Founders Ch. 87

87: Tuesday, Simha 24, 231. 0800 hours OST: The Tides Change

Aaron was cruising up a storm. Anna was crawling and indulged in rolling for recreational purposes. Ares was trying to cruise. Most of the babies were crawling, except Rad, who was four months younger than the rest.

There was an agitated murmuring among the women at breakfast. Zach asked Colleen about it. She assured him it was nothing serious.

That evening, he found out from Aiden. Khushi had told Aiden the fuss was about Ayana getting her period. "Oh, understandable," said Zach. "Everybody's worried about getting pregnant now, even though they're still breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is good but not perfect birth control, depending on how it's done. Well, luckily, most methods of birth control are safe while breastfeeding. Since it's a woman's health issue, they're probably all going to Ayana. Funny that Colleen didn't just come out and tell me. I guess it's a fairly personal issue, one in which I am perhaps more spouse than doctor."

"I wasn't aware these women may all be popping out eggs," said Aiden. "I think I asked once and Berte told me not to worry about it. What if I've accidentally knocked her up? I hope you wouldn't be angry."

"Certainly not," said Zach. "It would be an accident. The morning after pill works for a while. I guess I'd better suggest to Ayana that all the women take pregnancy tests. I'm going to wait a few days to see if anybody tells me anything, though. This is just too damn strange. There must be some sensitive matter I'm as yet unaware of."

The next morning at breakfast, Ayana took the miners to task. "Your excursion vehicle is a pigsty! Here are box lunches for the four of you. The cleaning supplies are next to the door. You need to clean that thing to NASA launch standards, do you hear me Mateo? If you get started right after breakfast, you may be able to finish today."

"Why are you telling us this, and not the Governor or Mayor?" Mateo asked.

"Because it's a health hazard!" said Ayana.

It was no surprise that the four miners were missing from the saloon at lunchtime. Zach mounted the stairs to the private dining room. The Breeding Bitches, Alexis, Charisse, Michaela, and Colette were there talking agitatedly. As he swung open the door, they fell silent. "Well, speak of the devil!" said Alexis. "Michaela is first."

Halfway through lunch, Zach ejaculated deeply into Charisse's rectum with a shudder. "Oh that was heaven, my husband," she raved.

Zach pulled out with a splop and started pulling on his scrub pants. "What are you doing?" asked Alexis.

"I'm just going down to wash up in the bathroom."

"No need for that, Zach. Colette, go fetch us some wet wipes."

"I was going to pee."

"Here, pee in this." Alexis produced a hot pink plastic bucket that looked like a child's toy.

"Seriously? You're acting strange."

"Humor me. I want to see your powerful stream. It makes me horny."

The next day a general meeting of the entire town was called. It was scheduled for 3 PM in the saloon. The women arrived early and plucked their babies out of day care for some breastfeeding time.

"Is everybody here?" said Colleen. She looked around and satisfied herself. "Take it away, Ayana."

"As I'm sure you're all aware, I got my period two days ago. The time for us to exercise reproductive choice is upon us. And we have concerns. Children of different mothers both fathered by Zach are too related, ideally, to intermarry. So the question arises, who is this generation going to marry?

"Colby made the excellent point that over the next fifteen Martian years, we should see a great influx of genetic diversity coming to Mars. But I made the counterargument that we're all smokin' hot and rich, including you miners. This will tend to lower genetic diversity. And we can't discount the influence of Zach alone. I mean, he's proven to be a one man baby storm."

"Me alone? You can't be serious," protested Zach.

"Zach, you are not in the newsgroups I'm in. The women astronaut candidates are largely in agreement. They figure it's an excellent success strategy to get knocked up by you."

"Seriously??"

"Oh yes," Ayana said. "Think about it. They get a genetic foot in the door, get in on the ground floor of the founding of Mars. If they succeed, their kid will be strongly related to the first dynasty, if you will, of Mars. They'll have the right pedigree. They'll be one of the in crowd because Zach is their dad."

"Good Lord."

"We haven't been discouraging them, because that would only encourage them, if you know what I mean," said Alexis. "It would look like we're hoarding you. They like their chances, too, because you're such a slut." She snickered.

"All men are sluts to a greater or lesser extent."

"And there's the fame factor," said Ayana. "You're quite the famed Don Juan figure on Earth now, Zach. There are movies and TV series about your exploits. All your, ahem, accomplishments are famous. So are all of ours. There's tremendous interest in Mars. People are starry-eyed about us making billions here and doing an effective financial takeover of the colony program."

"But they'll be after all of you as well, then."

"Yes, but we take nine months, really a year or more. What does it take you, five minutes?"

There were some titters of laughter at this.

"I'm sorry, five minutes if you're hurrying. I can attest to the fact you're an excellent and caring lover, Zach. I by no means intended to impugn that."

"No offense taken."

"But my point stands. So we collectively need to do what we can to foster genetic diversity in the early generations. It's important for the future genetic health of Mars."

"I concede your point." The gravity of the moment was starting to sink into Zach's heart. He knew what genetic diversity implied.

"Thank you, Zach. To that end, I would have Mateo as my next surrogate, if he's willing."

Mateo startled in his chair where he had been half asleep. He and Ayana smiled shyly at one another. "Uh, sure," he managed to articulate. Men are designed by nature to lose all traces of intellect under such circumstances.

"We have other announcements. Alexis?"

"If he doesn't mind, we'd like to have Jason come live with us in the saloon and be our mascot, at least myself, Michaela, and Colette. Charisse?"

"Zach, I'm going to join them, sweetheart. You know I love you. But I'm also a geneticist. If I don't do the right thing and follow the science, it will be an incredibly bad example. And it's only for two years, and then the game starts over. Love, Vrishika binds us together eternally as parents. And maybe more children in the future, who knows? I loved doing the first one with you. But this diversity thing is important. I've done the math."

"I believe you," said Zach. "I'll get over it. We'll remain friends if I have anything to say about it." Being a wife had always been an experiment for Charisse. He'd had the impression she might change her mind at any moment, so he hadn't gotten too invested. What really had him terrified were the others who hadn't yet said where they stood. He braced himself.

"Is that all for Jason?" asked Charisse.

"Yes," said Alexis. "The four Breeding Bitches. But Jason hasn't said he would."

"Fuck yeah!" cried Jason. The four Breeding Bitches got up and hugged him close. Alexis sat on his lap. They kissed passionately. It escalated quickly. Soon he was kneading her tits through her shirt as they kissed.

"Aanya?"

Oh, shit, Ethan, thought Zach.

"I'm choosing Ethan, Zachary. You know, he's wonderful, and I love him too. And he takes very good care of me and is very nice. And I'm a geneticist! This diversity is so important. It's really very crucial. But I feel terrible. I hope you won't be too hurt. I never meant to do it. To hurt you, I mean."

"You know, I'm proud of you, Aanya," said Zach. "You came to me a woman who saw no potential, no pleasure, in relations between men and women. By your own courage, you've blossomed. You go do what's best and come back whenever you want. I'll always love you, truly. You're always precious to me. And I know you don't mean me any harm or hurt." He'd always known Aanya's needs might shift dramatically as she found herself. That exploration was still unfinished.

He had to really open up to this process, be brave, be his best. This was no time to air hurt feelings or tearful recriminations. Even if he was left with no one, he'd had such an embarrassment of riches. And there were condoms. He could work something out with someone. He swallowed hard.

Berte stood up. Oh no, Aiden. Zach's heart sunk a level lower. She said, "She knew she wouldn't be able to say what she needed to say in English."

"What? Who?" he asked.

"Anming?" said Ayana.

Holy fucking fuckstorm, he thought. I want to die.

Anming, who had seemed completely carefree up to the moment her name was announced, burst into uncontrollable sobs. Growing up under an authoritarian regime, she had mastered the art of giving nothing away.

She seemed to be speaking Mandarin between sobs. Berte translated, "I love you. So much. But in our culture. We are taught. Everything for the child. Everything, everything for the child. And so. I can't condemn. My progeny. Through my own weakness of heart. The science is clear. A man cannot have two masters. My master is science. I'm so sorry, my husband. Always, my husband."

"Should I ask what her plan is?"

"She's going to live with Aiden," said Berte.

"You too?" winced Zach.

"Oh, no. I'm staying in Trigonometry," said Berte. She switched to having her phone speak for her. "I don't feel comfortable parenting with anyone else, Zach. Sure, all men are interesting for at least one fuck. Some are worth fucking more than once. But only you, you or Ben, can really communicate. And that's important for raising children. And Ben isn't here. Communication between parents is more important than genetics. I argued and won."

"I'm so happy we'll be together." He hugged her to him tightly. He couldn't help it. He started to cry. And then bawl. Babies got upset. Hands fell softly onto his back in support. Men's hands. Women's hands. Lots of hands, perhaps everyone's. He hugged Berte tightly and bawled his guts out.

Often, a really good cry doesn't last even as long as bad sex, and such was the case here. Before long, Zach was down to hiccups and sniffles. When he was able to look up, almost everyone was crowded around, but Anming and Victor were gone.

"The rest is good news, Zach, good news," soothed Ayana.

"Colleen and I are sticking with you, Zach," said Colby. "We'll be gone half the time. Our children need the continuity, a real family to grow up in while their mom is gone. Throwing a bunch of fathers into the mix and scattering kids all over the place would mess that up. And we don't want to drag kids around the solar system. So our idea is, one of us will always be here. It will be like having one full-time mom! Except more sexual variety for you, baby! Num num! But seriously, it'll be much more stable for all the kids to share the same continuous dad. Super important. Our need for continuity won out over the genetics argument."

"I love it," said Zach tearfully. "Thanks for staying."

"All I asked," said Khushi, "was to be forever with the two people I fell in love with. Now all these other things come up. And it's just too much. You ask me to lose him when I've just found him? I won't! Zachary is more than a spurting penis to me! I'm staying with Ayana and Zachary! I didn't win any argument. But I refuse to have anyone else's baby."

"That will be fine," said Ayana. "Nobody is going to force anybody to do anything."

"Welcome," said Zach.

"Incidentally, I'm going onto birth control, Zach," said Colby. "There's no time for me to wean a second child before I'm gone for two years. But I'll be baaaack!" She kissed him experimentally, trying to judge his level of upset. She kissed him gently on the lips and left him some space to deal with his emotions. Berte, Colby, Colleen, and Khushi, the remains of Trigonometry, surrounded him and hugged him tight.

"You've still got all three engineers and the planetary governor in your harem, baby," noted Colby. "Not a bad haul."

Zach stood and slipped out of the gentle arms of his lovers. He caught Aiden by the arm. "You need to tell her to live."

"Okay?" said Aiden.

"She has a problem with it. If she can't find something to live for, you need to help her find something to live for."

Aiden realized Zach was serious. "I'll tell her. I'll make sure she has a good answer, keeps having a good answer. I'll remind her about Victor, how he needs a mother."

"And make sure she attends her sessions with Colleen and Alexis every week. Make sure."

"I will. I promise, Zach. I will take care of her. She'll live to see this through."

(To be continued)