by David Burke
The next step was to notify his wives. They would all freak out that he was putting himself in danger, but he figured by giving precedence to Jessie, since it was her day, that they would see he was honoring the initial proposal.
“My loves, I just wanted to let you know that I’m gonna go stretch my legs on the fifth floor. I need to get the lay of the land and see what’s down there.”
Amelia’s reply came swiftly. “Why do you need to do that? There is plenty of hunting still on the fourth floor.”
“I’m sure that you all have that well in hand. I need to see something new. Besides, it is past time for us to descend deeper into the dungeon. We need to stay ahead of the Forlorn.”
That elicited a couple of replies for him. Huong joked, “If you give me a free hand with the other girls, I’m sure that I could get it worked out so they had some new tricks to show you. We don’t want you getting bored.”
Jay just groaned but Ava jumped on it. “Yes, Master, you should let Huong train them. You work so hard to please all of us. At the very least they should all be finding new ways to please you. And you know all you have to do is tell me if you want to try something new.” She paused and Jay could feel the concern build up within her. “You aren’t getting tired of me? Are you, Master?”
Jay’s mind was screaming, “Bear trap, bear trap.”
“You all know how I feel about you. That clearly isn’t the kind of new that I am looking for. It is time for me to get out and do some dungeon exploration. A man gets stifled if he has to stay at home all the time.” Is what he actually said to them.
“Oh, but it’s okay for your wives to stay at home taking care of your babies or working in the lab. Maybe we should practice cooking and cleaning now too,” Amelia said.
His first reaction was that he had sidestepped around the bear traps only to fall into a punji pit. But then he felt the amusement coming from Amelia and realized he was okay.
“I know how often you lead teams onto the fourth floor, so I’m not worried about any of you being mistaken for some poor betrodden housewives. Me on the other hand, all I get to do is refine every day and then maybe if I’m lucky if I can fit in a little light training or sparring.”
“Well that and the fucking fifty-nine ready and willing women,” Mia added sarcastically.
“Yes, Master, don’t forget the fucking.” Ava’s smile was almost visible through her telepathic words.
Huong of course couldn’t resist. “Yes, we must never forget the fucking. I can line up some extra slots for you tonight if you want.”
“Hey tonight is my night and I already had to share him with my pod,” Jessie complained before Jay could respond.
He knew good and well what they were doing. They were trying to distract him from wanting to put himself in harm’s way. Well it wasn’t gonna work. He had forced himself to accept that the women he loved would be going into dangerous situations.
The situation and decisions he made in the ice castle four months ago still played out in his head. There was a part of him that felt he had done exactly the right thing. Yet, as Meikiyo was always reminding him, a relationship is a two-way street. Now he would just have to remind them.
“I’ve been trusting all of you. I put my fears for your safety aside. Now, I promise not to take any foolish risks, but I am going to do this,” Jay said. He placed an extra emphasis on the last part. It had become evident of late that he could force his will into his telepathic communication.
It couldn’t brainwash anyone but he had seen enough to know that he could edge people in one direction or another. That of course brought up an entirely different set of concerns about if he was simply becoming more of a leader or learning some power similar to the one that Jasmine. The concern was real, but he trusted his own intentions.
Amelia was the first to concede but not without her own barb. “Okay, you are the master after all. If you want to go, then you get to go. But just make sure you don’t do anything that we would consider foolish. Your personal definitions on that subject have been suspect at times.”
Jay knew that even with just a bond the girls had to be able to tell that he was happy that they were past the fighting stage over this issue. “Yes, I always try to live by my new standard WWMWW.”
None of them asked but he was too amused with himself not to expound further, “You know, what would my wives want.”
Once again the telepathic network they were communicating on, especially with the fused wives, conveyed the sense of multiple sets of eyes rolling. Mia said, “I suppose you have a team in mind for this little day trip?”
“It’s Jessie’s day, so I was gonna take her and anyone from her pod that she wants to bring along. Just no other wives. It is time to focus on Jessie.”
“Lover, that makes absolutely no sense. By all accounts so far the fifth floor is a fire floor filled with lava, heat and a bunch of monsters designed to live in that climate. I’m immune to heat and flame, so obviously I need to go with you. I doubt that Jessie would mind if I came along,” Meikiyo said.
Jessie chimed in, “Yeah gotta agree with Meikiyo on this one, honey. She is the logical fit.”
“Nope, no other wives. I love you all and never get enough solo time with you. If I didn’t think you would all protest, I would suggest that just Jessie and I go. But as a concession I am willing to take a team composed from her pod. That way she will still be the queen on the mission.”
“And what does that make you? The king?” Amelia scoffed.
“You know what I mean. Look, I’m leaving in half an hour after I eat a snack and get into my B.O.B. armor. I will meet you there, Jessie. Love you all,” Jay said and then bolted to the lab where his armor was kept.
He had learned it wasn’t a good idea to try to wall off communication with his wives so he left that open but pleasantly while he detected some background communication between them, he didn’t have any idea what they were talking about unless he really focused on the fusion connection. Which of course he didn’t. The closeness of the fusion was amazing, but everyone deserved some privacy.
Chapter 3- Locker Room Talk
While he was changing he dropped the walls against incoming telepathy and immediately heard Trina’s voice in his head. “Jay, I’m sorry. I don’t know how many times I can apologize about before. I just wanna make it right. I want you to be safe. You are too important and I admit that I have come to admire you. You work tirelessly for all of us. I mean, I suppose not all of it is work per se, but you know what I mean.”
“Thank you, Trina, coming from you, that actually means a lot. I know that you care about your team and want the best for all of them.” Jay paused before adding, “Was there something you needed.”
A second later he heard the door open to the armory. It was where they stored weapons and the B.O.B. armor suits. Because of the pliability of the suits they were essentially one size fits all and that was saying a ton given that he was now 7’6” and some of the girls were still 5’6”. But he had tested it out many times and each of the suits seemed to fit perfectly.
Trina walked in to find him in nothing but his birthday suit preparing to put the armor on. Experience had taught him that it worked best if it was in contact with his skin rather than having a layer of clothing in-between. He always packed extra clothes in his spatial crystal so that didn’t seem to be an issue.
Her eyes immediately got wide before she looked away. “Uhh… sorry, didn’t think about the fact that you might still be dressing.”
Jay laughed. “Trina, I think any sense of modesty I had is pretty much gone now. You can come in if there is something that you wanted to talk about.”
She seemed to force herself to look back at him, but when they made eye contact there was an obvious look of longing. Jay couldn’t help himself, he scanned her and saw all the obvious signs of arousal. He didn’t make mention of it.
He and the wives had spoken many times about Trina. They had made it clear ma
ny times that she wanted him but that she also wanted to jump the line to become a wife. So, Jay would respect their wishes. He wouldn’t proposition her even if he thought she was gorgeous and even if he thought that it would be for the best to bring her onto the team.
“Are you staring at me or just looking through me?” Trina asked.
“Oh, sorry. I just got lost in thought. I can’t help but wonder if things would have been different here if we had ended up on the same cluster.”
She looked at him for a moment before responding, “Or you mean if I hadn’t been a total bitch back on Earth?”
“Honestly, I don’t see it like that. I wasn’t the man that I am now. I wasn’t ready for a real relationship and I probably idealized you more than was healthy. Besides, we can’t worry about the past. It is gone. All we have is this moment. Sure we need to plan for the future. But we have to live right now,” Jay said.
“When did you get so philosophical?”
“I’m not, Trina, but I’ve learned the value of life and the value of having the right people around me. As awful as this place can be, but for the A’snkarnt experiment, I might have just wandered through life with no focus. Now though, I think there was something you wanted to tell me,” Jay said.
“You know I don’t approve of you going into the dungeon, but I guess I can understand that it is necessary. I agree that you are strong, but I also don’t see why you won’t let us put together the best team possible. I swear, I want nothing but to protect you. If you only gave me the word, I would kill to protect you,” Trina said. Her voice grew more impassioned as she spoke.
Jay had trouble reconciling the three Trinas in his mind. There was the Trina that he knew back on Earth. Then there was the Trina that had threatened to take over the cluster and turn him into a virtual prisoner. The walls of such a prison might have been velvet lined but it would have been a prison all the same. Finally, there was this Trina who had taken it upon herself to protect him with a devotion that was almost misplaced. He feared for any of the other girls that Trina came to think of as a threat to him.
“Trina, I wanna take you at face value. I just worry that you will change your perspective again,” Jay said. He genuinely felt sorrow but knew that it was important to speak the truth.
She stared at him for a minute. “Jay, just keep watching. I will prove myself. I know that you aren’t ready to accept me as a wife yet, but know that when you are, I will make sure that you don’t regret it.”
“I will keep an open mind and I want us to be able to keep working together for now. Do you think that is possible?” Jay asked.
“I will serve and you will see that I’m the best choice for your next wife. I want to ask some questions but I don’t want to upset you. I want us to be able to be friends at least,” Trina said.
Jay shook his head. “Speaking your mind is never gonna lose you my friendship.”
Once again, Trina stood there looking at him. He didn’t say anything because he had a good idea of what was on her mind. He knew that she needed to get it out and these past months had taught him it was important to give them the time that they needed.
“So, I just don’t get it. Why aren’t you fusing with your other wives? Why aren’t you using your time thingie to give the tech division a better chance to develop a ship? I want to leave here. I think most of us do. You do want to leave don’t you?” Her voice started out bold before waning and then ended with uncertainty.
“It is complicated, Trina. You don’t know what it involves. And it will create some other problems if I do it. Especially now. It would push me past the next threshold.”
“Are you worried about it hurting the people in the other clusters if the stimulant level gets raised too high?”
“No, well, yes but that isn’t really my thing. My job is to protect this cluster. You are all my family in a way. I want to protect the others, but now that I have helped everyone else push so far, I need to explore more. I need to find if there are new levels of birth control further into the dungeon,” Jay said.
Trina laughed. “I guess that is a good point. I’m gonna stop bothering you. Please be safe. But, I’m gonna tell you that you need to fuse with all your wives. Probably you need to fuse with all of Team Jay. You will make everyone so much stronger and that might be what it takes to push you to the peak. I won’t say anything again now. Just know I’m here for you.”
Jay looked at her and then smiled. “Thanks, I like being friends with you more than fighting with you.”
She put her hand on the side of his face. “Okay, just try to be dressed next time I see you. It isn’t really fair otherwise.” Then she turned and walked out.
Chapter 4- Fire on the Mountain
Jay hit the ground running as they entered the fifth floor. He was scanning around him but found that it was hard to get the readings that he was accustomed to. Maybe it was the heat that was distorting things. Jay couldn’t be sure.
He had already formed temporary bonds with the rest of the team. He instructed Jessie to set up a perimeter near the entrance and make sure that they would be able to leave easily if they wanted to.
The others knew to varying degrees. It shocked him that he had slept with all of them but didn’t really know much about them. Hanna and he had sparred a number of times. He liked her because she was aggressive and went after what she wanted. It didn’t hurt that her Eastern European accent was a turn on for him.
In some ways Rosa was one that he knew the best. He didn’t have the time spent with her that he had with Jessie, but if pushed, Jay would have admitted that having a baby with a woman was an intensely uniting process. Their daughter, Sara, was so beautiful and reminded him of her mother.
In other ways Rosa was one that he had the most trouble connecting with. She was glad to share the raising of Sara with him and had no trouble at all being intimate with him, but she was repeatedly clear that she didn’t want any type of serious emotional relationship with him. Ironically that was a relief. He already was spread too thin.
Zuri he had spent the morning with as he refined her. She reached level seventy- four and was close to passing the fifth threshold. She was fun to talk to and another beauty. She was one of the oldest of the girls at twenty-five when she was taken. She had an exotic Middle Eastern look and told him in passing during one of their conversations that her parents were Jewish but she really didn’t have any connection to her heritage. Her sense of humor was easy going and he was glad to joke around with her.
Bella was the one he knew the least about. He knew she was enthusiastic in the sack but that was certainly not enough to know anything about her. If he remembered correctly she called her power the Bella Boom but he hadn’t spent enough time talking to her to actually remember what her power did.
She was just another dark-haired beauty that fate and A’snkarnt meddling had stuck him with. That was sorta scary to Jay. He knew that playing the role of Adam was inevitable but he was committed to being more than just a sperm donor or a fun time. He might not have had a father for all intents and purposes but he sure as heck was gonna make sure that his kids did.
Jay shrugged. He needed to focus on what was around him. His scans didn’t pick up any life forms nearby but that didn’t mean that things were gonna be easy here. Looking around, this was a veritable hellscape. Pools of lava and vents with sudden eruptions of hot and likely toxic gases dotted the mostly flat area before him.
It all led to what was clearly an active volcano off in the distance. Jay was guessing that it was likely five miles away but that was only a short jaunt for him now. Of course, he wouldn’t leave the party behind and the purpose wasn’t to race to the middle but to explore.
He moved out a few hundred feet and then arced across the area in front of the team. Even moving quickly he was able to get a view of the air. The ground was covered in a dusting of ash and chunks of basalt which ranged in size from pebbles to half of Ava’s size.
Probably not
a good idea to be here when that volcano was spewing out rocks that size. He didn’t know how much force something like that delivered but didn’t want to unnecessarily test his durability and certainly not that of the girls.
It was already incredibly hot here. The B.O.B. armor with a chilling stone in it was keeping the worst of it at bay but if they were going to stay here long then they would need to talk to the tech division about creating helmets with breathing gear or a way to filter the air. The more he breathed the more he could tell that there were things in the air not meant to end up inside human lungs.
A moment after he completed his arc, Jessie came up behind him. “Ready to move out, Jay?”
“Is the way back clear?” he asked in return.
“Yeah, we tested it. Zuri was able to walk back and forth freely. It seems to be just the first floor in that regard,” Jessie replied.
