The Great Escape Chapter 20, Part 2 of 6

The Great Escape
Chapter 20, Part 2 of 6

"You mean your current bedmates? Of course, each tribe can make its own rules, but if there is no chance of a woman getting pregnant from Brad, why should they be different? Or are you saying that it's proper for women to share a man but not for men to share a woman?"

"I'm not saying it's improper, Madam, but that men and women feel differently about it."

"Really?"

"It's true," Brad confirmed.

The Council talked among themselves once more.

"Very well," Madam Law speaker announced. "In recognition of a peculiar male sensitivity in this matter, Brad is permitted only to the permanent members of the Home Tribes."

"Except for Hazel and Yumi," Ezra added.

"Except that Hazel, Yumi, Samothea, Solange, and Carlin are off-limits to him, though they currently reside in the Cloner City or on the Farms," the law speaker concluded.

While Ezra stayed in the Cloner City, he was technically still visiting the Herders, so he slept in one of their tents and took part in their nightly orgies. Solange sent her bedmate, Ash, to have sex with him. Still not pregnant; it was the best time of the month for her.

The other women in the tent sympathized with Ash, but they all wanted a turn with Ezra, so they enticed him with eager kisses and warm mouths on his cock, hands everywhere. It was dark, and there was a lot of jostling and sharing. Ezra mostly lay on his back and let his bedmates do the work. He barely knew whom he was fucking; but after he'd cum in one of his bedmates and then recovered, the other girls paired off and left him with Ash.

She crawled over and lay on him, pushing her mouth onto his. After a few minutes, he had her flip around and sink his tongue into her sweet wet pussy.

When she was worked correctly up, Ash rode him, swiveling her pelvis to a sensual rhythm, his mouth warming her tits, until she leaned back and pumped with her pelvis, thrusting frenetically toward a hot and satisfying climax. Small nervous judders shook her thighs as the orgasm broke. Then he came, and they gripped each other tightly as the tension fizzled away.

She collapsed onto him. Her long black hair draped over them. She was hot. There was a thin line of sweat on her back, which Ezra brushed away as he lovingly ran his hand along her curving spine. Always in such moments, he whispered his hopes that this time they'd been successful, but now he could add:

"Things are different, Ash. There's contact with Celetaris, where there are surely doctors and clinicians who specialize in pregnancy. They will help us."

Ash was content; she liked that he thought it was his problem as much as hers. She kissed him and rested her head on his chest. The other Herders reached their noisy climaxes and came to share their heat with Ash and Ezra, wanting to be held. They snuggled up like seals on a beach until he was happily trapped under a pile of hot women.

As Ezra and Ash were fucking, Solange and her daughter, Tahney, were in bed in a room in the Council Hall. Neither of them was asleep.

They fidgeted so much that Solange could doze for only half an hour.

"What is it, Baby?" Solange asked, shaken awake again.

"I miss Aunt Ash," the little girl complained.

"I do, too," Solange answered. "Stay here."

Despite the cold night, she wrapped Tahney in the blanket and crossed naked to the bedroom door, which she silently opened. She looked both ways along the corridor. Only one light was visible: a small flickering yellow line showed under the door of Gloria's apartment.

Solange walked up to the door and knocked.

"Come in," Gloria said.

She was sitting on her settee, working by candlelight. Three hefty tomes lay open on the coffee table. She was making notes on sheets of paper strewn around the settee. Gloria frowned as she looked up. Her eyes were tired, but she took a good look at the naked woman in front of her.

Solange was a lithe, athletic Zulu woman. Although deceptively slight, she had a long pink scar on one side of her thin waist. Her skin, from ankles to neck, was covered in purple tattoos.

"Hello, Solange. What is it?"

"Tahney and me. We can't sleep alone."

It took Gloria a moment to process the oxymoron; then she smiled.

"Alright. I'll join you. I'm not getting anywhere, and reading by candlelight gives me a headache."

After a quick wash, Gloria followed Solange to her room, where she undressed and joined Solange and Tahney in bed.

The women snuggled Tahney between them, who wriggled around, trying to find the best position. Her mother was flat-chested, but Gloria was a full-bodied, well-endowed woman.
Tahney nuzzled her face against Gloria's breasts. Warm again and pressed by naked flesh on all sides, the girl was comforted.

The women of Samothea usually slept naked together, sharing their heat during the freezing nights. However, the custom had taken on a life of its own, so most Smoothens now found it hard to sleep unless they had a naked body to cuddle.
Although she slept alone for some years in her apartment in the Council Hall, Glorian nonetheless shared a bed whenever she was invited. In truth, she enjoyed the intimacy of living without a regular bedmate.

Neither woman was sleepy now. They let Tahney nod off and then talked in whispers.

"So, what about Brad?" Solange asked.

"What about him?"

"When are you going to fuck him?"

"Solange! What makes you think I want Brad sexually?"

"Because he's beautiful, Gloria, and you're a lusty woman in the prime of your life. Why
wouldn't you want him?"

"I admit his virtues, but a chief has to maintain her dignity."

"Like fuck, she does!" Solange exclaimed. "I never did!"

Gloria chuckled.

"Why don't you have Brad yourself?" she asked.

"The Council ruled that I'm unavailable to him," Solange said.

Gloria laughed again.

"The great Solange Malka daughter, Protean chief of the mighty Herders, now obeys the Council? How wonderful!"

Solange laughed as well.

"Ex-chief," she corrected.

However, she took Gloria's hand and rested the palm on her belly. The Year-sighted woman had missed a slight bulge when she studied Solange naked by candlelight. Gloria kissed Solange on the cheek.

"Congratulations!" she said, "and about time."

"There'll be the same four-year gap we Herders have between Clones."

"Very wise," Gloria said.

"Now, no more deflection. Why not you and Brad? To know what it's like. It'll help you decide about the future when more men come."

"If more men come," Gloria corrected. "Brad has to make it back to Celetaris alive, and the next shipload of men must get here unscathed."

"Yes, counting all that. Men will come, Gloria, and they will change Samothea forever. The more we know of men, the better we will be prepared."

"I'll think about it. Goodnight, Solange."

"Goodnight, Gloria. We must do this again sometime."

A couple of days later, most of Samothea's women were in Cloner City to meet Brad, learn about the Samothea Project, and hear the Council discuss it. Many of Ezra's bedmates were there with their daughters, which brought Ezra great joy.

The girls went to school in the morning, and after lunch, there was an hour of playtime before chores and preparing for dinner. Ezra came to every playtime, which was always raucous. He would kiss his daughters and let them climb on him. He also kissed the girls from the Cloner,
Farmer, and Miner tribes so they wouldn't feel left out.

Some of the younger Cloner girls picked up the habit from his daughters of calling him 'Daddy.'

He didn't want to hurt their feelings by correcting them, so they all came to call him 'Daddy.'

Ezra would sit comfortably on a bench and watch the girls playing tag or having running races, which Freya usually won. They danced around the maypole or enjoyed the rough wooden seesaw and a wooden climbing frame that Yumi made.

Some Cloner mothers and Ezra's bedmates would also be on-hand in case of injuries or tantrums, though there were few injuries and fewer tantrums. There seemed to be no time for such nonsense when there was always so much work and playtime was so short.

Yumi's son, Hayate, joined the games or neglected them as he wished. If there was any doubt that a boy growing up among thirty girls might not develop boyish characteristics, the idea was quickly dispelled. While the girls daintily avoided the muddy puddles left by the night train, Hayate dived face-first.

Anything interesting, however dirty that didn't go into his mouth ended up on his clothes. No girls, charging around the play area or the obstacle course, had such a suicidal disregard for their safety as Hayate, who climbed everything and jumped off everything. He could climb almost as well as Freya, who is over a year older than him. Yumi thanked God many times a day that there were no roads with cars for him to run thoughtlessly into. And woe betide anyone who said to Hayate, "Don't do that!" because that's precisely what Hayate most wanted to do from then on.

Whenever he watched his daughters play, Ezra was surprised at how different their personalities were. There were younger girls aged between two and four with their mothers at home; they mostly resembled their mothers in appearance. Already, he could see which girls were vibrant, calm, pensive, inquisitive, jolly, and sedate. Even Megan Herder's identical twins had identical cheeky smiles and different personalities.

It was fascinating to any observer. Ezra's only problem was that, except for Freya, who was the oldest; Vera Herder's daughter, Penny, who was the tallest; Tahney, who was the bossiest, which he was happy to report to Solange; and maybe ten more, he struggled to remember their blessed names.

It was embarrassing, and Carlin and Yael, who often joined him, helping the girls skip rope a dozen at a time, teased him for his poor memory. It was easy for them, he complained.

Besides being younger and female, they grew up in a society with few books and had to train their memories. That poor excuse made them laugh even harder at him.

After a week, Brad had all the information he needed to give the most welcome report possible to the Samothea Project. He wanted to spend the rest of his life on a planet full of single women, but his duty was to return and report. He could excuse a week-long visit to gather data, but Danielle would crucify him if he further delayed bringing back the good news about Ezra.

Reluctantly, Brad said goodbye to his new friends and put on his airsuit. With the audience a safe distance away, he engaged the compressed air cylinders. There was a roar from the jetpack as he leaped straight into the air.

He flew over Cloner City, waving goodbye. Heading southwest toward the equator, he turned out to sea and began his climb, accelerating as he went. Forced air hissed madly as it refilled the cylinders in preparation for a final rocket to burst into space.

In three hours, he had caught up with his spaceship. Not long afterward, he primed the beacon, set the computer to guide his path, and punched the button to engage the hyperdrive motor. Brad was on his way back to Celetaris.

After Brad left, there was a meeting in the market square to discuss the new situation. The women were subdued, partly in reaction to the excitement of Brad's visit and partly in recognition of a remarkable change to their society.

The first thing to be decided was the political structure of Samothea. Cloning was now redundant. So was the Currency Committee. If men were coming, there needed to be someone to talk for the whole planet. A change in the government of Samothea was a logical response. It was time to revive the old position of 'Prefect of Samothea.'

Gloria put herself forward, and for the second time in a year, Solange stood for a new political position n. Other candidates were present, but they were not the most popular. Despite many women trying to persuade him to stand, Ezra steadfastly refused.

That afternoon, Gloria was elected Prefect. She appointed Solange as her deputy and recruited the Currency Committee, the tribal chiefs, and the Cloner Council as Advisory Committees.

Gloria and the Advisory Committee held public discussions in the Council Chamber, inviting anyone with an opinion on Samothea's future to come to the high table and speak, provided they kept their statement short and to the point.

The meetings were well attended and passionately argued. Madam Scientist and Madam Medi, caied by Yumi and Ezra, favored resuming the colonization of Samothe. They said it would be good if more people came, bringing modern technology, medicine, transport, and communications.

Hover cars, jet boats, computers, and laser hand tools would all improve life on the planet.

They could also restock the forests and farms.d Mirselene, Madam Recorder, and Madam Law Speak were members of the anti-colonization partyer.

They feared the damage male colonists would do to Samothea's existing society.

Mirselene argued:

"If, despite his strong objection to it, the women here treat Ezra with exaggerated deference and need I remind you quite how loopy you Cloner women were about Brad? Then what effect would more men have?"

"Ezra is a gentleman, and we were lucky that Brad was, too," she added, "but we mightn't be so lucky again. The women of Samothea are simple folk. What would stop other men from dominating us? Who will protect our freedom and property from clever interlopers? It was a serious problem for the pro-colonization party Calliope, Galatea, and the Farmer Chief, and they remained uncommitted.

As chairman, Gloria was neutral, asking questions of both sides and intervening only when the discussion strayed too far from the topic. The dispute continued for days, and there was no sign that it would be resolved before Brad returned with a bigger crew.

With the Advisory Committee entrenched in argument, the rest of the women began leaving Cloner City to go home. They all had work to do.

Mirselene permitted Yael to stay another week with her girlfriend, Carlin. Yael shared her work as a Junior by putting on an apron to wait at the table or wash up. Yael was also helpful in mentoring Freya, who attended the nursery school in Cloner Hall and made friends with her half-sister Tahney. At the same time, Ezra helped the Committee with advice and information.

When discussions in the Council Chamber began repeating themselves, Madam Medic excused herself from the Advisory Committee and returned to work. She doubled up on

Carlin's medical training to make up for their missed time.

While Carlin was busy, Yael explored. Toward the end of her week, she took a long trek upstream from Cloner City, following cart tracks into the foothills of the White Mountains.

She walked through a patchwork of green fields planted with potatoes, carrots, beetroot, and turnips.

As she climbed into the undulating foothills, the crops turned to grey oats, white cattle beans, green wheat with proud upright heads, and golden barley with sensitive drooping heads.

Yael was looking for Hazel and the Wildchild, whom she found at midday digging irrigation channels. Over time, the channels got clogged, and sometimes, they needed to be diverted into other fields as the crops were rotated between cereals, legumes, and root vegetables.

It was a lovely surprise, but the Wildchild and Hazel had little time to chat. They put Yael to work, and the three dug channels until sunset.


To be continued