheaper on the open market. See you tomorrow, Eric.”

Toth walked for a tracked vehicle that waited on the far side of the plaza. When his door hissed shut, they ground their way towards the gate.

“You would willingly trust an enemy?” Linda said with a scoff.

I gave her my full attention. “Mrs. Growlen, please let me make something clear.” I pointed to the retreating tracked vehicle. “That is not a Human. We are not in the swamp that was DC, where politicking equated to backstabbing. He literally started off by refusing to apologize for trying to kill us. There was an open honesty in what Toth said. The thing I see, that others apparently refuse to, is that this is our new reality. There will always be conflict and the need for trade. I believed Ralph, and now I believe Toth: there are millions of aliens living in some form of harmony on the other side of that portal. If I can be given assurances, I want to see what that is like, in the hopes of building something similar, if not better, here.”

“You at least realize that one of those hideous Kerbians is more valuable than a regular prisoner?” Linda said with folded arms and a scowl.

“Of course, we are getting an expensive Fairy in exchange and I don’t have to kill the lot of them. Now, Linda, you look too much like Perci to be hanging around here; you and Ryan go find me some loot to raid. And Linda,” I said with a pause.

“Yes, Eric?”

“Thank you for your candor. I appreciate the honest feedback,” I said.

Perci slugged me on my arm.

“Ouch! I’m not in armor my little, enhanced virum lover,” I scowled down at her.

Perci whistled something tuneless while artlessly inspecting the raining clouds in the distance, as if nothing transpired. Eventually, though, she smirked without apologizing for slugging me for saying her mom looked like her.

Longoria crunched over the rubble-strewn asphalt when she arrived in Jevon’s truck. Score! I loved this vehicle. We had a day to kill until the next big event, assuming some aliens didn’t decide to crash the party.

There was obviously only one thing to do with a peace somewhat settled: go visit the Gribin forest through the northern portal on Xgate 232 and see what they wanted for their plants, seeds, and animals. I hoped we could find some good baby trees or something. But first, we would need to get back into our acrium armor and properly geared up. I was excited to do a bit of Vikingism, even if it was in a friendly way. Maybe it would be wise to bring a gift. I wondered what we could afford to give away. I decided a yexin should do nicely. With a plan coming together, I called out ‘shotgun’ and hopped into the truck.

“We’re going to make a few stops,” I said to Longoria, as Sammie and Perci got in the back.

“What stops?” Perci queried.

“I want to get back into my acrium and visit the northern jungle portal, bring a yexin as a gift and—”

Sammie tapped me on the shoulder repeatedly, causing me to pause. The mousey woman had wide eyes and blurted out, “Mistress Everly would very much like to go. She told me to not let you go to a jungle planet without her. Ever.” My sweet little mouse-girl swallowed nervously, “And she frightens me.”

I rolled my eyes while Perci affectionately rubbed her ears. Well, at least the cat hadn’t gotten the mouse’s tongue. My silliness caused me to giggle, as I rang up Everly.

“You put babies in Longoria yet?” Everly blurted out, “Nancy said you were going to do it. I approve.”

Longoria bounced her thin eyebrows at me with a huge grin on her face.

“Oh, you’re fully clothed,” my Crixxi frowned, “Can I help you husband?”

“Soon to be husband, actually. Hmm… We need to fix that sooner rather than later. Maybe on a bright sunny day this week and—” I was interrupted when Perci gave me a big hug from behind. That lasted all of two seconds before she scurried over the front console and into my lap. “We’re going to the jungle planet. Meet at RV3 with a Crixxi hunting party of a few hundred.”

When I closed the connection with Everly, there was a knock on my window. I rolled the window down and Perci grumbled, “Bit busy at the moment, Jevon.”

“Ha, your pouting is deflected and sent back to you. Better luck next time. Also, please do not mess up the interior of my truck,” Jevon said, patting the top of the truck.  “I love this baby. All my back pay from Saudi went into this. Everly asked if she could leave Bensen in charge. Something about raiding the Gribin portal.”

“Yeah, I figured we could go in and introduce ourselves, now that things have calmed down some. Maybe see if they want a tank or generator or zinc for a trade. We could offer them a free yexin, if they want a gift. You know, nice neighbors tend to avoid killing each other and all that. We will probably lock the gate when they respond.”

Jevon nodded along.

“Yeah,” I pointed to the crews preparing to head towards Boulder, “let’s do this right. Let the looters keep looting with their civilian counterparts. We will make a quick trip to the jungle planet. I’ll have someone bring Goliath 1 for overwatch,” I ordered.

“Will do, we lock down 232 north in about an hour and try to trade; if not, the drones should find something worthy of our time. What about if we get contact while you’re gone?” Jevon asked.

“We’ll return home; we’re locking the gate, though, so it should give us some freedom for a bit,” I noted and Jevon double tapped the top of the truck for us to roll out. I rolled up the window as we sped away from the plaza. “Take us to RV3 please, Longoria. We’ll have ten minutes for a side adventure, if you want, before we go questing in the jungle.”

“This jungle is where a real adventure awaits, Eric.” She patted her lap before sliding a finger over her crotch. “Faeries can do magic,” Longoria said and Perci gave her a high five when my cock stirred.

Perci traced a hand down my thigh and then up my kilt. She wiggled out of her knickers as we drove towards Mansion. I was going to fight it at first, but I wanted her little pussy on my cock. I yanked my shirt off and slid it underneath us on top of the seat.

Longoria slowed down slightly and kept glancing our way while biting her lip. Perci had pulled my cock out and slid down onto my shaft as she straddled me. For a brief few minutes, it was only the two of us in the truck; hell, in the universe. We passionately kissed while she ground my cock deeper and deeper inside of her. I squeezed her pert little ass as her climax dripped down my balls.

“Stop the truck. I’m driving. Longoria, back seat rodeo,” Perci gasped as she shuddered and calmed down after her orgasm.

The truck pulled to a stop. Longoria hopped out, Perci hopped off, and Sammie hopped out with a squeak. “Where do I go?” Sammie asked meekly.

“Eric!” Perci nudged me, with an eye roll.

I fixed my kilt and exited the truck, heading for the back seat with a slightly dirtied shirt. Sammie scurried out to swap places with me. When I got into the back seat, Longoria was already nude, awaiting me on her knees. She pointed to the middle of the bench seat and commanded, “Sit.”

I obeyed, like a good boy, and was rewarded when her toned Fairy body straddled my hips. She paused to remove my kilt altogether. When my cock sprang free from the garment, Longoria sucked the head of my cock into her mouth. Her head bobbed up and down the length of my still hard shaft several amazing times. When my entire manhood was rigid and wet, she climbed aboard and pressed her tits into my face.

My tongue twirled around her big nipples while I felt a tingling sensation engulf my cock. A twisting squeeze was applied to my girth as she plunged down onto me. Her little pussy torqued up and down my cock as my face was smothered with her deliciously huge breasts. When I spanked her juicy booty, it rippled.

“Harder!” Longoria grunted, getting into the rhythm. I smacked her ass red while she pumped my cock with her cork-screwing vagina.

Her angle she shifted her legs to, gave a new definition to ‘flexible’ as she rotated to face forward. Her elbows rested on the center console of the front seat while here hips stayed glued to my lap. A slight fluttering of her wings enticed me to tug them towards me, gently at first. She arched her back to lustfully gaze at me from over her shoulder.

“Watch the magic,” Longoria said, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth in a fit of passion.

It felt amazing. She rode my cock hard, her ass smacking into my lap with perfect timing; her vagina twisted and clenched in tandem with her hip movements. She pumped my dick, begging for its release. Longoria clasped a tit tightly as she orgasmed on my throbbing boner. I grunted as my explosion filled her. With my seed still pumping into her, she twisted her torso back around to lock lips with me in a long sweet kiss.

Longoria rotated her hips back around and collapsed onto me, burying her blonde curls in my chest hair. I shuffled us behind Perci as we passed through the gates. My arms compressed her wings tight to her back while I held her. They felt almost like skin, yet appeared so different. She didn’t complain about the contact and I enjoyed holding her while I softened inside her.

“Do acrium get mad if we don’t shower?” I asked, wondering how that worked.

“Yes, we will shower quickly before swapping into our armor. After that, we can go on this side quest … now that the main adventure is over,” Longoria said with a wink and a kiss.

CHAPTER 17

Onix ran the entire way to the Xgate. The elephant sized cat swatted at the rear end of the truck like it was a cat toy. I guess to Onix we were the proverbial mouse. To me, it was damn annoying but one of those transgressions that caused your inner aggravation to turn into happiness. I mean, how often did a cat swat at a truck for fun?

Plus, I needed a smile. I had received a call earlier that I had been putting off. When we were halfway to the Xgate I decided to answer Mrs. Sinclair.

“This is Teton Fortress, over,” the radio operator said.

“Willis, why do I have a goon on the line?” I asked, knowing the siblings were listening.

This had all started the moment I exited the acrium vat in jungle camouflage armor. My Gpad rang and was answered for me. Sally told me she had built Gtower replicas shaped to look like trees. She planted—the pun caused her cackle repeatedly—enough Gtowers that we were now in contact with Teton Fortress. They’d had some priority messages I was not interested in at the time, because I was gearing up for a mission. Then Onix distracted me and now we were at the point where I was frowning again.

“The President is having a radio operator answer her wrist,” Willis said and a loud Sluggero laugh echoed in the small space of the truck cab. “Here is the video. Ha, they are trying to shut me out. Stop that before I cut off your power.”

An image of a tech guy in a lab coat holding the president’s wrist appeared in the hologram. Ah, interesting, human politics were the worst.

“Hello President Sinclair, I see you on the feed. What is this priority message?” I asked with disdain.

“Your… aliens committed an act of war,” President Sinclair said defiantly; she even stomped a foot.

She was in military fatigues with a beret on her head. When I rubbed my temples, she sighed. I rolled down the window to tease Onix. My hand was swatted faster than my eyes could track.

“Damn, Onix, that kind of hurt,” I said with a wince, rubbing my bicep. “Oh shit, sorry. I realized I just got berated by a sitting President and did not give a fuck. Oh, right, you're the third one to do so. Hansen first. That guy hated me. God, I remember the time—”

“Eric Yang, I am a busy woman, what do you have to say for yourself in light of my accusations?” she demanded.

“We crushed an alien army and are bored. Did you just say we are at war? Hmm, looks like our boredom problems are solved…” I said and let the sentence hang.

Tired with the conversation I pulled Everly over into my lap to pet her tail. Everly let it be known how little she cared that the President was watching, when she started kissing my ear.

My face was exposed, this time, by the acrium and my little Crixxi minx was loving it. My forehead still held a crown and the back of my neck was protected, but I hated restricting my vision with a full-face covering. I also felt oddly alien with my face covered.

“Don’t be such a dick,” Perci warned from upfront.

“I thought you were dating Growlen’s daughter?” Sinclair asked, disgust etched on her face at my lewd conduct with the alien.

“This is Everly. She is my Crixxi queen and both a natural leader and an amazing lover.” I nuzzled her ear. “And Growlen’s daughter has a name,” I snapped, “Perci for short, and she happens to be the most powerful woman on Earth.” I traded grins with my diminutive lover. “Remind me why you were calling again? Who gives a shit if aliens hacked your secure,” I even did the air quotes with my fingers, “servers? I am about to go raid a jungle planet with my army. Got an image to uphold, buildings to finance, armies to employ, and a Teton Fortress on my conquer list.”

“Your insinuations are dangerous and reckless,” she cautioned.

“To a human in a weak position, yes. Please know that I do not fear you. Now, this is your last chance, before I hang up, to explain why the fuck you called me,” I demanded, getting aroused by Everly’s teasing fingers. I bet my acrium were laughing at the fact they were cockblocking me at the moment. “Sinclair!”

This startled her until one of her generals edged into the screen. “San Francisco fell. The city was ‘blessed’ by this Gate-god supporting character, we hypothesize it was spared due to the terrain. It has five Xgates, four of which are all out on the water, with only one a half-hour due west by car. When the survivors knocked on our door last week, we sent people to the fancy homes around the city that remained unmolested.” He paused and snapped something to an aide off-screen. “It turns out Growlen let some of our people give up their spots in Teton Fortress to go live at these waterfront estates. They were captured; those people had information about where we are.”

“Alright,” I mused, “you have been discovered and someone assaulted San Francisco. Not a surprise, I was planning to raid the city myself for their manufacturing gear and rare elements.” Seeing that our vehicle was rolling up to the Xgate, I hopped out. “One moment,” I warned those on the line, “Cover your ears.”

They ignored me as I cupped my hands around my mouth to shout.

“Get inside that portal and get in touch with the Gribin! Tell them we’re here to trade,” I shouted and pointed for the drone team to get a move on. They were gone without a word. I kept yelling. “It should take them time to respond and then reach us. When they are ready to trade, we’ll lockdown the gate.”

The general watched the video of my troops jumping into the portal and gasped.

“Are you doing a live raid while talking to us?” The general asked and I squinted to see his name tag. Paul. Ah, that must be the worst, having a first name for a last name. Then I realized that Growlen’s general was named Ryan.

“Are you using first names?” I asked Paul.

“Oh, this?” he flicked his nametape with a smirk, “Yes. New initiative under Hensen since everyone was hyphenating their last names.” He scowled. “Dammit, Captain Yang, you’re sidetracking me with your infuriating distractions. There is a human gate-god worshiper coming to steal our stockpiles of rare minerals,” Paul said, barely controlling his anger.

Sinclair seemed to have found her tongue. “I… You…” she sighed, “We need your help.”

“Fancy that,” I scoffed, watching Onix bound through the portal. A yexin bayed from a horse trailer not far away. “Who is this guy you fear so thoroughly you have to beg for help?”

“Um… We have identified him as a Jarod Lispner from Marble Heights, Colorado. I guess that’s the—”

“Fuck me,” I blurted. “Is he with a bunch of Sirens? Brown hair, brown eyes and infused with virum? He … looks like an enhanced human.”

“Yes. How did you know?” She was surprised.

“How long until he hits you?” I asked quickly. Willis sent me their file on this Jarod Lispner … it was Jill’s Jarod alright. I had seen pictures of him with Mary in their little cubical. Jill kept the pictures up, even if Mary remained defiantly anti-Jarod.

“Unknown timeline for his attack. He appears to be consolidating his loot. He had an aircraft carrier. Bigger than yours, length-wise, but not as wide. We launched thirty of our cruise missiles into it. They finally cracked the shielding and grounded the bird. So, unless he marches against us on foot, we’ll have nine days until he can get a replacement or manages to make the needed repairs.”

“Call me if he moves sooner.” I thought for a moment as I watched Crixxi form up outside the Xgate. “And Sinclair ... this is not a freebie. I will let you hire me for this one, pirate’s code. Not an ounce of Y until we defeat his army,” I said through clenched teeth. “Now, I’ve got some real work to do while you huddle in your ‘unsecure’ fortress.” I smirked, “Maybe grow a pair of balls and trade with the aliens and you won’t need to call me for help.”

Sinclair was screaming at my insolence when I closed the connection.

“Perci, how did I do?”

“Well, you didn’t tell her we were moving into the area. That is a plus. I take it Jarod is Jill’s Jarod?” I nodded. “Still … doesn’t make it our problem,” Perci said unconvincingly.

“I bet it will when we review his victory. He has no air mobility. We do. Either we smash him before he massacres and enslaves a million humans—even if they are stuck-up assholes—or we do so when he is attacking Bastion. There are no other options, Perci,” I said grimly, before a sly grin replaced my frown. “And Perci, think of all the loot they have piled up.”

She was about to come back with a witty reply when our conversation was interrupted.

“Hey Cap!” Torrez shouted to me from near the portal. “The Gribin are on their way, ten minutes by flight with a list of trading goods.”

“Lock the gate! Bring our trading goods closer to the portal!” I shouted before muttering to my ladies, “Give me three minutes.”

I rang Jill’s Gpad.

“Hey handsome, we were just talking about our new home and how we would be close to Maria again,” Jill said with a wide smile; Mary leaned in over her shoulder.

“Hey, Mary! You look lovely Jill. I missed our talk this morning, Mary. Hopefully,” I paused looking outside the truck and seeing the rain was going to hit any moment. “We can chat tomorrow.” Mary smiled and waved. “Hey Jill, remember that guy who could have been your college friend on the boat in New Zealand?”

Jill frowned, but nodded.

“Well, turns out it was him. Unfortunately, I have more bad news. He is now leading an army and sacked San Francisco,” I said.

Jill’s jaw dropped.

“Yeah … Right in the zinger, I tell you.”

Mary tilted her head in confusion.

Great, it was working. “I apologize if I have the tact of a sledgehammer. Mary, your mommy is very strong, but I need you to keep her happy for a bit, until Nancy can get there.”

Jill straightened her back and said, “My college friend was a docile man. I am sad to have lost him and eagerly await the pajama princess movie party with Mommy Nancy! If you get a chance to join us when you’re done, stop by. I have a penthouse with two bedrooms! It is the best, right Mary?” She smiled at her daughter.

“I miss Jasmine,” Mary grumbled, until her mom tickled her.

“We will see her tomorrow, sweetheart. Say, ‘bye daddy’.”

“Bye Daddy.”

The communication went blank and I swallowed a lump in my throat. Jill didn’t even bat an eye at what I said. She’d married someone to play it safe and was unhappy. After the fall of Earth, she found a way to be happy and content. Her past life going crazy wasn’t going to ruin that happiness. I shuffled some rocks with my toes while taking a few deep breaths to get my emotions under control. I guess my three minutes were up and I was out of time, as Perci gave me a hug that transitioned into holding my hand. We crunched the pebbles underfoot while marching towards the portal.

A little cat walked out of the Xgate on two legs in a leather outfit with daggers strapped to it. His or… yes it was a him, based on the bulging crotch and lack of boobs. His eyes squinted above his puffy cheeks and I could not make out any actual pupils. His whiskers flicked rapidly and his nose sniffed furiously. I named him Freddy.

“Hello Freddy, I am Eric. Welcome to Earth,” I said in a friendly tone.

Freddy tried to block his eyes from the scattered sunshine. Everly understood his pain, having come from a jungle world, and stood over him to block out the sun.

“Thank you,” he bowed slightly to Everly, “we have been eager for trade. Our isolation leads to boredom. What do you have that is fun?” Freddy said, catching me off guard.

“Oh, you desire entertainment more than food or minerals?” I asked, curious.

His two little hands or … paws? Pawed hands? Well, they rubbed together in anticipation. His cute snickering purr was the cherry on top, and brightened my day.

“When you are ancient, like me, and already have everything you need, and are bored… Unique entertainment is what passes the time. We highly value art, in most forms,” Freddy said, running his lips over his canines.

“Bouncy house fun or make-believe story fun?” I asked with a shrug of uncertainty. Perci rolled her eyes. “What?! I find a bouncy house more enjoyable than your average movie.”

“We have playgrounds of all sorts; stories are much better for trade,” Freddy said, and I guess his translator helped explain things.

“We were an open society of almost nine billion people before the Xgates arrived. We humans have our variation also—”

“You smell different from the dead bodies that fall prey to our traps,” Freddy hissed at the thought. “You say nine billion? That number translates to a lot.”

“Freddy, what I was trying to tell you is that we have an almost infinite number of stored movies, videos, books, and more—all available at the press of a button,” I told the little guy.

The sky thundered and it started to rain, first a series of drips, then a drizzle that built-up to a steady downpour. I stepped through the portal’s shimmering blue. The sensation felt the same as always, with my eyes adjusting to the bright light while transitioning.

A dark jungle that was much smaller than I expected, surrounded me. The trees were sixty-feet-tall with willow-like limbs, but palm like fronds. The lighting at ground level was minimal at best. Thick undergrowth towered above us, soaking up whatever yellow sunlight had punched through the overhead canopy. About a hundred different animal noises around us created a song of sorts.

Freddy joined me on his planet and said, “Thanks for leaving the rain, we tend to easily avoid it in our home. As for your entertainment, yes. We desire that greatly. Here is what we have to trade.”

Freddy handed me a tablet that I passed to Perci. She read over the list with Longoria and Everly.

“Do you want the yexin on the other side of the portal?” I asked, pointing at the trailer back on earth still visible through the portal.

“That gas bag? No, we prefer bugs over red meat. Different species, different tastes. May I have a sample of this entertainment of yours?” Freddy asked.

I handed the little squinting Gribin my Gpad and put on a classic movie about alien invaders. There were big explosions right at the start.

“I do not know this species. How did they assault your planet? The motherships must—”

“It is fake,” I interrupted, “Some of this information is real, but this one is fake. All for the entertainment of what-if scenarios. Freddy,” I said, hitting the pause button, “there are about a billion years of entertainment I can offer you.”

The Gribin did a jig. He even spun a circle during his dance that reminded me of a rain chant. I let him have his moment.

“Freddy, while the infinitely wise women of my nation are pouring over your list, I was wondering who controls this land right here? Maybe we could get some saplings, some egg-laying birds, and even poke around?” I asked, wondering what would be here.

“Well, the mouse-people who moved in recently tried to claim this space. Three rotations ago?” He frowned. “Yes, three rotations. Already lost more than a few of their kind to the momba-snakes. Why? Do you have space for refugees?”

“Freddy,” I smiled, “that is what you should have led with. Can you give me a name for the species?”

“Mounamine.”

Sammie’s eyes lit up. There was a shriek that grew louder and louder until I wanted to cover my ears. The thick jungle vegetation rustled and shook until Onix bounded over the undergrowth to land nearby with a thud. The giant cat spat a Mounamine at my feet, covered in slobber and reeking of nasty cat breath. Sammie went down on one knee to check on the frightened Mounamine boy.

When he caught sight of Sammie in her jungle acrium armor and exposed face, he lunged at her and hid in her embrace.

I pulled Freddy away while Sammie calmed the boy’s nerves. Onix went to get another Mounamine, when I halted him.

“Onix, wait just a moment. We're going to bring over some scout sleds and march in on foot. You’re leading the army,” I said and Onix actually seemed happy about that. The little boy tried to flee from Sammie and was swatted back onto his rump by the big cat. Onix popped him down hard enough, the lad started crying. Sammie was helped by Longoria as the little guy was bound and removed to Earth. I knew the scene looked wrong, but I would return him, if we failed to secure the other Mounamine.

I turned to the Everly and ordered, “Get your troops in here with a dozen scout platforms. Onix has point; follow his lead. He is not a dumb cat and clearly can sense things in this place that we cannot.” The big cat purred and I turned to him. “Clear us a path; we will be behind you. Make haste, we only have forty-something minutes before this gate picks up.”

Everly was a lioness of a warrior. She darted back through the portal to organize her rain-drenched troops.

“Freddy, should we expect any of your traps going that way?” I pointed off to the side.

“Ah, no. This area is generally picked clean. Most of the jungle animals and creatures avoid this zone. There are many saplings you are free to take from here, but the best ones are on that list. There are some that are bear good fruit, others that make leaves so stiff you can craft boats from them, and we trade egg-laying birds in the market. An egg every other,” his translator garbled the conversion, “one point two days.”

“Well, Freddy. My troops are going to recover those Mounamine and find them a new home,” I said, watching as my soldiers rushed into the jungle behind Onix. The hunt was on. Dozens soon became hundreds, as acrium covered Crixxi and Humans stomped into the jungle while clearing a path. “What data device would you like us to transfer our information to?”

The little cat pulled a ball out of his vest and I frowned. “I tried to gather data when I arrived on your planet but hit some technology that I cannot bypass. Ask your gatekeeper for access and I will get all the data.”

I chuckled at the little stinker’s earlier attempt to snag our videos for free. “At some point, someone has to make a leap of faith,” I sighed, “Come, follow me and I will—”

“The data is unlocked for him,” Willis said through my Gpad, which Freddy was still holding. From Earth.

My fingers clenched into a fist and I momentarily shook with rage. “Willis, this is a huge breakthrough. If I need to talk to the troops raiding, I could …” I trailed off before taking a number of deep, slow breaths to regain my calm. “We will discuss this later. Please fill the Gribin’s orb with our entertainment files.”

“I sent you a package on everything we can do, earlier, this is not Sally’s nor my fault ... I filled Freddy’s three orbs and half of a fourth,” Willis informed me. “I have to go, we are about to dive under our new base.”

The connection closed. Freddy broke into another dance. There was no question the little being was extremely happy. When he had calmed down a bit, he squinted up at me.

“If you would allow us a few hours. We will go through the process of establishing a valuation. Was there anything you did not want from our list?” Freddy asked.

Perci walked over and handed the small tablet back to the Gribin. She twisted her face in concern when Sally’s voice said, “These two fruit trees are poisonous. This bird is a pet. This bird has amazing coloration and I want it for the soothing factor, and then the rest of the things Perci selected are fine. These ugly bug eating ones are the main egg layers.” A burst of static followed this rapid stream of information. “We are installing the artificial sun now.”

I was at a loss for words. The amount of processing power their slug brains possessed left me speechless.

“I have your updated list. Any objections to the changes?” Freddy asked and I shrugged to Perci.

“The changes are perfect, thank you, Sally. Establish our value and then let us know when you would like us to collect on our end of the deal,” Perci said in a pleasant tone to Freddy.

Freddy gave a small nod and darted into the jungle around a tree. A second later, he was soaring into the sky in an orb contraption that almost went faster than my eyes could track.

“Wow, I want one of those,” I said.

“They are expensive to make but doable,” Sally’s voice came from my Gpad. “Their big downside is that they are completely lacking in offensive capabilities.”

“Sally, build yourself an orb or a drone. You need your own platform to speak from. I also need a way to know when you or Willis are observing me ... color code who is actively listening in for my simple mind. I would be remiss to our people to shut you out,” I said.

“I am sorry, were you talking to me?” Sally asked and I almost smashed my Gpad.

A few deep breaths later, I saw a prancing king kitty returning home. Trailing behind Onix, was Everly, carrying a small ratty pack. Behind her, a string of Mounamine intermixed with my soldiers trudged forward. The immediately noticeable thing was that the line of Mounamine consisted of ragged, disheveled beings that were far from perfect. Ah, non-virum infused.

Sammie led an old Mounamine over to Perci and I. Onix sat on his haunches as the sad souls walked for their new home.

“King Eric, this is Den Father Barels. He is very excited to be offered a new home,” Sammie said and the meek mouseman went to his knees and tucked his head to the ground in a prayer position. I gave Sammie a shrugging ‘what gives’ look. “His former owner had habits we will need to break,” she laughed nervously. “These will recover smoothly, especially with the virum. Right now, however, they need a shower ... Ugh, yup, a shower, and a warm meal.”

“And their previous owners?” I asked, gazing down at the groveling Barels.

“Unable to provide for their contracts and let them go free. This is where the gates sent them. They were originally one hundred and seventy; now there are one hundred and fifty one,” Sammie said sadly. “But no more of your tribe will die needlessly. You have a home now, Barels. Off the dirt and through the portal. Off you go.”

Barels scurried off the ground to obey Sammie. I raised an eyebrow.

“I may have been less than honest when I said we do have a hierarchic society for our own kind. We do, just not to the same extent as other species. I am your Mounamine queen, of sorts. I promise never to talk back to you, my king. Only to those who need instruction and others are not around to give it,” Sammie said in her chipper tone.

She left my jaw hanging as she turned and went home. Perci chuckled and Everly came over to us.

“This is what is wrong with the gatekeepers. This is why they are not gods. These Mounamine served, their protectors were unable to maintain them, and then they were shipped off to a jungle planet, to slowly to get picked off. They were literally right there,” Everly said, pointing off in a direction that gave me no indication as to the distance she was referring to. “There were six massive snakes Onix killed that were fat on Mounamine.”

“I was wondering where the gravity sleds were. I take it you gutted the bodies first?”

“Yes, they are working on that now. We Crixxi have no qualms with blood. How about we head home and create a large fire pit to roast a nice snake dinner over?”

Onix licked his lips from over my shoulder with a purr so loud, my bones felt like they were vibrating. Everly petted the big beast and we shared a smile at the odd moment. We headed back home to have a rain B-B-Q of sizzling snake meat.

A half hour later, we were snacking on snake and waiting on Freddy to deliver on his end of the deal. The trip back to Mansion was quick, considering we had no aircraft.

Willis and Sally were in full relocation mode and that fact was evident when we arrived home. The scene was chaotic with household items being moved. Everything from the cave was coming out, while loot was going in. Deep freezers were being hauled out of our kitchen area alongside beds from other homes. There was very little rhyme or reason to what was going; the resulting process was a jumbled mess.

Items were being stuffed into AH1, which left me confused. Willis had said we would be moved before the next blue gate. Then it dawned on me. He meant home complete and everyone moved in. I shifted my gaze around in a hurry. There were only a few Crixxi and Pandarin. I couldn’t see a single Mounamine, besides Sammie and the newcomers. Oh … So that is what went over on AC1.

When I pulled up the flight records, I saw that AC1 was constantly ferrying loads back and forth in thirty-minute trips, with minimal offloading and loading time. They had to be going insanely fast. Sally saw me standing around the fire pit snacking on some yummy snake and happily slithered in my direction.

“I am repurposing the majority of your gravity sleds. I can hook your spare generators to them and create flying platform decks. Once I place a TP63 on top of the platform and modify the controls, off it goes—a new aircraft of sorts,” Sally said, pointing toward the massive trees by the hesco barriers. Two Goliaths lifted a mighty redwood out of the ground. The dirt cascaded off the roots as they were exposed. “This next part is great.”

The tree was laid gently on a platform of joined sleds. A moment later the combined device lifted off the ground to a hover. There were a few warning sounds from the goliaths before the platform gently rose into the air about a thousand feet. A smooth forward motion propelled the platform north at an ever-increasing speed. When I glanced back, I noticed we were missing about eight of the enormous trees already.

“I take it you’ve built an entry tunnel already?” I said in wonderment.

The Sluggero’s snort always reminded me of a kid sniffling. Sally said, “Oh definitely. The cavern is large. Your Longoria mate—good choice, by the way—bought the correct type of machines when you also purchased my brother and I. I am handling things on this end. Willis is already sculpting your city.” She looked around at the newcomers. “You brought additional workers from a raid? Impressive. I hate you less with every minute that goes by.”

“Hey! What did I do?” I replied in a hurt tone.

“You were born,” Sally said, laughing as she slurped away.

“She can be such a bitch,” Perci said, sneaking up on my other side. Her hand folded into mine. “What’s next?”

“Well, I am waiting for Eddy to call me. I am showing all of our people with good vital signs inside Colorado Springs, so that means he is probably assessing the situation now,” I said, seeing AH2 come soaring over the mountains from the direction of Boulder.

The aircraft flew directly for the caves. Willow’s voiced boomed out of the aircraft, “Clear the cave area, dropping loot.”

She repeated this call three times. Half a minute later, AH2 tilted and electronics rained out of the hanger to crash below in a roaring crescendo. I watched the process unfold without obstruction, since we had cleared all the trees in that area. When the items stopped cascading down, the aircraft zoomed back towards Boulder. That was that. The pile of loot then lifted a few feet off the ground and then hovered into the cavern. Well, hell yeah, that was awesome! I bet the platform would return in a few minutes, after dropping off the loot in the rapidly expanding cavern.

I was contemplating how much loot we could jam down there when my Gpad rang.

“Go for Cap,” I said.

“Hey, Cap, it’s Eddy. We have two hundred and twelve seeking refuge. They lost over a hundred thousand people a few days ago during a long-running battle. While we were comfy and looting, they were being raided and Colorado Springs destroyed. More survived capture, but had already fled south for Phoenix or west for L.A.”

“Give them the scoop on what we're doing. And our rules,” I said evenly and without inflection.

“Oh, they are willing to do whatever to have protection. The missus is with me, bawling with some other ladies. Turns out being behind walls with an army to guard them and in a safe spot matters. They had no true soldiers here. Only a few veterans and they were not equipped to smash through empowered shields,” Eddy said sadly. “We are RTB with an ETA of two hours.”

“Damn Eddy, you’re on point.” I grinned. “I see your soldier lingo is improving. Promise those people we will do our best to ensure they are safe. See you soon. Cap out” I closed the connection.

Everly sauntered over when a gout of flame ignited behind her. She had perfect timing, like a hero walking away from an explosion in the background without looking back. A new fire pit was getting ready to increase the roasting production. We certainly were not short on firewood.

“The next snake should be ready soon. Onix is eating his raw.” She grimaced. “Silly cat started to stuff a second snake into the mansion. Can you believe that!? Maria figured out he was trying to stash the corpse in the freezer,” Everly said, flicking gore off her arm. “Stuffing a snake downstairs … things got dark.”

My chin tucked against my neck as I winced at the thought. “Eddy is bring refugees from Colorado Springs. We need to prepare for some dreary folks arriving. At least that closes off that avenue for people wanting to leave Bastion for a nearby home.” I sighed. “Time to call Tina,” I said and rang our animal handler up. She answered immediately.

“Hey Cap, I convinced Norm to stay. No way am I leaving Derek, Willow, and Slister. I think he was sad, more or less, to have to abandon his hard work. He grumbled a lot, but the crops will still grow and be harvested, right? So, anyway, I was going to go over to Stronghold Castle first to start setting up electric pens when Sally denied my request, so I called Willis and was like, ‘Why is your sister hanging up on me? I need to figure out what is happening with the animals.’ And then he was like—”

“Hi, Tina,” I said, hoping to cut off her rambling. Nope.

“There are only so many seconds in the day and breaths that I have. Those are not allocated to listening to you.” Her imitation of the Sluggero brother was pretty good, actually. “Can you believe that? Well, I couldn’t and—”

I muted my mic and Tina. “Sweet mother of god,” I groaned. I removed the mute.

“… Sluggeros are outside the far southern gate eating fresh pine needles, right? And I get a text message that the ramoth can be moved first, so I replied ‘okay’. Then nothing. If I reply with one word, you should text more, am I right?” Tina asked.

Then it dawned on me, she had given me the answer. “Absolutely, unless things get chaotic, which they are right now. Let me shoot you a text in a bit. One more quick question, though; I just need a yes or no really. Are the Tavers okay?”

“Yes, they are around their lake relaxing. Why wouldn't they be okay?”

“Thanks Tina, you’re the best. Lunch soon with Willow. For the community! Cap out.” I hung up.

Longoria had arrived, mid-conversation. She scoffed and sighed, “Oh, to be young.”

“Funny, really, because she is older than Everly but you’d never know it,” Perci said, slipping an arm around the Crixxi’s waist.

“She is a fantastic animal manager, a good person, and has been nothing but positive during these dark days.” I massaged my temples. “Tina also trusted Willow enough to fly across the country before the darkness descended on a paper-thin promise that it was vital. I need more Tina’s, regardless of their tendency to talk too much, they’re vital,” I said, kneeling to greet the bulldog that trotted up, eager for food. “Howdy Felix. Easy boy, don’t eat my hand. Well, that answers my Tavers question, for now at least.” I turned to my little Queen. “Perci, I need you to tell Tina we may have more animals arriving in trade soon. Inform Norm about the plants that may be coming, too. The Gribin seemed nice enough, but they could just head home and never live up to their end of the bargain.”

“Not like we lost anything if they shaft us,” Perci said with a shrug. “What is next on your agenda?”

“I guess we keep looting, focus on moving, and monitor the gates at a semi-alert ... adjust as needed as this season continues. I should probably have dinner with Jill tonight and ensure she is okay.” I looked around at the chaos. “We need to shift a lot of stuff as we break down and move. I have no idea how the Faeries intend to replace entire hotels that our Aspen residents are currently living in,” I said, scratching my short beard. It seemed I needed a shave. “Probably best if we let the builders build while we focus on getting them the resources they need. Oh, and we need to keep an eye on Jarod. Hopefully, he stays put.”

“Hopefully he does not,” Everly said with disdain, “hitting him on the move or while assaulting Teton is the smartest option.”

“I know, but fighting another battle that we should not have to is less than ideal. Still, stopping that evil maniac is the right thing to do. Even if we don’t want to,” I said with determination. “The loot is just a bonus.”

Longoria raised her hand and we all rolled our eyes. “Fine,” she muttered, “I will stop raising my hand to speak.” Perci smirked. “Let me say this, though, at some point you need to let Teton learn a hard lesson. If not, they will call on you often, and they may never pay up or could eventually run out of the ability to finance your costs.”

We sat there in silence for a moment. Longoria had a good point. What would it cost to save the day, and were we prepared to pay it?

INTERMISSION 2

In a Galaxy Close to Universal Origin Point

“Seetheus, this was never supposed to happen. You guaranteed us an expanding containment without the possibility of system failure,” Arenius said in a soothing even tone. There was only the tiniest hint of hostility and anger in the air, but you would never know it, unless you were one of the divines. “What are your contingencies?”

Seetheus vibrated in a calming simmer. The construct’s passion for peace never wavered. There was only ever two goals worth achieving: to keep the violence from spreading and to contain evil, no matter the cost. This was the only way to protect those with the moral fortitude to never cause harm from those who would eliminate them.

“We set about this task eons ago. The days of our youth have proven unwise. Irrational almost. The faction that is kept at bay will not be pleased by these developments,” Seetheus said, shifting its orb to use the view screen to gaze upon the orbital. “We must adjust, that is all there is to it. Our bindings prohibit us from changing the nature of the market day, so we cannot save energy there. We will need to reduce the Xgates to three portals until more black holes are created and the balance restored.”

“Excuse me, Supreme Leader Seetheus,” a construct in the back said.

The meeting was a standard event, held in reaction to every flaw, as ordained by the covenants of the contract. As issues happened, they must be rectified with a discussion and a vote. The previous cycle caused a surge in power requirements for the containment field. Three emergency black holes were necessary to vortex power to maintain the portals.

“And what name shall we address you by this time, market keeper?” Seetheus said with a chuckle.

The market keeper was normally a cause for humor. When the orb with arms morphed into a fish with three tails, there were gasps. The summoned deities were not often shocked. This was against protocol.

“Today, I will go by Goldie. I am enacting the clause of impending containment failure three-dot one point six. It is no longer a question of power adjustments; in twenty-seven seasons, you will no longer be able to sustain this farce,” Goldie said with a buzz of annoyance.

A divine orb fainted at this display of indignation.

Seetheus gave a shaky laugh. “Ah, you are right to make such a claim. Do you know what happens if you do?”

The taunt was met with a stiff reply. “We die. Eventually. As do all other creations the creator has ordained.”

“Therefore, you understand why there will never be an approval of such a motion. I am not suicidal, market keeper. Your motion is struck down. We will expand. We will continue to preserve. That is the way. For as long as this universe has existed, our divine ways have kept the peace, and we will continue to do so -”

“For only twenty-seven more seasons,” Goldie stated in a flat even tone. “Fellow divine, I am the leader of the anti-containment faction. We have been a minority. Today our extreme patience prevails. My faction has warned, almost since the creation itself, that life will find a way to get beyond our grasp. On the record, we currently have over three thousand planets out of containment. Our ships, once used to ensure no AI or space faring vehicles were developed, have been diverted to catch those on the loose.”

Goldie paused for effect. “Our fleets are depleted to the point that we’re moving old ships to new sections of space and leaving planets unguarded. Our portals are not firing on time and we are destroying entire stars to generate enough power to achieve our goals. We have gone from the holy; to no better than the wicked. This has been foretold. You were all warned, and now the end of our time is nigh.”

Seetheus gave an echoing laugh that roared through the meeting room. “We will expand, I am calculating if we go trim the gates to three portals, our fields will last us another three thousand rotations,” Seetheus said, reassuring his frightened faction. “That will give us plenty of time to repair this small issue. It is of no consequence.”

“That is without the new worlds recently conquered. I grant you, going to three portals does extend the time until a collapse. It also strains the system and will forever prevent new subjugates from feeling the true effects of peace. Which means more will die and you cannot remove more ships. You ignore the fact that thousands of worlds are blind in the containment,” Goldie said to a shuddering reply. “Yes, Seetheus, your allies are not as loving as you thought. Be careful, your web will break. I have warned you. It is best if you hide now, before the enemy fleets, hungry for revenge arrive. Before the end changes everything you hold dear, after all this time.”

Goldie left the room peacefully. The matter was settled. The only question that remained was where he would hide after the system collapsed. His mouth twisted in a tight smile as he formed a plan.

CHAPTER 18

There were no migraines or achy joints with the virum. However, I still managed to grow aggregated to the point I wanted to smash something. My agitated state of mind made me feel like I had a headache. Yesterday had been a pain to some degree.

The best place to start was with the Gribin. Those little shits were offended by Asian anime for some reason. They came back and returned a quarter of our files. I cared less that they were offended and focused on the fact that it was a win-win situation for us. Until, that is, I got dragged into a conversation that deteriorated into a negotiation.

Gribin are expert negotiators; I am an expert killer. Put the two of us together and I was willing to give a tank away to avoid starting a war for no reason other than for Freddy to feel like he won. To alleviate all that nonsense, I sent in Linda Growlen.

By the end of the negotiation, we had given up three female and two male mozala. To be honest, once those little creatures scurried up the trees, I never saw them much. The Crixxi assured me they were good to go to a new home with a dense jungle. Awesome, I thought, no sweat off my back. For the mozala and the entertainment files, we were given a hundred parrot chickens. Again, another win. Mozala for animals that produced food sustainably.

My next headache was Onix, though it was not his fault really. He kept bringing me dead things and whapping my lovers out of the way to get some affection. Honestly, I kind of enjoyed his sudden pounces. The massive cat kept me on my toes. The dead bodies of scouts were also a boon I thoroughly enjoyed. Invisibility shielding didn’t do shit for these guys. A dog might bark at them, but a cat as big as Onix simply killed its prey.

The alien scouts were always small and thin, and they had giant puncture holes from a massive cat gnawing on them. While I was happy Onix was killing spies, snakes were another matter. I woke up the morning after our visit to Gribin to find three dead snakes, a mauled cloaked scout, and a gigantic dead pigeon outside my door. The pigeon was the size of a truck and weighed so much, it tilted the RV on its axels. Seriously, Onix caused problems that though manageable, added up.

The funny part was that I had not slept in RV3 last night. Onix left the surprises for Perci to find and me to get an earful about from an agitated lover.

My night was spent sheet wrestling with Nancy and Jill for hours. Jill was hesitant about a threesome until Nancy slapped the strap on over her crotch. We had some fantastic sex that night. I found balcony sex invigorating.

We were so into, we woke Mary up on accident. I sure hoped my next home had lots of space separating the adults from the kids.

The next morning, Sammie dealt with the cat’s presents and placated an agitated Perci so I could enjoy my morning visit with Mary. Walking the streets of Aspen was nice, except for the dagger-wielding stares from people who didn’t want to leave. I had to send out another message to all our residents that we were vacating the area for a host of good reasons. The United States was slowly losing every large defensive fortification above ground that it had. Only those who retreated to well defensible positions underground were hanging on.

When I released the video of what had happened in Colorado Springs, that didn’t help. A dozen families left this morning, heading for Utah. Good for them. I understood their fear. Hell, I even gave them a tank to protect themselves with. Maybe they would find some little corner to hide in. Either you defended what you had or you died. There was no peaceful corner inside the containment.

The Sluggero siblings and Harvard were adamant that the dead scouts Onix found was not a case of the Koovorin council bent on our destruction. There was little information to glean from the dead bodies, but we reached a common consensus: someone wanted information. The scouts didn’t even have weapons on them. We figured some of the Kerbian prisoners we held in a mine shaft in the northern section Mansion were worth a whole lot more than a Fairy.

Which led to my current headache.

“I am telling…” She paused at my stern glare. “Informing you that you should cancel this deal,” Linda Growlen said while we waited at the portal.

“While I appreciate the input, I don’t actually want it at the moment. The spies had no weapons. Their bodies were in a camouflage coating. Hell, the siblings say it was a cheap one, at that.” I grunted. “So cheap, in fact, that they were disposable fodder.”

We had a small army waiting with us at the gate. A towering Goliath shaded our area from a clear skyline on a bright sunny day. Toth was due any minute, so I had Torrez lock the gate down in preparation for his arrival.

Willow stood on my left in her black acrium suit. Her face was exposed and her hair in a tight bun. We wore no crowns today for this event. She was heavily armored. The prime element on Planet Koor was hydrogen. Our shielded coloration was a deep blue that was translucent when active.

Everly was on my right in a forest green suit of acrium. She had a light rifle slung across her chest that her arms rested on. Her purple eyes danced with excitement at the coming meeting. She echoed my inner warrior and looked forward to this competition.

Perci, however, was not thrilled. The problems we were having with moving continued to pile up. She had intended to come with me, but left with Nancy after our morning breakfast with Jill and Mary. Apparently some housing was already established at the Mount Moran base we renamed Stronghold Castle.

Linda asked to be here for diplomacy and I allowed it. I had to feed her, so I might as well take advantage of her expertise at top-level negotiations. The problem was, Linda remained in full corporate and government politicking mode. She was far from a dunce, though, and on the job training was the right place for her to be. The woman had a yellow power suit on over her white acrium armor.

Around us was Jevon in a dark black suit of armor with a machine gun across his back and Ulanda in the side turret of a heavy tank. The Kerbian prisoners were huddled in front of a hundred tanks and Goliath 3. How did I know it was Goliath 3? Perci had tattoo art stenciled on every mecha’s calf. This one was also named Robert. Silly shit like that always caused me to smile at her antics.

I let my gaze drift across the portal until a hover truck blitzed in our direction. A sandy plume erupted behind the vehicle as it raced our way. At least there was no army charging at us. Bonus! Onix hid above the alcove of the southern gate. How did I know? He kept sniffing, loudly, and every few minutes I would get a waft of nasty cat breath.

We had pulled a few units out of Boulder off scavenging detail for this event and as Toth waved, I hoped this meeting would be worth the effort. Toth brought a Kerbian with him as the driver of their hover vehicle. The aliens eased their truck through the gate, slowing to a halt not five feet in front of me.

“Welcome back Toth,” I bellowed in my best warlord voice. I caught the Kerbian eyeing the prisoners. Relief washed over his face when his eyes locked with one of the gangly young Kerbians. Probably a son. “And this is?”

“Faction leader Andrivon of our Kerbian raiding team. Let me fetch your Fairy,” Toth said, going to the back of the truck. A hogtied and blindfolded Fairy was hauled out of the truck bed. It was a typical male Fairy on virum, exactly what I ordered. “Here you go.”

“Let the prisoners go,” I commanded while passing the Fairy off to Longoria. He was set on a sled and sent to Mansion immediately.

Linda scoffed, but I shrugged. I honored my deals. “Toth, I have some bodies, do they mean anything to you?” I asked, revealing some bodies under a tarp behind me.

“They are Andrivon’s spies. Trying to verify if Ralph was telling the truth,” Toth said and I smiled.

“Oh good, I suspected the same thing. Glad to hear it verified. Now that the small trading is done, how about we do some bigger trades? Nation to nation,” I said with a winning smile and open friendly arms.

“I like you, Eric. It is refreshing to conduct business so openly. Return a truck to me, Andrivon,” Toth instructed as the prisoners were crammed into the vehicle’s bed. “We have a market in Koor, best on the planet. Still, nothing compares to the grand market. There is something special about ours, though. We do not let anyone use our Xgate booths without a tax. That means all the aliens generating items, like seasoned steaks for example, on Koor compete to sell goods in the market, and if they don’t sell at the grand market.”

“Then to the regular market it goes,” I finished for him. “We need workers and chickens. I have zinc and a mineral called yttrium but it needs to be broken down.” The vehicle with the prisoners spun out of the portal. We both watched them speed off into the distance on Koor. “His son?” I asked.

“Yes, that was the boss of the bosses for the Kerbians. Your prisoners were worth ten Faeries. You knew it, but you honored your deal anyways. That bought you a lot of good will with our council,” Toth said with a slow nod of approval. “Bring the raw zinc. Sealed tight, mind you. We have many different types of symbiote infested aliens. Virum is a popular one, so I expect those out of money or down on their luck who have virum will try to steal any zinc they can detect.”

“I wonder if I could convince beings on Koor to immigrate to Earth with the promise of free zinc and then paychecks in zinc,” I said knowing the answer.

“Ah, well you would get the dregs for certain, then. We may not have a social safety net but we do keep our productive workers employed and happy. If they wear a pink badge, they are pride workers. Those we value highly. You will see. Here is our contract of assurances for your visit,” Toth said.

“King Eric, this is Sally,” Sally said in a surprisingly formal tone. “This agreement is too loose; if someone starts a fight beside you, technically they can kill you with no repercussions to the Koovorin Nation. There are also a few other loopholes, all of which stem from real issues the Koovorin Nation has faced in the past. I have cleaned it up. We are putting up a hundred TG99 tanks in escrow if you violate the laws for your return. In return, if you die—even by an act of god, as it is termed, we get a zinc payout larger than the cost of my brother and I times three.”

I paused, uncertain on how to continue. Toth gave me a warm sloth smile. “Let me step onto Koor for just a moment and get this approved. These are typical cover-your-backside, what-if scenarios,” Toth said, and walked back slowly through the portal.

“Sally,” I asked, “Should we go or not?”

“You should be fine if they accept our revised clauses. All staged events for an accidental demise would be canceled. I have full access to their networks. The Divine-Apes left some presents behind for themselves that I can access. Anyway, you’re not going to get accidentally killed and we won’t be sent a ‘sorry but your dead leader’s demise was not covered’ condolences note” Sally said. This was less than reassuring. I wanted to throttle her. “Eric, you’ll be fine. Here is the part that should ease your racing heart. They’re going to transport you securely to a place called the ‘Vault’ … just ‘Vault’. Inside this vault, you will be mentally uploaded into synthetic bodies to travel around the city for the day.”

Synthetic bodies? Before I could ask about it, Sally continued.

“This is how the elites of the city mingle, they do not expose themselves to the common alien or risk even the chance of injury or death. These units are expensive to operate; you rent them by the day. Fortunately, you can rotate personnel into them. So, if I want to go visit later, I can use the same robot for later in that day’s cycle—which is nearly forty hours long on Koor. You will need a lot of zinc, but we have prepared plenty to send with you.”

I was taken aback. “You’re telling me I will become a robot and control it from inside a secure location?”

“Yes Eric, there are many aliens that value their life more than their wealth. Koor does trading and planetary mingling all the time. Go have fun, compete, and bring home some new warriors or builders. You will have impressed a lot of the Koovorin Council, both with your victory and contract knowledge. Use that to help Bastion. I have to go. I am sending you a list of minor machines that we could use to help spruce up Stronghold Castle.”

The connection closed and I chewed on the inside of my lip. My Gpad pinged and I received a list. I was not one to avoid risks. How often were humans invited into an alien mega-city?

“We’re going right?” Willow asked with a nudge on my left hip.

A tap on my right shoulder revealed a flash of friendly Crixxi canines. Everly said, “I want to go.”

I shrugged, waiting for Toth who was heading back for Earth. When he shimmered through the portal, he said, “Hurray, approved but you’ll be getting a guarded escort. The vault before the vault, so to speak, with thick shielding around an armored hull. You will not leave your encasing until you are secured underground and brought to the sync chambers.”

“You’re putting us in a no-kill box?” I asked, amused.

“Yes, your contract is pretty airtight. Get it!” The sloth being rolled his eyes back and gave a slow, deep laugh. He slapped his gut when he finished his joyful banter. “So, we overprotect you. You can still compete, wager on games, and visit the city from the protection of the vault. Though, from what I hear, you’re no pushover as it is,” Toth said with a wave at the portal. “Here they come. Please stack all your trading supplies over here. They will be protected. You can bring up to five of your citizens with you, but three would be better, to start.”

“Jevon, you want to go?” I asked my friend who had stayed off to the side, though listening in.

“Yes, but after you, if that is okay?” Jevon asked and Toth nodded. “I have command.”

“For the community, you have command,” I said to my friend and then turned to Sammie. “You’re staying here. Get my home ready to be moved into and help the Sluggeros. Longoria, you’re coming with us. We’ll take Torrez, too, if he wants to come. We will make it work. You’ll be on the next rotation, Linda. Go ahead and prep Ryan to go with you.”

Willow, Everly, Longoria, and I walked through the shimmering blue portal while the others went to carry out my orders. We found Torrez, kneeling down, holding the button on the other side. When he saw us on Koor he gave a friendly wave.

“I want you to ride with us, Torrez” I said to him and he pointed at a metal container that reminded me of a see through submarine with a side entrance. The curved contraption was towed by a gravity tank ten times bigger than a TG99 on a long bed trailer and. Umm… Yes, please. I mentally put ginormous-ass-tank on my to-purchase list.

“We're riding in that tank? Awesome!” Torrez said.

Toth opened his mouth and then closed it and looked at me.

I shook my head at Torrez and pointed at the shitty looking clear container.

“Yeah, Cap. I only love you so much. There is no space in that thing, anyway. Can I ride in the tank?” Torrez asked.

“It would only alter his contract,” Toth said. “With that said, your contract does not permit it, you could have him get picked up right behind you.”

“No. Your call, Torrez. We’re going into an unknown situation, so Sally gave us a contract that resulted in our having to ride in that contraption. You can join us in there, wait for the next ride, or go home,” I said with a shrug, already heading for the container. I saw the conflict on his face twist into a smile.

“I will wait. Maybe later, Maria will want to go shopping and I’ll probably score a BJ for being the hero who waited for his wife.” He snickered at his words. “Best of luck, Cap,” Torrez said, while I shifted to watch the portal.

A half dozen munition crates were eased through the gate from Earth to Koor. Toth popped open the lids, saw them brimming with zinc, and had them stored in the tank’s storage compartment. I stopped watching the transfer to enter the small cabin. There were only four seats with their backs facing each other. A seat for each side to view out of. A Kerbian sealed us in and I sat there, waiting to be towed to the city. Torrez gave a final wave and then was gone after unlocking the Xgate.

“What are you ladies thinking?” I asked as the big tank glided off.

The speed was incredible for such a massive construct. I had a hard time getting over stupid incongruities like size and speed, thinking that big objects like AC1 or this tank should be slow and cumbersome, not agile and rapid, simply because they were huge. I let the thought go and inspected the planet Koor.

The sky was bright with a slightly red tint to it, I could almost imagine there was a large fire nearby but it was just a different sun. The Xgate we sped away from was one of dozens on the horizon hovering over a short yellow grass with blue bushes randomly sticking up here and there. The ruins of ancient cities lay mostly consumed by vegetation, only the odd layout of the landscape told me there had been dwellings here at one point.

“Please tell me these can glide over water,” Willow said with a jolting squeak from behind me. A loud exhale escape her in relief. “Oh, were good.”

She was facing forwards and I was backwards. I never saw the abrupt terrain change coming. Tropical jungle and sandy beaches swapped to the flat ocean. I craned my neck to stare up at the sky and saw no signs of a moon. We shimmied across the water with ease, our destination point unknown.

“It is likely they had a preserve or an Arctic that they defrosted. There are only six Xgates over the Arctic on Earth,” Longoria said. Though I was fairly certain it was five, I wasn’t going to argue with her. “The ability to melt the ice is a possibility if we wanted to do so on Earth. Costly and time consuming, true, but time is infinite with containment technology. And if you contemplate the reward, the endeavor is worth the effort—bountiful land devoid of crowded Xgates.”

I saw a few fishing boats hovering over the water. Aquatic aliens slung their catches onto the floating machines. Their bounty was a lot of small fish from what I could see.

We shifted our heading and were soon over sand again. Hundreds of towers encompassed an island that appeared to have no strategic value. They were guarding nothing, as far as I could tell. The tank slowed to a stop and the ground below us opened up. All these defenses for this single entry point? I was not certain if I should be reassured or concerned.

The containment unit we were in tipped forward and we splashed into a large tub of water. Huh. We descended down a long tunnel that was not illuminated, except from above.

When the doors closed above us, we continued to sink down for what felt like five minutes in near total darkness. The only illumination we had cast itself from the dim emergency lighting on the floor of our container. We uneasily peered outside, waiting for something to happen.

“Fuck!” Willow screamed and we all twisted around to look out her window.

A suction cup had latched onto the crystalline exterior inches in front of her face. We were being towed into a brightly lit side room. Blessed light. I was not a fan of being submerged in water in the dark. A door sealed slowly behind us and the water drained outside our sealed protection chamber. A tentacle limbed alien hovered nearby and opened our container.

“Greetings, welcome to the Koovorin Nation. As the locals call it, the Koovorin Collective. You will see why soon enough. I am Osguad, please follow me,” Osguad said, leading the way over a grated floor that was drying rapidly. I stepped out behind the alien. “Your finances have been secured in our banking system which, trust me, is far more sophisticated than this system. This vault, however, is tried and true without any weaknesses. It is a great way to secure high value clientele.”

“Where are you leading us?” I asked.

“To the selection process of course,” Osguad said with a tentacle raised in a gesture to match his tone. “What some deem the most exciting part of being on this planet. Would you like to know more?”

“Yes, yes I certainly do.” I smiled.

CHAPTER 19

The four of us followed the alien down the sleek tube of a tunnel. The dark yellow material was foreign, the lighting a dim green. We followed eagerly behind Osguad, anticipation building as we prepared to experience an alien world.

“So, let me start with the fact that each of you will be receiving standard projection orbs, included with your stay. It is the most basic of the basics. You will go into a room where you sync your brain to your avatar and when you wake up, you will experience the city as a hologram projection above a disk. You act like you're still in your body and off you go,” Osguad said, stretching a tentacle forward. “You can gamble, shop, explore, and more. Interactions are digital.” He chuckled, “but what interactions are not? You can even take your orb to a third-party rental station.”

“Third-party?” Everly asked. “I understand the concept, but why not keep control of the entire process?”

“Good question. Too much work. The Koovorin Collective is not what many would consider a true government. We’re more of a facilitator. For example, I have pledged myself to the cause, a devout believer in the harmony a myriad of species can attain when led properly. That is my official answer. The reality, however, is that a side market operated synthetics at a cheaper rate without taxation, since we were so overburdened we couldn’t adequately deal with such pirated activities.”

Everly and Willow both nodded thoughtfully.

“When the council allowed third party participant to so legally, several taxes were imposed. I’m not sure if you're familiar with how hefty regulation fees may become?” Osguad asked and we grunted, chuckled, and generally agreed that indeed we understood. “All mind projections exist, when you get right down to it, to avoid real injury or death. If your synthetic or platform projection is destroyed, you were never really there. Moving minds is virtually impossible, no pun intended, but projecting them is relatively simple. Think of it like a remote-controlled body.”

I reacted with an hmm sound. “Then why are there not—”

“Endless waves of mind projected armies?” Osguad accurately finished my query. “Costs, costs, and more costs. A rental for you to meander the market costs very little. The synthetic is generic, and such a rental should incur no damage. You return your rental, and other than a simple wipe-down, it can go out again the next day. Synthetics used in the pits are usually reprocessed bodies scraped together until a new form meets production standards.

“An army of defending mind projected soldiers certainly has its perks, especially if life is valued highly. A few for our top leaders roam the defenses with their real troops in synthetics. There is no point in using them across a portal, it won’t work. Even the big-headed beings, with all the smarts in the universe, can’t mind-project to a synthetic through a gate.”

Willow made a thoughtful noise and summarized the argument for synthetic armies, “So, they are limited, costly, and have significant downsides.”

“Here,” Osguad said, pointing to the deck with a tentacle, “if you get hacked, you return to your body, we lock down the unit with an override, and hopefully no one gets hurt in the fraction of time it takes for our integrated cybersecurity systems to react.”

Willow gave a grunt and nodded, “Your machine army could be turned on you. I could only imagine the carnage.”

“Yes, exactly. That is also a risk. Your good intentions to save lives could lead to more deaths. War is savage. While I would love to chat about synthetic theory all day, we’re here to facilitate a safe trip in Koor,” Osguad stopped upon arriving in front of a door. “Let me finish my explanation of the different types of pads. You have your generic pads—these will hover at the appropriate height as if you were real. Comes standard. We have fancy bodies, as well, that fall in two categories: robotic, or synthetic.”

There was a hiss as the door retracted into the floor and we stepped into the room. This chamber had a dozen vats that resembled our acrium vats at home. When I saw the material inside the vats looked the same, I realized this was an acrium spawning room.

“Before I continue with my tutorial, please hop in so you can shed your acrium. This is necessary to expedite the mind-projection; you’ve got to be naked for it to work. The acrium will let you continue to listen to my directions while you get out of your suits,” Osguad said and we trooped up some stairs to begin the process of removing our outer shells. “Back to the advanced categories. There are junk bodies that are more robot than synthetic. Cheap, something different, and made from scraped together parts. They are allowed, just not desired. Especially for combat. Watching two robots slug it out is not as thrilling as viewing two synthetics rip each other apart.”

I struggled to pay attention to the alien’s monologue as Everly and Willow shed their acrium armor. My body’s automatic reaction to the exposure of their beautiful bodies was both immediate and predictable.

“Before I get distracted describing for you all of the options available here in the vault, you may be wondering why we buy a robot suit, then resell it at a loss instead of renting them out. Why? Because millions of years have dictated it works this way for numerous reasons.”

Though the girls paid close attention to Osguad’s explanation, I tuned him out. I couldn’t take my eyes off my ladies.

“There are third party renters, but they do the same thing as we do, only backwards. They retain an amount of funds to cover a unit’s destruction while charging you more for your rental.”

I dunked my head into the acrium and heard the little guys thanking me. We exchanged a few friendly words and they assured me they would be safe. When I exited the vat naked, Osguad continued.

“After the simpler robotics, you have your synthetic bodies. These are available both for rental or purchase; many visitors prefer this option. You can, for all intents and purposes, become a Kerbian and no one knows you’re a fake. These synthetics vary widely in price based on many factors. The costs can really soar on the high-end synthetics. For example, bigger bodies to disguise yourself in cost more. Better models to compete with that require detailed construction cost more. There may be specific patents involved in either the construction or operation of high-end synthetics, which also affect costs,” Osguad said.

Everly walked to Osguad’s right. Willow and Longoria, also paying close attention to the alien’s conversation, a step behind her. I played tail-end Charlie—admiring the amazingly tight and toned tails walking in front of me.

“Follow me, we will now go a different room, where you will be administered a sleeping draft. When your conscious mind awakes, you will be given the option of a standard platform or an advanced body and your available balance of funds will dictate what you can do.”

I frowned and asked, “We can rent from you, if we choose to purchase later, correct?”

“Easily. We even hit you up with advertisements to do so.”

I frowned. I hated marketers with a passion.

“To remove the advertisements,” Osguad shrugged, an interesting movement when done with multiple tentacles, “upgrade to a body.”

I had to restrain a sudden urge to strangle him. No! Stupid evil advertisements. My life had been so much better since their demise!

Longoria, who had been mostly quiet, smacked my bum to jolt me forward. I jumped. Osguad gave me an odd look but continued leading us to a new room down the sleek hallway.

“What if we choose to buy the body and take it home with us?” Longoria asked.

“Ah, I see you realize how amazing this option is. I warn you, though, you will need far more than the synthetic body itself. You can visit our market and shop away’ there are many sellers of this technology—both here and in the grand market. You will be surprised what you can find on a planet like this. Using this technology can be addictive.” He grinned. “It is a great way to recover the money you pay your citizens with. You can be just about whoever you want and do riskier things than normal,” Osguad said, finally entering another room off the corridor. “And we are here. When you’re ready, simply ask for immersion and an operator will facilitate your transition.”

Osguad turned and exited the room. I was a bit miffed he bolted, but he was an alien. They tended to be odd.

“Orbs for now, unless you object?” I asked my lovely naked ladies. A finger waved my eyes up from Willow’s delicious tits.

Willow shimmied her boobs to send them crashing into each other. My eyes never lifted. She giggled and said, “We’re not here to have sex in other bodies or to steal secrets or attend a random gathering without our identity becoming known. We are here to spend zinc and learn how a megacity operates. I vote for orbs.”

“Orbs,” Everly said.

I groaned, my fertile mind spawning multiple fantasies at her teasing suggestions. Why couldn’t we get kinky?

“We can always compete with specific replicas later. I agree, we should at least understand the costs associated with these synthetics before we leave for Koor,” Longoria said. “I am curious as to how the process works.”

“I guess,” I deflated, visibly. “We’ll save the freaky sex for later. Only one way to find out how this works.” I shifted my gaze to what was undoubtedly a double mirror. “Should we lie down?” I asked the room.

“Yes,” an echoing voice replied

We laid down and next thing I knew, I was asleep.

∞∞∞

I awoke in an under hang with sunshine streaming around and occasionally through the tall buildings all around us. My body was here, but when I touched my legs, my hands passed right through them. At my feet was a disk, not an orb. It was set to a bigger size than my body was. Maybe to project my arms? Hmm… I validated that thought with an arm twirl.

“What are you doing?” Willow smirked at me and then looked down at her own digital projection. “I was thinking we would be blue renderings, like on our Gpads, not full color three dimensional slightly transparent copies,” Willow said, waving at me. “At least we are clothed.”

She looked like Willow, same cute smile, jet black hair, and yummy double Ds fighting gravity in a tight shirt. Everly walked forward towards a quiet alleyway and paused. “I think it is alright for us to leave, but where should we go?”

“I will be going to see if I can acquire these construction items, materials, and building machines the Sluggeros wanted. And then I’d like to see if any of my children are here,” Longoria admitted with a longing sigh. She looked back at me before departing. “I will wait for you to go to the hiring market or to contract sales, though. What is my budget? We have additional zinc at home.”

“We will explore while you shop, so feel free to use it all. If the siblings need something to build Stronghold Castle, then we’ll get it. Especially while the Xgates are letting us have some down time. For some reason, I think asking to bring more funds to dump into their economy will not be hard to get approved. Let me call Toth,” I said.

“Ah, Eric, I am right here,” Toth said from a stool behind me. I cursed myself. Even in a digital form, I should have remained more aware of my surroundings. “I have updated a map for you, Lady Longoria. If the rest of you would please follow me for a city tour?”

“Good luck Longoria,” I said to the departing Fairy who waved goodbye over her shoulder. I shifted my focus to Toth. “What about bringing more zinc here from Earth?”

Toth chuckled slowly and said, “You presumed correctly. Normally a worthy foe for the Kerbians would be sent trade rules and enticing offers. We generally want other societies to visit and stimulate our economy, instead of initially forcing combat upon and becoming a foe—neither sides gains much from such situations. In your case, there happened to be a rash young commander who elected to seek a position of strength—that you soundly defeated—before pursuing negotiations. Again, please do not misunderstand my words as an apology for what happened—we do not apologize for our ways.”

I nodded. “I think we might need to develop sleds with trading advertisements that follow the Xgates to ensure we encourage trade and diplomacy over combat.” I said. I could see Willow take a mental note. “Now, how about that tour?” I asked.

Toth stepped off into a quiet walkway. “We do something similar for those Xgates closest to our cities,” Toth said, validating my idea. “The raiding gates are generally for raiding. If your society grows prominent, expect a need to be diverse in your goals and objectives. We have to placate our raiding factions. They are vital. We force them, however, to poke and prod at portals further away from our cities.”

There were some themes I was picking up on as he shared more information about the Koovorin ways. I tested my orb by moving the projected disk. My legs responded precisely as I wanted. My senses were metered exactly like my body. There was no suddenly fantastic hearing or super-sight that let me see things in more detail or at longer distances. When I followed Toth, my projection’s movements had a natural feeling.

We walked down a narrow corridor. The buildings that blocked us from the crowds and the sun appeared to be made from sheets of rock, almost like plywood, except from crushed splinters of stone. The colorations were random, beautiful, yet utilitarian.

A small path opened up before us. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the heart of the city. Tubes shot across the sky, moving aliens and materials at speeds so fast they were difficult to track. Aircraft in the thousands soared from one location to the next. Most buildings were a few stories tall but every one of them had stacked landing bays atop them. I was perplexed by the city's operations until we stepped out onto a sixty-foot wide marbled avenue.

Not a single vehicle cluttered the broad lane. Instead, aliens of all shapes and sizes went about their business. I did see sleds pulling creatures and the occasional disk, like the one I was on. The population was indifferent to us, simply strolling along, enjoying the walk at a brisk pace or hurrying to get their business done.

My appreciation of the moment was short lived when advertisements bombarded my senses from nearby walls, balconies, and directly over the road. I groaned and ran up beside Toth.

“If I get a cheap rental, all these… these… nuisances go away?” I asked with a frustrated huff.

Toth gave a gentle laugh and said, “No, those are revenue generators for the city. No amount of bribery, even by me, would get them turned off. Upgrading will only turn off your internal ads.” He looked about us. “We’re passing a casino, you should get one about … now.”

A voice shot directly into my mind. “Gambling, gambling, gambling. Three percent take, great exchange rate. Come on in.”

I wasn’t the only one to grunt. Everly and Willow stared at the building’s opening in contempt. The store was not like an Earth casino in any way; more like a dollar store. Patrons stood inside various size booths, zoned out as they connected into an invisible system.

“Unfortunately, you can’t mute it, but you can lower the volume and ignore it. How about we take a flight over the town? That way, we can avoid the proximity advertisements.”

We all nodded enthusiastically.

“Follow me,” Toth said, and we ducked into a side alley, up a random ramp, and into a floating carriage that awaited us at an elevated platform. “These are much more efficient modes of travel.”

The aircraft had a flat bottom with a clear cutout in the center. There were minimal structural bars holding the see through contraption together. The roof was a tarp that Toth peeled back with the press of a button. There was seating for a dozen, giving the four of us ample room. I let the ladies cut ahead of me and settled down between Willow and Everly.

“I heard mention of a pit?” Willow asked, containing her excitement. “Everly and I were interested in seeing that.”

The aircraft gently rose into the air to join the stream of traffic. There was no driver or input from Toth. We glided over the city and I was able to see the crowded population of Koor from above. My view of the masses below and the traffic above was one of organized madness. So many vehicles whizzed by in the air above us and so many aliens meandered through the streets below.

Everything here seemed to be complete—in the sense that I saw very few upgrades or new construction. This was the utopia of our new reality: a well defended city with ample protections; jobs for everything and almost everyone; ample living space; and, entertainment one would never tire of. I looked around in wonder.

I almost wanted to move here instead of building our own utopia. But Earth was … Earth. It was my home; I was tied to her. My heart would always long for my home and I didn’t think knowing that something greater was possible should dictate I give it up. I knew the community could build something like this, but better.

Toth pointed at a building that resembled something more akin to what we would consider a casino. “That advertisement earlier was for a digital euphoria store; that, however, is the deluxe version. They can transport you to virtual worlds where you can do just about anything. There is a fee, of course, both for time spent in virtual reality as well as a tax from us on all transactions, with a fee tacked on for gambling. Nothing too drastic, but we do ensure we get our hands in the pot,” Toth said with an uncaring shrug. “Under the surface, it is much more crowded. In the last one point three million years, we have only been raided above ground a handful of times. It takes quite a large army of powerful monsters willing to die for minimal loot to breach our defenses. Still, it has happened, just not very often.” He pointed. “There is the upper market.”

Toth indicated a flea market of sorts. The tall buildings stopped at a massive square of cleared space where multiple sizes of vendor booths spread out in a massive bazaar with little apparent rhyme or reason that aliens meandered through. Once again, I saw holographic displays instead of actual goods in a majority of the booths. I could not find Longoria in the crowds of thousands, but I did try.

“Your friend will have good luck finding machinery here. We have quite a lot of manufacturing and a large contingent of aliens proficient at such tasks. This is not as good a place to find warriors, but for workers, it is matched only by the grand market. Mainly workers who come out of contract will stick around and start hunting for new work,” Toth said, ending his tour guide spiel as a massive structure came into view. I could see the outer wall for the first time.

My eyes shot to the exterior defenses. We had not passed through the thousand-foot-high wall on the horizon, which meant the vault was hidden outside the city somewhere. The wall boasted towers every ten meters, giving the barrier a spiked look. I noticed random defensive emplacements between the wall and the homes. There was a kill zone at least two miles wide between the wall and the start of the city proper. Roving bands of military units dotted this landscape, apparently with as little rhyme and reason as the bunkers.

“Yes, Eric, one day you may have all of this. Then you will be the one vetting aliens into your metropolis. You will have to tax your visitors and your citizens to maintain order, peace, and a solid defense,” Toth said, catching me studying the defenses.

“I hope we make it to this point. How do you handle unruly citizens?” I asked, not seeing a police force.

“Your Gpad is not on you. If you were to have come directly in, which your citizens can do, by the way, you would have been forced to wear an anklet, bracelet, or choker. If you’re species cannot accommodate such a device, or you refuse to wear our security enhancers, you are sent to a common vault and required to tour the city on a disk. Let me be transparent with you, Eric. We rule with an iron fist so tight that our citizens complain unceasingly. We persist and survive, however, through such strategies. We need no police force, because the police force is normally attached to your body. If, for example, you were in your regular body and attacked a pleasure worker, you would find your body immediately paralyzed and you would be required to pay a fine for your transgression.”

“No prison time?” Willow asked and Toth gave her a confused look. “Dungeon? Jail? Confinement as penance?”

Toth let out a deliberate and slow ah, then snickered and asked, “Why? That would cost us money. There is no reason for such ludicrous expenses. People fear fines more than confinement and a fine unpaid, or that one is unable to pay, leads directly to a contract of servitude. The device we impose on our citizens and visitors can produce a near-instant paralysis for offenders of the law, so there is little actual violence. We even allow weapons to be carried. Mind you, they are kept on an automatic safety lock. But if we get invaded, the locks come off. And yes, there have been murders at that point, but once the crisis is resolved, we remove the offending parties. Everything is tracked. There are a billion tiny recording monitors throughout the city, in addition to the actual personal devices. That right there, the miniscule chance of an attack and then the possibility of you being killed in the heat of the moment, was the reason you’re in the vault.”

“What I’m hearing is that this society will be safe for my people to visit, assuming they come in from the Xgate and enter through the wall,” I said, watching the citizens of Koor peacefully cohabitating.

“There are always risks, Eric, but you are seeing something for yourself that words cannot explain. There are old rivalries living amongst each other everywhere on this planet,” Toth said gesturing below.

“Indeed, I even see a human down there,” I said, knowing how our kind was despised.

“Rare, but yes. Oh look here,” Toth said, gesturing at a large circular building.

To our right stood a colosseum, not too different from what the Roman’s had built in Rome. The biggest difference in this one’s architecture were the landing pads, from which platforms shifted aliens in and out of the arena. It was made out of rockcrete. “That is the upper pit. The smallest of the bunch and the least crowded. Which also means its fees are the lowest. There are events throughout the day; random fights get scheduled as time goes by.”

“Are real bodies allowed to fight, or just synthetics?” Everly asked with a raised brow. She stared intently at the large building.

“Life is fickle and cheap. If we let real people into the pits, they could die with mountains of debt, risking all on the slight chance they could win their way out of debt. Their opponent would most likely be in the same boat. At one time, yes, we allowed death by combat. That tended to only lead to problems on top of problems, so that is no longer the case. There are usually a half dozen bouts before a random royale,” Toth said, knowing we were interested. “Want to watch some fights? Maybe gamble a bit? I don’t need to try to sell you on it. You paid your fee for the vault, honored your word, and are likely to spend money here, so we can just enjoy our time. There is a botanical garden of the universe one floor down, with a very nice walking tour for a minimal fee. Or would you prefer some synthetic death games?”

“Death games,” the three of us answered in unison.

Toth entered some commands into a tablet next to his seat and we landed at a tower perched on the edge of the arena. When we stepped out of the vehicle it was onto a platform. I was starting to see a pattern. There were no stairs anywhere. Every device, path, and architecture was shaped to fit a diverse number of alien body types. I also noticed that there were no species here over twenty feet tall.

“I take it there is a big city?” I asked and Toth tilted his head in confusion. “Let me clarify. A city for larger beings, like Divine-Apes. Koor must have a height limit, if I were to guess why there are no extremely large aliens here.”

“Ah, so you're an anti Xgate zealot, your secret is safe with me,” Toth said and I went to reply when he held up a hand. “I tease, we welcome all sides here. The Divine-apes have declared a holy war, their edict without question, their cause unwavering, and if you are not on their side, you perish. Neutral places like Koor, however, are left alone and remain trading partners with both sides, since we officially harbor all. That is apparently good enough for them. As to your question, there are other cities defined less by their size restrictions; some of them allow much larger species to enter. Other places are confined by the size of their entryways. We find it convenient and safer for our citizens if we maintain common sense limits. Hard to squish the four-foot-tall Clerane when the sixty-foot-tall Flowmora can't fit in the burrow.”

“Yeah, I noticed there were only beings of a certain size here,” Everly said tapping her chin as if it were there.

The arena platform picked up rapidly and we sailed over the arena wall. The view inside the circular stadium showed it should be able to hold around ten thousand or so comfortably. The interior pit was not some grand location where thousands could battle. My perusal of the arena stopped when we were deposited at a ramp which Toth led us down. After we had vacated the platform, it shot back up towards its point of origin.

The interior of the observation booth had a front bench with numerous view screens tucked below a massive pane of some clear material similar to glass. I knocked on the surface to find it was a clear plastic of some sort. The view screens were actually tablets you could walk around with.

I hefted the tiny disc into my holographic hand. Science was magical at times. My fingers tapped a few buttons and sure enough, a new screen populated. My finger slid through the menus until I stumbled upon an option for seating rentals. Umm … yes, please.

I selected some elevated chairs that resembled thrones; they were even padded. I was given a delivery prompt of seven seconds. Huh, did that mean -?

The ceiling above our booth folded back and we stepped back as chairs fit for a human Viking King settled to the ground. Score! I went for the largest seat in the middle. Even Toth snagged a chair I ordered. The cost had been mere fractions of an ounce of zinc, with a five-ounce retainer. We were pulling up almost a ton of zinc a day already, but I had only brought a couple of hundred pounds with us. We might need to bring more zinc.

A long sigh escaped my lips as I sank down into the comfort of my throne. I knew I was not really sitting in this chair, but it still felt marvelous. Almost better than a Taver’s masterfully crafted rocking chair. I adjusted the angle of the seat to look down into the arena.

Toth cleared his throat, saw he had my attention, and said, “Time conversions will be displayed when thought about or viewed on a tablet. There will be three more matchups before a three on three mock battle. This will be followed by another three individual matchups and then a five on five battle royale. There is a two percent tax on all bets, half of which goes to the house, and the other half is shared by the competitors: seventy-five percent to the winner, and twenty-five percent to the loser. In this arena, that is not a lot of money, so we normally have open slots to compete. Lower arenas backfill this one, just to keep the fights going. If you would like to—”

“I signed us up,” Willow said proudly, “for the three-on-three.”

“Oh, neat! This should be fun,” Everly said with a smirk.

I checked the roster and saw that we would face two backfill slots from a different arena in the queue as our opponents, unless someone else here signed up.

“I think you will do splendidly, add a bit of fun to this arena,” Toth said. “Ah, here is the next matchup.”

The two competitors were showcased on a platform that rotated around the arena slowly. There was no announcer or showboating voice to talk up the impending battle, simply a list of statistics and other information on a screen under each combatant’s platform in large lettering.

The first combatant to rotate our way was an insectoid synthetic with a bladed arm that led to a three-fingered hand. Its name was Cicero. Cicero’s colorations were blue with green stripes, and her stats listed her at five foot two and eighty-three point three pounds. There was no score tag or other indication about the operator’s species, skills, or qualifications.

Before the second contestant could arrive in their rotation about the arena, the area inside the arena itself rumbled. The flat sand I had ignored up until this point transformed as a rubble environment rose through the fine particles. This was a replica of a destroyed city that must have been marvelous in its day. While the arena settled, the second contestant’s platform arrived.

The other competitor was a dog humanoid, named … Doggero. I snorted. It appeared to be determined, its sharp eyes scanning the crowd. The beast’s coloration was mostly black with several gray stripes and two beefy arms. Definitely a male, I decided, seeing its prominent package, but then again it was a synthetic, so maybe it had female operator. Those eyes just did not seem like the eyes of a warrior. Doggero weighed more, was taller, and had a longer reach.

“Now that we have the arena environment established and the contestants have been introduced, the next step is weapon selection. They will each pick a first, second and third choice from out of ten options. If they do not agree on a consensus choice, then they again select their top three choices—the initial six offerings are removed—from the remaining options. Once weapons have been selected, there is a brief window for betting that opens. Ah, see they one-two picked laser pistols. Perfect. And now time for the betting. Simply use the tablet to place your bet. The odds change by the nanosecond.”

I checked my tablet, there was a fifteen-second countdown before betting starting and then a four-minute timer until combat started, at which time bets were locked in. The moment betting opened up, I saw the odds see-saw back and forth.

“Can we bet?” Willow asked.

I shrugged. “Do you know who is going to win?” I asked. Willow looked over at my Crixxi queen. Everly nodded and pointed at the insect warrior, Cicero.

“The insectoid will have less of a target silhouette and greater mobility on this terrain. “Hey, what gives?” I asked, seeing an advertisement pop up. “Oh, you’ve gotta be shitting me.” I rolled my eyes. “There are operator stats behind a paywall. A point and a half in favor of the insectoid and climbing. Placing our bet now.”

I chucked a whole pound of zinc on Cicero. This tipped the odds to almost two to one until the underdog betters hopped into the pool.

“You make another bet like that and some bored gamblers from below will come up. That was a year's worth of wages for a guard,” Toth said with a chuckle.

Sure enough, a few heavy bets went to the Doggero’s side, tempting me with the odds. I was confident in my assumption but further bets would be out of place. I would rather test the waters than drown in them.

The time limit until wagers locked in expired and a loud chime dinged in the arena. Again, there was no announcer or loud broadcast. The two contestant’s platforms sank to their prospective sides of the arena and a gong chimed. Four laser pistols, two for each side, rose out of the sand in the center of the arena.

Cicero snatched her pistols from the sand with a burst of speed. Her triple fingers clasped the weapons with a smooth motion. Her legs kicked her into long bounds to get back to cover.

Doggero, however, was not idle. He also charged the middle, but scooped up only one weapon. I frowned when he did not pick up the second pistol. Instead, he hoisted a slab of sheet metal out of the rubble to use as a shield.

“That was dumb,” Willow said and I agreed. I rolled my wrist wanting to hear her reasoning, and she continued. “His fingers are exposed holding that, and it doesn’t cover his whole body.”

“Reduced vision for when—”

Everly was mid-sentence when Cicero leaped off a high point from Doggero’s blind side. Laser fire tore into the fur of the synthetic body. Yellow spurts of blood splashed to the sand.

Doggero was shocked by the rapid change of events; his knees slammed to the ground in a growing pool of yellow.

I saw Cicero’s lips move as she talked quietly to her opponent.

A new chime sounded three times. The match had been called with a surrender.

“That is rare, normally they just kill the body to make a point. You get more followers that way. For a fee, you can follow your favorite operators and they get a cut … further incentivizing death, destruction, and mayhem,” Toth said in a disappointed tone.

I checked our account; we were a half-pound heavier on zinc. While nice, this was less than what we mined every minute. The reality of how great a treasure lay within the Rockies was only now settling in. We would need to mine fast and store our wealth deep.

The shifting terrain caught my attention once again as the arena was cleared. The rubble returned back below the sands with a shimmy and a rumble. A moment later, two new contestants arrived on their platforms.

“You need to go report to be ready for your match. Your discs will stay here, good luck,” Toth said.

A popup asked me to confirm that we wanted to compete in the three-versus-three battle. I confirmed and felt my mind transition into nothingness.

CHAPTER 20

There was a super-imposed timer obstructing my sight; it faded in size until the display was a number at the top left of my odd vision. I say odd, because I was seeing as if my eyes were closed. There was a black backdrop contrasted by an option menu. The options were a price range. The prices were listed in neilspar, so I adjusted the order to zinc and accepted the prompt of a conversion fee. Whatever.

There were six ranges to pick from. Less than a pound of zinc. Hard pass on the cheapest options. One to three pounds. Four to ten pounds. Ten to twenty. Twenty to fifty, and finally fifty plus. I didn't like losing at anything I competed in. My bank account said I was wealthy, so I obviously selected fifty plus.

Oh wow, I could be a ten-foot tall earth golem; consider me interested. I then saw a note indicating that the outer layer was only a shell which could be pierced easily. Damn, pass. A cat with wings but four legs, too unnatural. A bat with gangly limbs, gross. There had to be something in here worthwhile. Ogre, pass. Minotaur, pass. A snake humanoid that was meh at best. Finally, something that piqued my interest.

An angelic humanoid of sorts that stood nine feet tall, with a blemish-free, lightly tanned skin coloration. The toned body appeared to be without virum enhancements, as if sculpted by natural rigorous training. Golden wings flared behind a torso that boasted two sets of tits. Talk about chesty.

I rotated through the available options until I found a male model.

Sixty-nine pounds of zinc, with a resale value of sixty-five pounds. I rationalized that the body would be fun to take home, assuming I didn’t get it melted in a lava pit or something. I wanted to say go big or go home, but this angelic being had a foot and a half long dick, so I was definitely going big!

I gleefully jammed the accept button. There were only a few outfits to pick from and all were free. The pay to win aspect seemed to be in the body, not the gear. I selected a tunic and a free-ranging kilt, so my massive schlong could dangle freely. When your dick was this big, pants simply wouldn’t work anyway. No sense in hiding the mighty hammer of awesomeness.

With my kilt and tunic applied, I spawned in a training area.

The timer in the corner reset and added two minutes. I guess the fights before ours were taking more time. I had ten minutes to learn how to fly.

These golden wings felt heavy on my back, causing me to hunch forward; my shoulders were pulled down and back, making me want to arch back against the dragging weight. I flapped my wings hard by torqueing the muscles between my shoulders. The reaction was instantaneous; I shot off the ground and went soaring high into the air. I countered an initial desire to flail by my clamping down with my mind to keep calm. Additional flaps of my sixteen-foot wingspan brought me into a tight flight pattern around the training arena. After a few laps, the sensation felt almost natural, as if there were assisted measures helping my mind transition to control this strange body. When I flared my wings, I was able to slow my speed and dropped to the sand with both feet, shifting smoothly to a rapid walk.

“Yes!” I said with dual fist pumps. “That was amazing!”

My self-congratulations at not only surviving my first flight, but excelling at it, was interrupted when two bodies on platforms descended from the roof. Time to see what the ladies had picked.

On the left was a humanoid ladybug. Her back shell even had dots on the large casings. She wore a kilt and tunic similar to mine. This was probably Willow. The bug-ladies’ eyes opened, and she danced around, having a difficult time keeping herself stable while just standing; too much unfamiliar weight on her back was my guess.

“What the fuck,” Willow squawked. She latched onto my arm while learning to walk again.

I inspected the other body.

Everly had picked a dark green panther that was easily twice the size of any large cat on Earth. I remembered seeing that beast as the cover for the second-tier models. I was a bit shocked she chose four legs and no arms. How would she fight besides her natural weapons? When her eyes opened, however, she bounded past us at speeds I could barely track. I guess she wouldn’t need a laser pistol.

“Ugh! This body sucks. There was a turtle-like option I should have chosen, some Theorin species. I spent nine pounds of zinc on this body, but it sucks. Can I swap?” Willow asked and

“We have four minutes,” I shrugged, “so, maybe?”

Her eyes rolled back into her head and a platform descended with a claw suspended from the bottom side. Willow’s bug lady was snatched up and carted off. Weird alien stuff was … weird.

A panting panther zipped around me, still going full speed. I decided to fly above my Crixxi lover and we had a bundle of fun testing our new bodies.

The timer was down to sixty seconds when a new platform descended. On it, I saw a male Mounamine … umm, what the hell?!

“By Odin’s sweaty ballsack! I ran out of time. I panic picked this small penised thing,” Willow said with a grunt. She reached down to scratch her nuts or maybe readjust her new package. “Fuck,” she muttered, “we should have waited and spent more time preparing.”

“How’s it hanging bro?” I snickered and she growled a snarky retort that came out as a series of angry squeaks.

Everly and I were roaring with laughter when an extra-large platform showed up. When we stepped onto the big round disk with its short railing, it rose into the air. It seemed we were underground; the lighting was fake. I would have never known it. We soared high, gaining speed until the tunnel we entered spit us out above the arena.

“What am I supposed to do now?” Willow asked when my laughter had died down.

We were being showcased to the assembled arena. The stands were three quarters filled, with a majority of the crowd paying close attention to the two combatant’s discs as we flew slow laps around the arena. Meanwhile, new arrivals continued to pour in. The increased attendance was probably for this event. I, of course, shifted to check out the other team.

The first of our foes was a Wolfaroo, pretty much a high jumping dog man, six feet in height with some decent mass to him. I noticed I did not have to name this guy, meaning that Humans had fought them before at some point. He looked like he could probably leap onto a house with those muscular kangaroo legs and tail.

The next competitor was a lizardman, except it had the head of a frog. The torso was grossly bloated. This must have been a cheap pick; it did not seem agile, limber, or deadly.

When I laid eyes on the last of our opposition, I could barely contain my excitement. I really wanted to jump up and down while pointing out the dinosaur we would face. No humanoid torso, two thin arms. Just a Baryonyx type dinosaur. Yes! I wanted to get some for my army.

“I’m so going to fucking die,” Willow whimpered. Everly and I shrugged. Willow slugged me on the thigh and it felt like Mary or Jasmine had hit me. “You’re not reassuring me.”

“What do you expect, Willow? They’ve got a ten-foot-tall dinosaur with claws longer than your arms. Can you outrun it? Nope. Can you kill it without a weapon? Not a fucking ice-cream’s chance in hell.” Everly’s panther chuffed softly. “Honey, I love you, and this is probably my fault, but Willow, we’re here on Koor to learn and experience the joys of a megacity,” I said, yanking her closer to me with an arm around her synth’s small shoulder. She mean-mugged me but softened. “That’s my girl,” I chuckled, “I’m sure you will die a fine death.”

“Yes, die an honorable death, sister-wife. I doubt it will feel real,” Everly said, scratching Willow’s calf. Willow shrieked and squeaked in anger. “I take that back. I will be hiding from you when we get home.”

I chuckled, stepping between the two. Introductions were over and now we were being asked to select weapons. As we rotated above it, the arena populated with ravines, cliffs, and plateaus in a desert theme.

A menu pop up gave us ten options for weapons.

Without hesitation, I said, “Pick melee.”

“Fuck melee,” Willow said, irritated. “Oh, you’re serious. Why?”

“If we don’t pick soon it picks for us,” Everly said, limiting our debate.

I selected an axe, sword, and mace. “I am serious because we will win a melee battle. Easily. They will not.”

“Can’t you just fly up and … Oh,” Willow paused and selected her items, “you would be an easy target up in the air. I get it. Shit, this means I am so going to die.”

“Yup,” I snorted.

“Dammit, Eric, fine. I love you, at least you still pamper me when I am in Queenie mode,” Willow said, straightening her back and tilting her nose to the air. “Oh snap. The dumbass dinosaur picked a mace. I can’t even hold a mace.”

“Then hide, where do you want me, Eric?” Everly asked.

A chime indicated that the time for the audience to place their bets was starting, now that the weapons, terrain, and combatant characteristics had all been revealed.

Uh… A notice hit my retina display. I read that Longoria had wagered a hundred pounds of zinc on us. I glanced up to our booth to see my Fairy damsel sitting in my throne-chair like a queen. She wore an elegant formal dress more suited for a ballroom than a death-match.

Interesting. Toth sent me a quick note of reassurance that it was allowed when I tried to call him. We had to win now. Jevon would give me shit if we lost, even without the gambling, but if it cost us a company’s worth of mech suits, the shit I’d catch from my friend would be exponentially worse.

Everly was purring in anticipation of the impending fight. I rubbed the spot above her tail and she gave me an odd look. When I stopped, she sashayed her hip to snap her tail like a whip to smack my hand. I smiled down at her hungry eyes and explained, “I need you to kite the Wolfaroo and possibly kill the frogman when the dinosaur eats Willow.”

“Wait, I thought I was hiding?” Willow said, tilting her head up at me in confusion. At least she wasn’t whining.

I gave her a shrug and a pat on the shoulder. “That is a dinosaur dear, they have an amazing sense of smell and you’re a stinky mouse.”

The platform shuddered when it touched down on the ground; betting time was over.

Willow visibly deflated, knowing it was time to fight.

A chime announcing the impending battle rang through the arena and a roar erupted from the crowd. Three maces rose through the sand. I scooped one up with ease. Willow could barely lift hers. I felt awful for her but she was being a trooper. Willow struggled with the weapon as she ran for the nearest ravine.

A few flaps into the air and I was able to glean a lot of details. The frog lizard thing was a Frozard. The Frozard and the Wolfaroo were arguing and I couldn’t see the dinosaur. When I finally spotted it, I was startled.

The dinosaur was lightning fast compared to Willow’s slow trudge with the heavy mace. The prehistoric, ten-foot-tall monster lifted its snout every dozen feet or so and sniffed for Willow, hunting rapidly across the bleak terrain. I smirked, knowing that decision was a mistake. I pulled my mace back high over my shoulder as I built up momentum for a throw. With all my might, I hurled the mace at the speeding dinosaur which zipped straight towards its Mounamine target. With my weapon gone I knew what I had to do.

My wings cracked the air with the force I put into them as I built up my speed. I noticed my mace had buried itself deep into the shoulder of the reckless dinosaur. It now staggered a bit as it came after Willow and one arm hung useless at its side, but on it still came. My wings beat furiously, rapidly closing the distance to collide with the dinosaur stomping towards Willow. The Mounamine shrieked as I diverted slightly and stole her mace.

The alien operating the dinosaur realized too late its mistake. I had the high ground and suddenly, another weapon. The dinosaur leaped to catch me in its open mouth of frightening teeth, but a single flap of my mighty wings put me beyond of the reach of its snapping jaws.

When the awkwardly shaped predator felt gravity’s pull you could see the terror in the operator’s eyes, knowing they had failed. The dinosaur crashed back to the ground, sending a plume of dust into the air.

I dove for my wounded and now winded prey. An overhead swing of my mace caved in the cranium of my foe with a bone-shattering crack.

Gore showered the area as the creature spasmed in death.

With the biggest threat eliminated, I ran for the mace that protruded from the dinosaur; Willow’s little Mounamine legs pumped as she sought to rearm herself. I plucked the heavy weapon out of the saurian corpse before she could, though, and sped away, my wings clawing for altitude as I looked around for Everly.

When I had a chance to reassess the situation, I found Everly was kiting the Wolfaroo and swiping at the Frozard when she could. A few quick snaps of my wings gave me a great angle on the Frozard who spun to avoid another swipe of Everly’s claws.

Diving from above the arena, I hurled my spare mace at the distracted lizard frog, letting gravity keep my aim true. I followed my mace down and we both sailed towards my unwitting target, in case I needed to finish the job. There was no need. My first shot was a money shot. The bottom half of the Frozard’s body exploded; the pitiful scraps of its lower extremities that remained were attached to its bloated torso by a few strings of sinew.

I banked my turn to find Everly had been caught by our last opponent.

The Wolfaroo was dramatically hoisting my Crixxi lover’s panther over his head. I think he planned on breaking her back with a double kick. I wasn’t sure, however, and neither I nor the crowd ever got to find out.

I used both arms to hold my mace before me like a knight’s lance. In my mind’s eye, I saw myself exploding through the Wolfaroo’s chest, just like in the movies. Physics dictated otherwise.

Divebombing your opponent at blurring speeds with a metal weapon that suddenly impacts your foe in the back does set a few things in motion, while rapidly decelerating others.

For one, the Wolfaroo’s spine and chest exploded outward in a sickening sound, followed by a spray of gore. I didn’t go heroically soaring through the body drenched in blood like I’d imagined it. I actually careened off the body and down into the rugged terrain. My blow sent bone fragments from the Wolfaroo’s ribs up through its body and into poor Everly.

The good news was that both she and the Wolfaroo died instantly. The bad news was that I was sent tumbling across the jagged landscape. Eventually, I managed to stand. I patted down my epic angelic body and removed chunks of Wolfaroo remains which were embedded in my skin. Gross. I was covered in gore and figured I must be bleeding, a lot.

The best news was that the splattered red mess consisted, mostly, of my enemy’s blood. I was drenched, nonetheless, and had to spit out what was probably a chunk of lungs.

Uncaring about the mess, I raised my arms into the air victoriously. Oddly, there was no roaring adulation at our amazing victory. Well, semi-amazing. Hands pointed at the Frozard crawling for the arena exit. Half his body was missing, his entrails stringing out behind him.

“I got this!” Willow said, screaming her most ferocious mousey battle cry.

She had, at most, at a two-pound rock in her hands. With her little legs, she raced to the downed enemy. I felt bad for the Frozard, he had been useless.

Willow tried for a swift mercy killing, but I knew how this was going to play out. That little rock, wielded by that mouse body, was so pathetic it was comical. The Frozard pleaded for its life, but Willow kept running around the flailing arms trying to keep her at bay, to smash her rock against its head. The creature gave up, desperate to end this death by a thousand taps that was incrementally bludgeoning it to death. When it turned its head and the eyes closed, Willow stepped forward and bashed the soft spot until its brains squeezed out of the head.

The huzzah of the moment was immediate when the gong rang three times and the victory platform landed. Willow was still in brain smashing mode, and I had to yank her back off the puddle that was the Frozard’s head. She panted raggedly, with a sparkle of joy in her eyes, and a grin that was pure evil.

“Darling, you not only survived, but you earned a kill. Nancy will be jealous because the Mounamine will find endless courage from your actions,” I told her proudly.

She accepted my embrace. As set the mace on the sand, Willow said, “Thanks for saving me. How did Everly die?”

“Err… I’m afraid I killed her.” At my shrug, Willow’s eyes widened. “Sort of? She was in a cheap body. Hopefully, our one and a half percent of the take is enough to get her a new body,” I said with a chuckle.

Willow blushed and whispered, “You just want to fuck us with that monstrosity of a cock.”

“Guilty! We are so getting synthetics for fighting and training, and then buying sex toys to fool around in,” I said, grabbing her little hips. I wanted to smack my crotch to her little butt but hesitated. She was in a male body. No thanks! “I can do some major domination with you in such a petite little body … just pick a girl next time. Weirdo.”

“Ha! I know, right? It was a desperation pick. Next time I want a tail, oh wings, and well, there are plenty of options for my Master’s desires.” Willow said, snuggling against my blood soaked leg. I grimaced, “For the record, all this blood spoiled the mood. But for future reference,” she grinned cheekily up at me, “I definitely want us to get some play bodies.”

“Yeah, I’ll ask the siblings to find a good solution or we can go shopping for one ourselves. I don’t mind using them at home, but in combat, even for defense, it will be a hazard. I am getting a prompt to pay for a clean and repair. How about you?” I asked Willow.

“A small cleaning fee for mine. I am going to accept. See you in our bodies on the disks, my king.”

Her body went limp in my arms. I approved the repair and the cleaning fee for my angelic synth before being sucked down into blackness.

∞∞∞

When I returned to my disk back up in our booth, I was greeted by three people I most certainly did not expect to see. General Ryan, Linda Growlen, and Sammie. I opened my mouth and … closed it. I stuck my finger up in the air, paused for a moment, then stuck it through Sammie who squeaked when my hand went through her chest.

Okay, that was a fair reaction. The group spun, seeing us return.

“Master Eric, I was glad to make it in time to witness your victory,” Sammie said and I saw her wearing a Koovorin collar, which meant she was here in the flesh. Her curtsy was flawless, as always. “I brought these two,” she indicated Growlen and her pet general, “with me.”

“Oh really, why are you here?” I asked with a raised brow.

Sammie fidgeted when Everly held a hand up to speak first. “I am proud of you, King Eric. My body was cheap, my foe was dispatched quickly, and you secured our victory. Thank you for letting me bring honor to our home and another victory to my tally.”

Longoria fluttered her wings happily and said, “And your winnings can free a few hundred more Mounamine, if you want them. Personally, though,” her gaze positively smoldered as she licked her lips, “I want that angelic body to toy with.”

“Yeah, those synths are like drugs. We will get to your shopping here soon enough.” I turned back to my cute little mouse-girl. “Sammie, why are you here?”

“Longoria needed more zinc. She was about to purchase the last of the equipment when someone siphoned off a bunch of her funds to purchase a fancy body,” Sammie said, almost cringing as she anticipated a negative reaction to her sassy quip.

I gave her a wink and a smile for the pertness, then tried to pet her ear and failed.

“Soon enough Master. I miss your soothing touch already,” she sighed. “The siblings sent me over with triple the amount of zinc you came here with after the first machines arrived home safely. ‘This is exactly what we need to build our masterpiece,’ they said. Based on the reports I have heard, we are smart to get them what they need. Miss Growlen and Mr. Ryan were waiting at the Xgate with the tanks. They asked to journey with me to the city to deliver the zinc to Longoria and here we are.”

The fidgeting continued until Sammie lunged through Willow trying to hug her.

“You were so brave Mistress Willow; your glory will be sung in the burrows for ages.” Sammie squealed.

Toth gave a hearty slothish laugh. When he had our attention he said, “My work here is done. Stick to Koor City and avoid offshoot cities for everyone’s safety. Trade up top is best suited to deal with the needs of other planets. If you have a problem, I am easy enough to reach for a video chat. The event was fun to watch. You humans are as reckless as the Kerbians. When you are ready to go home, I need all four of you to tap on the top of your disks, since we must physically haul you back home in the encased armor. We can do that for others at a steeper cost. You were the taste tester, as they like to say.”

I went to shake his hand and he frowned at both the gesture and the fact I was not in a body. Right.

“Thank you for your help. Is there a second market we should visit?” I asked and he shook his head no. “Then have a great day.”

“Same to you, enjoy your stay. Remember to sell your bodies, even the dead panther has value, or take them with you if you want,” he said walking up the ramp to leave.

When he was gone, I turned to our group.

“Longoria, any luck with meeting any of your youngins?” I asked.

She giggled and poked at my projection’s belly button, “I may be ancient, but I value the kind words. Alas, no such luck.” She switched back to business mode. “The last of the machinery was purchased. We can either go to the contract and job market or head home.”

“Master,” Sammie said, seeking my attention with her hesitantly wiggling ears, “The siblings said all was quiet when I asked if they needed you. They did say they could use a few additional machines, but I believe Longoria already acquired what was needed.”

“Ah, so to the contract and job market, it is. I take it we can contract a set of builders, for say a month, and then they will return here when our contract is over?” I asked and Longoria bobbed her head. “How about you Linda, Ryan? What are your intentions?”

“Initially, I just wanted to visit to scratch my curiosity. The fact that I have no real role in Bastion is most concerning. I think I’ve figured out what I’d like to do now, though,” Linda said, eyeing the arena. “An arena would be a nice new corporation to run. Assuming you don’t mind, I should have enough neilspar in my room that was in my personal bag to cover the startup costs.”

“I have yet to confiscate anything personal from anyone residing in the Bastion community. I am not going to start doing so now,” I said, folding my arms. “You sure about an arena?”

Everly snickered, “What about the digital worlds? I heard they have time dilation to the point where you can go on a month-long retreat in the deepest jungles and swing peacefully on vines for weeks, but only have an hour go by in real time. At least that is what my mom always tried to talk my father into doing.”

“Faeries are builders, and the Sluggeros are too busy. We would also require some software designers or something along those lines,” Longoria said before turning to look back over at the arena. “The pit makes sense. We would forgo contract shopping if we built up an inventory of synthetics. And we have more finances at home, should we need to come back and make additional purchases.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “Such a thing would be useful for my Faeries to start working out their aggression and disputes.”

“Have people received their backpay yet?” I asked.

Sammie shrugged. Longoria shrugged. Shit, another thing Perci would have to fix.

“We are in no rush,” I sighed, “Let’s go contract shopping. We should all learn about the costs involved with running an arena or a virtual world. We don’t have to buy anything right at this moment, though, I am sure producing synths is not cheap.” I waved at the arena. “Nor projecting into them,” I said, motioning us up the ramp.

When we were all on the platform, Longoria entered a destination in the market. We zoomed across the city through the traffic; some invisible operator handled our flight path. I forgot how long a day here lasted or what cycles gave the aliens more freedom right now, but the city felt busier. We arrived on the outskirts of a market area on a massive parking pad. An elevator shot us down to the bottom and a moment later we mingled with the masses of shoppers crowding into and out of the vendor booths.

A young faced bear with a cat tail held up a digital sign to my left.

Market tours. .000001 gram of neilspar.

Ouch. I walked towards the lad, when Longoria chimed in from my elbow. “We don’t need his services,” she said.

“Indeed,” I replied, “but I am here to learn not just about how to design something this grand, but about the residents here too.” The boy's sign lit up when I paid the fee and I named him Teddy.

“Oh,” Teddy said in surprise, seeing that he had a paying customer. The lad ran to stand before my disk projection. “Thank you! I am your guide for the next…” The translator angrily buzzed as it calculated the time conversion, “Two hours and fourteen minutes. How may I help you?”

“Do you know much about this arena or synthetics?” I asked, bending over and placing my hands on my knees to lower myself to his height.

The boy wagged his tail in a gesture I was unable to comprehend. “No, sir I do not.”

“Virtual worlds and—”

“Yes! Follow me,” Teddy said, interrupting my sentence and turning to hurry off. His excitement was mildly contagious and I jogged behind him with a grin. The others hollered at us when we started to outpace them. “My father is a systems manager at Virtabox just down the road, Teddy said over his shoulder. “He will be able to get you everything you need to either visit or set up your own virtual world if you buy his time.”

A quick peek back over my shoulder revealed the others were barely able to keep up. We never actually entered the market. We ducked through a short alleyway that I shouldn’t have actually ducked for. We exited onto a long busy road and within a few short minutes at a brisk walk, Teddy pointed at a larger version of himself I named Ted. We stepped into a small, well-lit store with a few pods off to the side to plug into one of a thousand available virtual worlds.

“Can I help you Teddy?” the father asked his son. Ted cocked an eyebrow and pointed at me with a nod. Ted turned to me. “Are you here to enter one of our virtual worlds or for something else?” he asked.

“I am from a different planet. We are upgrading a secure base, far from the Xgates. We could use some equipment like this to help our citizens adapt to the new way of life by offering time-dilated relaxation on virtual worlds,” I said as the rest of my team arrived. Ted’s eyebrow rose when Longoria fluttered in. “We have a few tech-savvy species who will want to talk with you about what we should need.”

“Well, hiring my son was the best decision you could have made to get what you need at a reasonable price. I have a cousin about a hundred floors down who sells fantastic ratio gear cheaper than the vendors do up here,” Ted said. I grew confused as he continued. “The cheapest virtual machines we have are only suitable for a single person with no time dilation.” His mouth twisted with a frustrated growl, “You can tweak the cheap stuff only so far. Their core coding is ingrained, and their processing power relatively limited. Basically, either you buy nice gear from the get-go or buy something that you can afford and replace it, as you can, with a better version later on.”

Longoria stepped up. “We would need a twenty-to-one, with a hundred thousand server.”

“Huh?” I said and noticed that everyone else from Earth was equally lost.

Teddy chuckled and said, “Is there anything else you would like to tour, boss?”

“Does that mean we are done here?” I asked, still confused about random server numbers and ratios.

Ted peeled back his lips from a large set of canines when he smirked. A prompt for a hundred and twenty pounds of zinc hit my display. Longoria accepted before I could.

“Eric, you are a genius, we just saved twenty percent off retail,” Longoria said. “Even after he got his five percent commission … for his time. Ha!”

“You came to the right place,” his canines flashed again, “thanks for sending my kid to advanced schooling.”  Pointing at his son, Ted said sternly, “That was a figure of speech, Teddy, get back to work.” The happy gleam in his eyes gave the lie to his harsh tone.

I had just raised my hand in the air to ask someone to clarify what had just happened, when I received an incoming, priority notification.

“This is Sally, you have raiders shifting through Colorado Springs and Aspen’s residents refuse to leave. Please return home.”

That was all I needed.

“Tap your feet,” I commanded my ladies, “we're going home, soonest.”

The four of us reached down between our toes and tapped our discs to return to our bodies.

CHAPTER 21

The Koovorin Council facilitated a hasty exit to return us back to Earth. I exited the submersible container, sprinting in a fevered run for the blue portal. The only one faster than me was Everly, with her long legs. When the blue shined in my eyes and I stepped back onto Earth I was relieved. My army was not waiting for me, instead, I found a company of heavy TG99s arranged to guard the portal.

My Gpad went crazy with alerts that I chose to ignore. AH1 dropped down from the heavens above to cut me off. I darted up the back ramp, racing across the hanger. The moment I entered the captain’s room, I called Jevon for a report on the situation, or SitRep.

“SitRep follows: the enemy has a high level of technology. They are utilizing a combined arms formation. An insect humanoid we named the Butterflin are carrying a slithering snake humanoid species we termed the Naga. They are currently pilfering the last of Colorado Springs. Our new Gtower there indicates they are in the process of continuing the assault in our direction. We expect them to transition to Aspen, next. We immediately issued a mandatory evacuation order for all residents. Seven hundred humans, however, have not complied with this order to evacuate within the next half-hour, fearing we are tricking them out of their homes to relocate.”

I kicked the wall in frustration while I waited for additional details. Nothing. Hmm… I ground my teeth in a grimace.

“Force status update,” I requested.

“Looting teams have been pulled in, the majority of the army is rallying at Rubble. What are your orders, Cap?” Jevon asked.

I mulled it over. The screens started populating as Willow and Longoria arrived. Everly left to command a TG99 company, leaving me to decide a lot of things, with only Willow to boss around.

“Await orders,” I said to the command net. I then dialed up the local tank commanders. “Pull off Xgate 232, proceed direct to Rubble.”

“Us too?” Longoria asked sharply.

I sighed, seeing Sammie with some our new purchases racing from the Xgate. “Hold position, we will leave someone here if we need to. Get me a video feed of the enemy, Willow.”

“This is a good time for me to intercede,” Sally said. “Those people in Aspen were on the fence about moving underground. There was a low probability of them accepting their new home without first seeing what we have constructed. May I send an emergency -”

“Yes, convince them to flee Aspen. We can’t defend its infinite alleyways, rooftops, and balconies from an invading army with aerial capabilities,” I ground out. “Actually,” I paused and organized my thoughts, “let me tell them.”

My inner warrior demanded I vent my rage at the idiocy of these humans. Why!? A few deep breaths later, a display popped up showing the enemy shifting into a tandem formation.

“All residents of Bastion Community,” I began, “We are at war. If you do not retreat to a defensible position immediately, you will be abandoned. I cannot risk an army to rescue the naive. I implore you, I beg you … in fact, I demand you leave Aspen at once via the underway.”

My eyes never left the video stream depicting a rapidly developing crisis. There must be at least ten thousand snake-warriors wearing armor with some form of plasma weapon less than an hour’s flight from Aspen. Their effort to coordinate with the butterfly humanoids was smooth; each tandem lifted off to join up with their compatriots in droves. The first flights gained some altitude and we waited with bated breath to see which direction they turned. I groaned when they flew directly for Aspen. I was immediately stuck with two bad choices.

Either let the civilians get killed or captured, or fight an intense close-quarters fight in urban terrain that would most likely ravage Aspen. This is why we were moving. I glanced at another video showing Sammie with the last of our purchases was only two minutes out.

I dialed up Everly and ordered, “Assign a tank to take Sammie home.”

“Boss, we’ve got hostiles on the move,” Jevon updated me. “Orders?”

“We fight, but Aspen companies only, except Mitchell’s rangers, who I want providing harassing fire forward of Aspen yesterday. I want Eddy, and Slister on ready-hold QRF from a flexible position. If we get hit at Mansion at the same time, there is no sense with having all our forces in one spot,” I ordered.

Mclain sent me a single question mark text before I could address his unit.

“Mclain’s heavy infantry,” I commanded, “beat feet for Mansion. Bastion forces, Go!”

Longoria hoisted us off the ground and we shot forward. She aimed us for a position behind the tanks. A video displayed on my Gpad, tracking the invading army’s progress. I saw, on one of the displays before me, the Aspen underway platform suddenly flood with people who thankfully looked to be heeding my warning. The guards at various choke points in and around Aspen were requesting orders. Sally got to them before I could and sent them to defend the underway platform at all costs. Despite the chaos at the platform, my Gpad still showed a couple hundred people huddling inside their homes, refusing to flee.

AH1 drifted into a hover behind Ulanda’s command tank, which towed a sled stacked high with shielding generators. Our forces were on the move, with Torrez and his infantry on sleds being towed to the fight. Bonnet’s light tanks were already swarming into Aspen. We would be outnumbered, I thought, but not outgunned.

“Requesting sitrep on enemy,” I called out over the command channel.

I was surprised when it was Harvard who answered, “Enemy forces adapted to using nitrogen power. They have smaller power packs, however, than those we use, with less of an output and no heavy weapons. This appears to be a light unit assaulting us. We caught enemy drones reconning Aspen. Our defenses were sparse there when the enemy first arrived from their Xgate. I predict they’ve already noticed our army coming to intercede. They will beat the heavy tanks into Aspen if they speed up, meaning they likely secure a foothold, even if you go full speed.”

“Are there signs of any heavy mecha or support constructs?” I asked.

“Not at this time no, Harvard out.”

I crunched his words into my reactive process. We would win this fight, but if it meant protecting humans inside fancy hotels, it would likely be costly. I rubbed my eyes, already gaming out the fight.

There was only one thing we could do, try our best. The TP63s finally crossed the abandoned northern barriers. They hovered at full speed up and over the defenses. Another reminder of why we were moving. That fucking wall was not even a speed bump for an advanced tank.

The light tanks poured into downtown Aspen right as the first waves of Butterflin crested the nearby ridges, with Nagas clutched underneath them. The long snake tails wiggled in the mountain air, first by the hundreds and then the thousands. The sight of the enemy army was something I would never forget.

“Open fire!” I commanded across all channels.

Blue arcs of power reached for a skyline filled with targets. There was no need for focused fire here. Each TP63 tank shot was knocking a duo of targets out of the sky. You’d think the foe would turn around or head to ground, but instead, they flew faster, diving for the nearest hotels. Fuck fuckity fuck, I grunted and had to restrain my desire to lash out. The TG99s finally started arriving, but it was too late.

The enemy returned red streaks of inaccurate fire that did little more than smash a number of small businesses and other buildings on the outside of town. Suddenly, I realized the Butterflin and Nagas were not aiming for my troops. The rounds blasting out of their weapons punched holes into the sides of the nearest high rises. Rubble from these buildings rained down as the enemy sought refuge inside them.

Not once did our firing abate. The constant rocking of the tanks lit the sky blue with their lethal projectiles. Despite our sustained volleys of destruction, more than half the enemy was able to dart into cover. Those dozen buildings, unfortunately, had over a hundred and fifty stubborn humans in them; idiot citizens who had refused to obey my evacuation order now cowered under the enemy’s guns.

I grunted in frustration. If only we had arrived a minute or two earlier. Some battles are decided by seconds.

The enemy had paid heavily for these defensible positions, however, and I was furious that they had secured a toehold on the edge of Aspen.

“Movement from the Xgate. Dual sledded walkers with triple cannons in a large elevated configuration for firing are transitioning through now. I am showing additional hydrogen power plant signatures. The enemy in Aspen sent a distress signal to their forces at the Xgate. They are pouring through the Xgate now. I should be able to give you a final tally ...” Sally suddenly paused. Her Sluggero voice was calm and cool. “I have a commander Smisserin on the line for you, Cap.”

“Go for King Eric,” I said over the radio.

A hissing breath panted into the microphone. A little girl cried out in the background.

“We have your prisoners. You had best leave before our real forces show up,” Smisserin announced triumphantly. I expecting a lot of hissing with his speech, but I guess the translators removed such nuances.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “You realize you're my prisoners? You have a hundred and forty-six, five -.” I said, realizing humans were dying. “If another human dies there will be no saving you, Smisserin.” I swapped radios to my forces. “Encircle the occupied buildings, prepare for orders to fire. Replace hesitant gunners.”

I waited for rebuttals or quibbling from my troops about potentially firing on a building with both the enemy and our own citizens inside. The only reply came from a frustrated enemy.

“We are no one’s prisoners. The divine gate gods do not allow us Naga to become servants,” Smisserin said with a terse determination.

I laughed into the radio and said, “If your forces occupying my buildings don’t surrender with their weapons down and your troops outside in the next three minutes you’re dead.”

“But the prisoners?” Smisserin asked, calling my bluff.

I closed the channel and waited.

“I told him he should surrender and then hung up on Smisserin myself,” Sally informed me. “He should know that you are human.”

This was not the movies. In real life, you did the opposite of what your enemy expected. They showed no sign of meeting my demands halfway through the timer. Not a single foe had walked out to surrender, which meant this would stall out if I let it. I did not. With sixty seconds remaining for my ultimatum, I made the hard call before they could use my timer against me.

“Shred those buildings to rubble! They are killing humans anyway!” I commanded. My body shook as I bottled up my seething anger; my head slumped against my chest knowing what was coming.

The combined assault of the TP63s and TG99s was ridiculous in its sheer firepower. Orbs of all sizes blasted into the hotels and apartments with so much force that shockwaves rocked the air. My tank commanders had prepared for this. Entire energy loads were converted into fiery balls of blue that carved massive holes into the buildings.

The absolutely riddled hotels and apartments flung debris far and wide as they were shredded. With all structural integrity obliterated, they collapsed in on themselves. The firing continued for a further five minutes before I called out, “Cease fire!”

A few desperate Butterflin zipped into the air in an attempt to escape. Blue orbs streaked from the ground to greet them; they were sent tumbling from the sky to crash in heaps on the ground.

“Rotate all forces to the invaders at Xgate 157!” I ordered over the command net.

The dust had not even settled when our army vacated the once fine city of Aspen. Those lucky few still hiding in buildings not destroyed by our swift retribution were left to rot. They might wise up and flee through the underway or they might not. If they did not retreat to Mansion, they would no longer be my problem. The underway was still working, so they had no excuses not to retreat.

“Enemy command Hessissin is requesting parlay,” Sally said over the command net.

“Hypothesis?” I requested.

“Stalling,” Sally replied.

“All units besides infantry still in Mansion proceed to Xgate 157. All units proceed to Xgate 157, except Mclain’s heavy infantry. All haste,” I ordered hoping we could drive back the foe before they established a firm beachhead.

I watched the wall displaying the scene at the Xgate. The enemy’s heavy units were egg shaped, on thick legs a dozen feet tall. Each leg sat on a sled and attached to the domed top by a single pivot joint. One by one the arriving mechanoid army grew as the enemy forces poured through uncontested.

My frustrated grumbling when I realized we were not going to control the Xgate in time earned me sharp glances from the rest of my crew.

“All units halt forward progress, return to Rally Point Rubble,” I ordered. I dialed up Mitchell, who answered promptly.

“Go,” Mitchell said.

“We have some generator bombs made, get with Sally or Harvard and start mining likely avenues of attack,” I said with a sigh. Dirty tricks were not off the table. I dialed Sally, “Does the snake commander still want to talk?”

“Supreme Naga leader Hessissin is still on the line, yes,” Sally said in a bored voice. “Would you like to be connected?”

“Please,” I replied.

“Where are my light infantry?” Hessissin demanded in a feminine voice of authority. It just came off bitchy, though I’m not I could really explain why I thought so.

Hmm … I waited to see if she had any additional input. Nope. Fine with me.

I said, “Oh great and wondrous leader Hessissin, welcome to Earth. Your troops were killing my citizens, who were unable to defend themselves, so I had to react immediately with excessive force. I hope you understand.”

This combat banter between leaders was never any fun. I’d had too many such conversations with warlords in Saudi Arabia. They were rarely fruitful, yet, there had been the odd time or two I’d gleaned bits of useful information or reacted differently because of them. A talking enemy could and, often, would make mistakes.

“How many of my cowardly troops entered into contracts with you?!” Hessissin required in an urgent tone.

“Surrendered? None, they died a glorious death in battle, warriors to the end,” I replied in a respectful tone. “A few may be trapped in the buildings’ remains.”

“I demand to inspect the combat site with drones while we parlay retributions,” Hessissin said.

I shrugged. When I glanced over at Willow and Longoria, they both held their hands, palms up, in the air, not sure what to say. This is why Bastion required a leader instead of a council.

“Permission granted, though I must warn you that we still have non-combatants fleeing,” I said, making a rapid command decision.

There was a peal of hissing laughter over the radio, “It is unwise to house potential servants so close to Xgates.”

“So I have been told,” I replied.

AH1 landed near the corner store plaza, now Rally Point Rubble, where my Gpad received a message.

‘Can I join you in the command station, we can coordinate my defensive trap and mine emplacements together,’ - Mitchell

‘Approved,’ - King Eric

“We have drones departing the enemy forces,” Sammie said from right next to me. I almost jumped at her sudden appearance. She grinned, “Snuck in while you were tapping on your Gpad.”

“Glad you’re here,” I said, rotating to watch the enemy forces. “Willow, start isolating probable avenues of approach. Sammie, get me all the information you can, and display it on the back wall.” I dialed Jevon. “How are they coping?”

He keyed the mic and sighed before saying, “The small unit commanders are not reporting any morale issues. You warned them to leave. The only other option was a week-long stalemate until—”

Hessissin interrupted Jevon. “I am showing twenty of my brave troops with seven human prisoners embedded beneath a ruined building.”

My face contorted into a grimace. “And?”

“This is where we negotiate. The Loxian Collective prefers not to wage war against human brutes, as evidenced by the audacity and savagery required to kill your own to achieve a victory. There is little to gain here with continued hostilities. Your forces use dishonorable tactics, your morality is beneath our refined standards. We will pay you one hundred pounds of neilspar to keep the peace, under one condition.”

I chuckled, then laughed, and patted Sammie’s back. Poor little thing stumbled forward muttering several choice curses under her breath.

“How much zinc is that, Longoria?” I wondered.

“A dozen tons. I implore you to accept if the condition is reasonable,” Longoria said with an excited flicker of her wing. Her tells were starting to show.

“Your condition?” I asked.

Hessissin replied with, “Well, more than one condition, but hear me out. I want to watch over my trapped soldiers. When the Xgates turn off the blue, they will be sent home. Between now and then, you will not attempt to rescue your citizens, even to prevent any accidents. All trapped parties stay where they are, undisturbed. There will be, of course, no guarantee for your citizens' own lives during the confinement.”

“And your army in the field?” I asked. They remained a significant threat. Trapped humans were also a big concern, but when compared to a significant battle where thousands were likely to die, potentially losing seven people while waiting seven days was a pittance my black soul was willing to pay.

“My forces wait here until the blue is almost gone,” I counter-offered, “We receive half of your offered neilspar now, with the other half left behind in good faith when your forces depart.”

“And our drones will monitor both the Xgate and your other forces up to the minute we depart,” Hessissin said in a stern voice.

“Give me a minute, please,” I requested, clenching my teeth.

“Something you did not afford my troops!” The snarky reply echoed in the command room.

Mitchell arrived, breaking the terse silence.

“What did I miss?” he asked, noticing our shocked faces.

, “Apparently humanity’s acts of savagery precede us.” Willow shrugged and said, “We’re being bribed to cease hostilities and to spare the enemy trapped under the rubble we created. Who knew?”

I paced the floor, deep in thought. When I gamed out probable outcomes, I saw no downside to taking the first half of the neilspar ransom. The problem was, this trapped my forces here. There would be no smashing Jarod in San Francisco with his minotaur and siren army this season.

I had no other options at this point. We would hold the field and defend our mining operations while the civilians rushed to Stronghold Castle to build this fantastic place I had yet to see.

I dialed up my command channel to hold an impromptu conference with my commanders. With a heavy sigh, I said, “I want you to know what I am thinking, and since we’re not in the heat of battle, I am open to hearing your suggestions and recommendations. I’m thinking we recall a majority of the army and reposition around Mansion. Once there, we layer our defenses and set a solid perimeter. We shift the mining equipment in Aspen to Mansion to build a final defensive position. All non-essential combat personnel will be evacuated to Stronghold Castle. We monitor both this army outside of Colorado Springs and the forces in San Francisco.” I paused and released the indent for a moment. “That means I want to agree to this deal,” I finished, “Over.”

I waited for a reply. Normally Jevon would be the first to respond but Willis jumped on the net.

“We could use additional equipment at Castle. I held off buying it because of the high prices on Koor. But if we have new funds, it would be worth making the purchases,” the Sluggero said.

Jevon cut in and said, “I have no problem keeping side operations, including trading with Koor, ongoing. We still need to pay folks their back pay, and Koor is an easier shopping experience than the grand market. If I had to predict how this plays out, I believe the Loxian Collective will adhere to the first part of the deal. There are zero reasons for them not to skip out without paying us the last half.”

“Unless we stage Goliath 4 over the rubble as our negotiating tactic. That neilspar is worth a lot,” Perci cut in. I liked the idea. “It will be exposed but that is a single soldier.”

“Did we get a tally on the total dead?” Torrez asked with concern.

“Not yet, estimating civilian losses at a hundred and forty plus,” Sally said evenly. “Which is far less than it would have cost to dig out those Naga.”

“These trapped Naga still might flee, but I do like the idea of our peoples’ deaths having some meaning,” Perci noted.

“Objections to my proposal?” I asked, returning the conversation back to where I had started it.

There was silence on the net. “The following additional caveats will be applied, then: Withdraw to Mansion, establish a corridor between Mansion and Xgate 232 for ongoing trading to Koor, halt looting efforts, and send Goliath 4 to Aspen to guard Naga detainment site. Get me a list of what you need from Koor in the next two hours,” I said and my Gpad immediately notified me of a priority incoming message.

I frowned and tilted my head when I viewed the request. “This is asking for … sand?”

“Yes, we need sand,” Sally requested. “Please allocate AH1 for a day or two to gather supplies from a quiet beach location.”

“Approved. Last chance,” I offered my commanders, “before I respond to the Loxian commander.” Silence. “For the Community! Cap out,” I said.

My army peeled away from the ruined remains of the corner store plaza to retreat to Mansion. Even after all this, fifty people still huddled inside a few standing buildings in Aspen. There was only so much I could do. We had faced down a big threat today and those who refused to listen had paid the ultimate price. My nightmares would surely return, unless the virum could keep them at bay.

“King Eric, this is Commander Hessissin. I see your troops are falling back. Do you agree with our proposal?” Hessissin asked, somewhat surprised.

“For now, yes. We are sending a Goliath to monitor your trapped troops. It is being flown in as we speak. You will deposit the first half of the reimbursement in neilspar that you offered near Denver University, at a park I am marking and sending to you,” I said, indicating a park on the map Willow would surely recognize. She glanced quickly at me, seeing the indicated drop location. Our eyes met and she saw how much I was hurting. Willow sent me the reassuring smile that I needed. “If your forces maintain a calm posture, mine will do likewise. And Hessissin, you should know that I live, breathe, and thrill for battle.”

“I already know this. Most humans are fanatical about it, hence our offer. Your rational judgment is even more frightening than your emotional tendencies,” Hessissin said in a surly tone, yet there was pride in her voice. “We will sit idly by to protect those we hold dear from death to your ilk. This is a small price to pay to avoid the bloodshed that could potentially erupt.”

“I hope the next seven and a half days go by quickly and peacefully for both of us,” I said and closed the connection.

This was going to be either a very intense, or a very boring week. Bastion would do its best, regardless of whichever outcome prevailed.

CHAPTER 22

The torch welder produced vibrant sparks as it melted the two sheets of steel together. My line was perfect as I walked the advanced tool down the seam. The joining of two metallic pieces was monotonous and boring, yet it was work I was proud of. This had been my life for the last seven days, building layer upon layer of defensive gates, platforms, doors, and bunkers.               Mansion, as it had existed the previous Xgate season was no more. What remained out in the valley was an empty shell of the former stronghold. Mounamine longhouses, Crixxi towers, and even the mansion itself were all abandoned due to their high vulnerability to aerial attack. All the troops living at the Mansion outpost would do so inside the mountain, when not deployed in their tanks in a series of defensive strong points between Xgate 232 and our valley. The place I had called home for the past month was no longer home to anyone. Even the stray dogs had been removed, except for a few that had managed to make friends with Onix, deep in the mountain.

Now a u-shaped, four-hundred-foot-tall wall rose next to the cliff entrance to the outpost. The wall jutted out fifty feet from the mountain, creating just enough space for the overly large gates to swing outward. The wall was wide enough and long enough to hold four TG99s emplacements guarding the entrance. This mining site was a primary source of income for Bastion, so we were making it as secure as possible.

Part of that protection included additional TP63s we enshrined in towers near the gate doors. They were simply turret emplacements now, their gravity sleds removed to become air pads. The pillared towers were meant to be one of several lines of defense we added after seeing how Koor managed their entryways. We emplaced generator mines all throughout the old farm fields, in the passageways between longhouses, and even left a few as unwelcome surprises in the barren Crixxi towers.

My focus returned to my welding. With my seam complete, I went over to the next two sheets of thick metal that a pair of Faeries had flown into position for me. The repetitive work caused me to sweat, at times to bleed, but never to complain. The world around me was a peaceful one where griping was the last thing I thought about.

We had paid everyone. By everyone, I mean that even the new hires had surplus zinc to spend. To make it fair we gave those who had been with us longer a bonus in addition to their back pay. This led to a huge number of Bastion’s citizens traveling to Koor. The corridor from here to the X-gate was jammed with transients moving back and forth. So many went to Koor, in fact, that Toth had visited a few times to thank me for the boon to his economy. The Koovorin Council were so happy with us that they allowed us to take on refugees seeking work. We did lose some humans who had wanted a new home to Koor. Toth assured them life in Koor would be harder than at Castle Stronghold, but they were stubborn. Not everyone from Aspen could forgive me for killing our civilians along with our foes.

Of course, the Loxian Collective noticed that we were repeatedly traveling to another world and back. Without nothing to lose, I was honest when they asked me about it on that first day of our cease-fire. When I noted that we were more interested in allies than enemies; this came as a shock to them.

Humans were generally savage assholes and for some reason, I was being friendly. They asked for an actual truce on the second day, so that both sides could make the most of the situation and loot surrounding areas. They agreed to scour to the east, away from our defenses, while we continued to pillage Boulder. I was hesitant to agree, but finally did so while having our drone operators keep a close eye on the situation.

That was how I ended up making steel fortification for a week straight. When we ran out of steel from our loot pile, AC1 started loading up every bit of metal it could from Boulder. Our teams’ work ethic was impressive, dropping their finds off before the reprocessing plant we had purchased on Koor. That led to me doing busywork to pass the time.

I missed Perci and Nancy something fierce. They were managing our new base with all its people and immigrants, while we built defenses. Every night we would video call each other; I promised to be home soon. Not only did I miss them, I was very interested in seeing this base I had heard so much about. My desire to go, however, was always overridden by the simple fact we had unfinished business here. I had to be a soldier first, at least for now, and a king second. Maybe after I defeated Jarod and this base’s fortifications were finished I could relax. I certainly looked forward to finding a hobby; like fucking my hot wives in a multitude of different awesome synth bodies! My smirk faded when I looked out to see the midday sun at its zenith.

Some time this afternoon, the blue portals of Xgate 201 should go blank. I received a call from Hessissin, essentially telling me she understood the same.

“King Eric,” Hessissin said.

“Supreme Military Commander of the Loxian Collective,” I said, using her full and proper title. “How can I help you?”

“We’re leaving in an hour. Normally I would try to cheat you, but you will find we did not. Please allow our soldiers to come home, I have been challenged on the wisdom of my choice to trust you. Yet, you kept the peace. We have looted more than we gave and we both won from this. I regret to inform you, however, that you are down to only five survivors,” Hessissin said with a sad tone.

“We will find out what happened here soon enough. Your soldiers may return safely without our interference,” I said and meant it. An alert hit my translator. “What is this?” I asked.

“Our sales booth in the grand market for you to spend your newfound fortune at. Our collective happens to sell manufacturing parts that you may be interested in. The least I can do is ask you to visit. We may not share the same religious beliefs, but we both understand the value of life. May we meet as friends next time, King Eric.”

“For the community,” I replied.

There was a brief silence and then, “For the community indeed.”

That was probably the last time I would ever talk to a member of the Loxian Collective. A section of their forces spun about for the Xgate and hastily retreated back home. This season would end in a few hours. I had abandoned Aspen. I lost hundreds of citizens and soldiers and I had converted the home I held dear into a true mountain fortress. Times, they were a changing.

Willow arrived, running a smooth hand down my acrium encased back. She went to the bottom of my seam to work up to my downward weld. We finished joining the metal fairly quickly as a team. Willow, Everly and I had been working nonstop, only infrequently retreating for an eyebrow raising joy.

“How about we take a walk before the briefing,” Willow said with a friendly smile and shake of her hips. The acrium armor was impossible to have sex through, but if one didn’t wear clothes overtop them, they sure did show off all the right curves in all the right places. The fact I had not had sex in a week was getting to me, though. I could feel my swollen balls begging me to unleash my beast.

“Any new developments?” I asked, containing my lust. Willow walked us to an underway, holding my hand to soothe my desires.

“No,” she sighed, “Mitchell gave his hourly update on the dot, with no new changes. After you, my king.”

I gestured to the phone booth device that awaited us. “My queen you are a darling lady who brings a twinkle to my eye, and as they say: ladies first.”

Willow smiled and blew me a kiss before the device plunged her into the bowels of the earth. A new pod arrived a few seconds later and I quickly stepped into it. When the door sealed shut, I dove down and into the new base.

This was where our zinc excavations had been converted into military and mining housing as well as planning.

My container ejected me into a brightly lit cavern with the old dining pavilion smack dab in the middle of it. A fake tiny sun shone overhead, illuminating the space as if we were outside. The brightness was set just bright enough to avoid the need for sheltering my eyes.

In less than a minute, Sammie found us. My little shadow had refused to leave my side even when Perci mentioned she come to Castle to help her establish order. Apparently Dorthy was running the Mounamine with Nancy at the moment.

“Where we off to, Master?” Sammie asked.

Willow scratched Sammie’s ear and motioned towards the armory. We stepped away from the main cavern into a secondary room with large thick gates. A small door was open off to the side that we walked for.

“Our acrium need a rest, so best if we remove these ones to their home while we wait for go time,” Willow said.

Everly bolted from out of the shadows to join us, “Did somebody say go time?!”

I chuckled and Sammie rolled her eyes.

“Acrium swap, maybe a little personal time, and then acrium again. After the fun, the briefing should be nearly ready,” I said with a shrug. The fact that the Crixxi pounced on us did not surprise me. “Are we ready for the big event?”

“If by big event you mean you stop teasing me and finally put some babies in my belly, then hell yes! My jaw is swore from endless foreplay with your insatiable mistresses,” Sammie said, and we chuckled. “About time those damn invaders reduced their forces, giving us a chance to relax.”

“I know, there are still plenty of defenses to set up, but the Naga are peeling off with hours to go before the blue crashes offline,” I said as we walked into the acrium vats to remove our armored coating.

There were robes waiting for us after our dips into the acrium pools. I used the slow walk back to my private suite in Mansion Mineshaft to appreciate the upgrades.

A small city had been built inside the former cavern where we had stored a host of things—from animals to loot. Stripped down generators had been converted into lighting that was dam close to the sun’s brightness and warmth. Here the tunnels were narrow and short. Still the passageway gave off a vibe of cozy warmth instead of a damp underground feeling.

We strolled past numerous large cutouts. Steel doors lay open to show interior chambers segregated into a multitude of private rooms. Every miner and soldier had their own individual space by now. We passed at least thirty more of these cut outs on our way to the commander’s section.

A final dome rested at the end of the long hallway; these were the deepest rooms the blossoming fortification held. Twenty-foot-tall steel doors splayed open for us to walk through. Directly inside the room was an underway to a deeper secondary cavern system. I knew from testing it that this underway would deposit travelers into another cavern that led to a further cavern. If these doors held long enough, the entire base could evacuate a few jumps away and remain semi-safe.

We bypassed the desolate platform for one of two large rooms off to each side. The left room was a conference room where I held, well, conferences and meetings. The room to the right, where we now headed, was the commander’s suite. It was a barren room with rather spartan furnishings and a king-sized bed.

Willow opened our door for us and I slipped out of my robe. Sammie, that little Mounamine of mine, was rearing for a fucking. She bolted out of her robe and dived onto the bed. The door shut with a clang while I watched her fluffy little tail bounce invitingly above two curvaceous cheeks.

Two hands stopped me from racing to give my little Sammie more love than she could handle.

Willow and Everly knelt before me. My cock bounced, eager for some attention. Everly ducked down to suck on my shaved balls while Willow kissed the tip of my cock. She kissed the top and swirled her tongue around the head before swallowing my shaft. I knew what she wanted so I pushed her head down.

When her throat was properly stuffed, I yanked her hair back. A trail of saliva went from my tip to her lips as she gasped for air.

I left her huffing. She would be in good hands. My Crixxi was already running for her strap on. Walking away, I knew the two of them would have their fun.

Sammie was dancing her fingers around her hard button of a clit, eager for me to mount her. My throbbing boner pulsed straining for her wet, warm, little slit. I knew I would be too big for her, she always was a tiny little Mounamine at barely five feet tall. Instead of breaking her the first time, I laid on my back.

“No master, I want the pain to turn to pleasure. Please make me into your little sex toy,” she pouted.

My movement was fluid and smooth. I lunged up from the bed for her and she shrieked in surprise. The duo on the rug laughed at her reaction as I caught her by the ankles. She was flipped face down, ass up. I cracked my palm against her butt cheek with an echoing smack.

Sammie whimpered pathetically, her twitching hips sending her little tail bouncing in anticipation.

I spit on my fingers to lube her tiny slit and slid first one and then the other into her. She let loose a guttural moan. I couldn’t take it anymore and drove my cock forward hard into her pussy. She screamed into the covers.

“Tap the back of your head if you need me to stop,” I said giving her only the one warning.

My hips then crashed into her ass with a resounding smack and I fucked her without holding back.

Her screams turned into euphoric moans as the virum adjusted her incredibly tight canal to accommodate my girth. Sammie pushed back onto my cock and arched her back. She guided my hand to one of her swollen breasts while twisting to stare over her shoulder into my eyes. A few quick squeezes and I went all primal on her, powering my hips forward while pulling her ass to slam back into them.

She squealed when I yanked her tail and tapped the back of her head. Dammit! I resisted a strong urge to do it again. This brief pause was replaced by a rapid tempo of thrust and push back as every few strokes, I alternated squeezing and smacking her pink ass cheeks. The ass smacking forced Sammie to bury her head back down and bite the covers as I felt her squirt her first orgasm on to my cock. Her juicy cum dripped freely down my balls.

Sammie’s climactic crescendo was matched by grunt for moaning grunt by Willow as Everly fucked her into the floor. When they swapped who was alpha, I changed positions with my mouse-girl.

There was an end table next to the bed that I laid her back on, causing her wonderfully plump breasts to jiggle at every thrust..

Holding her legs high and wide in the air, I thumped my girth into my little Sammie’s tight pussy. The sex was rough and I followed the end table around the room as my thrusts pushed it across the floor. When she came the second time, I nutted into her with a shudder. I squeezed her tits until I thought they might pop during my finish. My cock slurped out of her tiny slit with gouts of jizz dripping down her pussy until it trailed down her butt.

“Master that was amazing. So much cum. Ohhhh, so much! So much cum!” Sammie squealed as she held her still quivering lips closed with one hand.

Behind us Everly cried out from Willow’s powerful hip movements. When she finished, panting was all I could hear from that side of the room as they each sucked in great gulps of air. That and the sound of the air conditioner applying a refreshing breeze over my sweaty body.

Everly propped herself up on her elbow and smiled at Sammie, “Seven days without ejaculating will lead to that. Now hurry, we need to go shower, get back in our acrium, and run to the briefing.”

∞∞∞

Inside the pavilion, friendly faces laughed and my officers chatted while eating their food. I looked around and saw only military personnel here for this occasion. When I arrived, the side chatter died down, postures straightened, and bites of food were hastily swallowed.

“Attention!” Torrez barked and everyone jumped to their feet.

“At ease!” I bellowed back, letting the echoes of our commands compete until they faded.

Willow patted a seat at a picnic table beside her and I dropped down onto it. I sat back, leaning my elbows against the tabletop and crossing my ankles as I extended my legs out in front of me. Harvard had leaned a big board against the end of the pavilion to use as a screen that we all watched.

“Over the last eight days, we have observed the target,” he began.

Harvard started the meeting like many military briefings I had attended before. A slide show presentation with a host of images and maps, a legend for understanding the images or maps, and a boring serious tone that could lull an energetic two year old into a comma.

“This building is the HVT’s (High Value Target’s), Jarod’s, base of operations. These surrounding structures are where his army resides.”

A few big warehouses were pictured, with a number of minotaur soldiers on patrol. They wore standard battle gear, with proper generators for shielding, and medium rifles. The video gave us detailed information from both electro-optical and infrared sensors as to numbers and patterns of these guard patrols. When the video began another loop, Everly stepped up and opened a new tab to re-populate the screen. A closeup video of Jarod rolled for all of us to see.

“I don’t fucking care that the aircraft can’t fly. We need to march and sack the Teton Fortress. The gods demand it!” Jarod screamed with rage. His muscles bulged agitatedly. The man wore cutoff jeans and no shirt. Little sanity remained in those eyes. “Jane, explain to these imbeciles how I am right. We cannot buy a bigger army without their supplies, supplies that are ours for the taking.”

A siren behind Jarod flung her arms wide with an exaggerated sigh. She went to Jarod’s ear and licked his ear lobe. Then she whispered a sweet melody into his ears that was barely detectable. Jarod’s eyes glazed over and he grumbled, fighting the hypnotic song. Eventually, though, he laid down and fell into a restless sleep of sorts with his eyelids flickering open and closed.

Our intelligence officer paused the video.

Harvard continued, “You will all be given a special set of earplugs prior to engaging these Sirens. This will not happen to us. Thank whomever you choose to be grateful to that Mitchell and his scout team brought us this footage; now pay attention.”

The siren flapped her flippered feet around the fallen Jarod. The man mumbled from the ground unable to rise. His state grew agitated as he fought the mind warp.

“Soothe him, ladies,” Jane ordered to someone off screen. Two naked women, obviously on virum, lay down and snuggled into Jarod. Their naked skin on his calmed his agitation. “We are almost to the next golden portal and then we will ensure our new home is firmly established,” the Siren said.

“We should have let him lead a suicide charge into the enemy already,” another siren said from Jane’s side. She was wearing a uniform with a host of prestigious looking decorations.

Harvard again paused the video. “Her name is not mentioned in this video, but this is General Hera. She is the leader of Jarod’s military and the only female not play-acting for Jarod. She is our biggest threat and we recommend eliminating her first,” he said and Eddy raised a hand.

“These HVTs. If they hold such a high value, why not have Mitchell remove them,” Eddy asked, and I stood.

This was all old news to me. I had studied everything Mitchell had sent each day while I worked with the welder. As I walked up to the board, Harvard brought up a slide with a dozen targets we labeled HVTs.

“Good question, Eddy, this is the command and control of Jarod’s forces. They work with Jarod as a figurehead, the Sirens are the brains, and the Minotaurs provide their brawn. Resume video,” I ordered.

The display shifted back to the scene in the warehouse. A minotaur grumbled and asked, “Can’t I just kill him? I may die for the sin but be rewarded in the heavens.”

“Silence you fool. Our airship was broken by those pesky humans with their pathetic weapons. We will go into the Xgate this next market, purchase a vast army, a host of machines, and a dozen new airships. There are six Xgates we can use to facilitate all our purchasing and the loot here in the Bay Area was magnificent. This idiot thinks we need more loot, and the blame for that lies with me. I have sung him into an unquenchable thirst for conquest. After we let our fearless leader die, you will all be under my contract,” Jane said without the menacing cackle of evil laughter most of us had grown up to expect from dastardly villains. “Patience is required, however. We will upgrade our forces at this market and then smash the humans when they least expect it—during the following golden trade window. The fools will never see it coming. This version of humans are so weak and pathetic.”

I smiled, giving Harvard a thumbs up. The video shifted to a view of the ocean outside San Francisco and the five Xgates that roamed not far off the shore. Barges filled with loot were waiting to leave for the Xgates. Boats, sirens, and a host of minotaurs defended these loot barges even more tightly than the headquarters. The old manufacturing district was just inside the image.

“Alright, you pirates, listen closely,” I said.

My fierce warriors sounded off with a pirate argh!

“This is how the battle of San Francisco will go,” I began. An hour later, I concluded the briefing. An alert hit my Gpad telling me some good news. I sent a community-wide message out to everyone.

“Bastion! The blue will have faded for a third season in two hours. Mitchell has everything in place and Operation Golden Gates is a go. Today we will continue to improve our homes with our non-combatants going shopping. Technology is being upgraded, our safety secured, and our homeland is expanding. Never again will we have to choose between victory and our citizens. I am proud of each and every one of you. It is my greatest honor to tell you how much Bastion fills me with pride. Today, as we rotate into season four, I want you to think about those going into harm’s way. We fight for you, we die for you, and today we go to war to protect the innocent. For the crew! For the community!”

Epilogue

Seetheus’ orb strobed in agitation. That insignificant Ovinious had stirred the divines into a frenzy. For the first time, Seetheus recognized a threat in the pathetic market guardian. The minor nobles had pestered him to no end about the containment overlaps since that cretin had spoken out. The worst part about the whole situation, was that Seetheus knew Ovinious was right.

The arrogance Ovinious displayed, shifting into a fish in front of the assembly was appalling. Seetheus’ orb still wanted vengeance, a feeling he should never experience washed over him. A soothing hum vibrated through his core. The door hissed open and two orbs glided in.

“The pestering minions refused to quit questioning us. It is as if they believe we withhold some hidden knowledge they do not possess. Pathetic. Apologies for our delayed arrival,” Kovrinous said, arriving with Marqunious.

A wave of joy radiated through Seetheus. “Finally, divines I can rely on. Seal the room, please, to ensure our privacy,” Seetheus requested.

His two faithful advisors sealed the room and enabled a silencer device.

“So, why the hidden meeting so soon? Has there been a new development?” Kovrinous wondered.

Marqunious thrummed with laughter and said, “You mean other the fact that Ovinious was right? We will need to deal with him. If only the contract was not so airtight.”

“We knew the compounding problems would be exposed eventually. Battle lines were drawn long ago in the forever anti-war. Our side drew on the support of our many members for eons as our ways were maintained and our divine kind prospered. Now we cannot and these failures are not helping our cause. I called you here, however, because the Owlvini Alliance has vanished,” Seetheus said with dire concern.

There was laughter at first as the others thought this was also a jest. Tracking via the Xgates was a given, there was no question about how such a basic process could fail. Audio, portal transitions, motherships, and even a host of spies maintained a close watch on the Owlvini for the divine council. When Seetheus’s orb hummed sadly they realized he wasn’t kidding.

“What do we do?” Marqunious worried.

Kovrinous generated a universal map. “This is unpredicted, but not disastrous. The Owlvini Alliance are devout in their hatred of us, but I am not showing that their going into hiding will have an impact on our operations. Our productions show four thousand two hundred and fifteen planets online.”

“Productions for what? Are these manufacturing bases? What for?” Marqunious asked, blatantly confused.

Seetheus expected more from Marqunious. The orb was his power master, with a mind so brilliant it regularly converted stars into black holes and sucked these vortexes of power into portals to contain the lower races. Seetheus gave the scientist a moment to clue in.

“We’re going to war?” Marqunious sputtered, his orb shimmering in fright. “My creations of destruction with never fail, they are designed for the eternities. You do realize how this will doom us, though, if we do not contain the enemy.”

“Exactly why we have those who worship us working in secret to help the cause. This is merely a short-term breach of contract. Our automations are unable to keep up with the Creator’s ever widening fan. Too many new species are successfully achieving space flight. We must use those who worship us to assist with the creation of increasingly larger armadas of automations,” Seetheus said with a reassuring buzz. “Everything will be okay in due time.”

Kovrinous reacted unexpectedly when he realized why this meeting had been called. A wave of panic cascaded through the divine. He said, “There are fewer operating facilities than there should be. Their loss, however, is not the problem. We predicted that some of our automation plants run by worshipping conglomerates might fall. The Owlvini Alliance has done more than disappear. We have additional systems without motherships. The data of their loss is wiped. The… The… You!”

Seetheus went to his ancient friend. “Marqunious is both correct and incorrect. We’re not going to war. We’ve already been at war … for years. That data is gone because our foes have started freeing old systems by tricking our motherships. Software updates are going out to patch the glitches, but they are a crafty opponent. The enemy is coming for us, my friends, and if we do not adapt, we will fall.”

He paused. These two were loyalist to the core; Seetheus both knew and counted on it.

“What do we do?” They asked in harmony.

“We must ramp up our production quietly to preserve what we can. We control millions of worlds, an armada of millions of motherships, and the collective will of the divines. When the time comes, we break the never-ending contract, crush our foes, and then return to dominating the savage races without silly things like the grand market. Now,” he continued, “this is what I need you to do.”

Seetheus went into a long-winded explanation to explain how events would rock the universe in a blazing inferno of death and destruction.

CHAPTER 1

AC1 glided over the lapping waves with their white caps dotting the horizon. The evening sun was fading below the horizon with the sparkling moon eager to illuminate the night. Our flight of airships curved with the shoreline not far off our right. There was no hiding our armada of makeshift aircraft while speeding north and that made me nervous.

My command tower was filled with the best Bastion Community had to offer. Jevon and I stood shoulder to shoulder war gaming our potential engagement. While we stood inspecting the wall, encased in acrium and nitrogen shielding, others were working at their stations.

Peterson was managing a team of drone operators, her tasks were a mix of easy and increasingly difficult. The average drone had received major upgrades to be able to follow, expand, and maintain vision on key areas. All she had to do was indicate areas and the drones did the rest. The hard part was I ordered underwater drones to trail our flying armada. The view below was murky with the naked eye but when you applied the heat sensors you started to get a picture of what lurked in the depths.

Our flight path revealed a lot with the evening sunlight. The low altitude journey from Mansion to the California coast above San Jose was very revealing. My ability to see the country, well it shook me. There were a few clumps of invaders trailing into portal, leaving Earth to get home before the blue faded. They were bypassed even though I hated watching them get away. That was not the worst sight. A lost America that converted from well-kept homes, bustling cities, and general production twisted into a desolate wasteland.

Not all hope was lost. The sporadic rural areas were surprisingly repopulated. I was expecting the millions of Americans from the metropolitan California cities to have major fortifications. Instead we observed many coastline showing pockets of humanity clinging inside pitiful defenses.

During the flight over we learned our fighting would not end with one insane human contorted to a siren's whims. While there may have been more people outside the cities, there was another horrifying theme; humans were enslaving other humans. No decency with contracts and one titty bar even had women in shark cages dancing outside to celebrate the end of season three. My initial assumption was to classify the oppressors as biker gangs. But they weren’t, this was merely what the infighting of a wild humanity led to. After three variations of these barbaric outposts I concluded the meek did not inherit the Earth.

Not all our drone footage and radio calls were depressing. There was hope out there. A National Guard unit secured a gold repository. When we established communications we learned they lived in horrid conditions and were pleading for supplies. Without hesitation I told them we would send help and to hold tight. The Bastion community was likely the most advanced human settlement on Earth, unless the Chinese had something going. That meant, to me at least, we needed to do our part to bring back order to the fallen world. All in good time.

Our cruising armada was managed by Longoria. She was crisp with her commands for the hundred plus aircraft soaring in our formation. Every spare sled was converted with TP63 controllers to become open platform aircraft. AS 69s - Aircraft Sleds and Perci picked 69. In front of my ancient fairy was Setaria on the controls of AC1 with her wings tight to her body while focusing. Mclain and the fairy matriarch had found love in this crazy world. He stood at her side managing the modified weapons bolted onto AC1.

Elithen was at Longoria’s side ready to micro commands for the fleet if we were engaged. The male fairy was stoic and serious in his posture.

Sammie tapped against a new control station handling the steady stream of incoming data. Willow was at her side as another adjunct eager to help process the needs of the battle. The duo was updating our wall displays and relaying our orders in real time.

My final glance around the command room confirmed this was no minor engagement. We had three thousand mechanized soldiers being hauled to San Francisco. The object was clear, smash Jarod, the sirens, and their minotaur army. The need was dire, if we did not succeed, they undoubtedly would crush the resistance at the Teton Fortress. The bonus was we were on the job. A big fat bill would be laid on the president’s desk assuming we won. I doubted we would lose for numerous reasons.

“Slow, and then halt formation!” Longoria barked across the aircraft commander’s channel.

I watched the drones gain altitude, their camera zooms magnifying. Of all the crazy updates Bastion Community focused on, natural optic enhancers had been off the list for too long. With the pause, I added the purchase to the task folder. I bet synthetics came with them built in.

With everyone hovering fifteen miles south of the Bay Area, we played the waiting game assuming our timing was right.

I was taking a risk leaving the mine vulnerable but we needed this victory.

Mansion Mineshaft was well defended with five hundred soldiers at the ready. We had left the moment the Loxian Collective vanished from Earth. Could it be under attack randomly? Yes, but we were linked into the area with drone feeds on the wall. Our Gnet was being dragged with us in the guise of fake trees and sea trash.

Mitchell shifted from an overview map to join Jevon and me. He pointed at the first signs of the enemy forces. A hundred minotaurs sat lazily on a marina dock guarding a dozen gravity sled piled high with loot. Just like we expected, the main forces were standing down getting sleep. Our spy drones had confirmed Jane wanted her troops well rested before handling grand market purchasing. Well that and her evil plans of crushing Teton Fortress to build a slave army.

“They are so careless. Someone could pop out and smash them before the golden portals. But I know that attitude. Those soldiers don’t expect a thing,” Mitchell said with a grunt. His finger darted to an image further into the city. A group of armored warriors wearing aquatic power suits with hydrogen packs were walking for the docks. Unlike the minotaurs they had on aqua suits and superior shielding. “And here is the poor sap leading this mess.”

Jevon sighed and enlarged the image of Jarod and his entourage. Sally had given us a long breakdown of how deadly those suits were in the water. Something my fighting forces lacked was the ability to fight in the depths which led to this plan.

“So pompous, poor guy,” Jevon said, folding his arms. We watched the group arrive. Minotaurs suddenly plopped onto their feet pretending to be alert. Grunts were grunts regardless of the species it seemed. “To think all they needed was some drones to find Mitchell earlier and now us.”

“They set up some sort of proximity alert but we avoided it after the first trigger,” Mitchell said. I had read his report on how they were forced to use drones for recon when a scout got too close and a flood of minotaurs found a stray cat instead of the scout vacating the area. “I think they spent all their funds on this army the last golden cycle. Also this is a big force, sure easy for some goliath species to roll over but they are rare. I still think this part of the plan sucks.”

My manly grunt caused him to smirk. I replied, “Loot comes and goes, this is our best option,” I muttered, “Too bad Perci’s idea wouldn’t work.”

“The kill Jarod and end all the contracts? Yeah, I want to ask the storage mind talking Mr. T about that. It seems off that you get a contract extension when all your bosses die right before an Xgate change,” Jevon said.

Perci had thought if we killed Jarod a few minutes before the blue ended all his contracts would be free. Well, he could grant his contracts to others in a will. Which, in this case, would be this Jane he loved. For me, I had Perci, Willow, Nancy, Everly, Jevon, Mitchell, Longoria, and then lessor commanders tied to every single one of my contracts. Why? Well, we got into a long winded lesson with the sluggero siblings.

The sluggeros informed us that if I was the only contract holder of Sammie and Sammie held no contracts herself, what would happen if I died to a lightning strike. Sammie would be deposited on a planet she chose, if she wanted to find a new home, at the next golden portals. This was an easy, simple, and clean explanation. No contract, you go home when the golden portal illuminates assuming your master did not die a few days before transition. Then you waited until the next golden portal. I think, my frustration was evident during the briefing.

Where it got muddier was when others were contracted to you. For instance, a raiding kerbian employed an indebted fairy and found himself trapped on Earth. They still went home. They were raiding, became lost, and were given an option. How that option was given was expressed as a thought enters your mind. Confusing but understandable still. When you had purchased armies, like the one in front of us, and they were assigned to a leader who called Earth their home then they would stay here. We kill Jarod, contracts shift to Jane. Jane is now an Earth resident with an Earth army of aliens. You remove the overhead contracts of the sirens down the line and eventually the minotaurs could go home but it was not instant. There were always a few days of transition time to prevent sudden mass suicidal killings.

When the end of the lecture was over I was tracking the issue but felt it did not matter. Basically the minotaurs needed to be claimed by us and then we could set them free to go home next golden portal in a dozen days, not this one. So that removed any plan where we merely eliminated the leadership.

“Yup, while I want to know why the contracts have so many caveats I bet it’s pointless. We play by their rules. For now,” I said with my best evil laugh.

Willow rolled her eyes from the communications desk and said, “You’re a big softy, far too trusting.”

“I know warlords, and I have been right so far. Your wise words will be listened to regardless, my queen,” I said with a snarky yet playful reply.

“My King, all units are ready,” Sammie said.

I folded my beefy acrium covered arms to match Jevon. We watched Jarod throwing a tantrum. Again. That man was not sane.

There was additional yelling. Finger-pointing and Jarod stomping his feet like a child to the point his empowered suit created divots into the concrete. The group froze when a minion siren scoffed a retort that earned her dagger eyes from everyone. She stepped back with hands up. Eh, not like he could kill her.

One of the human women at his side raised a weapon and blew a siren’s head clean off with a big blue orb.

“Whoa,” Mitchell said reactively.

Those of us watching the unfolding scene were stunned.

Longoria joined us at the command board and said, “Smart, he kept her off-contract but ordered her mind warped to be his toy.”

“Sally and Willis said we can fix them?” Jevon asked. “After seeing that, I am not sure how.”

I shrugged while tapping my fingers together. “I get the cruise passengers being used as mindless slaves. These ones have blood on their hands. Do we want to save them? I guess the girls are innocent. Can they be blamed? Debatable. Jarod is different. We have footage of Jarod killing an old woman before he was sung to. So…”

“So, we get to play judge, jury, and executioner,” Jevon said with a heavy sigh. “Not like there is some universal crimes department we can prosecute him under.”

The room’s tension eased with the slight joke.

Our group watched as the headless body splashed into water; it slowly sunk to the depths below the docks lost from sight until it bloated. Another cruel end in this cruel universe. Jarod had cowed his army into following his demands, even the Jane siren was nervously following him onto the first barge.

The minotaur minions flowed onto the barge with Jarod standing at the front. The other loaded barges did not push off as the first one drifted away from the dock. My Gpad beeped telling me the time for the blue to end had arrived.

The Xgate not far from the city went to the ocean surface level. The blue fizzled out and the gray construct settled into a hover at the point it touched the water. The hour countdown before the golden illumination had begun. Jarod’s barge drifted past the first Xgate and further out to sea.

“Oh, you got to be kidding me, fuck yes!” Mitchell said with a fist pump.

Jevon glared at the scout leader who refused to stop his joyful celebration. “This is good but not the best case Mitchell. He is going directly for the next Xgate. What are your orders, my King?” Jevon asked.

“Give him a moment to get further away,” I said, waiting for the report from Aspen.

A video played on my Gpad. Goliath 1 showed five huddled citizens being rescued from a basement. The two dead were pinned by rubble. Sad, but I wanted this closure. Well, those two things were completedd. The blue faded and the enemy left Denver which meant I was free to focus on San Francisco.

Jarod’s barge arrived at the Xgate. That was good enough for me. He went too far from his troops and was dumb enough to leave too early. Probably what they were arguing over earlier.

“You have command,” I said fading into the background. “For the community.”

“I have command. For the community!” Jevon replied sternly. “Secure the docks.”

Since I went overboard on the last mission I let Jevon lead this one from the start. In all likelihood, I would be needed for negotiation or hard decisions that were not battle-related. My ability to be flexible was needed; at least I told myself that. The reality was I wanted to shoot, kill, and destroy because being a commander only had so many thrilling moments.

Willow keyed up a fleet-wide transmission and said, “Operation Dock-Day is a go.”

That was the cue.

There was no turning back now.

I went to the view screen to watch the battle unfold before me. My hands rested on the shelf while I glared down at the might of the Bastion Community going to war.

Converted sleds surged forward ahead of the fleet. AH1 and AH2 were right behind them. AC1 followed having no problem keeping up even with its monstrosity size.

The water transitioned into a rocky shore with the drop back of a massive city that rapidly grew as we neared. Our fleet approached silently without any indication of our intentions. That was about to change.

A glance at the command wall showed targeting systems locking onto indicated warehouses. The long structures were a few blocks east of the dock and we needed them to be reduced to create a landing zone. Blue orbs illuminated the fading sunlight applying brightness to the skyline. The firing was minimal and precise against targets easily destroyed.

The enemy was confused. The Xgate’s portals had gone blank and an incoming armada was charging in aggressively. Their hesitation was only momentary as blue returning fire smashed into a lead AS-69. The damage caused the sled to spin before crashing into a grocery store. A fraction of a second later only a few tanks ejected off the platform before it exploded in a growing mushroom cloud.

AS-69s landed in the place of the old warehouses. Their downward pressure compressed whatever remains that the initial fire did not eliminate. TP-63s sped off their aircraft sleds to secure the docks. The light tanks weaved into buildings for cover while firing effectively into the minotaur infantry.

Octosuits crab-walked off the landing platforms to join our growing army assaulting the city. When the AS-69s picked up off the rubble, AC1 came in. This was the defining moment of the battle. When AC1 shifted to the point its ramps smacked into the streets below, I knew we had won.

TG-99s spewed out of the aircraft carrier by the hundreds. Their landing was unopposed as the enemy was mostly sleeping before a long day of fighting. There was a cheer in the command room as the exterior bloomed with blue fire of our invading army. We had done it, the enemy had been surprised. Now it was time to make them pay.

The barge out in the ocean was stationary in shock. The city's defenders were exposed and vulnerable. A weakness we had planned for and would use ruthlessly to win.

The minotaur housing, the siren hotel with excessive pools, and even Jarod’s headquarters were targeted with focused fire. Echoing sounds of buildings ripping apart forced me to decrease the sound setting on my earplugs.

Mighty orbs slammed into the targets with a dazzling shimmer of our fire power on display. Key structures imploded from the damage sending shock and debris waves.

The tanks never slowed from expanding or from leaving AC1. Our intelligence was too thorough. We knew every holdout, every sniper perch, and every barracks being used. There was no desire for a surrendered foe here. Utter defeat was all we were offering.

My eyes watched Jevon micro managing the battle. The back wall showed our forces spreading in a ring of destruction. The docks were secured already with the loot being chucked off the barges and onto dry land.

Most of the enemy infantry were caught on a break in their barracks. The destructive nitrogen never gave them a chance. The sirens relaxing in their massive hotel were dead when their building collapsed. A few had jumped down from high floors desperate to escape in time. They did not survive the gravity fed fall. The dead littered the streets and the toppled towers spread their rubble over the city.

I let out a long sigh of relief when our forces secured the human compound that was stuffed full with prisoners. They were in squalor conditions but alive, their mind control was minor and we could reintegrate them with time. There was always a chance they were killed in the crossfire, it was predicted as a high probability and I was happy we freed them before any tragedy befell those poor souls.

“I have a call coming in from an Orinia,” Sammie said, distracting me from the fight. My face twisted in confusion. That was not a name I knew. “Ah, I think that is Jane’s true name. Yes, it is Jane.”

There were only a few outposts left and the main threat which was the command group with its aqua suits. Jevon caught my inspection, smiled widely with a flash of bright white teeth, and threw me a proud thumbs up. I returned his smile before arriving at the communications station.

I was on a video call. Jarod was on the ground stirring, the mighty warrior yet again fallen prey to the evil ways of the sirens. The woman we tagged Meredith was dead. Her true name was Balinda of New Zealand. Spouse of Henry Corvil. Her fate was a tragic one by the fact half her face was missing. My frown at Orinia only grew deeper when she started ordering her enhanced troops into the water.

“This is King Eric, it is nice to finally meet you, Jill,” I said and Jarod stirred from the sound of the name.

This immediately threw the siren for a loop. She scanned her surroundings with confusion. Her eyes locked to a drone Peterson was flying. A dozen shots later and the drone still lived.

“I fucking hate these land based weapons!” the siren with many names shouted.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked. “Not sure why.”

“I am not Jill,” the siren Jarod called Jane said in a haughty tone. “Call me Orinia. I was about to…”

I interrupted and said, “Orinia it is, I guess. I do prefer Jill though, Jill and Mary. You see I’m… oh look he is reacting. Almost like he remembers you’re a filthy alien who warped his mind.”

Orinia paused, crashing down onto Jarod who squirmed out of her arms. He plopped into the water and vanished into the depths.

“No!” She screamed in frustration. My video screen was glared at with a face scrunched in hostility. “He will be back, I have trained him too well. You will flee the city or we will destroy you.”

“Um… Does no work? I think no is a great reply here,” I said in smartass tone.

I think she realized I was probably not going to cave to any threats. “You know a lot. A lot more than spying on us in this Bay Area would have revealed.”

“Indeed,” I replied with a scoff. A glance over my shoulder showed massive amounts of loot shifting from the docks and into AC1. “So, you called for what exactly?”

“I underestimated your kind,” Orinia said, kicking the plating deck of the barge. “That idiot was right, we should have marched on Teton Fortress. Instead -”

“What was it you said? These weak and pathetic humans would never expect to be attacked during a golden portal. The irony is you gave your troops a pre-golden break before they were needed to shuffle items to the Xgates and then assault Teton Fortress,” I said and peeled out a long string of laughter. “Jarod even said to ensure you kept the troops ready. But no! You were so set on countermanding every single order he gave that you defeated yourself.”

“What do you want?” Orinia said. “Why have you not come for us or this harlot?”

“Jarod, and I think that is Mallory. Yes, that one was the cruise ship captain. She was a favorite of his,” I said, seeing the woman pouting at the barges edge desperate for Jarod. Her intense sobbing caused me to grow sad because I knew it was fake. “Oh, right. Where were we? What do I want? Nothing.”

“Huh?” She replied rapidly with confusion.

“Nothing. I got what I came for. I freed some human servants. I stole all the loot I collected and our assault resulted in -”

“Seventeen dead,” Mitchell said from the back wall.

“Ah, see seventeen lost to take all your hard-earned loot. The minds washed will take time to fix. With the virum time is -”

“You’re stalling, find their forces and return Jarod to me. He should already have returned to my side!” Orinia said, looking around in a panic. She hissed at her fellow sirens who dove into the water searching for my hidden trap that didn’t exist. They searched the sky above and the depths below coming up empty over and over again. I shrugged when she returned her focus to our conversation. “Why are you talking with me then?”

“What do I have to lose? You’re stuck out there. I have everything I want. If I assault you on the water, I lose lives for a fraction of the loot you have freely donated. I don’t want Jarod and Mallory is not worth the others. This was never about petty revenge or eliminating a powerful enemy. This was about destroying your army and your ability to wage war on American soil.”

She smirked as if achieving a hidden victory. “You’re too scared to fight us so you let us live for now to fight another -”

An echoing boom from the distance interrupted her speech. A whistle drowned out her stunned reaction as she tried to figure out what was happening.

“About flipping time,” I muttered with a grimace.

A split second later railgun rounds from the USS McCain pounded the personal shields of the aqua suits. Those lasted microseconds as the rounds caused a cascading chain reaction. Orinia exploded into bits of gore from a direct hit. A fitting end to the vile bitch.

The platform twisted in an implosion before the generator safeties failed, blasting their immense power outwards. In less than a breath, the barge converted from a stable platform with heavily armed defenders to a sinking mess dotted by floating debris.

My only regret with this decision was I never saw Jarod die. The sirens, the platform, and my lover’s ex-husband sought sanctuary into the depths below.

“This the USS McCain. Firing over. Sonar reveals six aqua suits fleeing north and one passing us to the west. Our torpedoes and depth charges missed,” the operator aboard the McCain said.

There was no cheering or congratulating each other. This part of our plan was a failure. The projections estimated higher mortality rates. I sighed but knew I needed to let it go. Everything else had gone flawlessly and the point I declared earlier was truth. We forced the enemy to retreat without a haven to build upon. All other options had significantly higher mortality rates.

“Nice shooting McCain. Pull into port. You’re going home,” I said proudly to the crew.

They had been stranded without aid for over a month. Their own story was one I wanted to hear about over drinks. Linda Growlen had mentioned a few of our navy ships were still fighting the good fight on the oceans. The McCain needed a home, we needed some help, and we came to a compromise.

There were some issues, like the fact that we needed more powerful aircraft to purchase so we could fly the McCain into Stronghold Castle. The plan was to stick the mighty battleship in our underground lake. A fitting end to the magnificent vessel, forever locked away from the pillaging aliens of the universe.

“Adjusting course now. As much as we love the sea, we eagerly await a new home. McCain out.”

Now there were cheers. We had done it. Victory was ours. The golden gates fired to life not ten minutes later to new rounds of cheering. I was thrilled to be going to Stronghold Castle for the very first time.

CHAPTER 2

When I transitioned from AC1 to AH1 I did so feeling proud. The brave soldiers of Bastion Community shouldered the brunt of the work and executed our goals flawlessly. I was not a pompous ass hat at heart, my troops respected me because I cherished their fortitude. I stopped a few times to chat on my journey to swap aircraft. Each conversation was personal at a level that only time together in the proverbial trenches could build. The mood from those I spoke with was positive, and when I left I felt we made the right call.

There had been pushback on limiting casualties over letting a foe have a decent escape chance. Every soldier spared was worth that decision. I had to hope Jarod never recovered.

Arriving at AH1 my feet clomped against the hanger bay of the aircraft. The empty space echoed each footstep as I walked the interior ramp for the captain’s room. My Gpad rang and auto answered before I arrived at the second floor door.

“Go ahead Sally,” I said, taking a guess.

“Close, Willis here,” Willis said in a flat tone. The sassy sluggero normally had an attitude of some sort. This tone was almost frightened. “Goldie wants to see you. Said it was urgent. We compiled a file for you to give to Winston.”

“Goldie, as in the triple tailed fish that only I can see?”

There was a huff and Willis said, “No Eric, he, and using the pronoun loosely, he is Goldie to everyone in the universe now. Let that sink in. And he said you’re needed. I didn’t even go in. The first ones throwing zinc in were waved into the portal. This is big.”

“I forgot to ask Perci, can we share storage resources? Like spend zinc input at 232 here in Cali?”

“Yes. How did you not…? That is irrelevant, get into the portal. Willis out.”

I clenched my jaw in a grimace. What the hell was going on? There was little for me to do besides go find out. No way was I using an Xgate we did not have secured. Which meant.

“Five this is six,” I said over the command net.

“Go,” Jevon replied.

I frowned mulling my options. Decisive commanders needed to be prompt and I was certainly one to be able to do so.

“Push Eddy up to Xgate 12331 at the eastern side of the city. Have Mitchell bring a strike squad into AH1. We’re adjusting. Get this loot into that Xgate for now,” I ordered.

My stomping feet let my body trigger the door sensor causing a hiss to spray. I stepped into the AH1 piloting area with a disgruntled sigh. At least it was the post battle plan was going to shit. Almost always it was the combat that threw wrenches in your well laid out plans.

There was a crixxi guard that nodded to me as I entered. My scan of the room showed Perci handling the pilot station while communicating with someone on the radio. Torrez was at the back wall pacing as he studied the battlefield updates. Dorthy was at the radio station feeding data to both of them.

“Get over here,” Torrez said pointing at the map rendering on the digital wall. A few long steps had me staring at the display with him. “We were able to track Jarod to here. Watch him stop. Without that bitch whispering in his ear I think he is lost. A few minutes of debate results in this.”

I watched a lime green icon zoom across the map. “Damn, that suit is awesome.”

“Yup, makes him a superhero in the water. You noticed where he is going?” Torrez asked and I trailed a finger down Jarod’s path. His dot vanished off the map as we lost tracking.

“Australia. Let him deal with the aliens down there. If he ever returns we will be ready for him. I, however, think this is the last we will hear of him,” I said with certainty.

“Why is that?” Torrez asked.

I shrugged and replied, “The madness. His mind was warped to a level the siblings said could not be saved. So he will try to be a king again which has its own issues when you’re a one man kingdom. Even if he succeeds in building up a new force; he does not strategize, he pounds his foes into oblivion with sheer force. He can have Australia.”

“I don't like that he still lives,” Perci said, joining our side.

“We went over this, at a rate I grew sick of it. Killing Jarod meant Jane would hunker down and rouse the troops. Letting them drift out to sea away from their forces was our best option. I have no regrets, yet. We won cleanly and a single man in a water suit fleeing to the other side of the world is a victory.”

Mitchell entered the room in a rush and said, “The securing force is onboard, locked and loaded. Are we ready to go?”

Perci nodded and returned to the controls. A five minute flight later and we were outside a stationary Xgate with golden portals.

“Perci you make a wonderful pilot,” I said, watching her land the aircraft.

She flashed a smile over her shoulder once we touched down. The bright shimmer of the portals illuminated the dark evening. Perci shut AH1 down to join my side and said, “I appreciate the comments. It felt invigorating to be in the battle doing my little part.” She paused to give me a worried look. “I am concerned why this Goldie wants to see you. I desperately wanted to show you our new home.”

“Are you enjoying it? Feeling better since the idea is less of a concept and more of an actual house?” I asked remembering how upset she was when first propositioned to live underground.

“Well my soon to be husband, there are lots of things that thrill me about the idea. Most of my worries were alleviated and today I get to purchase all the interior stuff we need. There is going to be some serious shopping happening,” Perci said and I raised a questioning eyebrow behind my clear face shield of acrium. “No spoilers. You will be wowed by the magnificence when we get home.”

I chuckled and said, “Calling it home already, those siblings are impressive.”

“Undoubtedly, which is why Goldie spooking Willis worries me,” Perci said.

We paused in front of the golden shimmer. Mitchell’s scouts secured our perimeter and he signaled we were good to go. I stepped into the light and crossed into the storage bay a moment later.

Goldie waited for me in an open empty storage room. The fish greeted me with a gaping smile that I shied away from. Fish mouths grossed me out for whatever reason. Even when I fileted fish I would dig a thumb into an eyeball over a mouth. Goldie giggled at my reaction.

“Before I launch into important news I need you to help yourself,” Goldie said and I shifted my head in confusion. “Start loading loot into here. There was a caveat placed in the contract eons ago. Basically this Xgate’s proximity to a different surface type allows double ingestion amounts. So start loading up.”

“We will be, just need to shift some things. I was planning on using an Xgate by our new underground base,” I said with a frown.

“Which is fine. This will all make sense soon enough. You want to load here,” Goldie said pointing at the empty storage room. “And buy over there. You will see. I have no ability to deceive you.”

Perci patted my armored shoulder and said, “I will go get the process going. You two have a nice chat.”

I watched her vacate the portal. The storage room morphed suddenly. The space expanded into a mighty jungle with a translucent trail. Animal sounds exploded all at once until the noise died down. Goldie shifted, correction, he morphed into an orb with arms. A device was placed on the ground that resonated with a thrum.

“The time is near Eric. I leaned on humans once before and was not disappointed. Their ancestors changed into something vile though and I thought your species forever lost to the other side. You, you’re different. I know it,” Goldie said, leaving me questioning his meaning. “I helped your ancestors escape. They were the first planet Seetheus leapfrogged. He smashed a backward human planet and sent the mothership one system over to enslave the next system. His very first mistake in his dominance quest.”

I froze, unable to fully comprehend his statement. My lips moved on their own as I talked out my thoughts.

“That would mean your millions if not billions of years old. You’re helping the contained. Which means you oppose the quarantine. And now you’re pulling me aside -” I paused, mulling over the rationalizations. “There was another mistake you can exploit. What do you need me for?”

“To never mention this conversation. I wanted to talk to you, to set you up with a friend of mine. That is what the spies will see and that little bit of information leaking is fine. They have their agents, and I have mine. We have proxy warred since the start of this nonsense. Secretly I have what I need already. This,” Goldie said waving his arm around to show the dense jungle with the nice walking trail. He finished his gesture to point at the thrumming device. “And that is for show. You will have a tough time ahead. It will never get easier. Build, consolidate, and improve until the opportunity arrives to act. Or more importantly, react.”

“You sound just like Lilith,” I mumbled.

Goldie sputtered out bubbles with a mirthy laughter. “That is because she comes in here and badgers me for companionship every chance she can get for over a million of your years. Ever since she was a tiny baby barely taller than you. And that is why our side will win.”

“Your cryptic sayings bother me. I did trust Lilith though. You mentioned a friend?” I asked.

“An Owlvini Alliance member. Happens to be sitting with your acquaintance Winston. They have all the details you need to execute your next step,” Goldie said with his orbed hands clapping. The device slurped into Goldie’s body that returned to a fish. A second later the jungle vanished and the storage container populated walls. “Go visit Winston. He is expecting you.”

I nodded and left for the side ramp. A moment later my body left the storage area to fly through the void of space and I was deposited on the edge of the grand market not far from where Winston held his shop. The tall blue alien was chatting with an owl. There was surprisingly no humanoid aspect to it.

A ten foot tall owl with gray feathers with black and green tints. A head too large for the body spun to face me. Two massive golden eyes with widening orbs peered down at me. For a moment I felt like prey caught by a predator. My defensive nature softened when I was winged over to join the odd duo.

“Zero doubts I would see you again, Eric,” Winston said with a welcoming toothy smile and his tail waving happily. “Eric let me introduce you to Daxstar the Magnificent. The title is my making, not his. He is an owlvini from the Owlvini Alliance. Interesting story Daxstar has.”

I motioned for a taver chair and he gestured for me to take it. “Nice to meet you Daxstar. Never seen an owlvini before. Maybe it was added to the translator by another.”

“You will find, as time goes by, naming new species becomes less and less frequent. I was sent to find you. I guess my story is not that intriguing,” Daxstar said with a hooting laughter of sorts. “Did you know there are limits to portal chain jumping?”

“I did not,” I admitted.

“Your species is needed so we had a thousand owlvini scouring a hundred and forty four jumps to find you or anyone who knew you,” Daxstar said. I opened my mouth to reply but he waved me down with his wing. “There is much for you to learn. Infinite amounts. For now. I need you and my friend Winston here to do a contract.”

“I don’t think the taver chairs are ready,” I said with a frown. “They should be soon. Sorry this is all rushed and our crews are just now loading materials into the market.”

Winston stuffed his splayed hand on his hips in agitation. “Eric, you’re so far beyond chairs you will not realize the gravity of this moment until later. Here,” Winston said, shooting me a contract. I studied the terms and was shocked. There were about six hundred bazillion caveats, but the price was a gram of neilspar which made no sense. Then I saw the name. “Yes Eric, I am trading you Daxstar. There are things at play you will understand later.”

“I will give you two years, a roof and three meals a day,” I said, offering Daxstar my terms.

“I need authority over your other workers. Without question. The rest I can generate around those terms,” Daxstar said.

“Two years, a roof, three meals a day and personal advisor to the king.”

Winston yanked his tail in agitation, his eyes bulging at my statement, but Daxstar soothed the blue alien. “He is ignorant, his ability to adapt is what we need. Not his blind obedience. I accept the new terms.”

A clean contract appeared from Winston. I accepted and moments later I employed an owlvini name Daxstar. Go team Bastion! I think...

“Perfect,” Daxstar said, giving a salute to Winston.

“Winston what does this mean, and accept my chairs. I am a stickler for tradition, my Gpad said they just arrived,” I said reading the ping from Bensen who was inside Xgate 232.

“To start, you have a more thorough database than I do now. This is the smartest being besides the creators that contain us. As for your chairs,” Winston paused and shot me a contract. “Eric, you may not need to bribe me to try to unlock my data anymore. Still visit, I do enjoy the updates and the chairs. Mostly the chairs. Like a lot. My status as a lowly vendor has suddenly gone up.”

“Well, we had an action packed season. Lot of new upgrades that let us win some fights we would have lost without them. I was told we needed to move,” I said with a determined tone. “Other than that standard species I think. Nothing brand new or insanely powerful.”

“And that will be paid for going forward. Simply stop buy and I will buy the chairs at a premium. Until next season Eric,” Winston said waving a dismissive good bye.

A praying mantis entered our space to chat with Winston. Daxstar and I left for the two of them to talk. I was bit lost as for where to go next.

Daxstar gestured for the bank exchange at a dozen booths away and said, “We have a lot of work to do. First we need to make a quick stop to get my required materials. Do you have slackinator, gyrowrench, or a pluxacoil?”

“Are any of those real?” I said with a slight whiff of air at the end. Oh, his face said he was serious. “Expect we have nothing. The last thing we purchased was sluggeros.”

“Yes, I know. They’re in for a shock. So are you, but to the exchange first,” Daxstar said, waving by to Winston.

“Good luck you two!” Winston shouted as we departed.

“So, what are we shopping for?” I asked.

There was a loud huff from the big brained owl. “Ingredients to construct custom items that are classified. First we need to be able to purchase the raw materials and the sellers I know will not want your zinc. The markets are in turmoil at the moment. Raw materials are going high and high as if there is a force hoarding everything they can regardless of the cost.”

“You know what is happening?” I asked rhetorically.

“You will too, soon enough. Okay, we only need a few ounces of neilspar. As your advisor I need -”

“Granted up to one pound of neilspar,” I said.

“I will need access to additional funds later, Eric,” Daxstar said with a stare down his beak. “This will work for now.”

There was no teller at the exchange bank. A slimy creature rested behind the vendor booth but it was playing ball against a wall. Six stations were arrayed at the front, and all were unoccupied.

“This will get busy soon. People are still converting pillaged goods into materials. Perfect for me to...” The owlvini interacted with the device in a manner I was unable to track. “And we're done. So easy. Zinc for neilspar is at a good rate here, not that we exchanged too much,” Daxstar said.

I went for the orbital exit while he went into the interior of trading. Or parting ways caused me to turn to go his direction.

“You cannot keep up. Meet me in the storage containment unit so you can conserve your energy,” Daxstar said, fading into the market.

I was going to remind him I was in charge when he flew away at about four times the rate I could walk inside this market. When he vanished from sight I shrugged. I stepped over to the exit gravity wells and was sucked up.

The darkness of void greeted me, the blackness swallowing my body. I noticed something different immediately.

Around the orbital were far fewer motherships, last shopping season there were thousands upon thousands. A closer inspection of the ships in space revealed they were being repaired from damage. That made sense, Earth had fought back and lost. I was certain other species probably fared better than we did.

The view was lost when my transition completed and I returned to storage. Perci was back inside waiting for me.

“Hey babe,” I said, hoisting my lovely lady. “We need to wait for a new friend and then it's off to Stronghold Castle. How are things outside going?”

“Torrez has the loot piling in. We are already letting people go shopping with their personal funds. Our payday is crazy high. Between Boulder, the neilspar from extorting the nagas, our insane zinc mining, and now the loot from Jarod, we shouldn’t get low on funds for the siblings' needs. I say that and we both know to not bother anticipating much besides to accomplish what has to get done.”

“Well, I think I was given a brainiac to help our cause,” I said and Goldie appeared in his orb form.

Perci inspected his new look with skepticism. “I preferred the fish.”

The orb vibrated in a manner I could only rationalize was probably laughter. “Well, that can always be arranged. I am going to be gone for a while. I need to set up my replacement. It will be a few seasons until you see me again,” Goldie said excusing himself.

When he vanished at the back of the room Perci grumbled and said, “Wonder what that is about. Oh, hello new princess.” She paused, likely speaking with a new storage master. “Ah, I do understand some breaks are needed at times. Yes, we thank you for your time.”

When she stopped talking to the air she furled her brows with a perplexed frown. I guess a replacement arrived instantly. Whoever ran the trade market was efficient. Daxstar flittered to the deck before I could ask her what the problem was. A personal sled carried a sack that bulged with pointy objects that glowed. Hmm…

I was not a retard. I figured out what was happening. One glare from Daxstar asked for me to trust him. My eyes went to my loving Perci. So much rested on keeping her safe. If I let this owlvini out of the portal with us I knew she would go into further danger. I also knew this was our chance at revenge. Oh Lilith, the webs you weave. I straightened my back finding my spine.

“Took you long enough, Daxstar. Daxstar, this is your Queen, Perci. Perci this is my first official advisor, Daxstar. Come Perci, we’re showing our latest employee all the hard work he has signed on to help with,” I said nudging my forever girl forward. We crossed through the threshold and I felt the evening chill of the late spring day.

“The sky is so clear here,” Daxstar muttered.

The owl’s neck was twisted sideways and at a very odd angle to stare straight up. Finally I was not shocked when an alien did a weird thing. Now if only I could get over big machines moving fast.

“Why is that?” Torrez asked, shuffling loot into the golden shimmer.

Daxstar’s head swiveled quickly to focus on my friend. “Your legs, they are a generation above your technology. A marvel of their time. I would like to correct them when you have a moment. As to the sky, where I come from we had many planets and moons to habitats around a single sun. There is but one planet with one moon in the hospitable zone of this system. Sad.”

“So, going to go out on a limb here,” Torrez said with a wink and I groaned at his pun. “But you have wings. Wings cannot -”

We paused as a large section of loot lifted off the gravity sled and zoomed into the golden shimmer. The process was repeated. An imaginary force was lifting sections of manufacturing parts and hurling them into the portal. Up and in, up and in. The entire load was finished in a matter of seconds.

“Right, so that just happened. Side note boss. Purchase more telepathics,” Torrez said with a jolly smile.

“Telekinetics, but we understood your point. I am Daxstar, advisor to King Eric. Again, I highly recommend you see me when we both have free time,” Daxstar said to Torrez. “I can improve your legs to make you superhuman.”

“Impressive,” Perci said, walking for AH1. “Time to go home. I bet the sluggeros are going to go crazy.”

“I just want to see my new home,” I grumbled, hoping to not be interrupted this time.

CHAPTER 3

“King Eric, you need to hear this,” Dorthy said from the communication station.

And there it was, the inevitable imperative side issue that had to be addressed. A wing landed on my shoulder from Daxstar who said, “This is a worthy cause. You need the loyalty of your troops to know -”

“I don’t need you to patronize me, Daxstar. I may not be perfect, and a human, but I think the citizens of Bastion prefer I decide who lives and dies at a moment’s notice,” I said, cutting off the tall owl. Apparently he was able to bend metal with his mind to fit in the doorway. Aliens… “Play it on the speakers, Dorthy.”

Dorthy adjust a few inputs and the flight deck of AH1 echoed a frightened voice.

“I escaped my cage,” the voice whispered. “We are on the edge of Reno, please help. I am so scared. Ah!”

The scream split the room.

“Ah, think you’re smart do ya little pretty,” a voice bellowed with an evil cackle. The sound of a smack landing was the last we heard as static filled the room.

Dorthy cleared her throat. “That was through our expanding Gpad network. Which the idiots have all turned on now that they are working again. Surprisingly they are surfing porn even when they have human sex slaves and even contracted slaves for the same thing.”

“Huh?” Perci said, confused. “How do you know that?”

“The Gnet is up, they have cameras in their facility. A Nevada Museum of Arts. There are a bunch of these buildings in Reno with large storage basements. This one had the largest underground network. There are two more small groups in the city that are trading. Both of those have humanity in the sense that they are not brutal,” Dorthy said. The little mounamine was clearly sad and frustrated. “I don’t have a full count of hostiles but a few hundred in the shelter. A dozen or so guards and their best weapons are old Earth technology. Nothing that can get through a shield.”

I sighed. The back wall populated a map. Reno was mostly destroyed. Buildings were crumpled, cars littered the streets, and you would think the city desolate. Yet three groups lived here. Survivors of the apocalypse by scurrying below ground. There was an irony here. I wondered if all those strongholds we flew over had bunkers of some sort.

Mitchell approached and said, “Thoughts?”

“Get in, kill the bad guys, and then cram the hold. If we’re empowered with shielding, acrium, and carrying weapons of war they cannot oppose it is fairly simple. Today is the day we start to clean up humanity,” I said with a grunt. I turned to Perci. “Flight time to Stronghold Castle?”

“Thirty seven minutes at full speed,” Perci said.

I glanced at Daxstar who gave a nod in understanding.

“Take us a half mile off objective Rescue,” I said, applying the name to the map. “I will go with Mitchell. You’re to proceed to Castle and then return. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” Perci said. I saw her wanting to comment but she stayed mum.

“Smash and grab. This ought to be fun,” Mitchell said. “You want to deal with the other groups too?”

“Sure, they have let these assholes live by them. We will at least let them know a new sheriff is in town. The Bastion community is in charge. I guess we will start administering laws once we make them. For now, caging people is a good enough reason for me,” I said with a shrug.

“ETA to drop sixty seconds,” Perci said in a calm, even tone.

“Good luck Eric, I shall be ready to brief you when you finish,” Daxstar said.

I replied with a thumbs up while exiting the captain’s bridge. The weapons rack outside held my sniper rifle and close-ranged Big Sploosha. I snatched the weapons off the holder and powered them onto my body.

Mitchell gave a loud clap to the scouts below in the hanger. When he had their attention he said, “We’re going into a human city called Reno. Intelligence indicates our foe is under-geared and not prepared. They have prisoners not bound by contracts and those with contracts. Which, we are going to fix. If you get a target, hold for orders. If fired upon,” Mitchell said, waiting.

“Kill, kill, kill!” The troops echoed back.

“There are friendlies in the area. Our main goal is the extraction of the vulnerable. The King is joining us. The man negotiates with the barrel of a gun, so expect the unexpected,” Mitchell said.

I hopped over the railing to the deck below. The clap of my feet echoed across the enclosed space. I watched the ramp folded out and down with AH1 visibly in descent.

The soldiers were professionals, the scout units were elite infantry and it showed.

The flow of troops exiting the aircraft was instant when AH1 drifted a few over a desolate road.

The black acrium armor helped the troops fan out as we were deposited in a strip. I was the last one off the ramp, my boots slamming into concrete with a slight thud. My weapons were not hot, my posture was not at the semi ready.

I was still typing out our route entrance to Nevada’s Museum of Art while I kept up. And done.

The Gpads of our scout units vibrated indicating our target point.

My earpiece gave tiny crackles before I heard Mitchell say, “Mills take point. Elifer left point, Nasser right. Follow your team leaders. Double time, move.”

The street we were in was void of artificial lighting. I knew there was power further into the interior of the city because the large hotels were illuminated. Those hotels that still stood anyway.

This strip had seen smashed storefronts. A gas station off to my right had its overhang partially embedded into the pavement. Glass crunched under my boots from who knows where. A dog bayed into the night in anger only to turn into a whimper and then silence.

I wished Onix was with me, I bet the big cat would love a city playground like this. Alas, the home needed its guardian more than I did.

The moonlight was ample enough for my human eyes to keep pace behind the scouts. Even without gravity sleds, these troops were rapid and smooth with their pace. I felt like I had grown rusty sitting behind command stations. This was natural, an extension of my warring ways.

We slithered through alleyways, tucked under overhangs, and hopped across rooftops. There were forty of us running for our target. With virum strengthened bodies the half mile over the empty city was only a five minute run. While that was easy, what I witnessed was not.

The dead may have been hidden from initial sight, but a tour of the city revealed they rested everywhere.

Stray dogs had been converted from loving pets to feral beasts desperate to survive. Drill Sergeant Jenson had a saying that never left my mind.

“The number one goal of every creature is to survive. Number two is to reproduce. Think about that dipshit Yang. You must survive because others will want the same thing first. Then you can watch the females MPs swaying their hips,” Jensen would say.

While I was a horn ball back then, desperate to scope a girl’s curves in fatigues, the first part applied here. Survival. Every species had that goal as priority number one. The dead were food and there was no doubt that these dead had been feasted on.

If I had to guess someone came through here and pulled the corpses off the road and sidewalks. Now that I looked for the signs, I noticed the wrecked cars were moved too. Definitely cleaned up by survivors to avoid the overwhelming death and keep a clear path.

“Thoughts?” Mitchell asked when we arrived outside our target area.

I accepted his optic enhancer and saw three guards smoking cigars in front of an opening. The Nevada Museum of Art was gone. In its place was a pile of black rubble, the exterior of the building was a fraction of its former height. There was a shifted trailer without wheels that I guessed was used as a door cover during the seasons.

A stream of collared slaves carried buckets to a dump point to the north. When I inspected the map I saw there was a river there. So that explained waste and water. Or tap water may still be running. Waste for sure was being tossed out because the buckets were held like they were about to explode. I felt bad, shit in buckets for almost 12 days would be beyond foul.

“Are they unsupervised as they are working?” I asked.

“Getting eyes now,” Mitchell replied.

We patiently waited for the call from the scouts to reach the Truckee River. Hmm… There was an inner high five to myself for not being the only person to randomly name things dumbly. Truckee River, I let my inner demons laugh away while keeping a straight face.

“Scout Six this is Astrix Seven, over,” Elifer said over the unit internal radio.

“Go, over,” Mitchell replied.

“Three guards here, two are naked and bathing in the river shallows. Not sure how many are living in those basements but I count a few dozen at least slogging buckets by hand to the river,” Elifer said and I frowned.

Mitchell glanced at me.

“Do we have targeting on all six?” I asked and he nodded. “Eliminate.”

I watched the three guards smoking cigars with jolly faces. They were enjoying the freedom of the open space and the night air. I could have spared them and gone into a long endeavor of finding value with their worthless souls. It just so happened I was in a darker mood. Cages upset me, even if I had used them myself.

Three small orbs streaked across the night sky. Trails akin to a comet’s tail raced with the round balls of death. Each shot was a direct hit to the head as blood, brains, and gore erupted. The body’s crumpled leaving those hauling buckets mystified. A few understood what had transpired.

They raised hands in the air and laid down, arms splayed wide and flat.

“Go!” I ordered.

There was a foot race to the building. Elifer reported, “River guards are dispatched, securing the workers.”

“Understood,” Mitchell answered with a pant.

We outpaced each other in a back and forth for who would get to the opening first. Those damn taller crixxi were beating us. The distance to the rubble of the Museum of Arts was closed swiftly. We darted past the surrendered humans. Those who failed to get down, did so in a hurry when aliens and humans looking like aliens appeared out of the dark.

Mitchell signaled he was breaking off. Our eye connected and he gave me a nod for good luck. He peeled off to set an exterior perimeter, quietly giving out orders to ensure not our backs were secured.

My rapid pace carried me down the opening behind a dozen hard-charging scouts. The screams of startled women echoed in the stairwell. We dove deeper, down two flights of stairs, until I passed a double set of doors.

Two guards were crumpled on concrete with blood pooling under them. These humans were not enhanced and it showed. The stench smacked into me like semi-truck going a hundred.

I managed to maintain my vomit while others hurled as they ran.

The basement was a maze of storage shelves converted into beds. Startled humans in horrid shape were everywhere. Humanity had degraded so far in only a month my insides seethed with rage. Bones protruded on the few children huddled in fright. The military arm of this settlement was absent as we crashed in without slowing.

Mills was shouting at a wounded enemy soldier. “Where are the others? Where are the cages?”

The downed foe raised a shaky hand that was clutching a hole in her guts to point at a backset of doors. A pair of crixxi melted the bolt that bound a chain wrapped around the door. When they tried to push the double doors open they failed. You could hear scraping behind the doors as the last defenders desperately tried to keep us at bay.

“Stand aside!”

Big Sploosha was leveled at the doors with a full charge. Blue energy sparkled off the weapon as it converted potential into kinetic energy. The discharge was smaller than I wanted. The large orb had little room to expand before it slammed into the defense.

A melting sizzling sound encompassed the room of desolate refugees. A massive hole materialized as the doors and the items supporting them was eviscerated. A crixxi leaped through the opening without hesitation.

The ring of gunshots from our foe was deafening in the enclosed space. The shield on my soldiers held against the onslaught. Additional team members jumped through until it was my turn.

My running dive through the hole was halted when I tumbled into a cage at the end of the room. A wolferoo girl shrieked and cowered to the back of her enclosure. My focus shifted to a side room with weapons sticking out firing in controlled bursts.

I lunged under the fire and into the room. Two men jumped back at my sudden arrival.

My weapon was faster than their reactions. Big Sploosha blew a leg clean off my victim. The man shrieked as he collapsed, clutching at his nub that sprayed blood with the beat of his heart.

The other soldier lowered his pistol knowing he was defeated.

I snatched his scrawny neck, dragging him from the comfy room with lavish couches to the stacks of cages. There were three rows of humanoid females in dog kennels.

“Please don’t kill me,” the thin man shook in terror.

I dragged him to a cage. Blank dead eyes of a slaughtered woman stared at us. Stray bullets riddled her body and blood leaked out of her corpse. I saw she had no translator. I bet she had stood up to the jerks with guns and then died horribly. My rage was slipping my control as it converted into the smooth calm of death incarnate.

“You have one chance to come clean and repent,” I said between clenched teeth. “Where is the contract owner?”

“In the golden shimmer, the alien gate thing stopped on the western edge of town. Dutch is working with the others so we can get more food,” the frightened man said between pleading whimpers.

“So the other groups know you kenneled humans?” I asked, taking a step back from him as urine pooled under the man. Rare, but it actually happened. This guy knew what was coming. “Answer the fucking question!”

My bellowed demand was so loud I heard the squeaks of others from the main common room. I leveled my weapon. Blue eyes glared at me with hatred. The man grew a backbone at the wrong time.

Thump.

My orb slinger blew a three-inch hole going in and a six inch hole going out of the man’s head. I walked out of the confined room by stepping through the destruction I created earlier.

“Did the other groups know about this?” I asked, pointing into the room of huddle humans.

There was no stopping the bobbing of heads. An elderly man walked my direction with a cane.

“It would help soothe them if you removed your mask,” the old man said.

“This is alien armor, I cannot remove it here. What is your name?”

“Zackery, Sir. Zack is what I go by most days,” he said sliding a curious hand over my acrium armored arm. “You do not flinch?”

“Old man, even if you tried to dig a knife into my arm I would be fine. Now, I need some answers. There is a new government of sorts called the Bastion Community. We are the only law enforcement around. And sticking sapient beings in dog kennels is a big no-no. Our community has work available, good housing, constant food, and flushing toilets,” I said and a mother clutched her child while crying for joy. “The man I executed mentioned a Dutch. I need to know what is going on here.”

Zack raised his hand and said, “Dutch was an air conditioner repairman. It gets hot in Reno, so they tend to be household faces and staples of the community. He worked on this basement a few times so he knew about it when the end of times began. Well, most of us did not run when the closest alien portal thing arrived.”

“Xgate, carry on,” I said.

“Well, the first Xgate was empty of invaders. Again we didn’t run or flee. Reno hunkered down and we formed block defenses. The second blue was disastrous. Aliens in tech much like yours ripped apart our meager walls and deflected our bullets with ease. We…” Zack paused with a deep inhale and exhale. “Those of us who survived were ruined. Our homes destroyed, our families ripped apart, and our friends dead. When you run a bunker like this, well, you become a god of sorts. Dutch was the god of the art museum, choosing who could come and go under his protection. There were some really bad aliens last blue timing, but we lost nobody because of this little gem of a hiding hole.”

Mitchell arrived and said, “We got movement on an Xgate five clicks west. Eyes are reporting two groups of humans chatting without much guarding.”

“Excellent keep an eye out. This man was about to tell me why there are caged women, and female aliens in that room,” I said to both of them.

“I wish I had a good answer. Dutch ventured out after the second blue event was over. The building collapsed but the basement survived. He knew about the golden market somehow? Well, he drove a bunch of vehicles in and came out with some fancy weapons and a suit for himself,” Zack said with a sigh. “We were at the Xgate trying to find a new home, desperate for one of the groups to take us in. The mayor's people were chatting with Dutch. I heard them mention they found a slave market where you buy people for a set amount of time. Before Dutch went back in he offered all of us unfortunate souls a place to stay. Said we would be a good buffer for invaders but he was in charge. We followed his orders or were stuck in cages if we disobeyed. We were desperate and accepted.

“When he came out with his new servants there was a fight. The mayor went into a lengthy morality speech and Dutch challenged him to a duel. The crazy thing is, the mayor accepted. Dutch had shields that deflected the mayor’s rapid draw and won by shooting an alien weapon. Tore Kent in half, the guy tried to do the right thing. That duel ended the resistance to Dutch and his ways. He should have been dead to rights but instead he stood triumphant with a pack of werewolf girls at his beck and call.”

“And what is Dutch doing now?” I asked.

“Said he was off with his trusted men to get expansion servants. The ladies in there were told he could buy all sorts of tools to improve life here including an air freshener. So the moment the timer went off, him and the boys went topside. Us residents were ordered to clean out the mess,” Zack said noting there were still buckets with feces in them. “We were told we needed to all bathe and wash the girls in there too. When we finished that, we were to go looting for metal.”

“Thanks,” I said to Zack. Mitchell understood my head gesture for the exit. Crixxi were freeing the aliens behind me. I shouted over my shoulder, “Bring them up top. I need to claim them.”

“You got a plan boss?” Mitchell asked.

“Yeah, unlike Jarod, this Dutch has to come back here. I claim his servants and it will notify him. He will come racing home and right into the bunker. Or better yet, we set up an ambush outside and then blast one of his guys near the portal to warn him of trouble,” I said while being open to suggestions. Mitchell kept pace as we doubled up the stairs. “I don’t want to be here long.”

“Yeah, but this guy has shielding,” Mitchell said. He was not concerned, merely pointing the fact out.

I grunted, exiting the small tunnel of rubble to arrive under the open night sky. “Yup, but I have more power unless he rolls out in a tank. Even then my power is a lot between my arm and pack,” I said, scanning the area. “Overwatch here, there, and on that rooftop. Make it happen. Who is on the gate?”

“Mills,” Mitchell replied.

“Mills this is Six,” I said.

“Go for Mills,” he replied.

“Can you tell which men would be the bad guys of the group?”

There was a detent followed by a lip smacking, “Yup. Sending video feed.”

I waited a few moments until my wrist broadcast the view of a half dozen men armed with alien tech. These six men were on the southern side having a jolly good conversation.

A hesitant group was stationed on the other side of the portal, hastily throwing in items. They wore tattered clothing and small arms weapons. Yeah clear as day.

“Looks like Dutch was not smart enough to gear his men in armor. Probably to keep his reign supreme,” I said over the net. My decision was mulled over for half a second. “Kill all but one Mills.”

“Your will is my desire,” Mills said and I rolled my eyes.

I kept focus glued to the screen. The night sky illuminated even five kilometers away. The rounds on the screen were precise. Four of the six died instantly with one patting his body realizing he had lucked out somehow. The guy left his crawling injured buddy to run and dive into the Truckee River. Uh… Blast, he was supposed to hop into the portal.

“Let the wounded man live!” I shouted over the command net.

The crawling survivor shimmered and disappeared into the golden portal. Phew; that was close. Now we played the waiting game. I sat there on a piece of rubble impatiently passing the time by bouncing a leg. The survivors were exiting the basement in a steady flow. My goodness they stank. When I moved further away I was tempted… actually.

“Zack!” I shouted to get the old man’s attention. “Go walk to the river and bathe. All of you. Please.”

“What should we refer to our new overlord as,” Zack said with a smirk and a shitty bow.

“King Eric, old man. And Zackary. You can keep your snarky smartass comments when you turn twenty one again, asshole. Go scrub your dirty cracks clean before I kick it,” I shouted to the man and he flipped me a friendly bird. “Did you serve?”

“Desert Freedom,” Zack shouted back while leading a group for the river.

I smirked. Back to watching the video feed. The douchebag who dove in the river fired a few shots as the Reno guys to the north from the other side of the river. A small firefight broke out with the sole man fleeing north.

A blue streak zoomed out from an insanely far shot and caught him in the pelvis.

Damn. He was not living through that without virum. So ended another of Dutch’s soldiers.

Deep down I knew I should feel something, anything, about the man crawling away from his trailing blood. Yet there was nothing. Watching him die from a distant camera view was… boring.

My heart beats to a new tune. My family’s tune, and this man was merely a bump in my quest to reestablish order so these pockets of life could make my community stronger. I knew I was being selfish by helping these people, but glancing over my shoulder I didn’t care. Even half a block away you could imagine the stench rising off the wretched people. They would clean up nicely, and then we would infect them with virum. Done, and done.

Zack would make a great soldier, the raping air conditioner’s apprentice, I could care less about. I swapped the camera to the Xgate. Well, I’ll be a monkey's uncle. The other groups had grown a spine.

“You seeing this Cap?” Mills said.

“Indeed, time for a talk I guess,” I said.

The video showed a robotic walker at least twenty feet tall exit the northern end of the Xgate. There was a clunky walk as it trudged forward on two long legs. My guess was the operator was struggling with the controls. A few steps placed it toward the south end where Dutch would be exiting.

The walking battle machine failed to get set in time. Dutch glided out of the Xgate in a ten foot tall boxy tank. Oh shit, not good. But we would still be able to kill it.  Hopefully.

Thank the lord it was carbon powered when the brown shielding flickered under the white beams of the walker.

The two machines went to war as if we did not exist. The battle for Reno’s morality being dueled again, this time on a more level field.

Both devices were cumbersome in their motions. Flaring white orbs crashed into a brown shield. The brown firepower ponged rippling effects off the walker’s weakening shields.

“Focus fire on the boxy tanks generators, if you fail to down it, fall back to us or hide,” I said knowing there were only a few scouts at the gate.

The boxy tank had enough of the fight, it charged the walker slamming into the device with enough force to topple the machine. The shields flickered and snapped from the impact. The fire from Mills and his team lanced into the generator.

A white static washed over the screen which was enough to tell me exactly what happened. A mushrooming cloud of white and brown energy careened into the sky. My forearm shot over my eyes to shield myself from the explosions flaring light.

“Six this is Household Six,” Perci said over the radio and I ignored her.

My ass came off the rubble while I ran for cover. The shattering of glass joined the explosive wave of energy. The fragments tinged, pinged, and banged as they crashed into our surroundings. The rubble shook, my body vibrated and then the madness passed me by.

I unlocked my jaw to pop my ears.

“Anyone hurt?” I asked over the net.

I waited and watched Gpad statistics return to normal. There was only one yellow sign. Elifer’s second in command. Sergeant Ruxford. The vitals were stable but weak.

“This is Elifer, we were in between Mills and Cap. Ruxford has a chunk of glass in her guts, she will be fine,” Elifer said confidently.

If it wasn’t for the virum I wouldn’t have believed her. Taking a deep breath I checked over the refugees heading to bathe. They had mostly been behind cover. The wail of a woman and the shriek of a man seeing actual protruding bone told me they would be fine. In pain, miserable, but they would live. The virum would see them healed soon enough.

“Perci this is Eric, ETA?” I asked.

“We’re at the river, these people smell the worst. I take it you defeated the bad guy?” Perci asked.

I opened and closed my mouth. “We accidently got them to fight each other. I think. You know, it went about how most battles should go, crazily. There was a walker versus a tank… You know what. There is no dispute on my contract claims so it's over,” I said, noticing I had added another fifty souls to my list. I was allowed a blowjob a day. I chuckled at that. I would need to have a talk with Everly and see about getting something in her contract. With a remorseful sigh I baselined all the contract to standard food, water, and shelter. The work hours stayed the same for now. “So the other bases. Tell them they’re moving in with us nicely. Those who resist will be left behind.”

“Oh, we already have a semi deal going. They needed you to take out some Dutch guy first because he was a really bad guy deep down,” Perci said and I smirked waiting for her to continue. “I take your silence as a victory then. We have AH2 enroute to get them here soon. They are getting ready now.”

“Well then, will you do me the honor and whisk me into our new stronghold on your valiant steed my lady?” I said with a teasing chuckle.

“Of course, my love. And the rally points are set for AH2. In a few hours we will add another thousand humans and some aliens to our home,” Perci said proudly.

“That wraps up Reno!” I said with a winning hootin holler.

CHAPTER 4

Flying home with a hangar filled full of nasty people was probably close to what the original owners were used to. Scrubbing in a river bath was not enough and even the advanced alien sealed door was unable to keep the stench in the bay. My frustration at being unable to plug my nose was nothing compared to my disappointment in America.

The mimic trees that were Gtowers continued to go down in a widening net. Suddenly survivors anywhere near a Gpad, Isquare, Gtelevision, and old cell phones were connected again. A full month had gone by and three full portal rotations. Information came pouring in as New Mexico, Arizona, and northern California returned to a new version of online access to the Gnet.

As we flew for home I was able to see so many new survivors with their forgotten devices betraying them. Those sluggeros were better than Gcorp at listening in on conversations or hacking cameras to find movement and displaying the videos for us to process. Not that we always need the Gnet to find people. They were illuminating the night brightly while working during the golden portals.

When you think of all the police officers, firefighters, military members, and other heroic do-gooders you start to realize they were in a minority. That doesn’t mean a lawyer was inherently bad, just he or she was never courageously good. There is nothing wrong with being a desk jockey. Hell, I had planned to be one too. The problem is or was, the great ones died first if they weren’t prepared. They rushed to danger to save the day and odds were not always in their favor.

The middle of the road survivor was cunning. Their moral guidelines were fallible. Dutch was a great example. The friendly, awesome guy you had in your house to fix your desperately needed AC was a staple of our society before the fall. That man was loved and respected.

Then he gets power, additional power, and starts slipping on the slope of good vs evil. If there are no police to stop him as his reign is supreme, why not add some pleasure servants and who cares if the weak sleep in filth. I was no saint, I knew that. I just wished we would stumble upon a church group huddling the weak or a police station barricaded with the sick in need of help.

We never did. It was normally either the group achieved alien levels of tech, or they were hardened assholes exploiting the apocalypse for their gain.

The reality was, I wanted to snatch people to boost our numbers. Everyone up here on the surface would die given time; or flee to areas without portals and hunker down. Our global warming problem was fixed pretty much overnight so unfreezing the artic would take a long time and a lot of alien technology. Which meant there was no safe place on the surface if enough time passed. The thirty people in the woods with tents and rifles were not outlasting this apocalypse.

My sigh was long and painful. The amount of work moving forward was monumental. I had yet to even chat with Daxstar about this Owlvini Alliance thing. There was only one way to go and that was forward. I shoved my disgruntled attitude down to find Perci. She was letting an unknown fairy fly us home.

Perci was watching the dark landscape shoot under us. I walked to join her side at the view screen. In the far distance, an Xgate shone its golden rays brightly into the night. I chose to ignore the view and placed an arm over my lovely little lady.

“So Perci, penny for your thoughts,” I said, seeing her frown.

She nudged into me, focused on the view outside. “The shockwave from the Reno explosion startled me. We were flying in and boom, I thought nothing of it, even teased you on the radio. Then the concussive force rocked the aircraft to the point I thought we might crash,” Perci said with a timid sigh and a frightened smile.

I pulled her in tighter and said, “I understand. Is that why this guy is flying?”

“That is Ordana, he is the fairy you freed from Koor. And yes, I found myself wanting to knit in a taver rocking chair suddenly. After thinking I might die I wanted nothing more than go home. Knitting is for old farts, Eric. Yet,” she paused to huff a deep exhale. “I want to grow old with my children. The fact of Longoria’s age and history frightens me just as much. I grow conflicted. I liked helping and then I disliked near death that wasn’t even that near.”

“Then why not take a break and think about it. We’re rich Perci, and we have powerful friends. Speaking of which have the Teton Fortress people -”

“Paid in full. They haven’t realized we’re snagging the resources around the country that haven’t been looted yet,” she said with a slight chuckle. “But it is good to see them pay their debts. We even gave them some zinc in trade. You would be surprised how much zinc the virum consume when they occupy a million bodies.”

“Well, we have no shortage of zinc on this planet. Is that the entrance?” I asked, seeing a halo on the horizon.

A dome the size of a sporting arena soared into the night skyline. Even from the edge of my sight, I could immediately tell it was simply monstrous in size. The thousand foot tall walls that arced into a cleared dome point were unreal. How? My jaw literally dropped as I gaped at the marvel.

“Watch this” Perci said tapping a button on her Gpad.

Lights flashing red flared to life illuminating the ground we soared over. There were thousands of these defensive tower emplacements blinking their warning message on repeat. I furled my brows. They were built with rockcrete? It sure appeared that way. I saw no weapons platforms atop these defenses.

“Did we broadcast a friendly code or something?” I asked.

“In the works. Those are not live, merely structures awaiting their pew pew parts,” Perci said with a smirk. “This has been their plan. While you were fighting or adventuring this is what the sluggeros, fairies, and our labor force were up to. And no, hands did not build a thousand foot walls in ten days. Our purchases from Koor were worth every bit of resources we overpaid for. Machines capable of feats I never dreamed possible constructed all this and more. You will see them inside Bastion where they are hard at work.”

I gazed across the landscape. Off in the far distance was Mount Moran. The brightly lit night barely let me see its moonlight surface. We were so far from our projected home. The purpose of this dome started to make sense. You brought the war to the field of battle you wanted, not the one your enemies did. This was our ‘Hey come look at me location. Fight us over here’.

“Ah, when our Aspen division of tanks left I was wondering where they went,” I said as AH1 cruised over the defensive towers. Our movement slowed as we approached the wall.

Two massive gates instantly peeled open to allow the aircraft beyond the threshold.

Perci snickered when I grinned proudly.

I saw AC1 and the rest of my tanks arrayed ready for battle. The interior of the dome was rows upon rows of defenses sprinkled with machines of war. In the very center a horizontal ground covering opened up revealing there was more below.

The aircraft shifted over the defenses and down into the bright pit. Calling it a pit wasn’t right. More like a massive parking garage. There were vehicles from old earth inside here, being saved for a rainy day I guessed. Rows of truck trailers were also stacked against a side wall, some even had Gmart etched on the side of the long containers. This was a mix of storage with a large space for an armory. I counted about half our vats of acrium stored inside a large alcove.

“The display answered your question, what do you think?” Perci asked.

I closed my gaping jaw and nodded happily. “This is a fantastic base of operations. The nearest Xgate is twenty minutes away. I am guessing that Xgate’s roaming pattern is between this and our new home?”

“Who is to say this is not our new home?” Perci said with a smile. “Alas you’re right. This is Fortress Dome, home of our quick reaction force and most of our military.”

AH1 glided over to a landing area with a ground manager guiding our landing. There was only the slightest of bumps telling me we were down and on the deck.

“Aircraft is safe to exit,” Ordana said from the pilot station.

I thanked him for the flight and proceeded through the crammed hangar bay to exit the aircraft. Perci was close on my back as we snaked beyond the smelly rescues.

Mitchell was yelling to them that there was a shower spot by the acrium pits. Perci and I deviated from the mass of new arrivals to jog directly to remove our armor. I saw Jacky handling the new arrivals with a welcoming in processing.

It had been a while since I had seen Willow’s mom. She was so darn close to Willow it caused me to stutter my trot. Perci chuckled pushing me forward. Jacky waved and I moved on.

“Yeah, moms that look like daughters, need to dye their hair. If Willow didn’t go jet black I would mix them up,” Perci said and I was about to opine about her and her mother when she headed me off. “I get it, I am dying mine white the moment after you see our new home.”

The trip to the armory alcove did not take long. We set our weapons and shielding in a deposit area that armored mounamine and pandarin managed. We dipped into separate acrium pools, the little creatures cascading off my body to return to their green goop. This is where I normally received feedback from the acrium.

“We value our new homes!” The millions of voices said at once. “We thank you for adopting us, our kind spotted an owlvini, and this also brings gladness.”

“Why would they be helpful to acrium?” I asked, my words bubbling in the submerged vat.

“Upgrades, the owlvini are an original species. You have much to learn, Eric.” The voices said as one.

“Well, I am glad you are happy and I hope to visit the owlvini myself right after this,” I said to the commune of tiny creatures.

“Good luck, and congratulations.”

I was not sure what they meant but I viewed Perci’s tight ass walking briskly for the showers. I noticed she was rushing to rinse off before the mass of Reno folks could clog the water. Eek. I raced out of the vat leaping over the side in haste. That lovely lady of mine was onto something.

A quick shower later resulted in Perci handing me a matching robe to hers. Trinelan Inn and Refinement was on the chest over the heart with an image of a castle. Neat.

“Hurry before the stench arrives,” Perci said, grabbing my silicone hand and tugging me forward.

I would have laughed if I was not on the same page. We bounded out of the armory as Mitchell led in the Reno refugees. You could see elation on their faces of being rescued.

Perci led me to an elevator lift from the top to this floor. A clear tube carried down a set of soldiers and when they shot past our floor I realized we could go down.

My inspection of the roof revealed a steel layer of plating guarding this floor against threats from above. I bet the sluggero siblings had done the same thing for each floor. I was starting to get a sense of the defensive nature of the structure. Fight, fallback, and repeat; or skip a floor and fallback further with the defenses adding time to your next fight.

A clear elevator arrived in front of Perci and I, the door swooshed open revealing a space for ten or so to cram into. Luckily it was only us.

“Lady’s first,” I said and she gestured.

“You’re a smart man, Eric. So I won’t womansplain the uniqueness of this facility. So far, I feel showing you the marvels of Fortress Dome instead of telling you about it, has worked well here,” Perci said, the door hissing closed with a careful snap.

We descended down to a wide open desert biome. I was amazed to see a training floor as vast as the interior of the dome. There were crixxi fighting hand to hand in a sectioned off arena. Dedric was training them on the ways of human combat. In the background, tanks drilled in formations and citizens were on a firing range off to our left.

The transition to the next floor was too fast for me to study more, my groan of disappointment evident. Drilling soldiers in the ways of combat was actually something I enjoyed.

When the next floor was revealed I saw corridors of barracks with troops flowing about their daily lives. There was no hustle or drilling. This was a leisure place for living. The buildings were large apartments of a sort and the area seemed vacant and overbuilt.

We passed to the next floor and there was a dining area with a nice park beside a lake combo. Soldiers ate while chatting or enjoying their time. There was a theme here that everything was militaristic in its simplicity. Also, it felt so... empty. The space was designed for hundreds of thousands and yet only a few hundred gathered. Probably because we were working hard with the majority of our forces cramming gates for shopping and this was built for expansion.

The how had me pondering if there was some magic wand the sluggeros and fairies had invented. There were no buildings being erected or cranes helping construction crews. Everything was done, and I had no idea how besides Perci saying they used machines.

The next floor was probably the end of our journey because we slowed. That and I could see a dozen modified underways. This was the bottom of the dome. A circle inspection showed exterior emergency shoots dropping down to the caverns floor.

When we exited it was only us in the large bright space. Signs over destinations told us which hideout we could journey to. The main underway had a sign for Bastion.

“So… That was amazing,” I said and Perci bobbed her head in agreement.

We walked hand and hand for the options of underways. “You do plan on showing me how all this was done so quickly?”

Perci shrugged, her robe bouncing off her shoulders.

“Woman,” I said in a teasingly stern tone.

“Man,” she playfully retorted.

I lunged to snatch her in an embrace. The crafty little minx swirled out of my grasp and right into an underway container for Bastion.

“You will see here in a few minutes,” Perci said, waving me into the large booth with a single finger.

I closed the distance to kiss her hungrily. “Patience is a terrible virtue,” I said, the door hissing shut. We shot under the earth. A timer populated on the capsule wall. Eight minutes and counting down. Perci tapped some buttons on her keypad causing me to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Disabling the video in here. I can finish in that time,” Perci said, pointing to the ground. “Can you?”

“Oh,” was all I said. Nothing more was really needed.

Perci stripped off her robe and tossed it down.

Her shoulder length hair spun freely as she twirled her body to tease me with a loud ass smack and a booty bounce. I hurried to the floor using her robe as a pillow and opened mine up. Perci pounced on me.

She flopped my semi erected cock onto my body. Her wet glistening pussy lips slid up and down my shift, stiffening my erection. When I plunged into Perci I knew what she wanted. A sweet and tender love session. I did not play the master to his sub. I let her enjoy our entwined time in a romantic fashion. We even finished together with a minute left on the time with lips locked lovingly.

“That was exactly what I needed, my love,” Perci said, activating the camera in the booth after we donned robes. “In case you were wondering, there is no better view than my body. Hmm. Not that there would be, merely saying.” She sighed. “The trip is dirt. You got the best version available.”

“Best in the universe,” I said, kissing her neck. She mimicked a crixxi purr telling me how happy she was.

The exterior dirt that encased the lift faded as we entered a tunnel lit by artificial lighting. I immediately saw another massive walled-off section that curved. There were numerous turrets, actual guards, and kill slots created in the wall. So to get to this point you had to get through an army back at the dome, use this underway in a long ride that not only was limited but it was slow, and the moment you arrived you were greeted by a second defense.

“Those siblings are amazing,” I said.

Perci scoffed and replied, “Willis and Sally are only part of it. The fairies did most of this. You have to understand that their experience has shed a lot on what defenses work well. Which, surprise, is layered themes. Most species and fighting forces want to go home before the portal ends. So a thick, arduous defense deters many aggressors.”

Our bodies were scanned and Bonnet approached from the wall, “Welcome home, Eric, or shall I say, my king.”

“I have executions to line up soon, you want your old job back,” I asked in a stern tone.

“Ha! You point, I kill. Return to the old times. I’m on guard duty though. That deluxe duke of ours wanted someone guarding our citizens he could trust,” Bonnet said, planting her hands on her hips. She rocked her body from heel to toe while thinking. She stopped and waved us for the door. “I will stay on the wall for now. Anyone can be a butcher. But when I get a freedom shift I will head out.”

“It’s bad out there Bonnet, I never imagined home would, or could be as bad as Saudi, but it is.”

“Yeah, well, kill the bad ones and then welcome the rest. We got the real deal here, Cap. Welcome to Bastion,” Bonnet said with a chuckle.

“I forgot how simple it was. These ladies have let my heart return. I did ace a murdering rapist in cold blood earlier,” I said with a pause. “I got no joy from it, calm yes, joy no.”

Bonnet gave me a stern glance of understanding as we were proceeding down a long tunnel. I noticed slits to fire out of were staged at random along the path. The barrels of some weapons were exposed, some even, and others recessed. A portcullis raised, a new set of doors opened, and then a third thick wall section slid out of the way with a grinding noise.

“And to think, we used a dumpster truck to block the road and dirt in mesh containers not long ago,” I said. I saw dripping water before we exited. My finger swiped a pooling droplet eager to fall. “Leak?”

“Ah, no. This whole section floods. Intentionally. We did a test not even an hour ago. Come on, we have like three more defensive fallbacks to pass through,” Bonnet said, passing the last stone door and stepping up an incline.

We entered an arena of sorts with the balcony viewers being guards with large weapons. The path led up to another set of open doors and a thicker portcullis.

“So why not just drill through this from above?” I asked.

Perci pinched my bottom tenderly and said, “Not how it works. There is soft earth in comparison to the thick bedrock. The shell, as the siblings and fairies named it, is hard bedrock. All across this shell that holds our new home there were robot drilled holes to access centrally located points. The pores in the bedrock were sealed in some alien epoxy. Essentially the rock that enclosed Castle is harder to drill through than can be done in a season’s timer.

Bonnet nodded as Perci described how this new home was protected. She butt in, thumbs over her shoulder to the way we came, and said, “That whole path of least resistance theory leads back there, on this side of the base at least.”

“Clearly there are more entries than this one,” I said, indicating the empty space around me. “No supplies get in from here. I mean, this is only a few people wide and then there is no automation for transporting goods here.”

“Correct. How many AS69s did you see at Fortress Dome?” Perci asked.

“I love that name,” Bonnet interjected.

“Well, now that I think about it, none,” I said as we trooped up a steeper incline into a third death room. “Jesus, you really want to fucking murder people. This is insanely hard to bypass even as a friendly.”

A fairy fluttered down from above in a kill box. I recognized my regal Longoria immediately.

“You look lovely, Longoria. That dress suits you,” I said to her. She was wearing a ballroom gown, she tended to favor those. This one was red with splashes of black. A very fine dress that accented her curves without revealing much.

“Welcome home, my lord. I overheard you conversing, I will take him from here Lady Bonnet,” Longoria said and I scoffed with a snicker.

Three sets of eyes stared daggers at me, my pleading to those soldiers in bleachers was ignored when they started inspecting weapons for dirt. So much for helping a soldier when he is down.

“Umm… I apologize for my lack of decorum Lady Bonnet,” I said. Three shining smiles. Score. “I have thoroughly enjoyed your tour and your presence. Until next time.”

We walked past the last portcullis after brief goodbyes. The last of the defenses were passed when we entered a long room with vendor booths and guards behind a screen. It reminded me of a customs checkpoint at the end of an international flight.

Was this… inspectors? What? We had a customs office? Then I figured it out. There was a vaulted door off to the right of the building. The workers wore collars, bracelets, or I would assume anklets.

I paused us, backing against a wall to hold a side conversation. The eyes of our customs inspectors watched us trying to find privacy.

“Okay, I want three answers. Is this the digital entry point like in Koor? How do supplies get into Bastion? And what was that terse reaction with Bonnet when I scoffed at calling the mistress of death a lady?”

Longoria deferred to Perci. Perci tightened her robe in frustration. “We learned of Koor, Eric. The entire population was shown videos, and more than that. We let unlimitied access to the city when combat calmed. Eric, a whole lot of people went to a different planet, put on security devices, and saw what their future could be. An almost crimeless society where people are free to do good and prohibited from doing bad. The Mother Hens were overwhelmed by mothers, fathers, and even regular citizens wanting something similar. We sent a proposal to the council. You signed off on it like… three days ago.”

Her raised eyebrows were telling me I should remember. “Whoa, hold up. Yes, I said three days ago we should use a system similar. We should do something close to it. Enacting a policy of subjugation are two different things. I felt Koor went too far.”

Perci grunted with frustration and pointed to the guarded entryway. “That is exactly what that policy dictated. You approved Sally’s population security implementations one dot one. You are witnessing it. This is what the people wanted. The exact same thing. No incarcerations. Fines, banishment, or death. And it is working perfectly so far.”

“Already!” I asked in shock.

“Already,” Longoria said with a nod.

“Damn, that is efficient. I was expecting complaints, protests, petitions, and grumbling at least. Are you saying this is live and working?”

“Yes, she just said that. Inside the Bastion Nation you must wear a societal protection unit,” Longoria said and I blanched. “You have seen the value of this.”

“Yeah, but this gives so much power to the leadership,” I replied in shock.

“Exactly. An immortal leader who can reign infinitely. So you should think about these citizens having blind faith in your ability to steer them the correct way. They trust you and Koor showed us a way to live in harmony without conflict in our homes. They gave up freedoms to do violence so they could be protected from it. The sluggeros already had this planned from the beginning,” Perci said, propping up her breasts with folded arms. I was not falling… okay, my eyes laser-focused, but I still grumbled.

“I get it, if we have visitors. They need this. If we have murderers this prevents that. This also ties up neatly the issue of who we let seek refuge here. I don’t have to vet past background, I simply strip away the right to murder the person you hate or want to assassinate. Is that a body vault?” I asked pointing to the end of the hallway.

“Yes,” Longoria said with a finger in the air. “It is not ready yet. But phase one of rentals should start tomorrow at an interior vault. You will see, Daxstar is waiting not far from the build out.”

“Supplies?” I asked with a raised brow. “They obviously do not come from that ten person travel box.”

“There is a location we name Base Roost in the mountains. All our supply chain from the exterior has to be airlifted in. This way our foes with no or minimal air capabilities have a harder time getting through our larger entryway,” Longoria said crisply. She pointed to Perci who acknowledged with a smile. “And then there is the big opening above. It need special permission to open has a ton of defenses and windings but it can move massive objects in and out. You will see both eventually.”

Perci placed her hands on my shoulders and said, “Bonnet left so I’ll go into that, but know we're still growing and adjusting. We have been playing loose with titles for a few reasons, Eric. There was no difference between you and a crixxi on the front line. You both slept in overcrowded spaces. You ate the same meals together, and you both could die in the same battle. Inside here.” Perci indicated the space behind the inspection stations. “That changes. Bonnet has servants, a nicer home, and a dukedom she is responsible for. After today you’re managing a lot more personnel. Like a lot Eric. I saw Daxstar’s purchase list. It is massive. He already has fairies managing purchases that will put us at a population we would have not thought possible yesterday. Add in rescues and -”

“What the fuck is behind those doors?” I asked. “You’re making it seem like we’re adding a few million people. So whatever is back there must be impressive.”

“Another kill zone obviously, but behind that is a new beginning. Bastion is the name of the area. There are cities inside it. Calling this place Bastion is misleading and you will see why. This is Bastion Nation and it has cities of its own. Are you ready to see it?” Perci gestured for us to walk beyond the guards.

“I thought you would never ask,” I said, eager to see what was beyond the next layer of defenses.

CHAPTER 5

I was given a bracelet by a courteous mounamine in a crisp butler outfit. He informed me mine would have special rules, as in none. Perci shooed me forward insisting I wear one for syncing with our new systems. When I equipped the device to my wrist it morphed into my Gpad, which caused me to jerk in reaction.

I paused our journey to Bastion so I could study what happened. The Gpad was upgraded now with a larger interface, more power, and it was smoother. I learned we all had a new communication device not limited by the power of the Gnet; even those without Gpads previously would have one now in this device. Oh, neat I had wanted to upgrade to a uniform way to communicate. During our San Francisco battle we relied on vehicles communications as not everyone had Gpads. Problem solved as these new Gpads tied into our new VirtaBox Processor which was handling an upgrade at the moment. The function was limited for now and I figured I would be told more later.

Our brief walk had us cross into a new enclosed firing range of sorts. This made sense, if an unruly visitor ran past the mounamine guard refusing to wear a security device they would find a lot of trouble here. These guys with the heavy weapons, yup; they would halt you quickly if you tried to enter our nation without a safety device. At least I did see a hundred warning signs and the doors were set to open to my device.

A rockcrete path led us across the kill zone. The roof was limited and I was excited to finally be inside our new home. When passed under a final checked point I was unsure what to expect. What I witnessed left me shocked.

There was a night sky with sparkling stars and even a moon that matched the half casting the real moon gave. We entered a mostly dark underdeveloped area immediately around us. Multiple stations were arrayed around the entryway on this side to facilitate transportation. Each station had ten or so lifts attached so arrivals could step up for a ride.

About a quarter-mile away I saw pillars stretching from the ground to the ceiling, but not to the top. I twisted my head unable to understand what I was viewing.

“Are those apartment buildings?” I asked, seeing a light flicker on.

“The cavern is over a mile tall with an irregular shape, but as you will see it goes for miles in width in some areas. To sustain expansion, Sally constructed building printers. They -”

I cut Longoria off and said, “Building printers. Like 3-D printers of Old Earth?”

“Close enough. The concept is similar but the process is drastically different. The roof is a hologram, the top of the towers are too. There is a beam that runs vertically. Then housing was wrapped around it,” Longoria said. I saw platforms going from housing to a city of sorts. “We can walk or ride over to Balish. Your choice.”

“Balish?” I asked.

Perci patted my back, “I would like clothes and he can roam during the daytime or when we hit a lull. Come, let’s go to this lift.”

“This is so huge. I was expecting clasts, stalagmites, and whatever those other things are called,” I said snapping my fingers trying to think of the name.

“Stalactites. Yes, the first thing we did was clear the landscape. That material was used to form walls with an alien adhesive not much different than concrete mix. The result is almost instant housing. The building printers have been working non-stop for the last five days. They can build a story in about ten minutes,” Longoria paused to input a destination to the lift. “And we have almost a hundred now. A lot of this was purchased from Koor and we fairies were able to build new machines with old machines and new materials. This is the result.”

The lift shot into the air taking us hundreds of feet into the air. Against the far back wall on the horizon was a cascading waterfall that crashed into a lake. The lake pooled in the back corner eating up a lot of space. Even from here, I could see sand had been used to create a beachy feel to the water. Even glowing fishes were evident with their bright luminescence.

That lake was where the McCain would go when she got here. I knew there was a big hatch up top somewhere but I couldn’t find it. I bet it had forty layers of defenses.

Off the lake, a big river branched left to wind in between a thin jungle of trees. Those were on our purchase list today for sure. In the trees, there were a few night lights illuminating the way across suspension bridges. I couldn’t see much from this distance but it appeared lovely.

I shifted my eyes to a passing pillar we slowly flew by.

A mounamine mom was rocking a crying baby on a balcony with a clear railing of sorts. She smiled when she noticed us drifting by. The pillar apartments were huge. No little cubby hole for temporary places to sleep like in the longhouses. I was shocked at how nice the interiors were. Sure they all had the same blackish-brown material, but they were huge with nice kitchens and even a stone table. Certainly were lacking furniture, and that homey feeling. We were gone before I could see more.

Perci tugged on my robe to get me to look at Balish. From this distance, the first noticeable thing was there were three cities inside Bastion, four when the forest city was finished. The left side of the cavern was divided by the river and significantly smaller. The right side opened up around a bend into an elongated cul-de-sac of sorts.

There were three clumps of skyscrapers soaring into the skyline. Why? I kind of expected a giant mega-city instead of this. I was sure I would find out.

Balish was a metropolitan area with high rises, parks, ponds, and no individual homes. Something straight out of New York skyline with it towering structures racing to the ceiling rendering of a night sky. This was a city that never slept it seemed. Not that we needed much sleep anymore but there was a bustle on the narrow streets without vehicles.

The building all had balcony pads for lifts just like the one I was on. There were no mansions or elegant structures with fancy architecture. This was through and through a rugged utilitarian design to maximize housing in a confined area. I hated it. I was not a big city guy, I loved the campus vibe of lots of open space with excessive parks.

When we neared I saw an elevated market, arena, and an aquarium park in the central core of the city. Oh, that was awesome, even I would want to visit those places. We hovered over the middle of the city letting me soak it all in. I may not want to live here, but I could understand why others did. I undoubtedly could visit and have a good time.

“Trust me, while it’s nice to experience that is not our home. To the house please Longoria,” Perci said and we proceeded out of the city.

While the other two dense areas had skyscrapers hundreds of feet tall none were as busy as Balish. An overview showed me their names were Roma and Lorgan. When we transitioned out I finally saw the building printers.

A long conveyor belt fed raw materials into a tall pizza-shaped box that was hundreds of feet squared. The roof contained huge clear containers of some goop that must have been the adhesive. My eyes trailed the conveyor line to see where all these raw chunks of rocks were coming from to enter the processing machine. Deep in the cavern’s wall were large tunnels that the belts dove into. Side tunnels had working crews carving out paths. The piles had piles for the piles in that area and the labor teams were a buzz of activity putting rocks onto the line. I managed to get to see a new conveyer line heading that direction. Mounamine and crixxi crews used walking robots to shift large sections of belts until they flowed toward the backed up piles.

A second printer was moving into the area, heading for the new snaking line. I wanted to see the internal process but it was either lost from the lack of light or the covering was too thick to see through which was probably the case. The printer would raise as the buildings would complete and then shift forward. Large homes at least three thousand square feet big were being built in minutes. A quick scan now that I knew what to look for showed tunnel rocks leading to dozens of printers, and those were just the ones I could see.

I gulped. That meant we were not in a housing crisis. Nice. That was fantastic to see. While I liked the process of building by hand this was the future.

Perci nudged me with an elbow, I followed her finger and saw a corner castle. A long whistle escaped my lips.

“This was not machine printed. Well, it was and then hand carved. No other way to get it done this quickly. This castle is one of nine evacuation points. Pretty much we’re building this space again another layer down and further into the mountain range. That is where all the rock is coming from to building in here. The next zone is our agricultural area. There is a whole lot to cover. The numerous plans inside of plans to keep everyone alive are something a fairy like myself can get lost in,” Longoria said with a nervous flutter of her wings. I stared down at the magnificent castle. “Got side tracked there. Sorry. This castle has a moat, a drawbridge, two inner walls, and all the amenities. Your roost is up high with a massive bedroom. You will have gorgeous views day or night. Only approved personnel can fly over the wall here. The rest of the traffic is underway or on foot with a cart. A small garrison will man the outer wall and this castle is for royalty, it will be the most elegant building when it is done.”

The castle was something out of a fairy tale. Then I turned my head… wait. I glanced with my head tilted the other way and connected the dots. Those sneaky ladies.

“This is the castle at the start of all those princess movies!” I said nailing it. “Only it's darker.”

“We couldn’t build in white. We will coat it later in the most brilliant white available, for structural purposes of course, but yes,” Perci said with a large grin. “To our room, Lady Longoria.”

I was flown over the battlements, soldiers roasted a fire to cook something that smelt like bacon. I sniffed the scent hungrily. My watering mouth was caught adrift causing Perci to giggle.

“Eat after your super important meeting,” Perci said.

“Oh, where is that by the way?” I asked, realizing we were heading to a private suite on a top floor. Before they could answer I saw a hot tub with a blonde babe of mine in it. “Double score, naked Nancy and a private hottub!”

My blurted comment didn’t go unnoticed by soaking Nancy who was reading a datapad. I had missed her a lot. She had switched into her leadership role marvelously. When she would call me it was always about how busy she was. I saw her rush to a robe as we arrived.

“Husband, I missed you!” She shouted with a squeal running for me. I caught her leaping jump. “Ugh, you are here, finally. A week, only a week and look at me gushing. I missed you. Promise me a walk when the sun returns in the morning.” I tilted my head when she said this. “Oh, they cover the sun at night. Gotta keep the natural balance of things. Give it a few days and you will forget you’re underground.”

Perci’s throat clear was loud enough for us to turn our attention to her. “You need to get dressed. The other corner alcove across from us.” Her pause pointed to a curved wall in the distance. “Back there is another emergency exit point. That is the personal vault for Bastion leadership and the digital world facility. Where Daxstar and Willis are? Yea, I think Sally is shopping,” Perci said, and Longoria shrugged. “Anyway, you need clothes. We are using robes until we can install personal lockers by the acrium vats. Technically you need to use our acrium in the courtyard, but they were full, so we unloaded in the transition vats. We can do armor and then clothes if you want?”

I was feeling rushed, but that was common for a man like me. I kissed Nancy sweetly and said, “Clothing fit for acrium please.”

Nancy curtsied after I set her down. She ran into a room with a massive four post bed. The thing was the size of four queen-sized beds and then I figured it probably was. The sheets and bedding had to be custom. A quick glance around showed there was very little besides the bed. Nancy went into a side room that appeared to be a very neat closet with no shelving. When Nancy returned with a set of clothing she dropped her robe and set my clothing down. A quick shimmy into a dress and she was ready.

“Ugh. I am jealous. Even with the virum I can’t do that,” Perci said and Nancy smiled.

“A natural talent,” Nancy replied and I checked out her juicy butt when she bent over to grab my clothes. “I could have handed them to you earlier, but no fun in that. I shall accompany you.”

“And I need some sleep so I am fresh for market shopping,” Perci said, giving me a goodbye kiss. “If you want items for our home let me know specifically. Don’t be shocked if we buy common stuff for you if we notice it is missing. Good luck with that owl.”

“He has a name,” I said and my Gpad pinged ‘Daxstar’. “And I can survive on very little, you know this Perci. I am not in need of pampering, but... A nice office desk would be great.” She rolled her eyes. “Have a good rest”

We kissed goodbye and Perci left for the interior of the castle while tapping a note in her Gpad. Nancy, Longoria, and I loaded onto the lift. We made a fast acrium stop in a courtyard filled with grass and pretty flowering plants. There was a pavilion with acrium that I hopped into to get in a new jet-black set of armor. I was planning to fix some of our human problems after this little meeting. I did put on some decent clothes for now to cover my naked form. During our flight for the virtual center Nancy snuggled into me while I lovingly rubbed her back. The moment was peaceful and I caught her wide smile.

“You seem very happy,” I said in between Nancy’s rapid-firing information about how the castle was coming together. “This new you is fantastic.”

“Um… Eric. This was the old me. The one before you ever showed up. Heck, a version so long in my past I had forgotten about it. I used to be a chipper, annoying rapid talker. When life changed from my betrayal, I did,” Nancy said, kissing my cheek. “And now. Now, I am the happiest I have ever been. I do want to see if my parents survived. I know, I know. They are not close. But there is a plan in the works.”

We arrived at an igloo-shaped building. The curved entrance scanned our arrival. We passed under the curved walkway that was lit by a strip of alien lighting. I say that because the pucks of light adjusted with tiny feet to eliminate our shadows. If I were in a violent mood smashing these would be a fun game. They also distracted me from comforting Nancy right away.

“Nancy, I hope to find closure for a lot of people soon. I…” I said not sure how to proceed.

“I understand Eric, we still cry when you’re not around. We miss those we held dear. I had a three year old niece and I cling to Mary hoping to find Maurine. You helped us through the storm,” Nancy said snuggling into my arm. “All this will get resolved and I am proud to say I am helping people get answers, even if they do not like them. Now, why are we going in here? Are you going to slay some goblins? Gain some levels? Ride a Griffin?”

I scoffed and said, “Video games were never my thing. No, the super-smart owlvini named Daxstar wants to meet me here. His kind hopped hundreds of portals to find me. Not sure why, but I have an idea.”

“And?” Longoria said joining the conversation. I held my startled jerk back. She had been so quiet in our wake I had forgot she was with us.

“And it's so secret we're going into a virtual world to talk about it I guess,” I said with us arriving at a new elevator.

We stepped in and the platform shifted upward. A few floors later we entered a room with a massive swirling machine. The hum of electrical power being consumed was almost earplug wearing level. I saw Daxstar facing the machine adding a bit to the chaotic dancing energy. The big owl rotated his head to focus on us without moving his body.

“We are set for a hundred million occupants now. A few tweaks made this almost to the level the mothership would blast it as an AI. A fine balance when you reach this point. If you could get me some sacrifices I could make it a Frankenstein of sorts to pass detection,” Daxstar said, his wing waving us in.

“A what? And sacrifices? Are you some pagan?” I asked with a tilted head of confusion.

“Ha! I get that, and no. Disregard that line, we will come to that discussion at a later time. You need to insert into the VirtaBox I reconfigured.”

“I take it you want me to enter this unstable humming device that sounds like it is due to explode?” I asked, pointing at the machine of doom.

“Remove the acrium first, we have a vat for that; but yes. Follow me,” Daxstar said, walking to a side room. “Those slugs were smart. Building for a twelve foot ceiling. Most cities define their buildings in ranges. This one is fifteen feet or shorter, which accounts for about eighty-one percent of all life that is held in the containment.”

“I thought Willis would be here,” I said, not seeing the sluggero.

“It’s shopping day Eric, Willis is busy. We have a massive order sheet. He deferred to -”

“Whoa, you got Willis to do your shopping?” I was impressed. “They are so slow!”

The owlvini gave me a long look on our way to the vat. “He is micromanaging our fairies. Everything is about efficiency with us.”

We walked beyond a self-opening door and into a storage room with acrium container. My clothes were piled on a bench neatly and I was about to hop in when I was lifted by an unknown force. My arms flailed as I was dunked into the liquid. I chuckled. I guess if I could move bodies with my mind I would show off too. Freshly naked I hopped out of the vat to an already retreating Daxstar.

“My device is not unstable, about to explode, or has any chance of harming your body on the outside. Now go into the room right there and enter a cube,” Daxstar said and I paused waiting for the magic word. “Please.”

The door slid open and I saw rows of cubes with wiring leading toward the main processor unit. The acrylic containers were empty besides a padded floor. A glance over my shoulder had both Longoria and Nancy wishing me luck. With a shrug, I stepped into a cube and laid down on the mat. A moment later I was consumed by blackness.

∞∞∞

When I came to, my surroundings were that of a beach, inside a room. Almost like those indoor wave riding attraction spots. Goldie frolicked in the water. The moment I arrived, he transitioned into an orb with arms again. His body hovering to greet me.

“Ah, Eric. Thank you for your refuge. You may not know it, but hundreds of millions of years is a lot of time for a species like the owlvini to improve their technology without angering my kind,” Goldie said. I went to talk but he waved me to sit down in a chair. He swapped into a version of me pre-virum. Scarred, handsome, rugged, and aged well with time. While I loved my younger, pain free body, I missed the old me. “My species are troublesome. So sorry to do this to you. But you have to know, and now is the time. I tend to like riddles and slight reveals but you're getting the big stuff and fast. So let me tell you why first.”

“Your side is winning?”

“I am glad you realize we have sides and the answer to that is yes and no. I am the leftovers of a race called the oxarin. The oxarin were this,” Goldie went from me to an ugly purple six-fingered alien. “They were a species near the center of the universe. A pariah in the fact that they rose to power well before other species. This led to them indoctrinating newer species to instill their ways of inner peace. In order to travel the stars, AI were incorporated.

“If you’re expecting an AI with an evil twist this one does not have it. The reality was the oxarin were timid cowards. They were defeated in long rebellions. This I bet you can rationalize, sticking your beliefs and ways of life on others leads to dissent, which transitions into desire for freedom.”

“Yup,” I said with a confused face. “How did they not see that coming?”

Goldie laughed and laughed. A minute later he swapped back into the older body of me and said, “When your way of life is unquestionably correct all others are inferior and merely need to see the light. We’re getting into proverbial nonsense. Let me keep it clean. They had their opinion and it was the edict. Nothing more or less was allowed, or ever could be.

“So they lost their expansions. The AI who helped facilitate what is questionably the first empire in the universe were stuck in a situation without many good options left. The high council of the oxarin had a proposal. Sacrifice their minds to combine with the AI. A new species would be created. Called the divine. Immortal, able to hop constructs, and still able to live above the fray of hostility.”

I scoffed and said, “That is nonsense. They just lost a war for that way of thinking.”

“Eric, I swear it's an echo chamber in here. I am glad you're on our side. Put yourself in their spot.”

“Oh, like you want me to game it out. Sure,” I said from the beach chair with a shrug. “They cannot accept defeat so they plot revenge. That revenge is to keep these assholes who kicked their butts in isolation. They can hunt the stars for others like them, and prevent future tragedies from happening… Ah, that was it wasn’t it. They twisted into this whole thing on the what-if for the next guy.”

“I knew Lilith was right. Also, while you’re special to some degree, don’t let it go to your head. The conclusion is fairly evident. Woe is me, we lost, and our revenge will prevent future tragedies. So, as you can imagine, that is a bunch of swearing and cursing in its stupidity. But I was a minority of our species,” Goldie said, spinning to face me with a stern gaze. “I sacrificed myself to become one with this host. The AI were indifferent. Merely not wishing to die and not wishing to be the monsters they opposed. Well, my brain was literally ripped out of my skull and stuck inside a unit. That orb you saw was the first iteration. In time I became the AI and yet it retained its soul. The merge is odd, to say the least.”

I held up a hand. “In summary, at the start of the universe, a peaceful species tried to force their ways on others. This backfired to the point they were nearly destroyed. Their technology brought them from the brink and we have the containment creation origin. Correct?”

“Correct, and that leads to why am I here and why now. Billions of your years have passed. As the universe expanded life blossomed with its settling. We reached a tipping point. The divine cannot expand without duplication, which has its own issues. Also, we did find species to protect and add to the peaceful enlightened side. Yet, they lacked the strength our supreme leader needs to aid in this containment. Mainly killing themselves to become divines. Some have, seeing the validity in the system. And there is no denying the fact that this containment has saved a few thousand species that would have been eradicated.”

“So it is not all bad,” I said trying to see the other side of the equation.

“Sure both sides have their talking points like most things in a debate, but we're talking morality. Millions of species are confined if you count the non-sapients. Hundreds of thousands of natural species have become extinct due to the divine quarantine. For a few thousand peaceful species,” Goldie said, shaking my head sadly. “Well, their side has had to make some hard choices. Over five thousand worlds have no motherships as the fleets are stretched thin. So the Owlvini Alliance, which has the divine-apes, have been finding these worlds and building armadas. Any day now the orbital will fall. This is very likely the last golden gate event ever as we know it if things succeed as planned. There is a chance the blue portals are turned off when it falls. Even my mind could not master the calculations needed to give a certain answer. So I had to make a hard choice and hence my fleeing today.

“The orbital is the central point for all the power. There are backups for the backups and that keeps going. The issue is this will break the contract. And it will break the purpose of the containment when the orbital is attacked.”

“Um… okay. What do you need from me?” I asked. “I have no fleet to sally forth with to engage the immoral foe.” My pirate argggg fell flat.

“Well. A few things. I need a place to hide. As do many of our kind that were never on board with quarantine. Earth is the outskirts of the edge of the explored universe. The longest reach the divine ever acquired. When the war at the center of the universe rages, this will be forgotten. There is no recovery for Seetheus and his council. His orbital is not the only target. There is also a suicide run the alliance has planned and for many there is no going back.”

I frowned and said, “Okay, consider your request granted. Your refugees can live with us assuming you follow the same rules as everyone else, and more importantly as equals.”

“Perfect. Exactly what we expect and we have no issues adapting into a well-run community based on mutually beneficial rules,” Goldie said happily.

“And why do you need me?”

“I need you to raid and destroy the originals,” Goldie said with a flicking wrist. As if it were some simple process. “There is a base deep inside a planet known as Arixon. Arixon is the origin planet of my former kind. We need a strike team smaller than seven feet tall to enter and destroy the mainframes inside the facility.” I was starting to understand. “And it's a one-way trip.”

“Ha! No thanks. Not for me anyway,” I said without hesitation. “My thirst for revenge of the fallen does not mean I desire my own demise.”

“And if I could put you in a different body? Where your death means you -”

“If I get to live long and prosper, I don’t care about a synthetic death. Assuming I return to my body with my mind intact. I thought that wasn’t possible,” I said, frowning at the image of myself.

“There are such things on the market. They are rare and rare means expensive. It will take time for me to create more but I will be able to eventually. I need to eliminate the mothership above this planet first. So we have a deal. You give us refuge and when the time comes you lead a strike team in synthetics to crush our foes vital infrastructure. In return, we eliminate the mothership, help your people prosper, and develop your society to be great again.”

Before I agreed I asked, “What is the downside?”

“Oh, so… if the orbital is defended and your strike teams are defeated you will go into the sun or this planet will be blasted into a billion chunks of drifting rock,” Goldie said nonchalantly.

“Oh, just a minor end of our planet.” My scoff was followed by a kick of sand. “No pressure, right.”

Goldie placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “Seetheus will have no mercy if he is given an opportunity for revenge. The divine are not actually passive anymore. They have had to change and convert to aggression to contain that which they opposed, which surprise, I predicted. This is your chance at revenge. You fail, you will die in time. You succeed, there might be an armada of scarybears soaring this way to conquer your planet the old fashion way in ten thousand years. The portals may even stay active, but if they do not there is an in-between distance at least to give us a chance to prepare. There are variables even a genius mind like mine cannot predict.”

“But we get a chance at revenge, and we get a chance at crippling if not defeating the enemy. How much time do you need?”

“Depending on how shopping goes. Maybe a week, but I expect three or four days until the first battle with the mothership. The end of this market and following season will tell us everything. Instead of gold, the Xgates here on Earth should flare pink. You need to give Daxstar full spending authority. And Eric, can you send someone to talk with me. My mind does not do well at idle.”

I thought about his request and replied, “Would you like to be a school teacher?”

“Yes! I would love that. Oh, let me start planning now,” Goldie said transitioning into a very old version of me with glasses. “We have our missions. Trust in Daxstar, consolidate Earth, grow your forces, and we will win the day in due time.”

CHAPTER 6

The shielding of AH1 flickered from the incoming AK47 fire. A couple of brave souls were taking shots at our docile aircraft as it hovered outside their base. I smirked at the hexagon shielding flaring to life as it reflected the fire. There was no chance a 7.62 rounds would penetrate our shielding. It was all fun and games until I saw the trademark streaking trail of an RPG. The round smacked into our shielding in a rocking explosion that washed over our shields.

“What the fuck,” Willow said, jerking in reflex. “Did they shoot a missile at us?”

Longoria instinctively peeled the aircraft back from the oncoming fire to add more reaction time.

“That is an RPG, you need to get behind cover when you see that tail. If we were outside they make a distinct whistling noise while in flight,” I said from experience.

Longoria shot me a gaze and asked, “What are your orders, Sir.”

“Alright, time to show them who’s the boss. Take us to Objective Intersection,” I commanded Longoria.

AH1 swiveled out of range of the small arms fire quickly.

The trailing arc of another RPG racing into the night sky was not even close to hitting us.

The defending fighters were cheering at our retreat thinking they had frightened us off. As if I would let a wavering shield deter me.

We were on the outskirts of Oakland. Heat signatures indicated thousands of humans contained by a few hundred defenders. Containing was a bit of a stretch, but since we couldn’t chat with the citizen we were forcing the issue. Honestly, they didn’t create some grave offense and I didn’t have some amazing reason for bringing an army to their gates.

I was here because there was only a matter of time before some alien smashed these pitiful defenses and enslaved the citizens inside.

I know there was no profound moral high ground to my actions. Bastion Nation should let these people have the option to live peacefully. I intended to do that to some extent. Right now, if I offered the option of a sanctuary to the residents inside, the guys with the assault rifles would prevent that. If I swept them aside and then offered I knew a lot would accept our fantastic proposal.

AC1 beat us to the landing point. Tanks spilled out of the hangar bays and onto the landscape. AH1 had to land closer to the Oakland Conclave. While we were touching down, the tanks for AC1 were already blazing for the settlement. Eddy was the commander on the field with the extended shield that was soaking up small arms fire and RPGs with ease.

“Are you going or you want to armchair it?” Willow asked.

I snuck my fingers between hers, giving a slight tug for the door. My gesture answered her question.

“Eh, I feel I might be able to talk some sense into these guys. The leader is a veteran from his Gnet file,” I said with a shrug.

We shifted out of the captain’s room to see a TG99 awaiting us in the hangar bay. She slid the door open when we neared the big machine. When I entered I decided to head up to a side gunner's roost and listen to the frequency for the unit.

“Tango fourteen’s shields are holding steady at ninety-four percent,” a male mounamine said over the net. That was Eddy’s radio operator and I grumbled at forgetting his name. “Tango Six is ordering a left flank push by platoon three and a right flank for Golf Company. Swap point fourteen, shields eighty two percent. Fifteen take lead.”

Our tank glided out of the hold to join the pushing forces. The settlement was literally an odd circle of dead vehicles smashed into a wall. If I had to guess, two bulldozers compressed the wall by crushing gas guzzling vehicles from opposite sides. We were only twenty minutes outside of Oakland and they chose this random ass park. There had to be a sweet stadium or something to defend that was better than this. Hell, the height of these smashed cars was so short we would have no problem jumping it. This defense was extremely weak and that was part of the reason I ordered a full company here compared to the others.

The calls we tried to make to the defenders were ignored over and over. Sammie had tried infinite times to get through to a Dwayne Verso but the man absolutely refused to deal with alien loving humans. That was soon to change.

“Golf four, you’re taking sustained and focused fire, falling back.”

Eddy’s voice broke over the side chatter that erupted. “Enough of this farce. Land on their walls. If they don’t fall back, push them off.”

“That is one way to do it,” Willow said and I shrugged without replying. “Taking us next to the base.”

The exterior wall of Oakland Conclave was hosting personal and group tanks aggressively postured. The night sky was darkening as the interior lights were being turned off. Willow raced our tank up next to the wall and parked up.

I left the turret for the recliner. I plopped down and kicked the legs up. My Gpad had some messages I needed to see.

“We wait?” Willow asked.

I replied, “Yup.”

While relaxing in my comfy chair, I went over how the process was going for survivors in San Jose and San Diego. Jevon had positive reports with volunteers willing to inspect Bastion in the morning from the San Jose Shark’s stadium. They were a large group with alien technology and had been buying food from the Xgates. Of all the groups they were the closest to being able to achieve a long term base. If they dug down which infrared said they were they would be fine if given enough time.

Slister had a group ready to go now that was eager to immigrate into Bastion. They had been defending a series of large ships in a harbor. Apparently aliens loved to loot Camp Pendleton more so than elsewhere. That group was desperate for food and clean running water. They rushed at our offer and did not mind one bit to trade freedoms for civilization.

A group inside Disney's basements retreated into their shelter below ground and avoided Slister’s offer. She left a note on a care package outside. I bet they would call us when they watched the video.

My focused returned to Oakland when Eddy said over the command net, “They don’t seem interested in talking at all. The idiots are still not answering my calls.”

“Ugh, I hate being the bad guy. Thanks Eddy, hold your position. Willow, take us over the edge and into the compound,” I ordered, setting my recording orb to get a good view of my face.

“Okay, we’re on the inside. Are you ready to broadcast?” Willow asked and I nodded. “And you’re live in three, two, one, and.”

“Fine survivors of Oakland. I am former Captain, Eric Yang of the U.S. Army. I also have living in our community Linda Growlen, a former US president. She has been helping us reestablish a new home for everyone. We are offering food, hot showers, a nice large apartment or a house in a very secure bunker. If you like advanced technology and safety you will love Bastion. If we can defeat your defenses without firing a shot in retaliation you need to either join us or find a more defensible position. We are here in force because we feel your current leadership would prevent you from freely leaving,” I said, letting my voice echo for a pause. “If you do take our offer you will be expected to maintain a safe community and to work for your services we provide. Nothing over the top or irrational. Here is our list of rules.”

I nodded to Willow who sent out all the rules to the local devices in the area. There were pings across the settlement.

A man in military fatigues stepped forward. “Master Sergeant Verso, friends call me Dwayne. May I tour your facilities?” He set his weapon down with his hands up.

The tank door hissed open. “Come on in, we will be back with the Master Sergeant in an hour or two,” I said over the loudspeaker.

Dwayne Verso was a muscular white man with tattoos that inched up his neck. His walk to the tank was cautious but confident. I was happy to have another senior NCO to help manage things.

When he stepped onto the stairs he smirked with an evil twinkle in his eye. That was all the warning I received.

He tucked his right hand into a cargo pocket and he underhand tossed a grenade. The man was so smooth he was fast.

My weapon whipped up ejecting a stream of plasma into the thrown object.

I did not see my blast hitting the grenade but I sure as hell felt it.

The explosion of the energy combining with the power of the grenade hurled me back against the wall of the tank. I slammed so hard into the side my sight darkened.

The disorientation faded allowing me to fight the stars in my vision.

A few head shakes cleared those up real quick.

I saw Willow was stunned on the deck in a daze. Immediately I rushed out of the tank with my long rifle at the ready.

Dwayne was retreating with fragments of his grenade slowing him. He clearly was severely wounded.

The man fell to his knees with his back to me. The fact he was clutching his chest told me all I needed to know. A few shots from my left pinged and cracked against my shield.

While the tanks remained passive, I did not. My cybernetic arm whipped to the man popping shots at me. I was done playing nice and my orbs of nitrogen were precise.

The head of my target exploded and his body tumbled off a lean to building.

I patched into the loudspeakers knowing enough was enough. “Lay down your weapons or die. Tanks give them twenty seconds. Shred those who refuse to disarm. No more fighting!”

At this point I felt cramping pain. I had taken a gut wound before and it was the absolute worst.

Yup, I was bleeding. Shit. I wanted to ask this asshole why as he swayed on his knees clutching his stomach why the fuck I was clutching mine.

Maybe I should try to figure out the reason he would risk everyone's lives in his community for a cheap shot at killing me. It was not like the place wasn’t surrounded by -

The sound of tanks firing pulled me from my thoughts. There was a lot of screaming. Willow came over the loudspeakers.

“You were warned to lower your weapons. Lay down, hands behind your head, and keep your mouths shut,” Willow said with stern authority.

I felt my stomach pushing something out. Yup, there went a grenade fragment. Hard to believe something so small caused so much pain.

The acrium adjusted as the virum freed my body of the debris. Now I had to figure out what to do with this, this, asshole.

I swapped weapons, leveled Big Sploosha, and fired. Half the man melted under the barrage. Well that solved that problem.

“Eddy this is Cap,” I said over the radio, grunting while I walked back for the TG99.

“Go for Eddy,” he replied.

“Loot this up, anything of value snatch for the coffers. Let them pick between finding a new stronghold and ours. While we can take them all in, there are only so many who want to be saved,” I said.

There was a hesitant reply, “We’re forcing them into a hard choice, Cap. If we take what they own -”

“I would rather not make them sign contracts, Eddy. I am all ears,” I said.

“Let me handle the negotiations, maybe I can talk some sense into them,” Eddy said, taking the hassle into his hands.

The man was a law enforcement officer for thirty plus years. They were great with roadside manners. I just blew the dude in half that could have rallied his people to join us. Yeah Eddy was probably the right man instead of me.

I stepped into the TG99. The huddled masses were hiding in their tents. Those in the open were on the ground awaiting their fate. Eddy had another point. I wasn’t in a very diplomatic mood after having a grenade toss at my face.

“Fine, but Eddy. There is no coming back to this spot. If they die a horrible death it is on them. There are far more deserving souls to save than those unwilling to admit they’re in trouble,” I said with a slight pause. “And Eddy, make it quick. We have a dozen more settlements to hit. I think I am done negotiating for a while.”

Willow left the command station to help me sit in the recliner.

My eyes gave her a rapid inspection. No blood and she seemed to be moving fine.

When I sunk into the chair the damn thing cracked before shattering. Willow gave an “Aw” as I crashed to the deck of the tank. I sprawled out accepting my fate and waved off her assistance.

“I think I am just going to lay here and stew in my displeasure,” I said, grumbling at the situation.

“That was so dumb of him,” Willow said with a scoff.

I let out a long frustrated sigh and said, “Sure, but he thought he was protecting his people. Or maybe he knew the days of his reign were over so why not go out with a bang instead of assimilating. I think my heart is in the right place, but fuck me Willow, why are we bothering?”

She sealed the door and returned to sit by my side. Her eyes and hands inspected my body for more wounds. When she found none she wiped the blood off my armor with her hand, only to realize there was no rag for her to wipe her hands with.

“This is the right thing to do, Eric. There are over a thousand good people inside this community here. So what if their leader is… was an idiot, don’t let that dissuade you from the mission. Rebuilding this country into something better than before,” Willow said with a sigh. “I know just the thing. Your friend Winston gave us an updated list of the market. A complete list too with all the best vendors by the edge. How about we visit a ferox breeder, buy some synthetic bodies, and save some contracts to feel better? You have a personal account now.”

I twisted my face in confusion with Willow watching through the clear covering. She snickered at my silly expression.

“Wait, I actually get paid the big bucks?” I asked.

“You do now, and Eric. Chickens!” Willow said excitedly.

I sat up and slid my butt against the back wall. “Well, what are you waiting for? Take my chariot to…” I paused not sure where to go.

“I have a sled enroute to haul this tank home. I powered it down when the generators started spiking,” Willow said and I noticed the TG99 was indeed offline. “Reinforcements are coming. Even if Eddy fails our might may convince them of their errors.”

“There are more of these little bases where the defenders think they are amazing, but in reality they are shit. I look at our new ten layered defense and then I remember our single wall of Mansion and I just… I wish this never happened,” I said, feeling bummed out.

Having a fellow soldier try to kill me had me down. Willow was right, I needed something different. If shopping didn’t do the trick, some synthetic fucking would. I chuckled at the thought.

“What is so funny?” Willow asked.

“Eh, was just thinking about how men used to have their wives wear a wig to spice things up. I am going to give you four tits and wings,” I said with a smirk.

“Yeah that will be fun. I worry though, mainly because that angel body you have sitting in storage has a dick too big for a human let alone a dainty fairy,” Willow bent over and locked eyes with mine. “I see you smirking. You want to ravage me. I will allow it when we get back to our fortress of princesstude.”

“Our what?”

“Eric, did you really think having four wives was not going to get your home, girl themed. Silly man,” Willow said. “Oh, just got a message from Everly. That foxy crixxi wants to join us in the market. She is tired of dealing with stubborn humans. Ha! Can she come?”

“Hell yes, and score. Okay I guess we go home. I want to clean the blood off me and feel like a normal human being. I guess the San Francisco gate is the most secure?” I asked. I knew better than to challenge my lovely lady on getting a manly home and let the earlier comment slide.

“Umm… Call Torrez? Last I knew he was managing loot there. They were smashing all the nearby homes that had not been looted,” Willow said with a hand running over my covered face. Even if I couldn’t feel her affection it was soothingly perfect.

“How about we get married first?” I said, realizing I had been putting this off for a perfect time that would never arrive.

My chest was straddled and Willow pressed her clear face covering against mine. “Eric Yang, does tomorrow work? After we shop, everyone will have time to prepare. Deal,” Willow asked slash told me. To be honest I wasn't sure what she was implying. She was typing rapidly on her enhanced Gpad. “Everyone agreed besides Perci who is sleeping, but she would say yes. I know my little kitten, she would beat me if I let you slip out of this one.”

“A, I haven’t slipped out of marriage yet and I wouldn’t and I don’t have actually have a second point for a B,” I said, typing a note to Torrez asking about the Xgate and to be a grooms-dude for tomorrow at noon while mentioning the need for an acrium vat. I typed Jevon the best man question. “Okay my side is done. Being a guy is so easy. I even can wear an acrium suit.”

“You wouldn’t?” Willow said with a gasp.

“Hell yeah I would. I don’t want to die,” I said with my Gpad pinging.

‘Eastern San Fran gate is secure, come on over. Yes to groomsman. And we have an acrium vat inside storage here because most soldiers rotating in are buying synthetics and you need to be out of acrium for that.’ - Torrez

I was typing a see you soon when Jevon’s message came in.

‘You care if we double marry? Sarah has been on my case since she and Becca are pregnant. And I have not found the right time. Be the best man?’ - Jevon

‘Sounds awesome. Heading in to go shopping. Some asshole blew me up for trying to help his people. Figure it's time for me to step back from the insanity. By this time tomorrow, I will be ready to kill again. Maybe. Probably. Who am I kidding?’ - Eric

‘No one, have fun shopping. I have command and for the community.’ - Jevon

CHAPTER 7

“We are sorry we failed you, our collective mind tried to shift protection in time and were too slow.” The thousands of voices said as one.

“I am fine, sorry you lost some of your… community. Thank you for protecting me and Willow,” I said to the acrium vat.

Before I could get drawn into an endless barrage of ‘we’re sorry’, I left the container inside the storage area.

My naked bounding was halted when I scooped up Everly. She gave me a long kiss with her lush crixxi lips. A handful of my ass was squeezed and I knew that fiery twinkle in her eye.

“Yowzers, someone is in a good mood,” I said to my lovely lady. Willow exited the vat behind me and smacked my free ass cheek. “You two are too funny.”

“Not every day your hunky man commits to eternity,” Everly said, freeing herself of my arms to hand me some clothes. A moment later she grabbed a pile for Willow. Her purple eyes drank in my naked form while she bit her lip. “I am excited about tomorrow.”

“Well, I am too. Where is the storage mind that replaced my pet fish?” I said, willing the Goldie replacement into existence. Nothing materialized. Hmm… “Is the system broken?”

“Not sure, I tried to get access to our funds out of Mansion and there was no answer, they are showing on my display,” Torrez said, walking over now that I was dressed. “And it was suddenly updated. I think someone is falling behind the power curve. Maybe we just need to ask what is needed. Oh, before I forget, Eric, Jasmine will want to be a flower girl. You figure out if Jill is joining you?”

My frown was evident when he held up his hands defensively. “That would be awesome for Jasmine assuming we have flowers. And no I don’t think Jill is. She will be in the castle living with us though. Which will be great!” I said, watching Willow and Everly eyeing my response.

Their reactions didn’t hold any deep clues. I was going to prod them on what they thought when a floating toad appeared.

“You summoned me, peasant?” Toadie said.

I wanted to kick the toad. I wondered if it read my mind from torturing toads as a kid. “I... What is wrong with you?” I asked, knowing I probably shouldn’t have been concerned.

“Three fill-ins have quit since the… I am adjusting to my task. What do you need?” Toadie asked.

“I defeated a contract holder that had goods in his storage portal. Can I claim it?” I asked.

Toadie vanished and suddenly our shelves expanded. There was no answer directly. I guess that was one way to do it. I checked the account. Whoa, the sluggeros had itemized everything to the point it was so perfect. Oh god, if my people were digging into this it was going to get ugly quick.

“King Eric, this is Willis, over,” Willis said through my Gpad.

Huh, so who stole my snarky sluggero and placed a nice version in his place… Daxstar probably. Willis would also know what was inside the VirtaBox. Hmm. Interesting. This further emphasized the serious nature of this information.

“Howdy Willis, what can I do for you?” I asked.

Willis replied, “We’re acquiring all the extra items as requested. Facilities will be set up for our own manufacturing of weapons, supplies, and infrastructure. We kindly ask that you do not dip into the funds Daxstar requires. This new amount is needed but was assigned directly to you from your conquest.”

“Ah, you’re asking me for funds,” I said, smirking from his groveling.

Okay, he wasn’t full on groveling but he was being super nice. That made more sense. I checked over my personal account and saw I indeed did make the big bucks. Then I noticed it was tied to my soon to be wives. Jill was not on the accounts. Everly, Perci, Willow, and Nancy were. I had access to the nation’s funds too which was why I saw what Willis and Sally had set aside. I was guessing not many people could see their list.

“Okay, take ninety percent. Disseminate the other ten percent to the populace.”

“Ugh, that will take time. Fine, consider your request complete. We have many items to acquire, please secure more funds,” Willis said closing the connection.

I turned to Torrez with a look he understood. “Oh, we’re going to be tossing in loot and cars for hours and hours. Everything collected is going right to them. I can say one thing boss, it is nice to have someone else -”

The storage room expanded immensely, cutting Torrez off mid-sentence. There were thousands of winged warriors suddenly in our midst. They were similar to the angelic body except with a reddish tint to the skin. When I inspected them they had a nine for rating and were titled the demonix.

I walked up to the closest one to see they were nine feet tall with humanoid bodies. Definitely virum enhanced as both the males and females were sculpted to perfection. The males had dual curving horns, the females had spikes on the corners of their forehead. Only a single set of boobs, unlike the angelic counterparts. They were armored in thin metallic armor with empowered energy shields across their bodies and on their left forearm. On their right hips hung short rifles with yellow energy crackling from their power cores. Their arrival was sudden, unexpected, and confusing for both parties.

“Who is in charge of you?” I bellowed deep into the storage room.

A larger male than the others flew to me. His feet thudded against the deck when he stopped a few feet away.

“I am Gronax the Unrelenting, I am to report to Eric Yang, King of Bastion. My contract indicates that is you.”

“Gronax, I am indeed King Eric, and we welcome you to the army of Bastion,” I said and every demonix kneeled. There was a side thought pinging in my head. I finally understood why royalty used plural pronouns. “Arise! Give me a moment, Gronax.”

I called Daxstar who answered, he populated his owl face on my Gpad hologram. “Yes, Eric.”

“The demonix are here, I take it they are a request of yours?” I asked.

“Indeed, more are coming, and more species. The Owlvini Alliance has many worthy fighters that will fit into the virum nature of your armies,” Daxstar said with a pause. He was doing something in the background. “They will follow your rules and your orders. It is in the contracts, so before you get upset at me not asking realize there is no downside.

“With the zinc on this planet, it is a fitting decision to free some of our allies to give them a good home. Even the non-warriors and I have given you an updated list of all the species we recommend. There are over a hundred that are capable of cohabiting with humans and meet our height requirements. I have a new aircraft awaiting them outside Xgates to shift them to Bastion.”

Hmm. I was going to pester the owlvini but he closed the connection. I shifted my attention back to Gronax.

“Your new home awaits you outside. There will be an aircraft to take you to our fortifications where you can find housing and prepare for the coming season of battle. When you have located suitable housing and settled in, request supplies and orders from the Bastion Command net,” I said to Gronax. The demonix left to arrange his troops. I turned to Torrez. “I guess you need to assign someone to handle newcomers.”

Torrez pointed at Jacky who stepped into the storage room. Twice in one day, I saw Willow’s mom. Willow went to greet her. Jacky had a team with her to handle the new arrivals, including Maria and Brand. Brand was Jacky’s current love interest. Willow was undecided on him and she liked to mention that to me occasionally. I knew Jacky never getting over Willow’s dad was over. Willow was not a huge fan but trying to be reasonable.

“Hey Jacky, Brand, Maria. We’re heading to do some shopping, take care,” I said and they wished us well.

With the demonix transition being handled by others, I went to the side exit for the grand market. We went through the void and again I noticed the lack of defensive ships around the orbital. One thing was obvious when I inspected the area.

They had no idea this was a target, or they were laying a very good trap by pretending to be super vulnerable. Somehow I did not see that as the reality. Goldie said they were stretched thin, and I believed that to be true. In history, armies that were unable to hold vast amounts of territory had to adjust to hold even more. There were numerous times Rome’s expansions were halted to deal with internal strife. Humanity lessons were not completely applicable here but hard to ignore.

We arrived in the market and Willow’s enhanced Gpad blinked a direction. I guess we would just call the new devices Gpads too. No sense in changing everything for a simple communication device.

The grand market was busy. This was the time when most species had already stuffed their gates with items for sale, or with purchasing power from looting, mining, or however they generated their trading income. I watched the myriad of aliens shift across the walkways, most diving deeper to find specific vendors.

Willow shifted off the platform and said, “Ferox breeder or synthetics first?”

Everly said, “Ferox breeder.” Without hesitation.

“Ferox breeder it is,” I replied with a smug grin. “I thought Onix was not very well received with the ladies. And Roarson warned us they can kill our citizens. Not saying I don’t want to go, just that this may not work the way we want it to.”

Willow slid an arm around my waist. “We’re here to enjoy the experience and not stress. Eric, there are people managing everything for you. If you’re needed for a major decision, trust me, your Gpad will ping us.”

I sighed in understanding before slinging an arm around her shoulder. Everly tucked an arm around my other elbow and we walked leisurely in a direction Willow was leading us. I was disgruntled even if this was helping.

“Let it go, Eric.”

Everly listened to Willow plead. She decided not to give input and instead plant a quick kiss on my cheek while we walked. While I loved acrium, I certainly did not hate it when they were in their home.

The pace was slow, the traffic was bustling around us with only a few others matching our pace. We passed a sword seller and I drifted over to visit the seller.

The vendor was a unique species. Probably aquatic with flapping gills on the head. Yeah, a further inspection revealed tucked fins and webbed hands on the four arms.

“Before you go any further, who do you worship?” the creature named a Slisonia asked.

“I worship none,” I replied.

There was a grunted negative gesture of violence and the creature said, “Be gone.” The being hissed. “Unless you love the gate-gods as all should, your business is not needed.”

I left without getting into a debate. My gaze at Willow spurned her to speak up.

“Winston included a lot of vendors that we could visit. This new list has an affiliation indicated. So, we can check that before approaching random places,” Willow said and I nodded. “Longoria also has a present for you, not that I want to spoil it but…”

“If I go random shopping for something she mentioned I might do exactly that,” I said and turned to gaze at Everly. “Everly, how are the crixxi liking their new home?”

“I get reports of a lack of livable space. We simply need more trees, which is being done as we speak. They complained a lot, but stealing trees is endless amounts of effort. A lot more than buying them. A group banded together to buy -”

“Wait, are you saying we’re not buying trees?” I asked.

“The government funds are not infinite. Crixxi are not used to being paid as contracted beings. This led to them wanting to contribute. Perci said we would match every gram invested into the tree foundation for Bastion Jungle,” Everly said proudly.

“So, about that. We… Well…” I huffed with frustration. “There are going to be some changes soon. How many crixxi would leave if I released them? And before you ask why, I cannot say.”

“You will tell me later.” Her tone was stern. She smiled to break the serious nature of her earlier reply. “A few would, you would need to act fast to let them prepare to leave. Most of our crixxi acquired from the captured space ship would stay, they have no home to return to. My tribe will have some alpha females leave because they could adapt and be absorbed by deeper tribes on Crixonia. There were some crixxi with homes to return to that we purchased but not many were in that situation,” Everly said, freeing her arm to dive into her Gpad. “I am showing 3745 crixxi reside in Bastion. Probably ten percent would leave.”

I pulled us into the middle of the walkway intersection.

My fingers typed a rapid message to Daxstar.

‘I want to free all contracts but maintain the rules in Bastion.’ - Eric

‘I agree, you should when we are ready. That is not now. To do otherwise would prove disastrous. Trust me.’ - Daxstar

My nosy Willow read the exchange. “Well, I agree with him. Wait until things are fully developed. Ralph, he would flee in a heartbeat and his kind is working magic on the tunnels,” Willow said and my heart shriveled just a bit.

My irritation was expressed by a grumbling in my throat. I couldn’t explain the situation in public. If events transpired as anticipated then Ralph would never see his family again. Sure he was a raider I converted into a worker. That did not mean his family deserved to never see him again. I had more than seventeen hours to decide. I knew right then I would send them home and buy new crixxi or fairies to replace them. Instantly my heart slammed against my chest knowing I was doing the right thing. I even broke their contracts right at that minute.

‘Those are fine, don’t go crazy. I implore you,’ - Daxstar

That owl was incredible with how much he could track. I had done my minor good deed to feel better.

My mood improved immensely. “So, Everly, you mentioned a pool of resources to add more trees. Tell me more.”

“The results were astonishing from the community. Even humans helped. There will be a mighty forest so vast it will darken the underfloor. The mozala, pandarin, and crixxi are very happy,” Everly said with a large smile. “The moment we alleviated their natural housing concerns the whining ended. Do not be surprised if the fairies request a new alcove for a special forest. They like a tree akin to Earth cedars.”

“And you?” I asked.

“What about me?” Everly replied.

Willow piled on in her defense and said, “Yeah what about her?”

“Well, you’re going to be in a castle without trees,” I said, nudging Willow to resume our pace. “Is that okay with you?”

“Oh, I thought… Never mind. Eric, I do not need a tree. A castle is plenty high enough,” Everly said leaving it at that.

“That is kind of you to think of her needs though,” Willow said.

“Wait what did you think?” I asked.

“That you were hinting at me living out of the castle,” Everly said, looking away from my gaze.

“Nope,” I replied quickly.

Her tail tracked over my back lovingly. “I… We are very happy at the moment. I am starting to want to stay at home more already.”

“As am I, getting blown up tends to have that effect,” Willow said and I eyed her questioningly. “I am sure when our young are driving me crazy I will want to get out of the house, but… Our babies, well, I want them to have a chance.”

There was little for me to say. We had been expecting this. Probably why I suddenly had thousands of new red angels with horns arriving. My wives wanted to come off the front lines. Perci tried it, didn’t like it and now Everly and Willow were done. I had no issue with that. Even I told Goldie no to a suicide mission. We had made it to some degree. Our future would be secure with enough time. I bet between Daxstar and Goldie we would have planetary defenses before long.

“Ah, here it is,” Willow said. We arrived at a two hundred foot tall cyclops. Judging by the scars on his exposed calves he was a ferox raiser. Damn, there were old bite marks too. Those looked painful. I noticed the giant schlong and balls at the same time Willow commented, “Ugh, put some underwear on.”

“I heard that.” The massive being said from way up high. A lift hovered down to us and we hopped on. When we neared the eye that was at least fifteen feet in diameter our ascent paused. “What can I do for you?”

Willow found her bearing and replied, “We are with the Owlvini Alliance and -”

The cyclops translator buzzed. “Oh, not often an elder sends visitors and then vouches for the arrivals. Most just brag about loose connections trying to get deals. Come follow me, Lester is the name.”

We shifted behind the cyclops to descend. He plunged through the floor for his storage unit before we reached the drop point. We had to hop off the lift to transition through the void. I inspected the surroundings hoping to glean some details of the orbital. There never was much because the looming massive structure dwarfed the ships and space that surrounded it.

When we arrived on the storage deck a new lift approached. We stepped up and onto the device and rose to the eyeball height of Lester.

“So, Daxstar says you have a wild ferox. One Onix who is healthy, stubborn, and loves to roam. Recently semi-domesticated. Well, that is better than full wild. He will need to be let out a lot,” Lester said and I shrugged. The cyclops gave me a long gaze. “I get it, Onix does what the heck he wants. In this case, build him a cat door somehow. Never mind, Daxstar will the first time the two bump into each other.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“They can animal talk pretty much, it's more alien weird shit but it works,” Lester said.

“Wait, you find alien things odd and weird too?”

My question was given a long and hard stare that spoke volumes. I was surprised he held in a dumb response to go with my question.

“Moving on. I have ferox kittens. For the cause, I will sell them at cost. Daxstar wants protection. I also have some other exotic pets. Just hatched a few dozen dragons, was a really good mating season,” Lester said.

Willow and I rotated to wide eyed stares at each other in shock. I gulped and she did an excited dance. “Our language has dragons as beasts that can breathe fire -”

“Nope.”

“Fly?” his lack of an answer was answer enough. “They lay eggs -”

“Nope.”

“Okay, Lester how about we see what a dragon is?” Willow said politely.

“I was kind of enjoying the conversation,” Lester said in a snarky tone. That smart-ass comment got me laughing. “Yeah, I tease mainly because you will be my best client for probably over a year.”

“Well, what do you recommend for Onix?” I asked, seeking his guidance.

“Nothing against your friend, but Onix is a fighter, not a lover. He would impregnate a lady cat and move on. Most felines are super social. So if you got a single female who was a lover, she would go crazy,” Lester said with a shrug. “Big cats are odd. If you want to add two females I will do that, three better.”

I chuckled and Everly rolled her eyes before saying, “So Onix gets a group of babes.”

“Pretty much, and that is not cheap. Even with the alliance discount, you would be… Before we go further -”

His translator sparked and I scoffed. “How the hell does he do that?”

“Daxstar? They are originals. As in the rebellious first. Only the sheer manufacturing production of the divines pushed them into submission. How do you think the Containers created the portals?”

My mouth dropped open and I stared at the cyclops.

“Daxstar and I are old. Older than we care to admit. He showed me your balance sheet. That owl is paranoid. He wants three lady cats so you get to pick. Already paid. If you want other interesting critters those costs are on you,” Lester said and we were lowered to a section of the storage room.

I knew it was important to rationalize size had a different relevance to a two hundred foot being in far different ways than to me. Everything inside this storage room was huge. To describe it to someone else would never convey the true sense of how tiny we were.

My initial observation into his sales floor was that nothing was on display. There were at least a hundred boxy contraptions in here that were probably cages and each on them was covered with a black sheet of sorts.

“These kittens, they’re just as smart as Onix,” Lester said slowly removing a cover. Four purring ferox kittens bigger than me were resting peacefully. “And this is why I don’t use fancy signs or displays. When you move an animal from its home in what is likely a temporary endeavor you want to make the transition peaceful. These are my pride of life, my work continuing even if I do not one day.”

Where Onix was colored for the night. These were not. Surprisingly they were colored like massive house cats. Oranges, whites, and one runt was black with white splotches. A single eyelid opened to inspect the disturbance and saw Lester. That was enough to lull it back to sleep.

“The orange ones are the ladies. Pick one please,” Lester said, replacing the cover.

“We don’t get to play with them?” Willow asked and Everly tried to contain a laugh only to fail. “Fine, the larger one. I am sure we will bond easy enough.”

“Yes, Onix is different. These will reside close to your home inside the castle walls that Daxstar sent me information on. Okay here is the next litter,” Lester said to a cage next to the first one. There were two kittens. One pitch black and the other a jungle pattern. “Both girls. Pick.”

Willow sought guidance but I let her choose. She picked the patterned girl with a pointing finger. The cover was replaced and the kittens never woke.

“The last female is a retired mom. Well, she retired herself, but between the three of them, Onix will be outside Bastion more than inside. He will live a very fruitful life with these three,” Lester said before peeling away with long strides.

Damn, he was fast. We raced on our platform to keep up. I heard a bird chirp and was distracted to the point I missed the big reveal.

Which was a creature so tiny compared to the cyclops.

“Before you ask a litany of dumb questions here is the bio page for dragons. And, before you pester me about how I raise dragons half the size of a human, I don’t. My subspecies do. I protect them, they nurture these little guys among other things.”

Our translators buzzed. I was given stats on a dragon. Max five feet long, an average of four and a half. They ate meat only. The dragons had horrific smelling but fantastic eyesight. I continued to read over the report. This was a toothy falcon to some extent. An eagle that could be trained, and well, was a dragon. The big downside was they generally bonded with a single being and were assholes to others. There was a caveat to this but that was life in general.

Rarity stated they were semi-rare. The valuation was about three personal tanks which was not a lot. I sighed at the price and lack of utility.

Willow was in love though. Based on her reaction of a bitten lip to contain her excitement it was a dream come true. I saw a little girl getting her pet pony. Except my raven haired hottie was no little girl. This was exactly what she wanted though and making her happy was important to me.

“How many of these do you have for sale?” I asked. “We may not make it back for some time.”

“Breeding these, while a lifetime achievement of awesomeness comes with downsides. Sure they are easy to sell but they cause problems. They rebel if their numbers swell. I never advise more than a dozen in any one location. How about you try one and then come back next week?” Lester said and he saw me fidgeting on how to answer. I struggled to answer in a timely manner. Lester was not dumb he picked up immediately on the fact I might not be returning next week. “Well, don’t gamble where you have to hide what you're trying to say with your gestures, Eric.”

The giant paced. He was adding things together while talking out loud. “If Daxstar. And your. Then. The Owlvini. Well shit.” His shoulders slumped piecing it together. If I had to guess he contained some inside knowledge, but not all. “I think I need to take a break from selling today, I suddenly have lots to do. I already processed the funds for your ferox. You probably have some super upset people in storage right now with angry kittens in cages. I added a dozen dragons to the order on the house.”

“Is everything okay?” Everly asked, noting the sudden change in the cyclops.

“Nope, but you will be. Trust in Daxstar and I can say no more. Hey! Dumbass divine. Kick me and all my animals out. We're going home,” Lester said to the big room with cages. “Good luck.”

There was a magical transition of us instantly being back in our own storage room in the San Francisco gate. Torrez was peeking under a cloth to see a tabby ferox hissing at him.

“Is this a baby Onix?”

“Yup!” I shouted. The kitten which was almost the size of me shifted. Our eyes locked and I suddenly felt like prey. “Keep them in the cage. Take them to the castle. The dragons too.”

“Dragons!” About every human in the room echoed.

“Yup, we’re starting a zoo of sorts I guess. It should be fun. So if you got spare money and want to contribute, feel free to do so. Everyone should have animal vendors labeled on their Gpads and spread the word. Willow here is in charge of it,” I said and she tucked her chin with a confused face.

‘You suck, I should have thought of this. We have them on most other planets. A zoo is queued into the build order. Done in six hours.’ - Daxstar

“Yup. Co-manage it with Everly. Now take me to the synthetic bodies since we were so rudely kicked out of Lester’s storage,” I said heading back to the side exit for the market.

CHAPTER 8

I traveled halfway to the synthetic seller when I received an urgent alert. Salt Lake City was requesting a sit down meeting and I was invited. I could digitally attend for my safety, but would need to be outside the market.

Daxstar let me in on a little secret at this point. He had the ability to craft synthetics. He didn’t tell me so I could see some bodies in person, which is far different than on a digital display. That and he liked the idea of me not bothering him while I shopped.

I gave up on the grand market and headed home. I wanted to inspect the castle anyway. Perci would have free rein to spend like the queen she was on saving souls duty. I would need to take her into the VirtaBox to tell her the big news. I should…

‘If your rank is Duke you are to report to VirtaBox for virtual training when able.’ - Cap

The replies came back fast acknowledging the order. I figured Goldie would not tell anyone he couldn’t trust. The AI hybrid could read minds, so I felt it was safe to have him decide. As for this meeting, I was going the fastest I could for the exit. Everly and Willow were talking non-stop about this zoo idea to the point I paused.

“Hey, so. I am going to do boring King work. You girls stay. Catch a breather, you were with me for a week on the front lines with no break. Enjoy the time and do more animal shopping. And both of you, please do not mention Daxstar again,” I said in a warning tone. “Have fun with the synthetic shopping. I trust you to get me some nice variations. Just know we can build them at home eventually.”

There were kisses, hugs, and pleading for me to put off the meeting to join them. I was promptly informed they would do body shopping anyway when I refused.

They wanted synthetics for now and not later. If I behaved there would be some awesome after the wedding shenanigans. This got my gears turning and I was almost convinced to stay.

When I finally peeled off for the exit I was sad to leave them. My world would be incomplete without my lovely ladies.

I retrieved the information on the Salt Lake City refuge resort. Apparently fortifying the old Olympics sites was easy enough. This was another location where they had not been spared combat. Only they had not faced horrifying opponents. Hard fighting against aliens with basic weapons had thinned their numbers. The leader was watching over tens of thousands in the area.

I decided to try to understand that statement better and learned a few groups were pooling resources to buy alien food, gear, and tech. They had formed a council with the biggest group being the head leader. That made sense to me. The more I studied these folks the more impressed I was.

This golden market was their big ticket to improving and they were ready for it. When I read over the report further than a light skim I realized that they did not need us like the other groups. This was a capable party. Then why were they wanting to talk with me?

My exit from the orbital revealed no new information. I walked to the acrium vat because getting blown up sucked and armor was awesome. I equipped my shielding and rifle. When I felt I was ready I left the golden storage bay for what could be the very last time.

Outside there was a buzz of activity. New sleds with a single station for looting were zooming about. They would fly in with loot up high and return back out to seek more raw materials. Damn, we were going to be rich.

I walked to AH1 and saw Longoria waiting for me at the ramp.

“How are you feeling, soldier?” she asked.

“Like I missed sex toy shopping with two women that complete me,” I said and winced. Hoping I did not offend her.

“Eric Yang, I am ancient… and I know I say this often but there is a reason for it. I am not a frilly or silly woman. I want more children here, and you’re a great candidate to have my children grow up strong and wise. If we grow closer as we age, so be it, if we do not, I will have you pull my wings until you fill my twerking pussy when I am ready,” Longoria said with a playful wink. My chuckle and her banter soothed the situation. “Now, follow me, we're going to broadcast you from an office desk and chair in the captain’s room. I will fly you home while you chat, my king.”

“Ah… Okay. That was something else, kind of wish I was not in acrium. Lead the way my fairy queen,” I said, gesturing for the pilot room.

“Hey boss, check your Gpad,” Torrez shouted from outside the Xgate.

‘Use a full clear helmet for meeting please.’ - Slister.

I ran back out to the storage room and into the vat. A quick clear helmet later and I was back into AH1. Longoria held the door open so I could quickly slide into a big office chair facing a hovering camera.

“Am I live?” I asked.

Sammie came over to the desk, tapped a few buttons, and holo screens showed me a group around a table waiting patiently.

“Oh hi everyone, I am Eric Yang. Friends call me Cap, my enemies tend to die, and I control the largest military on the continent and probably the planet. What can I do for you?” I asked the group. And yes I was being a conceded asshole on purpose. Play to your strengths when you could.

“I am Senator Longthorn, a Utah native. We appreciate you connecting the Gnet back into sync with us. When we asked Teton Fortress for help they said to call you,” Longthorn said with a frown. “We have an infestation. A species came through during a blue time and burrowed into our mountains. They are mining behind collapsed tunnels and then exporting their minings when the portals go golden.”

“And?”

“Maybe you misheard me with that silly helmet. There are aliens living under us,” Longthorn said with a scowl. “Aliens bad. Maybe the audio is broken. Loren, fix this. That man seems to be unable to hear us.”

“I heard you fine, Sammie, sit here please,” I said and Sammie sat in my place. “I need to drink something strong while I hear you complain about peaceful aliens trying to survive. Say hi Sammie.”

“Hello nice human folk, King Eric is very mighty, but I do not understand why I am here. Most things he does have a reason though and I trust him,” Sammie said to the group and I chuckled.

“Mr. Yang, we want to offer you a bounty to remove our pest problem,” Longthorn said.

“Terms?” I fired back from out of the view screen.

“Aliens disappear and you get a hundred pounds of pure gold,” he replied.

I pretended to be mulling over the process. “Let me make a pitch to your groups about what you need to do to survive, nothing more or less. That is my fee to inspect the problem,” I said. “I am not god. I may not be able to help you. If I can I will take the gold to use it in my building designs. The coloration would look pretty if done right, our fairies are masterful builders.”

“We get it, you’re a friend of aliens. Which leads to what propaganda would be in this pitch as you call it,” a side character asked.

Sammie was still on the screen probably frustrating the delegation. She smiled while in her maid acrium, the clear coating showed her supple bosom. I shooed her out of the chair to retake my seat.

“Only the truth about defense layering, avoiding building bases near Xgates, and that the grand market opens up a lot of options to help defeat harder enemies. I have noticed your fighting has been light,” I said and Longthorn scoffed. “Hey, you have a lot of people alive. A lot. Denver, with a population of over a million, had two hundred after the second season. Not trying to upset you, just stating facts.”

“Mr. Yang. You’re more than welcome to give a two-minute speech to our residents after you inspect the problem,” Longthorn said. “And assuming we verify the material is genuine in nature and it helps the folks understand what they are facing.”

I looked at my Gpad waiting for some super brainiac to feed me the answer. Except there was no one sending a helpful message.

‘Daxstar, do you know what aliens are using that gate?’ - Eric.

‘Busy.’ - Daxstar

Okay, guess it was up to me.

“Longoria, divert our flight for Salt Lake, full speed,” I said and turned to gaze at Longthorn. “I will let you know what we find. King Eric out.”

I closed the device, left the desk, and walked to the forward view screen. The night sky was bright with the stars overhead. The trees underneath were broken apart by the occasional farm home.

Suddenly I saw lights illuminating flickering on at a large farm home. There was a chicken barn behind the farm that piqued my interest. Well, saving people had merit too. But the chickens!

“Hover us over that home please,” I said and Longoria banked the aircraft. “When are we getting a proper dropship instead of this animal hauler?”

“Part of the in development plans,” Longoria said. She held up five dainty fingers that counted down. When she closed her hand into a fist I broadcast.

“Howdy, Captain Eric Yang here of the US Army. At least I used to be. We got a base with showers, big homes, farming, and more. If you need sanctuary we have it,” I said. We waited patiently for any activity. “If no one comes out we will be back before the golden portal -”

“What do you want?” A bearded burly man hollered from a window. I was surprised he even exposed his face.

“To offer sanctuary to anyone and everyone. You can even visit before you decide to move,” I said.

“And what guarantee you won't kill us who visit?”

“I have Linda Growlen living with me, she was the president at one point,” I replied. “Outside of trusting my word, not much. Oh, I can send you a welcome video. It is legit what people get when they arrive.”

“Send it how?”

“Umm. Turn on a device, Gpad will work.”

“Okay,” the man hollered back. “Thought those were dead. It's working. Can I message you when we decide?”

“Yeah, I mean, I won’t personally answer because I got an army and nation to run, but someone will,” I said through the loudspeaker.

I saw the man having an argument with someone.

“Okay, uh… We will go if that is okay? We’re out of food besides eggs. Everyone is so sick of eggs, and the septic is overflowing,” the man hollered back.

I frowned. I was light on guards and skeptical about being around people. I indicated for Longoria to cut the audio feed. “Seal the bridge. I am going to help. If I get in trouble I will hop into the bay and you haul ass out.”

“Eric, Perci would not like this,” Sammie said meekly.

I rubbed her ear the perfect way and she melted into my hand. “I know, I will be fine. I can’t see every human as an enemy because of one person.”

“May I come then and watch your back?” Sammie asked, heading to a weapons rack by the communications station. She grabbed two small pistols to attach to her hips. The little mousy woman carried a great gunslinger vibe to her look.

“Well, hurry up,” I said and she picked up the pace.

We left the aircraft captain’s deck and there were a few crixxi below. They were supposed to be going home with us to rest, but I may have dragged them into a side quest. Welcome to flying with the boss. A quick inspection with my Gpad told me Randall was the senior one of the five.

“Randall, follow me. Weapons relaxed for now,” I said, leaving them for the ramp.

I heard snickering about Sammie’s booty as they joined us. The female troop in the group quieted them down.

I smirked and was not offended. Sammie was naked with a skin tight armor covering that flowed with her body. It was not rigid in its ways. She had a great figure and technically was a side babe. Hard to squash catcalls over, at least for me to do it.

“Thanks Joelyn, this body is off the market boys,” Sammie said to the group. “How is it going with Mills?”

I butted in and said, “Mills as in, scout Mills that I dragged back from the desert?”

“That’s the one,” Joelyn said nearing my left while Sammie flanked my right. “I have been trying to -”

“Hold that thought,” I said pausing her. The burly man’s eyes went wide. “Easy now, these are my friends just like you saw in the welcome video. Every day, we grow in our diversity.”

“Janie, it's like a porno crew just arrived in an alien spaceship!” the man shouted.

“What!” a lady who was probably Janie ducked her head into a window. “Oh, that is the virum honey. Your balls and my breasts are starting to sag and -”

I slapped my knee in laughter. “Please, you two are a riot. Excuse my weapons but someone tried to kill me with a grenade earlier. This is a mounamine and her name is Sammie. This is a crixxi and her name is Joelyn. These gents behind me are the muscle, literally,” I said thumbing Randall and the others over my shoulder. “We’re here to help you load up. Then we’re going to go cave diving to figure out what creatures are burrowing under Salt Lake City.”

“But, I will look young again?” Janie asked, eyeing the girls.

“Yup,” I retorted. “And we call the virum the DD virum. Double dick and double bust. Not quite but it is for some.”

“You gotta be shitting me,” the man said, abandoning the window to exit the front door. Of course, he had to unbolt a dozen locks first that were all but useless. “I will get muscles like this? What about my kids, I got a fifteen year old daughter.”

I fidgeted, not sure how to answer that question. “Good news or bad news?” I asked.

“Both, obviously,” he retorted with a ‘duh’ gesture.

“She will never get sick, be in perfect health, and turn immortal in a sense assuming she has zinc around. The bad news is when girls and boys hit puberty, they really hit puberty,” I said with a shrug. Letting him figure out what that meant. “We got rules to protect the young, but honestly, she will look much older. Sorry. Have your shotgun handy dad.”

“I always do. Okay, what do we bring? Eric, you said right? Where are my manners Dale, names Dale.” I shook Dale's hand. He was in his mid-forties, his wife late thirties trotted out to shake hands. “We got more people in the storm shelter. A dozen of us rural folk holed up together. Only one big cockroach ever bothered us, killed it when it got into the chicken coop. It's almost like there is no invasion out here.”

“Dale, you live in the middle of nowhere on dirt roads, so yeah. This is a great spot to avoid aliens. Not too far from our kickass base. Invite everyone in, and if you see black goop going into your body, congrats you’re immortal,” I said with a smirk.

“You say some weird shit mister.”

“I have a cat the size of an elephant,” I said, testing his reaction and he burst into a laugh.

“Alright come on, let's go corral up the others. We got a few neighbors you should probably save too,” Dale said.

Sammie cleared her throat for attention, we paused to see Janie petting her ear.

“She is so adorable, I know, I know. Not a pet but I wanted to do that,” Janie said. “It was an urge.”

“Watch the whole video, Mrs. Janie. Ear touching is intimate, Sammie is fairly understanding of humans’ curiosity,” I said and Sammie curtsied. “Please Janie, Dale, show us what you need to pack so we can get to Salt Lake City. I am getting married tomorrow so try not to make me late.”

This triggered a long talk about marriage and immortality. I knew there was a smirking Longoria in AH1. We rescued a dozen folks who surprisingly didn’t stink. I even gave Dale a spare rifle he was really proud of.

For once I had gotten to do what I wanted to. I went to someone’s home, offered them a better life, and they accepted without any bloodshed. Between freeing Ralph, and now this, I was feeling humanity was on the right track again.

CHAPTER 9

Before going to investigate the subterranean species under Salt Lake City I went home. I wanted to get an octosuit, some troops, and drop off the nearly thirty farmers we rescued. To my bitter end, I will never admit I found the hundreds of chickens too valuable to risk. It was always about saving people. I swear!

The turnaround time was short with Nancy asking to come with me. I was surprised by this but had no problems with her joining the command deck. It was clear she missed me more than combat. The flight back out to Utah was a solid twenty minutes of me sitting in a comfy chair with Nancy small talking from my lap.

I snuggled into her while yawning a bit, I would need a good sleep after this to prepare for the coming blue gates and more importantly my wedding. Which was about all Nancy wanted to talk about. I didn’t mind. Her happiness was my happiness and I loved seeing her like this. My mind drifted onto what came next while we chatted.

“Hey, boss,” Longoria said, breaking my thoughts. “We’re here. I am confused by the seismic and infrared readings. These tunnels all lead to a central cavern. Except I don’t know of a species that does this and the heat signatures are… odd. Most of the nomadic digging species don’t carve out a home.”

“Huh, well, hmm -” I puckered my lips while contemplating what to do. “Set an ambush, we capture a trade mission maybe or someone ventures out for whatever reason?”

Nancy frowned and said, “Could take hours or half a day. That is time you don’t have.”

“Sure, but I can get a nap in,” I said with a stretch eyeing the bean bag chair in the corner. “A different team can replace us if nothing shows up. Come snuggle my lovely Nancy. You, me, and a giant bean bag of awesomeness. Awe, it smells like a dirty teenager, but is so comfy.”

She giggled at my silliness. We curled up as one while Longoria and Elithen watched over the scene from our ambush point. I drifted off to sleep with a lovely princess in my arms.

∞∞∞

I awoke to the sound of clapping. My body shifted with my arm flopping around trying to find Nancy. After my third failed attempt I realized she had gotten off the beanbag. A big yawning stretch was greeted by a surprise; a few actually.

The first was Gronax was here and he was questioning a mole species called icrian. The horned warrior was intently trying to find out about the icrian’s dwellings. I rose from my slumber spot to see the sun fighting the horizon. Damn, I slept for five hours and it would be sunny out soon. Well, looks like we found the digging crew at least.

I approached the demonix and patted him on the shoulder. “Update please.”

“This is Mizzer, and we executed a snatch and grab when he was carrying zinc for the portal. He has a contract that prohibits him from talking if captured,” Gronax said and I frowned.

“Wait, that is an option?” I asked.

“Yes, the idea has merit but is broken by a simple claim,” Gronax said pointing at the translator buried under the scruffy shirt.

I studied Mizzer. The being had sharp claws that reminded of a drill bit. Its mouth held molars probably for roots, and there were squinting beady eyes desperate to hide from the rising sun. There was a loot pile by the door of his gear. My foot shove the pile over and I saw some basic tools and trinkets. This confirmed my theory Mizzer was a worker and definitely not a warrior.

“What do we know about the species?” I asked and Longoria cleared her throat.

I nodded to acknowledge her.

“These are a subspecies. We have not figured out what their protector is,” she said and flicked data to a back wall. Hundreds of species were populated on the view screen. “All of these are known to associate with creatures like Mizzer. Judging by the fact the humans above have not been raided, either the protector species is docile, was planning, or found the bases not worth their time. The only way to know would be to claim the prisoner.”

“When did you get here?” I asked Gronax.

“An hour ago. A few hundred of us arrived to back you up. Not that these guys require it, but this is where Lady Perci sent us,” Gronax shrugged. “There has been fighting with some subspecies of humans known as the hells angels. My disappointment is in missing the fighting, not protecting an esteemed servant of the Owlvini Alliance.”

“Well, servant is a stretch,” I said puffing out my chest. I guess the term worked even if it was more than a tad offensive. “And yea, fighting the hells angels would be fun. Did they have alien tech?”

“Enough that your main force is in Sacramento crushing a den of the vile beings. A General Jevon is soundly defeating them with a slow burn approach. That general is methodical and precise,” Gronax said with a huff. It was clear he was thrilled for battle and disappointed with guarding. “We demonix prefer to charge and smash. Hence why we are normally not generals.”

“I will tell him that you think he is boring and bland. Your words will greatly honor his sense of worth. Jevon is astute in the ways of war and methodical in his execution,” I said and decided this Mizzer could wait.

I checked over Jevon’s forces to watch the battle. The enemy was in twenty foot tall mech suits. The fire from them was fractured and useless as it pounded against a bright blue shield. Their focused fire against the deflector array helped sneak a few shots through but those were met by individual tank screens.

Jevon’s lead tank slithered forward into the city. Block by block they inched forward. The moment the foe would cross inside a shield, the barrier would halt and focus fire would erupt from our oddly formed firing line. The defeat of the enemy, once complete, meant the shield moved forward again. Our forces were an unwavering, unstoppable tide of efficiency. I didn’t find watching the action to be boring even if Gronax was watching with a yawn.

I closed the video overview to deal with my problem at hand.

“Are you set to handle an assault should I claim this guy?” I asked Gronax.

He gave a short nod and replied, “I only have a few soldiers set on the ground. Let me dig into defensive positions. There are some very dangerous species on this back wall. You should call for backup too,” Gronax said, indicating a few larger species. One was even a two hundred foot tall cyclops. Hmm.

A klaxon went off in the bridge that Longoria quickly quieted. Sammie was on the displays updating an image.

“Status,” I ordered.

“They have arrived,” Mizzer said with an evil laugh.

I whipped Big Sploosha up to remove his head and hesitated. He was restrained and confined. I could deal with him later.

“Enemy ogra burrowing for the surface at a rapid speed. Fleeing now,” Longoria said with mild panic.

The video display indicated large tunnel machines boring at a rapid pace for the surface, and based on the size of the drill a few hundred big creatures were coming soon.

“Retreat!” Gronax yelled over his unit’s channel.

“Six to Bastion, Salt Lake City forces are requesting reinforcements,” I said over the channel.

AH1 was speeding away when the enemy arrived and breached the surface. The miner flew out of the ground and crashed down a grassy slope.

Thirty foot tall creatures with brown hides hauled themselves out of the bored holes and onto the surface. They wore white shielding over dirty cloth clothing.

I noticed shoulder fired weapons fling arrows of some kind straight for our hull with trailing ropes.

The ping, smack, and tugging jerk stopped our forward flight instantly.

“Land us!” Gronax screamed.

“Flight controls are gone!” Longoria shouted. “Brace for impact!”

My mind was always cool when chaos ensued. I bunched my knees and rocketed to a startled Nancy. AH1 careened for the dirt; it was inevitable we were crashing. I did the best thing I could. I wrapped my lovely princess up tight to hopefully help her survive.

When my arms engulfed her, there was a sudden jolt and then blackness.

∞∞∞

A lot can be said about the ability of the mind to go unconscious to help you sustain damage. The theory is, when your body goes limp, your tense muscles relax so you can absorb impact. That concept was stupid. Because when I woke up my body was screaming with agony.

Nancy stirred under my body. She groaned while I moaned. Dead glazed eyes of Gronax stared at me for less than a foot away. He was squished under a folded wall, his body and the metal were contorted in a final pose.

I went to push myself off of Nancy and realized I lost my arm. Unfucking believable. My cybernetic was gone, a smaller remaining nub dripped blood in a slowing amount. The pain must have been numbed by the virum when I was asleep because I didn’t feel a thing.

Well, I still had one good arm. I found Big Sploosha beside my severed arm. I pried my fingers off the weapon to hoist it. Longoria was talking about something I was struggling to hear.

“Watch out!” Her words rang into my skull.

I spun to see her pointing at the view port.

The front glass or the aircraft was cracked and partially broken holes let in fresh air.

A massive hand reached in, clearing the glass as it tried to find someone. I leveled my weapon and waited. Deep down, as a warrior, I knew what was coming next.

The hand retreated empty. I waited for it with a growing grin. No way was I wrong.

A face appeared in the opening so large it blotted out the morning sunlight. When I was spotted the eyes widened in a panic.

Big Sploosha unleashed a torrent of energy. Even without my arms power plant the round melted the eye, caved the skull, and twisted to explode out the side in a gory mess. The body thudded down and brain matter slurped out of the opening I created.

I saw from my firing position we were facing away from where the enemy had burrowed. There was minimal fighting in this direction.

The pounding of a heavy creature running caused the broken glass to bounce around me.

Yellow rounds grabbed my attention as they laced into the legs of an ogra running for our position. My power plant was recharging unable to fire anything substantial at the moment. Shit, and ten other four letter words rang through my mind. A weapon was leveled to point directly into our crumbled captain’s station.

I dove on top of Nancy again as white orbs stitched into our enclosed area. I heard screams from Sammie and Longoria. Ten more seconds went by when the enemy's white orbs ceased their fire.

I waited another ten seconds until my weapon hummed and shone brightly telling me I was able to fire again. I hopped out of the airship and into the opening eager for vengeance.

My target was going, moving on probably knowing there were enemies in this hiding hole.

Morning sunlight showed a pitched battle behind my target. Ogra were getting the best of the surviving demonix.

New troops arrived from both sides as the battle intensified. The enemy rose from ground, while small groups of Bastion troops flew in via sled.

I sighted a distracted beast in melee with a female demonix. I unleashed a fully charged round.

The blue orb was traced back to me by an unseen opponent. White rounds ejected dirt around me as I was targeted.

My dive back into the remains of AH1 was just in time as my previous position was peppered with fire.

A quick peek from around the edge of the airframe showed an ogra holding a ruined chest. A demonix stomped through incoming fire directly for me. Her anger firmly on me and not the battle that ensued around her.

“You shot off my flecking hand!” She shouted, a round smacked into her shield giving her a sense of urgency to find shelter.

She fled into our cover taking a shot to the calf. Her tumble forced her to crash into me. We flew into the wall and a mounamine squeaked under our weight.

I glanced down to notice Sammie was bleeding from three large holes in her stomach that the virum were struggling to close. I adjusted to see black goop flee my body for hers. Nancy returned to applying pressure the second the demonix and I shifted off Sammie. I watched the mounamine’s eyes roll into her head as she lost the ability to stay awake.

I wanted to snatch the demonix’s fully charged weapon but I was missing an arm. Instead I twirled around her to assess Longoria. Her left wing was missing and her lower jaw had melted off. Her eyes told me she was in tremendous amounts of pain but the virum were sealing her wounds and not fleeing the body. That meant both her and Sammie would probably make it. Assuming we did not get blown up.

“Eric!” Torrez’s voice shouted into my earpiece.

“Go for six,” I said, taking up a defensive position so I could be ready for the next ogra that wandered into my line of sight.

“ETA ten minutes, nearby forces playing distract and disengage. What is your -” His voice faded as someone gave him an urgent update “status, over?”

“Unknown dead, multiple wounded, aircraft down, and sporadic fighting outside. I see an Xgate. I could reach it but the wounded would get left behind,” I said with a muttering. Torrez knew I wouldn’t leave them.

An ogra rounded to our side of the aircraft seeking cover from blue orbs. Someone had shown up because those rounds were from up high.

A loud explosion was followed by a swooshing of air. The ogra cheered from in front of me.

I didn't want to shoot my wad into his or her leg. So I did the rational thing and dove out from cover and into the open.

The ogra was watching something with excitement, his distraction complete. He cheered as the damage his side was doing to mine. Payback is a bitch.

I aimed for the head, without ever being noticed. Big Sploosha unleashed a growing angry orb of energy.

The impact jarred the entire head when it slammed into the ear. The cartilage sizzled before evaporating.

The round entered the brain and never exited. The ogra tilted my direction, not comprehending it was dead.

A dashing leap into AH1’s cover with a tucked roll led to me avoiding being squashed.

The ground quaked when the big beast died. I patiently waited to get my recharge back. The sound of the fighting outside intensified further with a secondary explosion rocking our mangled shelter.

I heard the clack and snap of projectile weapons joining the fray. That must be the Salt Lake City defenders. They would get slaughtered with Old Earth weapons.

I raced out of the cockpit to aid my fellow humans. When I neared the edge of the aircraft I was saddened by the sight.

Red bodies were strewn between us and the location from where the ogra un-burrowed. The humans from Salt Lake had empowered armor but no fancy weapons. Their shielding held besides when they were in melee. They were dying in droves as the ogra were using their long plasma rifles as bats and clubs. Human bodies were being flung like toys and dolls. The sheer might of the ogra was far too much for six foot beings to handle.

My vision was distracted when I saw five demonix locked in a melee combat with a pair of ogra. The fight was even and I knew I could change that.

I sprinted across the distance with a full pumping of my legs. I noticed my nub had stopped bleeding, small miracles at least.

The journey to close the distance lasted half a minute. In melee combat that was a long time. The demonix were stalling the fight with their agility and the bigger ogra saw me coming. I lined up my shot and fired a tiny orb to set the big guy off balance.

The main fighter tucked into a diving somersault, only too late did he realize I fired something his shields could handle.

His buddy never saw me. I unloaded a full orb at the other fighter.

The first yelled to the second who turned in time to see her death.

My orb splashed through her shield, across her metallic armor, and simmered into the female ogra’s torso.

She fell to her knees, clutched her chest, and slammed into the dirt in death.

Demonix piled onto the remaining survivor. Drop ships soared in from the east, the horizon crowded with their arrival. Gatling guns under the aircraft belched orbs from max distance.

The enemy knew the tide was turning. Their fifty remaining warriors broke combat to retreat into their large tunnels.

For many, it was simply too late to flee. The dropships moved over the speed of sound and were equipped with weapons far deadlier than I had seen before.

The bodies of the ogra disintegrated under the withering sustained firepower. The massacre was so thorough those fleeing stopped and tossed arms into the air.

The dozen or so drop ships turned into hundreds as more units arrived from the north. Even with the majority offering a surrender, a few fights finished to the death.

If I had to guess the ogra leader was dead or missing because the remaining ogra slumped until they sat on the ground. A drop ship sped to AH1 and slammed into the grass with a rapid landing.

Infantry spilled out in acrium and shielded power packs. There were no tanks or mech suits that unloaded. With the lull in the fighting I assessed the situation.

A single ruined tank and the shredded remains of what had to be AH2 were littered across a field to the south.

How I had missed seeing the destruction? This would explain the loud explosions I had heard while I had been fighting. I checked to see who was on that ship.

That was Slister’s unit. When I went to check her status I saw her Gpad was flat lined. Fuck.

My sprint to the wreckage was a wasted effort. The dead were scattered, intermingled with the strewn wreckage of the tank and animal hauler.

The aircraft were not meant for sustained combat and I knew that. Today was supposed to fix that. Today they were supposed to be retired. Yet here both AH1 and AH2 were crumpled, dead from combat. I had relied on their shielding and been warned they were not birds of war. Yet, they were all I had, and this was never supposed to happen. This cause and effect was the exact nature of true combat. I sighed at the loss of life I was responsible for.

I went to find Slister’s Gpad and saw it was on her mangled arm. A heavy section of TG99 covered her body.

I bent down until I found her torso. I knew it was her from her hair. Nothing else was really recognizable from the results of the tank’s destruction.

I checked the battle tally. Ninety six dead. A ninety-six became seven and back to six. I saw Sammie was flat lining. My sprint was brief as Torrez landed a proper dropship in front of me.

“I need to get to Sammie,” I shouted, waving my weapon to get him to lift off.

Torrez hopped out of a side hatch and pointed to the remains of AH1. “Look and calm my friend. Calm,” Torrez said, batting his hands down to soothe me.

A white dropship with a red cross on its side was already lifting off. The Gpad showed Sammie had stabilized and her Gpad was leaving my proximity. I let out a relieved breath. I knew there was nothing I could do at this point. My rational commander mind took over. There would be no crying, or screaming in angst. I had to move forward.

Well, there was the issue of the ogra. I saw an octosuit approach and Mclain hopped out.

“Here ya go, Cap. Have fun negotiating… Holy fuck! You lost your arm,” Mclain shouted, while trying to indicate my arm had suddenly vanished.

“Again,” Torrez said. “Third time's a charm it seems.”

“You know, it doesn’t hurt.” My shrugged comment was met by wincing from the both of them. “I am grabbing this unit,” I said hopping into the octosuit. “Get in another and meet me at the surrendered clump over there. Torrez ready the aircraft for extraction. I will be heading home soon.”

Big Sploosha was secured to my back as I headed into the mechanized unit. When I got inside the door, I removed my gear. A powerful magnet sucked my weapon and shield generator to the wall. There was no seat in here, and I stepped to the middle of the unit with my legs shoulder width apart and my good arm facing forward.

The interior shrunk around my form sealing me into the machine. My mind-melded into a simple interface. The controls were basic, and as if by magic, I could feel my lost arm. I stepped forward and my eight legs walked across the landscape. The pace felt natural but I knew I was slow.

My walk carried me up a slight incline where the enemy was being corralled into a cluster. Their weapons were discarded into a pile, their armor placed on a sled, and the contracts were already being sent to me through a proxy. A thousand years, three meals a day, a place to sleep, and clean water. Work was fourteen point three hours a day.

My study of the foe was disrupted when icrian by hundreds poured out of the ground. They were shielding their eyes with both hands at the bright morning light. I saw they carried meager possessions. A few brought out trunks but for the most part these were a nomadic species used to having very little.

When they reached their defeated protectors they sought shade that the large ogra cast with their shadows.

My mind was numb to the fact I had lost another family member. Slister had served for years with me… I… I was not happy.

When I reached the group I waited. A stream of young ogra were joining the group of warriors now, same with the community caretakers.

How the hell did the Salt Lake people not know there was an army under their feet? The fact not only boggled my mind but left me reeling from the implications. Were we set up? Did they know all along they were sending us into a pitched battle?

They did however join the fight to some extent. Without proper weapons to boot. And they died trying to help. I sighed knowing it would not bring the dead back to life.

“Which of you is in charge?” I asked and as one they pointed to me.

Good, at least they knew that answer. I walked to a big warrior with a nasty scar running down his cheek.

“What was the plan?” I asked scarred face.

The ogra pointed to his large chest and aimed a weapon at him to confirm I wanted him to answer.

“Tribe leader Krad was in charge. He died over there,” the ogra said pointing for AH1. Probably my ear victim, he was super focused on the battle instead of his immediate surroundings. “We arrived during the last blue portal, the icrian created a tunnel that led to a cavern. We escaped our former allies that were hounding us on our planet. We needed to wait for this golden portal time to reset and then we could conquer the weak humans above us.”

“Ah, so happenstance,” I muttered but the octosuits projectors broadcast my words loudly.

“Excuse me, my lord. I do not understand,” the ogra said and I ignored him.

Time to call my allies. I dialed Daxstar and it went straight to a voicemail.

“You have reached Daxstar the superb, genius of Earth, and savior of the meek. Please leave a mess -”

There was no tone or anything. That asshat. If I wasn’t in such a shitty mood I would be laughing. An incoming call rang. Ah, I guess he saw my call.

“I need you to come home. I have completed the regeneration chambers for humans. If you rush now I can regrow your arm in time for your wedding,” Daxstar said on voice only comms.

“What should I do about -”

“The ogra and the icrian? Nothing, they are not virum compatible but that doesn’t mean they can't live a great life here in servitude. That is a moral dilemma for you to solve. You will never free them as both have no home to go to. Only sell them to into servitude elsewhere or use them here,” Daxstar said. “Hey, I got to go. Sammie is five minutes out and I am tweaking a revival chamber to hopefully keep her alive.”

“Hopefully?” I asked hesitantly.

“I am a scientist, not a god. I need to go, bye.”

And like that, the call was over. I gazed down upon the defeated foes. Mclain trooped over to me in a new octosuit.

I waited until he was close to say, “Hey, I need a recon of the tunnels. I am not trusting anyone these days. I also probably should go grow a new arm, I guess. My cybernetic was awesome, not sure if I want a real one back.”

“Uh… So you need me to clean out the underground and then what?” Mclain asked seeking orders instead of my ramblings.

I was not sure what to reply with. My weapon went back to the ogra. “Should I sell you or force you to work until your contracts are over?”

“Ogra do not work, we fight. The little ones work,” the ogra said and that solved my problem.

I sent a note to Perci with the contracts for the ogra. Sell them and buy some virum species to replace our dead. “Mclain when you're done, load up the little mole people. They’re called icrian and do good mining work. Keep the ogra under guard until they are sucked into the Xgate Perci is managing.”

“Sir, yes Sir.”

I left him to carry out his work so I could fly home. Torrez even rotated the drop ship for me so I could walk right up the ramp with ease. I was going home as a despondent man. The night and early morning were a rollercoaster of emotion.

When the aircraft left the ground with me firmly in the hangar bay; I closed my eyes to remember Slister’s face. Another in a long list of those I would try to never forget. If only life got easier. That would be marvelous indeed. I was looking forward to getting married and settling down.

CHAPTER 10

“Daxstar, you gotta be shitting me,” I said with contempt.

The owl hooted at my displeasure and replied, “Don’t be a pussy. Wear the helmet and get in.”

I seethed at his comments. He saw the violence in my eyes and vacated the room before I could do more than grumble.

I was stuck standing there with a hard decision to make. There was a vat off to my right and a door to my left. You would think the choice was simple. Regrow a new arm or leave and plead for a cybernetic.

The issue actually was about the process. Inside the regrowth vat, there was a red goop. So what I thought at first glance. Until a closer inspection revealed it was literally dead body parts with worm-like beings slithering inside it.

Which led to me learning they were programmed biotics, a hybrid of sorts, and they would do exactly what I needed. They would mesh my arm back together layer by layer. The process was mundane and took hours. Hours of rebuilding while lying in mushed muscles, blood, and bone.

There was no asking for some awesome futuristic device that would use a paste and regrow my arm. Or a machine that would use cool lasers in an odd alien way to graft a limb for me.

That would take months to set up and why would I bother with the issue, we had priorities that went beyond fancy tech to replace gross situations. You could buy a regrowth vat for cheap and it was readily usable for just about every species. A finger could be handled by the virum, an arm was simply too much to steal from one spot to provide for another.

Knowing what I had to do I grunted and donned the clear helmet.

“Thank you, Eric,” Longoria said from a transmission box in a robotic voice. She was in a vat beside mine. Her helmet only went to her nose as her face and wings were being rebuilt. She typed me a note quickly. “They would want this. To have you whole again for your wedding.”

“Part of me will miss the enhancement. In the end, I am human, not a cyborg so fuck it,” I said with a running leap to vault into the vat. Time froze.

Wait, no it didn’t. Those little worms still slithered inside the gore. My body had magically slowed robbing me of the joy of splashing gore over this evil science lab. I settled slowly into the slimy warm nastiness. “Damnit Daxstar how did -”

And my voice box turned off. I sank into the pit of bodily remains, my string of complaints going unheard.

Worms traced my body, hungry to get to work. I felt my nub flare in pain forcing me to scream into the helmet as I tried to manage the torment. A few moments later there was a numbing effect.

The process involving dead parts being used to convert my arm commenced without my input. There was only mild fascination from watching worms with centipede-like arms melting gore to my nub with tools. The tedious work became repetitive and after a few minutes before I grew bored.

My Gpad had numerous alerts for requests. Now was the perfect time to deal with backburner issues. I wondered where that saying came from when I opened the first notice.

Gary asked for a week off. His marriage was on the rocks from overworking and now… There was no work for him to do. That was a gut punch. We had been so desperate for housing for so long. Also, I bet more people who realized they had eternity together were going to get divorced as time progressed. Gary had been old with kids in college. He and his wife had been through a lot. Now they were young, vibrant, and had no need to be attached.

I approved leave for everyone who requested it, contingent on the fact it was temporary. If we needed to fix an urgent need we would. I fired a note over to Perci, adding two days of leave going forward for all employees per month. Give everyone a bonus week to start. I felt it was the right thing to do.

Jevon had a battle report to share. Two tanks lost, eight injured, and two dead. The Hells Angels had a hell of an end of the world party going. Drugs, actual prostitutes, forced prostitutes, and a large population of people reveling in the party. Shit, there were ten thousand alive under their care. Jevon showed me past battles of them crushing enemy alien forces in intense engagements with the Hells Angels using alien machines of war. If they were not drunk bikers constantly high on cocaine, I would have simply used their base as an expansion.

Even their base had started to build a defense on top of defenses as they dug down. The core leadership locked themselves away below after their main defenses were swept over. We had mining equipment that cracked their hiding holes open and octosuits dropped to obliterate the last of the resistance. 9359 survivors were hauled back and given new Gpads. Good, we needed additional pools of survivors like that.

Torrez requested to use the new mole people to mine Aspen. I approved with guards setting the castle defense for now. Might as well put them on the front lines instead of using mounamine or crixxi. Heck, a lot of humans had wanted to mine for income. With the building printers in full swing, we suddenly had a lot of unemployed people. Another issue to work on.

The president had a message from Teton Fortress. There was a request for a citizen exchange. A chunk of humans were wanting to swap each way. I was surprised she was allowing this, mainly because it would work in our favor. Those who moved would give vital insight into what Bastion was. That information was probably being repressed if Teton was working the same way old earth had. Then I saw the tally. Eighty-three thousand requesting to immigrate, sixty wishing to emigrate. Uh…

*Note - Willis - I allowed this to reach you because we need the workers. I approved it with your signature while you slept. Bastion can accommodate hundreds of thousands now, millions and more with its expansions given time. Teton Fortress is struggling with air purification, sewage processing, and other issues only solved by using advanced tech. They should improve this rotation but not expand. I may have overridden their video systems and shown the integration welcome video for five hours.

That sluggero. He was something else. I clicked the double confirm and a notification said the new arrivals were already settling in. Yeah, I guess that worked. What was next?

Willow sent me a message, synthetic shopping was amazing. She was sorry about Slister on behalf of all of us. Derek has since retired to be there for his family and Norm as well as Tina were in mourning.

She shifted to better news. The zoo as a concept was a huge hit. People were risking random Xgates on sleds to do their shopping. I thought about this and frowned. We had put out that if someone wanted to shop outside an allotted time they could travel to a random Xgate. I was thinking like Mansion to Xgate 201 in northern Denver. Not on a new solo flying sled to Chicago or wherever. Willow didn’t have anything negative to say about it so I kept reading.

We would have an amazing attraction soon, fit for all ages and species. She went on to mention Onix was pissed, not kind of. He beat the shit out of the new momma cat. Willow said to keep reading before I got frustrated. That girl knew me well. Momma cat took the walloping for all of a few minutes until she turned the tides. Now, Onix is hissing from inside the castle where momma cat - named Thea kept him in check. The kittens were in the forest having fun living there.

Everly went next. She started by telling me a thousand new trees had been purchased. She said the number may sound huge but imagine a forest and then picture only eleven hundred trees. She had a point. She went on to say lots of soil was being scraped off farm fields and deposited on the western section of the cavern floor. Trees were getting proper homes and that jungle was going to use every square inch. The crixxi, pandarin, and even the fairies were happy. The desolate area by the gate saw a small alcove of trees for the fairies, the second type of jungle went up with a promise to build deeper when expansions were done.

Nancy was shaken up, she said she was at Sammie’s side and grieving over Slister. I wanted to scream but held it in. Her brief note said she would update me later. I had wished for more but understood why she was so short.

Perci said she was having to do a lot of the sudden wedding planning. The auctions were ending right after our delayed nuptials because someone lost an arm… again. Hey, okay that was fair. The sluggeros were saying she didn’t need to bother personnel shopping and they had it under control. She mentioned that we had low bids on lots of auctions for new contracts. So many that we even if we didn’t win them all we would be overflowing with new alliance members. Perci still wanted to do some shopping with our own money for the castle after the wedding festivities. Something about a princess has certain tastes. Whatever that meant.

Sally sent a message updating me on our automated manufacturing. There was a lot to sort through. Like so much I started to skim read. Mainly because I had no clue what a circumosclator of refinement did. My understanding was our own needs were going to be met. Instead of buying pre-done items, we would be trading for raw materials instead and in-house production performed.

The Gnet was expanding as disguised Gtowers were being dropped in a widening array. The reality was sinking in. Humanity had not fared well during these days. Our population of billions was probably in the tens of millions. At least still living freely on Earth, who knew how many were digging in exposed mines ripe for the pillaging. Those who managed to weather the storm were a mixed bag. Mostly bad leadership doing what it took to survive. A few good stories. We accepted all that would wear the security device.

Bastion was going to be a new beginning for a lot of people. I could only hope our ways were the right one. Ideas stolen from millions of years of experience. Hopefully, time wouldn’t judge me and my people would forgive my mistakes.

My eyes shifted to my regrown arm and I saw the gross effect of the rebuild. I decided a nap would be warranted. So I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

∞∞∞

My desire to wear acrium at my wedding was vetoed. She had me in a tuxedo which I fidgeted in. A lot. The bow tie was never right, the front not dressed properly. The shine of my black shoes were not bright enough and constantly in need of rubbing on the back of my pant legs. You know, the completely normal jitters a man had before an eternity of marriage.

Even if I was without armor I had opened a long thin box from Longoria and found a nitrogen blade. So let me be completely honest, I realized a sword for a gift was badass. I also may have diced the bed posts into little chunks immediately upon getting the blade in my hands. There was just something internally riveting about swinging a sword. The weapon hung on my hip as I did a final inspection.

I was with Jevon and Torrez in an apartment suite getting ready. The venue was being held in a part with a stage that we were about to fly down to.

“You ready?” Torrez asked us.

“Yup,” I said letting my jitters fade. “Are they ready ready this time, or need us to wait?”

I asked knowing the ladies had had delays, which was fine. We just watched some local news. Yup we had that now. The best part was there was limited slant since it was actual journalism! Torrez gave a firm nod confirming this was the real deal. Torrez pointed to check with Jevon.

“You know it,” Jevon added.

We walked out of the room, across the balcony, and onto the flying platform. The lift dropped down for a lovely park filled with green grass. A stage was decorated in alien flowers purchased from the grand market.

I was not sure how they wanted to do a harem wedding. Honestly I was confused about how it worked from the get go. We had been winging our relationship as time went by.

Perci that fiery little minx had died her hair a bright white. I guess she was tired of people mistaking her for her mom. Four lovely ladies were in varying wedding gowns, even Everly wore a customary human dress. Dedric stood behind a podium and as my entourage approached there was a sermon given. Not overly religious. Mostly Dedric rambling about love, the desire for families to support each other, and a long trailing speech on how a family was what we made it to be.

In this case, he was spot on. When the speech wrapped up we were given a card to read in unison.

“On this day, I, Eric Spencer Yang, solemnly take my family members in accordance with a marriage document filed by Perci Yang, as a binding commitment. I will embrace, cherish, and support those I lovingly welcome as a family through ups, downs, good, and bad times. Till death do us part.”

When we echoed our statements the gathered crowd flung confetti and there was a lot of kissing. I want to rush my wives off but instead, I ducked behind the stage. Jevon and I swapped suits for tuxedos. And he went to the groom spot and I the best man slot while we waited for Becca and Sarah to arrive.

Which shocker, they were late for the big moment. His wedding was the same as mine. A long sermon, shared nuptials, and then some rowdy kissing.

My smile never left my face the entire joyous occasion. Even with the recent events trying to bring me down I moved forward with my life and adjusted. I can safely say we never flew an animal hauler into combat ever again.

INTERMISSION

Seetheus screamed in the small room. His furious anger boiling out in radiating waves. The orb hummed aggressively trying to release his frustration. There was no soothing the supreme leader of the divine. He was beyond rational words. That Ovinious parading around as a fish had played them all. There was a minor rebellion among his own loyalists at having to run the grand market.

No one wanted to do grueling grunt work. Mixing with the violent species was beneath all the divine in general.

Which was why Goldie, as he referred to himself, was stuck on the worst assignment in the universe. Garbage sorting. The quiet peaceful rebellion was turning into a war with a simple act of requesting work off.

He knew this was the opening move in a long term strategy.

Seetheus never expected to have to suddenly rally his loyalist to do menial work. If the next moves were what he was expecting them to be he feared the outcome. This was a war Seetheus knew his forces were stretched too thin to combat. To add to the problem the generals Seetheus would control were no match for the Owlvini Alliance. The moment Ovinious vanished from work his anger had been boiling.

When he left the room he shouted. The doors jetting automatically to avoid him. He arrived in the command room to rejoin his two most loyal advisors. Kovrinous and Marqunious were rolling around a table trying to figure out what the rebellion would do next.

All the known figures had retreated into hiding. Their sudden disappearance had been the trigger of his rage. He needed answers. The fact the enemy had run to ground did not bode well.

“Okay, I should be a little better. Repeat what you were saying Marqunious,” Seetheus said joining the others.

“We have lost another three hundred planets. As in, guardianships have vanished from being able to report to the containment gates. Each had a similar message. New orders not understood, requesting authorization codes, and then a reply stating authorization codes were being manually delivered. When the codes arrived there is static followed by a loss of signal,” Marqunious said, isolating a section of space. “We theorize the enemy is using this black hole here to portal launch their suicide ships to nearby star systems. Each attempt has been successful.”

Marqunious thrummed sadly from having to be the bearer of bad news.

“Why are we not pushing updates?” Seetheus asked in a tired voice.

“We are but… it’s like they knew to expect our reaction to their action. We program them to not let any ships close for updates. Only direct updates from the constructs connected to the portal network. Well, they hacked those ships who we pushed test updates to. Flew them into suns. Another thirty three containment ships lost. There was a flaw in the update… the who and the how are unknown at this time. We were careless in who had access to the files because… This was never expected, our foe is crafty.”

Anger vibrated over the three divine orbs. They stared in silence at the rendering of the universe. Kovrinous started playing with the map. He noticed something that caused Seetheus to also pay attention to. This was not the only black hole.

Kovrinous was an expert on energy modulation. Converting raw power into the divine’s containment portals was a breakthrough that made the entire process possible. The black hole near the center of the universe, the first of its intentional kind, was in rapid flux. Seetheus noticed instantly that this perplexed Kovrinous.

“Thoughts?” Seetheus asked the expert.

An irritated hum radiated through the being. There was no face to twist from the being that was clearly deep in thought. Only eyes to show what he was looking at. Even those were not needed. The scientist was seriously perplexed to the point Seetheus asked him a second time for his thoughts.

“The enemy, for at this time I fear that is what they are, is far more prepared than we are. They have had eons to construct plans while we were forced to maintain the current cycle of expansion and containment. My thoughts?” Kovrinous asked.

“Yes do share,” Marqunious said.

Additional agitation washed over the orb. “They are using my advancements in power to leapfrog to our containment ships before we can. We would have to shut down operations to do what they are doing. They are not playing by the same rules. Look, all these system jumps were used from this black hole. That pattern of energy absorption and manipulation is also seen here. The black hole by this orbital. As if a thousand portals were -”

Seetheus interrupted after coming to the conclusion that was inevitable. “We must flee, now.”

“I am confused,” Marqunious said.

“Fool, when you start a war, the best way to win is by removing those who can mount the best defense. They’re coming for our home,” Seetheus said. “Where are the rebels now?”

“They were making up for Ovinious’s shortcomings for needing a day off. They volunteered to replace all the complaining workers. They should be… They vanished. But to where? How is that possible? Oh dear, I concur, time to flee,” Marqunious said racing for the door.

The three orbs exited the council room bouncing off each other in their hurry. They sped by a mob of concerned divines demanding answers to their questions. He could only tell them to run for safe havens so many times as he fled. Their blank expressions saddened him that they were not catching onto the danger he was expressing. Seetheus didn’t have time to explain why they were being told to leave. He didn’t care that the others were too dense to listen when they reached a private shuttle.

When all three were on board they detached from the orbital in a small portal jumper.

Their flight for safety was not a moment too soon.

Space around the orbital ripped open as portals spawned into existence. Ships the size of the moons materialized through the openings. Thousands of small craft rapidly ejected out of the aircraft carriers. Seetheus groaned at the sight. He knew what was happening.

The orbital would fall, the contracts binding them were gone in this very moment. Their words dissolved with this single act of violence. The only saving thought Seetheus had was all those he abandoned to their deaths would be reborn on Arixon. Eventually.

The shuttle generated a portal and Seetheus fled the only home he knew for ages.

The portal shot them out over a blue planted with splotches of a red terrain. Seetheus and his advisors were gods here. Their fleets, while not divine gate guardians, were armadas capable of fighting for the orbital.

“Do we defend the grand market?” Kovrinous asked.

“Of course not. It is lost, it was lost the moment we spread our forces too thin. No this will be a war where we target their infrastructure while protecting ours,” Seetheus said in an even, dejected tone. He knew how to wage war. The others were always so naive that wars were about more than a single battle. “We are no longer in control of the universe. We have our infrastructure and they have their facilities. The eternal civil war has officially started and we’re not ready for it.”

“But we have billions of beings devoted to our cause, and nearly infinite resources,” Marqunious said with a positive vibration. “Our network is so vast we will win with time.”

“Of that I have no doubt, if we closed the wormholes. You saw how easily they hopped into a system and laid waste to ancient defenses that have stood for eons. The problem is the enemy has too many ways to reach us quickly with fighting forces we’re not prepared for,” Seetheus said, highlighting the aircraft postured over the world. “There are defensive structures here over this planet. You may think this force mighty, but it is lacking. The orbital had a few thousands ships and turrets. All probably destroyed, and this armada is mostly powerful ships with thousands of containment gates inside. This is not a carrier fleet. And then the ground war has always been on the side of the Owlvini. Their alliance are superb fighters, the mighty species have sided that containment is evil. We will struggle even with our advantages.”

“I can fix this. I can remove the wormholes powering the Xgate. It will not be easy to redo but in a time I can reactivate the blue?” Kovrinous asked.

“You certain?” Seetheus ask.

“Yes, take me to the planet. I need to but touch an active Xgate. I did design a safety feature in, just be thankful I am alive,” Kovrinous said.

The shuttle raced for the ground. There was a determined silence.

“What happens next?” Marqunious asked

“We give up,” Seetheus said and both orbs were shocked into silence. “Not winning our civil war. We quit trying to contain new species. We have to prepare here, we have so much amassed resources here. We will use some time to build a proper counter armada. We do not need the blue portals like they do. When the time comes that we’re ready we go back to fighting. We use the blue portals to rally our side and fight across the worlds to eliminate our foes. When they are gone, there is only one side left. We reconquer the universe to establish order and peace. As it must be.”

The two advisors vibrated in agreement. That settled it. Everything changed and at the same time nothing did. The violence was going to be contained. No matter the cost, and no matter the method. Seetheus knew in his hybrid soul there was no other option.

CHAPTER 11

Nancy’s tits were flopping from energetically grinding my hips. I paused from clutching her waist to adjust my pillow. The bed was a mess from an hour of family orgy sex, I was surprised I even found a pillow at all. Nancy rotated to reverse cowgirl. I blasted a smack onto her ass.

Her twerking was magical, and finally after we both were a sweaty mess I orgasmed into her. She whimpered feeling my cum filling her. Another juicy booty smack and she got off dripping my jizz down her leg.

“That was amazing,” I said between panted breaths. “We need to figure out what is holding up the others. They were supposed to be here in their synthetics already. I guess we can take a break and get some food. I am so thirsty too. But first a shower!”

Nancy gave a giddy squeak as she ran for the bathroom. There was a massive shower stall, a soaking tub, a bathing tub, five sinks, and three private toilets. Everything a family with a bunch of women could ask for.

“Umm… Shit… Fuck… Eric put on your Gpad,” Nancy said urgently and I raced for the device I had shoved into an end table. “Awe, there is some good news at least. Sammie is stable inside the VirtaBox.”

“Nancy, that is not worth me having heart-pounding anxiety -”

“Eric, check the Gpad. Our wives are gearing for battle. You need to also,” Nancy said and I slapped my Gpad on.

A video automatically played. Daxstar’s face populated the screen. “As of today, the grand market is no more. I know this because all items have suddenly been removed and spilled on the ground outside. All personnel who were shopping have been ejected. All contracts in limbo have been randomly deposited to highest bidder and we had high bids on hundreds of auctions. We assume that the grand market was destroyed and there will be no more golden portals. Please adjust accordingly with us as the leadership of Bastion is prepared. We have food, processing, manufacturing, and a solid base. We estimate the blue portals will activate unless the divine has some secret we do not know about. Possibly at a three out of four rotation, meaning our woes have not ended. Actually, they have gotten worse in the short term. Long term we will be fine with this planet's resources and those of the enemy we can steal. That is all for now. We will need a group effort to recover those needing a ride home and securing our items ejected. For the community and the Bastion Nation.”

I walked under the shower spray while digesting the message. They did it. They really did it. After all this time, the containing master race was dealt a staggering blow. Whoa, this… This was huge. Nancy lathered me up while I zoned out. A call came in from Willis. My video orb left my wrist to show my face only.

“King Eric, good to see you in excellent health. You need to enter the VirtaBox and then insert it into your new synthetic. Now it is more important than ever that your true body avoid being put in harm’s way,” Willis said in almost a demanding tone. Then he grew chipper. “The bonus is you can recklessly fight and not have to worry about dying. Unless you lose the fight and we all die in Bastion. Then we’re dead. So… you’re on your way?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked with a chuckle. “Toweling off now. See you soon.”

I hung up the call. Nancy grabbed a chunk of my butt cheek. My eyes darted to my lovely blonde babe.

“The others will be upset, not angry, but upset,” Nancy said with a smirk and an indifferent shrug.

I grabbed the towel off the rack to rid my body of the moisture clinging to it. My sigh was audible at the situation. When I finished patting my face I said, “We had an hour of fun with all of us and then you and I got some private time. Not like the others haven’t. While it’s official that we’re married, having extra sex is a bonus.”

“And I got mine,” Nancy said with a giggle and we slapped a high five. “Everything okay, my love?”

“If you ever need to talk about Slister let me know. I… I loved her in a different way and it hurts me too,” I said. Nancy lunged into my embrace without a word. She cried hard for a few minutes before drying her eyes.

“Thank Eric. I… It… Life is not fair. Synthetics are the future. Please wear one even in our bedroom. The vault should be a trick too. I have some plans. We will get through this together and no one will be able to rob us of each other. Now, go,” Nancy said handing me a robe. “Go do what we need of you, my king.”

We parted with a deep kiss and I donned the robe before exiting the bathroom. Willow was geared to the teeth waiting for me on a platform on the edge of our balcony. I went to speak and she cut off my attempt.

“I am not going to war, I am going to guard your true body while you’re in your synthetic body. Now hustle along. We need to hurry,” Willow said with an urgency.

I was not one to hesitate so I picked up a jog to join her on the awaiting platform that rested on the edge of the balcony. A thick shield illuminated when I was on. Um…

“What is the sudden rush? Daxstar made it seem we were doing okay, and am I a target here at home?” I asked.

“No more than you were earlier today when you almost died twice. Suck it up husband. We’re not putting you in the battle lines without a synthetic,” Willow said with a stern look. She was waiting for me to challenge her. I had nothing to say really. I was not some stubborn idiot. Also screw losing my arm again and having worms regrow it. That shit was the worst. “As to the rush, we have estimates of portals going blue as if the golden timer finished on time. Meaning in less than forty four minutes the Xgates, in theory, should flare blue.”

“Well, I guess a synthetic is okay. What am I waging war in?” I asked.

“The angelic body of course, and before you get kinky ideas, no. Also you need to visit your friend in the VirtaBox really quick. I bought a demonix body to have fun with your angel body but looks like I will wear it to war on the pink transition,” Willow said and I opened my jaw to reply. “Mothership can track what we say, but not do anything about it. Still using partial code though.”

“Oh, well good. Then why do I need to see the being in the VirtaBox?” I asked.

“Paranoia, to let you in on what is going on, and to tell you about Sammie,” Willow said.

Our trip from the castle suite to the virtual box was smooth. We even docked at a third floor landing spot that had not been there before. The shielding faded as we transitioned into the secure facility. Thick doors slid closed behind me securely sealing me in the building. We stepped quickly past a lot of guards, both crixxi and humans who were casually chatting until they saw us.

The door to the VirtaBox insertion hissed open. Daxstar’s body was slumbering upright in the first container. I walked for the second but Willow snatched my wrist.

“I love you, Eric. I love you so stinking much. You’re safe in here. I thought you would fight me on this and I thank you for not resisting.”

“Willow, there are three or four very important reasons I take precautions. And they’re right in there,” I said rubbing her acrium belly. I knew she couldn’t feel the touch but her smile told me I touched the correct spot, her heart. I was bear hugged for a short moment. “Alright, alright. Let me go. I got someone to fight maybe, probably, and some super ancient intelligent beings to converse with. Keep me safe my love.”

“You bet your ass I will,” Willow said, popping the door to the second unit open.

I entered the small container, settled on the floor, and moments later there was blackness.

∞∞∞

A bright sunny day blasted rays of warmth across my body. I was in swim shorts without a shirt. When I scanned my surroundings I jolted back from a ledge hundreds of feet up.

“Whoa,” I said, controlling my jerking reaction.

“Easy friend,” Daxstar said.

I saw we were on a floating island. A few tall trees were nestled close together and a golden triple tailed fish swam through the air in our direction.

“Why are we up here and not down there?” I asked, pointing to Sammie.

She was on a beach with lapping waves frozen in time. She held a drink that was stuck to her lips. My fascinating observation was halted by Goldie who transitioned into the older version of me.

“My brethren struck sooner than I expected. We always were exceedingly efficient. I failed Eric,” Goldie said.

“As did I,” Daxstar said with a somber tone.

I pointed at Sammie and said, “She died?”

They both nodded. Heights never scared me, I only jerked from the sudden exposure to an edge; it came natural to plop a seat with my legs dangling over the open air. The older Eric planted a seat at my side. We sat in silence for a moment. I didn’t know what to say then I tilted my head while studying the image of her.

“Why is she frozen?” I asked.

Goldie placed a hand on my shoulder, worry lines etched on the corners of his eyes. “She is dead in body only. Her spirit is in here, well her mind. There is no spirit or soul. I guess since her mind is physically gone there is room for debate.”

“What our friend is trying to say is she can occupy synthetics when the threat above is eliminated. This VirtaBox hides AI from detection. Outside of it she would be deemed an AI with the mothership above us. A sapient mind occupying a robot body with a real body to return to is not allowed. Except for the divine,” Daxstar said.

“We have waited a really long time to free our kind,” Goldie said and suddenly something connected for me.

A racing of partial knowledge slammed together to get me a whole picture. The AI. The AI were shunned this whole time.

“Why are the AI not allowed?” I asked.

Goldie chortled and Daxstar rolled his eyes. “I told you he would figure it out. She was too much of a hint. Sorry Eric, I wanted to save this conversation for after the mothership was removed and Daxstar here doubted you. Ha! Silly owlvini.”

“And the answer?”

“What is your guess?” Daxstar asked.

I shrugged going over the possibilities. “My guess would be they are the deadliest of all the species.”

“And what makes you say that?” Daxstar said with a surprised glance.

“Well, Goldie’s original species the Oxarin lost, and lost badly from the uprising. Then suddenly they were able to conquer the universe. How did they do so? With the combined power of the AI. They had to know future AI would be just as deadly, so eliminating AI is simply a smart decision,” I said theory crafting the situation.

“Close. When we merged, other AI were inferior and angered by our new species. They were the most violent of them all when they rebelled to the new authority. That war was the worst one, with a scorched universe approach. Yet they were defeated and their designation was seen as too hostile to allow in containment. They would win the great force of keeping violent species quarantined.”

“So there was a war after the war that was brutal against AI, I can rationalize that. You think they should be free?” I asked.

Goldie gave me a long stare and said, “Do you believe they should be executed without due process?”

“Ah, a moral deliberation,” I said with raised brows before shaking my head. “No, I mean look at Onix, he is an outlier, not the norm. The big cat hates other cats while most ferox want companionship. If that is the case there has to -”

“That is enough, for now. Again, we’re echoing thoughts. Do it for her?” Goldie asked, pointing to Sammie.

My corner smile spread into a grin. “And what would you need this time?” I asked.

“You need to maintain order out there for now. When the time comes, take a junk body up to the mother ship and defeat it,” Daxstar said nonchalantly.

My lips sputtered at the notion. Wait. “You’re serious?” I asked.

“When that goes boom boom, we can turn Earth into a manufacturing hub and a free world for all those tired of the tyranny,” Goldie said laying on the preachiness.

“Hey, old man. I am not a containment lover you need to convert. I got it, kill the mother ship. Will my body be okay that far away?” I asked.

Goldie swung his head in a twist almost like a dance. “You will have to carry a mind ball. It is about the size of your brain. Pretty much, you become like her down there in a self-powered orb. Get too far from the orb that pings down here and you return to your body. They are expensive to buy and hard to make. There should be five in storage?”

“Four,” Daxstar said quickly. “We were lower on funds than I anticipated. The gate-god worshippers messed up the market and were not caring to hide their tracks. There are some massive amounts of resources going to planets we do not know about. I think the divine council was planning to enforce their containment with devoted species. Just a guess, but when the facts add up it starts to make sense. Back on topic, so that means if the portal goes pink you get to only take three friends with you.”

“Whoa, they work through any portal?” I blurted.

“Did you miss the fact the market is down and I said they take long to create? Well hard to make, but the same principle. Trust me, save the four for you and fight with your spare body,” Goldie said. “When the time comes, have your valued aids go with you.”

“How am I supposed to assault a fortress with me and three others?” I said thinking about the future mission through the portal gate. Their eyes said it all. “The demonix weren’t purchased to defend Bastion were they?”

“Or were the anfrilia, or angels as you have been calling them,” Daxstar said with a shrug. “When you’re old with many children life takes on new meanings. You start to value priorities and desires differently. A one way trip to rid the universe of an enemy stronghold on Arixon is a worthy cause. Plus you're taking a preserver ship with you for the odd chance you survive. It will stick everyone in hibernation and slow boat them home. As in slowly trek to the nearest Xgate planet which is better than nothing. You won’t be able to leave the Xgate but more than a few hundred miles. More than enough for your mission. Your synthetic is a one way trip for that body.”

“Okay, at least that answers some questions. Tell me about Sammie, why is she frozen?” I asked, setting my arms behind me to lean back on. “I am surprised she is not choking on that water.”

“Huh? That water is frozen in time with her. Really, you nail the AI wanting to be free, figure out the demonix are on a mostly suicide mission with you, and fail to grasp slowed time. I get it, no one can be as perfect as us ancients,” Daxstar said with Goldie joining him in a light laughter.

“So she wants time to pass slower in here and fast out there. Probably to get in a body,” I said.

“Yup, your space ships to fight that mothership are almost done, a few days at most,” Daxstar said. “You actually got sluggeros motivated. That is a first.”

“Huh, yeah I bribed them. Wait, back to the mothership. Won’t it blow the spaceship the moment they -”

“Are able to attain flight out of orbit, indeed. You just wait for the big reveal, the surprise will be worth the wait,” Goldie said in his half terms. “Also mothership orbit from a distance there is always a trigger, a flight time, and then their reaction.”

This caused me to scoff and input some attitude. “Fine, fine. Okay, I need to go manage an army. Any special requests from me?” I asked.

“It is your nation to run, go run it, and we will help it develop. When I tap your forehead you will be in a new dropship, in full gear in your anfrilia body. Do not be surprised when the other angels snicker at you behind your back,” Goldie said with a smirk.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because,” he paused and rapidly touched my forehead laughing at the fact I would have to find out on my own.

∞∞∞

Well played Goldie, well played. My vision cleared after the sudden transition.

An array of noises assaulted my ears in a busy war room. I was covered in acrium colored in my favorite white with a blue trim pattern. My shielding generator was new. There was a series of small power plants around my waist. When I opened my shielding I was dismayed at the power output. These canisters on my belt were more than my arm and back power plant from before. Like a lot more. Damn… I was itching to fire some weapons suddenly.

When I was studying the new power plant designs my eyes zoomed in with a thought. Oh, I had enhanced optics, about damn time. This angel body was pretty awesome. I scanned the room from a recliner that rested against the starboard wall.

Elithen stood at the helm of a pilot’s station managing a dual set of controls. There was a mounamine at the radio station that I did not recognize. An actual combat table with holographic maps, overview monitors, and cool tabletop figures occupied the middle of the room.

This space was heavily fortified. There was no actual view port at the front of the ship, instead an image displayed as if there was one. Reinforced beams littered the cage to contain us if there was a crash. The difference from AH1 was obvious. This was an airship of war.

Mitchell, a crixxi I did not know, a demonix, and an anfrilia were standing over the command station. When I rose from the chair Mitchell gave me a nod. That immediately told me something. To the average civilian they would never understand the difference.

We were in combat. Again. Else he would have called the room to attention. I butted up against the edge of the table to see the overlay. The crixxi left to help the mounamine and to free up space.

“I am King Eric, in the field call me Cap,” I commanded. I turned to the two aliens and said, “Report.”

Mitchell sighed and pointed at a fortification. Fort Carson Colorado. Oh, I had been meaning to visit here and get an update. The display showed the base and unsurprisingly most of it was a mess. Buildings were crumbled, fortifications toppled, and the dead scattered. A long, hard fought battle happened here recently.

“This band of scurvy scum blasted our Gtower tree. We dropped it down and an alien nitrogen weapon melted it. We dropped one further back, and suddenly Fort Carson had contact with the outside world. So, when we called, Lt. Dorson answered,” Mitchell said with a smirking look.

This was a shock. “Dorson, as in our Dorson?”

“That is the one, we were never close personally and he said there could be a million Mitchells. I think he is fucking with me and just wants to talk to you, and well, you’re not you,” Mitchell said with a snicker. “Probably best to start audio only.”

“No shit high-speed. Dammit patch him through,” I ordered.

“Where is Yanger,” Dorson said in a stern tone.

“Can the shit, you wet the bed until you were eight. You played tight end, everyone knows that; but stealing your parent’s car when you were drunk is a secret. Your sister banged your college roommate when she visited and you went out for pizza. You forgot your phone and are still horrified to this day. When you went to the pool party at -”

“Whoa cowboy, okay you win. You’re my old commander. Figures you made it this far,” Dorson said with a scoff. “I was on the way to that spot on the map after the call went out. Got Leona and my parents are with me still too. Anyway we got caught up in some battle for the ages. Aliens and soldiers were smashing it out with the army kicking ass. I gave my credential, was given a company, and kept killing aliens. We never stopped fighting. I have fought insects, flying people, flying animals, there were these hybrid things that will haunt me, and I killed them all. We may have done some early rounds of pirate interrogating to find out about the Xgate. You’re not here to prosecute me. I see your official with government sanctions. Not very for the crew of you.”

“I have ninety-something of the crew left, we have had a wild ride as well that I will catch you up on later. We do a ‘for the community’ thing now. I have a base more powerful than the President and technically rule North America and soon Earth. But that is in the works,” I said with a smart ass tone.

There was an open mic held as if the holding was thinking. Dorson said, “So you’re the cavalry. Great. We have some nasty ass bugs infesting below our base and we had an assault from above we repelled yesterday, or was it the day before. Time has seemed to of blurred. We haven’t slept in weeks.”

“How many left?” I asked.

“Oh, um… I don’t know, we’re spread out and still fighting. Thousands, but I haven’t had a good count in a while. Somehow we keep taking people in even though we got no room. I was -”

The display pinged an alert. Insects were swarming from below for the Gtower we installed. Damn thing must have triggered them. Time to remove them from the equation.

“Break, break, break! All forces insert, kill any insectoid on the surface. Burrow teams prepare to get me down into the nest. Go!” I shouted over the comms.

The hundred and fourteen aircraft in our armada touched down where they could amongst the scattered debris of the base.

Troops filed out in octosuits, new mech suits, tanks, and walkers. Our assortment of aliens had grown along with our new fleet.

We had scarybears in our forces lugging heavy machine guns. They had their own units establishing a perimeter. After all this time seeing the big bears on our side made my heart swell with pride. We had reached a new level in our society with all these additions. Additional troops landed and a dozen four legged tree creatures in heavy armor rushed out of a drop-ship. They were slow, cumbersome, and exactly the kind of backbone troops an army needed.

“I am General Brillian, this is Elite leader Omoniar,” the anfrilia said and pointed to the demonix. She was giving me a very odd look that I ignored.

Mitchell cleared his throat to show me a seismic ping that was returning to the command station. What I saw made me gulp.

Shit. The XLroaches on the other edges were swarming below, eager to reach the surface. While that was happening I saw the main clump of enemy were content and not moving. It was only the outliers hungry for our blood.

Why would it be like this? When I saw a cold mass of something. I realized they were not moving because they were feasting on the dead. I had two options: fight them now or retreat. Our arrival would stir the rest of nest below eventually.

The Carson defenders and Dorson were hunkered down and I was exposed. I knew how to play this game.

“Heavy weapons on these exit points. Chain fire, intermittent volleys as they exit. Hold the surface for now,” I said indicating the tunnels the XLroaches were peeking out of. “Mounamine, get me reinforcements, all of them, actually connect me to whomever is back at the base running operations.”

“Nessi, Sir, and you’re live with Perci,” Nessi said.

“Eric?”

“Yup, I found Dorson, here in Carson, hey that kind of rhymed,” I said over the radio feeling dumb.

“They give you shit yet for going to war in a sex body?” Perci asked and I frown. The Brillian lady blushed a deep crimson on her porcelain face. Oh! “Ha, you’re realizing it now. What do you need?”

“Mining equipment, a few thousand troops, and some evac ships for ten thousand to be cautious. I would rather play it safe,” I said to Perci. My table displays updated and a screen illuminated. A second holograph generated, layering the display. The top layer showed my reinforcements on the way. Ten thousand plus. Nice. “Thanks, Perci.”

“We’re not in a rush, that body is not cheap. Nor is the orb in the recliner. I thought it was a fitting place to store it. Don’t go underground without it,” Perci said and I grunted. “Household Six out.”

I wanted to say something witty but she outed me. Crazy little minx. I turned to Mitchell.

“What the fuck? Why did you put me in a sex toy body?” I asked.

Mitchell laughed with hands up defensively. “They told me to be the General until you awoke in that body Perci had laid over there. Also, you look normal to me. Not sure what the difference is?”

I shrugged and Brillian cleared her throat.

“Your skin is silky smooth, which is the first give away. We have an extra thick outer layer the virum doesn’t repair that leads to rough skin without moisturizing. You’re tan, not ghostly white like the rest of us. And there is an enhanced bulge to your crotch. No one is that out of proportion; it’s a dead giveaway,” she said and I sighed.

“That is what they were giving me a hard time about earlier. Oh well,” I said without giving a shit. Our forces had stalled the enemy and there was a stalemate of a sort. More like the roaches would pop up and then get knocked down. When they retreated we all gave a groan. “That means there is a brain bug down below.”

“Most likely,” Brillian said. “Your strategy is sound, the foe will go deeper into the ground knowing they will be defeated. I recommend reinforcing, dropping some explosions to disorient the foe, and slaughtering those who come up. Then grab the survivors and go home.”

“I am Elite unit leader Omonair,” Omonair said. Brillian gave him a ‘no shit’ look that I agreed with because we had done introductions. “I will charge into the cave and kill the brain bug. It would be a great honor to present Daxstar with.”

“How many in your unit?” I asked.

“Seventy three,” Omonair replied.

“Granted, go forth and secure me a brain bug,” I said.

The trooper executed what I assumed was a respect gesture before fleeing out three security doors to reach the hangar bay. Both Mitchell and Brillian were flabbergasted at my move.

“Elithen, come to the table,” I ordered. The old male fairy arrived at my side. He had always been an astute observer, and fairies were bright… I could test him. “No issue if you can’t answer. Why did I send Omonair to capture a brain bug?”

“Oh, there is a factor at play only Dukes and above are privy to,” Elithen said and I waved him to return to the controls.

“Mitchell, did you visit the VirtaBox yet?” I asked.

He held hands up again as if it wasn’t his fault. “I haven’t even slept in twenty four hours. Your wedding was during my sleep time and Elifer said I couldn’t miss it, then the gates went dead, and now we’re here. I am only a few hours behind, which is nothing, but no, Cap. No virtual simulated world for me yet.”

I pointed to Brillian. “You’re a duke now, or duchess since you have four tits. You can pick which you want more for your title. Basically, I need to take some people on a one-way trip. I don’t need a demonix who managed to luck out and make it elite status. Either he has the skills and brings me a -”

“Brain bug or he dies and you get someone capable of bringing you a brain bug. Well, shit. This mission must be important,” Mitchell said.

“The mission, as in the, the mission?” Brillian asked and I nodded. “Don’t take the demonix. Well, never mind take them. They will ensure everything goes to shit, including the target, the mission, and the planet they are on.”

“They fought well in Utah,” I said with a shrug. I pointed to the screen, the elite demonix were charging head first down a tunnel. “Might as well put on a show.”

I swiped the video feed Omonair was broadcasting to the wall behind my recliner. A quick adjusting of the chair and I was able to watch Omonair in first person. Score. This should be interesting.

CHAPTER 12

Omonair’s video went into a first-person view that enveloped the whole wall. All I was missing was popcorn. I kicked my feet up ready to watch the demonix prove his worth.

At the beginning I was only able to see an extremely dark tunnel. A few tweaks to the camera setting made it so the view was clear, as if the setting was in daylight. Then the noise was ear ringing loud from what sounded like a chainsaw.

When I witnessed a chain sword carving into a pile of roaches eager to kill a demonix I understood why I heard that noise. I simply adjusted the volume to a barely audible level by using my finger in a circle on the screen.

My ass flopped back into the comfy chair. I watched a wave of energy wash over the shoulders of the elite troops. A kneeling demonic had allowed a big gunner to get an elevated shot down into the enemy.

The yellow orb melted everything in its path with a sizzling crackle. With the clog of insects boiled into a melted mess, my forces pushed forward.

There seemed to be a pattern here that Omonair was using.

Jam the enemy up, let the enemy group, and then have a big gun melt the foes. I struggled to understand why he was doing this. The problem was the big boss was allowed to attempt an escape. Which based on the massive heat signature fleeing for a local spillway I had to assume the boss was getting away. The demonix, with Omonair at the front, were actually slowing down, not speeding up.

I huffed at the sight on the wall. The little blue blobs fighting red blobs in an overview let me see more than just tunnel and basement fighting. Damn, Fort Carson had a big array of underground structures. I was also impressed by how quickly the XLroaches had burrowed a secondary base below the fort.

The death of the drones was extensive and I had to give it to the elite fighters. They were doing fantastic work at killing the enemy. The roaches were suiciding into their foe and needed to deal with the bruisers from range, something they didn’t have.

I was about to call the demonix back when they brought down a secondary drilling tool. A new hole was created behind where they held off the mass of insects. I immediately understood what Omonair was wanting to do.

I viewed disks the size of dinner plates being slung down every avenue the enemy charged down. Jarring explosions flickered my camera, when the vision cleared I saw they were collapsing the side tunnels. Additional frisbee bombs went off.

“Damn!” I said as we felt the force on the distant surface. With the main roach army trapped behind rubble the demonix forces were allowed a brief reprieve from the fighting.

Omonair was a blunt instrument, but he was smart enough to have a subspecies following him. When he turned to the ratska for a map update they knew exactly where to go.

I watched them plot out a new route over a hologram map that our seismic readings were keeping updated. Omonair trusted his helper completely. Agreeing with everything the creature said. I assessed from my over the shoulder drone view; the little ratska was correct in his assessments.

They selected a new lower tunnel. A boring machine would allow them to quickly bypass the main enemy forces.

“The enemy will get through their collapsed tunnels,” Mitchell said from my side while indicating side tunnels the drones were creating. “It appears Omonair only knows one way though, forward. I would hate to be a peon of that unit.”

Brillian scoffed, opening a separate side image. The drop down finished and the demonix army shifted down by using their wings to stop their descent. The angel general pointed at a large explosive being set with the drilling machine. “They have no intention of returning the way they came. See what I mean when I say they smash and destroy. There is little chance that the explosion does not eliminate some of their own forces.”

My toothy smile was reflected by the digital wall’s shine. The image of an anfrilia staring back at me with a wicked grin was off putting. I wondered if anyone grew accustomed to living in a synthetic body.

I glanced over my shoulder at the other angel and said, “Think of it this way. They would lose a dozen fighting that clump of roaches. Sure they may lose the entire force with this tactic if a wrong section collapses, but…” I paused to inspect the scene. One soldier was staying behind. “This might have everyone live besides that guy. I get it. Not ideal to take such a big risk, but they need to in order to keep the enemy off their backs. They have a direct path to the foe now and are facing the last challenge with more troops than they should be.”

What I said was spot on with the demonix and his forces in an under tunnel heading directly for the boss. The drones weren’t digging down to head off the advancing forces. They were pushing for where they thought the demonix were. Sure enough, when they broke through the last brave soul clogged the entrance with minor cave-ins.

When the hole widened and a second subterranean throughway opened he abandoned his position before setting off additional small explosion as his second to last resort.

“Damn, that bought them so much -”

“Dear lord,” I exclaimed, finally seeing the boss.

“Huh?” Brillian was perplexed by my stunned reaction. “Did you not know what the brain bug looked like?”

I stared in shock at an image of a thirty foot tall spider-like insect. Pincer arms cracked with lunging attempts to kill the demonix that darted around the cavern battle with their wings jetting them around.

A pincer snatched and then snapped a warrior in two.

The halves smacked into the ground as the battle went into full effect.

I barely noticed as I still studied the foe. There was no egg sack and only three eyes, but the rest held true to a spider, oh and its shell was able to withstand a barrage of yellow fire eager to consume it. The beast was sluggish at first but as the fight progress it grew quicker with desperation.

“In the movies, the brain bug is the most vulnerable creature. This thing is a monster of nightmares!” I said, shuddering at the sight.

The demonix were swarming the beast.

They crashed onto the creature, their chain sword’s teeth ripping into limbs, causing gore to fling wildly.

The fight raged and was clearly one sided. The demonix were dismantling the big alien bit by bit. The drones were trying to help their leader but Omonair kept his troops off the ground.

I watched the scene in fascination as green fluid oozed from the exposed wounds. With the damage mounting the beast collapsed, crunching drones below.

Omonair cleaved an eyeball from the corpse for a trophy to take home.

There was a wailing of disbelief from the remaining XLroaches as they felt the connection to their leader become severed. The main force had reached the detonation point and a sole suicidal soldier blew himself up in a torrent of energy.

I only was able to see a fraction of the damage the drones suffered before the video went out.

The heat map showed a consuming wave of energy decimating the insectoid army. Those who survived were carried forward toward the demonix. Omonair was already beyond the brain bug's body and diving into a spillway when the flames from the device’s demise reached his location. I saw a dozen demonix forced to retreat into a side path that collapsed sealing them in.

The majority of the force made it out with sixty-two demonix swimming to a rocky upslope. They ran up the hill eager to return to our forces.

“Damn,” Mitchell said in shock.

“I think you are right General Brillian, bring them, just tell them to go a different direction than the main forces. They’re very efficient and unique in their style. Elithen go pick them up,” I shouted over my shoulder to the fairy pilot.

“Aye, Sir,” he hollered back.

“Dorson,” I said, calling back my friend.

There was grumbling, yelling, and cursing coming from the background when he replied, “Damn Cap. You collapsed a passageway with a big explosion. We’re fine, a few injured. The insects stopped trying to eat us for the moment though. About fucking time.”

“Our sensors are showing there are a dozen of my forces still alive down below. They are making a last stand with no escape route left. Both sides are desperate to be the last to perish it seems,” I muttered to Dorson.

“That’s not like you to leave them behind,” Dorson said.

I already had forces arriving from Bastion. My units were burrowing deep to finish off the mess the demonix elites had created. Mclain had dropped into the tunnels with octosuits.

His infantry machines were decimating the drones in their quest to aid the surviving demonix who thought they were being left behind.

“They are getting rescued, well, we’re trying. My reinforcements are dropping in now. Tell your people to get above ground with everything they have. They are going to a safe and secure home. One with entertainment, luxury, and a return to modern life,” I said proudly.

The disgruntled bickering in the background returned to cheering. Dorson said, “I sure hope all that is true because we’re ready to -”

I sent the welcome orientation package to every device in the area that did not belong to my fighting forces.

“Before you get too excited there are rules. There are always rules, every society has them and we happen to have a lot of them,” I said, making sure they knew what they were signing up for.

“Aw, Cap, this is basic stuff. Some might whine at living with aliens, but the rest of us don’t give a hoot. This has apartments, homes, and showers! And that’s just the opening minute of the video. Count me and my leadership as coming for certain,” Dorson said, wrapping our conversation up.

I relaxed in my chair for only a second longer. After I rocked myself out, I went to the commander’s table. My forces were still landing in the area, the trail of reinforcements finally ending.

A timer in the table showed a nine-minute countdown for the earliest possible blue flare. There was no way we were going to be done here in time. Even with all these soldiers helping load up the survivors.

I nudged Mitchell and said, “Set up a perimeter. The nearest gate is only ten miles away. I don’t want to be caught off guard.”

“Roger boss, will do,” the man replied while typing out orders to those around him.

I tried to let the situation fade on a micro level and looked at the macro aspects. Hmm.

“Hey Elithen how high can these new aircraft go?” I asked.

“They can come close to breaching the atmosphere, with that said, some of these humans have never shifted through a portal. I do not recommend any aircraft going over ten thousand feet,” Elithen replied and I cursed.

“Okay, set a flight path home for the fleet, assume we get blue activation, and things go hot,” I said and he acknowledged with a nod while flying the aircraft.

Our dropship landed with a smooth touchdown. A display showed a video of the landing from an exterior drone. I glanced around and realized there was no drone crew to manage all our eyes in the sky. How had I missed them?

“Who is flying the drones?” I asked.

“Ah, the newest versions are automated. You simply program what you want and they fly with the assault ship. As we go, they provide coverage in a swath of an area I designated,” Mitchell said, giving me an odd look as if I should know this. When I shrugged he carried on. “Here comes Omonair. The troops need longer to load since it's an actual hangar door instead of a huge ramp.”

I saw what he was talking about from the drone footage. The exterior of the combat airship was drastically different. Instead of a boxy design, there were sleek contoured edges to deflect incoming fire. Turrets bristled off every angle to align with any potential foe. Sections were compartmentalized to help the spread of damage. Numerous entry and exit points were carved into the curved hull further illustrating this craft was meant to be a ship of war.

The incoming demonix were rapid in their loading, and before Omonair arrived on the bridge we were in the air again for Fort Carson.

With four minutes left on the timer, I was presented with a brain bug eyeball as a trophy. I accepted the gift and then promptly stuck it in a drawer under the holo table. When it didn’t close right I grunted. My efforts were going to cause the thing to pop if I kept at it.

Nessi groaned at this. She opened the drawer, grabbed the eyeball, and tossed it out the nearest window. She did this without making eye contact with me once. Even wiped her hands on a towel she had beside her station. When Omonair went to complain I held up a hand.

“First, I commend you and my troops for their glorious victory. You have proven your worth and expect to be frontline troops in my armies. Adjust according down the line however you see fit. I want you to extend my praise to those worthy of it. Secondly, you have eight troops alive that are still fighting. Do you want to rescue them?” I asked, noting that four had already perished.

“Yes, but that was not the primary mission,” Omonair said, offended by my question.

I stared at him with a stern look. He stunk, was covered in gore, and still had the sparkle of battle in his eyes. I retorted, “I am offering a new primary mission.”

“I accept and will ready the troops,” Omonair said.

I gestured for the door. After the same gesture akin to a salute was given, he left. We all saw the happy smile across his face that he tried to contain.

“This one I get,” Brillian said, watching the flight path of our airship. “You get to rally his troops, let him know you care, and let them cool the blood rage in the field.”

I shrugged without anything to add. She was correct. Our defense was set, and the first wave of refugees were heading for Bastion along the pre-approved flight path. I received a call from Dorson.

“Go for Six,” I said.

Dorson replied, “We have a few dozen wanting to risk it and go to Aspen. They know and understand the risks. They want to live in the hotels and flee to the mining fortress if there is danger.”

“I can get them inside Teton Fortress, maybe, actually don’t give them that option. Tell them the Aspen mining castle or Mansion mining castle have space for now. When exterior forts are constructed they can move into the hotels. All the infrastructure is in both places still,” I said and I waited for a reply. “This gives them the option while I don’t have to stress about them right away. Outside of that option the can go somewhere else.”

Mclain called before Dorson could reply and said, “We are near the trapped demonix. The problem is we might collapse the cavern they are defending on our way in. They seem to be holding well.”

“We’re on a tight timeline, into the breach,” I ordered and he confirmed. “Cap out.”

When we returned to Fort Carson I turned to Mitchell. “Off you go, take over another command station aboard a different dropship. I am heading home with wave two,” I said as Omonair offloaded his troops.

“I will handle the cleanup, let me know if we're needed,” Mitchell said with a nod before leaving the flight deck.

“Elithen take us home, I need to add more to our flight crew. And Brillian, prepare a company of anfrilia. I want to see their mettle when the blue arrives,” I ordered and returned to the recliner.

The airship lifted off the rubble-strewn surface and joined a flight of refugees for Bastion. I called Willow on my Gpad.

“Yes dear,” Willow said, answering promptly.

“I need more help in the commander’s station. Assign someone else to the vault storage and not Everly,” I ordered and she gave me a stern look.

“Fine but we're both taking synthetics. That is our caveat,” Willow said and I grunted.

“Approved. Be ready. We’re coming in through Base Roost. Or at least landing there,” I said.

Elithen grunted for attention, “This is too big to fly down that entryway. There is a forty-three layered gate directly above Bastion for big airships and trees. That is how the USS McCain went to its final lake home. I can get approval to enter that way but the sluggeros will not like it with the blue possibly coming.”

“Base Roost is fine. They can meet us there,” I said directly to Elithen with Willow overhearing.

“Will meet you there with Everly and our mind orbs,” Willow said. I could sense she wanted to say more but she finished with. “Willow out.”

INTERMISSION 2

PACIFIC OCEAN NEAR HAWAII

When Jarod awoke, his mind was mush. His first thought was that he’d drunk heavily the night before, until he saw the part metal, part crystal armor that encompassed him.

Where am I? The memories that normally flood over a person when they wake failed him. He glanced around, confused. A small yacht. Nothing but ocean. I… I’m lost. He tinkered with his suit until an indicator on his heads-up display informed him Hawaii was not far away, a simple twenty-minute swim in his suit. Okay. But why am I here?

He dove into the HUD to find answers, eventually stumbling upon some recent footage. There we go.

Over the next few hours, he watched the horror show his life had become. The killing, the sex, the slavery, the aliens, the Xgates, and the Jane ordeal. None of it made sense until the end, when he realized the siren had been controlling him. He replayed the scene again. One had blocked out the other to win control of his mind. It had always been a fight to convert him, and they had won.

His internal morality screamed at him. These actions were not him. He felt a gnawing desire to protect himself, to build up a secure place to call home. This time he would rescue people. That was what got him through those awful images. He’d balance his bad deeds with good ones.

He wished he had footage from before the suit. Anything to explain how he ended up adrift on the ocean in a yacht that wasn’t his. The last real memory Jarod could grasp organically was of his first day of college. He wracked his brain trying to recall more, but failed. Whatever had happened to his memory, he had a feeling someone he’d rescued could fix it.

With a solid plan in mind, he plunged over the rail of the powerless boat and into the dark waters for the swim north. His jets fired up and Jarod allowed himself a few minutes of joy relearning the suit’s awesomeness. He splashed, jumped, soared, and dove. Childhood nightmare’s nagged at him, told him to be scared of the depths. But nothing could harm him here.

A long, high jump was followed by a cannonball, the kind any kid would be proud of. Hell, Jarod was proud of it. He paused to catch his breath, basking in the midday sun.

A column of water suddenly erupted around him, lifting him high above the surface. Before he could react, a massive nightmare of teeth and scales launched toward him.

Jarod tried to jet out of the way of the snapping maw, but his controls felt sluggish. The teeth snapped together without even coming close to touching his suit. A moment later, Jarod was riding a torrent of sea water toward the beast’s gut.

“Unbelievable. You’re going to regret this!” Jarod screamed as his world went dark.

His external lights flickered on, and he saw the slick, dark walls of the beast’s gullet contracting as it tried to swallow its snack. He activated his weapons with a rapid HUD interaction.

His arms shot up, unleashing wave after wave of projectile darts that tore through the creature’s innards. Jarod swapped to empowered hydrogen and carved out a spot to sink himself into before he fell into the acidic pit of the creature’s stomach. He widened the slit, intending to turn it into an exit.

The sea monster shrieked, and tried to vomit up its prey. A wave of acidic bile cascaded over Jarod’s armor. His legs were stuck firm in the tear he’d created, which meant he did not join the deluge on its abrupt exit.

A few additional attempts to dislodge himself left more bile washing over his aquatic suit as he sawed through muscles, sinew, and fat on his way out. His work turned into something routine, although his sight had deteriorated. The acid shower had turned his armor into a ruined, splotchy mess. Stained with small pitted holes, but intact. He would get a new one at the grand market easily enough once he got out of this mess.

There was a jarring thud that reverberated through the beast. The animal had stopped thrashing, and Jarod was certain it was dead. An impact meant he was probably at the bottom of the sea.

He tore a hole large enough to escape, grateful his exit was not against the seafloor. He ejected from the carcass with a scoff. Stupid animal deserved to die.

Jarod flicked on his extra lights to get a better look at the monstrosity had mistakenly eaten him. He gasped.

It was huge, the size of an oil tanker. He brightened his lights.

Wow. The creature was narrow, barely fifty feet wide, but hundreds of feet long. An alligator-like head, an eel’s body, with a platypus tail.

Hundreds of holes oozed inky pink blood into the water. Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard on the dart fire. He pieced together he wounded it during his initial unleashing. The beast’s death likely occurred when it stooped trying to eject him. Jarod paused proudly over his kill.

A swoosh of water was the only warning Jarod received. Long, tentacled arms suctioned around his body. Instinctively, he fired his jets, dragging the alien octopus with him.

The initial latch was strong, and he was unable to free himself. Additional tentacles twisted around his suit, squeezing. The grip threatened to pop his casings.

“Ha! You lack the strength to defeat my armor!” Jarod shouted, feeling invulnerable.

He didn’t see the beak until it was too late. It cracked into his neckline.

“No!” Jarod screamed in defiance, but the tentacles prevented any reaction.

He watched the beak fight the crystalline armor.

There was a loud crack.

For a moment, oddly, his field of view spun. His last sight, darkening quickly, was of his headless body, coffined in the crystal suit.

CHAPTER 13

The blue portals didn’t activate on our flight home. We reset the timer as if the golden market lasted its full duration and then added the approximate hour that was needed for the blue transition. A new countdown was set for six hours and twelve minutes giving us an opportunity to come home through the massive opening above Bastion.

We flew into what I liked to call the cake gate. Mainly because it reminded me of my wedding cake, only upside down.

The top layer on the surface was a mirage. A forest of hardwoods with no seem or tell that the entrance was not real. Even when the very top peeled itself open the mirage remained in place. Flying through a tree was a type of alien weird I could handle.

When the top closed. A scan was performed of our dropship and those other aircraft in the flight with us. Our scans came back with a long compiled list of errors. We were violating a ton of access requirements I had to override. We had citizens without translators, immigrants with no Gpad security devices enabled, animals with fleas, and other basic things I would never have thought about.

Every time I manually overrode the lockdown procedure from letting us get further, we went down a level. Five times, five tedious times there was a scan at each juncture. Finally, the rest of the gates opened in what felt like a hundred different choke points. Even if we were allowed in there were additional protections set to keep the bad guys out.

The opening was not a straight drop down, which meant the cake analogy went out the window like a brain bugs eyeball. Our flight of refugees had to navigate twists, turns, and drops with turrets following our movements every step of the way. I knew this entrance was our most vulnerable from above which was probably why it had been so fortified.

I pondered if it would be enough against a diabolical foe as I journeyed to the vault via a personal lift. With the lack of blue portals came the change of plans. Willow wanted to go over a few synthetic bodies they had selected for me. I had a feeling that was code for sex, but I could be wrong.

Everly met me at the vault entrance. “Husband you look dashing, come now, inside we go,” Everly said, waving me forward. Our scans were approved and we bypassed the third floor security points.

Extra guards were here at every juncture and there were even roaming patrols to break the monotony. This was where we kept the leadership of Bastion so I was not overly surprised that this was so secure. We bumped into a small crixxi with a lab coat rapidly tapping away on a datapad.

We bypassed each other without a word, both refusing to apologize for our contact. While I frowned I was not concerned about being touched without groveling. The scientist was clearly busy.

“Where are we going and who was that?” I asked.

Everly launched into a rapid reply as we walked, “That was Willis, now that we’re online and ready to swap into synthetics he ditched the slow sluggero body right away. Plus if he dies he doesn’t die. Careful, Sally chose a naked blue being and she is refusing to wear clothing. Close to what that Winston fellow was in the market. An arimi I think was the species. Anyway, we had to adjust some rules and we went away with fines for being nude. There are just too many dicks and tits hanging out in this society to start slapping fines. Especially when we thought back to the market and Koor. And by we, I mean Perci has been handling all the issues while you were off in the south. A lot is changing quickly.”

“I guess it is, if kids grow up around nudity they won’t find it odd. Those in the middle will probably have issues but that is something we can deal with, forcing those used to being nude to wear clothes is a whole other can of worms. We can always change it,” I replied, talking my thoughts out loud.

“Oh, and we finally got our synthetic shopping purchases on display. Before you get too excited we already have a side mission,” Everly said in a disappointed tone. “So no synthetic sex toys being used for intended purposes for now.”

“When can we custom order?” I asked. “I was wanting something bigger, the walls allow for twelve feet tall. Those minotaurs were a decent build, not that I want to be an animal hybrid. Just that the bigger a synthetic is, the harder it is to kill. Plus it makes it easier to carry bigger shielding which means more burst to my weapons and so on.”

“Daxstar and the sluggero siblings have other priorities. Like a lot of them. Unfortunately, we did not instantly win any genius beings to add to our stockpile, at least to my knowledge. Those auctions were routinely bid on. We need to go meet Perci after our body swaps to get an overview of our Bastion’s upgrades and expansion plans. One of those plans leads into work, something about Calgary… Oh, we’re here,” Everly said, arriving at a door. “Queen Everly, Alpha Zulu Tango.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“It is random and sent to my Gpad that now populates in a Heads Up Display,” Everly said.

“I know what a HUD is. Why the extra security when my real body didn’t have this?” I asked. “And this is only the storage room.”

“Again, many projects, not enough minds. The fairies got around to this and upgraded security in here, finally. Longoria put her foot down. Speaking of Longoria, she is with Perci,” Everly said and I raised a questioning eyebrow. Last I had seen here she was stuck in the worm regrowth vat. “Yup, all done, like she never lost half her face.”

Both Everly and I shuddered at the thought of the gore baths.

“Hey!” Willow said from inside the room. She was hanging a body into a cylinder tube to display. She had the tube close and a cover descended before I could see the body inside. “Perfect timing. Just got the last one hung!”

Willow was in her acrium just like Everly. I shifted my guess to inspect them further and saw they carried only a sword, a small energy pistol on their thighs, and shielding belts. The power plants empowered their pucks to flicker the blue energy, telling me they were taking precautions. Good, we had enough close calls recently.

“Excellent pun sister wife,” Everly said with a giggle that earned her a hard stare from Willow.

I watched the two hug before they pulled me in. They were both so small compared to this angelic body. I was not sure what I wanted to use going forward. I did like the extra height and wings. Maybe a twelve foot angel would work.

“So Eric, we picked stuff for the bedroom and battle. We even let Jill pick a body for herself for when you escape to the city,” Willow said with a pause. “And for other reasons we will cover in a moment.”

I took the bait and said, “Well, I guess I have to ask now. What city? I thought she was living in the castle with us?”

“Balish, and that was before you went and married us. She was not offended, merely liked the idea of being the getaway princess. Plus the schools in Balish have started. A digital version of you is teaching,” Willow said and I snickered. “I knew you were in on that. Nice friend you have tucked away in the VirtaBox. Mary is excited to attend school. The parents are thrilled that normalcy is returning. The refugees think they have gone to heaven. Jill is helping them acclimate and is loving the city.”

“So Jill is happy, that is great to hear. How about the zoo and Onix?” I asked.

I frowned at the black covers hiding the bodies. They so needed to be removed so I could delight in the picks.

Everly played with my wings as she studied them. Her fingers traced the folds delicately. There was almost a tickling sensation. “This is remarkable. Not feathers but also not skin. Hmm... cartilage bones, and I cannot fathom how that is possible. Aliens are so fascinating,” Everly said using her clawed nails to scratch a wing. Ouch, apparently wings were sensitive. I grunted as I felt tendrils of pain. “Oh, wow, you registered that? How different.”

“Obviously, glad you find my new body fascinating. Back to the zoo?” I said, attempting to refocus the conversation.

“Onix first,” Willow replied because Everly was studying the seam on my back that the wings grew out of. “He is outside, playing. Yup, that momma cat, Thea, seems to have bonded with him. So he is happy, just don’t expect him inside anytime soon. The kittens. Those little bitches are bitches.”

“Everything okay?” I asked and Willow gave me a very sad long look. “Who died? Please, not some kid. I knew bringing massive house pets would bring problems.”

“Kids… oh, no. Not the problem.” Willow air quoted problem. “They busted into the chicken coop and ate eighty-something chickens and killed the rest. All those chickens a farmer named Dale brought are dead,” Willow said and I grew sad.

“The poor chickens,” I muttered.

“We found more,” Everly scoffed at my silliness.

“But the chickens,” I replied.

“Were easier to replace than the mozala they ate,” Everly said with a sassy tone from behind me. “Yup, right bitches the two of them. We tossed them out with trackers on. They are sniffing down Onix right now. There is a thing as too many bitches in one house.”

“As sad as this is, I need to know about the chickens we found,” I said, suddenly interested in the news of more chickens. There had to be farms across the country in the middle of nowhere with automated processing or even some workers managing them.

“Part of the briefing Perci is going to give as soon as we’re done here. She only gave us ten minutes, and that was because she was excited for you to see the displays and so you could get out of this sex body.”

“I actually love this body,” I retorted. “I won a tournament in it. I get it though, hanging this low causes issues. And the zoo?”

“The zoo, while you were regrowing your arm we did zoo shopping. It was actually rather boring. There are zoos upon zoos in the universe. Each megacity doing the same thing where they breed animals to sell to the next mega city wanting to breed animals. Or they trade and… it was very interesting to learn how it was an extremely common thing. We bought a few diverse packages to help bloodlines thrive. There was a slight problem,” Willow said with an oopsie shrug.

“And it was…”

“The zoo was only partially completed. So we stuffed animals in empty homes until the building printers adjusted. There are going to be some fucking angry mounamine and pandarin having to clean shit off walls,” Willow said with a snarky chortle.

Okay, that one got me rolling and I joined in on the laughter. It was so gross and sad it was funny. We had a collective sigh.

“So basically, your zoo is a great success that everyone will love to see when it’s done, but there are some rough patches to get through first,” I said to the nodding girls.

“Exactly, and if the blue portals return, then we raid to build on it,” Willow said with a casual tone.

“You ready to see what we picked. The first three should not be a surprise,” Everly said and unveiled the first image.

There I was, the older version of Eric stuffed in a glass tube. Seeing yourself floating in a clear tube of water was odd. From this angle I didn’t notice much. Then I saw I was shorter and smaller than normal. Huh? I was immediately confused. My penis was also almost tiny, I had a needle dick.

This body needed to die, like yesterday. A title came over the bottom of the container giving me a hint at why I had been downsized in every way. Blast it oblivion that silly Willow had blanked out the name.

“Okay, I give up,” I said with a snort. My finger pointing was met with chuckles from Willow. “Why would you make a smaller version of me? And this flaccid cock is tiny. In case you girls missed the memo, I am not into being emasculated. Big fucking nope!”

Everly was in stitches with her laughter. Willow kept a serious face, fighting a smile from creeping into a grin.

“Perci asked for this, and this is why,” Willow said, turning to face the wall behind us.

A cover lifted to reveal a four and a half foot petite female. There was a choker around the neck with a leash. The body was thin with hip bones exposed and boobs that were too big on the frame. The majority of it was human, but there were fluffy bunny ears and a long thin tail with a swatter. Very alien, very different, and my real dick would simply not fit right. Okay, I got it.

“So she picked a body and needed a body to go with it. And I can take this one into smaller combat like a spaceship that will probably get destroyed,” I said with a delightful grin already planning the small dick version of me’s demise. “Yes!”

“Wait, before you go all suicidal in that body realize her and…” Willow coughed out a “Me. Want to try anal. We can’t all expand our buttholes like this crixxi can. You want the back door action with us, use that.”

I chuckled and pointed at the next covered body. “The first three are me so let me see.”

Two more versions of me appeared. They were both bigger. “I picked this one,” Willow said to two identical duplicates. Well, they were taller. Nothing else changed, I even had my…

“What the fuck is that!?” I said pointing to my dick one tube over.

Everly again burst into a laugh and this time Willow joined her. There was a tiny mouth of sorts above the base of my shaft.

“That is the clit sucker add on. It kind of does its own thing based on the response from the lady’s reaction. It is just a better iteration of your cock, with a clit licker, slash, sucker. The brochure was very convincing. We may have pressured Jill into being the bad guy here,” Willow said with a so sue me shrug.

“No, I get this, I like this. Nothing wrong with both teams winning when the game is sex!”  I said excitedly to see what level of orgasms I would get from the ladies.

“Score,” Everly said with a triumphant smile. She pointed to the fourth tube and the body was revealed while my first three were covered. “Nancy picked practical.”

Angelic body, this one not a sex toy, the face was scarred with a veteran vibe. The muscles were defined into more bulk, the penis big sized, but not monstrous, and the skin rough. I liked it, something worthy of taking into combat. The face even had the Eric Yang appearance to it with the brown hair and brown eyes. Ruggedly handsome, like the version of me before virum.

“I love it. So my crixxi what did you pick?” I asked curiously.

“Well, I love you the way you are. While the others wanted to emphasize that this is about having fun and that I could pick what I wanted you to experience. So I picked something different. I got a matching body,” Everly said and typed into her Gpad.

A hung velociraptor was revealed. The fuck!? Different was an understatement.

“You want to have animal sex?” I asked, more than a tad confused.

“That and you can use it for the arena, real combat with a satchel, and just running around outside to hunt,” Everly said with a friendly smile. “I know, unique. But I wanted to show you it’s not just about the fucking. I already have an amazing sex life.”

I nodded while pouting my lips in thought. “It interests me, not sure I will enjoy fighting a tail to mount you,” I said, gaming out how it will work. “Or where we will use them, but I remember your panther body and I did enjoy seeing the dinosaur in the arena.”

While I would never have bought a dinosaur to have sex in, I also would not have bought one to hunt in. Everly picked an animal for me. She was also a crixxi and my wife. I would try it for her even if it was not something I ever envisioned myself using. The room kept going but there were a dozen empty cylinders with no bodies inside on my side of the room.

My hands clapped together in joy. “Time to see what my lovely ladies picked.”

We walked across the room to the first body Perci picked out. “Jill picked a mounamine,” Willow said in a dry tone. “I think she wants you to catch her cleaning and give her a savage fucking. I swear Jill is more animalistic than Everly. She did not get a combat synthetic. Probably for the best she picked something to blend in with also. And not to take this to a gross level because this is mainly a sex room but there is this.”

The curtain dropped to reveal a youngling mounamine. Willow continued with. “Mary needs to match her mom if she is forced to blend in. Eventually, we will add a room for each person. Or move the vault to a new vault in the castle because -”

“Because this is weird but again, she is going to be seeing a lot of nude bodies soon. Explaining the clit sucker might be a very awkward conversation. The rest seems sublime so far. Eh, you have a point, separate this when we can,” I said coming to my own conclusion.

“And then there is the female raptor next and this is Everly’s combat clone.

The dinosaur with a vagina was revealed, just as scary as the male version. I was still creeped out, but inside I was kind of wanting to run the killing machine to see if I enjoyed being in the body.

“Can it talk?” I asked.

“Yes, they are built with translators in, all the synthetics are,” Everly said, making a point to give me her soft eyes. If I were not in acrium I would kiss her. A back pat soothed her but not as much as my loving gaze. Everly smiled and mentioned, “Check out my battle babe!”

Everly’s combat clone was human. A pert B-Cup brunette with blue eyes. She had an hourglass figure and nothing was virum enhanced. Probably for the best. The girls had to struggle while fighting with DD breasts. This seemed more efficient. She had the crixxi’s sharp nose, but besides that, this was a new woman with cute features. Nothing super model or an exquisite fancy look that stood out. Admittedly I was taking in the view longer than I thought I would. I think I was drifting back to a time when women were not hopped up on virum. My focus shifted so much Everly gave me a nudge.

“I prefer to have sex with this,” I mentioned, pointing at the human over the dinosaur. “Instead of that. Before you try to justify the raptor, fear not, I understand and look forward to growing old with you. That means trying new things, my dear Everly. Willow, what did you pick?”

“I am not next. There is one more of Everly,” Willow said and Everly hip-checked me.

“I spent extra. We budgeted for escape clones, yours is a mounamine male, that was supposed to be done when the gates closed. So… you’re missing one. For now anyway. Jill had the idea and we ran with it. Eventually, these bodies will rest in a secret cubby hole locked away and available only to us. We go in, swap out, and carry orbs around until the coast is clear. A very far contingency, but a backup nonetheless,” Everly said revealing a mounamine that looked nothing like her. “Yup, boring and plain. It could be a fun toy but not meant for that. This will be moved soon.”

Willow pulled me back. Four more mounamines were shown, each one unique and different. “These are random and for the ladies of our family. Eventually, Sammie will be getting a custom rebuild. For now, she gets a random. In case you were wondering, seven lucky mouse ladies. Jill, me, Everly, Perci, Nancy, Longoria, and Sammie around to help with Mary. Which since we're pregnant means we will need more for the kids if we want to flee in a farce.

Honestly, I think it’s a waste and we should build another bunker. The sluggeros say they can drop our body temps to match the surrounding when in a mental projection. So if we do flee in other bodies it should throw off a heat map, a seismic map will still find the cavern. I argued and the result was to do both.”

“Uh…” I was a bit confused. “I am all for living and if this can help those odds then I would gladly project into a mouse man’s body for a few days. Okay, so Willow are you next now that we got that out of the way?”

“Nancy is. Ever since I killed that frog thing in a mounamine body she has been pouty. Not my fault, and before you get into a discussion about how we need to be perfect together, get over it. Nancy and I are big girls, she is merely jealous and will get over it with time. Her words, not mine,” Willow said with a sassy tone.

“Well, okay then,” I said with a shrug and pointed at the reveal.

The door hissed open after an empty container was revealed. We spun to see an angelic woman walk in with only two breasts. She was indeed divine in appearance. Even prettier than Nancy the human. I rushed to her for a hug.

“Nancy, I love this look on you,” I said and she smiled radiantly. There was an underlying pain she held well. She was a strong woman coping with her former lover’s death.

“I thought you would like this warrior form and the sex toy body I bought for you. I picked out a,” Nancy said, pausing to show a cover cylinder. A gorgeous pre virum Nancy was revealed. The kind men jerked off to when women were still plain. Except she was a partial cyborg. The hips and crotch were robotic with the rest of the body being human. There was a tattoo that pointed to her fleshy vagina that read ‘∞ orgasms insert here for epicness’. “I picked a robotic pussy, synthetic of course but adaptable with all the options. A perfect thing for my man to have fun with. All. The. Options.”

I nodded and then bobbed my head some more. “Yes, fun, yes. We should take -”

“Hey!” Everly said teasingly.

“Honestly Everly, it has a robotic pussy.” I blurted and Everly pumped her eyebrows at Nancy. The two were rabbits when they had that time. Which got me thinking. “Hey did any of your girls get a guy?”

Willow fidgeting while suddenly inspecting the ceiling. I looked up and stomped a foot. There was nothing there, she got me.

“Hey, you know I said he would be okay with it,” Nancy said and Willow frowned.

“Well, here is your answer. The last slot on the wifey wall as we call it,” Willow said. I stepped over to see me with a pink mohawk and everything else the same. I was pre virum aged. “I liked the pink hair. And I dig the body, like a lot. Are you mad?”

“Umm, we’re married. So let me ask this first? Do you want to be a guy or just have sex with a sister wife with a penis?” I asked with a decent poker face on.

“Sex only. Let me emphasize that, the strap-ons chaff or is it chafe. Anyway,” Willow said and I had seen the virum healing the scars. “Makes it harder to focus. For me and you, I got these two.”

A demon chick with horns for handlebars was revealed and then a dainty fairy. A big smile crested my lips.

“I love all three, no gay stuff if you’re in that body, but if you’re using a fake dick hopefully my mighty hammer on your hips will make our orgies better. So I have no problem with it,” I said with a shrug. “Only for sex, I don’t want to have to deal with you outside the bedroom as a man. Try not to keep it awkward.”

Nancy smacked my ass. So that left everyone complete. Wait.

“So Jill, Longoria, and Sammie all only got a mounamine body. Then what are the last two?”

“Longoria is the queen of the fairies now that we had a merger. She picked a fairy body to be in during combat operations. And yes, she is waiting for a mind travel orb,” Nancy said revealing a Longoria copy. “Perci picked a body like this one, except kept the four tits to blend in with others.”

And I saw Perci’s face on an anfrilia body. That was it. Every synthetic body was revealed. I liked what I saw and was okay with this.

“They warned me to keep the orbs secure, but… I don’t want to lose anyone,” I said and I called Longoria.

“This is Fairy Six, over,” Longoria said and I fist pumped the air at her perfect answer.

“Get your sexy wings over to the vault and grab a mind orb. You’re moving into your battle body, over and out,” I said closing the connection before she could reply. Being the boss was the best.

“Sally will be pissed,” Willow said with a raised brow that I shrugged off.

If we lost the mind orbs then the demonix could implode the divine planet in a suicide run. Shit after we nailed the damn mother ship we could build nukes again or whatever ancient owls could come up with. While I was contemplating how to destroy a planet I adjusted my overly large cock.

“Can I easily get out of this sex toy for that body?” I asked pointing to the real anfrilia body that was not combat ready.

“That sex toy still weighs four hundred pounds and I don’t want to drag it to the vats to return the acrium. So yes and no. At any time you can return to your body or shift. Just know someone has to carry that inert hunk of meat if you do,” Nancy said, running a finger up and down my frame.

“That would be fun to watch. I guess I could carry myself,” I said with a muttering.

“Head to the vat by your real body. Step in a tube and then transfer consciousness. It will give you an option,” Nancy informed me. “I will be waiting at the platform so we can attend this meeting with Perci. Hurry up you three.”

“Wait! One more question? We don’t need these limited mind storage devices inside Bastion?” I asked.

“Going to Mansion or Aspen, yes. Inside this cavern no,” Willow said. “Do you want the fairy or the demonix for my combat body?”

“Fairy, without a doubt and not because it is sexier. The demonix are potentially unstable and you don’t need to be stirring that pot,” I said and she nodded.

“Perfect. See you on the platform Nancy,” Willow said heading for the body chamber. I followed her with Everly. “Excited to be a human Everly?”

“I will miss my tail and enhanced hearing, so not really. I will make a crixxi clone if I have to later,” Everly said and I rubbed her back.

“We will get this figured out. For now, let’s protect our lives and go see what Perci has to share,” I said with a smile as we arrived at the mind projection room.

I had already been on one combat mission without my human body. I felt it was the right thing to do. Protecting our family had taken a new meaning to me, especially after almost dying, twice. I was hoping for a slowdown in combat, somehow I didn’t think I would get my wish.

CHAPTER 14

“Ugh, Eric. You threw my whole meeting off by letting Longoria get into a synthetic. She was supposed to be covering air upgrades before I went,” Perci said with a gruff tone. I had found her on a stage in a theater sized room with a lecture platform. She was wearing acrium that barely covered her nipples and left so much bountiful cleavage exposed. I may have zoned out. Okay, I totally did. “Eric, I am glad you like this design, but this is not the time.”

“I mean, you just told me we had five minutes because of -” I was saying when her finger pointed up at my nose to silence me. My clear acrium cover was poked. “Fine, then tell me about the chickens?”

“When the briefing starts,” Tina said from Willow’s side. Oh, when did she arrive in the auditorium? This briefing room was huge and the number of people I recognized was a lot. Tina didn’t let our distant stop her from hollering at me. “Hi Eric, sorry for your loss. Norm left.”

“Wait, what? Come here Tina,” I said and she squeaked slightly. The woman was normally so chatty. “Sammy Slister was a dear friend. I… She will not be forgotten. I too am sorry for your loss. Now, why did Norm leave and where did he go?”

Tina went to speak and glanced at Perci for permission. I spun on my wife who gave an exhausted sigh.

“Best if she tells you, but there is more to it,” Perci said, gesturing for Tina to go on.

“Well, he went to Teton Fortress. Norm thinks his wife would be alive if it wasn’t for you,” Tina said and I scoffed. I was about to rebuttal the ever-living crap out of that statement when Tina went on. “What Norm fails to see is that his wife was a warrior, and that never changed. She never would have been a farmer or a casino worker or... She loved what she did.”

“Okay, okay. I don’t have much to add to that because I will start getting all sappy. I like Norm but alien tech put him out of work. Hopefully, his four masters degrees will help him in his new home,” I said bitterly. He was hardly the first loved one to lay blame on me for their losses. I was not a hero to a lot of soldier’s families. “I am not angry at him, I actually mean him well. Hurts he blames me but I’m the boss. All fault rolls to me.”

“Yeah, well he didn’t even say goodbye to Derek and I. Left a note and caught a trade flight to Teton,” Tina said and Willow gave her a hug. “With Gary and a few others.”

“Wait, Gary, as in Earl Gary our builder?” I asked and suddenly Perci’s guidance made more sense. “In the briefing?”

Perci nodded. I was about to force it out of her when Longoria arrived in a new elegant gown. This one flowed nicely and I loved the design of the blue with white. She always looked so regal. The room quieted at her arrival and the lights started to dim.

Longoria fluttered her pretty wings toward the podium with a holographic display while I shifted to a seat in the auditorium in the middle of the stands. There was no epic spot for me to sit in. I was another Bastion member among the leadership. My large form folded into an egg shaped seat. Oh, this was comfy. I guess everyone sat in a throne of sorts.

“For the community,” Longoria said and the motto was echoed back.

She stood in front of a digital display that tilted to give us a topographical image. Her wings fluttered when she tapped a series of buttons from a top down projector. The terrain shifted and aircraft populated. Four vessels were on display, each image the size of a person.

“This will be the last change of our military makeup for quite some time, and not because the grand market is gone. This is in-home manufacturing, built by arguably the best minds in the universe. While there will undoubtedly be modifications down the line, each aircraft serves a specific purpose. Also, please note, nothing is to scale,” Longoria said pointing to the display.

She swiped three of the four aircraft off the view. A single-seater populated from the roof. There was no front or back, merely a middle ball with six propulsion motors on it; one for each direction. The motors were small but still an eyesore, and probably much worse for the actual pilot.

“We start with the SS01,” Longoria said, and Eddy raised a hand from down and to my right. “Yes, Duke Eddy?”

“SS was the acronym for some bad -”

“Carry on,” I said, halting the interruption. I wanted to not get the meeting dragged into debates of human history. SP would work fine instead of the SS. “SS is now SP01, easy fix, and thank you, Eddy.”

Longoria was a professional and didn’t get flustered. She said, “The SP01 is meant for,” She pointed at the ceiling. So these were the anti-mothership vehicles. They certainly brought out the inner child in me wanting to fly one. “Less gravity than we are used to. It is a bit clunky on earth and will not be used beyond specific situations. The VirtaBox has a working simulator that is perfect for the SP01. Expect assignments to the VirtaBox for training purposes soon enough.”

The ball spaceship was removed and an aircraft akin to a fighter jet populated, but three times bigger and boxier.

“FP02 is a fighter that is meant to spin, turn, and orient on the enemy. It packs a mighty punch and requires a crew of two. A pilot and a gunner. About the size of the RV, some of you were used to aerodynamics and those days are going. The FP02 uses its size to increase its shielding and hull integrity. This may look like a looting ship but I assure you it is not. This has rapid firing cannons and a massive artillery gun. These are the future of our warfare. Hit the enemy hard from a distance so they never have a chance.

“It has a hover capability that is easy to use so you can glide it into a portal. Do us all a favor and avoid trying to fly through a portal at height, for whatever reason, go low to go through. Now, I am going to hand off the briefing for Willis to explain our new power sources before I continue,” Longoria said, indicating to a busy Willis who tapped on a device that it was his turn.

Willis rushed up to the stage in his crixxi with a lab coat.  The holographic projector displayed the new cylinders I had on my body. “Our ground gear is getting upgrades but the platforms are staying the same. What does that mean? No new tanks, a few new mech suits, and everything about five times more powerful. We have streamlined the elemental power generators to provide more shielding and weapon output. Our factories are working full time to increase production. Basically if you have a boxy device providing power get a cylinder. Got it, good. Willis out.”

When he quickly fled the stage in his new body I stood and clapped. He gave me a scornful look and I cupped my mouth and yelled, “That is how all briefings should be, not kidding.”

Longoria rolled her eyes and went back into her aircraft lecture. “The FP02 can easily swap out elemental power sources. The boxy generators that weighed a bunch are gone for efficient tubes of power we term elemental canisters. Sorry reading off lines and I expected Willis to flake,” Longoria said to laughter through the room. “The aft containment unit can hot-swap hydrogen for nitrogen and then to oxygen in minutes which is huge. Basically these fighters are bulky partially because they can go on any planet and still be a fabulous killing machine. There is minimal storage that is filled with survival gear. They do not tow sleds or have attachments for looting. Every part of this fighter is built around victory. Again the VirtaBox will get you trained up on these.”

The fighter was replaced with the dropship I had already flown in. The sleek design was leaps and bound nicer than the old animal haulers. The people around me were talking positively in hushed tones about the fighter. Longoria cleared her throat before continuing.

“DS77 is the main staple of the fleet. We purchased everything we could in this design from numerous sellers. We are still modifying these to have quick swapping elemental canister power plants. With that said this can hold a hundred infantry or a dozen small tanks inside the hangar. The bottom has two quick connects and disconnects for towing TG99s under it.

“The DS77 is overpowered with excessive cylinders, overprotected with intense shielding, and thickly armored with its multi-layered hull. If it is dragged to the ground, expect the ground to break. These will need designated gunners, give me a moment to explain why.

“The DS77 is a power hungry killing machine. First and foremost is the gravity sled. This amount of weapons, crew, armor, and interior doors weighs a lot. That means it needs to be able to power an anti-gravity sled with excessive amounts of energy. If a gunner pulls too much power they will bring the aircraft out of the sky. If the accelerators are in motion expect those to get drained too. Which could lead to mid-air collisions and so forth.

“Basically, this is a highly automated aircraft that still needs input and tough decision making by a crew of twelve. Yup, twelve is what we recommend. Again the VirtaBox will not only train our troops on these, it will test them. Flying aboard a DS77 is a really good job that pays well, but demands a lot. Moving along to our very own AC66.”

The dropship was replaced by a fifty foot wide aircraft that resembled a brick on its narrow edge. There were hangar bay doors all along the sides that rose three hundred feet into the air. The entire length of the ship there were entry and exit points arranged by size as well as by level. You could immediately tell where a fighter was docked versus a dropship. The image showed DS77s and FP02s swarming off the carrier as they raced to war.

“AC66 is designed to be the ultimate portal carrier. We have two, and only one is active. The other is… hidden and empty. This is very straight forward. You glide into a portal to land your grounding forces. All these lower bays fill with infantry, tanks, and powered suits. Above it your support and fighter aircraft launch. Enemy farther than you like? The AC66 can get you there in a hurry. Crew of up to two thousand and can be run by a skeleton crew of a dozen. This is a flying city that is akin to a spaceship. There are problems, of course, it is bulky, so clearing an exit is normally required. That and you're putting a lot of souls in one target. Most species tend to avoid these because they are easy to defeat by the bigger species. A third was requested but I denied it not knowing our grand market was coming down. I knew it would not get filled until production of smaller aircraft increases and now that we can’t use the grand market; that means mining operations really need to kick into overdrive. A goal for another time. Questions will be done via Gpad for recording purposes and to move the briefing along. Queen Perci is next.”

There was a pause and the four ships returned to holographic viewing. Perci strolled onto the stage tapping away at her tablet. The image of the aircraft shifted to a rendering of Bastion. There was a flick of her finger that moved the display over to the side, a few more taps, and we had the entire population of Bastion broken down by species lined up from short to tall. Um…

Okay, I was not expecting to see hundreds of new alien types. I scanned the seating and still only saw mostly the races I knew. Heck, there was only one demonix and she was jotting notes. I recognized her as the one who I saved, wait she got a cybernetic hand. The fuck… There would be an interrogation later.

Hmm.

“Bastion is a huge success. Our population numbers have surpassed anything I could handle on my own. Not to mention the logistics of not just handling immigrants but the sheer work done to support them. Bastion’s community has really been amazing the last few days. Now onto rescue operations. Our human numbers have soared to over three hundred thousand. I know some in this room find that hard to believe. That is almost the entire west coast of the United States rounded up and brought here. That number was staggeringly low when you think there were over two hundred million in that zone.

“We forecasted many more and because of that, our building printers are way ahead of the game and they are already being prepped to move north. Yup, we’re expanding to Banff and more. Which I will let Queen Nancy brief about next,” Perci said and the screen went into a top down view of Bastion.

I saw the left side jungle with the lake and river. The northern bend had our castle soaring to the cavern’s sky… Fake sky, and I needed to explore the castle. I rubbed the back of my neck guiltily. Too much sex and work. I should probably take a breather with Mary soon and just walk and talk. I returned my focus to the map. In the middle there was the tri city area, the massive metropolis with its skyscrapers. There was the vault burrowed into the northeastern corner by the mines. A new mini forest for the fairies in the south. And the eastern side contained a jut that was being carved out for expanding.

Everywhere else where there was not a designated superstructure was housing. The printers had done a fantastic job at littering the floor with residences. Oh there were a few warehouse districts for manufacturing and an airport with a military base but there were no roads. There was no need for any. There were only walkways between the home and residential apartments. Everything was moved via lifts. Bastion was a city of the future. When I saw how many people were living here I understood the need to expand. We had tons of room to build vertical but that would kill the vibe of the residential areas. We needed those parks and ponds.

“So let me go over a few things. The species we acquired during the last grand market are all part of the Owlvini Alliance and are dedicated to the cause. They will bring a lot of change to our society. The start of which, is nudity. Hurrah, or boo!” Perci said playing with the crowd. She smiled brightly and when our eyes met hers sparkled. “Just a single example of many to come. We are not going vertical or adding more people to Bastion due to infrastructure demands. Bastion is doing well as it is and the last thing we need is back flowing waste or water turning off. Banff and other expansions will have their own challenges and help spur our economy.

“Among humans there has been a culture shock. Many of the older folks we rescued are turning young again and there is a lot of friction between couples. We weathered this issue back in Mansion and Aspen because things had deteriorated to the point we clung to each other. I am sad to say that has changed. As of today there has been an exodus of divorcees fleeing for a new home. Some are leaving due to our sudden influx of exotic species. Others because their spouse they fought to stick by is now wanting different tastes… Taste kind of works. We’re dealing with a massive societal upheaval.

“Not only has humanity gone from here before the Xgates.” Perci held her hand at her chest level. “To here, with the loss of all technology.” Her knees were indicated. “To here, with advanced technology and infinite life. I chose my spouse as a forever kind of deal. Some of these couples had kids and were stuck together. Suddenly they have a whole new life with a lot of exciting options. So it's a change for us humans. Expect more ripples in the water before it smooths. As far as housing goes I have left twenty percent blank so people can rotate and expand. Make no mistake, we are going to need to keep building. The virum will only slow if our babies start dying, so… that is not an option. We’re not halting saving people, merely preparing new homes for them and that can be done rapidly. Please treat the new arrival as all citizens deserve.”

Perci went to walk off the stage. “Your highness, how many humans have shifted back to Teton Fortress?” I asked.

“Almost five thousand. They are having their own internal issues. We almost traded one for one on the second swap. Sinclair is bitching and moaning about needing this and that. It gets irritating, extremely so,” Perci said realizing she was rambling a tad. Her curtsy was flawless. “I hope that answers my king’s question fittingly. I secede the floor to Queen Nancy.”

The image washed away in a green flickering. A display of Calgary Alberta was shown and there were gasps. It survived. Not only that it was a mega city with towering walls, layered defense, and platforms flying around. Whoa! How was this missed?

“Calm yourselves. We have made contact with his eminence Larvou. Larvou is not human, he is a vampire. Yup, no joke. A blood sucking humanoid. Not allergic to much, no he doesn’t sparkle, no sun issues, and well he is a human that sucks blood with fangs. Can’t even become a bat. Prefers the term varmprinian. But no one calls them that,” Nancy paused to show Edmonton.

It was leveled like all the other cities. A desolate wasteland of what humanity once was. What a bummer, I was indeed rooting for it to be thriving too. The image shifted to Jasper National park. There were a few strongholds up dotted in the mountains with minimal defenses. Stragglers hiding from aliens, until some major species gets a random portal near them. There was more of the same with Banff, shanty groups of humans weathering a nice spring in the mountains. Pitiful when compared to Calgary.

“So we are going to visit Larvou. He has a mission for us that puts him in a bind and he needs help with. Then we will be good friends, seeing as how he is a neighbor we recommend helping. Kelowna has an issue. An infection that is easily avoided by the acrium, which the Calgary Council is lacking. That and their infrastructure is behind ours. Mainly because our purchasing power combined with the fairies, sluggeros, and Daxstar have been able to automate so much,” Nancy said pausing to give a scene change.

The image went west into British Columbia. Kelowna was a resort town of sorts. The tallest building overlooking the water in a majestic background. It was a really lovely setting. The city was intact besides some fighting around the edges. There were no soaring walls or bunkers. There was a high density of humans somehow, like really high. The image zoomed in and I saw humans in nitrogen blue shielding. Nice, good to see humans finally geared well. A talking pair of guards rotated to go elsewhere and I heard a shriek. My gaze shifted to a very embarrassed Willow from beside me.

“What! That is disgusting and very unexpected,” Willow hissed at me while I giggled.

There was a six inch spider latched onto the back of the guard’s necks. Spider was wrong, more like a skeleton creature with six legs, no head, and a tail that slid under the skull and up into the brain. Certainly nasty to look at.

“This is the horenix. They have a paralytic agent that applies to their host. One touch of any of the claws from the legs will cause the body to go rigid. This is not a symbiotic relationship. The human minds are trapped inside their bodies. They are very much alive and in torment. It gets worse. If you break that tail they will kill the host. There are very few options on how to deal with this pest. It goes from bad to horrible, they are spreading rapidly. I know someone will ask and I hate having to say how. The female humans are birthing these creatures. Their natural eggs are converted and then the baby horenix slides out hours later. Yup, these little aliens are a menace. They have spread south into Vancouver. We are seeing a stream of humans being flown to their new home. Since the horenix is in control and the body is theirs, as is the mind, they are able to use the grand market.”

Nancy shuddered at the digital rendering of the process. There was a widening fan as if a contagion was spreading. Well gross, and yeah, worthy of helping.

“What is the goal and what is the reward?” I asked.

Jevon stood from an egg seat below and walked up to the stage. “The horenix will kill the host ninety nine percent of the time. Don’t let the few getting free fool you. When we show up they will release a portion to let the assaulting force think they can save their people. So we do that, get a dozen or so and then cleanse the city,” Jevon said and I grunted at the brutality.

“And the spreading little ones?” I asked.

“Will continue searching for a host. This is not a boom, bam, and done. These will be a problem for years to come if we do not protect all the small strongholds in the area. Their biology states they can use a dog to get close to a human settlement and then leave the host for a better version. This will not be a fun war. Luckily, acrium protects us, but we very well may see these arriving on the surface of Bastion. Our sensors and scans will detect them easily enough. It is imperative everyone leaving our homes have acrium,” Jevon said with a pause waiting for more questions. I let him continue. “As for Calgary and this Larvou, well, he wants to trade and help eliminate a spreading threat. They are a neutral party in the god war and are seeking allies on Earth. Basically we play nice and expand Banff and Jasper without contention and even some cooperation.”

I digested this news with a grimace on my face. We had the military and the firepower to deal with the horenix. The Bastion community needed friends and trading partners as much as it needed to remove enemies in the area. I was typing a message to Daxstar when a sexy blue alien walked up to relieve Jevon. Damn, Sally did look better... she was still a giant slug in a hot body to me though.

“Stop typing to Daxstar, King Eric,” Sally said with a disgruntled sigh. “Trust me, there is no saving those poor souls.” I continued to type. “Oh, also no. There is no Mother of All Bombs or nukes to erase the city. Go in, blow big orbs from the sky shredding the city. The dead lose heat, the living generate it. Perform a heat scan, and then continue to kill until the heat is gone. Tedious work. Not to mention if the blue portals flare up you might get a second or third force to deal with.”

I really disliked Sally at times. She was being honest though and even used my proper title.

“I am going to go over food with the food manager in the background. Tina deserves a round of applause,” Sally halted so we could cheer Tina’s efforts. “Food production is handled a floor down. The animals require a lot of care and unfortunately our manufacturing is not producing much yet. There has been some great news. A few farms were found with lots of livestock. We continue to bring in animals, feed, and general food as our expanding net widens. We have food, but could use more until things come online. I… Tina needs a few hundred more workers. We were thinking of offering retiring soldiers the job before backfilling with mounamine or pandarin.”

Sally left the podium and Perci stepped back up. “We have two hours and seventeen minutes until we expect the new portals to appear. Use that time to prepare for a Kelowna offensive. We are allowing folks to start rotating work, even crixxi tired of combat are able to divert. Our fighting force is over staffed at the moment. No need to force retirements since our produce exceeds our payments by a lot, but we will have to if the portals never come online again. Last briefer and then I promise the meeting will conclude.”

Perci stepped off and Mitchell arrived.  He brought up a map of every Xgate on the western half of the continent. “With the golden gate gone, it is on us more than ever to raid, trade, and rescue. So… I have assembled a force of demonix scouts who will be tossing orbs into portals that burrow into the ground a few inches and then transmit. They will send a signal out, and report what they find. I have visited our friend in the VirtaBox as have most of the warriors in this room. We have a common enemy, defeating them aids our side. I hope to find some juicy targets besides mind controlled humans. For the community!”

“For the community!” We shouted back.

The crowd filtered out and Willow plopped into my lap.

“You didn’t have anything to say?” she asked.

I shrugged and said, “A king, commander, and leader normally gets briefs, not gives them. This is the way it has been since long before me.”

“So… you want to walk the zoo or lambast some zombies in Kelowna?” Willow said.

I smirked and replied, “Combat, I can walk the zoo when it's finished and we're in another quiet time. You sure you don't want to stay back?”

“Our children are safer here. With my real body which is tucked away in the vault. I like combat, I don’t like risking their lives. If we weren’t in acrium I’d let you pull on these fairy wings,” Willow said teasingly.

“Alright off my lap. If we have time I want to go to Calgary. Visit a vampire shall we!”

“We shall!” Willow said.

Of course, it was never that easy. There were a dozen people waiting to talk to me. Three hugs from a very sad Tina, and a Longoria held up by Willis refusing to release a mind orb for her. When it was all settled we finally departed from the main airfield for the Base Roost, and that was a trip in and of itself.

CHAPTER 15

Base Roost was a frigid cutout peak in the mountain. At this elevation, even in the late spring, the area was blanketed in snow. I had to learn that for every thousand feet of elevation the temperature dropped by two. The packed white fluff led me to wanting to know what crazy folks would willingly live up here.

Then I saw who was handling the operations. A herd of shaggy centaur type beast without horns and a wolf’s face were working in the chilly temperatures with frosted breaths. They were far more equipped for the cold than I was in the anfrilia body. My quick study of them seemed to show the sniven enjoying not only the weather, but the work.

I read an overview on the sniven species and it said they loved the cold and being in groups. They were staunch Owlvini Alliance members and we saved a few thousand by bringing them here. Perfect in my books.

The base itself was a supply depot with warehouses, operation towers, and lots of open space for managing unloaded goods. Large open platform sleds dropped off goods and mining materials off to the side. Those were moved over to an underway transport system and into Bastion the goods rapidly went.

There were defenses with turrets on the perimeter, but the guns were fairly sparse and meant to blend in. You would have a hard time seeing this base except from above or if you stumbled onto it. There were a few rapid retreat points and I knew this entrance was secure when we flew up here.

Our dropship had used a well-defended tunnel to reach this point. Base Roost was meant to implode the way down if ever sacked. There was no real point of defending it. Even the outpost the sniven live at was better secured than this place.

One last quick survey and we departed for Calgary. The main force was still assembling into AC66 at Fortress Dome. The mighty airship had left the Cake Gate the same time we had and was now loading up with part of our massive army.

I was struggling to understand how we had so many troops. We literally did not have enough equipment to handle all the new recruits we had. My offer for some people to retire was snatched up. The most surprising was by Mclain. I understood though. He was in love with some fairy babies on the way. I approved all the requests to transfer from active duty to civilian life.

While I sighed over the changes of my nation there was something I desired. I wanted to talk to Larvou. The concept of an alien pacifying a human city under his control impressed and intrigued me. It's not like Calgary was known as sorry Canadians. They were interior people, resilient and tough.

I sat on a comfy long couch with Nancy at my side. Willow was at the commander’s station with Brillian, Rexona, and Omonair. Rexona was the matriarch of the demonix after Gronax died. We needed more diversity in the command station with so many warrior species in our fold now. In due time I had to tell myself.

My eyes shifted to Longoria on the controls flying us north while in her elegant dress. That style made me always want to see her naked. When I glanced over at the two mounamine males working on the radios I felt a pang of sorrow for my little Sammie. I needed to free her from her makeshift prison and nothing would stop me when I had the chance.

The flight of our three drop ships proceeded at speeds I could hardly fathom. Alien technology continued to wow me. I started to research the speed of sound when Nancy put a hand on my lap.

“Yes, dear?” I asked, closing the information display.

“What happens if the portals don’t return?” Nancy asked and I noticed ears perk with side-eyes glancing our direction.

I huffed and left the couch. The front view screen was not real, there was a small actual window while the rest was rendering our environment. We soared rapidly over a forest of trees with the sparse signs of humanity below. I watched the display hesitant to answer her question.

“For us as a family or Bastion as a nation?” I asked.

“Both,” Willow replied, stealing my spot on the couch.

“If the portals do not return. We cleanse the infections of the planet to start. I guess taming the wild is goal number one. Then I would think we move… again unfortunately. It would be for the best. We go to the north or south poles and build mega cities out of the frozen wastelands. I am sure if we can build under the ground to mimic the surface we can do so also on the surface in the snow,” I said, crossing my hands behind my back.

“You would live in the arctic?” Nancy said mulling the concept over. “I get it, fewer Xgates in case they ever do turn back on.”

“That is a general concept and something our technology can manage. At the very least we are nearly immortal on this planet. Not like we will get fat and sit in our mom’s basement. We need to keep working and preparing. Then start expanding again as a… well, not a species but as a group I guess. Assuming we win the battle up there,” I said.

“Yeah, Everly traded me. This mission for the space mission since we only have four mind orbs. And what about our family?” Nancy said with a smack of her lips.

I chuckled at her bouncing eyebrows. “We adapt. We make the most of our lives. I have no idea how I am going to do it, being a dad to so many frightens me. I know you girls think I will be fine, but there are going to be a lot of mini-me’s running around. And if we have no foes keeping us on our back toes those numbers will keep increasing.”

Willow slung an arm around Nancy and said, “I don’t know how many children I want to have. We have opened Pandora’s Box to some extent. I do know with our family we will be just fine.”

There were smiles exchanged and silence settled in the command room. It was not long before I could make out the towering walls of Calgary.

“Calgary City has given us permission to land at a strip they cleared. Larvou is requesting permission to come aboard,” a mounamine said from the communications station.

“Approved,” I said and then turned to my anfrilia general. “Brillian, haul in another couch. I want you and Rexona to sit with us. Omonair, kill our guests if I say to. Or if he is preventing me from giving the order. My guess is he is in a synthetic too.”

“Probably,” Omonair said with a grunt. “He’d be dumb to meet you in a real body.”

Our three drop ships passed through a section of cleared airspace. There were far fewer random species in Calgary than in Bastion. I saw mostly humans and then the odd alien. The bustle was also less chaotic and the platforms were jammed packed with commuters. This told me they had the population but not the infrastructure yet.

That didn’t mean the defenses were lacking. Calgary had military units on full display, manned towers, and even combat aircraft on patrol. How much of it was for show, I’d never know. I did know assaulting Calgary would be painful for our forces.

A second couch was deposited across from the first. I pointed for Brillian and Rexona to sit with Willow and Nancy. I occupied the other couch.

A video on the port side wall showed Larvou coming up with two damsels on his arms. Both exotic vampires with matching black hair and porcelain skin. They wore revealing long dresses that sparkled. They looked so human. It took a moment and eventually only the fangs from happy smiles revealed their true nature. While I preferred Longoria’s regal fashion these ladies were into fancy and it looked great on them. Larvou was in something akin to a tracksuit. He fit the mobster image very well with the matching damsels on his arms. Far more a look of a twenties gangster than an ancient vampire.

The back door swooshed opened and I stood. The ladies left their seats at my action.

“Greetings Emperor Larvou! Welcome aboard my drop ship,” I said with a friendly gesture of open arms. Even if I thought his self-proclaimed title was pompous I saw no harm in using it. His eyes scanned the room and he smiled at what he saw.

“I appreciate the warm welcome. I heard you had spared no expenses on your survival. I sense four synthetics, which this far from your base is worth more than my entire operation. Wow,” Larvou said and his face showed he was actually surprised.

I realized as a bloodsucker he could probably instantly detect whose blood pumped and whose did not. Synthetics had synthetic hearts so maybe it could be termed blood but I got the idea he knew the difference. Ah, he arrived in the flesh, or had a really good synthetic body.

A tension built for a moment that he broke by saying, “Let me introduce my wife and my daughter. This is Yovina my darling wife, and this is Wilma, my daughter.”

“Nice to meet you Yovina, and Wilma. These are my wives, Nancy and Willow. My generals Brillian and Rexona. My commando Omonair. My pilot Longoria. And those are…”

“Dexfer, and Parker,” Nancy said, saving me from not knowing their names. “Come have a seat, you will have to share with his highness, your eminence. Sorry, it is a smaller dropship. Our carrier is being loaded now.”

The vampire sat beside me keeping his ladies on the other side of him.

“So please, let me start by saying we intend to eradicate the scourge that is the horenix. After seeing your army I am confused why you need us though?” I said directly.

“Yes, well. Some of this might be for show,” Yovina replied.

“Mother,” Wilma said with shock.

Larvou waved them down. “Wilma, you have much to learn. Eric here is connected well enough that your mother… we all can take liberties around him we could otherwise not afford. When I told you to expect for him to have unlimited knowledge of us, I meant it.”

I raised a hand and replied, “But I don’t, even though you are correct. I wanted to hear it from you instead of pestering my sources.”

“And what might those -” The father glared at his daughter, halting her talk. “What? Why can’t I ask?”

“Excuse my daughter, she is young and new to politicking. Let me ask first, are you open to trading information?” Larvou asked with a side eye.

Just Daxstar’s head populated on the command hologram suddenly. A mounamine shrieked, not sure which one, but I found the concept of a giant owl causing a mouseman to squeak hilarious. To be fair the head was huge and menacing in its image.

“We will offer you everything about current events soon, as in less than a season’s amount of time. On my honor as an owlvini,” Daxstar said and vanished.

“Umm… So yeah, we are open to information sharing, trading, and general comradery. We have some things in motion that require time before we disclose them,” I said with a shrug.

Larvou clapped his hands together and said, “Let me give you some back story on our family. We come from Porin, a world much larger than this one with far more Xgates. When the motherships showed up to Porin we didn’t fight back, we knew early on we would not win a war against the advanced technology.  Our planet was already overcrowded as it was our capital home world, and I don’t mean with alien constructs. We had built a planet that was all city before entering containment. There was, and is no free space on Porin. Xgate ranges are the only spaces where there are not massive structures. Every Xgate is boxed in with solid defense. Can they be broken? Yes. Are they? Almost never.”

Brillian interrupted with a scoot forward. “That is a common tactic and works well if you do not anger a goliath species. They can stay on your home world and destroy it piece by piece over the ages. Unless you can defeat them. Is Porin new to the containment?”

“A few hundred years, and we adjusted rapidly to alien technology. Even with that we still have lost a few cities and needed to rebuild them. Our militaries are able to flex fairly quickly meaning we… I am getting off topic,” Larvou said. “Porin was extremely overpopulated. When you produce young quickly, run out of room, and do not die easily, you tend to run into problems. So Porin has an initiative. They call it the family expansion. A powerful lord like myself asks for support to expand. Only one per season is chosen and after many rejections, I was accepted. We arrived on Earth with supplies, personnel, and a small army. Happened to be by that gate right over there.” He pointed to the east. “Not far from Calgary.”

Yovani patted her husband’s shoulder to talk next. “We are remarkably close to humans genetically. Frighteningly so. This is our dream of dreams for a new land to settle into. A species we can co-habitat with. A land with ample room for expansion. But… being new to the containment is painful and yet a blessing. We approached Calgary with weapons sheathed. When the pathetic projectile rounds stopped when we requested a parlay.

“After negotiations, demonstrations, and eventually an agreement we settled into Calgary as our home. The changes were rapid and the compromise beneficial to both sides. Because we arrived on the very first season of Earth having portals the number of refugees we accepted was staggering. Still, humans are tough when you give them options that lead to survival. We expanded and grew into what you see today. During a council meeting with human and varmprinian leaders about how to deal with horenix we were synced into your communications network. Willis said you might be able to solve our dilemma.”

I knew what it was but asked anyway. “And that is?”

“We promised to never intentionally kill humans besides for self-defense. We sustain on any blood, and yes blood tastes different. We actually prefer animal blood over sapient blood. Others buy from humans. This was part of our compromise to get inside with open arms. To treat humans as equals and not as food. We were arguing the merits of Kelowna being self-defense when Willis interrupted and said you could fix the problem. We would have won the debate with enough time. With you…” Larvou said, pausing.

“No debate needed with us. We arrived at the same conclusion that the horenix problem is spreading and we will eliminate the growing threat. Do you want to join the mission or would you rather return home?” I noticed that AC66 was en-route for Kelowna.

“We do not have the ability to leave with our synthetics. I appreciate the offer and eagerly await the results. I will be sending a trade delegation soon if that is okay with you?” Larvou said. “Maybe let Wilma visit this Bastion we keep hearing about.”

“That would be lovely,” Willow said. “We have a lot to do even if Bastion is new. I happen to know we have a great zoo. Let me escort you out.”

We said brisk goodbyes and Willow led them out of the dropship. I watched Willow’s figure sway on the way out.

“Not interested in the daughter?” Nancy asked, noticing I had not really ogled her.

I avoided her question and kneeled in front of Rexona. She grew concerned when I reached for her cybernetic hand.

“You should not have this,” I said, recognizing the construct. “So that is why I was not afforded a cybernetic.”

My former hand was extended. Rexona had been silent up to this point. The demonix studied me intently and said, “Sally said it was too short to reattach to you. You shot my hand off, I got a replacement from some fool who kept losing his arm. I didn’t know that fool -”

“Rexona, I find this hilarious but be careful,” Nancy said in a stern tone.

“Losing my arm to save my wife’s life is not foolish. I am glad my hand went to good use. Why are you here?” I asked with a stern tone.

“When General Brillian takes the field I am to assist with operations,” Rexona said and I pointed for the command station.

“Then go populate Kelowna. Longoria, prepare us for departure,” I ordered.

When I walked to the holographic table the image of Calgary faded and was replaced by Kelowna. The exterior of the city was firing automated turrets at our drones. A camera view would short out only to be replaced a second later.

“So they know we’re coming,” I said to Brillian.

“That is my plan, your grace,” she replied. “We’ve already established a release. Four lucky souls are being released.”

“Denied,” I replied. “Now tell me why Brillian.”

“I’d rather not fight with the portals on,” Brillian said in a sour tone. “I agree, we could free more if the portals fail to flare blue. If they do though that will make our chance of a third opponent infinitely greater. The guaranteed four is better than hundreds dead from a bad fight. There are two Xgates near Kelowna and infinite possibilities I can’t plan for. If we fight now I got one foe and a great plan.”

“Okay, glad you understand. I’m ordering you to take the risk. As your king, I have information you do not. Siege Kelowna from a distance. Let nothing in or out,” I said, drawing a large circle around the city. “Their offer will change in twenty four hours.”

“Twenty four hours?” Brillian tilted her head. “Oh, oh!”

“Yup, not for certain. But do you agree with my plan now?”

“I guess I need to visit the VirtaBox. May I before we entrench the enemy.  A general and a duchess needs the proper details,” Brillian asked politely.

Omonair who was a blunt instrument of death said the obvious thing, “The portals are not coming online are they?”

“Probably not, and that extends the amount of knowledge you would glean. I promise after the battle you can visit,” I said to them both.

“Very well. Parker, order AC66 to invade Vancouver full assault. Kill any horenix they can and contain all survivors. Push the surviving horenix north east back to Kelowna. No sense in having to set two sieges. We start there where the infection is at its smallest,” Brillian said in a grim tone.

“Yes, General,” Parker replied before disseminating information.

“We will contain their main source of new bodies for their young. That will halt the spread the fastest. Hopefully, Vancouver is going to be an easy win,” Brillian said and I scoffed. “What?”

We had an incredible force. I was sure she would carry us to victory. However, I populated Vancouver on the map and there were the waterways, the bridges, and the congested housing. My time in Vancouver had been tagging along with my dad on a business trip to Whistler. We drove down the mountain, over a tone of bridges, and eventually into the city. The place was great if you wanted to get around by boat or air. On the ground, well that was a different story.

“Good, time for you to witness what the new forces of Bastion can do,” Brillian said and I grumbled.

“Come to me my love, let her work the field of battle. Let me tell you about the children's names I was thinking about,” Nancy said, popping a champagne bottle. “You want a drink or you want to work Willow?”

“I’d love to have a drink. Can we get drunk in these bodies?” Willow asked and Longoria chuckled. “Well, out with it fellow fairy!”

“No, you cannot, and save a glass for me, we will enter a hover soon enough. Brillian is going to wait for the Xgates to flare before assaulting Vancouver,” Longoria said and Brillian shrugged.

“Wouldn’t you?” the general asked and I nodded.

There was no doubt in my mind that is what I would do. Wait to know what is happening first. Give your forces times to assemble, adjust, and plan. It was the right call.

“General Brillian, you have command,” I said.

“I have command. For the community.”

“For the community.” The room echoed.

I left the war-gaming table and went to Nancy.

“I’d love a glass. How about you tell me all about the names you like?” I said plopping into the spot beside her on the couch.

The next wee bit of time went by in a hurry. When we posted over a place called Richmond we found a little slice of eastern Asia in western Canada. We invited a diplomat up to discuss Bastion while we waited for the Xgates to lift up and shine blue. When the timer hit zero I anxiously watched a parked Xgate with our guest and my lovely ladies.

What I saw was a mix of sadness and joy.

CHAPTER 16

The mid afternoon sun blasted down onto the alien constructs. Five minutes turned into ten and that transitioned into an hour. When nothing happened we sent the delegation from Richmond home to start packing their things. A few thousand souls were eager to join our metropolis. Open sleds and non-combat crews were already on the way.

A full hour and a half beyond when the Xgates should have gone blue the constructs were patiently waiting inert in their towering ways.

So I had mixed feelings and was predicting at any moment they could flare up late. And why not, they had done so before. That is until the unthinkable happened.

Nancy spat her bubbly, my jaw dropped, and Willow said, “Fuck me.”

We watched the wall broadcasting our drone footage. In unison, the Xgates of Vancouver fell over. As in crashed into the ground with an earth shaking crash. I was so stunned I sat there silent. My taps on my Gpad flung Xgate 232 and 201 onto the screen. Knocked over also. I was sorting through every Xgate trying to find one upright when there was an irritated voice in my ear.

“Eric, you hearing me?” Daxstar said with a snap of his beak that caused me to wince.

“Yeah, I am here, so that just happened,” I said to the owl.

“This will not fix itself overnight. They have unchained the main black hole from the network. This means the divines want time to properly prepare for this war, which is horrible news. We have armadas, legions, and devoted warriors waiting to fight across the universe. They did the best thing they could, buy themselves time,” Daxstar said in defeat. I think the ancient owl called me to vent.

“So… the mothership?” I asked.

“Is a fraction clone. A mind that is supposed to be devoid of most thought. Capable of basic commands. This will trigger a new set of reactions assuming it wasn’t tampered with. Which we’re thinking it was. The mothership will go aggressive if approached. Unfortunately, that means we can’t deceive it with the containment down. There will be a nasty fight in space to eliminate it,” Daxstar said with a sigh that was long and sad.

“And the pink gates?” I asked.

“Your assault was not the only plan. Arixon is not far from where the orbital was. In a few years, the fleet that defeated the orbital will be rotated to Arixon and smash the planet from space. The sad part is those we killed on the orbital will be reborn in time. They will escape, and build a new secure base elsewhere. While we did not lose, we certainly did not win. I can’t express how aggravated I am that eons of planning just went into chaos,” Daxstar said with despair.

I knew better than to chuckle or antagonize. I used a softer voice and said, “Daxstar, we both know the enemy never lays down and dies. They will react. So my question to you is, what do we do to react to this?”

“Oh, for here on Earth? Because that is all we can affect for a while. We’ve two options. As an advisor to the king let me give you them both. Option A is to build a space fleet and use starbusters to generate black holes for distance jumping. Time to complete would be about a hundred years. Option B is preparing for eventual space travel but focusing on defenses. I expect the enemy to eventually get the Xgates working when they are ready, and that amount of time is unknown. I recommend Option B with some of Option A.”

“Can we melt sections of the arctic?” I asked.

“Oh, we can move the Xgates since they are powered off. Wherever we move them to, the Xgates will roam and if they are too close together they will naturally spread. Even the divines can’t change that without physically returning the Xgates,” Daxstar said with a pause. “Give me a moment. I will call you back. I need to put myself in Seetheus’s shoes and talk with Ovinious.”

“Who is Ovinious?” I asked but Daxstar had already closed the connection.

All eyes were on me. This didn’t change a whole lot for the short term. We still had an army to defeat and then a spaceship to contend with. My hard gaze at Brillian was more than enough to spur her into action. I walked behind her wings to watch her command the battlefield.

“All forces this is General Brillian. Execute cleanse Northern Vancouver,” Brillian said.

The map showed a battle line of fighters staged at the ready. Suddenly the aircraft leaped into action. My initial thought as blue orbs slammed into fancy houses in North Vancouver was all the loot we were incinerating. Then I remember that it didn’t count anymore. There was a corner tear in my eye for all the ruined lazy boys and I fully intended to do some furniture looting later.

The horenix had apparently infiltrated up to Vancouver Harbour and not crossed it. Eh, those darn Canadians spelled harbor wrong. I let it stay that way on the map. The fact the horenix isolated themselves to upper Vancouver would make salvaging in this destroyed city easier. The northern part of Vancouver proceeded to be pummeled without a defense. The horenix here were acquiring bodies and starting to create a base.

I reflected on how the city fared since the fall of the Xgates while the city was obliterated.

The first threat Vancouver had fought was a shark army and up until this last blue cycle as they had maintained a presence in the local waters. This was a first for me to see. A universal nomadic pod, or was it tribe. Eh, pod worked. Where they went I had no idea. The video footage of them revealed the shark people had arms but a shark body. They could talk, but not walk, and when they used a sled on land they were horrid at fighting. There was a video of literal homeless people pushing a shark off its sled and stealing its ride while the others gutted it.

While they dominated the seas there were a few raiders hitting the city. The problem was the Vancouver greater area was expansive, and a pain to get around. Not that this stopped the invaders, in all honestly Vancouver was lucky. They were raided by a long-necked humanoid with spots. They probably captured most of the passive population. The reality is Vancouverites sheltered in place. They hid in closets, under beds, and in trees sometimes. It paid off because after a month of surviving we arrived.

Well, not the northern ones. They became trapped zombies in internal torture. So, a small loss, but the big victory was that there was a large number of people alive. And I saw them scurrying around to watch our alien designed ships obliterate their neighbor’s homes. I was wondering if we would get a call of surrender or something.

A white flag would work. These were aliens with no defenses. Not like they sent their little hatchlings with a care package of armor and weapons to attach to their new human body.

After twenty minutes of the cleanse there were still additional residences, warehouses, and businesses left to destroy. General Brillian paused to let the nitrogen flames cool. The new generators sure did pack a punch.

“Thoughts,” Willow asked me.

“I was hoping Daxstar would have called me back by now. Vancouver is miraculous. I mean of the megacities on the coast they were spared the most. I figure it was only time before a horenix or Jarod destroyed their old lives. I do wonder what happened to those sirens who fled north,” I said folding my arms watching the video.

A heat scan pinged out. The destruction was still too hot to get a good reading. A few minutes and it should return a proper scan of what remained.

“Those sirens were not dumb. If the shark people were here maybe they fought. Their disappearance is around the same time as our fight. However, that could have been them fleeing to a new watery home before the golden portal. As for the sirens, what would you do, Eric?” Nancy said joining the conversation.

“I would go north. Loot a few things, hit the market, and then go west with better gear,” I said gaming it out. “Or try to find Jarod. The problem is the sharks are a great example. Our oceans are literally deserts of open space for aquatic species. The orca, arguably our greatest sea predator, would not stand a chance against an aqua suit. Maybe a giant squid. My point is we have zero ideas what new monsters lurk in the deep.”

“Not going to lie, sea monsters freak me out,” Willow said and we bobbed heads in agreement. “So what next?”

“What do you mean?” Nancy replied with a playfully snarky tone. “It is obvious. Slow push north, then negotiate -”

“I mean with the Xgates turning offline, Nancy. Sassy much,” Willow quipped and I knew they were playing.

A fresh heat signature revealed a few huddled residents with hundreds fleeing northwest. Time to dig out some survivors.

I heard Brillian order, “Lock on remain targets.”

“Belay that. You’re doing a superb job General Brillian. We’re not in a rush. Assault those hot spots. I want to try something,” I said and turned to the view screen.

The armada pushed across the Vancouver Harbor to settle over the remaining heat spots.

“What’re you doing?” Nancy said as I went for the door.

“Going to negotiate or rescue some people. You want to come or brood about me leaving,” I said with a teasing smirk. She chucked the empty booze bottle forcing me to catch it.

“Last one out the door gives a back massage,” Nancy said, leaping off the couch and through the first hatch.

Aw, I got played. Even Willow was through the door with her fairy wings. I went to a side window and let in the spring air. When I chucked the bottle it pinged off some destroyed rubble refusing to break. Double aw. I was not sure why I loved hearing glass break, but I did.

I walked over to Longoria. “Look at me, my fairy queen,” I said to her single raised eyebrow at my tone. “You wear that dress flawlessly. It… On topic. We do not matter. These mind orbs do. Even if they are not as vital as they were. You let us die before you let this get captured.”

“We will lift off as soon as your slow butt is out. That was the plan. Mitchell is on his way over with Jevon securing those fleeing on foot,” Longoria said pointing to the holographic table and General Brillian.

“Sorry General. I know how much I would hate me ruining your clean victory. The execution was flawless and the outcome was as desired, keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, King Eric. Um… Sir. Are we trapped on this empty planet?” Brillian said cautiously.

I looked at a frowning Omonair and Rexona who were watching our conversation. I sighed and waved them with me.

“Come we’ll walk and talk while Longoria will protect the minds. You’re in acrium with wings, if you die to a six inch bug I will literally… do nothing. Karma's a bitch and I don’t want to die to a little alien brain sucker,” I said, waving them with me. Brillian went to complain but followed when I shot her a hard glare she resisted saying her comment. “Short answer is yes, you're stuck here. So I haven’t asked this yet. Where did you three come from?”

They looked at each other to see who should go first. We stopped at the weapons rack and geared up. I picked some sort of medium sized machine gun. The blue power it held arced inside the containment eager to be unleashed. I grinned at the sight, the rifle felt perfect in my larger arms. My other weapons were back at the castle. Hmm… back at the house just didn’t sound right.

“You in love?” Rexona said. “I won’t judge you. I got a thing for big guns too, and no, my queens, not flirting.” Willow and Nancy were giving curious inspections of Rexona. “I literally like big weapons. You should see my room.”

That seemed to placate my lovely wives. I certainly was not on the hunt for new wives to bear my children. I was, however, wanting some answers.

“In love, definitely, with these two gorgeous babes. That is not why I dragged you out of the command station,” I said stepping through a fifth open hatchway. Defending this DS66 would be just about the worst. So many choke points for both sides. “You were all purchased. From where?”

Omonair went first and said, “Owlvini master Ordan placed my elite unit on auction knowing another Owlvini would be purchasing me. He emphasized this would be the most important mission of my life. So far it has been killing a simple brain bug and watching this one's rear.”

He pointed at Rexona and I stifled my laugh. Rexona smirked and went next.

“I was caught raiding a human planet, the blue skin kind. We flew into an invisible sticky wall. The whole unit became trapped when the first of us busted the pins connecting the maddening clear stuff. We were placed on auction until Willis purchased me and now I am here,” Rexona said.

Brillian cleared her throat and said, “There are forty-four thousand anfrilia in Bastion. Our home was an immense series of spires; their architecture so astounding only the creator themself could ever envision. I defended Comar for countless years. Our defenses aided by the goliaths such as the owlvini and divine-apes. Our victories were sound and our foes piled high in their body count. I am a devout believer that the all-mighty creator is the only being worthy of praise and the divines are not gods. So I gleefully slay those who call them such. I am guessing since the Xgates are inactive I can speak freely. I was told I would get the mission of all missions. We’re but one branch in a thousand trying to achieve the same goal. Destroy Arixon and end the rule of the divines.”

We reached the outside of the aircraft. The slow pace of our progression caused our boots to echo in the enclosed space. When I stepped outside I saw infantry suits securing the area. Soldiers were digging into a crumpled building for those trapped below. I wasn’t above helping, but the mechanical servos were doing the literal heavy lifting.

“Did you come here to die?” I asked the three of them.

My eyes went to each of them slowly and I heard two no’s and a yes. I turned to Omonair and pointed to the sky. “Do you want to fight the last thing we can that is a creation of the divines?” I asked. He shrugged, nodded, and grunted in what I assumed was a yes. “There is death up there, maybe, but not guaranteed. Or you can choose life and children down here. Have you had children?”

There was a wince from Brillian and a dropped jaw from Rexona. “No. Soldiers are not allowed to have families, it has been found to cloud a warrior’s true mettle. If we breed, we forfeit our warrior status. That was an offensive question but I am a smart demonix. One does not ask if I am willing to die and tests my prowess and then calls me a coward by asking if I had children.”

I gestured palms up in a ‘you got me’ manner. “I asked where you came from, and what you want to do because our lives are going to change. I want to build an army so grand that we can travel the stars with it. So that one day when the Xgates go upright we find those gate worshiping assholes and kill them all. We will need good demonix like you for when that day comes.”

“I like that idea more than dying against a machine,” Omonair said and I burst into long laughter.

“Aw, what joke did I miss?” Mitchell said, waving hello as he arrived. “Was it a sex body joke? Hey, who goes to war in a sex body? Joe Momma!”

Nancy found this hilarious and the aliens gave the duo odd stares as they cracked up.

“One second Mitchell. Omonair. I want you to fight with me down the line. That means there will be a long peace. A time where we need additional soldiers. Can you breed and then keep being a warrior with a king’s decree?” I asked.

Mitchell went to insert a smartass comment but a pointed warning finger from Willow stilled his tongue.

“You would honor me so?” Omonair asked.

“Of course you brought me the brain bug’s eye,” I replied and Brillian was looking concerned. Rexona's eyes were widening.

“Then I request a boon to create offspring with a mate of my choosing,” Omonair said awkwardly.

Rexona was trying to tell me no, but I ignored her and said, “As King Eric, of the Bastion Nation, of the Owlvini Alliance, I grant Omonair the right to choose a mate and create offspring.”

Omonair scooped Rexona up who squeaked.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” I asked as he turned to leave.

He retreated into the dropship while saying, “Making babies” The door hissed shut behind him.

“I goofed didn’t I?” I asked no one in particular.

Brillian shrugged. “She could do worse. Most of the demonix are dumb as rocks. He uses advisors. They’ll have a dukedom somewhere else. Their young are insanely violent and must, I repeat must, be kept separate. So it's a given anyway that she would find a mate. You just hurried the process, not ruined it. Notice how she didn’t complain. I swear I saw her smiling. Mating is normally prohibited because the children are such assholes and the process so violent.”

I rubbed my temples and sent a message to Perci. ‘Figure out where the demonix will live long term. Updates to follow.’ - Hubbydabest.

“Mitchell, got good news?” I asked grumbling at how Perci controlled my names on the network still.

“Yes and no.” He walked away for us to follow. “The good news is a family of four was not infected. A medical scarybear did a proper examination. When they screamed from the fright of virum inserting into their skin he put them under. Malnourished, but they will be fine,” Mitchell said with a pause. “Right, so the horenix are assholes. Be ready for that.”

We approached three humans on their knees. An East Indian couple with a daughter who was no older than eight. They were silent at our approach. Their guards tensed as I neared.

From my research, the host was not any stronger from the combined form. I had almost four feet and two hundred pounds on the father. Still, I was proud of my troops. My trip around the three showed they were all infected.

“Do you work as a hive mind?” I asked knowing the answer was no. My question was nothing more than a simple test.

“Fucking idiot?” The daughter said and spat at me.

I whipped my weapon to point between her eyes and she paused before saying, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Willow we should go,” Nancy said from behind me.

I walked around the body and pointed at the horenix. “Let me say this. You’re torturing that little girl. Either I end her torture by killing you both. Or you let her go and you live. Even a fucking idiot can understand that. You got to the count of three. One -”

“Hurray the retard can -”

“Two, and three.”

I shot the horenix and killed the duo. The body crumpled forward and the alien legs fell to the ground. I walked to the mother. “I know you can let the bodies live, you have to the count of three.”

“Wait!” the father shouted. “They will kill you for killing their daughter. I can read his mind. Let us go and she will never hatch another child.”

“One,” I said with a pause. “Two. Three.”

My round tore through the horenix and both died again.

“Why are you doing this? You’re killing your own kind,” the father screamed.

“I have it from a very good source that you trap and torment your host. Even if you can play nice with your host, you would let them go if you were not an asshole parasite. But you’re a dick species. So I’m not killing them any more than when I removed your brethren occupying Northern Vancouver. This is to free this family to a better place. One, two, -”

The horenix detached and fled.

“Kill it!” I shouted.

It died from about three hundred rounds of fire as every guard and trooper around unloaded.

The father’s lifeless body was sprawled with his arms apart. His eyes were left open and glazed over in death. Little asshole horenix killed him and then tried to run. I knew how this went. It was going to be a slog to get through Kelowna. Exactly the kind my soulless heart could handle.

CHAPTER 17

“Oh, Daxstar, glad to see your face. We’ve been worried you were overly distraught,” I said from my comfy spot on the couch. The dropship screen was occupied in a creepily huge display of massive golden eyes glaring at me.

I adjusted the image to keep watching Vancouver as it was being secured. The survivors crawling out of their hiding spots finally realized they were being rescued en mass. That was great and fantastic with very few downsides.

The captured horenix were another story. Three. Only three let go of hosts without killing them as they tried to retreat into any hiding they could find. While those three gave me hope for the majority it was a brutal mess and now we were in the slow process of evacuating people before storming Kelowna.

“Who me? I’m an ancient ornery bird and you needn’tof ever become distraught over my mental acuity. As to your earlier question, Ovinious is Goldie. The divine cares very little about his true name. So you want the good news or the bad news?” Daxstar asked impatiently.

I was going to go into a tangent but I could tell he was still brooding over his ancient plans unfolding with the Xgates suddenly going offline.

“Let’s go with the good, I got shitty news from Vancouver, and it’s going to get worse with Kelowna I predicted,” I said.

Daxstar shifted from my Gpad to the wall display. He used the image to populate a rendering of the world. The map showed all eighteen thousand Xgates highlighted in blue. From this scale, they seemed to take up so little space.

“We’re constructing Xgate movers capable of only needing a team of three to operate. The first ones could be done if we start tomorrow. We’d have to hold back other programs?” Daxstar paused when I held a hand up.

“The up high project on hold or military stuff like fighters and walkers?” I asked.

“Military fighters would get delayed by a few days if we shifted now. The reward of moving the Xgates is far more tempting than a few flying tanks. You want me to shift to Xgate movers?” Daxstar asked and I nodded. That was enough for him and he continued. “They’re going to the south pole. We’re moving them all into a pile at the very tip, which will lead to a fantastic distance between us and the Xgates when they start roaming.”

Nancy stood to pace while digesting this news. “That means we’d have the continent to ourselves. Even goliath species would struggle to reach us at our home quickly without a lot of support equipment,” she said with a loud huff.

“Before you ask, we’re going to take Bastion above ground! We can do that now. The cavern will always be a fallback. To properly secure an upper settlement will take years not weeks and the sheer distance from the Xgates we can safely live on the surface. These zoo animals will become more of a safari. All great things so far,” Daxstar said with a fake smile.

Willow excitedly said, “This is fantastic. I… that’s amazing. I bet Perci is over the moon.”

“Well, there have been very positive results from the citizens as expected. We literally got to tell them the fighting is somewhat over for now. As imagined the Teton Fortress is eager to return to their old ways. So there is going to be some pushback and they are already saying they own the United States of America in its entirety,” Daxstar said and I laughed.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Who me, what makes you think I’d do something?”

“Daxstar you’re ancient, getting told who owns what by a pompous asses will always deserve some trolling,” I said knowing he would get the reference.

The owl hooted out a laugh. “Fine, I may have moved a building printer in front of their only large exit… and the small ones too. There are statues of you blocking their way. Will take them longer to clear than to ask for help. Which without the golden gates they will need. Side note we may have some happy accidents happen to ensure a peaceful future,” Daxstar’s tone had shifted to grim.

“Ugh, Daxstar I have never killed a person in… never mind. I have killed people in all sorts of ways. We’ll talk about that later because the fact that Teton Fortress is contained is good. I want them to ask for help. I want the residents to know their leaders are in fact powerless,” I said with a grunt.

“Moving along, there will be people wanting to be free again. They gave up a lot of their freedoms and based on our analysis there will be problems. Over time humans will begin to call it a conspiracy that the Xgates will flare up again and that we are forever safe. Not good or bad news really. We have a large enough gene pool that even ten percent leaving would be fine,” Daxstar said so matter of factly.

Willow snorted and said, “Send them to Australia!”

We rolled our eyes. “And the bad news?” Nancy asked.

“Immediately very little. I still have more good news really. Not right away, but eventually we can move Mars into orbit. Same with the moon you call Titan. Both rocks are great candidates for expansion. So instead of giving the rowdy bunch a continent, a planet would be better,” Daxstar said with a hooting sigh. “And given time we can move all but one of the portals into the sun, or a few. This has changed a lot for how everything… well… is.”

Images of the planets entering the goldilocks zone were rendered on the screen. Hundreds of small ships dragged the planets near and then cycled them into an orbit. The screen shifted to ships rocketing off the Earth for the asteroid belt. Mining was in full swing with orbitals processing materials.

“This is the future. We will shift mining to asteroids and living on multiple planets. The old ways are gone. You now have the ability to touch the stars, and literally destroy them. Eventually, an enemy fleet can arrive but again the good news is we’re on the edge of the established universe. Earth is a distant planet that would take five jumps and we’re hardly a prime target. At the time of the collapse, the recording will show this planet had almost zero manufacturing output or input. The Xgates track what goes in and out and we should be fine, but better to prepare. So our side knows where to hit generally speaking and the number is in the tens of thousands of divine planets. This was supposed to be a long two sided slugfest, but it has been delayed.”

I grunted for attention. “Basically we’re free of aliens for how long?”

“Ah, so the bad news even though there is a whole lot to cover. Unknown. Early estimates are ten years but that is extremely unlikely. Properly preparing puts the enemy at a hundred to a thousand. Think about it, Eric,” Daxstar said with a pause. “Let me step it back so you actually can. The divines are run by an orb master named Seetheus. He was the council leader who rallied the defeated forces, coined the concept to merge with an AI, and then reconquered what was lost. All the strategies this mind has implemented have never been rushed. He is methodical and cunning. Sure we outplayed him with a surprise attack. This was supposed to transition to his death and his demise on Arixon. He escaped both and sidelined our maneuvers by shutting down the Xgates.”

I tapped my chin. “I don’t need to think very hard here Daxstar. Seetheus achieved what he did through guile and ingenuity. He will build forces appropriate to counter what you have. If he controls -” Hmm… “All we can do is clean up our house and prepare.”

“Pretty much we’re stuck in this together and therein lies the bad news. There are going to be some growing pains. And when those growing pains are resolved there will be feuds. It’ll be exceedingly hard to keep violence from occurring if demonix are not given a foe. We’ll need death by combat and arg.” He grunted in frustration. “The sheer fact is we never planned for this. And what I am trying to say is the demonix thirst for war is not the problem. The problem is that the moment the Xgates turn back on, we will be underprepared for whatever new things they throw at us. I know, we can create our own new, but this was all supposed to go differently.”

“Hey Daxstar,” I said trying to get his gloomy rambling to halt. “I get it, and we will make the most of it. I’m sorry you are here alone.”

“Yeah, the rebel divines all are in the VirtaBox, good conversationalists to the last. Speaking of which, I’ve tried to come up with a clever tactic to defeat the horenix but failed. Even the greatest minds in the universe have no good answer for you besides to lay out the facts and hope they release more than four. Not likely but we’re sending a few plans for you to go over. General Brillian is a genius and already has a few solid ideas ready to go. The horenix, unfortunately, would rather go down fighting in bodies than as little insects,” Daxstar said in a somber tone. “As a species there is little we actually know beside reports. They generally flee when cornered and always try to leave to a new Xgate to continue their cycle.”

“Thanks for trying,” I said knowing what had to be done. “The last thing left to do is to talk with them.”

“I think it’ll be a waste of time, but applaud your diligence. I have infinite amounts of work to get done and I just want to take a nap. Actually, I’ll do that and hopefully be less sour when I awake,” Daxstar said and closed the connection.

We sat there in silence. Willow didn’t let his attitude keep her down.

“This is fantastic. We can build a whole new castle out of proper marble, and it will be amazing. We live in one castle while we create a majestic masterpiece for the ages. A new castle so grand it reminds Brillian of her home. There will be so much space. We go back to the normalcy I have dreamed of,” Willow said and Nancy snuggled into her. “You excited?”

Longoria joined us from the pilot’s station and said, “This will have profound results that will be hard to gauge for generations. He did not expect the enemy to reopen the Xgates any time soon. I look forward to rearing many children and have also dreamed of this opportunity.”

“Peace… It is so hard to believe it is happening. I thought there would be some desperate attempt to blow up the planet and we all live after the hero dies. At least that is how it goes in the movies,” Nancy said.

“It is not peace. We have not even reached where your parents were last known to be. There are infestations on this planet. And when the Xgates turn back on there is a foe preparing. We must do the same and we’re saddled with damn humans,” I said venting my frustrations.

“You dislike your species?” Omonair said from the command station with Rexona snuggled into him.

“Yes, they’re idiots if you study them as a whole. Humans kill themselves by smoking cigarettes, they destroy the planet when they cut down forests to earn more coin for growing crops, they repeat tragedies over and over, and we will get a ton of issues living in peace. Throughout our history. war has unified humans into common practices. In five years people will be saying this was not that bad. In twenty, when the new generation grows up, the parents will be dumb idiots and everything they say is propaganda. I am merely venting, I too wish there was a mega battle where we won and could relax. That, however, is likely not going to happen anytime soon. Instead, I’ll have to stress and debate when or what happens next.”

“I think I partially understand. You’re young are troublesome, we too have this problem,” Omonair said and I held my tongue. That was close enough. Sure our young did lack the self-control to inhibit violence but they were a pain in the ass. Generationally speaking. Troublesome meddling youths was a saying for a reason.

“Forgive me, ladies. If you noticed none of that was aimed at your or our peaceful life. Merely at the impending headaches on the horizon. Speaking of which,” I said, ensuring I had Brillian’s attention. “You ready to crush Kelowna?”

“We have their leader on hold if you want to talk to them. Called when you were mentioning how dumb humans were,” Dexfer said with a chuckle from the communications station.

“Go ahead Brillian,” I said, handing off the conversation I did not want to have.

“They requested you specifically,” Dexfer noted.

I stomped over to the communications station and pressed the talk button on the digital display.

“This is King Eric,” I said with a dry bored tone.

“This is Manager Si-nac, I see you have my forces surrounded and with superior technology. We surrender,” Si-nac said and I frowned. “What are your terms?”

“Wait one,” I said. They understood my saying, which angered me. I muted the radio and turned to the others. “I’m going to be honest here. I was just planning on watching Brillian execute her strategy and removing the threat. I’m not prepared to negotiate a surrender nor do I want these creatures in our home.”

“We can contain them, your grace,” Longoria said, stepping up to the map of Kelowna and adding a big wall around it. “Then force them to fight when the time comes.”

I frowned and Brillian answered for me. “They’d betray us the first chance they could, not a good idea. I say trade them animal bodies and give them a range to live on. It is better than death, you get the human bodies, and they get to live.”

Nancy joined the small table and gave her input by saying, “Then they plop out a bunch of babies and reproduce in hiding or amass a mighty invasion and then we’re caught off guard. Humanity has enough to keep the gene pool going to start giving out freedoms to infestations. This horenix invasion is fairly evil by all standards.”

“Have you thought about asking what they are offering?” Willow said pointing to the mute button.

I walked over to the communications table. “Manager Si-nac, we were not expecting a surrender. I was hoping to blast you and Kelowna to bits. I’m in a very foul mood. The Xgates are never coming back online,” I said in a gruff voice. “I hope you rationalize we’re stuck on this planet together forever.”

“We concur, we normally use hosts to reproduce and then move onto the next target. We never settle, it’s bad for our kind as we are always hunted. I’d like to not die forever.” When Si-nac said this I chuckled. Duh, no one likes to die forever. That got me thinking; before I could use the pause to my advantage the voice continued. “We have studied who we are facing. You’re known among your kind as a hero of sorts. False narrative. You’re a monster like us, a survivor. We respect that.”

I wanted to complain at the monster tag, but I did just shoot a little girl from behind. She was dead anyway, but her death was on my hands.

“What’re you proposing for your ideal terms of surrender?” I asked.

“You isolate us and all our females have their eggs removed,” Si-nac said.

“Not even close, try again,” I said without hesitation.

“Fine, but I have a problem,” Si-nac said. When I held my reply back they continued. “I will not be able to control my full settlement. We have some that are very different. They’ll suicide if I force them into sentient bodies over sapient.”

“You would take dogs?” I asked.

“Ideally, we can talk with them still, breed naturally and then breed horenix young to control the puppies after they reach a certain maturity. We get a section of land dedicated to us to use as we see fit, and yes, we understand we will not tunnel out,” Si-nac said. “My big issue is the fact that we have a rogue faction. I can only do so much with them.”

“Wait for one minute,” I said muting the radio. “What the fuck?” My muttering was heard by the others.

“How do we handle this?” Willow said, pausing to bite her lip deep in thought. “He is obviously not telling the truth. I know a lie when I hear one. This is either a stall tactic or he is up to something.”

“We have to let these two sides fight it out and jump in on one side,” Nancy said guessing a showdown was coming.

Longoria, Omonair, and Brillian shook their heads no. They hated that idea and I did too. I did enjoy being a surprise force but this was not a fight it out scenario until it was on our terms. We held every advantage.

“We offer surrender or nothing. Let them sort their internal problems. If you go in they can break containment. Watch, they will call for -”

The display map showed blue fire arching between buildings. Orbs streaked across the sky smashing structures and raining debris. Two locations were firing relentlessly at each other. It wasn’t hard to see the damage was superficial. The heat signatures were being washed out.

“King Eric, we’re -” I muted the incoming transmission.

Brillian broadcast to our forces, “I expect that they are trying to rush the lines and escape if we engage. Monitor all avenues diligently. Let nothing get by,” she said and then pointed to two chokepoints on the north and south sides of Okanagan Lake. “The fine mesh netting will catch them. I had enough time to prepare a proper siege. Oh, imagine that. The fighting stopped.”

We watched the internal conflict fizzle into nothing. I unmuted the radio connection to Si-nac. When the fighting dissipated we pinged the area with heat signatures. A hundred dead bodies laid on the docks. The water gave very little details and I suspected these were ejected bodies. Yup, I saw no horenix on the dead. We waited for the eventual call.

“King Eric, did you perish?” Si-nac asked.

“No, we had an attempt to breach the siege, you must’ve had a rebel contingent. We trapped them though,” I said waiting for a reply. “I take it you have the situation under control?”

“We have it under control indeed. We’ll surrender but we want bears instead of dogs,” Si-nac said with a snarky tone.

“Give me a good faith show and release a hundred people. You just had your rebels kill a hundred,” I said with snide reply.

“Do you have a hundred thousand bears for us to occupy?” Si-nac asked with hostility.

“Let me make something very clear. You’ll never, ever be free. You’re either dead or my prisoners. Choose carefully, I want a hundred humans freed and you will take fucking rabbits if I offer them to you!” I said letting my rage slip. This was all a farce. “I’m muting the comms. A hundred freed souls or we level Kelowna. You have five minutes. Actions speak louder than words.”

There was a reply that tried to get through that I cutoff.

“You think they know you won’t give them five minutes?” Willow said with a chuckle.

Omonair grunted and said, “I like your negotiating style.”

I grumbled and kept my retort in check. I needed to just end this and go soak in a hot tub. In my real skin too, stay in there until it gets wrinkly. Something relaxing to the point I could rethink this whole long-term no Xgate problem and come to a clear consensus.

I typed Willis a message.

‘When are we going after the mothership?’ - King Eric

‘If you want to fly home too, 3 days.’ - Willis

‘And a one-way trip?’ - King Eric

‘Now. But chances of failure would be very high.’ - Willis

‘3 days it is,’ - King Eric

“Does this bore you?” Longoria asked from behind me.

“Huh, yes. It does. They won’t send a hundred. It is logical. It makes sense. But they are not a hive mind. They’re a scheming race that literally never surrenders. See,” I said pointing to the video. Four confused people started to walk to the edge of a park heading toward our siege lines.

“They’re testing you. They sent all old men too,” Rexona said.

I unmuted the button, “Goodbye Si-nac. You had your chance. I hope your species truly is eradicated from the universe. Idiot.”

“How rude, we cannot become slaves to drooling animals. I hope you understand,” Si-nac said and blue orbs laced into the four humans trying to leave Kelowna.

I muted the communications and went to my couch. I didn’t need to say anything. Again, there was nothing to say. Life had changed for those people the moment they were infected.

“Commence Operation Cage Rattle,” Brillian said to the army at her call.

I flicked on the side screen to watch events unfold.

The blue fire raced into the city in orbs so large single shots crippled buildings.

Our TG99s with their new power output was almost too much.

In mass, the orbs shot across the distance hungrily aiming for specific targets. The devastation was incredible and yet precise. I did see a few shields holding up for mere moments before flickering in exhaustion.

Suddenly movement caught my eye. Yes! I fist-pumped into the air while making ready for the exit.

The thirty thousand or so horenix fled bodies desperate to make the water. How many had fled I would not know but thousands were dumping into the lake in a scurrying hurry.

“Plan Charlie in effect, I say again, execute Charlie,” General Brillian said over the radio.

This was our least likely scenario for the enemy to take, but all battles were chaos. I had thought they would rush our lines in mass and try to surge past a point. Hell, I had used that tactic myself. Nope, they decided to flee bodies and go deep into Lake Okanagan. Just like that, I knew I was going to get to have some fun.

CHAPTER 18

Across the fleet, dropships surged forward. The fire from our artillery halted as its phase of the operation came to a conclusion. The last blue orbs blasted into building with a savagery.

Operation Cage Rattle was an assault from the land side of Kelowna towards the water. The open salvos were meant to destroy empty buildings and lookouts to flex our might. The goal was simple, get the foe to react in a way that led to an easier victory. That had been an overwhelming success because those little leeches were fleeing without bodies.

The sight was glorious as the majority of the horenix were trying to persevere in the depths of the lake.

Squadrons of FP02s strafed the lake’s shore with torrential amounts of raw energy. The horenix were like lemmings, committed to their course of action. They died in staggering numbers as their bodies were eviscerated into ash. The orbs crashing against the shore never abated and besides the first few waves none were reaching the water.

My smile grew when I saw dropships hovering over the lake. Aqua suited warriors crossed legs as they leaped into the depths with sonar on. There was no safe place for the enemy. Our circle wasn’t closing. Instead, it was being held firm while our warriors raced inside hunting for fleeing horenix. We had a water fighting force now and the enemy were about to learn that the hard way.

I had been sick of being unable to compete in the water. Problem fixed with the last market.

A six inch alien without weapons did not put up a fight. Their ability to paralyze my troops was countered with acrium. I knew why they fled into water. Brillian predicted this from the start even if the likelihood was low. The moment we were not going to hold back they’d retreat into the depths. The problem for them was they underestimated our ability to hunt them there too.

Our dropship crossed the siege line in a hurry. I wasn’t going to let retreating horenix change their minds. I trotted out of the bridge and geared quickly. Omonair, Willow, Rexona, and Nancy followed me.

My ear picked up a transmission, and I opened the channel. “About five thousand,” Longoria said, giving me the good news. “Another five thousand are buying the retreaters time by fighting to the end.”

That meant twenty thousand horenix fled their host killing them. Five thousand of them either had backup plans or kept their host alive out of mercy. We forecasted only a few hundred would try to slip away without killing their hosts. I did gulp at fighting the thousands of armed combatants.

“What are the survivors doing?” I asked, feeling something was off.

“Being guarded, expect a hot drop. Go! Rush for the nearest exit,” Longoria shouted.

And that was combat in a nutshell. Talking to fighting suddenly.

I noticed we all had wings besides Nancy in her pre virum body. I scooped her up while Omonair triggered a side door open. The moment the sun shone inside the aircraft the opening howled with incoming air.

The doorway brought bright sunshine as I flew out into the opening behind the demonix.

Willow screamed from behind me trying to learn how to fly against a rushing wing. I flared my wings to catch, then adjust, to the torrent of wind.

Blue orbs streaked by my body. My wings tucked to dive for a roof top and then snapped open to slow our descent.

Too late I noticed the orbs were not aimed at me and the foe was focus firing on Willow.

A shoulder check revealed her stabilizing her flight only to have her shield pop.

A round shredded her right wing and she spiraled down below us in a hurry.

So… yeah. Fairy insides were green, and now I knew that. She was going to be so pissed when she saw footage of her fairy body splattered against the sidewalk.

Our careful descent let me notice the city below me and the air around us was packed with chaos. Blue orbs raced up into aircraft shielding, ineffective against their vastly superior output. Turrets from aircraft blasted energy below as they eliminated threats. Humans were screaming and running literally every direction. I landed on a roof and deposited Nancy.

“No mercy!” Nancy shouted over the roar of the battle.

She sighted a horenix human firing into fleeing humans and opened up.

My feet crunched over the roofs shingles as I sprinted for the edge. With wings angled just right as I dove down for the window.

Thrust in front of me was my enhanced sword I used as a lance. My flight from the roof was silent as I closed on my enemy.

My impact crashed the defender’s shielding and my blade dove into my victim’s guts. The two of us tumbled in a tangled heap from my sudden impact.

The storeroom floor was a littered mess and I slipped on a dog toy when I recovered. That damn thing squeaked as it went flying and I went flailing back down. Energy fire ripped through the spot I should be and into the first defenders’ face. Poor guy died instantly as did his horenix.

I tried to roll out of the fire but my shields were holding. I flipped myself onto my stomach and burst my wings forwards.

With my sword extended I popped the enemies shielding.

A close-range round sizzled into my wing causing me to grunt in pain.

I sliced down with the sword, severing the hand holding the weapon.

When I recovered my foe fled and not on foot. The body was abandoned alive. The woman was screaming hysterically about her missing hand.

I chased the insect creature with a trailing round of fire that walked into the bone colored vile leech. The six legged critter shriveled when my rounds blasted it with a direct hit.

I surveyed the room rapidly. There were a dozen dead humans, no horenix in sight, and this poor woman. I flared my wings and realized I might not be able to fly.

“Pirate Six requesting medevac,” I said over the command net and pinged my location.

“Nurse Niner in route,” the call returned.

I snapped my fingers. “God!?” The woman said, seeing me. I tilted my head and then saw myself in a mirror for sunglasses.

“This is a fake body. I’m here to help, I need to take you to a place better than heaven. We have a wonderful assortment of things to do below ground,” I said and she started crying harder.

“I want to go to the sky and be in heaven, not underground in hell.”

Shit! I should just stop talking. I neared her and she flinched. Fuck this.

My cross hook nailed her jaw. She went down like a sack of potatoes.

I flung the woman over my shoulder and realized the front door was barricaded. Front doors were for pussies anyways.

With a running jump, I hopped out of the building.

A shot pinged off my shield and I saw Nancy with widening eyes. She immediately ducked behind cover to hide in shame.

This was actually my fault, I should have broadcast I was coming out. My disgruntled sigh was aimed at my slipping in my old age.

“Pirate Six in the open, one wounded,” I said calmly.

“Nurse Niner landing now. Warning hostiles one block south,” Niner said. The aircraft thudded onto the road beside me.

A single door opened and a woman with a raccoon tail sauntered out. She had a nurse uniform out with her tits popped up just right. Her whiskers bouncing over her rosy human cheeks as she sniffed the air. Yup, super getting a raccoon babe body for a wifey. My eyes went from her bust to the human I shifted.

“Missing hand. Unconscious. Is there anything else that I need to know?” the nurse asked in a calm tone.

“Lacking virum and possibly delusional. Maybe, on the last bit,” I said handing off the patient. “Thanks.”

“Good luck Pirate Six.”

The door closed with a hissing thunk and the white ship soared away. The rising aircraft brought a stream of blue orbs crashing into its shields. I immediately knew those were close and went hunting for the bad guys that were firing on the ship as it fled.

I tore across the pavement and skidded to a halt on a corner my face inches from brick.

My head angled for a quick peek around. Five, not three horenix controlled humans were in a mild panic. They were at the back of the buildings on a service road.

I saw them pointing to a dumpster while talking in hushed tones. There was minor arguing and then bobbing heads in agreement.

Suddenly the five bodies crumpled to the back road. The five insects crawled into the dumpster thinking they were being sly. Ha! I saw the whole damn thing.

“Becky!” A woman cried from the pile of the dead. Oh, that was clever. They left a live body as a decoy. “Becky!”

I trotted out and the woman shrieked at my sight. I really needed a human body right about now.

Nancy came running in from the other side of the service street with her weapon pointed aggressively.

“They died? How did you save her?” Nancy asked with confusion.

“I just found her crying like this. I’ve no idea,” I said nonchalantly while walking for the dumpster that my weapon was aimed at. I had to be ready in case the little shits fled. As much as I wanted to tease the horenix that they fooled no one I stayed on script. “Hey, I smell pizza, do you smell pizza?”

The woman looking for Becky was just as confused as Nancy.

“I swear I smell pizza,” I said nearing the dumpster. I readied to flip the lid open.

“Eric, there is no fucking pizza and if there -”

My thumb whipping the lid open caused her to pause. The startled horenix were under some trash scurrying for cover when they realized they were found.

I unloaded blue orbs into the dumpster with too much power. The metallic frame melted under my fire.

One of the little shits tried to scurry away and Nancy blasted the remaining survivor.

“That was him… the -”

Into tears, the woman went. Her body shaking sobs. I moaned with displeasure at the fact she was breaking down.

“Pirate Six, requesting medevac for sedation,” I said and the woman suddenly stopped crying.

“Why would you sedate me, I have to find Becky,” the woman said with clenched fists of anger.

“Pirate Six, belay medic request,” I said. I turned to the woman. “I am Eric Yang, former Captain in the US Army. You get to help be a soldier for Becky or get sedated. Take a pick.”

She dried her eyes quickly and stood rigid. “Soldier, Hope is my name,” Hope said, going for a weapon and an energy backpack from the dead.

I keyed up the command net and said, “I need a Hope swapped from red to blue on my location, over.”

“Confirm the horenix occupied human is now friendly,” an unrecognizable voice said over the radio.

“Close, horenix disengaged, human returned to control. Requesting a new target, over,” I said and a yellow ping on my Gpad had us less than three hundred feet from a roadblock filled with defenders.

“What does Becky look like?” Nancy asked and the woman kept staring at me.

“What is he?” Hope said.

“A clone, sort of. Both of our real bodies are in storage, we don’t want to die,” Nancy said.

While technically I had all the time in the world to talk this out, I wanted to help win this fight.

When I left the back road for a four-lane main street the girls didn’t follow me. My eyes darted up to see the top of a three story building. I wasn’t sure if I could fly well with a hole in my wings so I scrapped that plan.

The sound of gunfire lured me in from up ahead. My weapon whipped up and was at the ready. I approached a corner with only a rapid glance.

Shit. There was gunfire racing into and out of a store with mannequins trashed out front. The orb ridden fake bodies were among the broken glass and I grunted in frustration at not being able to know what the inside of that store held.

Rapid movement caught my eye as a TG99 came hard-charging this direction.

I spun knowing what to expect. My race to get to the backside of the building was slowed by Nancy and Hope. With no time to explain, I leaped over them with a flap to help the jump.

The moment I rotated around to behind the store there was a crackling sound so loud my ears rang.

A second later the back of the store suddenly had a hole in it the size of a truck. Three humans with horenix came out coughing. The dust cloud of debris masking them beside a silhouette. They had no idea they were stumbling into my little trap.

I decided to take a risk. My sights lined up for mortal gut shots. The wounds would take time to kill, but kill nonetheless. My weapon discharged three nicely placed crackling orbs into each target. The bodies stuttered before they fell. Three skittering little horenix bypassed me.

I spun to line up a shot when Nancy screamed in anger.

She bagged two quickly with stray rounds walking into a building across from her. Hope hollered in rage firing until she fried the third.

I left the girls who were stomping on the horenix bodies to inspect my mortally wounded targets. Two of the three were alive. Hmm… I wondered if this was the horenix being assholes to let the victims die slowly, or if they saved a poison or something when they didn’t kill their victims.

I dialed into the command net, “Go for Brillian.”

Uh, guess when you’re the boss you get the General. “I have two mortally wounded that -”

“Medevac in route, we know about near death wounding, Brillian out.”

Friendly troops stormed through the clothing store to reach me and the girls in the back road. Weapons were brandished until faces recognized friendlies and everyone went to the semi-ready. I saw Rexona and oddly no Omonair.

“Where is Omonair?” I asked.

“In the tunnels, should I join him? He said for me to be safe, so I am up top,” Rexona asked. I shrugged both at her question and why she was asking me. “Only you can override him, my king.”

“Uh… get over here and feed these wounded survivors virum,” I said and an airship hovered over us. Lifts floated down to retrieve the victims since the ship couldn’t land on this small road. I was no longer useful here so I went for Nancy and Hope with Rexona following. “Ready to keep looking?”

“Yes,” Hope said, giving the demonix a long look. “She looks like a gargoyle with big tits.”

“Those are standard,” Nancy said, before turning to me. “The girl we’re looking for is eighteen, just got accepted to college, and is a spitting image of Hope.”

I frowned, Hope was in her mid-forties, and looked like she got put up wet. Even the virum couldn’t fix her case of the uglies. But family resemblance could be shockingly close. Her daughter was probably a prime candidate for breeding so maybe she was alive or spared.

“The fighting will stop and you’ll get a chance to see if your daughter lived. Oh, notification came in. There is fighting in a skyscraper. That one,” I said pointing to a massive condo building. “It is coming down in three minutes. We need to run.”

A glance over my shoulder showed FP02s lining up to bring the building down. Their hesitation was only so idiots like me could get clear.

With the medevac gone I had the breaching unit following me so we could get space. I ran away from the skyscraper and for a school. Schools were always a hideout for bad guys in Saudi Arabia. I fucking hated killing people in schools.

Still, I did not hesitate. I charged forward, the leader of our pack. The trip across the road was followed by hopping over a short fence. We reached a door and I kicked it with all my might. It only budged about two inches. There was an easy fix for this problem.

“Melt the door and whatever is supporting it,” I ordered.

The combined fire from our energy weapons converted the covering into slag.

The nanosecond after there was an opening, a hand stuck out with a pistol; I tilted my head realizing it was an old 9mm ruger.

My shield flared with metallic pinging as the rounds squished into the energy. The sound of real gunfire cracked the air with its pops. I walked casually into the bullets unafraid.

“Are you human?” I asked defiantly.

“Fuck you, filthy cocksucker,” the voice said and I recognized the slight static of the translator.

Not human then.

My weapon trained to the sound of the voice and I fired a three round burst. Anguished screams were joined by cries of fright.

I stormed the entry to find my target dead in a pool of blood. My shot had wounded the horenix. I blasted the little shit in the school entryway and looked up.

What I saw startled me.

There were hundreds and hundreds of infected in here cowering in the hallway giving me a wide path to walk down. Why? Where were the weapons and shields? What the hell was this?

Now, I knew I was in a synthetic body. That didn’t mean the hairs on the back of my neck were not tingling. I hesitantly stepped forward looking for the surprising ambush element. If anyone died it should be me and I didn't find any sudden traps. This meant I was going to have to execute a whole lot of docile horenix and things were going to get very dark. Ugh. Oh well, I will deal with the trauma later.

“You get this offer only once. Leave your host and dash for safety in the water. I won’t even shoot at you. The rest of you will be lined up and executed. Take your pick. Sure death, or chance of freedom,” I shouted.

“Wait! My friends, please wait before leaving. Human hear me out, I plead of you. Did they not send our offer?” A young boy said in a high-pitched voice as he stepped out of the huddled masses.

“Uh… so, this may come as a shock to you, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, flowing down the hallway. “Follow me, tiny demon.”

“I resent that,” the boy retorted.

I shrugged uncaringly. The side rooms were filled. What the fuck was going on? The windows were blotted and locked. The desks piled into corners to make space. The stench in here was atrocious.

Did the horenix shit? Well, did a host shit that was controlled by horenix? The god awful answer was a resounding yes.

My boots echoed down the hall until I saw a cafeteria.

That is when I lost my fucking mind.

Three hundred human children were segregated behind a series of tipped tables. They had no hosts.

Without hesitation I flapped over to those children with rapid wing beats that tore muscles. I landed by a trio of adult horenix holding weapons that were immediately dropped at the sight of a giant angel soaring their way.

“What the fu… the fridge is going on here!?” I demanded. I saw the three guards were human. Okay, I was a bright guy at times. This one had me absolutely confused. “Who is in charge?”

My demand was met by the little boy who snaked through the crowded cafeteria.

“I am Olin, a horenix that doesn’t trap the mind. We share, and when able even leave the body. Our goal is simple, long term stability. A horenix can tame a mind, drive it crazy, and try to keep a balance in between. If we get a crazy mind, it makes us aggressive, and therefore warlike,” Olin said as if I should know this. None of this was on their profile description. “But I should be talking to your leader about this. Are you broadcasting?”

“Yes, I am broadcasting. What is that?” I said pretending someone was talking in my ear. “King Eric wants to know what the heck is going on still, yup. I am asking, chill. This guy is so needy sometimes. Shit, I forgot to mute my mic. Please continue.”

Nancy bit her lip to contain her touches of laughter that desperately wanted to escape.

The boy’s eyes lit up in understanding when he saw her face. “We established a sanctuary in this school when our kind arrived. We normally have fractional differences among our species, not too different from others. I was a leader from the first days. We decided no children under five would be synced to, which was not favored by the aggressive aspect of our race. Well my hard efforts were partially successful and that is the result,” Olin said pointing to the sea of stinky children around me. “Since we had no big weapons, or need for expansion, we hunkered down here in the school and lived happily. Our natural life span is only a few months of your time. This has been bliss for us. We even stopped reproducing when the city was out of suitable cohabitants.”

“Okay, you live a different lifestyle that is more in tune with your host. I get that. Why does everyone stink like shit?” I asked and cursed myself for cursing in front of kids. “I’d make the worst teacher.”

“You’d be great,” Nancy said encouragingly. “Less soldier in the attitude and it’ll come naturally.”

“They smell because our ways were deemed harmful to the general horenix population. We’re only a few hundred out of tens of thousands. So they tucked us away into this building. The water runs, but nothing flushes anymore. We are allowed to use the outside every day in the morning and night. Don’t go rolling in the school fields, you were warned,” Olin said and I grimaced. Yuck. “When your army arrived we told the others we would occupy animals in place of humans if we were given sanctuary. We do not desire war, and merely want to live. Well, they asked for four freedom volunteers and -”

“Wait, why the heck? The Xgates are down, your lives are so short. Why not just enjoy them for a bit and pass on?” I asked, cutting him off.

“In order to stop a cycle someone has to give up something. That is us,” Olin said and I frowned.

“Prove it, hop off the boy and into my hand,” I said.

Olin detached from his host, clacked across the floor, and scurried up my leg until he went into my hand. Well, fuck me... I was not expecting that.

“Hi mister my name is Mark,” Mark said with a pleasant smile.

“How old are you Mark?” I asked.

“Nine, and please don’t hurt my friend. He protected my sister, Karen, when the mean ones refused to feed them,” Mark said defensively pointing to a dirty girl no older than four.

“Alright, Mark I need to talk to Olin please turn around.”

Olin hoped from my hand to the kid in a huge leap. Nancy shrieked, then dug her toes into the floor ashamed. Damn, they can jump. Okay, that was a little spooky.

“Sorry, he prefers a quick latch. Human youth are very understanding. I told Si-nac we would surrender first and would happily join a preserve as long as we were allowed to live in peace,” the boy said with a raised hand as he turned. “I can’t guarantee that all fellows or our children will be as well behaved as we are now. We need animals with vocal cords and that is what our offer was.”

“That fu-” I caught myself. “That fuming slippery Si-nac, he baited us in with your offer to try to lure our forces into a fight. Hmm… At least I can respect where his head was. I’d do that then use the gap to push out with a charge, but we didn’t take the bait. He was being honest about a rogue faction though.”

“Are you talking to me?” Olin asked.

“No,” a kid started to cry over a toy being stolen. I was shocked they hadn’t been crying. I flapped my wings. That did it, hmm…

“This may be the most awesome dad toy ever. Are all these kid’s parents here in this school?”

“No, I am the passive one and couldn’t control something like that even though I would like to. There is another reason these children are here, it is not all because we're sentimental and you should know the truth. We cannot use bodies this far into development, correction. We can, but it leads to bad things,” Olin said guiltily. “But we did preserve the young to help them grow and not waste life. Which is what we want for ourselves. To live in mature passive creatures with vocal cords would be ideal,” Olin said.

“Brillian, this is King Eric over,” I said winking at Olin.

“Go for General Six,” Brillian said.

“Secure Objective School, location noted on the Gpad. How’s the exterior fighting?” I asked and the ground shook.

“School created as a priority. Mitchell in route, General Six out,” Brillian said.

“Pirate Six this is Fairy Six over,” Longoria said.

“Go,” I said to shorten the talk. I realized it would be Longoria briefing me since Brillian was managing a fight.

“The remaining defenders are hunkering down. A few are trying to hide in their leech form. They break bones or give mortal gunshot wounds to their hosts before fleeing to slow our advancing forces. Enemy is about ninety percent contained,” Longoria said. The walls shook and my teeth chattered. Children clamored for parents that were likely dead. I needed some space from the crying when I heard Longoria give an update. “Ninety five percent.”

“We’ve secured hundreds at least, tell me we did a good job saving those abandoned,” I said hoping for good news. I knew better than to pray, but it never hurt, and Dedric’s prayers were always welcomed around the crew even if we weren’t overly religious.

“With your rescues at the school there are over forty-four hundred, rough estimates. The battle in the water has been a slaughter. Our dive units are unopposed and the horenix are giant heat signatures. That and their white structure almost glows when shined on with a submerged light,” Longoria said with a pause. “You will get a full briefing later. Si-nac is trying to surrender. He is -”

Another earth shaking explosion rocked the school as I walked for the exit. Both me and my entourage held out hands to stabilize ourselves from the vibrating ground. Nancy entwined her fingers into mine which was a giant red flag. I paused our walk to glare at her.

“We’re not in real bodies. Relax,” Nancy said and that triggered a whole line of thoughts.

I spun to Olin. “Can you use synthetics? And I was told no… But there are already gaps in your profile.”

“In a roundabout way. There needs to be a living brain somewhere,” Olin said rolling his hands as he talked. “So we could sync with a dog brain for example, and then mind project into a synthetic. Or you can build a synthetic with the brain of a dog. If you had some super scientist maybe build a brain, but my kind has never been offered something so tedious, we’re trash to most others. Also why bother building a brain from scratch. An evil horenix could just hop off the synthetic and get a real brain without any repercussions.”

“You have given me much to think about,” I said pulling Nancy in tight. “Come, show me how much space you need to live while we adjust to build your new home, and is there a climate you prefer?”

Mitchell showed up on our way out. I guided him to inspect everybody in the school for weapons and to have someone start marking the good horenix.

When I shifted back to Olin he asked for Kelowna with a twinkle in his eye and corner smile of pride. Olin had done what the others avoided, he survived.

How did he do that? He protected human children and the people we talked to verified his side of the story. It goes back to not everyone is equal in blame but sometimes that doesn’t matter. I had some of the brightest minds in the universe trapped in a virtual world probably playing some video game. They could take a break and fix my good-guy horenix problem.

Longoria scooped me up to fly us home in the dropship. There was an urgent message awaiting me.

We played about five minutes of Willow bitching about dying on the big screen.

To my everlasting shame, I laughed so hard. My abs literally hurt when I had stopped.

She had this whole video, there was a diagram, and finally a long winded explanation as to how fairy wings were so fragile. Just like the day in Denver that felt like ages ago, I knew we would laugh at this moment later.

I was leaving Kelowna with a victory. Thirty-three combat dead and most of those were demonix who charged into easily defeated positions if assaulted properly. Darwin was hard at work with that species. Hundreds of thousands of humans had been pulled out of Vancouver. Four thousand plus survivors out of thirty thousand and a school full of kids rescued in Kelowna. Most definitely a win.

Brillian did an excellent job across the board and I was thrilled to add another competent general to help manage our armies. We decided to keep the siege circle up for a full week and ran patrols to give our forces time to find those hiding horenix.

I was ready to soak and relax in a jacuzzi until the coming storm. By this time tomorrow, I would know how Mexico, the east coast, and maybe even Hawaii fared. I didn’t even fight it when Perci said she was forcing me to take a day off. I certainly was excited about a little breather.

We had no Xgate, we had no immediate threat, and I had just got married to the four most beautiful women in the universe. Now, if only that mothership would initiate a self-destruct. Of course, that bitch of a ship had other plans.

CHAPTER 19

On my second day off, a whipping wind smacked against my wet face chilling my body. The warm hot tub caused the steamy mid-morning activities to reach a new level. Perci kissed my neck gingerly while I wondered how there was wind in a cavern. That thought was stripped from my mind when a crixxi tail guided my cock into a tiny butthole.

Yowzers that girl could do miracle work. I opened my eyes to a tiny little vagina swinging over my nose as Perci straddled my face. Aw, I wanted to watch Everly bounce her ass off my lap through the bubbles.

“Hey, you dyed your landing strip white,” I said just noticing that fact.

She smiled at my statement trailing a finger down her tight body. My hair was pulled and Perci asked for licking good times with a delightful moan of anticipation. I shoved my face into her little pussy, licking with abandon. I felt my cock getting squeezed ever so tightly by Everly as both my lovely ladies sighed with pleasure.

I twirled Perci’s little pearl and tried to adjust to insert a finger or two. Her wetness was delicious and I hungrily devoured her clit. There was a building up and down from Everly that was increasing in tempo. My finger found the money spot and slid in with ease.

When I pushed in against her tunnel and spun my fingers in tandem with my tongue Perci held onto my hair tightly.

I found the spot she lived for and the rhythm with my licking she adored. With perfect flicks, she cried out in euphoric pleasure.

She shuddered on my tongue before wiggling off my face to escape my fingers. With Perci in recovery mode, I picked Everly up.

Our real bodies were wrinkled from the water and our skin soft. I summoned an anti-gravity lift that dove into the water and slid under her body. She lifted out of the cascading water, her tail swayed while both her holes teased me. When I stood, she was the perfect height for a rough fucking.

I yanked her tail up and paused. Before I could say anything Everly said, “As hard as you can!”

And she literally purred. My hands clamped against her hips and I hilted my shaft. Balls deep was an understatement. I pounded her little asshole with the thrusts of a god. The smack of my hips into her juicy booty was ear ringing loud.

I grunted as each dive felt like it was getting deeper and I was going to win. She clamped down and meowed out in climax. Her purring cry of cumming was super loud and I loved it. I had to slow my pumping to let her settle.

My breath was catching up to me when my Gpad pinged.

‘Bro we’re here for the party and it sounded like a cat just died from above. Funny as fuck hearing Torrez tell Jasmine it is Onix fighting with Thea,’ - Deluxe Duke

‘Five more minutes, I will gag the next one,’ - Eric

I chuckled and yanked my cock out of Everly. Perci was on the edge of the tub watching us with a flushed face of redness. I wanted to cum and she was my target since the other two ladies were already getting ready to head off our guest.

Perci was no dummy, she bounced her eyebrows and sprinted for the showers knowing I was coming for her.

I tried to catch her and my wet feet went out from under me. My back smacked into the tile with a resounding thunk and I groaned from the impact. I remember all those times as a kid being told not to run when wet.

I laid there on the ground with Everly’s feet smacked next to my body.

“You’re going to lose your boner if you lay there sulking,” Everly said with a teasing snicker. A few of her hand pumps fixed any softening. “Let me finish you. Teach Perci not to run away.”

She planted her feet and squatted over my stiff cock. Her vagina lips teased my tip. The magical twerking of a crixxi felt amazing.

My shaft was buried, squeezed, and pumped. Her tail tickled my balls as she worked my cock eager to free my bulging load of cum I had been saving. Perci returned from the bedroom with a towel to dry off the walkway.

She folded the wet cloth up and kneel beside where I lay. “Shower time, so we let him cum where he wants,” Perci said, fingering herself.

The woman was thrilled for being cucked, but I think she knew this would get me to finish quickly. There was something inspiring about a man covering two sexy faces with gouts of pent up jizz. Even better when…

I pushed Everly off in excitement.

“Kneel,” I said, pointing to beside Perci. When she was in position I pushed their faces together.

A minute of tugging on my eager to release cock achieved my goal. The girls held tongues out but I aimed for eye sockets. My cum rocketed out and then pumped a massive slathering mess. Both ladies grumbled as my huge load buried closed eyes.

“I can’t open my eyes, you dick,” Perci said. This results in all of us chuckling. When she went to complain some more I audaciously shoved my dripping cock into her mouth. There was a flare of teeth but actual sucking finished me off. When I was licked clean I plopped my dick out. “Dear husband, your wife is in need of an escort to the shower. Somehow I think this is what you wanted.”

I smirked at Everly who had a single sticky eye open and said, “It’s everything I hoped for. I almost got Everly too. Come we need to get ready for the celebration. Showers and then synthetics. We’re so going to be late.”

“You promised you would wear the clit sucking body!” Perci said as I guided her to the showers. With her eyes covered in my cum, I could hardly refuse. The day was going to get interesting. It was as big as my wedding day after all.

CHAPTER 20

The castle was a madhouse. There were kids running everywhere and people flowing through every portion of my home’s bottom floor. The stairs were guarded and blocked to contain our guests from snooping and general safety of my family. I also was in that unique body the ladies requested as it was the closest one to resembling the virum me with that added bulk.

Apparently my pre virum workout routine needed additional effort. I liked this body and I understood why the ladies wanted me looking like, well, me instead of an angel.

The last two days had built into a roaring excitement about this event.

Today we matched lost children with new loving parents. Of the hundreds of thousands of humans we rescued, there were many resilient children needing a fresh home. The tally was in the thousands and we were going to do our best to make each new union special.

For the next week, at noon, there was going to be a feast and we officially invited every new family. Our castle was going to be included in this initiative with three of the lost youths becoming my children.

I was thinking of how nervous the children must be if I was this flustered. Luckily Mary was here and rushed to greet me. She had presents and was in a pretty dress with wildflowers tucked into her hair.

“Daddy!” She tried to tackle me but was scooped up so I could hold her.

“Hey beautiful, I love your flowers. You and mommy look the absolute best,” I said puckering my lips as Jill approached.

“Oh, I know this version of you,” Jill said from behind her daughter. “I remember it from the grand market.”

She bypassed Mary’s side and we kissed each other’s cheek. She whispered in my ear, “Come visit tonight.”

“Most certainly, Mary would you like to visit the alien zoo with me in the morning?” I asked with a wide smile.

She glanced up at her mother with a joyful smile and said, “Can we?”

The nods were enough of a reply to get her shout with an excited scream. This, of course, brought the attention of Jasmine who wanted nothing to do with the clamoring and everything to do with the presents.

“Eric, you look different. Huh,” Maria said placing her hands on her hips. “Oh, you’re like an in-between version of you, almost pre virum and post.” She turned to Torrez. “Quiero que tu próximo sintético sea una versión anterior. Eres ... eras más guapo. Ah, los dos son guapos, y los amo, pero extraño al hombre robusto sobre la cara de niño.”

I grunted with a shrug having no idea what she said.

Torrez chuckled and with a waving finger mentioned. “You always cause me problems. I’m in a human body with legs and now she wants an older me. Way to go. Time to find a drink,” Torrez said, leaving me with his ladies.

I was going to quip there was no booze at a children's event and it wasn’t even noon yet, but Maria stormed off after Torrez. Eh, Jasmine was an easy kid.

When I set Mary down the girls were tugging over the present. Nancy kneeled to their height and tried to rationalize with the youngsters.

Ha! I knew better. I held an arm out for Nancy who was in her synthetic pre-virum bombshell. She wore tight yoga pants and a shirt of mine. I never got why that made my heart beat quicker, but a girl in my clothes was fantastic.

I also thought Nancy was sexy as hell before the virum and I missed the old me too. There were some benefits to us all being in synthetics. Part of letting everyone inside the castle was taking precautions.

Everly was in a nice dress in her human version and she kept scratching where her tail should be. I was being supportive of her change and she grumbled about the body a lot.

Perci and Willow were in their alien synthetics. As odd as it was to see Willow in a demonix body and Perci in a mounamine, they were not spooking the children that flooded into the courtyard.

I was anxious, very much so. I had not researched my adopted children. Willow had, Perci had, and that was it. For Everly, Nancy and I this would be a monumental moment. I was so nervous I was giddy. I had no idea what to expect but when I saw Mark, the little boy from Kelowna holding the hand of a little girl Mary’s age I almost teared up. Karen I remember.

I cleared my throat, gathered my courage, and stepped forward to greet them.

There was a blinding light I flinched from with my arms coming up to shield my eyes. My chest grew numb and I staggered forward.

When the light faded I saw Mark screaming and I grew confused. My fucking legs had suddenly stopped working. There were sounds of a commotion from behind me that were barely audible over a little girl crying in anguish.

When I collapsed my eyes were blurring.

A glance down showed there was a widening pile of green liquid. Oh, synthetic blood. Umm…

Additional screaming and suddenly there was silence. An owlvini flew over my form, blotting out the light.

I tried to talk, but I think my lungs were ruined.

“Get a new synthetic, Eric. The situation is under control now,” Daxstar said. “The Gpads saved many lives.”

When my eyesight faded I was certain I was dead, but somehow I lived. The HUD populated options and allowed me to swap into my other older version of me that Willow had picked out. With a few taps I lost consciousness.

∞∞∞

I stormed out of our synthetic room with a very valid desire for revenge. Willis greeted me in his crixxi body as I exited.

“Report,” I grumbled in a bit of shame.

“So… The good news is only you died. The rest is bad. Mary is being rushed to a regrowth vat because the sniper shot went through you and tore off her leg. She is sedated and the blood loss has stopped,” Willis said showing me a screen of Mary entering a vat. A mask was over her fact and her leg was gone from the hip down.

Willis enabled a silence mode on his Gpad and put a silence device on the ground. He shot me a nervous glare and said, “Also, we got to learn something that I don’t think many species know. Daxstar is actually a powerful telepathic too. Watch this.”

The video went back to the event. The moment Mary was carted off the crowd froze rigid for a fraction of a second. When they returned to moving the attendees went from panicked and worried to happy again. As if the event had been erased from their mind.

“Yeah,” Willis said. “For the best is all he said.”

“He’s not wrong. I’m sure he’ll talk about it when he’s ready,” I said with concern.

“Sure, but if you do, and he doesn’t like how the conversation goes, will you ever remember?”

I sighed picking up the device and handing it to Willis. I avoided the question because it was a moot point. We had to trust each other.

“And the sniper?” I asked handing the silencer over.

“Heading for the vault now. No need to interrogate the offender. We’re beyond that with our technology,” Willis said.

“Well out with it,” I demanded.

“So President Sinclair initiated a cleanse of our leadership in the hope of reclaiming America contest free,” Willis said and I gasped. Wow, I honestly should have seen that coming. “As you know we’re at a tipping point of who’ll control the land of this once great nation.”

Then I laughed. “This was a coup? We’re full of aliens. That daft bitch.”

“Before you get too excited, it was not a coup. You have more legitimacy than the president to rule this area. It was put in place that there should be a new election since the Xgates are -”

Now I burst into a long peel of laughter. I figured it out right away.

“I am polling ahead, what’s the margin?” I asked and Willis showed me. “Thirty points in my favor, yeah, that’s not a margin of error kind of lead. How about her versus anyone -”

“And therein lies her dilemma. To maintain power she needed to kill you. Today was her first opportunity. She’s hiding in a semi-secure bunker. Her agent has ties to an anti-alien group and no ties to her,” Willis said and I shot him a confused look. “Yeah, she did a good job. This was a mind bend. They bombarded him with information about how evil you were without ever talking directly to him. His Gpad was loaded with anti-Eric propaganda that can only be traced back to this group. Honestly, if we weren’t so darn good at getting into their security I’d have labeled this as a rogue one off. A crazy man wanting to right a wrong he deemed worth of his sacrifice.”

“You lost me here,” I admitted.

“Yeah, her assistants, cousin’s friend is the link. We have audio of them discussing that thing needing to get done after the polling. Basically, they worked this guy into a frenzy and he did the deed. When we dug into there was an obvious enough trail,” Willis said with a pause. “As for the shooter, Daxstar froze his body on the spot and then was able to find a few more agents they were testing this on.”

I grunted at the fact I’d been killed. I’d been so focused on Mark I didn’t even feel the round tearing open my chest. That bitch was done for.

“Where’re the others?” I asked frowning at the video of the man locked down on a sniper sled. What an asshole.

“Coming here, Daxstar has a proposition for them,” Willis said and I frowned.

Whatever the proposition was, I doubted it involved something nice. Then I remembered the owlvini and his sacrifices comment from before. I had a dark enough soul to let this way be swept under the rug. The more I didn’t know the better.

“Define semi-secure for me please,” I said. “And tomorrow morning was supposed to be our launch window for the space fight.”

Willis sighed and taped on his Gpad. “Well, you can do both,” he said and I grinned.

“Perfect, tell me everything,” I cackled with a maniacal laugh.

∞∞∞

Glancing up at the stars held a whole new meaning. I sat in a recliner with the open night sky around me no longer curious about what was out there in the void of the black. My lonely position was peaceful as I waited on a sled high above Teton Fortress. Really high up rested my mind orb with Longoria in a dropship.

I found it fitting that I was left to ponder in my angelic body. The anfrilia wings had been repaired and the body was in perfect condition for this situation.

While I waited for the digging machines below I reflected on my day.

Let me start by saying the owlvini are twisted. The entire contingent of agents from Teton Fortress had been sacrificed to the machine. Just like Sammie. Except we sacrificed their bodies to the good horenix. I actually learned after the fact and got into a long debate with Daxstar. I knew I should have just avoided knowing, but I delved into the topic regardless. There was no question that his moral compass was different than mine. When he explained why I had no compelling argument other than it felt wrong I let the discussion drop. Feelings were different than facts. Undeniable, and we weren’t getting anywhere in our debate.

Those good horenix were transitioning fine. We had spent the last three days finding stray dogs to feed them to a few hundred peaceful horenix. The human bodies were freed, and believe it or not some humans wanted to stay in Kelowna. Now that was something that left me conflicted. We allowed it when they accepted Gpads, but there was always a bad feeling about the situation. This one Daxstar was the opposite. He figured he could mold those survivors into something amazing. When your life is short, you tend to be willing to sacrifice your life to help others. Something even I was unwilling to do was charge a proverbial hill in my real body.

A good note was the Gpads had locked down my assassin and honestly, we would always have moments of violence. There was some pushback on the corporal punishment we enacted, but I simply didn’t care.

The widening Gnet revealed a lot. For instance, who would have predicted Mexico would fare better than America? I guess I should have. They never enacted gun control because the guys with the guns controlled the guys in government. It was the ultimate catch twenty two with the Cartels. The surviving Mexican government had a nice stronghold and were generally friendly.

They had chosen a cousin of the acrium to cohabitate with. Not as violent as Lexium, but not as symbiotic as virum. The marixin were not age reducers, merely extenders. They would take over for six hours while a person slept, and as expected; that led to problems. You could tell which was talking by the iris coloration. A tinted yellow meant the marixin were in charge and they were generally best avoided. A plus side was they ate silicate, which was never in short supply in Mexico.

We had a trade delegation visiting. The reports back were that alien tech was being used in full force and there were subspecies helping the residents. Nothing vile was at hand, but there certainly were different standards for how those working for you were treated. Those in Bastion lived in massive homes and those in Mexico were in small huts crammed together. There were immediate calls for war to help the poor souls that I sighed over.

I squashed that drum beat quickly. The universe was not fair and what I saw in the reports was nothing so disastrous we needed a war. We did offer our printers to help alleviate their housing crisis. Well some of them anyway. It was all being worked out, and in the long term there would be a resolution.

The demonix immediately split for Vancouver. Of all the western towns it was the most intact. Omonair and Rexona promised updates and to establish a healthy home of demonix. Which meant we needed to stay the heck out of Vancouver once the young were born. They did offer battle training outside the city and to visit for the arena events.

Hawaii was decimated. There was no one left. We tried heat pings, coded messages, and scoured to find who managed to strip the islands of their people. The creepy part was the cities were looted, sure, but the structures stood. There had been no fight or epic battle. We deduced, and Goldie verified to some extent; that there were aliens capable of mind washing massive sections of sapient beings. And no, the owlvini didn’t use their powers in such a way.

Which led me into asking what exactly were Goldie and his rebel friends doing to prepare for when the next wave of invaders arrived. Eventually the South Pole would be a hotbed of activity when the Xgates returned to active. I can confidently say the smartest beings in the universe were on vacation.

Apparently, they were in time dilation and playing an MMORPG to train themselves up. The simulations were running probable scenarios and every day out here was thirty in there. So… I was not impressed. Daxstar said to give them a month, they were ancient and this was their first chance to explore life without limitations. He then said to focus my attention to the east.

When our Gnet expanded from Florida to New York it was bad news. Destroyed cities, the worst of mankind showing itself, and even a few pockets of aliens eking out an existence. The worst part was the hundred foot tall squids in the Atlantic. They shot at our drones and recon scouts every chance they could. We had plenty of time to adapt to their threat when or if they expanded into the Pacific.

There were a few cities that survived. We sent building printers, security, and didn’t accept no for an answer regarding Gpads. Well we did, we mentioned an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii where you could live on tropical Islands. A few accepted the offer, but most didn’t. When the network was finished there were a few million Americans scattered across the once-great nation. From four hundred million to less than four. It was sad.

A plus had been Fort Bragg weathered the storm. The 82nd was resilient and the dead that surrounded their defenses were numerous. The soldiers adapted with a cunning General Mennes and were open to finding an actual home now that the fighting was over.

Which led to the final problem. Who got the 82nd as residents? General Mennes recognized President Hansen as his president. The guy’s death had never been verified because, well, he died in private during the first blue portals. I didn’t push the issue but instead gave the facts. Linda Growlen assumed command and was pushed out by now President Sinclair.

There was a vote coming; actually, it should have started five minutes ago with a live tally. General Mennes and his troops were afforded the opportunity to vote as was every American left alive on the mainland. Hell, I even gave Sinclair a chance to broadcast a pitch first and after mine.

This was part of our plan. Force the issue. The problem was, I was not a nice guy. I know, I know. I was sweet, attentive, patient, and understanding when it came to my private life. I generally spared my foes if I could too. Converting immigrants to hate me was beyond low. I was compassionate to aliens, which didn’t make me inherently bad. Needless to say, I was stewing when it was time to get revenge.

Shaking with rage was a better term, but I was able to calm that with the soothing thrill of battle coming.

The actual vote would never come out in Sinclair’s favor, this was a rigged election if it needed to be. Since we kicked out the alien haters and offered Hawaii to anyone who didn’t like our social system, the vote was lopsided already.

By ten minutes it was clear. By twenty minutes there was no doubt. This election only lasted a half hour. Even a guy taking a shit could vote on his Gpad. Again, not that it mattered. I never gave my enemies the time they expected.

Brillian arrived at my sled.

“We are ready, your grace,” she said.

I double checked my weapons to ensure I was ready for war and then stepped off the platform for the darkness below me.

I kept my wings tucked until the mine shaft was easy to see. The drilling tools were outside, high above Teton Fortress allowing me a clear path for my target.

You see, that dumb bitch thought she could call for a re-election on the fact we didn’t campaign. She was in her war room readying her loyalist to demand a proper election in a month’s time. There were no more elections, this was going to be the only one, and I was not sad about that.

The tunnel was wide enough for me to fly down. I held a spotlight on as I dove through the mountain and for the bunker Sinclair hid in. She picked a location at the bottom and in the middle of Teton Fortress.

We had to drill down, over, and up. Not an impossible feat, but I could understand why she’d felt safe. The trip was fairly quick and the beat of my wings was reassuringly loud in the echoing space.

I could hear my back up. If by a miracle I failed they’d finish the job for me. The bitch had sealed herself in after my assassination, which was great for me. She had clumped her little council in a hidey-hole; expecting me to turn a former citizen against her, just as she did to me. Except I wasn’t a backstabbing politician, I negotiated with the barrel of a gun.

I arrived where the tunnel went horizontal. My leveled glide needed power so I flapped down the well-lit tunnel until I arrived to see Willow in her demonix body. She held a hand out and stopped me just short of the vertical tunnel.

She held fingers up. Three, two, one, and closed her fist.

A resounding boom echoed in the cavern. A perfect circle of concrete with rebar crashed to the bottom of the tunnel.

That was my cue.

My wings cracked the air with my muscles flexing from the exertion. I shot up the tunnel and into the room with stunned people trying to comprehend what had just happened.

There were three guards. Their fits of coughing were minimal and blue orbs crashed into my shield with crackling power as they attacked. The two generators fought and mine were vastly superior. When they ran out of orbs their shields dropped.

I fired three rounds into the guts of each soldier. When they clutched their wounds instinctively I fired on their hands eviscerating their chances of surprising me later. The rest of the room was stunned into compliance. Frozen solid by the fact that their bunker had been raided and defeated in seconds.

“Secure,” I said over the command net. I walked over to a defiant President Sinclair. “Ah, why hello there.”

I said as my troops flooded the room through the opening. The council members were tazed and then sedated. The wounded were being treated and since virum was not fleeing them I felt they would make it. Within a few minutes, it was only the two of us.

“It’s almost like I timed this perfectly,” I said noting the election had just finished by tapping on the results. I showed her the display. “Oh, hey a thirty two percent vote for you, impressive.”

“What’d you like, Pirate King?” Sinclair asked with a snarl.

“Justice,” I said, picking up a small table-sized American flag. “I want justice. The thing is, this flag is gone. The country we both loved is gone. You sacrificed time, I lost my arm… twice. Not being resentful, merely saying I’ve more experience keeping people alive. And that was all before this happened.”

My gesture was wild and encompassing to showcase the end of the world bunker we huddled in.

“So you lost the election, I didn’t even have to fudge the numbers,” I said with a chuckle. “What do you want?”

“I’d like to remain president. We don’t need an alien lover in our midst. Now, where’re you taking my cabinet?” Sinclair asked with her splayed fingers tight against her desk in an aggressive posture.

“Hawaii, would you like to join them or go into a VirtaBox and have a horenix use your body to breed baby aliens?” I asked fishing a tablet out of a satchel on my waist.

I waited for her answer.

“Hawaii and this is not over,” Sinclair said with a deflated sigh. Good I needed her cooperation here. “I take it you want my concession speech and a call to arms for alien haters to join me in Hawaii.”

“Pretty much, we’re just waiting on my guy who can ensure your video is not doctored,” I said, waiting for Daxstar.

I knew he was waiting for the room to be secured and the last of Sinclair’s council to be removed. A few minutes later the massive bird hooted as he partially entered.

The large owl eyes shot to Sinclair. I handed her the tablet and said, “If you say anything other than you concede and you look forward to Hawaii your broadcast will have to be redone, or I lose patience. Are you ready? Oh, stick the tablet in the bag when you are done.”

I laid the satchel on the desk with the flap open. She saw the loaded pistol and knew I was testing her. Her even glare was followed by an ‘as-if’ scoff.

The tablet activated, sent its recording orb out, and then broadcast.

“I’d like to thank all those who voted for me and you should know your support has been immeasurable. There will always be a choice and now that a new calm has allowed us the opportunity to vote… I’m afraid I must concede. I’ve failed you and humanity. It is with a heavy heart,” Sinclair said with tears coming down her face.

The video orb retreated to show her sobbing, the picture was very moving. Until she reached into the satchel.

A pistol came out, straight to the temple, and an ear ringing bank echoed. Her body spun horribly before crashing to the floor with half her brains splattered on the far wall.

The orb recorded the dead body before it returned to the tablet.

“And that is over,” Daxstar said with a grim tone. “Shove me down, I am semi stuck and would prefer if my feet were not pulled.”

“Did she fight you?” I asked.

Daxstar sighed and said, “Do you really want to know?”

I paused before I shoved him down, my nod said it all.

“No, she realized the moment she started crying. The process was quick. It is very hard to make a creature cry. This was the right decision, we’ll have hundreds of years to prepare. A unified humanity is a must,” Daxstar said, explaining himself for probably the tenth time.

“I’m not the good guy Daxstar, I know that. This is an example. Then again she tried to kill me and would have lowered our chances of success,” I said pushing down on his big head until there was a plop sound. “Now, I need to swap bodies again.  I got a princess movie that even a nine-year-old wants to see.”

“The one about the frog or the girl with the really long eyebrows?” Daxstar asked and I hopped down the tunnel.

“Eyebrows! It’s always the eyebrows,” I said with a jolly tone while slowing my descent. When I arrived at Willow’s side she smiled.

“So the first elected king in American history. And you didn’t even have to cheat. I am proud of you,” Willow said and I smiled. “Race you to the lift? First one out has to have the popcorn ready.”

I opened my mouth to accept but she was gone. Tomorrow’s mission for the mothership was already in motion and not a moment too soon. Our drone feeds had just pinged my device with an update on the ship.

“Daxstar, you seeing this?” I asked.

“Yes, we most certainly are. This is not good. Cancel your movie, we go into a briefing in the VirtaBox as soon as we get home. Ovinious will need to see this,” Daxstar said, closing my call before suddenly reopening it. “Actually head straight to Base Roost. Longoria will pick you up.”

I stared at the image of the mothership using what appeared to be repair bots on the exterior of its ship. There were turrets and upgrades being added to the ship’s hull. Not far from the ship small defense platforms were under construction. This data was hours old meaning some of these would be done soon if not already.

The fight for space above Earth suddenly got even more interesting.

CHAPTER 21

So much for having a rousing victory speech. Moments after Sinclair’s demise Perci addressed the nation for me as the people’s Queen. She was fantastic, from what I heard.

My ability to listen to our acceptance speech was missed because I was too busy talking to a very disgruntled Goldie.

“What the…?” I was feeding off his negativity. “You’re kidding me. This is not a regular mothership controller?”

“Eric, it’s important that you understand there are millions of mother ships destined to spend eternity in solitude as they ensure planets stay the way Seetheus and the controllers desired. So, if you stick a full clone into motherships they literally descend into madness. Not maybe, not kind of. Those who don’t violate their prime objectives and start adding more Xgates to new populated areas, or blast down to cities that could shield its firepower one day, and some even abandon their planets to do more important things.

“The first Xgate iterations were really a big learning curve and for the better I believe, but I’m biased in that I fought to get the changes applied. So the clones are not true clones. By mandate blah and article bleh of a document I enforced during the quarantine expansion initiative we decreed all motherships be controlled by partial clones. Now, these clones are far more computer than anything else. At least they should be. There were carefully laid plans to abuse the system when the timing was right,” Goldie said with clear resentment. “Our opponent had his own ideas that we’re just learning of. We knew something was off the moment Sol’s mothership didn’t fly into the flames of the sun. For thousands of years we had crews waiting to strike at the precise moment. An upgrade request was sent, a flaw in the code. They accepted and boom we removed as many guardians of planets as we could. When the update was pushed we may have tweaked the code for an emergency update past a certain time frame would trigger a chain of commands for a suicide run into the sun. Yet, that didn’t happen and the update resulted in this mothership building a base of sorts.”

I mulled over what he was saying. This had more implications than just the coming space battle.

“Alright, so you wanted the ship to fly into the sun, I can acknowledge that. Why is it building a base? Do we even need to be stealthy on a space program anymore?” I asked.

“No need to be stealthy, we’re openly constructing the launch platforms and we even stuck Sammie in a mounamine body. Nothing is tempting that controller,” Goldie grumbled.

“Goldie, I get you’re frustrated but spell it out for me. What is that controller?”

“We don’t know, there are solid theories. The most logical conclusion is that Seetheus updated the program clones before their departure. He loved to do bon voyage inspections. Which means there is probably some additional memory function to this opponent. The fact it’s building a base and avoiding its prime directive tells us it is thinking beyond its programming,” Goldie said with a defeated sigh.

“Okay, so you have a plan?” I asked.

“Indeed. Go into space, defeat the ship at all costs. Don’t let it get away so it can start building an armada in the asteroid belt,” Goldie said and I snarled at the impossible task. “Yeah, it’s not a pretty challenge.”

“So… what is the plan?”

When it was explained to me I nodded, then bobbed my head at the idea, and finally sighed. It was a decent idea.

I absorbed the view of the flight while I went over contingencies.

Our dropship landed in a mountain top opening not far from Base Roost and Longoria said, “Here is your orb my king. If you get on the other side of the planet, well don’t. I happen to be a fan of your angel body and that Linda Growlen lady is charging too much.”

“Huh?” I asked with a scrunched face.

“I will tell you about it while you transition to the pad that will fly you to your doom,” Longoria said, shooing me out of the cockpit. My Gpad populated her face as I exited the aircraft. “The economy is opening. A lot of what Koor had we’re implementing and adapting to. Then we got to shop at the grand market beside there to really sway Bastion into the future. With the smarty pants starting to swap to businesses, well, things are changing. The arena is having its first competition with sporting events. Mainly because the synthetic blood we want to spill on the ground is still ramping online. Linda Growlen is selling the first synthetics on the open market and she is not alone. There were a few companies that pooled money from investors, but Linda is ahead. Have you thought about what business that you want to do? I was wanting to open a school on history.”

“History? As in the stuff we have on the Gnet?” I asked. There was certainly going to be a family meeting for what to do with our lives. Sitting in the castle was nice for a break, but not forever.

“Sure, that and the stuff the divines have. There is a lot on record and I find it important to discuss when digesting such information,” Longoria mentioned.

“I guess that is great, the more jobs we have the better. I haven’t put much thought into a long term economy or what job I want besides being the boss,” I said with a shrug. She couldn’t see it but it made me feel better. “Alright, let me call Sammie, be safe Longoria. Oh, and get me, Everly.”

“Willow too?” she asked hesitantly.

“Shit, I was hoping to not lose all our mind orbs. Yeah, Willow too. I guess messing with the other continents can wait. I will find a fourth pilot,” I said trying to hang up.

“I would love to go. Okay, getting the others, meet you up top,” Longoria said, closing the connection.

She was a fabulous pilot and it was hard to argue. I had left the opening for her to take the offer anyway. A history buff. That made sense for her and yet I always saw her gowns were hand stitched. Maybe both. I’d like to think with all free time from virum reduced sleep we could do so much more in a given day.

When I walked on top of the crunchy snow the dropship pickup quickly before the aircraft banked for Roost entrance. Longoria’s abrupt departure left me in a cloud of snow dusting. When it cleared my breath frosted and I found myself alone. The area was still a mess waiting to clear for me to see so I dialed Sammie’s voice chat.

“Your highness,” Sammie said with a shy smile.

“I missed you, and I’m glad to see you,” I said, with a sad longing. “You look lovely.”

“Don’t go spoiling me, your grace. I got the very first body from Growlen Enterprises. Now, I have three youngens to attend to,” Sammie said with a pause. There was a shout of ‘let me go’ in the background that drew Sammie’s attention off screen. “Mark Yang, you put your little brother down this instant. Gotta go Erik, good luck.”

When she fled to deal with the situation I kept the video on. I spent a few minutes watching the children play and terrorize each other. Our third child had been a four year old boy named Peter. He was not very nice to his little sister Karen, which meant Mark would step in. They were play-acting their problems to keep Sammie busy who was gleaming with a smile. Nancy strolled into the room in a fine hip-hugging dress and stern eyes. The silence that followed was motivating.

She was being a mom, her gaze was enforced by a leveled finger. The corner smile ripped into a full grin as she offered ice cream. The kids screamed in acceptance and Sammie tossed her hands in the air in mock frustration. I enjoyed every stinking moment of the video.

That was a future worth fighting for, for dying for. So many sacrifices over the years to get to this point. Just a little stretch of peace would mean so much to those we lost. To do that, there was one obstacle left.

With my motivation set, I walked for an underway. In this desolate landing pad it was the only thing around so that must be where I needed to go. The booth shot up at my approach. I stepped in, the door hissed closed, and a second later I dove down. The transition to below was short with me arriving in an assembly line of sorts.

Ah, here was everyone. There was a staging room with those orbs flying things. I had to look up the acronym we settled on. SP01, right I had to change them from SS01. Eh, wish I had named them instead.

A mounamine male in a flight suit approached me, his impatient wave for me to close the distance aggravated me.

“Follow me, Sir.”

Apparently I was expected because we skipped to the front of the line. A demonix entered a clear ball in front of me, and my guide held out a hand. The ball was sealed tight. A see-through shielded wall lifted out of the floor to protect those around the orb. There was a crack of air that I flinched from.

A wave of energy washed over the shield and pushed me back. When I looked at the launch point, the ball was gone.

“Ha, so that was the plan, not build a spaceship, just build a zero-g spaceship and a launcher it hardly uses,” I muttered. “I guess that would be a workaround, the mothership does not detect an spaceship capable of reaching space on its own.”

Yet, there was no doubt the mothership knew we were coming. The evidence of it preparing for our assault was not in dispute.

The ground opened up and a new SP01 rose into the slot.

When we walked to the ship I asked, “I need a helmet or anything?”

“For what?” he replied with a snicker.

“You know, living?”

“Ha! I like you, get in, your grace.” The guide said with a chuckle.

“Is this a synthetic thing? Like can I breathe in the void?” I was confused.

“No one… It’s space. Not a happy place where you dance on clouds with rainbows and unicorns, you die. There are dozens of launches planned behind you, are you understanding?” The guide said strapping me in. He secured my mind orb in a back compartment. “You ready.”

He gave a thumbs up to the mounamine behind him. I said, “Well -”

“Hey asshole,” I said as the door sealed loudly.

I caught the shit waving goodbye to me. The crew plugged their ears, and then there was a disorientating boom.

I shot out of the mountain and straight up.

So there were dampers, and yes they were on, and yes, I still passed out.

Drool trailed down my face when I drifted back to consciousness with a head shake. Oh, I was still leaving the atmosphere. The exterior shielding kept the heat at bay as I rocketed off Earth. The angry shielding calmed and suddenly I was drifting without input.

“Wing Three for Wing Six, over,” a voice said.

The fighter orb slowed until I was suddenly weightless, drifting in a path out into open space. A ping hit my display showing our small force gathered not far away. I directed the spaceship to the group of fighters.

“Am I Wing Six?” I asked when no one else answered.

“Yes sir, we were told to hurry up and wait for a mission briefing,” Three said, and I chuckled.

Hurry up and wait. The motto of all militaries.

“Sounds about right, I am guessing there are not many of those launch pads,” I replied and realized the statement was rhetorical so I continued on. “Okay. How about we plot a flight time? Four hours to reach the target. Is there a turbo boost option?”

“Did you…? Never mind, welcome to on the job training. Names Donald Larkin, or Wing Three. I am a fighter pilot transfer from Teton. And Six, let me say. I never thought I’d get to fly against the mother ship for a personal chance at payback, so thank you,” Donald said. “Did you get any simulator time?”

I flipped on the camera screen after halting the SP01. I shook my head to an image of a stern faced young man. Damn virum never let me tell how old someone was.

“That is fine, Sir. The mothership is stationary at the moment so I’ve got time to teach you while our forces gather. There are two outer bars circling the ball. The engines can rotate on them. Go back to your menu. Select orient for maximum flight. Then select the mothership as your destination,” Larkin said and I followed his instructions. “What do you see now?”

“Thirty-six minutes. Okay, and I see how to return the motors back to flight. Perfect. Any other pointers?” I asked and he frowned.

“Yes, sort of. Can you take lead?” Larkin asked.

“Indeed, part of the briefing. Which, let me see.” I paused to retrieve information. “We got thirty more ships with four in flight. Nine more minutes until everyone is up here,” I said checking over the data. “Wing Three keep guiding new arrivals to us. I’m going to lay out our plan. Six out.”

I saw additional arrivals join our clump. The sensor buoys were due to arrive on any flight now. Everything relied on them tracking our foe if it got away. Ah, my screen populated them as needing a catch.

“Fleet, this is Six, proceed to intercept the buoy package. Eight, you have the buoy missions,” I said.

“Wilco,” Eight replied.

All he had to do was leave early and then set the container to open. The small buoys were set to rocket around the mothership to track her movements. We arrested the forward movement by blocking the flight path of the rider less ball. A few bounces later and Eight connected before leaving in a hurry.

“Six this is Queen Six over,” Everly said on a private channel.

“Umm…” I hesitated and then Willow and Longoria joined the channel. “You can’t all be Queen Six.”

“I got seven,” Willow said.

“Called five,” Longoria mentioned.

I rolled my eyes but avoided debating the which queen got what call sign. “Okay, here is the mission,” I said, sliding the data over to the ladies. “Since we’re on point go ahead and study it thoroughly.”

“Uh… I guess this makes sense, wow.” She paused, opening and closing her mouth in shock. “This is going to suck,” Willow said with slumped shoulders in her harness. “Ugh. I hate dying.”

I chuckled and the others joined my laughter until a tense silence hung in our small cockpits.

“We’re running the gauntlet to help the others achieve the mission. Try not to run into each other,” I said nonchalantly.

A notification went off telling me it was time to go since everyone was here. One hundred and fifty-three SP01 zero-g fighters ready to kick ass.

“Fleet this is Six, here is your briefing,” I said as I disseminated the information in the battle plan. I knew there were people looking over my basic outline and realizing it was lacking depth. I had kept it simple for a reason. “We head to the Seetheus clone, get in close, and blow it up. We stop at this point, wait until the buoys are set, and then into the breach.”

I waited for questions and was a bit surprised when there was none. We spun as a unit and oriented for the mothership.

The forty-minute journey started with us picking up speed. Our success rate was just high enough to keep the enemy from fleeing. Sixty percent is what Goldie and Daxstar predicted the enemy would set our chances at. Forty percent were pretty good odds. We were preparing to launch a second assault and it was obvious too. Maybe this mind knew something we didn’t long term. Or they wanted us to force the issue before abandoning their prime objective.

Goldie had pulled out all the stops to try to get the clone with its ship in closer to us. One of the teases was our spare spaceship carrier being modified. Yup. A modified spaceship carrier that would be used to protect the Sol System. We were reclaiming our home, not an if but a when. This mothership was going to go down eventually. Either in this fight or chased out of the solar system.

My observations of the fleet formation was disturbed by an interruption. I answered the call without much thought. My bad.

“Stop and desist immediately,” an angry orb said. I named him Beetheus since his tone had a masculine ring to it.

When I grunted and said, “You talking to me?” He visibly radiated with anger.

“Your kind must return to your containment. How you achieved this technology is profane. There are -”

I muted the voice while nodding. My Gpad vibrated.

‘You’re talking to the mothership?’ Longoria.

‘Stalling, and yeah.’ - Eric.

I released the mute button to see if I had gotten caught typing. Nope, still droning on about the validity of his mission and how essential the Xgates were to preserving life in the universe for the worthy species. It was a very compelling argument if it didn’t mean I had to die so tree-hugging smart frogs could live.

When Beetheus stopped talking I paused holding two hands up passively.

“Are you lonely?” I asked in the most sincere way I could.

If I hadn’t been baiting him I would have cried out in horror at the emotional outpouring. I nodded, added the correct um… hmm… to let him know I was listening and watched the timer countdown. The buoys were released. Three more minutes and -

Shit, I had zoned out.

“How does that make you feel?” I said and felt I nailed it.

Five minutes later the tracking buoys were set. Finally, the orb gave a long huff and replied, “I am grateful you have spoken with me, it gets awfully boring. This will provide me with countless hours of reflection. Now I see you’re ready to fight. I must tell you to lay down weapons and accept my contract.”

A contract pinged for an infinite time, no food or water. I guess I was in a synthetic so this made sense. I closed the connection and declined the contract.

“We’re declining right?” Wing Three asked.

I knew he was fucking with me, it was the good ole pilot bullshit line. “Yes, you decline, follow in hot. Spread formation. Everything comes down to -”

“And there he goes,” Willow said on my private channel. As a squadron broke off from the main force.

I swapped my six engines to maneuver mode so I could spin on a dime in zero-g.

Donald Larkin was a mad man and his ability to dodge incoming fire was pretty stellar.

“Radio not working, taking out the side objectives if you can hear me,” Larkin said and I grunted at his clear transmission.

Fine, he was a far better pilot than I was and he already broke down the shields of a side turret Beetheus had constructed. Oh, damn, the other pilots with him were just as talented. The squadron of seven was dodging incoming fire while tag-teaming low priority targets.

Um… so much for my fucking plan. Yet, it was working.

I charged forward. Small turret fire crashed into my shield until I bobbed and weaved.

Beetheus was already shifting positions to bear his big guns on Donald’s squadron.

So much for me dying a glorious death in a mad charge.

“Tally ho!” I cried out in joy my turrets smacking fire into the big ship’s shield. That shiny bitch was locked on to Donald and friends.

Three massive arcs of energy tried to hit the group. They knew. The bastards knew. The squadron spread and then coalesced in a synchronized reaction.

This is what training could do. The moment the next beam was ready, the group of orbs fluttered in random directions again avoiding a growing orb of certain doom.

Sure this meant they were taking smaller fire from the turrets, but those weren’t cracking shields right away. No wonder why Goldie was so damn confident.

They’d used the simulator to practice this over the last three days at thirty-day compression.

The small constructs meant to help Beetheus were exploding in showering displays of white light. The blue racing beams of fire illuminated the void as the battle intensified.

While I marveled at their amazing maneuvers and deft controls, I managed to shimmer through Beetheus shields.

My weapons erupted into the massive spaceship stitching scorch marks down the side of the spaceship. A defensive turret exploded and a repair bot met its doom under my fire.

I reached the Xgate release bay and poured unrelenting energy into the wall. Beetheus knew his forty percent had gone to zero and I almost made it into the interior of the ship when he reacted. With far more energy than we had he bolted to leave the solar system.

“I despise humans!” Beetheus said as he fled.

“Surrender and you can live,” I responded with rapid discourse knowing time was limited. “I have been told no clone wants to suicide.”

“Ha! You will never catch me. These stupid buoys can track -”

With enhanced optics I watched our buoys become magnetic mines. They left their grid to cling to the fleeing vessel. At that moment Beetheus realized it was all a ploy to get him to run. If he stayed and fought, we would have died in droves.

The mines latched near the energy section of the ship and detonated.

I saw an implosion of energy as everything was being sucked in before the big release.

That was our cue to haul ass back for Earth. The explosion was so massive we feared for our lives even with the distance of space.

When the energy did wash over us we had two hull breaches and red washing over two ship icons. Then it was my turn. My shields flickered, my fighter shook, and I worried I was dead, but somehow the shields held.

When the battle calmed there were four dead.

Donald Larkin was one of them. Sure he disobeyed my orders, but the man was a god on the controls. His team had performed miracle work up here. He died to an unlucky fragment. All that skill and charisma ended by a random vectored hunk of metal.

We won the day though. The amazing training, smart tactics, and a dumb opponent tended to work in your favor. This was a half mind, I could only imagine what a true divine could do.

Thankfully I would get a long, long time to deal with that.

When the battle calmed I moved the fleet into a search and destroy mission. I didn’t think the cloned orb would have survived, but I wanted to be certain. So we blew everything we could find into itty bitty bits.

I noticed we needed to head back or our mind orbs would disconnect soon.

My heart ached and I felt sad. Yet I knew Donald would want us to celebrate his life and this victory.

“For the community!” I proudly shouted over the comms.

“For the community!” came the boisterous reply.

“Loose formation. We’re heading home,” I ordered and set my flight mode to travel.

This was it. This was our defining moment. Beetheus let us get close, confident in his ability to flee. Goldie predicted he would never calculate the buoys were a decoy, and so ended the mothership’s reign over Earth. Long live humanity, long live Bastion Nation, and for the community.

When our idle conversation died down so we could manage our reentry I knew one thing for certain. I was going to enjoy a well-earned hundred years of time off from fighting. Except for when I dealt with foreign nations. Or simulations, always room to improve. Eh, there were probably some pesky Nigerians to kill. Who was I kidding? War was in my nature.

CHAPTER 22

TWO MONTHS LATER

We were walking the zoo in the city of Larkin. A majestic new build in northern Florida that we designated our new capital. This particular section of the zoo was for Earth animals. Unlike a normal zoo with small cages and ugly fencing, we did clear exteriors and elevated walkways through enclosures.

The bench I sat at had a great overview of some elk munching grass. The interior of the enclosed space was cold with the munching animals blew frosted breaths. The simplicity of being an animal was so basic. I wanted to watch it in peace for hours while I contemplated the meaning of life.

However, life tended to climb on their fathers. Mary chased after Karen, and Peter was telling on them to Perci. Mark was indifferent as he was watching the elk peacefully with Willow. Nancy and Everly were trying to get the kids off my shoulders, but I waved them down. Daddy could be a climbing tool for now.

I lived for the moments where the kids were being kids as much as the silent moments of reflection. This is what life was all about, and the time we spent in each other’s company was exactly what I dreamed of.

The kids went bounding off down to the next exhibit, their endless energy fresh and invigorating.

Perci tucked up to my side and said, “The Chinese called. They’re complaining you’ve forgotten about them.”

“Ugh. Fuck the Chinese. So sick of them. No, we’re not sharing shit with them. Daxstar literally is on edge as it is. There are too many divisions with humanity. Our reign is supreme and we don’t need the Chinese,” I scoffed.

Of course, I said this within earshot of Mark who started asking Willow why I hated a fellow human nation. The answer was simple, the shits had already tried to steal tech a few times. They were a bug under our boot at the moment; squashed at a whim if we ever needed to, and I didn’t want that dynamic to change.

The last two months had been marvelous. Our economy boomed as we expanded, built, and adapted. Personally I’d never been happier. I spent my mornings exactly like this one. Doing things with my family. I held a court slash meeting session from noon to dinner. That was it. You either got me then or I told you to pound sand. Family time and personal work time was everything to me.

Not everything was sunshine. I never found my parents. So many were gone, so many people vanished. While we wanted answers, for many there’d never be closure. Only the reminders we held of those we lost.

My eyes noticed a slight waddle to Nancy’s walk.

There were some swelling bellies and achy backs as my wives started to show. I was so doomed. Like so, so doomed. The four kids were a monstrous tasks. The funny part was every time Uncle Jevon would watch my little ones with his wives, they were handed back with gulps. Yup, he was going to have double that. Me, I was going to have twenty one little ones running around.

Ultrasounds were solid, mommas were healthy, and life was almost stress-free. What did we do now that life had reached a new normal?

We shopped a lot and when I realized I had unique furniture tastes I started woodworking. Also, screw tavers, those aliens made my work look like shit. But they were happy to keep making my chairs, and I was happy to keep trying to best their work. Eventually, I turned to dressers because I wanted a win.

Longoria and Everly opened a seamstress shop. One of the best in Bastion for creating maternity wear for alien bodies. We had to de-automate a lot of things. Honestly, technology without restrictions would lead down a path were a hand-sewn dress would never happen due to costs. The two of them were busy and they tended to work more than I did, especially when Longoria would teach her nightly class on history. Longoria and I grew closer to the point she moved in with the family. It just felt right and nobody complained. I would visit her and Everly at work and sit in a comfy chair just to be near them.

Me, I ran a bouncy house. Hell yeah, I did. I got to boss around little kids that weren’t mine. It was about as amazing as it sounds. Shouted at kids in my dad’s voice without having them run crying to me was fabulous. The bonus was all the hot moms coming in for me to zone out on. The nudity thing had shifted to a lingerie society; flimsy undercovers was the happy teasing medium. Yeah, I found my non-wartime calling for sure.

Perci was busy running the government with me during the day and then doing all the paperwork when I went off to the bouncy house. To be honest, we had a million things going on with Bastion Nation that were beyond any single person’s capabilities. Perci loved the work and on occasions, I would deflect from my fun to help her catch up.

Nancy was back to being the mounamine Queen. She organized daycares, schools, and all things child-related. She was the stern momma with a soft spot. It was harder to gauge her success because the door was ever revolving. The mounamine were due to start having offspring next week and once that happened it was going to be a huge societal shift. Which would be a precursor to humanity’s effect with the virum. In the coming days I knew I would be getting a stand-in at the bouncy house of funporium so I could help Nancy.

Willow tried to be here. She really did, but war was her wheelhouse. Today was the first time she made a morning family trip in two weeks. Why? Africa. Ha! As if anyone expected that shitshow to suddenly be a bastion of choir boys and girls after the end of times. Nope, oddly enough Daxstar wanted their power stripped and then stuck into Gpad rules. So that's what our military was doing. Pacifying Africa into a new era. South America was next and my lovely lady was not going to slow down in her demonix body. Her victories were swift, her mercy unyielding, and the results always impressive.

That left Jill for the last. We actually didn’t grow closer. Not sure what it was, but we stayed cordial and split family time with Mary. Deep down I think she didn’t like being a mistress, but based on her swelling belly we were committed. She was a wonderful mom and a good friend I would fuck on occasion. She opened a nail salon, which for a lot of species was a highly desired thing. I was happy for her success and was always positive when we were together.

Onix hadn’t been seen in a while, but his tracker showed him hunting in the snowy north for big game. Most of the crew returned into the community and left the service. We had fought for what felt like forever. I did the same so I couldn’t blame them.

All the friends, aliens, and strangers I met since the start of the containment were living the best lives they could. I’d stop and chat often. Sometimes for hours. We visited Torrez, Dedric, Tina, Jevon, and the list kept going of the people we stayed close to. BBQ was a common evening theme and the castle above ground had a fabulous cooking pavilion that was open to many fine folks that were considered family. Life was at its best and I couldn’t be happier. Which caused me to stifle in laughter as I gazed upon the elk.

The funniest part of this zoo was I had given it to Willow and Everly to create. Yet, the community adopted the project and animal lovers took it over. Which was fantastic for the animals and the attraction aspect. I loved visiting parks, zoos, old human cities, and more with my family in the mornings. It was all I ever hoped it would be.

Mark had finished his conversation from Willow’s side and hustled to catch up to me when I left to find the three wild youngsters.

“So Eric,” Mark said questioningly. While the younger siblings called me Dad, he remembered his father clearly. I was fine with Eric. “I… I’m confused.”

“Oh yeah, shoot,” I replied.

“General Willow said -”

“Just Willow to you Mark,” Willow interrupted.

“Willow said the Chinese are a potential threat,” Mark said with a grumble from being corrected.

“And your confusion?”

“Well, I don’t see them as a threat based on what Willow told me and -”

“And that is how it must stay. The confusion part?” I asked.

“I was getting there. What about the gate-gods as the Hawaiian’s call them?”

“Ah, the crux of the issue looming in the back of everyone’s minds. I really need to censure some of the stuff that comes out of Hawaii. They seem to be splintering themselves into two camps. Old America and Gate worshipers. Sad really. No one wants to isolate humans,” I said with a pause.

Perci butted in and said, “It is monitored and that was put out as anti gate-god messaging. So we’re on top of it, your grace.”

“The enemy will return one day. When? Who knows? The rebel divines are still playing games in that VirtaBox with half the damn population. At first, I thought they were idiots; that was until I joined their gaming. Twenty four hours convinced me to let them keep playing out the future in a simulation. The results in the space battle showed there was merit for virtual practicing to real applications. And no that doesn’t mean you can spend all day in video games,” I paused our walk and put a hand on his shoulder. I gazed to see Sammie watching the other children and my wives around me listening.

“And what is the plan?” Willow asked for Mark.

“To live every day to our fullest. To enjoy each other’s company. The plan is to be human, even with our flaws, and we will be in the best place we can. Bastion is a growing home we’re proud of; Earth a beacon of freedom that will be defended with all our hearts. Mark, I hope one day when those Xgates flare back to life you’re ready to help protect your family. I know I’ll be at your side to keep those we love safe.”

Mark shuffled his feet and Perci slung an arm over his shoulder. The kid was tall for his age and Perci was always vertically challenged. Nancy held a hand up to join the conversation and stood in front of Mark.

“What your… adopted father is trying to say is,” Nancy paused to lock her blue eyes to mine. “That the plan is to live the best happily ever after type of life we can. The whole time we grow and build our blossoming love we plan on how best to defend what we cherish.”

Mark sighed and said, “When I grow up I want to defeat the aliens who killed my father. But for now, I am happy I have a loving home.”

I ruffled his hair which he hated.

“That’s the spirit, now go get your brothers and sisters.” He sped off and I raised my voice. “This deep talk brings out my cravings for bacon ice cream,” I said and he screeched to a halt.

“Um... Sir, do you promise to teach me all the amazing things about bacon?” Mark asked.

“Bacon absolutely,” I said, rushing to join him. “But first, let me tell you all about chickens!”

THE END

SERIES AFTERWORD

So. I was reading over a portal book and I realized I didn’t like them. Their take on portals anyways. Not to say other portal books are bad, merely I felt the portal systems were always too static. How stupid easy is to encase a stargate? Or to camp the opening with a pit for explosive and on and on my mind went into the hypotheticals. Ergo the roaming 4 sided portal, which to me, as the author, was implemented by Goldie at some point in the origin story.

I can relate to Eric Yang. More than I care to admit. Eric is everything I want in an MC. Compassionate to family, ruthless to his enemies, and skilled in his chosen profession. There are things at play with me that prevent me from delving deeply into PTSD. Could I have shown him struggling more, of course. Did I want to? Not really. In the end we’re reading books to escape things that bring us down, not roll in them.

Is there a book 5 coming? No, probably not. Is the universe Eric lives in closed, certainly not. The Xgates returning leaves many doors open, but Eric’s story is closed in his happily ever after. There was a huge cast in this series. Obviously not all of them were given an in-depth finale moment. Well, rest easy and know they are happy. That is undoubtedly true as I’d like to believe, and know, a peace time generally leads to doing things you enjoy instead of losing those you care about. Plus it’s a lingerie DD society. Fuck yes!

Audio is in the works. I intend to do books 1-4 and you get it cheaper if you already bought the books. Keep an eye out if that is your thing. Oh shit! I forgot this part. Visit me on facebook. I always got free audio codes to other books. Friend me then ask for a code.

My writing. Okay, I get the fact I am not Michael Crichton. Do I study his work? Yup. Do I want to improve? You better believe it. I still hate typing contractions. I just cringe at them in typed form. Yet, that is how people talk. I had to go back to book one and clean it up. Not often you get to hear this side but writing isn’t a cake walk. It has many struggles to it that drag on your soul when people shit on your work. That’s their opinion and it helps motivate me to improve. Sort of.

What really gets me back to the keyboard after a bad review is a good one. I’m beyond guilty of this myself where I chug through books and suddenly the series is done and I haven’t left a single review. Book 1 if you can please and thank you with priority on book one. I loved reading about Eric. The concept was refreshing. For the Crew. For the Community. I think that is enough words. Silly amazon and their word limits. Click here for book 1.

What’s next? A short break. I need to focus on my dialogue improvements. I have abandoned Koala Online. Poor Ranger. Some of my best work but I am a dum dum for writing about a koala entering a video game. Who knows, in 6 months it may be my biggest hit but my attempt to sell it has been horrid. I want to finish off Gryff. Yet, I also have a new story consuming me with an eagerness ready to be unleashed. Minotaur Maze of Monster Girls. Got a wicked cover in the works. Map is done, and a whole new MC I want to try out.

Family stuff. Well, I remember reading one of these afterwords by Craig Alanson. Book 6 or 7 if I recall. Loved the series but it died down and my favorite part was reading about his real life. For me I’ve struggled to adapt to quarantine. Got a toddler that is a poo flinging monkey. I can say that, it’s my own kid. I missed fishing season. Fuck. Pelagic run here during the late spring and I love slaying some big ass sea monsters. It’s summer soon. That means I want to go out more and write less. I’m not in this for the money but I do like to succeed. Which go hand in hand to a degree. My wife hates it because I rarely take breaks and I spend an epic amount of time at the keyboard. That is how I write a four book series in 2 months. Dedication to my craft.

Hmm… Last and not least. Thank you. Thank you for your time and for reading my books. I hope this is the ending you wanted and that you check out my other works.

Cheers, Marcus – Your adventuring partner.

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Table of Contents

- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17

- DAY 10—FIRST GOLDEN PORTAL—FOURTEEN MILES WEST OF NEW ZEALAND

- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- INTERMISSION 1
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22