From: "thaumaturge" Subject: {ASSM} Castle In The Sand 14/14 M/f, ff, MF Date: 1999/11/14 Message-ID: <21199asstr$942559801@assm.asstr.org> Approved: Comments: Authenticated sender is X-Original-Message-ID: Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Moderator-ID: assm-admin X-Archived-At: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories X-Story-Submission: <1st attachment, "CASTLE14.TXT" begin> M/f, f/f, M/ff , MF ==================================================== Castle In The Sand By Deana Johns. Copyright 1997 All rights reserved. Limited permission to post is granted providing this header remains intact. May not be posted to any pay sites. May be offered as part of a collection, also provided this header remains intact. Permission to archive is also granted. --------------------------------------------------------- This is an adult story, if you shouldn't be reading it, don't. I trust this is sufficient warning, given that I am posting this to a predominantly adult area to begin with. My most sincere thanks go to Jean Walker for the outstanding -and massive- task of editing this story. If there is something wrong, then it is my fault as I did some of my own editing afterward, adding back in sections I had once removed to make it tamer in hopes of publishing it. As always, comments are desired, welcome, and helpful. I especially like to hear from women. Please reply to: deanajohns at softcom dot net --------------------------------------------------------- Castle In the Sand See, I don't see any difference between making love to a woman or a man. It's the same thing. It's sharing pleasure between two people. That's all that Tom and Muriel were doing. Sharing pleasure with other people. I think they deserve that. They probably get little enough of that in their lives. "The other thing that they deserve, is the freedom just to be Tom and Muriel, not the President and First lady. No matter what the press thinks about it or the moral majority, which is neither moral nor the majority. "All John was telling Jimbo were the facts of life as we live them in this family, cause that's what we are. *A family*. We support and see to each others need. We share equally our successes and our failures. We cry on each others shoulders and offer our shoulders to cry upon. We love each other unconditionally. In the process we've all prospered from it. "If Jimbo wants Candice to go off and live separately as man and wife, that's one thing. But Candice would not be the same person he loves if he did that. If on the other hand he wants to join with her and the family, then he needs to understand what that means. *Exactly* what that means. He not only has to *accept* that, but he has to *want* that. Because he has to give himself back into that. That's the way it works, it's the *only* way it works. "I'm explaining all this because I want you to understand that. I *need* you to understand all that. Because you're one of the few things I've ever really wanted to have in my life. But if I had to choose between you and the family, I'd have to choose the family. That's no reflection upon you. I've known and loved many of these people years before I ever met you. It would hurt me dearly to have to make that choice. I don't want to have to." Mae said, tears running from her eyes. "You don't need to. Myself, I'm all for the family. For one thing I love you enough to realize you wouldn't be the same without the family either. Just as Candice wouldn't. As none of you would be. You are more than the sum of your parts. I love you just exactly as you are. Not that I'm trying to limit you to that either. Everybody changes with time. But the direction of your changes please me greatly. From what I understand, you would not have been open to a relationship with me before you encountered the family." Scott said. "Oh, I still saw men. But I treated and thought of them more as *toys*. It wasn't until I was around John and saw the respect and love that the others had for him that I learned *that* respect and love myself." Mae said. "Well, I for one am glad you did. Because I would have little tolerance for a woman who treated me like a toy. I don't treat women that way, I never have.... well, maybe a few." he chuckled. "You big phony. I love you." Mae said. "I love you too. Now where were we?" Scott said. "Playing with each other." Mae said, giggling. Steve lay with Judy on one side and Sheila on the other. He had just experienced the most incredible lovemaking session of his life. He was floating blissfully on the edge of sleep. His mind wandered about, thinking how much his life had changed in such a short period of time. A few years previously he had been a broken man. His wife's rejection of him had shaken him to his core. He neglected his business, even his personal appearance. He drank a lot. Due to the cause of his divorce, he found himself drawn to bars that catered to lesbians. For a long time all he could do was observe and wonder. Then two of them had taken pity on him. -Or he had been the last open option of the night when they were in the mood to *cross the street*. He didn't question that too closely-. He enjoyed himself immensely. Something snapped back inside him. The two women could have cared less. He did. He cleaned himself and his life up. He paid more attention to his business and his hard work was rewarded by relative prosperity. In truth the Stevens account had gone a long way to help that. He'd talked to the owner of the other helicopter service that Stevens used. He'd told him a story of a large happy adopted family. Steve had listened wondering at the man's naiveté. He didn't know what was going on out at the Silo, but he had a fair hunch it wasn't the story he'd heard. In fact it didn't matter to him. Everyone he met from the Silo was cheerful and seemingly very happy. Including the younger members. John was always friendly and courteous to him. He also seemed to understand logistics fairly well. Steve never had to worry about having to deal with dangerous weather conditions or absurd requests to fly up narrow canyons. Whatever was going on out at the Silo, nobody was being hurt by it. He minded his own business and did his best to service the account as well as he could. When he had flown the two younger women and Judy into the Silo, he had been strangely attracted to Judy from the first moment he'd met her. It wasn't any natural charm that had kicked in. He'd wasn't really trying to hustle Judy, just make a good impression that he could work on in the future. When the twin girls came and sat on his and Jim's lap, his latent desire had kicked in and distracted him. But his eyes kept drifting back to Judy. When she had first kissed him on the cheek, his heart lurched. When she had hugged him, something else stirred. When she had really kissed him, his destiny was set. He had no idea that she had leanings in the direction that so excited him. It didn't matter, she excited him sufficiently all on her own. Then in the hot tub he had gotten the shock of his life. His response was instant and honest. He felt he'd died and gone to heaven. Judy gently stirred next to him. "You awake?" she asked softly. He nodded and pulled her to him. She came into his arms and warmly kissed him. Sheila's presence next to them was not a factor in what followed, except to remind him that his dreams had come true. Longtime habit woke Tom Wilson early. He seldom had the opportunity to sleep in anyway. In fact he may have awakened as much from the fact that someone wasn't knocking on his door as from his longtime early habits. Muriel was snuggled lovingly to his side. Also a somewhat unusual but not unheard of condition. They were alone in the bed. Tom pondered this. Had he offended or disappointed them in some manner? He decided the answer was probably no. Even if he had that wouldn't have accounted for the triplets absence, they just weren't that way. In fact he hardly noticed their absence. Muriel felt as good as she ever had, even in her earlier days when he had met her in college. Tom had been a rookie congressman at the time, speaking at the college. She had been quite taken by him. He was quite excited by her. Her body young and tight, but sporting ample assets. After a torrid week of loving -during which time he discovered that she had a brain- he had asked her to marry him. She accepted on the condition that she finish college. He didn't mind too much, it was only another year. They carried on a long distance relationship that was much enhanced by his usage of free long distance phone calls. He talked to her almost every night for half an hour. They talked of life and love and their grandiose plans for the future. How they were going to shape America together. When she graduated, Tom sat brimming with pride in the audience. Also in the audience were her parents. Muriel introduced him to her folks. Her mother a staunch Catholic. Her father resigned to his life. After their third child, he had secretly slipped out and had a vasectomy. He never told his wife, covering his recovery with a business trip. He was sufficiently horny on his return that she felt secure that he'd been faithful to her. Their sex life wasn't such that she would ever have noticed the small scar on his scrotum. Muriel's mother had grilled Tom mercilessly before Muriel had stepped in and saved him. She announced their long term engagement, the term being up. A very serious row with her mother had ensued. The upshot of which was that Tom and Muriel eloped and then she traveled back to Washington D.C. with him as his wife. They had a nice medium sized house in Silver Springs, Maryland. They had no children. Visits to the doctors had discovered that this was due to a combination of both of them. He had a very low sperm count, her internal workings proved to be a fairly non-conducive environment for fertilization. They were given the option of in vitro fertilization or adoption. They talked about it and decided against it. Political live wasn't a very wholesome atmosphere for raising children anyway. Over the years they had tested their condition fairly thoroughly. They enjoyed unprotected sex regularly with no resultant offspring. Muriel had stayed with him through thick and thin. She had supported him and stood by his side. Working diligently on his campaigns. Smiling for hours by his side or behind him on podiums while he was giving speeches. When he would become tense from a bill he was working on, or from an election that he seemed to be losing, she was there, doing her best to make him un- tense. After he made Senator, their life changed a bit. He got to see less and less of her as his schedule became more hectic. Certain lobbyists arranged to keep him happy and in their pocket. Muriel didn't seem to notice when the nights got later and his hunger less when he was there. An older Senator had taken him aside and explained the repercussions of his behavior, both ethically, and politically (The two *not* actually having much connection.) The turning point for Tom had been an important vote on a delicate issue. The lobbyists reminded Tom of his behavior, threatening him with exposure. Tom had asked himself what he believed in. He consulted with the older Senator and told him of the lobbyist threats. "*Vote your conscience Tom. The threat is empty. If the lobbyists ever used that kind of information or let it slip out, then they'd never find another ear in the Washington. Even if they did, you still have to live with yourself. *" the Senator told him. Tom voted his conscience. He also quit accepting favors. He began spending more time with Muriel and their marriage had grown stronger. Tom didn't think that Muriel had known. He felt no compulsion to confess. He let it lay. Muriel had loyally stayed with him all the way to the White House. Doing civic duties that she actually had no interest in just because of the image it would present of them to the public when the election came. She was with him the night of the election. They had celebrated later by making love twice, then once again in the morning. Tom thought the impropriety's of his past were buried there. Until Muriel's statement in connection with the Silo group. He didn't mind that, he had just been surprised that she had known and had stayed with him. He felt a great wave of affection for the woman laying snuggled to him. She stirred and he pulled her close and softly kissed her good morning. "And a lovely good morning to you too, sir." she said, snuggling to his neck and kissing it softly. "Sleep well?" he asked. "Mmm.. like a baby." she said, "Where's our company?" "I don't know. They were gone when I awoke." he said. "How long ago was that?" she asked. "Oh, ten minutes or so. I was just enjoying the feel of you snuggled to my side." Tom said. "Mmm... that's nice." she said, kissing his cheek. Along one wall, a small elevator descended and stopped. On it were several trays containing coffee, Champagne orange juice (which looked like regular orange juice) and several plates of food. They were just about to get up when the triplets appeared through the door and headed for the dumbwaiter. "Good Morning. Sleep well?" Alice asked, bending to kiss them each on the cheek. "Yes, very well. And you? I didn't feel you slip out." Tom said. "Very well indeed. We always get up and make breakfast. Sit up." Amy said. They sat up and moved back against the headboard. Alice and Amy swung the folding trays up and locked. Andrea loaded each up with food, coffee and Orange juice. Then they swung the trays in where Tom and Muriel could reach them. "Breakfast in bed? We didn't want special treatment. You don't have to do this." Muriel said. "Not because of who you are. It's a long tradition now for anybody's first morning here. Tomorrow you can join the rest of us for breakfast." Andrea said. "In that case. Thank you very much. Fresh biscuits!" Tom said. "Yeah. We always make them. Everybody loves them. I hope you like your eggs over easy." Alice said. "Perfect." Muriel said. "A feast. Not approved by the Surgeon General. I love it." Tom said. "Oh, not as bad as you'd think. That's Turkey Sausage and Lean Breakfast strips. You can work it off later in the gym if you'd like." Amy said. "Mmmm. What's this?" Muriel asked, taking a sip from a glass. "Champagne Orange Juice, I think they're called Mimosas." Andrea said. "It's wonderful!" Tom said, after he tried it. Although the triplets were dressed, Tom and Muriel felt no discomfort over the fact that they were nude. Muriel's breasts hung invitingly before her. "Excuse me a moment." Tom said, slipping out to the bathroom. After he returned Muriel made a trip of her own. On her return she pulled each of the triplets into a warm kiss good morning. "Thank you for breakfast and a wonderful night last night." Muriel told them, hugging all three simultaneously. "Our pleasure. We enjoyed ourselves very much." Alice said. "I hope so. I fear I wasn't up to what you're used to." Tom said. "You did very well. Very well indeed. You made love four times and I have a pretty good idea that you did it four more times yesterday. So you did great." Amy said. "You *know* I made love four times yesterday. I'm sure." Tom giggled. "Not at all. What you did with the others was between you and them. We don't usually talk about such things between one another." Andrea said. "Even with your husband?" Muriel asked. "No, I'm sure he's pretty sure that both of you made love with me last night. But he wouldn't ask and I wouldn't tell. Not that it would matter. I know he doesn't mind. Just like I don't mind that he was with Sally and Shannon last night. I'm just glad he had company. I like to keep him happy." Andrea said. "You have a very understanding relationship." Muriel said. "We both knew that's the way it would be long before we ever got married. We both took for granted that both Amy and Alice would be sharing our bed. The others too." Andrea said. "I was quite looking forward to the view of your lovely bodies this morning. But I will always have the memory of last night." Muriel mused. The triplets were sitting on the foot of the bed. They looked at each other and grinned. They stepped off the bed and stripped off their tube tops and shorts and then climbed back and sat cross legged on the foot again, facing the startled couple. "How's that?" Amy asked. "Lovely." Tom said. "Yes, quite lovely. You seem very open about your bodies." Muriel said. "We didn't used to be. When we was married to Nick. We tried to keep covered up so he wouldn't want more. But since we've been here, it's different. People here like looking at bodies. And not just to make love to, although I wouldn't call what Nick did making love." Amy said. "I noticed in the hot tub that all the women and even some of the men are either trimmed or shaved totally. Doesn't that itch?" Tom asked. "A little, at first. That's why we just trim the front. You get used to keeping the rest shaved. We do each other. The first little while it's also exciting as hell. The first time you feel skin to skin contact there." Alice said. "I'll bet. I wouldn't mind trying that myself." Muriel said. "We'd be happy to show you how. You have to be careful you don't nick yourself. *That* hurts." Amy said. "I just may take you up on that. You wouldn't mind, would you dear?" Muriel asked Tom. "Not a bit. It sounds very sexy. I might even agree to a trim myself." Tom said, kissing his wife on the cheek. "Ah.. I noticed last night that all three of you have some kind of white marking between your legs. If you don't mind my asking, is that some sort of birthmark?" Muriel asked. All three sort of dropped their eyes. "No, we don't mind too much. That's where Nick put his mark on us when we was younger. He tattooed us using a needle and ink. After John got our freedom for us, we wanted it off. We didn't feel comfortable with a strange doctor looking at us there, so John read up in some medical books and used a laser to remove it. He said it would leave a white mark, but it's better than what it was." Andrea said. "This Nick sounds like a real asshole. How old were you when he did that?" Tom said. "Yeah, that pretty much describes him. We was not quite thirteen. We just got our first periods." Alice said. "You know that's not proper discussion during a meal." Amy chided. "That's okay. I don't mind." Tom said, "Thirteen... or almost? He was an asshole. How did you happen to get married so young?" "He traded a tractor for us. We was orphans. Our Ma died when we was born. Our Pa lit out a little while later, we never knew him. We was just passed around from family to family. I guess we was more trouble than we was worth. We got to be pretty wild. We was living with an old couple and I guess we was too much for them. That's when Nick traded the tractor for us." Andrea said. "That's horrible! Trading humans like cattle!" Muriel gasped. "Not the first time that's happened. Especially out in the country. People used to trade for brides all the time." Amy said. "You say that John got your freedom for you... After he rescued you from the blizzard, I guess. How did he do that?" Tom asked. "He traded a snowmobile, a sports car, a truck and a new tractor for us. Nick tried to back out of the deal and John put a gun up his nose. John says that he doesn't own us, that no human should ever own another. But he's always going to own our hearts." Alice said. "I can understand that. John's a very special man. You say he put a gun up Nick's nose?" Muriel said. "So we hear. We wasn't there, Cindy was. But I understand that when he went back the next day to drop off the snowmobile, that Nick was drunk and moved to shoot John with his rifle. Cindy said that John had his pistol out and pointing between Nick's eyes before Nick could blink. Then he shot a hole between the tangs of a horse shoe out on the barn, about thirty yards away, just to show Nick what he could do." Amy answered. "That's quite a remarkable story." Muriel said, "I can see why you love John so much." "Oh, we would anyway. He was the first man we enjoyed sex with. We kind of feel like he made us women for real. He wasn't like Nick at all. He was tender and loving. We didn't have a clue that we *could* actually enjoy sex until we was here." Alice said. "I notice that your speech has changed. You sound more like county girls." Tom said. "That happens for some reason when we talk about the old days. We didn't have much learning. We couldn't read or write when we first came here. John insisted that we get good education's. Everybody has been good about that. Sheila started off giving us reading lessons right away. Everybody's helped us. We passed our GED's last year. More coffee?" Andrea asked. "Yes, please. Thank you Andrea." Muriel said. Andrea filled their cups and then returned to her alluring position at the end of the bed. "I wish we had more citizens like John and the others here. I was shocked when I saw the statistics on illiteracy." Tom said, finishing up his last bite of biscuit. Muriel daubed her mouth with a napkin and then placed it on her plate. Taking her coffee she snuggled to Tom's side, enjoying the view at their feet. "Had enough? There's more biscuits." Alice asked. "No, thank you. I'm quite full. It was marvelous." Muriel said. "How about you, Tom?" Amy asked. "No, thank you. I'm quite stuffed myself. Best breakfast I've had in years." Tom replied. Amy and Alice moved to cart their plates back to the dumb waiter and fold down the trays. Tom and Muriel retained their coffee mugs. The young women then climbed onto the bed next to them and Andrea scooched up between them. "We know you had plenty of loving last night and yesterday, but we'd be happy to shower with you." Alice said. "That's very kind of you to offer. But I haven't really used the bathroom yet." Tom said, blushing a bit. "So go do that now. We'll be happy to keep Muriel company. John made the fan in there just noisy enough to give you some privacy." Andrea said. "Thank you. I think I'll take you up on your offer." Tom said. He kissed Muriel deeply. She returned the kiss warmly. "That's nice. You sure are a loving couple. You seem to fit together very well." Andrea said. "We weren't always so loving. I think we've grown much closer since we've met you folks." Muriel said, kissing Tom once more. "Yes and I *quite* like that fact. Have fun. I love you." Tom said, stealing another kiss before he slipped out, taking his coffee mug with him. Two of the triplets moved in to snuggle to Muriel's side. The other crawled up and snuggled against her breasts. "I'm quite pleased with that fact myself, and I could get quite used to this sort of treatment." Muriel said, caressing Andrea's shoulder. "You have a good husband. Not like our first one at all. He's more like John. You're lucky." Andrea said. "You have a good husband yourself. I guess that you others are a little jealous of that." Muriel said. "Not at all. She's quite generous in sharing him. Besides, I'm working on my own. We still need to find one for Alice though... I mean, besides John." Amy said. "Besides John?" Muriel asked, confused. "Yes, John said he'd marry all of us. Something called a line marriage." Amy answered. "Oh, I didn't know that. I guess it fits with the family's life style. Who's this one you're working on, Amy?" Muriel asked. "His name is Jim. He's in the Army. Bill had him assigned to guard the Silo while we were at your house. I met him when I got back, but he got reassigned. We write letters by E-mail." Amy said. "Really. I guess that's the modern way. I know what a long distance relationship can be like. Tom and I went together for a year before we were married. We used to talk on the phone every night. So what does.. Jim do in the Army?" Muriel asked. "He's a Ranger. But he's about to get out. He wants to go to college." Amy said. "A Ranger. My, that's some catch. I'll bet he's quite a man." Muriel said. "He's pretty good. He needs some lessons in stamina though." Amy said. Muriel busted out laughing. "What?" Amy asked. "Oh, just the idea that an Army Ranger would need lessons in stamina. I suspected you women were taking it easy on us last night." Muriel chuckled. "We didn't want to embarrass Tom. He did pretty good, but it takes time to learn things. We know that. We didn't know ourselves at one time. We've built up what we can do over time. There's no shame in what either of you did. You were both pretty good." Amy said. "Well, I want to be great. If you'll teach me?" Muriel asked. "No time like the present." Andrea said, setting Muriel's coffee mug aside. She kissed her deeply and then began to move down as the other two moved in from the sides. When Tom returned, he found his wife in the throws of her third orgasm. He sat down on the end of the bed to watch, but Amy grabbed his hand and drug him up and gave him a lesson in how to please his wife. Tom was eager to learn. He learned a lot in the next little while. More than he'd ever guessed could be done. Afterwards he practiced on the triplets while Muriel slipped out to deal with her bathroom needs. Then they all showered together. "John said you should dress comfortably." Alice said, selecting clothes for them out of the wardrobe while the others toweled them dry and did Muriel's hair. Muriel got packaged in some silver spandex shorts and a tube top. She looked -and felt- terrific. Tom got dressed in a sweat shirt and some shorts. Terry topped slippers completed their wardrobe. "When you're up to it, we can scan you both for some real clothes." Amy said. "That's right. I remember from the tour that you have a scanner here." Tom said. "Yeah, the prototype. It's a lot more fun than the new machines. Sometimes we scan each other just for fun. I makes you really horny." Alice giggled. "I can see why you say when we're up to it." Muriel said, still a little dazed. "Oh, you folks are doing great, for only your second day here." Andrea said. "Shall we join the others?" Amy asked. "Yes, I'm quite sure they wonder where we are." Tom said. "Oh, I think they understand. John said to let you sleep as long as you wanted, but you were up pretty early anyway, compared to some. We tend to keep pretty late nights around here. Some folks don't get up till afternoon sometimes." Alice said. They headed upstairs. Indeed, some were just entering the kitchen for breakfast. Others still hadn't made an appearance. "Good morning. Sleep well?" John asked, kissing Muriel good morning. "Yes, quite well indeed." Muriel replied. "Surprisingly well." Tom said, receiving a warm kiss from Cindy. "Not too surprising I'll bet. I know them three better than that." Cindy chuckled. Tom blushed a bit and nodded, grinning. "I'm glad you had a nice time." Cindy said, stealing another kiss. She then moved to Muriel and treated her the same. Andrea moved onto Bill's lap and kissed him good morning. Sally and Shannon kissed Tom on the way out. "We're just going for a morning workout, care to join us, Muriel?" Sally asked. "Yes, that sounds nice. -If I can still walk.-" Muriel said. She kissed her husband warmly before she slipped out. "I guess I'd better go get my morning briefing. I'll bet they're chewing nails topside." Tom said. "Mind if I use the solarium as a temporary office?" "*Mi casa, Tu casa*. My home is your home." John said, "Don't let them spoil a good nights rest." "I won't." Tom said, taking his leave. He snagged another cup of coffee and rode the elevator up. The secret service was a little surprised by his attire. He ignored them as he flagged his national security advisor who had been waiting for him. He settled back on a chaise with his coffee while he listened to the events of the world over the past day and night. The burden of the Presidency descended once more on his shoulders. The world had been incredibly kind to him overnight. There were some minor squabbles in Latin America, as usual. A minor uprising in Sri Lanka over religious differences, a flood in China and an earthquake in Azerbaijan. He ordered aid sent to both the latter and an eye kept on the previous. Overtures of a new friendship had been made from the Russians in the wake of the espionage fiasco that the Silo residents had facilitated. He ordered SecState to fly over and meet with them to see how serious they were. He signed some minor legislation, vetoed one poorly written bill and was free a mere two hours after he went topside. He was tense as a rock when he descended once again. He carried his coffee cup with him, much to the amusement of the secret service who couldn't fathom a President busing his own dishes. He sat down at the table and rubbed his eyes a bit. Candice and Jimbo were there along with Mae, Judy and their men and Sheila. Candice came around and rubbed Tom's shoulders. "You're as tense as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." Candice said, rubbing the kinks out of his shoulders. Tom moaned slightly and chuckled. "Part of the job. I fear." Tom said, wearily. Jimbo was studying him, realizing the truth of Candice's words from the night before. "Perhaps a good hot tub would be best for him, love." Jimbo said. Candice smiled broadly at her man. "Yes, I think you're right. It's the hot tub for you, Tom." Candice said, pulling him to his feet. "I think I'll join you." Mae said. "You go ahead. Steve and I are having a nice chat about flying." Scott said. "I never realized what it must be like to hold that office. The change in him between earlier and just now." Jimbo said, after they left. "It must be hell." Scott said. "I'm sorry I was begrudging of him a little recreation yesterday." Jimbo said. "It took us all a little time to get used to things here, Jimbo." Sheila said. "Thank you. I'm learning... slowly." Jimbo said, hanging his eyes. "I think you could use a little recreation yourself. Care to join me?" Sheila offered. Jimbo looked up at her and then around the table. Steve and Scott weren't paying the slightest attention to him, or seeming not to. Judy smiled at him and jerked her head towards Sheila in encouragement. "Yes, I'd like that." Jimbo said. Sheila led him off for a lesson in family. Judy kissed Steve deeply and followed behind. Sally walked on the treadmill listening to the grunts behind her. She was grinning to herself. She'd used the view of someone on the treadmill many times to inspire her to further feats of strength and a few more repetitions on the weight machines. She had quite a sweat going for herself. Muriel was spellbound of the sight before her. Sally's shapely backside striding purposefully nowhere. The thin spandex shorts hugged her buns like a second skin. In fact they were spun to her exact measurements. Muriel pushed again at the weight machine. Sally decided to give her a break. "That's plenty. You don't want to make yourself too stiff." she said, stopping the treadmill and stepping off. Muriel pushed for one more lift on the machine and then lay back panting. Sally came up and lovingly daubed the sweat from her forehead and face. "I guess I was inspired." Muriel said, breathlessly. Sally chuckled. "That's why I stopped. You've had enough. I've used that sight many times myself as inspiration. I find it quite flattering that you were inspired so." Sally said. Muriel blushed a bit. "You have one of the loveliest backsides on the planet. The front side is most appealing as well." Muriel said. "Thank you. You are quite appealing yourself. Both from the front and back. Shannon and I were quite enjoying the view while you were on the treadmill." Sally giggled. "I have nothing to compare with you two." Muriel said. "I don't think she realizes just how lovely she is." Shannon said. "No, I don't think she does. I think we should shower and show her." Sally said, kissing a drop of perspiration from Muriel's forehead. "I think you are both just being kind." Muriel said. "She really doesn't have a clue! To hell with the shower." Sally said, lifting her top off. She moved over Muriel on the weight machine and lifted her top over her breasts. Then lay to merge her own with them. "Oh, I'm all sweaty." Muriel protested. "This is good clean sweat, not unwashed body sweat. It's sexy." Sally said, bending to kiss Muriel deeply. Muriel found she didn't have a shred of resistance in her. Her arms moved first around Sally's neck and then her hands found her lovely breasts. Shannon stripped off her outfit and then came and tugged both their shorts off. She spread several large towels out on a large mat and guided the pair to them. Then joined in herself. Indeed Muriel found the sweat wasn't the slightest distraction. In fact it added a bit of spice to her enjoyment. She tried applying some of the lessons she had learned from the triplets and Cindy. She was amply rewarded. Later she lay caressing the stunning redheads breasts. She leaned over and softly licked a nipple. It responded to her attention and she found herself pleased over the response. "You are either a very fast learner, or a born natural." Sally said. "I fear I am neither, but I'm most eager to learn." Muriel said. "What do you think, Shannon. Ready for phase two lessons?" Sally said, pulling Muriel up against her body. "Yes. I think she's quite ready. Start in the shower?" Shannon responded, caressing Muriel's backside. "Yes, I think so." Sally said, kissing Muriel deeply. "I'm your willing pupil." Muriel said. Sally and Shannon helped her up and guided her into the shower. There they washed her body lovingly with their own and gave her a *cat bath* too. Not missing a spot. Muriel was wobbly as they guided her to a bedroom, caressing her as they walked. There were several wide shelves under the water in the hot tub that John had designed with the express purpose of holding two people, one in front of the other. Candice sat behind Tom and rested him back against her breasts while she rubbed his shoulders. Judy massaged his legs, arms and chest. Rubbing her own ample assets up against him. The bubbling water buffeted the tenseness from his body. "Wish I could take you two and this tub back with me, you've got me feeling quite human again." Tom said, his eyes closed. "I'll say." Judy giggled, running her hands over his erection. "That part I find quite amazing. I've made love eight times in the past twenty-four hours." Tom mused. "Awe, poor baby, is that all?" Judy chuckled, moving to straddle his lap. "I fear I'm not up to your normal standards around here." Tom mused, groaning a bit as Judy impaled herself. "I was teasing. Eight times is quite admirable for a novice." Judy said, moaning a bit herself. She moved slowly. She was tight enough that it helped keep the water from rinsing away her natural lubricants. Even so it was a hindrance. "I know I'm a novice. But I'm learning." Tom said. Judy kissed Candice deeply over Tom's shoulder before responding. "That's what we're here to cure." she said, guiding him out of the water and over to a chaise. Candice followed along. They lay him down and toweled him off. Candice keeping him in readiness with her warm mouth. Judy rubbed baby oil on him and then on herself. Candice helping her with the latter while maintaining her focus on Tom. When both were well oiled, Judy moved over him again. After impaling herself once more she rubbed her body all over him while Candice rubbed oil on her back and her own front. Then she used her body to rub Judy's back as she moved between them. They carefully guided Tom to the edge again and again. Not letting him slip over. Tom caressed their slick bodies with his hands as they moved. After a time Judy sat up and guided Candice around over Tom's head. He applied the lessons he had learned that morning to pleasing Candice. Again and again they brought him to the edge, holding him there mercilessly. In the process each woman experienced several deep orgasms. Then they changed places. They moved together rubbing their slick breasts over each others as they kissed and bounced above Tom. After they had experienced several more orgasms apiece, Judy moved aside and let Candice and him move freely, moving behind Candice and cupping her breasts as she bounced away on his hips. She brought him to the edge once more and held him there awhile. Then she let him slip back just a bit before heading into the home stretch. Judy letting Candice have the honor as she had started on the pill the month before. Judy still concerned about pregnancy herself. Their orgasm was deep and mutually satisfying. Candice laying forward atop him and rubbing her breasts on his chest as they both cooled down. Afterwards the women guided Tom to the large communal shower and used their bodies to wash the oil from his body. Tom got another erection, but they left him unmolested... almost. Each taking a last turn sucking him into their warm mouths. They left it at that. The women each kissed him deeply after toweling him and themselves off. "I trust you are feeling less tense?" Candice chuckled. "Much. Thank you, both of you." Tom said. The triplets announced lunch over the intercom. Candice and Judy went off in search of different outfits, as they had led Tom into the water before disrobing. Tom encountered Muriel in the elevator. He swept her into his arms and kissed her passionately. "My, such passion... I can taste why." Muriel giggled. "As can I." Tom said, descending for a second taste. Afterwards he hugged her tightly to him. She found herself hugging back just as hard. "I love you." he said softly in her ear. "And I love you, dear. I wish we had been able to feel this way years ago." Muriel said, quivering in his arms. "I'm just glad we're learning it now." Tom said, kissing her tenderly again. The kiss was as soft and tender as either had known. It grew in depth and then ended softly once more. "I'm quite pleased with that myself." Muriel said, hugging herself to him. They walked into the kitchen arm in arm, smiling broadly. "My, there's a happy couple." Theresa mused. "How was your morning?" Cindy asked. "Outstanding." both replied, together. They broke into laughter with the rest of the crowd. They seated for lunch. "The triplets thought something different for lunch might be nice. They have an invention called *Taco Salad* and some wonderful enchiladas." John said. "Sounds great." Tom said, "We both love Mexican food." "Well, with so many tastes around here, we usually make it mild and then let everybody spice to their own tolerance levels. Beware that green sauce." Cindy chuckled. "Care for a Zantac first?" John asked. "Thanks, yes." Tom said. John handed an unopened package to Tom, who tore it open and selected one without concern. John ate one himself and passed the package around the table. "Corona or soda?" John asked. "Corona sounds nice." Tom said. "I also have an excellent beer from Mazatlan called Pacifico if you're feeling adventurous." John said. "It really is good." Sheila said, "One of those for me please." "Yes, me too, please." Cindy said. "Yes, I'll try one." Tom said. "Me too, please." Muriel said. John loaded up with a six pack of each and set them on the table, opening those orders already placed and a Pacifico for himself. "Who's for coolers?" Theresa asked. The triplets raised their hands. "Soda's?" she asked. "Pepsi", "Diet Coke," "Diet Dr. Pepper" came in response. "Anything else?" Theresa asked. "Is there any of that wine left?" Mae asked. "Um... some Beringer White Zin." Theresa replied. "That'll do fine, I'll come over, you've got load enough." Mae replied. Theresa carted a four pack of coolers to the table along with the soda's. "Two please, if there's enough, Mae" Judy said, coming in on the tail end of things. "Sure, what to drink, Candice?" Mae asked. "Is there enough wine for three? If not I'll have a beer." Candice replied. "Just, yes." Mae said, pouring two more glasses and twisting the bottle like she was wringing it out. Tom and Muriel chuckled over the gesture. The others had seen it before, except Jimbo, who laughed. "This is such a wonderful family. Just like Thanksgivings when I was a girl. I'm having a marvelous time." Muriel said. "We're quite enjoying your company too, Muriel. Both of you." Cindy said. The triplets carried plates two at a time to the table, with two enchilada's and a pile of Taco Salad on each. "Oh, my. That's a lot." Muriel said. "Eat what you like. We feed John the scraps." Alice joked. "Did you leave any in my bowl?" John asked. "No, maybe next meal you'll get lucky." Amy said, placing a plate before him and scratching behind his ear.. 'Thank you, love. If the Zantac's got a good enough head start. Please pass the green stuff." John said. Muriel realized she was closest and beamed happily as she passed the hot sauce. Jimbo caught it and smiled. Then smiled broadly at Candice sitting next to him. She squoze his hand and kissed his cheek. "This is great." Tom said, trying the Taco salad. "Thanks. Easy to make too; just dice up some lettuce and tomatoes, add shredded cheese, ground beef, Nacho Cheese chips and toss with thousand island dressing." Amy said. "I'm not sure the chiefs know how to cook ground beef, and I'm sure they never heard of Nacho cheese chips, but I'm sure they'll learn when I tell them Tom and I like it. I seldom hear that kind of response from him." Muriel chuckled. "So what's on for this afternoon, John?" Tom asked. "Well, I think the Second Skin ladies have a powwow scheduled. I was going to go over the housing project plans with Bill. You're welcome to sit in on either. Or I think there's another game on today if you'd like. Oh, Steve, could I commission your helicopter for later? I've given Andrea and Bill a piece of land out by the mountains as a wedding present. Kevin and Theresa too, for that matter, but Andrea and Bill haven't picked theirs yet. You and Judy, Jimbo and Candice and Mae and Scott need to pick out a spot too. After the Second Skin meeting?" John asked. "Sure. Be glad to. No need to commission it to give me a piece of land." Steve said. "No, we've cost you quite enough time. You'd be hauling paying loads if it wasn't for us. Better take it as I know Judy has expensive tastes." John chuckled. "I wouldn't mind trying my hand on a stick again. Just to make sure I haven't lost it." Kevin said. "That's right. I forgot you were a chopper pilot. Sure. I don't mind. I'm sure you're okay as a pilot." Steve said. "Excellent. Over six thousand hours non-fixed wing. I made the error of telling him to scare the ants once. I think it was a toss up between the ants and myself who was more scared." Bill said. "Hell, I could use a good pilot like you right now." Steve said. "Unfortunately, Uncle Sugar hold my ticket for a while." Kevin said. "I'd take the job if I was you, seeing as how project SFB is officially over with. You're due to be mustered out. With full retirement, of course." Bill said. "What's SFB stand for?" Muriel asked. "Shit For Brain's" Tom chuckled. "A term I stole from Sheila. She applied it to a comely lass that served us the night I met her." John said. "Is that where you got that from?" Sheila asked, "I remember that quite clearly. Yes, she was lovely, and *brainless*." she giggled. "I thought it applied quite nicely to the folks who were stupid enough to be watching *us*." John chuckled. "Well, as a result of that. The Russians are making overtures for a new level of friendship. SecState should be landing there in a few hours." Tom said. "That's nice. I hope it turns out well." John said. "I think it will. They could use a bunch of help over there. They're having a hard time of things. No infrastructure for commerce. They don't have the shipping facilities to support free trade." Tom said. "You ought to link them up with the old-boy network. Judy got six five-hundred pound crates shipped across the county to Shannon's estate in eight hours. I was floored." Sheila said. "Old-boy network?" Tom asked. "Why don't you explain it, Steve. As I'm certain that you linked Judy into it." John said. "It was nothing really. I knew Charley Shields had a Sikorski Sky crane in the area setting new ski lift towers at one of the resorts outside Salt Lake City. I got him on the phone for the pickup. Then I got Ben Travis of Travis Air freight on the phone and had him hold his ten-thirty flight to La Guardia. I knew he'd know the best trucking company to deal with back east, so I asked him to arrange for shipping and unload on the other end." Steve said. "Yes, they were marvelous. They put the crates right where we wanted them and unpacked them for us. Then positioned the machines where we wanted them." Shannon said. "And that's how America really runs, Tom. Steve got a part for his helicopter from Atlanta overnight on that same night. I have no doubt that every day, in a thousand different professions, that men who have been in the business for years pick up a phone and call somebody else they know have been in the business for years and get things done quickly. Every time that things need to be done in a hurry." John said. "Yes, I can see that. How did you get your part overnight from Atlanta?" Tom asked. "I just told my Mechanic I needed it. He got on the phone and called around till he found one. He found one with a friend of his in Atlanta. He had him put it on a flight to Salt Lake City. It was a commercial flight. He gave the Pilot a bottle of scotch to carry the part on board as carry on. The pilot actually collected another bottle of scotch from us when he dropped it off to my mechanic." Steve said. Candice and Mae giggled, looking at Jimbo. "I think Scotch may well fuel our economy." Jimbo mused. "Tell me, Steve, could you put together a list of names of people you know in the shipping business. Good companies. People you know can get things done." Tom asked. "Sure, glad to. Ben Travis would be high on that list. So would Charley Shields. Why, may I ask?" Steve asked. "Because I want to put together a business commission. Not stuffy industry analysts who haven't gotten their hands dirty in years, but people who actually know how to get things done. I want to help the Russian's with their problem. Because the more stable we can make their economy, the more stable and secure the world will be." Tom said. "That's a good idea. May I suggest something?" John asked. "Certainly." Tom replied. "That you include the lumber, steel, copper, aluminum, oil, plastics, chemical, construction, pipe fitting, utilities, electronics, heavy equipment and banking industries." John said. "Go for their whole infrastructure? What about automotive?" Tom asked. "No, I don't think so. That industry is heavily unionized and stagnant. You won't find many innovations there. But you might take a look at up and coming retailers. Stay away from the old stagnant ones." John said. "Why don't you tell me your thoughts on the matter. Just say what just went through your mind." Tom invited. "Okay... Well, their whole problem is that they don't have a clue how to deal with capitalism. They're paying off their workers in aircraft parts and toasters. "One; they need a total overhaul of the banking system. Establish it from the ground up. Start with a central bank backed by real value, such as precious metals. Then establish branches to support each industrial area. "Then work on suppliers of raw materials, the shipping to get them to manufactures, the manufacturing industries, the shipping to get them to their distributors, and the end users. The end users is one of the harder parts, but a solid banking industry that people have faith in will help that a lot. "In the meantime, the manufactures sell their goods on the international market. This brings money into the country. The *real* banking industry also attracts outside investment. Currently they have no rate of exchange. That's a good start. But don't do it based upon the current money. Nobody has any faith in that. Let the new banking system issue it's own currency. You can establish sliding rates of exchange between that and the old system, but limit the size of the transactions so the new bank doesn't get stuck with a bunch of worthless capital. "Essentially you're starting a parallel economic system. As the country begins to recover, the new industries are based upon the new economic system. You can refer to some distant discontinuance of the old system, but keep it distant, refer to it in terms of decades, plural. If you set a solid date there would be a run on the banks the would spoil the whole system. When you establish the banking system, don't bring in economists. They haven't got a clue. Bring in real banking and securities people and international bankers. Talk to the people from the commodity's market too. "As their economy begins to prosper, their local demand for their own product will grow. That's where the retailers come in. I suspect that there's a real hunger for good commodities there now, but it won't work based upon their current banking system." John said. "What about food?" Tom asked. "Get suggestions from people in the business here. Deal with the farmers co-ops, the food warehouse distributors and the large grocery chains. Better yet, the associated food companies. They have independently owned markets that they supply as part of their association. There again you're back to your shipping companies. "One of the problems is going to be their shortage of skilled truckers and such. For that I recommend their military. They have quite a number of skilled heavy equipment operators. That's probably also a good source for the heavy construction industries. But don't just draft them for their current government pay. Base their pay on the new banking system and judge their performance just like we do ours. Either they do the job right, or they're back into the military or at least out of a job. In order to make the new banking system an attractive alternative, put a retail outlet next to each bank branch. Stock it with real goods and only accept new bank currency. Once people get the idea that there are real goods available only for the new bank currency, they'll go out of their way to get onto the new system, e.g. get a job with the new industries. " John said. "You sound like you've given this a lot of thought." Tom said, finishing his enchilada's "Some. I've sort of been thinking about it since *peristroika*. Or however you say that. At one time I would have loved to go there and help with their electronics industry. I was once connected with a used test equipment outfit that used to ship them a lot of Silicon valley surplus. "Funny I talked to a guy from Argentina once in the San Francisco airport while I was connected with them. When I told him what I did, he asked me about buying all manner of equipment. Turned out he was some sort of minister in charge of procurement. I told him we would be happy to supply him with whatever he needed as long as it was on the state department list of approved exports. I never heard back from him. What he wanted was the stuff not on the list." John said. "Many number of people would have taken the bait. You probably could have made a large amount of money." Tom said. "Not and lived with myself. I figured the world situation was unstable enough without contributing to it. There's usually one area that requires that level of technology, that's defense electronics. At least that's the biggest area. But I think it's silly to restrict technology that is freely available from other countries. For example that old oscilloscope I have down on my bench. It was made in nineteen-sixty-four. But it's fast enough that I still couldn't sell it out of the country. But you can buy an equivalent piece of equipment from the French, the German's or the Japanese. That only hurts our economy while not helping to restrict the technology at all." John said. "I'd sure like to have you as an advisor. Would you consider a spot on the commission I want to put together?" Tom asked. "Only in an advisory capacity. Not as a seat on the commission." John said. "No way I can draft you?" Tom asked. "I'm *5-A*. I've done my time." John chuckled. Tom sighed and took a last sip of his beer. "Really is quite a good beer." he commented. "Yeah, I discovered it when I went down to see the Total eclipse back in '91." John said. "I'll bet that was fun." Muriel said. "It was. I wouldn't recommend Mazatlan in July to anybody, it was a hundred degrees and the humidity was just a few points lower. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world. "I knew about the eclipse years before, and I wanted to be in La Paz. But somehow the time flew by and next thing I knew it was a month away. They were all booked up. "I was talking to an old astronomer friend and he had a deal where we caught a train out of Nogales and traveled by rail down the coast to Mazatlan. It was only two- hundred bucks, which included two nights accommodation in Mazatlan. I said to sign me up. "We rode in his motor home down to Tucson left it at the house of a friend of his, who joined us with his wife. We all took a greyhound down to Nogales. I guess there was about a dozen of us. The train was about five hours late pulling out of Nogales. I smoked at the time. I spent most my time out in the vestibule. Mostly because inside the car was horrid. They had been nice enough to steam clean the cars in Nogales. All that humidity just added to the heat. The windows wouldn't open. The air conditioners didn't work. The bathrooms were hardly more than an elbow pipe hanging under the cars. There was no water in them. You could buy beer or soda's cheap enough from the conductors. I think they ran it as a side business. "Several times during the night, the train slowed to dead crawl. The next day I found out why. I happened to be out in the vestibule during one of the slowdowns. I looked out the window and found the train going over a washout. About six to eight feet of track, unsupported with no ties between them. It would have been easy to derail the train at anyone of them. I'll give them this, though. They seemed to know where every one of them were. "The conductors would go around with trash bags gathering empty cans and Styrofoam containers from the lunch they served. Then they would walk to the vestibule and dump them out the window. The whole rail line was one long garbage dump all the way to Mazatlan. "The room was okay. Better than I expected. They wouldn't take our Telescopes or camera's into the hotel safe, too big. So I ended up stuffing mine under my bed. I don't think anybody lost anything from theft. I didn't mind the lizards on the wall after I turned the bathroom light on the first night. They were there to eat... La cooka rocha.... Which is more than need be said about that. "Bartering for everything was fun. I bought a silver necklace that got to be less silver colored every time I took a shower. I also bought a tourist hat and a Pacifico Tank top. I needed it in that heat. The eclipse itself was incredible. It got dark enough the outside lights at the hotel kicked on. That burned a few folks. But it was incredible. There was a three-hundred-sixty degree sunset. Everywhere you looked was red sky. I mis- loaded the camera I had on the telescope, so the only picture I have of the actual eclipse was one I snapped with a 50mm lens when I was heading for the shore to take a picture of the sunset out over the bay. "The meals were pretty good, all in all. I didn't get sick at all. We found a little place for breakfast run by an American girl who was living there. They also served incredible fruit drinks. I tempted fate with those. For dinner we took her recommendations. I wasn't in much of a mood for far traveling. Two days stuck on the train with my shoes on and no place to put my feet up had caused my ankles to swell up giant sized. "Anyway, there were several small places nearby where you could get a giant prawn dinner for about ten or twelve bucks. I think the nicest place in town only charged fifteen. The shrimp were huge. "After the eclipse we went by this one hotel where one of the couples was staying. It was a high rise. Each room had a narrow balcony with no handrail. The only rail was a cement ledge about a foot tall. They were on the fifteenth floor. It would have been *very* easy to fall. I took quite a few photo's of fishing boats out in the bay from the balcony using my telescope. Those turned out great. I took a look at the beaches, but there was so much garbage and crap along the shore that I had no desire to go in. "Anyway, after the eclipse Mazatlan thinned out quick. We caught a Volkswagen taxi back to the train station. I remember there were soldiers at the station carrying M- 16's. It reminded me of when we were on the way into Nogales. I said to everybody in the travel agents van that our civil rights had just *vaporized* as we crossed the border. "The train ride back was mostly without incident. Except the bathrooms got backed up. Just outside of Nogales they stopped the train and Federales surrounded it. Mexican DEA agents got on board and looked for drugs. "I remember them feeling up my friends girlfriend. I don't know why they chose her. There was this hippie jerk on the train making comments about the *Gestapo*. I remember thinking how stupid he was, looking over at this agent that had a *cocked* 9mm automatic pistol in the back of his pants. These folks were serious! I was afraid that he'd blow his own ass off and the guys outside would open up on the train. "Funny, after the raid this jeep pulled up and all the Federales put their guns in it and then rode away on bicycles. "I was glad when we got back to the border. We took a cab to the crossing. There was a sign that said to state your name and place of birth and what you had to declare. I remember walking in and proudly stating USA as my place of birth. The agent didn't even ask to look at my ID, but asked to look in the big duffel bag I had my telescope in. I had two tank tops, my hat and my pseudo silver necklace to declare. We were passed through and had lunch at a McDonalds where I spent the last of my Peso's. "Once we were on the greyhound going out of town, people were standing in the isles. The border patrol stopped it just short of the city limit and pulled a dozen or so folks off. This one agent asked me where I was from. I told him Utah. I guess I drawled right, cause he moved on. "Once back in Tucson, we picked up the motor home and headed back. This put us in Phoenix the next afternoon when it was a hundred and eight degrees. I was glad I wasn't driving. I just lay in the back and sweated. "We made a stop in Flagstaff and got a private tour of the Kitt Peak observatory, as one of the people with us had landed a job there. That was kind of fun. Anyway, we drove on back up to Salt Lake City, with Glen Canyon Dam being the only other notable item. That's my whole trip. I didn't mean to run on like that." John said. "No, not at all. I found the whole thing fascinating." Muriel said. "Yes. Quite so. Hard to believe that such conditions exist just South of our border." Tom said. "I thought about that. My friend was talking about the abject poverty that he saw. I told him that I saw *object* poverty instead. Meaning objectively, not material objects. Of the kids I saw, none were malnourished, although I'm sure there were some, but that's true in America. What I saw mostly was people hustling to make a living any way they could. I mean, in the towns along the train, people would line up when the train pulled in and sell their goods to the passengers on the train. There were little food stands set up at every stop selling taco's and stuff. You'd look over at a shabby old building with a cantina sign, and there would be a satellite dish along side it. An old Desoto wagon became a large private taxicab. But in Mazatlan itself, they were almost all Volkswagen *Things*. It was an educational trip. I remember thinking that I could revolutionize their whole rail system with a handful of PC's. They were taking tickets by hand. Their seating charts didn't match the tickets at all. I got separated from my friends and put in a separate car on the way back. All because they had double booked my seat and the guy they put in it wore a suit and I didn't. I figured he was paying his own price." John mused. "I find the whole story quite entertaining. I never heard it before. It's quite interesting hearing tales from your *poorer days*." Cindy said. "Seconds? There's plenty more?" Alice asked. Jimbo took seconds, so did John -mainly to encourage others to do so- and Steve. "I might have a bit more of that Taco Salad, if I may." Tom said. "Certainly." beamed Alice, "Told you it was good, Cindy." "Yes, Alice. It's delightful. I'll have a bit more of it myself." Cindy said. John smiled at her, thinking how she became a bit more maternal towards the younger women almost daily. "So. Any other interesting things you did or saw. From your *poorer days?*" Muriel asked, smirking a bit. "Oh, a couple. I was in a few places few other people get to see. Once a long time ago I did a stint as a broadcasting engineer at a top 40 radio station. One day the Sr. engineer and I were wondering about the local power plant. We called up and told them who we were and asked if they gave tours. They told us to come on down. "Instead of the public tour, we had a personally guided tour from their public relations director. He gave us the standard tour and then we asked about the control room. He got permission and we found ourselves in the main grid room for the whole Western states. The grid was laid out on a giant wall display that wrapped around the room. Three guys sat at computer terminals controlling the whole thing. They were a little nervous that we were there. They were controlling about fifteen *billion* watts of electricity from those three terminals. I was quite impressed by that. "Another time I was working in Silicon Valley. A friend of mine from Salt Lake called me and told me that the astronomical society had booked time on the big telescope at Lick observatory. It took them two years to get an appointment. They had a last minute cancellation. He asked me if I wanted to go up and look through the big telescope *that night*. I said the same answer I have for every silly question like that; *sure*. "It was awesome. That's where I first saw that ring nebula that I showed you last night. My little scope does nothing for it, believe me. Up there the eyepiece I was looking in had an aperture of an inch and a half in diameter. Then we looked at the Trapezium in the Orion Nebula, with was outstanding. I can barely image a large fuzzy dot in mine. "But the thing that blew my socks off, was a globular cluster. A billion razor sharp points of light on a jet black background in the eyepiece. It was the most incredible thing I ever saw. "The operator gave us a private tour of the installation. It's quite incredible. He told us of how an airplane out of Moffit Field had hit the building in bad weather during W.W.II. He said you could still smell the aircraft fuel in the dirt beneath the building if you dug a bit. "Other than that, not many places. Oh, a few transmitting facilities in several states that the public isn't allowed into. But they aren't very interesting unless you're into technology." John said. "It sounds like you've led a very diverse and satisfying life." Tom said. "It's certainly been diverse." John chuckled, "As for satisfying, not that much until I won that lottery and then met the girls." "Girls?" Muriel asked. "Sorry, now women. I was referring to Theresa and Cindy." John said. "How old were they when you met." Muriel asked. "Theresa was just a month shy of sixteen. Cindy, when she came, was just sixteen." John said, squeezing Cindy's hand and smiling at Theresa. "Well they've certainly grown into remarkable young women." Muriel said. "Yes they have. I'm quite proud of both of them. In fact I'm very proud of all of them. Not a bad heart in the bunch." John said, a bit misty eyed. "Starting with your own." Muriel said. "Oh, I don't know how true that is. I've had my moments. But I've tried to do what I thought was best for them. Thank god they didn't listen to me sometimes." John said. "Yes, well. I suspect this is getting mushier than John feels comfortable with. Us ladies have some planning to do, so if you will excuse us." Cindy said. "Certainly, love. Thank you." John said, squeezing her hand before releasing it. "Yes, certainly. Thank you for a very tasty and entertaining lunch." Tom said. "Muriel, Heather and Shannon have volunteered to hold your hand while Andrea runs the scanner if you'd like to get a start on your wardrobe." Cindy said. "Yes, that sounds... interesting." Muriel said. "Oh don't let them scare you. It's funnier than they make it sound." Cindy giggled. There were knowing nods and giggles from the women around the table. "Yes, to my knowledge Sheila's the only one who actually orgasmed while being scanned." Theresa said. "I'm not so sure that's encouraging, Theresa." Cindy giggled. She bent and kissed John deeply then turned and did the same to Muriel and Tom. Others came by and did the same. Amy and Alice started clearing the dishes. Nobody said a word when Muriel jumped up and helped. A quick scrape and rinse then into the dishwasher. Amy and Alice each pulled Muriel into an embrace and thanked her with a kiss. All the Second Skin women headed off to their powwow, for which Cindy had chosen the recreation room. Amy and Alice among them as Judy's assistants. John and Bill headed off to review the housing project plans. Tom tagged along. As quite a few women were taking the elevator, John chose the stairs. They ended up in his office not far down the hall from the women. Several new items were displayed on John's office wall. One, his Medal of Freedom, the other, the five dollar bill from Tom. Tom chuckled. "Scotch?" John asked. Bill nodded. "I shouldn't, but a short one." Tom said. John poured three scotches and added a couple of cubes of ice to each from a small refrigerator. He handed them out as Bill spread the plans out on John's large oak desk. He'd added some matching oak filing cabinets and built a large oak credenza for behind him. A short wing between them held a state of the art computer. Along the credenza were a flat bed scanner and a laser printer. John sat in his chair behind his desk and motioned the others to chairs as he studied the blueprint. "How's the sewage treatment and recycle plant coming. Did we get in under the wire on that?" John asked. Bill looked a bit uncomfortable, but replied simply: "It's covered." "Perhaps I don't want to be here." Tom mused. "Nobody here but us chickens. We'll keep it non-specific enough that you can feign ignorance in good conscience if anybody should ask." John said, not looking up. Tom smiled. "So basically, the utilities are in place and the global landscaping is done. The entire perimeter of the property is fenced and the streets are in. All that's lacking is the buildings themselves?" John asked. "Basically yes, some curb and gutter to finish, but the storm sewer is in place to keep the streets drained. The foundation for the large common building -the civic center- is in place. Also the landscaping for the parks and playground. The parks been planted and the irrigation system is in place." Bill replied. "So I have a complete community without any buildings." John said, sitting back and taking a sip of scotch. "Yup. That's the picture." Bill said. "Good. Any suggestions?" John asked. "Not really. I don't know what you have in mind for housing. You were talking pretty bleak in reference to the city units." Bill said. "I think it's needed there. But I'd like this a little better. Not another *projects* fiasco like they had in Chicago. Make them too bleak and people won't take care of them. I expect these folks to be here long enough for job training. I'd like them to have some housing they want to return to in the evening." John said. "What sort of job training do you have in mind?" Tom asked. "Well, I'd like to offer associate of science level of computer and electronics. But I may consider other options. In computers, I think I want to concentrate on network and LAN management and repair, rather than data entry. I need to talk to some local universities about accreditation. I'm might even convince them to supply some instructors, if I can convince them that these are motivated people who want to change their lives. The other area, is employee's for Second Skin. Cindy said she'd be happy to hire some people for that, but we're going to have to be highly selective about that. The first employee that draws her fingers uninvited over a bare ass is going to draw a law suit and drive away a lot of business." John said. "I can see that. How are you handling that now?" Tom asked. "One, rigorous pre-screening. Then driving the idea into their heads that it's a termination offense, first time. Most of Cindy's employees have been pretty good about that, as they're making a fair amount of money. I understand they had to let one woman go for making lewd remarks to customers though. Cindy personally contacted every person that employee had waited on and informed them of her termination and apologized. She also threw in a free outfit." John said. "You say Cindy's employees, I thought Theresa was listed as half owner?" Tom said. "Oh, Theresa's always taken a fairly passive role. Cindy likes what she's doing. At this point neither of them needs to do it for the money. That's what we hired Sheila for. We weren't wrong about that. I think this new expansion is going to put them past the half billion a year mark. Not bad at all for two years from their first salon." John said. "No, not bad at all." Tom said, "So how much of that do you get?" "Five percent. I wanted three, but they wouldn't hear of it." John said. "So if they meet that half billion mark, then you get roughly twenty-five million a year in royalties on the patent?" Tom asked. "Yeah, roughly." John said. "I remember when you said you'd have the money to do this housing project. I was dubious. You'll have that and then some, per year." Bill chuckled. "Yeah, that was our first meeting. I guess I probably came off pretty egotistical." John chuckled. "A bit. But you convinced me. Nothing wrong with ego if you can back it up. You did that, with *style*." Bill chuckled. "I admit you sounded a bit crazy to me when Bill came to me with the plan. But it was a relatively small investment for such a big potential return. And as Bill said, you came through with style." Tom said. "I'm not so sure about the style part. But overall I'm pleased with how things turned out. I get my housing project. We got Bianca safely away and put a nasty mother- fucker in jail, hopefully for a long time. I care less about the other agents. Without someone like Sergei directing them, they're just loose wheels without an engine." John said. "Why John, I never heard you use such language." Bill chuckled, looking at Tom. "Doesn't mean I don't know it. In some cases only certain terms fit. That's one of them. I didn't think I would be offending anyone calling a spade a spade." John said. "Not me, I well know those terms myself. I think most adults and probably *every* adolescent knows them too. But I have noticed a surprising lack of them in the general speech patterns of... the family here." Tom said. "I honestly believe a saying I heard from one of my co- workers -a friend- in California; That '*profanity is the illiterates persons means of being emphatic*'. I purposefully never use it around the triplets. They were open minds when they arrived. I think an open mind is like a sponge. It sucks up everything around it. If you expose kids to profanity, they will use it. Not that the triplets are kids. But they were barely beyond when they arrived." John said. "I appreciate that, and I thank you for that concerning my wife. It's hard for me to believe that she was illiterate when she arrived here. Sometimes she can be quite eloquent now." Bill said. "Yes, you've done a marvelous job educating them. -And not just their book learning-. That's a good saying about profanity... and it makes sense. I never thought of it in that manner before." Tom said. "I try to remain philosophic about words. Words have the meanings we assign to them. If you believe a word to be offensive, it will be, every time you hear it. If you take a term, say; grunt-knucker -which I just made up- and use it in a certain context it will be interpreted as obscene. e.g. You dirty grunt-knucker. In another context it would have no such interpretation. e.g. Hand me that grunt-knucker. At one time I looked into the origins of the word '*fuck*', thinking it had derived from 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge', but that turned out not to be the case. According to Webster's it was related to the Dutch word *fokken* , which meant ;to breed (cattle), or from Middle Dutch; to push, thrust or copulate, or possibly to the Swedish word *fock*, meaning penis. It was first noted in print around the 1680's, but my point is that it's lost most connections to it's origins or taken on different meanings. You couldn't say; *What the penis do you want from me?* It wouldn't make sense. Nor could you say; *What the copulate do you want from me?* That wouldn't make sense either. You could say; *Do you want to copulate?* So it has retained some connection in that usage, but I think it's taken on entirely new meanings as it's used in normal street vernacular." John said. "My an etymologist as well. Quite a Renaissance man." Tom mused. "I'm certainly no *Erasmus*. But I do like to keep myself well rounded." John chuckled, "Anyway, back to the housing project the treatment plant is fully completed? or just ... covered?" "Virtually completed. They're were just finishing up the last of the machinery installation. You still need to add activating agents and personnel. The recycle side is fairly automated. You feed random garbage in one end and get aluminum, steel, glass, plastic and raw paper out the other end. The organics cycle into the sewage treatment side. There was a question on the best way to handle the plastics. The Japanese have a new technique that uses high heat to break them down and turn them into fuel oil -a concept that I found amusing- but it's still in it's infancy, too many nasty byproducts. Seems when they tried this before they ended up with a fuel that was too caustic. Some bright boy got the idea of throwing in a bucket of lime, which took care of that. But it's still too new. I want to know how many two headed kids show up in the neighborhood before I'd go for it. Instead we used a combination of optics, stretch and shatter characteristics to separate the different types. The nice part of that, is that you can help streamline the separation by logging any products you carry in the *company store* into the recycle system. Each product will have unique optical characteristics. By pre-scanning the product the computers just look for known signatures and separate accordingly. The rest goes through the more exotic testing route." Bill said. "How do you separate the metals?" John asked. "Several ways. Variable reluctance to magnetic flux, for one. If it's conductive, it's probably metal, if it's magnetic, it's probably ferrous based, most likely steel. You might end up with some new ceramic magnets that are both magnetic and conductive in with your steel, but I don't see that as a factor. Only so many people are going to be throwing exotic headphones away in a given year. The majority of the process starts by running a magnetic belt over the incoming garbage. Anything steel is attracted to it and is carried off to the side. Then comes the variable reluctance detectors, pulsing a magnetic field though the garbage. They had some trouble initially with that. It would read wet chicken bones as a metal because of the electrical conductive properties of the marrow inside. It's inductive. But they leaned it had a unique signature so they were able to scan for it and ignore it. The hardest part is separating the paper from the organics. If it's hard and doesn't match the optical characteristics of plastic, then it's maybe glass. There again we use optics. Glass is fairly easy to spot." Bill said. "Funny about the chicken bones." John chuckled. "Yeah, thought you'd get a kick out of that." Bill said. "So tell me -if I want to know- how long would it take this plant to pay for itself?" Tom asked. "Way too long. Well beyond the life of the machinery. But that wasn't the point. It was a research prototype. The lessons learned building it will be spread from one end of this country to the other. They'll be applied where it *does* matter, like where you have to deal with the garbage of a whole city. That was the point." Bill answered. "I can see that. Lord knows we need to deal with our garbage and we're not doing a very good job of it." Tom said. "Mainly it eliminated a garbage dump here. There was a real problem, in that the water supply was local ground water." Bill said. "Speaking of which, are my well's capable of flowing that much water?" John asked. "Funny time to ask, no! But the two *new* ones will. We drilled down three hundred feet and then set off a shape charge to bust the strata." Bill said. "Damn good thing you didn't crack my concrete in the process." John said. "I think you'll find your concrete tougher than you take it for." Bill chuckled. "I have a *very* good idea how tough it is. I drilled every mounting point for every bolt holding every girder on every floor. I also enlarged every opening on every floor and drilled a bunch of holes into the ventilation shafts. I'll wager they will find a goodly amount of the stuff in my lungs when they autopsy me, should I die mysteriously. But it's still concrete and it will still crack. The crack doesn't have to be a linear path for water seepage." John said. "Actually, these wells will probably eliminate that problem. They will lower the water table surrounding the Silo, then it won't matter if it cracks. Your current wells are two-hundred thirty foot, according to original construction records. That means that the water table would have to drop over eighty feet to make them ineffective for your use here, but then you could just tap into the other system. However, if it drops twenty- five feet, then the Silo is clear of it." Bill said. "You are forgiven." John said. "Thanks, I didn't feel guilty." Bill chuckled. "Well, I guess we've just about covered things then. You've done a marvelous job, Bill. I'll be sorry to lose you back to Uncle Sugar." John said. "I'm quite pleased to be gaining him for the homeless program." Tom said. "You should be. Pardon me for telling you how to feel." John said, reigning himself in. "Not at all. I quite understand his value. He *did* work for me when this all started, you know." Tom chuckled. "Yes, I know. But I'm not so certain that chasing spooks was his strongest attribute, although he was very good at that." John said. "So what do you consider his strongest attribute?" Tom asked. "His administrative skills. Much as he likes to bitch about that stuff. He can walk into a given task and see intuitively what needs to be done, plan how to do it and then direct the actions to get it done." John said. "As long as the task doesn't involve women. There I'm lost." Bill said. "Spoken like a married man." John chuckled. "My point exactly. Theresa probably saved my marriage at Camp David. Andrea got bored, I mean *seriously* bored. I didn't have a clue how to deal with it. I mean you can only make love so many times in one day -at least *I* can only do it so many times in one day. The more things I tried to suggest to entertain her, the more she got pissed off at me that she was bored. I finally got her to agree to take a walk. We met Kevin and Theresa on the trail and Theresa simply said; *talk to him. He's your husband, find out who he is.* Once we got to talking, things smoothed right out. She even learned to play Hearts and Gin, and *liked* it." Bill said. "You didn't talk before?" John asked. "Not like this. We talked about things in general, I guess, but nothing serious." Bill said. "And now you do?" John asked. "Yup. In depth. Once she got started it was Annie bar the doors." Bill chuckled. "So I guess we're basically done here then." John said. "What now?" Tom asked. "Well, I'd like to go view the project, but I don't think the secret service would like it." John said. "They'll probably shit sideways, but I want to see it too. If you don't mind too much, it's a good photo-op too, no, scratch that. I'm not about to put on a suit and tie till I have to." Tom chuckled. "I doubt they'd let us take Cindy's land cruiser. I guess it's helicopter." John said. "We'll take the land cruiser, they can deploy by helicopter if they feel the urge. Which they undoubtedly will." Tom chuckled. "Great, I get to show you Cindy's toy. I had it done for myself, but I promised one each to her and Theresa for getting their GED's... speaking of which. I guess I owe one to each of the triplets. Hadn't thought of that." John said. "I guess I get to show Andrea how to drive. I'm not looking forward to that." Bill said, rolling his eyes. "Probably won't be as bad as you think. They were used to tractors and stuff from the farm. They should deal with a clutch very well." John said. They headed down the hall to the recreation room. John stepped in and asked Cindy if he could borrow her cruiser. "Of course. Where you going?" She asked. "Out to look at my little community and check out the sewage treatment plant.. Care to come?" John asked. "Naw, definitely sounds like a *guy thing* if I ever heard of one." Cindy said, chuckling. "Where's your keys?" John asked. "On the rack in the kitchen, where they belong." Cindy chuckled. "Thanks love, we won't be too long." John said, kissing her cheek. "You're welcome, have fun. Now where was I? *I guess that covers the training curriculum. Sally, do you feel comfortable with Moore running the New York Salon or do you think Jean should stay and ride herd?....*." Cindy said, turning back to the women. John led Bill and Tom up to the surface. The secret service alert and waiting when the elevator opened. John wondered if they watched every movement of the elevator. Of course they would. "Pete." Tom said to a secret service agent. "Yes, Mr. President?" Pete responded before Tom could utter another word. "We're going to take a little ride out to John's housing project. You can ride along with us to put your mind at ease. You can send a squad ahead to check things out, but it's just open space surrounded by miles of guarded terrain. The only building is the sewage treatment and recycle facility, which we will be viewing, so you can check that out before we get there. I don't want agents crawling all over us while we're out there." Tom finished. "Yes, Mr. President. We'll be taking the helicopter?" Pete asked. "No, we'll be riding in the land cruiser outside here." Tom replied. "Do you think that's a good idea, Mr. President? It hasn't been checked out yet." Pete said. "Lighten up, Pete. I'm having a marvelous relaxing time here. If John wanted to harm me, then there's much better ways of doing it than blowing up a vehicle he's riding in." Tom chuckled. "Yes, Mr. President." Pete said, dejected. "You can run one of those dogs you've got around it once if you hurry." Tom said. "Thank you, Mr. President." Pete said, talking into his lapel. John led the way out, much to Pete's discomfort. It was a brisk autumn day. John backed up and snagged them some Second Skin wind breakers off the coat rack. Handing one to Tom and Bill. Pete would have to fend for himself. They walked across the compound and John opened up the storage shack. He busied himself disconnecting the trickle charger and removing the dipstick heater while the secret service ran a dog around the vehicle. Not so much as a *whiff*. "Would you like to take the wheel, Mr. President? I suspect you don't get much chance to drive. Especially a vehicle as nice as this." John asked. "I'd love to. But you call me Mr. President again while I'm here, and I'll kick you." Tom chuckled. "Okay, Tom. Just keeping protocol while we were around others." John said. "They work for me -although sometimes it seems the other way- you're my friend. That applies to you as well while were here, Bill." Tom said. "Thanks Tom." Bill replied. Pete looked uncomfortable. "There's no room for your Military Liaison, Mr. President." Pete commented. "If he must come along, put him in the helicopter with your people. He can get to me soon enough it he needs." Tom said. "Yes, Mr. President." Pete said, talking into his lapel again. "Why do you do that? I know your microphone's in your ear piece like everybody else's." Tom asked. "Habit, Mr. President. I've been doing this a while." Pete chuckled, loosening up a bit. "Yeah, and knowing you, as a diversion in case we all get kidnapped. Maybe they'd take your coat and leave your ear piece." Tom chuckled. "Not a bad idea, Mr. President." Pete said seriously. "If I suddenly see everybody talking in their lapels, then you'll be chasing copy machine counterfeiters for the rest of your career." Tom said. "Yes, Mr. President." Pete mopped. They climbed into the land cruiser and Tom fired it up. The dual mufflers making a pleasing tone. He carefully backed out of the shack and then turned towards the gate. The officer with the *football* ran out and jumped into a helicopter and it lifted and tipped away, preceding them. John tripped the gate opener as they approached it. It didn't work. "I'm sorry, Mr. President. We disabled it." Pete said from the back. "Why?" Tom asked. "So we could control any entry, Mr. President." Pete said. "Well get it open." Tom said, annoyed. "Yes, Mr. President." Pete said, talking into his lapel again. Two agents ran out and unchained the gate and pushed it open. Tom proceeded through. He gained speed slowly, going through the gears. The Chevy small block responding to his commands. "Only thing I don't like about the fuel injection, is the stall in idle back. I guess they put that in for emission control. A lot of pollution used to get created when the throttle would slam back between shifts. Now it idles back slowly. But the result is jerky shifting to those of us who learned back in the old days and mostly shift subconsciously now." John commented. "Thanks, I thought I'd lost my touch." Tom chuckled. "Took me long enough to figure it out. I thought there was a problem. I still get jerky shifts myself sometimes. I found it helps if you train yourself to only lift your accelerator foot up half way." John said. "Thanks. Other than that, it's really quite a nice vehicle." Tom mused. "Open it up if you'd like." John said. Tom grinned and put his foot down. The small block responded and the cruiser sailed up the road. He took the crest of the small knoll doing seventy. Then backed off a bit and settled into a very safe sixty-five. "Right there's the spot where we found Candice and the triplets." John said. "How'd you know they were out here?" Tom asked. "Same way the agents back at the Silo know exactly where we are; road sensors. There was suddenly a hunk of metal on my road. If they'd hit a rock off to the side, I would have never known they were here." John replied. "So you went out into a blizzard to check out a road sensor reading?" Tom asked. "If it had been just one, I might have blown it off, attributing it to a short caused the storm. But the adjacent sensors read a little high too, by just the right amount for it to be a real reading." John said. "Excuse me, Sir. But how did you know that? If I may ask? Isn't each sensor just a trip?" Pete asked. "I'm an instrumentation specialist. Measurement was my specialty. Specifically the interaction between instrumentation systems. You can limit each sensor to just a trip, but that discards a large portion of the information it's capable of supplying. A trip is a threshold that you can set when so much of a certain type of information is exceeded. I looked at the actual linear information using an impedance bridge." John replied. "Which you just happened to have?" Tom asked. "Yes, a very handy piece of equipment." John said. "It sounds to me that those women are very lucky to be alive. Had they not ended up at the location they did, and had it not been someone with your expertise, understanding, equipment and compassion, then they would have probably been icicles you discovered in the spring thaw. Yes, very lucky indeed." Tom mused. "Kind of makes you want to believe in destiny, doesn't it." John mused. "You don't? " Tom asked. "Not really. I believe in cause and effect. I just realize that in a very complex system -which the earth and people certainly qualify as- that statistical improbabilities will arise. In fact must arise by definition. Somebody has to be involved in them. It was just random chance that it was me and them. It could just as easily been somebody else in either case, or not happened at all." John said. "Well, I for one am grateful that that particular set of conditions existed at that time. I wouldn't have a wife otherwise." Bill said. "Yes, I'm also quite pleased about it. The triplets and Candice are good people." John said. "I quite agree with that." Tom mused. "The turn is just up here, Tom." John said, trying to distract him from further comment while the secret service agent was present. Tom glanced at him and smiled. In fact the turn was a bit farther. They passed the distance in silence, then Tom slowed and turned onto the offshoot. A dirt berm similar to the one surrounding the Silo compound but much bigger around surrounded the project. The road wound around through the gap. Inside it was a web of roadways that spoked off a central area. The area had been terra formed to give it variety and planted with trees, shrubs and grasses. The roadway led outwards from the other side, a dirt berm obscuring the sewage and recycle plant. A helicopter rested atop the berm, it's rotor still spinning. A park surrounded the area, another wrapping itself around a central civics area. In between, the area was formed like the imprint of two large concentric donuts. A ring of green in between. The parks had been seeded with boulders and small hillocks to give them character. "Nice job, Bill." Tom said, driving slowly through the community. "Yes, a very nice job." John said. "Thank you, I had fun." Bill chuckled. "Fun huh?" Tom chuckled. "Yeah, I did. See the whole point was to make it look like a massive housing project to a satellite. It also had to be convincing like a place that you could attract research scientists to live and work at. That accounts for the landscaping, layout and greenery. The other thing was I saw a golden opportunity to road test some new technologies. Any real bio-research community would have to be pretty much self sufficient. You couldn't keep a community secret while hauling out truckloads of garbage or calling in trucks to pump out septic tanks or fill heating fuel tanks. So I put my heart into designing and building just such a community. The reason that the sewage and recycle facility is completed before the housing, is because that's the way it would have to be for real. You'd have to have that in place first before anybody came to live here. The same holds true for all the utilities and plumbing. We could have saved a bit on the ruse by laying mock utilities, but not much. And why not make it a real usable community to serve the homeless. First off, that was the agreement with John, that we build a real community. In all truth I expected to complete it. I didn't expect things to come to a head as fast as they did. I'm a little sad that they did, because I want to see that this is completed. I believe in this project." Bill said. "Well, I can guarantee that it will be completed. Assuming of coarse that the Second Skin expansion doesn't blow up in our faces and leave me with my lottery winnings. I don't think they would be sufficient to build a whole community very fast. But even if that happens, I intend to go on. I'll build one house at a time if I have to." John said. "That's very noble of you John. But if that happened I think I could convince congress to fund the project. I believe in it too." Tom said. "Thank you. Shall we look at this wonder plant?" John asked. "Sure, how do I get there?" Tom asked. "Just follow the road around and out the other side." Bill said. Tom followed his directions and after a few winding turns through the dirt berms, came upon a large attractive building that sort of blended into the landscape. Off to one side, a swampy area sat. Now just mud, water and sparse vegetation, but stretching for quite a distance back towards the silo. "Why the swamp?" Tom asked. "That's not swamp, that's a wetland. It serves the duel purpose of being the final stage in the sewage treatment process and making an attractive environment for waterfowl and such. Once the plant starts pumping nutrients into that area, it will grow like gang busters. When the water reaches the other end it will be as pure or purer than the water coming out of the ground and will in fact go back into the ground to replenish the aquifer." Bill explained. "How are you maintaining it now? Why doesn't it just drain straight back into the ground?" John asked. "One, the whole area was scooped out and lined with a fine grained clay. Once it's wet it would swell and seal the channel to counteract that very action. The other, is pumping. The system automatically maintains a certain level of water in the wetlands. Because the clay is so efficient a seal, not much is needed to keep it up. It costs you about ten dollars a day in power to maintain the wetlands. That won't change much as the community fills up, as the water will just take a different route but the volume will remain fairly constant. Actually, right now it's much less than that. The clay trough has a bowl shape to it to maintain a minimum level in the wetlands. As cool as it is it costs you about a dollar a day to maintain that minimum. In full summer that will go up due to evaporation though. In either case, that's a minimal price to maintain a wetland environment." Bill said. "Excellent. That will attract migratory birds along the Canadian flyway." John said. "It already has attracted some. Not many because it's not a rich ecosystem yet. It needs the nutrients from the sewage plant to feed it. We seeded it with some nutrients to get it started, but we didn't want to import too much alien flora and bio-organisms into the area. That's usually a bad idea. Just take a look at *Kudzu*. It was initially imported for highway foliage but it's eating the South. Nothing to control it. We felt it was better to let they system develop on it's own. What seeding we did was from wet area's from around here. Which I might add are sparse enough. We couldn't do much without hurting them. We just took seeding material." Bill explained. "Again, excellent." John said, as Tom pulled up to the facility. Several secret service agents were milling around, trying to look busy. In fact they had already swept the entire facility for bombs, terrorists and hidden traps. There was an area for a garbage truck to back into and dump it's load. There was a pile of full trash sacks sitting in the hopper. "What's that?" John asked, pointing to the garbage. "To test the system. Real garbage snagged from a sanitary land fill outside of town. I thought you might like to see the system in action." Bill said. "What about the sacks?" John asked. "Not a problem." Bill said. "Lets see the inside." John said. Bill led them on a tour of the plant. Muriel lay panting and on the sofa in the scanning room, her hair moist with perspiration. Around her lay three other women in similar conditions. "You weren't kidding about that machine. I trust that the production units are nowhere near as stimulating." she said. "No, nowhere near as stimulating. A little bit though. It still has the rough resolving wheels, but the fine scan has been converted to ultrasonic imaging. A pity, but they couldn't have their customers raping each other in their lobby's." Andrea mused. "Yes, I can see that. I can't wait to get Tom onto that scanner." Muriel chuckled. "Unfortunately, it doesn't have quite the same effect upon men. Different erogenous zones I guess. And not much call for the *advanced* scan that you wanted." Andrea said. "Yes, I can see that. Not without Gay men around." Muriel said. "Bill still got pretty excited, but there were a bunch of us around him. I think part of that was the bondage part. We teased him pretty badly. I understand from Cindy and Theresa that John got fairly excited too. But all in all it's not the same thing for men." Andrea said. "I'll say this, you certainly are learning fast." Heather moaned. "I've had excellent teachers." Muriel replied, softly running her fingertips over the stunning actresses body. "Hard to believe that you were new to loving women when you came here." Shannon commented. "Not completely new to it. Tom doesn't know, but I had some experience back in college. Nothing like this though. We were just experimenting." Muriel said. "A roommate?" Shannon asked. "Yes, a couple of them. I still talk to one of them from time to time, we're still sorta friends. The other got killed in a car crash in her senior year." Muriel said, sadly. "I'm sorry. That's a shame." Heather said. "Yes, but that's life. We lose friends. She was living a little too wildly. She got drunk and decided she could drive. She wrapped her car around a power pole. Luckily she only killed herself." Muriel said. "Yes, John's lectured us on drunk driving. He says that if he'd been just the slightest bit tipsy that he would have killed Theresa instead of just bumping her into a ditch." Andrea said. "John hit Theresa with a car?" Muriel asked. "Yes, kind of a romantic story. I think she should tell it to you." Shannon said. "I'd love to hear it." Muriel replied. "Well, I'll get the casting started." Andrea said. "That will take a while. If you're sufficiently recovered, you're welcome to join Heather and I in the shower. Then we can come back and make you some clothes." Shannon said. "That sounds nice." Muriel said, sitting up. "Why don't you get that started, Andrea, then come join us." Shannon said. "What about Heather's mannequin?" Andrea asked. "We can cast hers up anytime. We only have Muriel for a short visit. So we can leave her cast right in the spinner and get a start on her outfits." Shannon said. "What cast style. I would assume the headless camouflaged variety?" Andrea asked. "Up to you Muriel." Shannon said. "I don't understand." Muriel replied. "Well, you see how real we can make them from that row of stunning bodies hanging over there. You'll even find one of me there. But in our salons, we usually cast up a headless mannequin which has sharp geometric patterns on it that makes it useless for photography. That way no compromising *pictures* of celebrities show up in the tabloids. Which style would you like us to make?" Shannon asked. She looked over at the row of mannequins. "I see one of every family member there, except Heather. I would be honored to reside among them." Muriel replied. "Ditto." Heather replied. "Okay, full casts, or just exterior?" Andrea asked. "Full casts?" Muriel asked. "Complete with the internal scans you wanted made. In fact on most we put a little heater inside to make it feel more real should one of the men take a fancy to indulge himself. Usually not, as the real thing is around." Andrea answered. "Oh, I see. Yes, full cast please." Muriel said. "Very trusting of you, Muriel." Shannon commented. "Isn't that what this is all about?" Muriel asked. "Yes. That's true." Shannon replied. "A full cast of me as well. I know Cindy would want one around." Heather chuckled. "I wouldn't mind having a full cast of you around myself. I get to see you so seldom." Shannon chuckled. "Take a copy of the disks back with you." Heather said, pulling her into a kiss. "Yes, you can take a copy of mine too." Muriel offered. "I thank you both for your trust, but I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not always around. I have a staff that I trust, but not *that* much. There are such things as burglaries too. I think that we should restrict the copies of both of you to the ones here. I know that they will be safe." Shannon said. "Okay, anymore questions?" Cindy asked. There were none. "In that case, we are adjourned. Looks like were all going to be busy little beavers for a the next little while." Cindy said. "Except those going to Europe." Sally giggled. "No, I'm going to be scoping out locations and such where we can open salons there. I expect a mountain of paperwork for each location." Cindy replied. "Just kidding love. Sheila told me you were going to be doing that. I'm still a bit envious though." Sally said. "Well then I'll keep you in mind when we open our London salon." Cindy said. "That's nice. Paris would be nicer." Sally giggled. "It would be, but you don't speak French." Cindy chuckled. "I do, a bit." Jean said. "I think we need more than just a bit to operate a salon there, but I see no reason why we couldn't all spend a little time in each location." Cindy said. "I'm up for it. *Je t'aime, mon petite*." Mae said. "Meaning?" Cindy asked. "Meaning: '*I love you and you are my friend, my little one*.'" Mae replied. "You are fluent in French?" Cindy asked. "*Oui*. Fairly so." Mae replied. "I'll keep that in mind." Cindy said. "Wonder how Muriel's and Heather's scanning went?" Sheila mused. "Undoubtedly like all of ours did. That's one reason why I wanted both Shannon and Heather there. The other reason was to make Andrea feel useful. I think she was feeling a bit left out." Cindy said. "Speaking of which, I think we should put her in charge of the D.C. salon when we get it open. I think she's ready. It will give her something to do while Bill's involved during the day." Sheila said. "Good idea. Not actually in D.C. though, is it?" Cindy asked. "Heaven's no. One, that would cost too much, two... I wouldn't feel safe about that. DC's a rough place at night. No, the locations we're looking at are over in Silver Springs, Maryland. Where all the high end folks reside." Sheila said. "Good." said Cindy. "Wonder how the guy's are getting along?" Candice pondered. "They were watching football when I passed through to get those notes. John and the others aren't back yet." Judy replied. "I have no idea what could be so fascinating about a sewage treatment and recycle plant." Theresa said. "Obviously a guy thing." Cindy chuckled. Bill switched on the mechanism and the bags started their trek into the plant. First they were shredded by wire whips, which also separated the garbage wide along the conveyor belt. Fans blew scraps of paper off to the side and along another path. The conveyor passed under another belt, where the steel cans were picked out magnetically. John and Tom watched the process in fascination. Even Pete the secret service agent found himself interested. It didn't take very long to reduce the bags of garbage to piles of recyclable goods in bins. Along the way all was washed and partially reduced in size. The remaining organics got finely ground and entered the sewage treatment side. The men viewed the results. Everything was where it belonged. "Outstanding!" Tom remarked. "Yes, excellent. But I think we should leave now." John said, breathing shallowly. "Yes, a bit aromatic, I guess. I forgot to turn on the fans. I expected much worse; those bags have been sitting there for a month. This is as bad as I expect it to get." Bill said. "What about keeping the smell away from the community?" John asked. "Those dirt berms we drove through. We did a study of the prevailing winds in the area first. Those berms oppose wind flow from the facility into the community when it blows from this direction. When it blows from the other, it will actually pull air from the community into this direction." Bill said. "That's a neat trick." Tom said. "Yes, and one we can apply elsewhere. Shall we go?" Bill asked. "Yes, a good idea." John said. Bill hit the fans on the way out. "You going to leave them run?" John asked. "No, they'll kick off automatically in a little while. I figured that this plant would run at minimal capacity, even when the community is full. As such there are a lot of automatics. In fact this side can be set into motion by the arrival of a truck outside dumping a load. As you can see one operator could easily run the whole thing, and all he needs do it keep an eye on things. I was thinking that you could contract recycling services to the surrounding community's for a while. They truck in their garbage and then haul out recyclable goods. In the process you get the organics to start feeding your wetlands. There's a road that runs around so they don't have to truck through the community." Bill said. "Good idea. What's the capacity of this plant?" John asked. "A fair sized community. It would probably support almost fifty thousand people running full capacity. The nice part is that's easily scaled upwards for larger communities. From what we learned making this, I figure that you could build one large enough to support a community of half a million for not much more." Bill said. "How much was this?" Tom asked. "A sum of money." Bill said, cryptically. Tom nodded. "Why don't you take the wheel, John. I bet you don't get to drive much either. From what I understand, you enjoy it too." Tom said. "Thanks. If I remember how." John said, climbing into the drivers seat. Bill and Pete climbed in the back, Tom into the shotgun seat. On the way back he surveyed the landscape. "Nice place for a golf course." he commented. "We don't have quite *that* much water. And I didn't think that the government would look too favorably towards financing that. However, there is a section of land off to the side of the wetlands that could be planted with lawn and would make a nice little course. Drainage would flow back into the system." Bill chuckled. "What about landscaping?" John asked. "*Surprisingly* similar to a golf course, right now it's set up as a recreational camping area for the community with bike trails. But someone *could* seed a portion of it for a nice little course." Bill said. "I'll have to keep your hidden talents in mind once I get you back to Washington." Tom chuckled. They arrived back at the compound, shadowed by the secret service helicopter, and mostly unnoticed, several gun ships. John caught sight of one in his side mirror. "Listen, Pete. A bunch of the silo residents are going to be taking a helicopter ride out by the mountains to look at some property. You might notify your people. I'd rather they didn't get shot down." John said. "I'd like one of our agents to go along." Pete said. "That, you *won't* be doing. I see no need for it." Tom said. "Mr. President. They could pick up weapons from a secret cache." Pete said. "Lighten up, Pete. These folks are my friends and *I* trust them implicitly. They might carry a small picnic basket with them that you can take a look at when they return, *if* you're nice about it." Tom said. "I must protest. Mr. President." Pete said. "Protest all you want. But I won't have these people harassed. That means no surveillance on them while they're out too." Tom said. "Yes, Mr. President." Pete said moodily. "Pete, they're likely to be wearing Second Skin clothing that it would be *very* difficult concealing any weapons in and still not walk funny. I'll see to it that they let you examine the picnic basket when they return. Bill's going to be with them anyway. I'm certain that he will vouch for their behavior." John said. "Unquestionably." Bill said. "Yes Sir, thank you Sirs. I'm just trying to do my job." Pete said. "Well get used to it, cause I might be coming back here several times a year. I'm quite enjoying myself. So is Muriel." Tom said. "Yes, Mr. President." the agent said. The trip out to the foothills was a very pleasant outing for those who went along. The other two triplets tagged along for the ride to help Andrea pick out her piece of property. This left John, Cindy, Sheila, Shannon, Sally, Jean, Heather, Tom and Muriel behind. Shannon, Sally and Jean volunteered to make dinner. Cindy tagged Heather and they slipped off with Tom. Sheila and John slipped off with Muriel. "You really are a very talented man." Muriel said, her body glistening beside him. "Isn't he though. I'm quite in love with the fellow." Sheila mused, her condition not unlike Muriel's. "I can quite imagine. I understand why all of you are. I'm quite taken with him myself." Muriel said. "Yes. We're all quite taken with you and Tom too. I think that you will find that John can be quite addictive." Sheila said, kissing John's cheek. "Awe shucks, it twern't 'nothin." John said. "The most incredible sexual experience of my life and you say it *twern't nothing*? I can't even imagine what it was like for Sally and Judy. " Muriel chuckled. "I did have some very talented help, you know." John said, softly caressing Muriel as he leaned to kiss Sheila. "Yes, I thank both of you. I'm grateful to all of you here. Tom and I have never been closer." Muriel said. "Glad to be of service. A swim before dinner?" John asked, slipping from between them and opening the trap door. "I wouldn't miss the chance to use that." Muriel said, kissing Sheila before following him. "Coming, as soon as I can move again." Sheila giggled. John pulled her by the feet off the bed. She laughed and moved into his arms. Her giggles faded away as he kissed her softly. Muriel looked on from the side, but the couple pulled her into their embrace. John guided them to the trap and they dropped together into the pool. A short time later Tom, Cindy and Heather joined them in the pool. Tom and Muriel moved together and hugged each other fiercely. Cindy moved to John and kissed him tenderly. "Warms the heart, doesn't it." Cindy remarked. "Yes, quite. Have a nice time?" John asked, pulling her onto his lap in a floating chair. "Yes, quite nice. He's learning very well." Cindy said, snuggling to his chest. "I love you." John said. It took Cindy by surprise. Tears formed in her eyes as she lifted her head to his lips. "I will love you forever." she replied. The next two days went like lightning. Tom and Muriel got much better aquatinted with everybody they had missed so far. Even Jimbo changed his whole attitude about things. He and Candice slipped off with Muriel the next afternoon. Jimbo did his very best to please her. Tom and Muriel's night in the Lincoln bed was one of the most intimate of their married life. They spent it alone, together. Trying out the talents they had learned on each other. They fell in love with each other all over again. But it was more than that. Now they shared a depth of feeling neither had ever known before. When it was time for them to leave, the farewells were tearful. Tom felt much more relaxed than he had in years on the return trip. Muriel carried along a complete new wardrobe, a large portion of it bullet proof. Tom had several new suits that he would come to cherish in the years to come, also several bullet proof body suits, lighter and much more comfortable than a standard vest. The flight back found Jimbo and Scott silently reflecting on the turn in their lives. Muriel had made a point of saying farewell to each of them properly before they left the silo. When they arrived back East, Muriel hugged each of them and whispered; "See you in the hot tub." into their ears, then shook their hands. There were more tearful farewells at the silo after the secret service departed. The silo residents leaving for the far corners of the country on various business. Amy and Alice hugged and kissed Andrea tearfully before her and Bill departed for D.C. The two triplets themselves departed with Judy. Mae and Candice left for the West coast, Sally, Jean, Shannon and Heather for the East. Heather going to spend some time with Shannon at her estate. All that remained at the silo were John, Cindy, Theresa and Kevin. They had an intimate dinner between them on the one evening that they had together. The silo seemed almost deserted. Later Cindy spent the night with Kevin while John had a session with Theresa in the Lincoln bedroom, as it would henceforth be called. The next day they departed for New York where they picked up Catarina and Bianca. They all boarded a flight for Austria. Chapter 94 While Catarina and Bianca retained their Austrian citizenship, they traveled on a special class U.S. Diplomatic passport as a result of their political asylum. This insured their unhastled reentry into the United States on their return. John and Cindy traveled under normal U.S. passports. Cindy's showing a slight shift from her actual date of birth. When they landed they were greeted by the Vice-Chancellor and the U.S. Ambassador. They accepted the hospitality of each for one night respectively. The Austrian government desiring to monopolize their time as Catarina and Bianca had become celebrities in their absence. Their faces had become were well known to the slightly over eight million residents of the small country. John and Cindy had become just as well known. After a night in a castle -which Cindy adored, and dared not tell Sally about- and a night in the Ambassador's mansion they managed to obtain their freedom. Traveling by train to the largely tourist community of Innsbruck in the state of Tyrol. On the train, total strangers walked up to them and thanked John for saving Catarina's life. Both Catarina and Bianca acting as interpreters, as John's high school German was woefully inadequate. Most of the strangers would shift to broken English when they learned of John's illiteracy of their language. A fact that made John feel deficient. He did his best to answer them back in their own language. This yielded many amusing moments for both the strangers and Catarina and Bianca. Catarina took pity on him and began tutoring him in German. The ride to Innsbruck didn't take very long, as the whole country was slightly smaller than the state of Maine. The longest part of the journey was due to the mountainous terrain. Once in Innsbruck, Catarina and Bianca came alive. Acting as tourist guides for John and Cindy. They took them to many lovely places. Cindy felt like they were still on their honeymoon. John greatly encouraged this feeling, as he was attentive and affectionate. They checked into the nicest hotel in town. John putting both the adjoining rooms on his credit card. After another stroll around town, during which John purchased a magnifying glass, a jewelers loupe and some hand tools, Catarina led them to the warehouse where her things were stored. They spent half an hour or so, unstacking and unpacking boxes until Catarina discovered the box containing the Cuckoo Clock her father had given her. They repacked and restacked the rest of the items and then returned to the hotel with the clock. John spread out a newspaper on an old coffee table to protect the finish. He sat on the floor and began examining the clock. "This must be hundreds of year old." he commented to Catarina. "Yes, when I had it appraised, that is what they told me, but they could not give me an exact date." she replied. "Well, I have no doubt that it's from at least the eighteenth century, possibly the seventeenth. I don't know the history of Cuckoo Clocks, so I couldn't really say. But it's definitely old." John said. "So that is it's value?" Catarina asked, "It was only appraised for seven hundred dollars, American." "Oh, only partially. Do you mind if I take the back off?" John asked. "No. But please be careful. It is one of my few memento's from my parents." Catarina replied. "I shall be as gentle as I can." John replied. Catarina nodded. John carefully examined the back. There were small wooden pins that held it in place. Using the tools he purchased, he carefully removed them one at a time, placing them in a small dish. Once all were removed, he carefully removed the back, revealing the intricate mechanism. John examined the back with the magnifying glass and then set it aside, turning his interest to the inside. He carefully lay it face down on the paper. Using a penlight he continued his investigation. "This looks like Russian or Cyrillic. Catarina, do you know these characters?" John asked, using a small screwdriver as a pointer. Catarina took the magnifier and examined the area he indicated. John held a penlight to illuminate the area. "It appears to be a date, some initials and many numbers. Then one word." she said. "What is the date?" John asked. "Nineteen-fifteen. Perhaps it is not as old as we thought." she mused. "Maybe. And the initials?" John asked. "G... E....R" she replied. "G.E.R?" John said, sitting back, pondering. Slowly a grin spread on his face. "You know who this refers to?" Catarina asked. "Possibly. I think, it refers to: *Gregory Efimovitch Rasputin*. The date and type of letters would seem to partially confirm that. Also Sergei's extreme interest." John said. "Rasputin? The mystic who hung around the Romanoffs?" Catarina asked. John grinned and nodded. "What could his possible interest be in a Cuckoo Clock?" Cindy asked. "Not in the clock itself, in what's in it." John said. "And what is that?" Cindy asked. "I'm not certain... yet." John replied. He got a note pad and had Catarina transcribe the entire inscription. In order it read: "*1915 GER 197791-791197*" John took the magnifier and the penlight and continued his inspection of the interior of the clock. Once, taking the Jewelers loupe and examining some small scratches on a gear. Then he carefully replaced the back and reinserted the wooden pins. He then placed the clock back in it's packing box and replaced the lid. He took the paper with the inscription on it and put it in his pocket. "Shall we go have some lunch, before we go see how rich you are?" John asked. "Rich?" Catarina asked. "Yes, if it's what I think it is." John replied, "*Quite* rich." "What do you think it is?" Cindy asked, dying with curiosity. "Please allow me a little *Mysticism.*" John chuckled, cryptically. "Okay, play your game." Cindy said. She knew he was up to something. Something big. She knew him too well. John had Catarina direct them to the best restaurant in town. There -with Catarina's assistance- he ordered them an outstanding gourmet meal, adding a *very* expensive bottle of Champagne. "Are you going to tell us what this is about?" Cindy chided. "Nope. Not till after lunch." John replied. "Let him have his fun. I am content to enjoy your company while I have it." Catarina said. John toasted her and Bianca with the champagne. They drank to their good fortune. When the check arrived, John hardly noticed it, except to add a worthy gratuity for the excellent meal. He put the whole thing on one of his platinum credit cards. "And now what?" Cindy asked, once they were outside. "Now, I would like Catarina and Bianca to direct me to the bank where their father worked." John said. The women both winced a bit. "It is important?" Catarina asked. "I believe so. Yes, very important." John replied. "We have not set foot in the bank since our parents died." Catarina said, sadly. "I know this is must be painful for you. But I believe it will be well worth it." John said, taking her hand. "Yes. I can see you are serious. Perhaps it is time to face our past once more." she said, bravely. She guided them to a very old building in an older part of town. Her and Bianca seemed to be lost in memories when they entered. With Catarina's assistance, John requested to see the manager. After a time they were directed into a large office. A very stoic man in a very conservative suit sat behind a large desk. "Do you speak English, Sir?" John asked. "A little. Not very well." the man replied. "This is Catarina and Bianca Rothschild, whom you may have knowledge of. Their father used to work for this establishment." John said. "Yes, I knew him well. A very fine and devoted employee. His death was a most tragic event I remember you as little girls. You have my deepest condolences over your parents death. And you Sir?" asked the man. "I am a friend of theirs, my name is John Stevens, this is my wife Cindy." John said. "Very nice to meet you both. My name is Franz Klestil. How may I be of service to you?" he asked. "I believe, Sir, that we have the necessary information to access a very old numbered account." John said. "I see. May I ask how this information was obtained?" Mr. Klestil asked. "It was written inside of an antique." John replied. "And how was this antique obtained?" the manager asked. "Is that important?" John asked. "Perhaps. Mr. Rothschild *was* an employee of this bank." he explained. "I was told my father purchased the.....antique on a trip to Hungary, before I was born. Some thirty-five years ago." Catarina replied. "If the item was legally purchased, which I do not doubt, and could be authenticated in some manner, then the claim will probably be valid. If the rest of the information is correct." said the manager. "As it happens, I do have the receipt. I did not understand why my father should retain such an item for such a long period of time. But I did not dispose of it. I have it in storage with his papers." Catarina replied. "If you would like to designate an independent scientific laboratory which could verify the authenticity of the old writing, then I am sure we would agree to have it analyzed." John added, looking to Catarina. She nodded. "If she could produce the receipt of purchase, and the writing could be observed, then I see no problem. Let us first determine if there is the need for this. The account may be nonexistent or barren." said the manager. "What do you need to know?" John asked. "On the older numbered accounts, certain safeguards were established. To protect the identity of the depositor and the account itself from intrusion. The account therefore had four references. First an account number, second; a date of deposit -or last deposit-, third; a verification number and lastly three initials -not necessarily those of the depositor-. If you have the first, then we may determine the rest." said the manager. John consulted the paper and said: "197791" The manager stood and moved to an old safe. He opened it and pulled out a file drawer containing index cards. He thumbed through the cards and found one. He returned to his desk, and spoke something in German into his intercom. A short time later three men entered, carrying small metal file trays, with locking tops. They sat down at an adjacent table and the manager handed the first the index card. The man unlocked his file and thumbed down to the number. He looked up and asked something in German. "He's asking for a confirmation number." Catarina replied. "791197" John replied. The manager translated. The man wrote a number on a slip of paper and passed it to the second man. He unlocked his file and thumbed through it till he located the reference the first had given him. He looked up and asked something in German. "The date?" Catarina asked. "1915" John replied. The manager looked a bit disturbed, but translated. Catarina nodded over his translation. The man wrote a reference on a slip of paper and handed it to the third man. He unlocked his box and thumbed through his file. He looked up and asked a question in German. "The initials?" Catarina replied. "GER... in English." John replied. The manager translated. The third man looked disturbed. "Originally they were written in Russian, Whatever the Russian equivalent is." John said. The manager spoke to the third man, relaying the information. The third man nodded and wrote down a reference number. He handed it to the manager and the manager spoke softly into his intercom. The men sat back and waited. "It would appear that it is a valid account, and that the access information is correct. I have called for the file." said the manager. Catarina and Bianca looked to John, hopefully. Cindy beamed at him. A man entered the room and walked to the third man, He handed him a large envelope, yellow with age. The third man examined the markings and compared it with his reference. He nodded, turned the envelope over and examined the seal. He showed the seal to the other two men and they both nodded. The third man then moved and handed the envelope to the manager. Then the three men stood and left, having locked their boxes once more. The last man to enter remained. The manager broke the seal on the envelope under the observation of the last man. He removed some documents and began to read. He sat back quite suddenly. He passed the paper to the other man, who read it. He shakily reached for a chair and sat down. "I fear, that we shall have to verify the authenticity of the receipt and have the inscription examined, as there is a considerable amount of money involved. Also, I am afraid that the account must be handled by our parent company in Vienna." said the manager, shakily. "May I ask the particulars of the account?" John asked. The manager consulted the document and then pulled out a Hewlett Packard-12C finical calculator. He punched in some figures, he was even more shaky by the answers. He did some conversions then looked up. "It appears, that between 1910 and 1915 that approximately *twenty-million* dollars American was deposited in gold to the account." he began. Catarina and Bianca both gasped. Catarina jumped up and threw her arms around John and hugged him. John remained stoic. "At what rate of interest was it deposited?" he asked. "Three percent." replied the manager. John broke out in a giant grin. "How does it fell to be a *Billionairess?*" he asked, Catarina. "*Billionairess?* I thought he said Twenty-*Million?*" Catarina said. "Interest. Mr. Klestil, why don't you tell her what the total of your calculations came to?" John said, grinning. "Figuring simple interest, over 1.7 billion American dollars. It will be much more than that once the compound interest is computed." Mr. Klestil said. Catarina sat down hard. Both Bianca's and Cindy's mouths hung wide open. John chuckled. For the rest of the afternoon, there was a constant stream of officials and dignitaries through the office. The local police were called in and accompanied a *very* shaky Catarina back to the hotel where she retrieved the Cuckoo Clock. This was returned to the bank and a team of scientific experts were called in, under the watchful eye of the local equivalent of a banking commissioner and Attorney General. John directed the scientific experts to where the information was written. They very carefully removed the back of the clock and examined the writing. A scanner of some sort was brought in and the area subjected to Positron emissions. The writing was verified to have come from the period in question. The police then accompanied the party back to Catarina's storage area. The police watched carefully as box after box was removed and examined. Finally Catarina found the correct box. Her hands were shaking more than just a little as she sorted through the box. Suddenly she stopped. She sat down on the floor and pulled the receipt out of the box, breaking into tears. John gently removed the receipt from her fingers and handed it to the officer in charge. Then he sat down by Catarina and pulled her to him. She sobbed against him for a long time. The receipt was subjected to a battery of tests by the scientific experts. The approximate date supported the stated facts. A phone call was made and the receipt was faxed to Hungary. The shop was still in existence, but now run by descendants of the original owner. They faxed back verification that the handwriting was indeed that of their father. Duplicates of the documentation were collected by the bank commissioner, a representative of the home office and the attorney general, along with the identification information from Catarina and Bianca's passports. The money belonged to Catarina and Bianca. Chapter 95 Catarina quivered in John's arms. She hadn't stopped shaking all day. Bianca was in no better condition. Cindy was being a trouper, but was more than a little shaken herself. "How did you know?" Cindy asked, Bianca snuggled to her side. "Sergei had a very profound interest in both Catarina and Bianca. As much as he abused them, he was protecting them for some reason. The evidence pointed to Catarina's father having the key to a very old fortune." John replied. "Where did the money come from to start with?" Catarina asked, still dazed. "The Romanoffs. Rasputin was a mystic who ingratiated himself with the Alexandria, the wife of Nicolas II, the czar of Russia in the early part of this century. He probably stashed away gifts given to him -or extorted by him- from her. He probably put the money away as his little nest egg." John said. "Why didn't he take it back out?" Cindy asked. "Because he was killed in 1916. The Clock was probably among his possessions. When the czar fell in 1917, and then was shot in 1918, the clock became part of the possessions of the royal household that got distributed among the people. Somehow it found it's way to Hungary, and Catarina's father purchased it in the 1960's. I think he took the back off of it. Funny, probably nobody else but him would have recognized what the information inside represented." John said. "You recognized it." Catarina said. "No, I already suspected it was there. If I had bought the clock myself, and stumbled upon the information, then I probably would have taken it for a date of manufacture, or repair. It is quite common for a clock repairman to inscribe his initials and a date onto a mechanism that he has worked on. The other numbers I would have mistaken for an oddly coincidental serial number, or an identifier for a parts assembly." John said. "Oddly coincidental?" Cindy asked. "197791-791197, the last three digits of the first number are a mirror of the first three. The second number is turned inside out from the middle. Both the numbers are symmetrical. Just the sort of mumbo jumbo a mystic like old Rasputin would go for. Numerology was big back in those days." John said. "But what do they mean, in numerology?" Cindy asked. "I don't have a clue about that. Maybe his mothers birthday or some such tripe. Maybe the number of whiskers on his chin or the number of fleas in it. Who knows." John chuckled. "Well, I guess that we've lost a European director." Cindy chuckled. Catarina looked at her. "No. Unless you do not want me." she said. Cindy looked flabbergasted. "You can do anything you want to now. You are rich beyond *anybody's* wildest dreams!" Cindy said. "Since I can do anything I wish to, then I wish to do something that I enjoy. From the time my parents died, I have known no happiness until I first encountered you people. You brought me and my sister back to life. You saved us from a life of misery. You have given us great joy. I would be the biggest fool on earth to turn my back upon that joy because of money." Catarina said, tears flowing from her eyes. "That goes for me as well." Bianca said, "Were it not for the love of your *family*. I would be still be in the throws of drug addiction. If I were alive at all. I owe you my life and I owe you my love for as long as I live." "Neither of you *owes* us anything. Love is not like money. It cannot be owed. It must be freely given or it loses all the value it possesses." John said. "Then since I am a free woman to do as I choose, I choose to give you my love." Catarina said. "Ditto." Bianca said, chuckling. "Bianca, how are you feeling? Is it not time for another treatment?" Catarina asked, mischievously. "No........ I am cured. I need no further treatments. Now........ it is time...... for *love*." she replied, turning to kiss Cindy. Catarina had tears in her eyes as she turned to do the same to John. "So tell me about this *Rasputin* guy." Cindy said, much later as she lay nestled between Bianca and John. Catarina lay sleeping peacefully on John's other side. Bianca was also sleeping very peacefully. Their session had been one of the most passionate that any of them had ever experienced. Seemingly every trick any of them had ever learned had come into play. Cindy lay half atop John, her breasts split between his chest and side. His hand traced idly across her shoulder and back. Cindy was starstruck in love. Her head tilted upwards to observe his face. The touch of his fingers raising goosebumps on her skin wherever they touched. "Oh, he was kind of an interesting character. He was born in the 1870's. He lived most of his life in the little village where he was born. He had no formal education of any type. When he was in his early thirties, he began traveling around the country as a monk. But he had an interesting line of bullshit that you wouldn't have expected from most monks. He purported that one had to sin in order to be forgiven. As such he traveled around *saving* people by inducing them into all manner of debauchery. Sometimes in mass by instigating large orgies. He had a magnetic personality and was able to weave an air of mysticism about himself. Somehow he caught the eye of the Czarina. She brought him into the royal court as an adviser. His presence there probably contributed greatly to the demise of the Romanoffs, but in truth, Nicolas himself -the Czar- was never very fond of the guy. He only tolerated him because of his wife. He turned a blind eye to such things as the gifts that the Czarina was giving him. He must have realized something was going on from the sheer volume of the stuff. Twenty million dollars was a whole shit-load of money back then. It's still a lot now, but back then that much would have put you up amongst the Rockefellers. But the Romanov's *owned* Russia, so it's not out of the question that monetarily they could easily survive the outlay. Just goes to show how much influence Rasputin really had over the Czarina. Not that you could get anybody to admit it, but I strongly suspect that the orgies continued after old '*Raspy* got to court. This probably pissed the peasants off to no end, cause the royalty were having more fun than them. Rasputin certainly wasn't well liked by everyone. The manner of his death can attest to that. He was poisoned, shot and then thrown into a frozen lake. I think it was the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch who shot him. At least it was at one of his parties. He was probably pissed off that Rasputin wasn't dying from the poison they fed him. He certainly didn't die easily. An autopsy performed on his body discovered water in his lungs. He died of drowning." John said. "So basically, he was a con man and a letch?" Cindy asked. "Yup. In a nutshell." John chuckled. "Well, darling. You've done it again." Cindy said. "What? What have I done?" John asked, easily. "You've made somebody else's dreams come true. You've taken a tragic situation and turned it into a good thing." Cindy said, kissing his cheek. She lay her head on his chest, idly playing her fingers through his sparse chest hair. "I was just having fun solving a puzzle." John replied. "Yes, I know. But now what?" she asked. "I don't understand." John said. "The problem now, is that you're going to have one hell of a time topping this." Cindy chuckled. John busted out laughing. He pulled Cindy atop him and kissed her hard. The sound and their motion stirred the sleeping women beside them and they were off again into wonderland. John made inquiries for Catarina and Bianca and obtained the name of the best, most trustworthy financial law firm in Austria. The women retained the firm and they began negotiations with the bank for collection of the account. The reason there were any negotiations, was because the banking commission was not happy with the fact that the bank wanted to retain the original three percent interest rate throughout the entire period of deposit. This by itself would have resulted in an amount of over two-point- three billion dollars. The banking commission wanted the bank to pay the equivalent of Austria's prime interest rate over the duration of the deposit. The lawyers negotiated around this mark. They negotiated quite well, as John had insisted that their fee be based upon a percentage of the amount of increase over the three percent rate. If they didn't get more, they didn't get a dime. They got seven percent of the gross increase above that value. Seventy million dollars for each billion obtained. The lawyers finally got the bank to agree to half a percentage point behind the prime rate. This still netted the sisters well over eight billion dollars *after* the lawyers took their fees. Then came the tax negotiation. (The true reason government had been so enthusiastic over the sisters obtaining a *fair* interest percentage ) Once again John insisted that the lawyers fees be based upon a percentage of the savings, above 50% of the gross. For each woman this worked out to a little over a billion a piece in taxes. An extremely favorable rate for a socialistic country. The bottom line for each woman was just over three billion dollars. Three *billion* dollars tax free was *way* more than any person could conceivably spend in a lifetime. Even if one were to make a concerted effort to squander the fortune. Catarina and Bianca had no such desires. Once the money was free and clear, her largest single purchase was to buy back her dress salon... along with the rest of the block. In fact, the sisters were at a total loss to know what to do with their money. At Catarina's request, John made a suggestion. Because the funds had originally come from Russia, as a measure of good will to the people of Russia, each woman pledged two billion dollars a piece as the foundation for a new banking system. This was backed up by matching funds from the United States, the European Economic Community, The OAS and to most everybody's surprise, the Japanese. This gave the new banking system a relatively solid foundation of ten billion dollars. Not enough to replace the current finical system, but a nice healthy shot in the arm for the Russian economy. In fact the funds were on loan. Perhaps at a reduced interest rate, but fairly secure. In reality, this side stepped the legal question of ownership of the funds. The Russian's could have tied the funds up for years in legal battles, arguing that they had come from the Romanov's holdings and therefore belonged rightfully to the people of Russia. The legal battles may well have squandered the fortune in attorneys fees and resulted in Catarina and Bianca not getting a thing, or worse yet being liable for taxes in Austria over funds they didn't receive. John pointed all this out to the sisters, so they were quite happy to make the magnanimous gesture. Next John suggested that the sisters invest in prime Real estate in the hearts of London, Paris, Rome, New York and the Monterey Peninsula. Catarina purchased herself a castle on *Seventeen Mile Drive*, just off the Pebble Beach Golf course. They had minor holdings in Barbados and Maui. Next John suggested that they purchase certain valuable works of art. These became the wards of the most reputable art gallery's around the world, but on semi- permanent loan, with full ownership retained. Two-hundred million dollars got spread around the financial markets of the world. Invested in commodities, stocks, bonds and T-bills. This left each woman with a paltry hundred million dollars apiece for spending cash. This resided in high interest accounts in banks spread over three continents. Not even a world wide depression could have hurt the sisters after their investments were dispersed. Certainly no single event could even slightly phase them. In fact as a result of their investments, within a year their net worth almost doubled. Bianca made a point of testing herself. She went without sex for a whole week. She got a little grumpy, but suffered no ill effects from her addiction. She was indeed fully cured. Afterwards she celebrated her freedom in an extended session with John, Cindy and Catarina. Catarina threw herself into the role of European director of Second Skin Inc. Bianca chose to return to New York and act as manager for the salon at Shannon's estate. But quite often she was traveling in Europe assisting her sister in negotiations with governments for establishing Second Skin salons in the multitudinous nations of Europe. Mae made inroads in the other direction. Establishing salons in Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, Penang (Malaya), Hong Kong and Rangoon. Judy worked south. Having a workable Spanish vocabulary. She established salons in Mexico City, Panama City, Caracas, Bogota, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Lima. As part of the Russian new economy, Catarina traveled to Moscow as an honored guest of the government, to establish a Second Skin salon there. She was very reticent to return to the country. John and Cindy accompanied her along with Sheila. In a gesture of good will the Russian President led them to a hill overlooking Sergie's estate. Catarina watched with tears flowing from her eyes as bulldozers leveled the buildings and erased all traces of the landscaping. Afterwards they began terraforming the area into a new housing community based upon plans of the community on John's estate. Catarina had declined the offer of the property for the Second Skin salon, instead making the suggestion for the housing community. John's community became a model for welfare reform world wide. Selected motivated family's and individuals stayed for up to a year and a half while they attended classes at the University extension. On weekends the family's biked and camped in the park along the wetlands, or played golf on the small challenging golf course. Kevin and Theresa built a very nice house along the foothills not far from the silo. For immediate neighbors they had Judy and Steve, Candice and Jimbo, Bill and Andrea and Mae and Scott. After a few years Amy and Jim joined them. All had White House Weddings. Tom Wilson was re-elected by a landslide. Because of his actions concerning both the nation's internal problems, and his foreign affairs relationships. Russia had become a grateful friend. Trade goods flowed freely in both directions. Benefiting both economy's. The innovations pioneered at the housing project waste & recycle facility came into usage first nationwide, and then world wide. Establishing many new wetland areas around the globe while dealing with the mountains of recyclable materials that had previously been squandered into land fills. Indeed, several plants were established on the edge of existing land fills and began recycling raw materials back into usage. Nation wide, the Second Skin empire shot past the half billion mark like a speeding bullet. It began to level off somewhere over the billion and a half mark. With salons in operation in all fifty states. Many with multiple salons. They began to branch out into Men's wear and the middle class market. World wide, they became established in every major capitol of the free world. Theresa, Cindy and Sheila began to quietly buy up newspaper and network stock. By the time anybody noticed, it was too late. They had control over a large portion of the news media. Few reporters were inclined to write scandalous articles about their bosses. Over time they instigated reports over the ethics of polygamy, polyandry and other forms of marriage. The Family members contributed heavily to court tests of existing laws. Within five years time legal reforms were being drafted. Local governments everywhere in the country began scrambling to deal with the ramifications of unusual relationships. Insurance companies had to develop whole new strategies for dealing with dependant coverage. The *moral majority* found itself *out financed* in legal battles over the new laws. Without the backing of the national press, their concerns fell on dead ears. Eventually even the most conservative states witnessed major legal reforms over plural marriages and same sex relationships. Surprisingly, this resulted in a lessening of the crimes of prostitution, incest and rape. The divorce rate also saw a decline, but the marriage rate increased. Largely because of a well run government program, the homeless problem reversed itself, showing a steady decline. The long term welfare families found themselves in the uncomfortable positions of having to go to work to support themselves. Government day care helped free the parents of large family's for work. All the problems of a nation did not go away. But many were greatly reduced to manageable levels. There was still the problem of dealing with the people who could not support themselves. The physically handicapped and the mentally ill. Second Skin established research facilities that worked on artificial prosthetics. Combining robotics technology with computer advances and new plastics technology. They made custom prosthetics for handicapped people at no charge. John and Kevin worked on developing a Second Skin arm that could produce a realistic handshake. Kevin also prospered as a helicopter pilot for Steve. With all the commerce that sprung up around the research park that grew on the silo estate, the helicopter business was good. Even with all the new construction that took place on the estate, John had no difficulty maintaining the 50% of natural habitat that he had agreed to when the land was deeded to him. Indeed, many species of animals saw a comeback within the boundaries of the silo estate. Mainly because they were protected from hunting and overgrazing so prevalent elsewhere. It was after the wave of legal reforms concerning plural marriages that the silo residents gathered together in a large party at the foothills of the silo estate. In a ceremony presided over by the Attorney General of their state and attended by Tom and Muriel Wilson, many high ranking members of the House and Senate and a surprising number of movie celebrities, John Stevens repeated his vows to fifteen women. Theresa, Cindy, Sheila, Candice, Alice, Amy, Andrea, Catarina, Bianca, Sally, Jean, Shannon, Mae, Judy, and Heather all tearfully and proudly stood at his side and then kissed him deeply. This was followed by repeat ceremonies for Bill, Kevin, Scott, Jimbo and Steve. This then was followed by individual ceremonies between the women. It took virtually the entire afternoon and into the evening. The attorney general was hoarse and exhausted by the end of the ordeal. Even considering the extended duration of the ceremonies, their was no lack of interest in the guests as each member of the family was married to each other one. With the exception that the men did not repeat vows between each other. At the conclusion, each man had fifteen wives. Each woman had six husbands and fourteen wives. Afterwards, the party began. There was Champagne, shrimp and lobster for everybody. There was roast beef -much to Jimbo's delight- smoked salmon and bass, kalimari, prime rib, roast chicken, roast pork, roast turkey, baked potatoes, fried tomatoes, parmesan dipped zucchini, eggplant, yams, sweet potato pie, Taco Salad -at Alice's suggestion- potato salad, green salad, fruit salad, macaroni seafood salad and bulgar wheat & tomato salad - at Muriel's suggestion. There was fresh baked biscuits, sour dough bread, corn bread, whole wheat bread, multi- grain bread, thyme bread, Rye bread, several varieties of bagels, unleavened bread and pumpernickel bread. There were six variety's of coffee, every variety of beer that was palatable, wine from Europe, California, Southern Utah and Idaho, every soft drink available, every designer water and black and green tea. Beside this was the best stocked bar on the planet with a computerized database of every known mixed drink and a staff that was large enough and well paid enough they didn't mind making the most exotic requests. The wedding party lasted for a solid week. During which time the grooms and all the brides slipped off and consummated the marriage. John did them all proud the first night. The other men took a bit longer, but completed the task with style. Each of the women slipped off and consummated their marriage to each of the other brides as well. During the party, John slipped off with each of the brides a second time and informed them of a little secret that instigated a second session with all of them. Even if all of them didn't accept the offer. When John had gotten his vasectomy years before, he had first made several deposits into a jar beforehand.. It had been shipped to a special laboratory in California in a Dewar's flask of body temperature saline. There, it had been carefully separated and preserved in liquid nitrogen ever since. Any of the brides who wished to could be inseminated with John's seed. Chapter 96 At Cindy's request, John went in for an operation to attempt to reverse his vasectomy. It was suggested to the brides that anybody who didn't desire to get pregnant, should probably have their tubes tied. Sheila chose this option because of her age, Judy chose it for reasons of personal preference. Because of Steve's vasectomy she chose not to have any children. Mae chose this option as well, also because of age. As did Jean. Cindy, Theresa, Alice, Amy, Sally, Candice and Heather made the choice to have themselves inseminated. Surprisingly all the procedures were successful. This was followed by the natural conception of Andrea by Bill. It was an interesting time at the silo with eight pregnant women around. The women all swelled to seemingly gigantic proportions, even the triplets. John's seed producing unusually large children. John and the rest of the men and women made the expectant mothers all feel that they were still attractive, making love to them up to the minute that the doctors denied them further intercourse, and then anything that would induce abdominal contractions. Even so emotions were on the ragged edge by the time the ninth month rolled around. Due to their small body dimensions -which got considerably bigger on the top- and the concealed fact of multiple conceptions, the triplets were first to deliver by Caesarian Section. Alice being the first. John was in an utter state of shock when he learned of his twin daughters; named Amy and Andrea. Amy came next and presented him with three sons; named Scott, Jim and Steve. Bill started to get very nervous, but Andrea presented him with a large healthy baby girl; named Alice. Theresa was the first to contract natural labor pains. She presented John with a son; named Kevin. She was followed in quick succession by Heather, Candice and Sally, who each presented him with daughters; named Cindy, Mae and Theresa respectively. Cindy came last, two weeks overdue. The doctors about to put their foot down about her multiple conception that she had hidden from John. She chose to deliver naturally, much to her doctors dismay and over John's very verbal and repeated protests. She presented John with both a daughter and a son. It almost cost her her life. It did cost her the chance for future children. Through each child birth, John patiently held the women's hands as they alternately shifted between vows of eternal love and calling him a *low down dirty son of a bitch!* In the end all returned to their vows of eternal love. John spent two days sitting by Cindy's bedside holding her hand until the doctors were well satisfied that she would pull through. He didn't want to leave then, but Sheila dragged him away promising that she would not be unattended by her family. She held him tenderly in her arms at a nearby hotel as he passed out from exhaustion. Continuing to hold him and gently caress him as he slept. Indeed, the vigil at the hospital was taken up by Catarina, Bianca and Shannon in shifts. John was back in twelve hours, having slept for eleven of them. Sheila wouldn't let him return until he ate some breakfast. He was there when Cindy regained consciousness. She suddenly squeezed his hand and opened her eyes to look at him. "Hey you.. Have we met?" she asked groggily. John smiled at her and held up his ring finger, now adorned with a single gold band adorned with fifteen emeralds. "Oh, you're married. Such a pity as you're such a handsome gentleman." she said. "To you. First, remember? The White House and the Lincoln Bedroom? Our vows were read by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?" John said. "Oh, yeah. That really happened? I thought it was a dream." Cindy said, trying to smile. "Every day since I met you has been like that for me......... Why did you have to go and pull that fool stunt? I could have lost you." John asked, tears rolling down his cheeks. Cindy slipped her hand out of his and caught one on her finger, moving it to her lips. She smiled at him and held his hand again. "I wanted to know what it was like to give birth to your children." she said. "Well you almost killed yourself doing it... The doctors say you ... can't have anymore." John said, tears rolling down his cheeks. Cindy smiled at him. "That's okay, two was enough." she said, trying to chuckle. She winced a bit and the doctor stepped in. "Okay, that's enough excitement for now. She'll be fine, but she needs to sleep." he said. "Guess I've got to go. You get better. I love you." John said. "and I will love you forever. Can I have a kiss?" Cindy asked. Despite the tubes leading from her nose, John bent and softly kissed her lips. She slipped her tongue between their lips and then withdrew it. John kissed her forehead and then withdrew. She was smiling at him. Cindy was back asleep before he left he room. He didn't go far. Down the hall to see his multiple children and other brides. The last just getting out, the rest cycling in one at a time. At their request, the other mothers were alternating breast feeding Cindy's children with their own. Sometimes two at a time. "Have you decided what to name these two darling children?" Theresa asked, one on each of her enlarged breasts. "I want to let Cindy choose." John replied, kissing her softly and then each of his children on the forehead. "Well, It's a good thing I'm producing lots of milk. Cause they sure are hungry little darlings. You need to teach the boy the difference between nibbling and biting though. I know *you* know the difference." she chuckled. "Hard to believe I'm the father of eleven baby's and godfather to another, all within three weeks." John said. "Well, if you didn't make such good little swimmers and pick on innocent triplets it would have been fewer. Besides, I know for a fact that you deserve around a thousand if you compare the normal mans sex life with the number of children he has." Theresa chuckled. "There is that. I'm just a little bit disappointed that none of you conceived naturally.... from me I mean." John said. "Yeah, but I don't mind. You've been in me often enough that I could easily imagine how it would feel. Dandy little idea you had leaving a sample in that bottle. No wonder it took you so long when you had your tubes clipped. I'm amazed that you had any left for the bottle as active as we were then." Theresa chuckled. "I might not have had any if it hadn't been the start of your period." John said, remembering. "Considering that you probably whacked off twice in the doctors office, you did incredibly well latter on." Theresa said. "You were inspiring. Even in the doctors office I was thinking of that hot little body of yours." John said, kissing her softly again. "Were you now? Well, it's not so little anymore." she said, looking down at her enlarged breasts. "And you've never looked sexier." John said. "You can save your fibs for the triplets. I've heard your pirate story. But I'm content. These things won't always be so humungous. The doctors say I will get my shape back soon enough. Mostly due to your penchant for fitness and that pool you and I built." Theresa chuckled. "Think what you will, I think you're sexy at this moment. I'm looking forward to a taste of that stuff myself. I'm certain that Kevin is too." John said. "Which one?" Theresa giggled. "Looks to me like you handle two at once just fine." John chuckled. Theresa chuckled and then turned back to him. "Well, I know you have other visits to make. See you back at the silo." she said. "I love you." he said. "and I love you. Now scoot." she said, puckering up. John accepted the kiss, which was warm and full. Halfway through Theresa yelped a bit. "Alright. Your father was just sampling. No need to get jealous." she said to the boy. That night John held each of his other children and talked to them. For some reason they seemed to find his voice soothing. Each was out like a light. He was almost there himself when Amy slipped in and retrieved little Jimmy. Sheila led him to bed and snuggled to his side. The next day Cindy was showing noticeable improvement when John walked in. She was considerably less pale. She was arguing with the nurse over what she could have for breakfast. "Leave the poor girl be. Doctor says yuck food for two more days or you'll pop your stitches. I would have thought that you'd still be full from the wedding though." John chuckled. "Which one?" Cindy asked, reaching for him. "The last one. The food was okay at the first, but lacking in quantity." John said, taking her hands and leaning to kiss her. She balked a bit. "They won't let me brush my teeth either." she said, glaring at the nurse. "So, first wife and dearest heart of mine, have you thought about what to name our children besides *hey you* *one* and *two*?" John asked. "Yes, actually. But I'm not so sure you'll like it." Cindy said, squeezing his hand. "At this point I'm ready for anything. What? Poindexter and Cleopatra?" John teased. "No, I was thinking of Tom and Muriel." Cindy said, "But I quite like Poindexter and Cleopatra." she chuckled. "Tom and Muriel? I like that. We can call them Poindexter and Cleopatra as nick names." John said. "Not disappointed about not naming the boy John?" she asked. "No, not when it would break up such a nice set of names. I suspect that one of ... I mean, that I don't think the others ..." he stalled. "Darling. I meant it when I said that two were enough for me. It doesn't bother me at all that I can't have anymore children. I never expected to be able to have these two. I'm just thrilled to death about them." Cindy said, squeezing his hand. "I didn't know if you would remember that I said that. You almost were *thrilled to death*." John said, getting misty eyed. "Oh don't go getting maudlin on me. I made it. I'm not going anywhere. You're going to have to forcibly throw me out to keep me away. I told you that once before." Cindy said. "Alright. What I was going to say, is that I don't think the others are through having kids yet. One of them may hang my moniker on some unsuspecting baby yet." John said. "Yeah, that's why I thought it would be okay to name them Tom and Muriel. Have you seen them?" Cindy asked. "Not since the wedding." John answered. "Not the President and First Lady, silly! I was talking about our children." Cindy chuckled. "Yes, they're lovely. At least the girl. She looks like her Ma. I'm afraid the boy is going to look like his old man." John said. "Much worse than that could have happened. He could have ended up resembling my father. Oh, good. Food!" Cindy said, as the nurse brought in a tray. She set it down and Cindy looked at it. Cream of wheat with skim milk, dry toast and filtered orange juice. "Yuck. I'd kill for a Monte Cristo or a bagel with sun dried tomato cream cheese." she said. "Be nice to the girl. She's only delivering the stuff." John said, observing the nurse. "Kind of cute, really. Want me to see if I can line you up?" Cindy chuckled. "No dear, my heart's stretched about as far as it can go. I have to leave some headroom for the kids." John said. "And two others. Well, one anyway. I'll take care of the other." Cindy said. "What, dear heart, are you talking about?" John asked. Cindy waited till the nurse left, watching her cute backside retreat. "Tom and Muriel. I think they would very much like to join us when Tom's term is up." she said. "I have no objection to that. We can probably use the baby sitters. Speaking of which, have *you* seen our children?" John asked. "Yes love. *I* think they are *both* adorable. They let me see them for a bit before Andrea and Candice came in to feed them. Little Tom's getting exposed to so many nipples he'll probably turn out just like his father." Cindy chuckled. "Muriel's getting exposed to the same variety. She may well turn out like her mother." John said. "Not for the same reason she won't. I have no objection to her leaning in that direction, but if she does so, it will be from a *natural* inclination. She won't ever have to tolerate the shit I had to put up with." Cindy said, sadly. "I didn't think of that. I'm sorry." John said. "No need. For one, I know that I won't ever have to worry about that from you. If for no other reason than mommy dearest and her co-wives are going to be keeping you well distracted when little Muriel come of age. But I know I wouldn't have to worry about that anyway. She'd have to rape you in your sleep to get you involved in that." Cindy chuckled. "That has happened before you know...." John said, but then more seriously: " I don't know what makes people do that sort of thing. Abuse their children I mean." "I couldn't say. My father never got around to explaining it before I got the hell out. You and Theresa took me away from that and I have no desire to go ask him now." Cindy said. "I can understand that. I'm putting together a class on ethics for the extension. Would you like to contribute?" John asked. "Yes, dear heart. Anything that could help even one child avoid that kind of hell I'd be glad to do what I can for." Cindy said. "Hard to believe that I'm the father of eleven and the godfather of another." John said, wearily, "Theresa attributed it to good swimmers and the triplets. I don't understand you having two though. Twin's don't run in my family." "I didn't know they ran in mine. Maybe I'll do some genealogy when I get out of here and find out where they came from." Cindy said. "That's a good idea. In fact I'd like to do full genealogy searches for everybody. So the kids can know exactly what their heritage is. It might tend to get blurred with as large as our family is." John said. "They won't be too pleased with my side of the family." Cindy said. "I think they will be quite pleased. One bad generation doesn't spoil things for all succeeding ones. Just take a look at you. Any child should be proud to have you as a mother. Your smart and compassionate and lovely. Even if your parents were a null, you got that from somewhere." John said. "You know, darling. If I wouldn't pop a dozen stitches, I'd drag you right into this bed with me. I'm horny as hell anyway. But as soon as the doctor says it's cool. I want my own marathon with you." Cindy said, pulling him to her so she could kiss his cheek. "Deal." John said, kissing her cheek tenderly. The doctor came in. "Okay, you two are way too hungry to be around each other any longer today. Mr. Stevens, I know you have several other wives to go home to. Mrs. Stevens, you are just going to have to be patient. I should have made them stitches out of stainless steel thread." he said, chuckling. "Patience hell, I'm gonna kill something." Cindy teased. "That might be yourself if you got any bright ideas about dragging him into bed with you." he said, lifting the bandage on her abdomen where they had to go in to stop the hemorrhaging. "This is looking a bit better. But you haven't touched your breakfast." he said. "Yuck food. I'd kill for a bagel or a Monte Cristo." Cindy said. "Tell you what. You eat the yuck stuff today and I'll see about a bagel tomorrow. Maybe the Monte Cristo the next day. Okay?" he said. "Deal." Cindy said, taking a spoonful of Cream of Wheat. "And the other part of the bargain. You reign in your desires and be a good girl for three weeks and then I'll allow you a mild orgasm. ONE A DAY. If you live with that, then we'll have you back to those Spanish spurs in a month and a half." said the doctor. "Three weeks? I'll die! And a month and a half before I'm up to speed?" Cindy complained. "My dear Mrs. Stevens. It may well be news to you that you wouldn't die. There are many many women out there who have never experienced an orgasm, *ever*. You are one of the lucky ones, but the fact is that you deserve what you got. You refused a Caesarian which would have had you back in the saddle in two weeks. So don't give me any more lip. You still here? I told you to scoot." the doctor said, turning to John. "Just leaving." John said, chuckling as he stood. He kissed Cindy on the cheek, squoze her hand and departed. "Tell you what. I'll be good if you let me brush my teeth. Then at least I can get kissed properly." Cindy said. "Deal, if you let the nurse chaperone you. I don't trust you." said the doctor. "I haven't minded being watched for a long, long time." Cindy chuckled, forcing herself to take another teaspoon of cereal. Between visits to the hospital, John was busy either holding baby's or making modifications to the silo to make it safer for children. He installed locks on all the trap doors and even an electric catch on the trap down into the pool with a closing mechanism that would swing it shut after somebody used it. The time passed quickly. They let Cindy feed her children after four days, mostly so that she wouldn't dry up. Even so a nurse had to watch the process and help hold them. Cindy stayed hungry. Not for food. She got her bagel - without the creme cheese- and eventually her Monte Cristo. The nurses got used to her suggestive remarks. Some were actually scandalized by them, others actually found them flattering. None however took her up on them. By the end of three weeks she was ready to climb the walls. The doctor reluctantly turned her loose. Admonishing her to take it easy. She thought herself ready for the Spanish spurs, but John followed the doctors suggestions to the letter. As gently as he knew how he prodded her over the edge of her first orgasm. Cindy felt like a chainsaw had been taken to her gut. A quick trip in Steve's helicopter with Kevin at the controls found her back at the hospital being examined. The doctor pronounced her okay, if less enthusiastic about pushing the limits he had placed on her. After that she faithfully followed his recommended regime of light exercise, a short swim floating on her back and lots of bed rest every day. The next time John dared give her an orgasm, it was just minorly uncomfortable. She continued the regime and within another two weeks she was back to enjoying them. Two weeks later her doctor gave her permission to try gentle intercourse. She was well ready. In the meantime the others were well back up to speed. If anything, they were hungrier than ever. After being informed of the names, Tom and Muriel had come to visit the children. Muriel had stayed on for two weeks, helping out. She really got to feel like one of the family when she volunteered and was granted the freedom to do a load of diapers. The others chuckled over this, but didn't tease her about it. Muriel was happy to supply Sally with her first orgasm after her return from the hospital. Followed by Heather. Amy and Alice supplied each other their first. The rest were dealt with by their respective husbands. John was trying to cover all bases while still being attentive to Cindy. He was one night behind Muriel on the two women. And a couple behind the two triplets. Bill and the others more than took up the slack. Although they too were busy being fathers, besides their day jobs, all of which took them away. Some for several days at a time. Poor Sheila and Judy were left to run the Second Skin empire on their own. Except that Bianca took over many of the tasks. Mae and Catarina handled the foreign business. Shannon was quite happy to jump in an lend a hand most of the time, but in fact she spent a great deal of her time at the silo helping Muriel spell-off the new mothers. Cindy arranged for them to watch her children for a night and John found himself booked into the Lincoln bedroom. She was nervous as a new virgin bride. John was as gentle and caring as he had ever been. She felt some discomfort physically, but not enough to curb her desire. Her first orgasm from intercourse left her exhausted and happy, but a bit concerned. "I'm sorry I'm not as tight, love." she said, snuggled to John's side. "I beg your pardon?" he said. "I'm sorry I'm not as tight as I used to be." she said. John laughed. "What?" she asked. "It's funny you should say that. That doctor of yours got a little enthusiastic in his stitching. You're tighter than you ever were. I was afraid I was going to rip you again." John chuckled. "So you still enjoy making love to me?" she asked. John sobered quickly. "Darling. I have never enjoyed it more. I have never loved you more than I do at this moment. I am the happiest man on the planet." he said, solemnly. Tears sprung from Cindy's eyes suddenly. She wept against him and hugged him like she was trying to pull herself inside of him. "So we can do it again?" she managed after she was still again. "Yes, love. Our favorite way. I want to look into your eyes." John said, pulling her atop him. Their orgasm when it came was profound. Cindy shuddered atop him as she gazed into his eyes and felt his seed enter her. She lay atop him and hugged him as he gently caressed her body. No longer the teenager that he had once known. A fully grown and mature woman. His wife. "I will love you forever." she said. "As I will love you forever." he replied. Chapter 97 The next interval of time seemed to pass like wild fire for the silo residents. The children grew like bean sprouts. It seemed that the proud parents hardly blinked before the kids were running around on their search and destroy missions. John did his best to keep up with all of them. Each night he would make the rounds and read a bit to them. Whether or not they understood, they seemed to find his voice soothing. It never failed to put them out cold. John tried to spread himself fairly between the women who didn't have other husbands, or who's husbands were away on extended business like Candice and Andrea. In the meantime the mothers spelled each other off. Spending nights together and sharing mothering duties during the day so one could slip off for a swim or sauna. The treadmill got he least use, with all the running they did to keep up with the children. Tom's term in office ended. He and Muriel moved to the silo full time. The secret service had an easy task of patrolling the outside of the silo. They weren't allowed inside. John had a house built for them just outside the original silo compound. Tom gave John a little bit of a break in the fathering business. Surprisingly, he was very good at it. Muriel became *Aunt Mur *to all the children. Tom reluctantly became *Uncle Tom*. The children seemed to sort out and keep order between all the interpersonal relationships. John was first *Daddy* and later *Dad* to those children he had fathered. Little Mae seemed not the slightest confused as she called John; *Papa John* and Jimbo; *Daddy Jim*. The rest were *Uncle* or *Aunt* whatever. The only part that seemed at all confusing, was that the children were all brothers and sisters, yet had different mothers. John began to wear down. He was now over fifty. Bill turned the government homeless program over to his assistant -as the new administration wasn't all that fond of him anyway- and took over John's homeless program. Which was much easier on his married life as it was just down the road and virtually ran itself. His presence at the silo helped lighten John's load a bit. But John still showed signs of wearing down. Cindy suggested that he take a break. On a whim, he decided to complete his driving tour of the country. This gave each of the mothers a break too, as the other wives would take turns watching their children or child while they would join John on the road for two weeks at a time. Even the Second Skin hierarchy began to take breaks with him, as they were showing signs of running down. John suggested to Cindy, Theresa and Sheila that they think about selling off the business to the individual salons. The idea was well received. All three now had more money socked away than they could ever begin to think about spending. In fact, everybody was ready to take a break. Catarina and Bianca desired to spend more time around the children and with John. So did Mae. As a means of supplying a local get away, John supplied everybody with their own parcel of land by the mountains. Meanwhile he continued his travels on the road, flying in every other weekend so the children wouldn't forget him. Catarina and Bianca spent a month with him on the road. A couple of weeks later they discovered that John's vasectomy reversal hadn't been entirely a failure. Rather than tell John about it right away, Alice, Heather and Sally booked time with him in quick succession for two week intervals. Candice, Theresa and Andrea all conceived from their other husbands. When John discovered he had additional children on the way, he was back at he doctors office in no time flat getting his tubes cut again. Again he left a sample in a jar, a large one. But he was unsure of the reason. He certainly didn't want to have any more children. Later, Jimbo, Scott, Kevin and Bill followed his example. Steve already had one. Tom went along just in case. A zero count being a more reliable form of birth control than a low one. Catarina had a boy; named John. Bianca had a girl; named Sheila. Heather had a girl; named Judy. Sally had a girl; named Shannon. Alice had a boy; named Bill. Candice, Theresa and Andrea all had girls. Which was pure luck, but which filled out the roster with; Jean, Heather, Catarina and Bianca as Andrea delivered twins, C- section again, the others naturally. John spent another five night in the hospital holding hands and another three anxiously waiting. He fathered five more children of his own, and became godfather to another four. Making a total of twenty-one children at the silo. The houses by the mountains helped this problem considerably as they got older. Somehow, the driving trip across the country never got completed. He still worked at it though. A couple of years later he was driving down the road when he happened to pull into the same gas station / convenience market where he had purchased his lottery ticket. He set the nozzle to fill his tank. Cindy was in the back, taking a nap. Stretching, he thought he would restock his soda supply in his well stocked motor home. The Maserati hooked to the back had a full tank of gas already. He didn't need the bathroom as there was a fully functional one in the motor home. Once the nozzle clicked full on his tank, he made his way into the market. To his great surprise, the same woman was behind the counter, now somewhat older. "Didn't expect to find you here." John joked, stocking up on soda cans. The woman looked at him carefully. Recognition seemed to dawn on her face. "You're the guy I sold that fourteen million dollar lottery ticket to!" she gasped. "That be me." chuckled John, setting his purchases down. The woman rang them and the gas up and this time supplied him with a sack for the sodas. John flipped out his platinum credit card. "Don't see one of them very often." she mused. "It's handy." John said. The woman ran his card and John signed the ticket. He was about to leave when the woman said: "Gosh, fourteen million bucks, you'd think you'd give me a tip." John stopped and looked at her. "Alright. The last time I was here, you wouldn't give me the time of day. So here's my tip; Next time a stranger walks in, don't be so damn snooty." John said, and walked out. The woman watched him go, her mouth open and speechless. John climbed into the motor home and Cindy came out to join him. She put her arms around him and gave him a big kiss. John was chuckling to himself. "What?" Cindy asked. "Oh, nothing. It just occurred to me that I have kids we haven't taken fishing yet. What say we go home?" he asked. "Fine by me. Anyplace is fine as long as I'm with you." Cindy replied. "There's a rest stop down the road apiece, how about a little loving first?" he asked. Cindy smiled radiantly at him. She pulled him into a gentle kiss. "I will love you forever." she said. The End --------------------------------------------------------- If you made it this far, then you are indeed a trooper. I hope you enjoyed the story. Please address any comments to deanajohns at softcom dot net. <1st attachment end> Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. The post was sent as an email attachment and has been converted by ASSTR ASSM moderation software. -- If you enjoyed this work, take a moment to email the author. Your comments are their only payment. Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | | | | ASSM Archive site +-----------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | | --- | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | This newsgroup is moderated by ASSTR, an entity supported by donations. | | If you enjoy this newsgroup, please consider making a donation to help | | Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository keep providing this free service for you.| | Donations: | \_________________________________________________________________________/