This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
This work is the property of Kerrik Wolf (saethwyr@ (SPAM) hotmail.com). Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, cannibalism, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, mimes, necrophilia and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider.
Feedback is encouraged. I enjoy hearing from people. Positive feedback will be appreciated, cherished and flaunted in front of people. Negative feedback will be appreciated, cherished and listened to, that I might continue to grow. Flames will give me a good laugh. Feedback may be delivered to: saethwyr@(SPAM)hotmail.com. Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
Grey Chronicles
Two
(09/14/06 0915 Far Side of Luna, Sol system)
Iain’s twee had granted Theodora permission for her to monitor Iain’s status through a communications channel when they had first met, including auditory and visual inputs from his senses. She wasn’t sure if Iain himself was aware of the arrangement and had no intention of asking since she was a firm adherent to a phrase his twee had mentioned to her when she’d suggested doing so. It is easier to seek forgiveness than to get permission. She’d thought it particularly wise and immediately adopted it for herself.
When she saw the final paperwork transferring the acreage from the Texas League to Iain Grey, she’d pulled up maps from her records of the various Earths in her data archives. As soon as she located this Barton Spring, she launched a probe. It accelerated and entered stealth mode as it swung around the moon and headed for earth. At two hundred and fifty gravities, transit time was less than two minutes, even allowing for deceleration. However descent from the Karman line to the area around Barton Spring added five minutes to the trip since the probe slowed to subsonic speeds in order to avoid detection. At a hundred meters above the surface the probe split into five parts. Four spread out and landed to being sampling the area while the fifth conducted an aerial survey of the new Grey property. Ground penetrating radar was used to map the underground structures while soil and other samples were quickly taken.
The tidal wave had swept the area clean of buildings and trees while depositing a substantial amount of debris from upstream destruction. This and the concrete foundations of the previous buildings would require demolition and removal before her new family could construct a residence. She immediately slotted the required equipment into the top of her production queue.
Thinking for a moment, she queried the twee of everyone in the clan, asking each the same question. What would your person need and want in a home? Collating the data took only an instant and Theodora designed a dwelling that would fulfill all of their requirements, tested the design and refined it slightly before placing it at the number two slot in her production queue. Construction would take several hours, but it would be a nice gift to her family.
Once the surveys were done, she recalled the probe, which reassembled and headed into space. She changed her mind once it left the atmosphere, however, and reprogrammed it to explore the orbital graveyard. She intended to clear the junk out of Earth’s orbit, not only adding a tiny amount to her available resources, but also to examine the technology so she could mimic it if necessary. She was aware that there was at least one Tirsuli satellite constellation around the planet, but putting her own in place would keep from having to pay whoever owned it for use. Then her family could market phones to the Texans to allow them to better coordinate their defenses against the opponents arrayed against them as well as stay in communication with their friends.
***
(09/14/06 1130 Grey Property, Texas League)
“Get the fuck down.” Dave Pruitt grunted as Canaan kicked his feet out from under him and jerked him down on his stomach next to her to lie behind a low pile of shattered concrete and twisted steel reinforcements. She continued in the same harsh whisper. “Thanks to Autumn’s damned tactics of leveling every fucking thing in sight there’s very little cover and a lot of feral pokegirls have very sharp eyes. Some of them run when they see someone strange, but the really dangerous ones are the ones that won’t run. Instead they will investigate and they can kill you in a heartbeat. Never forget that the weakest offensive technique will shatter human bone while the strongest will leave the pair of smoking boots that Iain mentions from time to time that he remembers from some game.”
He stared at the Splice. “Did you see something?”
Canaan rolled her eyes and shook her antennae in his face. “See these? I’m a telepath. Many of us don’t have to see something to know it’s there. So, no, I didn’t see anything. But yes, I did feel the thoughts of a feral pokegirl up ahead. Iain and the others know about it and unless she can teleport she’s going to join our collection.” She pointed straight ahead with one hand. “And always keep your eyes looking everywhere except at your pokegirls. They’re not the ones that you should be worried about.” She grimaced. “Iain wants me to be more polite about how I treat you, but understand me, Pruitt. You want to be a tamer and tamers are, as mine puts it, squishy. You’ve got to have eyes on all sides of your head and since that’s impossible, you have to pay as much attention as you can to your surroundings or you’re going to get killed and your pokegirls, who depend on you for their very sanity, are going to go feral or end up getting fucked by someone else.”
Dave nodded slowly as he tried to look in every direction at once. “What can I do?”
“Trust your pokegirls to be sentries for you and let your pokegirls do the fighting. Pokegirls are the muscle in a harem while the tamer is the brains. But listen to your maharani. She’s supposed to advise you on what can get your ass kicked and how to avoid it. If she’s not, fire her ass until you find someone competent in your harem. Always remember that running away is not cowardly unless you leave someone on your side alive behind.” She grabbed his hand and pulled it firmly against one of her upper breasts. His head whipped around and he turned bright red. “Yes, it’s a breast. Pokegirls have them. We also have pussies. Your harem is composed of the girls in the relationship and you’re the man, which means you have to unlearn the habit of protecting them. They’re supposed to protect you and they’re a lot tougher than you are.” She shoved his hand gently away. “And just for the record, if you ever touch me without my permission I’ll rip off your arm and shove it down your throat bloody end first until you can scratch your nose with the hand on it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Dave said. “A man who does that sort of thing to any woman deserves to have his teeth knocked out.”
Canaan regarded him for several seconds. “You know, we needed more of that where we came from. That part of being protective you can keep.” Her eyes unfocused as she looked at something he couldn’t see. “And it’s just about show time. Come with me and we’ll find a place where you can watch the action.”
***
April peered through the binoculars. “It’s a Vaporita and she’s got to be the toughest pokegirl in the area since she’s not worried about what might pop up while she’s sunning on that rock.”
“She doesn’t have to be the toughest.” Ninhursag shrugged. “Her ability to dissolve into water makes it easy for her to escape anything she can’t outfight.” She looked over her shoulder at Iain. “I think Sofia should fight her. She should be able to handle a feral Vaporita. If she manages to escape, well, we’ll catch her next time.”
“I do not think I am ready,” Sofia said with a quaver in her voice. “I do not wish to fail.”
The Elfqueen nodded. “And you will only fail if you refuse to fight when I tell you to. You can’t win every battle but you can and will try to.”
Sofia’s ears canted sideways and she looked at Iain. “Must I?”
He shook his head and spoke in a gentle voice, ignoring the sudden anger in Ninhursag’s eyes at Sofia’s jump in the chain of command. “If you do not want to, then no, you do not have to. I know you can fight and when we go to punish your family they will try to hurt us or escape.” Her ears went flat and her eyes narrowed as he continued. “I thought it would be you and me punishing them and I can only ask our family to help, I cannot and will not compel them to take your revenge for you.” He reached out and traced her cheek with his fingertips. “You have ability. You’re just afraid because you were never allowed to fight back.”
Sofia turned her head and sniffed his fingers, breathing in his scent. Resolution filled her eyes. “I will try.” Her lips drew back in a silent snarl as her ears flattened and she turned to Ninhursag. “You are old and the old guide the young. Guide me.”
Iain barely managed to not laugh at the expression that appeared on the Elfqueen’s face. To her credit, Ninhursag recovered quickly. “You’re an electrical pokegirl and the Vaporita is water. That gives you a major advantage over her but always keep in mind that she’s almost as fast as you are and her water attacks can still hurt you if she hits. If you give her a chance, she will dissolve into water and flow through the rock into the stream to escape. Don’t let that happen. I would suggest that instead of charging up to do battle, you use stealth to sneak up on her until you can get close enough to use thunder bolt or thunder wave to paralyze her. Be careful, though, she has enhanced senses just like you do.”
“I will do that.” Sofia blinked when Iain pressed a small bag on a rope into her hand. She opened it and shook out a pokeball. It was one of the new production models that Theodora had manufactured for them and was made of titanium and colored in a forest digital camouflage pattern. She stared at it and her fingers closed tightly around the tiny sphere. “I will catch her for you, Iain.” She put the pokeball back into the pouch and slipped the rope around her neck.
Iain frowned. “You might want to tie that around your waist instead.”
Sofia ignored him and began quickly stripping off her skirt and bandeau. She handed the clothes to him. He looked at them and then back at her. Her ears flicked. “I do not want these to get damaged.” She turned and headed off at a deliberate walk, her tail rocking counterpoint to each step. Iain watched her with interest. She would always be slender but the weight she was slowly putting on was being distributed in interesting places.
Ninhursag poked him in the shoulder to get his attention and shook her head. “Old, am I?”
“You carry your years well.” He grinned when she shot him a look. “It was funny.”
The Elfqueen started to say something and stopped with an amused smile. “Yes, it was. I want to hear her say that to Eve or Dominique. They’re both much vainer than I am and older, too. But as long as you’re willing to share your bed with me I don’t care what they call me.”
He took her hand and squeezed firmly. “You’ll be welcome in my life when you’re a hell of a lot older than you are now.”
She smiled again. “You always seem to know the right thing to say.” Then she tugged her fingers free. “Just like you did with Sofia to convince her she wants to battle. Still, it’s good to hear.” Her smile faded. “If the Vaporita doesn’t flee and Sofia starts having problems, how long do you want me to wait before sending her assistance?”
“Let her do her best first. If she’s losing, don’t let her get hurt too badly. I’d like her to see the capture through to the end instead of getting recalled and missing it.”
Ninhursag nodded. “I understand.”
April snorted. “If she can get close enough to engage the Vaporita then helping her won’t be an issue. I’ve been training our little girl and she’s more than strong enough to take out just about any single water type. As for her confidence, we are all afraid before the fight starts and then we’re too busy to be afraid. She’s a combat pokegirl and has the right instincts. When the time comes she’ll use them without hesitation. I’m more worried she’ll kill the Vaporita and either really enjoy it or be appalled at what she’s done.” She gave Ninhursag a hard look. “This harem has a lot of pokegirls who kill routinely and Sofia has trained with them. That kind of attitude can rub off on a student. She lionizes just about everyone here and so I’m mildly concerned, but short of asking Canaan to deep scan her there’s no way to know which way she’ll jump until she starts fighting and actually kills someone.”
Iain had turned back to watch Sofia. Out of regard for the Vaporita’s enhanced senses they were under cover a hundred meters from the dozing pokegirl and downwind. Sofia was crouched down and moving slowly from boulder to boulder as she worked her way towards the feral. As he watched, she went flat and began slithering, taking as much advantage from every piece of cover as she could. Ninhursag’s breath puffed in his ear. “I didn’t realize she was so sneaky.”
Iain had been so focused on Sofia that he jumped when Ninhursag spoke. He glanced at the Elfqueen, who was straightening back up from bending over to match his much shorter height. “After she went through threshold, Sofia had to pretty much fend for herself. She got a small bowl of cereal once a day and that only on most days. Some days she got nothing. She could occasionally steal some food but anything else she had to find. She quickly became adept at hunting insects, rodents and birds for protein. Since she couldn’t use her techniques, didn’t have any weapons and got the shit kicked out of her whenever she picked one up she became skilled at sneaking close enough to catch them by hand. Apparently it carries over to pokegirl hunting.”
April was looking curiously at him. “I didn’t know any of that.”
“Since we’re not having sex yet, we spend the time that we are together talking. I tell her stories about my past and she reciprocates. I make unhappy noises for her at all of the right places, which lets her know I’m on her side and encourages her to be forthcoming about what happened in the Silver River League.” His eyes were grim as they watched the Peekabu sneaking up on the Vaporita. “It’s important to me that I know what happened to her since I do want to know why I’m going to help her kill her family.”
***
Sofia couldn’t see her prey while creeping up on her and used her other senses to make up for it. Her ears were locked on, listening for any movement, while her nose constantly sampled the air. When she thought she was close enough, she eased upwards with the speed of a glacier flowing until her eyes cleared the piece of concrete she’d stopped behind and she could see her target. Then she froze.
The Vaporita was a handful of meters ahead and sprawled on her back on a flat rock, snoring softly. Behind her, Sofia could make out the glint of water. As she’d learned to do under April’s tutelage, the Peekabu unlocked her power and felt it thrum through her body. She clenched her teeth and held the technique, feeding more and more power into it until tiny arcs flashed above her eyes as they crawled between and through her eyelashes. Then she aimed at the center of the Vaporita’s body and released the attack as she surged over the concrete.
The Vaporita shrieked as the thunder bolt took her in the stomach and blew her off the rock. She jumped to her feet and met Sofia’s lunge, raking with her nails as the Peekabu, still accelerating to full speed, slammed into her. The Vaporita kept slashing at her as momentum carried them both over the rock and into the water with a loud splash.
Iain swore and sprinted forward. Ninhursag blinked and gave chase, but slowed to a jog when she realized that her tamer was pulling away from her. April pelted by, her legs a blur as she used the enhanced speed card Iain had given her. Overhead, her just released Dark Magician Girl sped ahead and took up station over Iain as he ran.
Up ahead, the water in the pool suddenly danced and tiny globes of ball lightning skittered across the surface making a sound like frying bacon before dissipating. A moment later, stunned and dying fish began appearing, bobbing lightly in the wavelets. Sofia broke the surface and kicked backwards for the shore, dragging the Vaporita as she swam. She waded out of the pool and dumped the Vaporita in the mud before trying to untangle the rope around her neck.
“Can I help?”
She looked up into Iain’s eyes and nodded slowly as she held out the bag. “You were right. I will tie it around my waist next time.”
He tried to loosen the hopelessly tangled rope for a moment before drawing a knife and cutting it free. He opened the pouch and offered her the camouflaged pokeball. When she stared at it, he smiled. “You beat her. It’s your capture.”
She looked into his eyes and gently took the ball from him, turned and pressed it firmly against the Vaporita’s head. The unconscious pokegirl disappeared into the capture beam without a fuss. Sofia’s ears flicked, spitting drops of water on Iain. “It did not beep. Is something wrong?”
Iain carefully pulled the ball from her grip. “Our pokeballs are designed not to make a noise or flash any light. Both of those give away what happened and can draw attention to the capturer. They don’t really need an external indicator of a successful capture since if it fails the pokegirl reappears.” He touched her shoulder gently and smiled when she didn’t shudder away from his hand. “You did well.” April came pounding up and he handed her the Peekabu’s ball. “Sofia was injured. Please heal her.”
Sofia poked at the deep scratches from the Vaporita that crisscrossed her upper torso. “I am not badly hurt. She is like me and too human to have claws. Her fingernails didn’t hurt me much.” She wiped blood off of the scratches lacing her small breasts. “The bleeding isn’t that bad. Most of this is from water still dripping and will stop soon.”
Iain shook his head. “Our rule is that the entire harem stays as combat ready as possible.” He hefted the handful of clothing he still carried. “It’ll also dry and clean you up so you can put your clothes back on.”
Sofia’s ears canted sideways. “I am a combat pokegirl?”
April was getting the PHU from her pack. She paused. “Peekabu can be substantial combat pokegirls and you are Iain’s only electric. Only the Ria shows more potential than the Peekabu does.” She smiled warmly. “Your presence plugs a large hole in the coverage the harem can provide. We need you.”
Sofia turned disbelieving eyes on Iain. He smiled too. “She’s right. I need you. You took down that Vaporita like a pro.”
Sofia seemed to stand a little straighter and turned to April. “Then heal me.” Her ears flatted at the sight of Dave and Canaan approaching them. “I do not wish to get my clothes dirty and I don’t want Dave to stare at me. I am not his.”
April was putting the now full pokeball into the PHU when Canaan and Dave arrived. The Splice grinned at Iain. “She did well.”
“Yes, she did.” He motioned towards the pond. “You two gather all of the fish you can and we’ll have fried fish for lunch.”
***
(09/14/06 1530 Grey Property, Texas League)
The fish they’d caught at the pond hadn’t been enough for everyone and so they’d spent some time fishing the river before settling down to a meal of fish and chips. Iain handed his plate to Raquel, who along with Dominique had cleanup duty, and leaned back against Zareen’s flank. “You’ve seen the list of ferals we caught today. Did any of them interest you?”
Dave was watching Sofia eating her fourth helping of dinner. “Where does she put all of that food?”
“When you’re routinely starved for years you tend to develop a mindset where you eat everything you can whenever you can. Sofia is still working her way towards the fact that she’ll never starve again. Now, I’ll ask once more, did any of the ferals we caught interest you?”
Dave tore his eyes away from Sofia. “I didn’t see all of the captures but of the ones I did see, the one Sofia fought was the only one that didn’t try to run away. Did any of the others stand their ground and fight?”
Iain looked at Eve, who had commanded the other capture team. She shrugged. “No.”
“Then that’s the one I want. I’m in the TDF and I want a pokegirl whose first thought is to fight. If the odds are overwhelming, according to Canaan, I’m supposed to be the one who decides if we run, so I don’t want one that thinks of running before I do.”
“You do understand that some situations require that you retreat, right?” Eve was watching him with hooded eyes.
“I intend to defend Texas against our enemies,” Dave said simply. “Dying is not the best way to do that. If I have to retreat to live, then I will.”
“She’s feral,” Pandora said quietly. “Do you understand what that means?” She sighed when Dave looked confused. “Pokegirls need sex from a human in order to stay aware. If they don’t, then they go feral and lose most of their higher reasoning abilities. To get her mind back you’ll have to have sex with her, but since she’s feral she may well resist. That means you’ll have to force yourself on her.”
Dave looked startled. “That’s rape.”
“In someone who can give consent, yes it is, but feral pokegirls cannot give or refuse consent. They don’t understand the concept. What she may think is that you are fighting her and then she, being aggressive, may well fight back. What you’ll have to do is immobilize her for your first time. Once she’s aware and bonded to you she’ll come looking for sex from you, but right now she can’t understand what she needs.”
Eve patted him on the knee when he looked aghast. “You are doing her a kindness, Dave, and she will be grateful to you for it.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s an adult, which means she is not one of the growing numbers of feral born pokegirls. She is from the armies and will remember what it was like to be aware. These first pokegirls were never told about going feral and it was a severe shock to them when it began happening to them. She may have never known what was happening to her.”
The color slowly drained from April’s face. “I never considered that aspect. You, Canaan and Dominique had to live through that. It must have been terrible.”
The Archmage’s crimson eyes were somber. “We had no idea what was happening to us. My commanding officer thought they were going insane when they attacked other members of our unit and had several of them executed. When word came from some Megami as to what was actually going on, it made things worse. We now knew that nonexistence was the future for anyone who tried to keep away from the humans and that to stay ourselves we had to give ourselves to our enemies. Sukebe promised us males for each of us, but we didn’t realize until then that we had no choice in accepting or refusing that promise.” For once she sounded as old as she was. “Some refused to believe their future was that dark and worked frantically to overcome their destiny. None succeeded. They all either found males or went feral without realizing it. Not a few suicided rather than give up their independence.”
Dave looked confused again but wisely kept quiet as April hugged Dominique. Iain just looked tired as he turned to Ninhursag. “Get the tent set up for Dave.”
The Elfqueen looked at April. “Take care of it.”
“Dominique, you’re with me.” The Duelist headed off a short distance with the Archmage following.
Dave looked confused. “What do I need a tent for?”
“Unless you intend to tame her in front of us and, frankly I don’t want the show, you’ll want the tent for some privacy.”
Dave blinked and turned pink. “I have to do it now?”
Iain grinned. “Dave, you don’t take a feral out to dinner, buy her candy and flowers and hope you’ll get lucky. You catch her, restrain her, preferably on her stomach so she can’t bite or use water gun on you, you immobilize her tail if she has one and then you fuck her. After that you two can start building a relationship.” He motioned towards the spot where April and Dominique were quickly erecting a small tent. “Instead of wine, you’ll use paraspray to keep her paralyzed. I like you and I like Buck and I suspect that in spite of the mean things he said to you this morning he’d be a tad pissed at me if I let you get killed by a feral. So you use the tent while we’re around to deal with any unforeseen problems.”
“Is that what you did with your ferals?”
Iain shrugged. “I’ve only had to tame one feral and it was a special case. She was willing and I knew she was willing.”
Zareen grinned widely.
Dave shook his head stubbornly. “So you don’t think mine will be willing?”
“Dave,” Pandora said softly, “you can’t take the chance. I wasn’t feral and I accidentally killed the tamer I had before Iain. It destroyed me for years. Ferals can’t control their strength nor do any of the things that will help keep you alive while having sex with one. If things go far enough then she may just wake up to the reality that she just murdered the man who brought her sanity back. It’s a cruel thing to do to a pokegirl.”
“How many tamers have you had?”
Iain made a decision. “Do you know the story of Sukebe?”
“I know the name. He was the criminal who made pokegirls in the first place.”
“Without getting into a discussion about the moral implications of what he did, Sukebe found a way to open doorways between universes and visited them to gather technology and the raw materials needed for pokegirl creation.”
“I’d heard that. It’s the only way to explain the technology jumps.”
Iain gave a mental sigh of relief. “Then you accept the fact that there are other universes out there and other worlds like Earth. There are even other Earths.”
Dave frowned. “I hadn’t considered it, but it makes sense. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, long story short, I’m from one Earth that never had pokegirls. I was kidnapped into a world that had pokegirls and whose time was about three hundred years in the future from now. In escaping there, I and my family of pokegirls ended up here. I now know that I can’t return to the Earth I was born on and we have decided to build a home here in Texas. Because of this, we have information and equipment that you don’t and, as the pokedex I gave you proves, we are willing to share with our friends and do business with everyone else. Several members of my family are far older than I am and have had several tamers before we found each other.”
Dave’s eyes lit up with interest. “Which ones?”
Iain didn’t take the bait. “Dave, I respect my ladies and if any of them want you to know their stories, they will tell you. I still don’t know everything about them, just as they don’t know everything about me. Pandora volunteered the information about herself to try to help you make the safe decision.” April stepped back from the tent and motioned to him. Iain nodded in reply. “And the tent is ready to go.”
Pandora rose smoothly to her feet. “I will prepare the feral and, if Iain doesn’t mind, I will stand sentry while you bond your first pokegirl.” When Iain raised an eyebrow she glanced at Zareen behind him. “Unlike some others I’m not interested in watching.”
Zareen unabashedly grinned back. “Outside of pornography I haven’t seen other penises and I’m curious.”
“This is not the time or place for that, mare. You will guard Iain in my place.” Pandora turned and jogged towards the tent.
“That sounds reasonable enough to me.” Iain got up. “Pandora will guard Dave’s tent. Ninhursag, we’ll explore the area and I’ll point out where the property boundaries should lie.” He glanced at Zareen, who was watching Pandora entering the tent. “And Zareen will carry us.”
***
09/14/06 1720 Grey Property, Texas League)
Dave looked at Iain with a slightly lost look. “But everyone has a name,” he repeated dully. The Vaporita was sitting a short distance away with Eve and Dominique. The two members of Iain’s family were explaining to her about how the Vaporita had been feral and what that had meant. “But when I asked her, she said her name was ninety four.”
“That’s her name.” Iain poured some lemonade into a cup and handed it to Dave. “Most of the pokegirls in Sukebe’s forces had numbers for names. It serves the same purpose as what you consider a name does, but if you don’t like her name you and she can change it to something else. Her full name is probably a lot longer than ninety four, but if there wasn’t anyone else with the last two digits ninety four in her unit that’s what she’d use. As they broke away from the units pokegirls would take names from things they’d run across, but since not all of them were literate you’ll find a wide range of sources and names.” Iain raised a cautionary hand. “There are pokegirls from Sukebe’s forces that have names and, when they do, they all tend to be unique in one way or another and a lot more powerful than the average pokegirl. Their names aren’t all nice ones, either, since they were named by Sukebe himself or one of his immediate lackeys. And if you run across any pokegirl who says she is either called Death or used to be called that, avoid her completely. Those girls are bad news for everyone around them.”
The Vaporita plopped down next to Dave, adjusting the pretty blue sundress Eve had given her. It matched her hair. “You know of the Deaths?”
Iain nodded. “I haven’t met them yet, but even I am familiar with Misery and Whisper.”
The Vaporita made a warding motion with her hand. “It is unlucky to say those names. I have been listening to you. You know much. Are you one of Sukebe’s agents?”
Iain looked surprised. “I have never been asked that question before, but the answer is no. If I’d ever met Sukebe I’d probably have stabbed him to death.”
The Vaporita gaped for a second. “You are surrounded by his gifts. Why would you wish him dead?”
Iain opened his mouth and closed it. Finally he shrugged. “It’s complicated and I’m going to leave it at that.”
The Vaporita blinked and growled softly. “I do not like this.”
“What’s that?”
“I am used to forcing answers from the men I interrogate. Eve and Dominique have explained to me that I can no longer do that. It is frustrating.”
Pandora was standing to Iain’s right. “I can understand how frustrating it is, but I suggest you listen to Eve. It’s healthier if you do.” Her eyes met the Vaporita’s. “If you try to force Iain to do anything, we will have to find Dave another maharani since you will be dead.”
Iain reached up and rested his hand on the Fallen Angel’s. “I have been offered no threat. Please don’t issue any to ninety four.”
Pandora glanced at him and looked back at the Vaporita. “I apologize for threatening you. It was uncalled for.”
The Vaporita shook her head and snorted. “Whatever.”
Dave looked at her. “That’s rude. If someone apologizes to you, you be polite and accept unless you have a damned good reason for refusing it. If you refuse to accept someone’s apology, they can be offended and you might be asking for a fight.”
The Vaporita blinked and turned back to Pandora. “You would fight over this?”
“No, I wouldn’t. But there are others that would. I don’t want to kill over such a small thing.”
“Then I accept your apology. What is your name?”
“Pandora.”
The Vaporita’s eyes widened. “You must be powerful to have a man’s name.”
“They’re called humans. Only the males are men. The females are women.”
The Vaporita snorted. “The females are nothing. We are far better than they are.”
“Be that as it may,” Pandora said soothingly, “they can have sex with pokegirls and make the feral ones become aware again. We cannot do that. You can have a human name now.”
“That is what Dave says. Why would I want one?”
“It makes you more equal with the women.”
The Vaporita nodded slowly. “You are wise, Pandora. If that is true, I wish a human name for I am no one’s lesser unless she bests me on the battlefield.” She turned expectantly to Dave. “Name me.”
Dave looked at her helplessly until Iain cleared his throat. “Can I make a suggestion?”
Both of them looked at him, the Vaporita with curiosity and Dave with an expression of hope. “Please!”
Iain spoke to the Vaporita. “Your name right now is ninety four. It’s not your whole name, but it’s what you answer to, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then it might be best for Dave to give you a name that sounds close to ninety four, but is obviously human. Having it close to your current name means you’ll respond to it faster, which is important while you two are learning to work together in battle. You don’t want to miss an order from Dave because you’re not used to how your name sounds.”
The Vaporita nodded. “I would not want that. He could be hurt and Eve has explained to me how important it is to keep him safe.” She shivered. “It is truly named the Nothing among us and I never want to be there again.”
Iain pulled his notebook from his pack and tore a sheet out of it. He wrote something and handed the sheet to Dave. “She’s asking you for your decision, not mine. So whatever you decide to name her, it comes from you and not from me.”
The Vaporita snorted. “It wouldn’t matter if I did see what you wrote. I can’t read. Only officers and infiltration specialists were trained to read.”
Pandora glanced at Iain. Do we tell them about the literacy T2 we have?
He didn’t look back at her. No. Instead we teach Dave how to teach her to read. That’ll help them to bond on a personal level.
Dave crumpled the note. “I’ll teach you to read. It’s not hard. Before the war I used to volunteer at an adult literacy program so I know how it’s done. I would like to name you Nanette.”
The Vaporita rolled the word around in her mouth for a moment before nodding. “I like it. I will be Nanette.” She turned to Iain. “Eve tells me that I need another pokegirl or two in our harem to keep Dave safe.”
Iain turned to look at his wife where she was looking at a map display of the area. “Oh, did she? Well, that’s her opinion, but she also believes that I should be locked in an armored room a couple of thousand kilometers away from any fighting.” Dave snickered. “It is true that having more pokegirls in a harem can allow the harem to assign the tamer a permanent bodyguard while the others fight, but it also means that there are more girls that you have to share Dave with and of course there’s an overall increase in the use of food and other items. So, as with most things, there’s a trade off.”
“You have many pokegirls,” Nanette pointed out.
“I do. And sometimes it feels like I have way too many pokegirls. Don’t get me wrong, I care for them all but I never get a night without sex, I haven’t slept alone in over a year and I’ve got to share wherever I live with ten other people. I used to be a loner and now I live in a dormitory. I can’t go for a walk alone. I can’t fucking bathe alone. And forget about taking a pee in peace first thing in the morning in a house full of women. I either wait until the others are out of the bathroom or pee outside and if I take a piss outside, I have to have a guard while I’m doing it.”
Pandora glanced at him. “And soon there will be children.”
“That I’m looking forward to.” He sighed. “I may not be the best person to listen to on this topic, Nanette. I’m tired and cynical. All I really want to do is settle down for a while and not have anyone trying to kill me or have to move. I am so tired of moving.”
“You can do that here,” Dave said.
“This is going to be our home when we’re visiting Austin. We want someplace out in the wilderness for our primary residence. My maharani is an Elfqueen and they don’t do well in urban settings. For that matter, neither do I. I’m always too busy looking over my shoulder when strangers are around.”
Dave looked astonished. “You’ve bought twenty five acres here. If this isn’t going to be your home, why purchase so much?”
“I bought what I did so I owned all four springs and don’t have to argue with anyone about how they’re going to be maintained. There was a species of salamander here that doesn’t live anywhere else and if it’s still around I intend to protect it. That and nobody can turn my water off.” He looked around. “The two springs away from the creek are choked with rubble from the pokegirl army attack but we’ll get that cleared out pretty quickly. Now we just need to keep ferals out of the springs, but the best way to do that is to heavily hunt the river around my property.”
Dave rose, stretching. “Well, that’ll be good for you, but I need to get back to Austin and introduce Nanette to my parents.” He touched the new belt with the pokedex and spare pokeballs hanging from it. “Thank you for everything. I won’t forget this.”
Iain rose as well. “You can use the pokedex to contact me. Don’t be a stranger. Be well, Dave and Nanette.”
He watched Dave and his new pokegirl head north and turned to Pandora, but before he could speak his twee did. Theodora would like to talk with you and the rest of the clan now that Dave is leaving.
She is family and does not have to ever wait to talk to me. If I’m too busy and it’s not an emergency, I’ll let her know then. If it is an emergency, I expect her to let me know and I will listen.
I appreciate that, Iain. Theodora’s mental voice sounded faintly amused. I request that you move your camp off of your property. The shuttle is almost ready for launch and will be arriving in an hour.
Iain blinked and looked at Pandora. “Shuttle?”
The Fallen Angel shrugged. “You know as much as I do. What shuttle, Theodora?”
The shuttle I have sent is carrying the equipment to remove all of the rubble and to prep the ground by removing all of the signs of previous habitation. I have specifically excluded the area around each of the springs in order to allow you to decide if you want to keep the surviving structures there. Your house is being grown and will be available for delivery before dawn tomorrow. Demolition cannot begin while you are in the area since the process can be hazardous to all forms of life.
Eve was looking at the sky as if she could see the Theodora behind the moon, which was currently not visible. “How far away should we be?”
A half kilometer outside your property boundaries will be more than sufficient. I can control the demolition process to within thirty centimeters but one can never be too safe with one’s clansmen. I should warn you that the actual speed of demolition will vary since the constructions on the site were accomplished at different times and the composition of the concretes used vary widely because of this. The tonnes of concrete will require some time to completely decompose and mix with the underlying strata to improve its initial fertility as much as possible. I also have several hundred tons of synthesized fertile soil to mix with the result. It has no biologics in it but otherwise is perfect for most plant growth. Still, I estimate that the work will be done in time to position your house and return the shuttle to space before it can be seen. Barring that, the shuttle will position the house and then take refuge in the Gulf of Mexico before dawn and wait until nightfall to return to the Theodora.
Iain had a slightly bemused look on his face. “Sure, why not. Ninhursag, set up camp a couple of kilometers down the river.”
***
Iain Grey
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Fallen Angel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Peekabu
Vanessa - Evangelion
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Twau
You can review at Kerrik Wolf’s Review Page.