The Preacher Man

"Puny."

"Oh hell, really?! Well, maybe now, but how about before?"

"Puny then too. The life-form dolls are authentic, with normal-sized erections. You... Well, your other wives were probably too embarrassed to tell you, how small you are." Shephatiah sat up close to me and stretched her lovely neck, but then cut me with her words. "You are pathetic, down where it counts."

I sat there and frowned. "Oh, hell, I don't know. And if I am that small, it was from gentleness and love that my wives didn't tell me, not embarrassment!"

I took a deep sigh and realized I was blushing. "Gosh Sheffie! I wish you could have broken this to me a little more gently! I'll get over this, but my ego right now feels like a punctured balloon." I tried to laugh and make a joke of it. "It's even more deflated than my cock!" I gave her butt a playful tap to show there were no hard feelings. "I take it you want to stop then?"

Shephatiah's body went rigid, her eyes popping open incredibly wide. "Sheffie?! The Holy! The Holy!" she whispered under her breath, and then the dam broke. "SHEFFIE?! Sire, forgive me! I have my memories! I have everything! Sire, forgive me! I thought this was some kind of a cruel loyalty test. Sire, forgive me! I insulted your manhood, and you call me with an endearment in return?! Sire, forgive me!" She broke down crying on the bed, sobbing for forgiveness.

I gasped in relief, my heart bursting with happiness. "Shephatiah, that's wonderful! And I do forgive you! I don't blame you for hiding this."

"Ilias, forgive me!"

"I do forgive you."

"Forgive me! I had to test!"

"I know, I know! I understand. It was a good test. And it taught me something too."

"Huh? What?" she whispered.

"That I have a pride in the physical side of my cock, a pride that I didn't even know was there."

"Oh!!!" She looked distressed again and wailed, "Forgive me Ilias!"

"Relax Sheffie!" I reached over and petted her head. "You were thinking this was a charade, huh? About having the chance to be an adult with your memories intact?"

"Yes, of course! I was sure of it, absolutely sure. I awoke before 3:30 and pretended to be asleep. I could remember everything! I was frantic, trying to decide what to do!"

I nodded. "And the test was how I would act after being insulted. You expected me to end the charade, to be angry."

"Angry?! I expected you to break my neck! Literally! I offered you my neck as I insulted you. You're so strong, so masculine! I was expecting you to snap my neck! And that would have ended the cruel joke!" She gasped and cried again. "But it's real! It's all real!"

We spent the next hour cuddling with each other, sharing the dreams and experiences of our childhoods. It was one of the most wonderful times of my life. I got up briefly and pulled the curtains back on the west windows, allowing the beautiful golden sunlight of the early evening to come into the room. I quickly returned to Sheffie's warmth and softness. Outside the sound of the bells of the evening Prayers mixed with the wind.

"My goodness! Look at the time! Ilias! Are you missing evening Prayers?"

"Ah, Royal privilege. I often go, but I also have the right of private meditation." I reached over and began to kiss the side and underside of the nearer breast. "Now here's something very interesting to meditate on!"

Sheffie giggled and turned her body until she had her nipple in my mouth. I locked it with a suckle, and she cooed and held my head to her breast. "Ilias?"

"Hmmm?"

"I dreamed of you as a girl. But as a monastery girl, I had no image of what a man would look like. I did know though what kindness looked like. Hmmm, that's so nice... But even in my dreams, I never imagined a man as handsome as you, nor as kind. Even in my dreams... Oh, that feels so nice... Ilias?"

"Hmmm?"

"Will you do things for me tonight? Lots of things?"

"Hmmm?" I broke my suction lock. The large, fat, pink nipple seemed very disappointed that I did. It definitely looked as if it wanted me back. "Sure! What would you like?"

Shephatiah lay flat on her back, her legs slightly apart, her arms by her sides. She sighed and put herself in a very submissive position. "Well, first of all, will you untie my bow?"

Chapter 25. Career Move

Five months later...

Time: June 1, 8237 11:15 AM

I took a moment to look up from my desk and enjoy the view. It was magnificent, a clear, blustery day, fleecy white clouds, and the view to the west from the window before me was filled with ocean blues and grays and whites. Winter was fast approaching the South Atlantic. I turned to my right and squinted at the golden sunlight of the low hanging sun. Time for a five-minute break! I got up and stretched my legs, walking over to the northern windows to gaze at an inner courtyard and the good town of Karbala beyond.

Such a change in the seasons! The signal flags were snapping on their poles and the merchant ships at port were frantically loading and unloading cargo. Today was their day of opportunity, with another autumn gale expected to strike tomorrow. The wharfs were alive with activity.

The sunlight that was so abundant just a few months ago was now a scarce resource. The sun rose today at 7:10 AM, 55 degrees to the east of north, and would set at 3:20 PM, 55 degrees on north's western side. My city was at solar noon right now, the sun's azimuth at due north and its altitude only 17 degrees above the horizon. This time of year, the sun hugs the horizon like a thief before making a quick dash back to darkness.

The security system blinked a blue and green notice. My secretary had passed through a trusted visitor who had permanent permission to enter. The front door of my office area opened and in walked Shephatiah, looking very confused and clutching a map of the cathedral complex tightly in her hand. As the door closed and sealed behind her, she looked at the office status display and saw we were alone. Her expression changed into a carefree smile and she threw down the map nonchalantly on a nearby table.

She came over and gave me a very affectionate hug and didn't let go. "Hi sweetie!" she whispered as she stood on her toes and licked my ear. "Having a nice day?"

I dropped my return hug low on her hips and patted her rump, getting lost in a very sexy kiss with this vixen in my arms. "Hmmm." I finally broke the kiss to come up for air. "Well, I am now."

Sheffie smiled and wiggled her rump into the hands that were holding her. "Ah, that feels nice! How about you? That was quite a workout you had during the Prayer of Purification. I was watching you on the video. Want a back-rub?"

My eyes lit up. "Sure! Sounds great!" A moment later I was lying flat on my stomach on one of my plush couches and getting a totally delightful massage.

Sheffie's wonderful fingers were kneading the muscles in my neck and back. "You want this back-rub to get more interesting Ilias, just say the word. My cathedral map tells me our private sleeping quarters are just a few meters away."

I nodded and sighed. "Tempting, but impossible. Jibran is scheduled to call me at noon."

"Ah. Today's the big day, huh?"

"Yeah. The execution will be at solar noon at the capital, 11:59 AM. Say! Where's Abby? Shouldn't she be here now?"

"Huh? You don't know? Abby planned to misplace her cathedral map at the main library this morning, and then get lost in the south wing. She's probably wandering around down there right now, asking people for directions. Didn't she tell you?"

I sighed. "Oh yeah. I think she tried before breakfast. I was so rushed to make the Prayer opening, I brushed her off."

"Ah..." More back rubs. "Ilias? Tonight in bed, why don't you take some extra time to notice Abby, pet her, make love to you if you can. I think she would really like that."

I wiggled under the pleasure of the massage. "You sure Sheffie? It's your turn tonight, and with all the work going on, I've been neglecting you and Michal as much as Abby."

The back-rub continued, but Sheffie also bent her head down to my butt and gave me a quick sharp nip with her teeth. I blinked in surprise. "Yeooow! Is there much blood?"

Sheffie laughed, playfully ignoring my protest and massaging my butt where she had nipped me. After a while she said, "Yeah, I'm sure. Abby is your first wife, I am the interloper."

I shook my head. "Abby doesn't think about you that way." I didn't have to add that Michal didn't either. That sadly was physically impossible.

"Oh, I know. Still, love Abby tonight sweetie. My turn will come." Sheffie's head returned to my rump. Her mouth searched and found the spot where my anus lay beneath my clothes. She inhaled deeply and then blew a breath of hot air all across the sensitive skin of my anal opening. I lay there and sighed. No one can distract me with sex as completely as Sheffie. She's a bit of a nymphomaniac and I wouldn't want her any other way. Her ideas! So original, and so often just a touch on the kinky side. Delightful!

She nestled her head into the point where the backs of my legs meet my groin. I could feel the press of her nose against the back of my scrotum, and then she inhaled deeply through the clothes. "Ah, your wonderful smell! This will be enough for me for now." She returned to massaging my back in earnest.

I drifted in the pleasure, all my tensions and worries pouring out of my body. Her hands are so skillful and wonderful. She put me into a state of thinking about absolutely nothing, not asleep but mindless. When I returned to consciousness, I noticed a soft tongue playfully licking my ears and the back of my neck.

"I hate to go," she whispered. "I really, really hate to go. But I'm due to meet Michal and do design work on the crystal reader." More wet kisses on my ears... "And you have your call in ten minutes."

Huh? Ten minutes? I blinked. Yikes! "Uh, thanks Sheffie!"

She gave me a final goodbye lick and patted my rump. "Remember, Abby tonight!" And with that smile, my number-three wife started to leave my office. She met Abby on her way in, and the two sister-wives exchanged a brief kiss before Shephatiah finally left.

Abby came over and sat on my couch. I was still stretching and about to get up, but Abby leaned on me and rested her head on my back. "Ah, I bet somebody was getting a nice back-rub!" Her hand came up and caressed my head. "Oh! And having his ears licked too!"

I chortled. "Life is good!"

"Evidently! I think I got here just in time! Come, Glorious One! Jibran will be calling any minute."

I sat up and shared a few playful kisses with Abby. "Oh, we have a few minutes. Jibran won't call before noon." We kissed for a minute, then another. My hand came up and cupped a soft breast. "Hmmm. This feels interesting! Want to be petted tonight?"

Abby gave me a beaming smile. "Okay!" And then a brief frown, "Uh, isn't it Michal's turn tonight? No, wait! Sheffie's!"

I blushed. "Actually, Sheffie suggested it."

"Ah. She did, huh? Okay! I'll look forward to it!" Abigail wiggled her hips suggestively at me and then looked at the clock. "Come! I'll dry your ears before the call!"

I was sitting at my desk looking completely presentable when the video call came in a few minutes after noon. It was Jibran as expected, and the status lights on the comm-link were indicating that the video call was being serviced with the highest level of encryption possible, quantum entangled handshaking protocols. Unless someone figured out a way to change the laws of physics, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to clone the entangled quantum spin states and listen in on this call.

Jibran was smiling broadly, and his grin spoke volumes.

I nodded back thoughtfully. "So, the end of an era, Jibran."

"Yes, indeed Ilias, and the dawn of a new day! Somewhat ironic that it started at solar noon!" He laughed. "Did you watch the execution?"

"No. My wife Sheffie was in here licking my ears. My mind was much more agreeably engaged."

Jibran laughed heartily. He thought I was joking. "Well, we now have three vacancies on the Council. CL-29 Mudar, CL-28 Miyaz, and now CL-30 Huthayfa. A vacancy at each level! Abdul Quddus is a Supreme Legislator again. We're back to the Wild Times Ilias! It should make for some very interesting politics!"

Jibran's reference to the Wild Times at the beginning of history was apt. For the first three hundred years after the War of the Burning Metals, the Cunif Califar was bound only by the Code of Bel'dar. In all secular matters he had complete and absolute power and ruled by decree. It wasn't until the reign of Abdul Nur, Servant of the Light, that the world government shifted to Council rule. But even with a fully staffed Supreme Council, the Cunif Califar holds tremendous power.

When fully populated, the Supreme Council consists of eleven members, the CL-31 Cunif Califar and ten Grand Mufeto, two CL-30, three CL-29, and five CL-28. Each level of advanced rank triples the weight of voting authority. There are thus a total of 59 weighted votes for a full Council, with the office of Cunif Califar holding 27 of them, slightly less than half.

In order to pass most legislation or order Royal executions, a simple majority of votes is needed. Thus the Cunif Califar would need the approval of one CL-30 (who would add his 9 votes for a total of 36 votes out of 59), or one CL-29 (for a bare majority of 30 votes out of 59), or a majority of the five CL-28 (again, three unit votes out of five again producing a bare majority of 30 votes out of 59).

Before today's execution, the vacancies of one CL-28 and one CL-29 had left the Council with 55 votes, leaving Abdul Quddus one vote shy of ruling by personal decree.

Since the time Abdul Nur, there have been three political factions, aligned closely but not exactly along keiretsu boundaries. The three entities are the Health faction (led by the powerful Medical and Genetic Guilds), the High-Tech faction (led by the powerful Guilds along the Northern Railway), and the Utility faction (the Earth resource, Energy and Telecomm Guilds, led informally by the Security Guild).

This was the lesson Great Mufeto Khatib tried to teach me, the day I became an adult at Anqara. The informality on the ramjet flight to the capital was meant to show me that above all else, Royal politics are based on factional loyalties. As a child, I saw none of this.

It's by no means an absolute rule, but there is a historical concentration of the High Tech Guilds in North America (with their headquarters at Dakar), the Health Guilds in the Caribbean (with their headquarters at Giza), and the Utility Guilds in South America (with their headquarters at Jizari). It's been like this since the fourth millennium, when the world's population reached twenty-five million and the last of the townships were founded.

It seems amazing when I think about it, but my third wife's marriage burqa changed the world. We traced the burqa directly to the High Tech faction and implicated several Ruling Royals in the scheme. Abdul Quddus was absolutely livid that his pet project had been rushed out of the labs and used without his knowledge. With his clout, we followed the path all the way to CL-30 Huthyafa. The truth drugs of an Inquisition Council left no doubt as to his guilt.

Since Huthyafa's plan did not explicitly seek to monitor me during the hours of low impurity (10 PM to 6 AM), the Code of Bel'dar did not absolutely require his execution, but Abdul Quddus was furious with him. It's Security's guess that the Cunif Califar had his own plans for deployment, and releasing the audio-web device in its prototype state had exposed a serious flaw.

And unknown to the world, that flaw was discovered by my dear wife Shephatiah. It turns out she's a world-class physicist in addition to being an exceptional visual mathematician. She doesn't have the practical engineering skills of Michal, but together they make a fantastic team. I sometimes sigh and wonder what they would be capable of if Michal had her memories.

In one short month of intense work, Shephatiah used her knowledge of quantum harmonic physics and concluded that a short sustained blast of broad spectrum sound waves would shatter the delicate nano-crystal structures of any audio web, provided the harmonic progressions were staged and overlapped correctly. She spent days teaching me the physics of this until I understood it thoroughly, and then I passed off her ideas as my own to my security R&D team.

Result? The very first audio-web neutralizer was built right here at Karbala, and they're now in common use among Royalty throughout the world. There's also a second result of me having a totally undeserved reputation as a first-rate physicist, but that couldn't be avoided. Eternal virgins make extremely poor research scientists. There was no way to give Shephatiah the credit she deserved. Having a global spotlight on her mental abilities would be a disaster.

When I became an adult, the factional breakout of the Council was twelve votes for Health (one CL-30 and one CL-29), twelve votes for High Tech (one CL-30 and three CL-28), and eight votes for Utility (two CL-29 and two CL-28). The three deaths in the last two years have changed the political landscape entirely. As Jibran and I spoke, Health's one CL-30 had nine votes, High Tech's two CL-28 had two votes, and Utility had retained all of its eight votes. Jibran was right; the changes would result in some very interesting politics. And he was just about to tell me how much.

"Ilias, I'll get right to business. I not sure how you had the foresight to sit tight at Karbala, but we are so fortunate you did. Now is the time to move!"

"Hey, I like it here Jibran!"

"Right! The wind, the sheep, the isolation, the eternal storms wrecking havoc with travel plans! Did I mention the sheep?!" As expected, Jibran thought I wasn't being serious. "Don't joke with me Ilias. I was the former Domine. I know what a dump that place is! I do admit the population seems to love you, no joking about that. But Ilias! We both know that the path to a Supreme Council seat for you does not lie through a Sheep Guild!"

I blushed and grinned. "Well, no, maybe not." With my promotion to CL-27 this past Judgment, I had a five-year window to transfer my Domine rights. "So what township do you have in mind?"

"Dakar!" His eyes lit up in laughter as he saw my jaw drop. "It is available, you know."

I looked at the clock. "Yes, for about the last ten minutes, thanks to Huthyafa being so kind to vacate it. Jibran! You see me as the Domine of High Tech's HQ?!"

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Beautiful? Deadly! Aren't the High Tech Guilds resisting this?!"

"How can they, with two Council votes? But don't you see Ilias?! They want you there! Abdul Quddus wants you there. We want you there. The only faction left out is Health, and it wouldn't surprise me if they make you some private offers of allegiance on their own!"

I thought about Jibran's words for a moment. "The Holy Jibran! I'll be asked to lean in four directions at once!"

He nodded thoughtfully. "I don't envy your position... much. But at least my loyalties are not so complicated." He turned quiet and very serious. "The Utility faction is placing a lot of trust in you Ilias by supporting this. Do not betray us."

"Are you that sure I'll have the chance? Your move to Aleppo was to the home of Air Transport Operations, a natural Utility Guild. Dakar is the global headquarters of High Tech. What makes you so sure they'll accept me?"

He nodded. "We have our feelers out. Your defense against the audio-web astonished them. It changed their opinion of you entirely. I've talked to some experts myself. They said your physics insights were brilliant, genuinely brilliant. The High Tech Guilds will see you now as one of their own, and also their ticket out of their current dismal position on the Council."