by Marcus Sloss
‘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.”
“U
nderstood,” 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 layer
s 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.