It's My Party

Alfonso's location had been tracked for the last two days, and currently he was known to be in a candy store along the inside edge at spiral mark 74083, a quarter kilometer from their current position. As far as anyone knew, Alfonso still did not know he had company close by. Amber and her team had a brief discussion with the Hilton complex before proceeding with the next phase of their mission.

A short time later the team stopped ten meters short of Dylan's Candy Store. They had walked their bikes and continued to close and lock the stores as they passed, and now they were at the threshold of Alfonso's hideaway. Unfortunately Looking Glass was not showing his exact location, but from their previous sensor logs, they knew he was in the store somewhere. Perhaps he was hiding behind a counter or on the second floor somewhere.

Brandi walked the remaining distance alone, her crossbow loaded but with the bolt pointed at the ground. "Alfonso!" she called out from the doorway. "Hello! It's me, Brandi! I'm here with a bunch of people. We want to talk to you. Alfonso?" There was no response. "See anything?" Brandi whispered into her Leophone connection.

Akiko whispered back over the net. "No. But remember my sensors are where you are. I'm seeing what you're seeing, an empty store." There was a short pause. "Is that a shadow moving?"

From behind a nearby counter Alfonso stood up, his arms by his sides. Brandi didn't like the look of him. Even from five meters away, his eyes looked wild and glassy, and she suspected he was suffering from a lack of sleep. And perhaps also from eating too much candy. Alfonso always did have quite a sweet tooth. "Hi Alfonso," Brandi said as calmly as she could. She tried to say something light and pleasant. "Anything good to munch on around here?" She then tried making eye contact with him to show that her offer of friendship was sincere.

Brandi's jaw twitched and her body started to recoil. She had touched the mind of a madman. His thoughts were filled with hatred and rage. "Eat this!" he screamed as he raised his right hand from under the counter. It held a gun, and Alfonso began firing without mercy. Brandi started to fall backwards from multiple bullets hitting her squarely in the chest.

The world seemed to be dimming. The crying voice of Akiko was fading from her ear. And the bullet wounds surprisingly didn't feel too bad, just a bunch of sharp punches to her chest. Suddenly she felt so tired. It would be so easy to sleep. But her fading thoughts were not for her own comfort but for the safety of her friends. They must not have to deal with this danger. As she fell backwards, Brandi put every bit of determination she had into staying alert, and as her crossbow came up she aimed and fired, aiming for Alfonso's chest but realizing her shot would be high. And then before she hit the floor everything in the universe disappeared in one final flash of pain.

There was pandemonium in the corridor around her. Brandi's teammates had locked the doors by their sides so that they could not be ambushed, but now they had no place to duck for cover. Cursing her stupidity, Carla ran forward to the entrance of the candy store, only stopping when she finally understood what Akiko was screaming over Carla's Leophone.

"Alfonso is dead! Alfonso is dead! Brandi's bolt hit the center of his face! Alfonso is dead!" A sobbing gasp. "Brandi!!" Akiko wailed.

Carla quickly moved in behind the counter to confirm Akiko's observation. Brandi's shot had caught Alfonso on the left side of his nose, and one glance told Carla the powerful hunting bolt had penetrated to the back of his skull. Carla dismissed Alfonso as a threat and she started to probe the rest of the candy store. Her time for grieving would come later.

The rest of the team gathered around Brandi desperate to help her but in their hearts they knew it was hopeless. Alfonso had proven to be horribly accurate with his pistol. Brandi had three shots clustered in the center of her chest near her heart, and a final deadly wound in her forehead. Tom held her body and thought she must have fired her bolt almost simultaneously with Alfonso's last shot. He began to weep.

A part of Amber's team rushed Brandi's body back to the Black Mall complex as quickly as possible, but it was a futile gesture. Even the magic autodoc could do nothing. They buried her in the park at Black Mall later that afternoon, under a clear sunny sky and beneath the pines and spruces that made her grave seem so much like Earth. As for Alfonso's disposal, they let the servos handle it.

Chapter 77.

Time: Monday, April 11, 2019 6:48 PM

It was an hour after sunset in the bee park, and Mark was cuddling with Emily, Hannah, and Holly on the one giant bed in their small home by the pond. The pond was frozen now and smooth as glass. Yesterday afternoon Mark had led an unplanned expedition to the bee park to drop off winter coats, and his team had four pairs of ice skates as a surprise. They had tried it this morning at sunrise for about a half hour. It was fun. And then they had come in and listened in horror as Brandi was killed. The skates were forgotten now.

When Toshi and Frida and Mark were here at the bee park for their first stay, from January 17th to February 1st, Mark had kept a careful record of the sunrises and sunsets. Their times were moving so slowly he had thought the park might be on a full Earth-year solar schedule. On their arrival, the sun was up from 5:44 AM to 6:15 PM, and when they departed fifteen days later, the range had moved slightly to 5:52 AM to 6:09 PM. Mark had guessed they had arrived in late summer and were approaching the fall equinox.

How wrong he had been. From the observations now, Emily estimated that Mark's original party had arrived at the bee park the day before local summer solstice, and their fifteen days here was most of the summer. The park was on an incredibly fast 84-day yearly cycle, three weeks per season, and it was now midwinter, Today the sun rose at 6:11 AM and set at 5:48 PM.

Against Mark's gentle advice to take a vacation from computations, Emily had brought her laptop with her. Her estimate now was that the bee park was simulating the same latitude as their surface position, 44.5 degrees, but with a planetary tilt of a mere four degrees. There would only be slight variations in the daily cycle of sunlight throughout the year.

The concept of slight variation did not apply to temperature. The park was in its deep midwinter slumber and the overnight low was -9C. When the three women had arrived with Frida yesterday, their first thought was to get back home, but Frida convinced them to follow her to the small house by the pond, and there they found a warm dwelling with its kitchen cabinets packed with the locally grown fruits and vegetables. The cabinets had been empty when Mark, Toshi and Frida had first visited here, but now they were full. The new arrivals guessed the servos had harvested the produce.

And the bee hives were accessible too, full of sleepy bees that didn't seem to mind when Frida removed one of their many frames full of their sweet honey. So the women decided to proceed with their plan. They would attempt the mind boost in the local midwinter.

And now Emily was curled up in Mark's arms, and Holly had just exchanged positions with Hannah. Hannah was petting Mark's back and Holly was at the bottom of the massive bed caressing his feet. Mark was being petted by three beautiful women who were all expecting to become quite horny as the evening wore on. Mark shook his head and laughed at the thought at what a fantasy this would have been in his former life. And he remembered the big grin Tom had flashed him yesterday when Emily first made her request that Mark join them for their experience with the new drug.

Emily leaned close and kissed his cheek before resuming petting his chest and shoulders. They were light tender strokes, very affectionate. They had portable lamps with them but they were off. Their plan was to follow the natural rhythm of the park as closely as possible, and the fake quarter moon and starlight was sparkling off the snow. They provided ample light for their needs.

Emily leaned over and kissed him again. Mark kissed back on her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

Emily gave a long sleepy sigh back. "It actually feels kind of nice, a little like being drunk but much more peaceful. Deeply peaceful… I'm so glad you're here."

Mark nodded, his hand moving to caress Emily's ear and the side of her head. He repeated a previous description. "It never gets too disorienting. The boost is much less… stressful… compared to what happened before Christmas."

Emily giggled. "Not with sexuality though. I'm lying here next to you and my mind is spinning around with a whirlpool of thoughts of what I want to do with you."

"Me too!" growled Hannah from behind his back. Her hand drifted lower and she pinched his buttock very firmly. "Oops! That wasn't too hard, was it?"

Mark grinned and chuckled. "No. I'm still in the middle of an ideal male fantasy." He felt Emily stiffen in his arms and he asked, "Hey, you okay?"

"Me? Yeah. It wasn't you. I thought of Brandi again."

The bedroom was silent for a moment, until Holly added, "How could we have been so stupid?"

Hannah's words seem to speak for all of them as she continued. "I mean, we all thought we were doing the right thing. We wanted to give Alfonso a chance to redeem himself. We wanted to offer a token of trust. Brandi was our token. We all thought it would be okay. Her offer was very gentle. There was no reason to shoot. Who could have thought the man would go berserk?"

A single tear was rolling down Emily's cheek. "We all should have thought," she mumbled. Mark kissed her tear away.

Holly stirred at the bottom of Mark's legs and reached over to also pet Emily's feet. "Agreed. Hindsight is a wonderful thing for showing you how stupid you can be."

Hannah sighed. "Life's hard lessons. I just wish… It just doesn't seem fair Brandi…"

"Well of course not," grumbled Holly.

The room became very quiet, and for a while the three women were content to keep petting Mark. Eventually it was time in their informal schedule to rotate again, but Emily was showing no desire to move from the prime position of being held in Mark's arms. Instead, she wiggled her breasts at him, and when he missed the hint she renewed it more directly by taking his hand and holding it firmly against her chest. Mark could feel her heart beating. He could also feel her nipple against his palm, large and in an advanced state of arousal.

"Marry me?" Emily mumbled as she turned to rub her body against Mark's.

"Me too," called Hannah from behind his back. Her hand slipped into Mark's pajamas and she started to caress his ass, probing and searching for the scrotum between his thighs.

Holly giggled at his feet. "I don't think I'm ready for marriage, but if you want to have sex with me…"

Mark gulped. "People, remember our agreement!" He shivered as Hannah's hand found and cupped his scrotum. Meanwhile pregnant Holly began licking the instep of his foot. It was a dry, catlike tongue, and the sensation was super erotic.

Emily laughed as she continued to gyrate the length of her body against his. "And exactly what was our agreement?"

"That I wouldn't take advantage of you, of any of you!"

Emily gave a sleepy giggle. "And you're not. Hannah and I are asking you to marry us. How is that taking advantage of us?"

"Uh…"

Holly began to move at Mark's feet, coming up his legs. She growled sexily. "And my urge to ride you is becoming irresistible." Her hand traveled up the inside of his thigh, brushing against Hannah's arm before grasping his erect penis. "Mark," she asked in a little girl voice. "I wouldn't be raping you if I sat on this, would I?"

"People, wait a minute!" Mark sputtered.

"That's fair," Emily announced with a giggle. "Mark, you have your one minute. Now, why are we waiting?"

Mark had never seen Emily so playfully happy. Her joy was contagious, and he almost caved in. But he loved her too much. "Emily,"

"Yes?" She stopped him from continuing with a finger on his lips. "My love,"

"Our love," said Hannah dreamily behind him.

"Our love," Emily continued. "Yes, agreed. Hannah and I have talked this over with Jada and Toshi and Frida. Don't' you remember all the laughing smiles your wives were sharing with us before we left?

Mark was stunned. What had his wives done? "Well, I guess I do. And they were shielding something from me in our links. I didn't press."

"No, of course not. You're much too polite for that. That's part of the reason Hannah and I love you so much."

"Emily," said Holly with a bit of a whine. "I don't want to wait much longer."

"Patience Holly. This won't take long. Especially for you. You'll be outside the link." Before Mark could puzzle out what Emily was talking about, she moved and held his head closely to her throat and the top of her breastbone. "Dearest Mark, I'm being totally serious. Hannah is too. Will you marry me?"

"Yes Mark," Hannah added. "Will you marry me?"

"Emily, Hannah, I can't accept your proposals when you're drugged!"

Emily shook her head fiercely. "This isn't the drug! I'm feeling extremely horny, but the love and hope of having you as my husband is allowing me to suppress all that. I want my wedding night with you to come later."

"Yes, me too," laughed Hannah. "I'll want privacy on our wedding night!"

Holly was also laughing as she crawled between his legs. She started frigging his stiff cock. A shocked Mark felt her wet tongue and lips slurp his velvety glans. Holly purred. "I on the other hand have no such ability to suppress. You will let me ride, won't you Mark?"

Emily pushed Mark flat on his back. With Holly exploring his groin with her mouth and nose, Hannah and Emily pushed their heads together against Mark's head and formed a tight triangle. The three-way link formed almost immediately.

"Yes! I knew we had enough light!" the core of Hannah's mind thought triumphantly into the triple matrix of consciousness.

"Wow," thought Emily's core. "I can feel Holly's lips on my… our… my penis. So this is what it's like to be a male." Her core was full of love and laughter and playfulness. "Nice!"

"It's as if my mind is blossoming," thought Hannah. "I feel like a blooming flower. I love this. The intimacy! Oh Mark, all my shyness is gone!"

Mark's core was still struggling to comprehend the perspective of the majority of the linked mind. "But… But… Are you suggesting it's okay for me to make love with Holly because we're NOT getting married?!"

"Yes!' "Yes!" came two giggling thoughts in return.

"You know, that's so absurd it almost makes sense."

A playful afterthought from Emily's core. "You can be so clever Mark! Another reason why I love you so much."

"Sweet husband-to-be," thought Hannah. "Love is patient. That's what I was always taught in Sunday School, and now I see the truth of it. I want to be patient and kind with you. I want to share everything I have and everything that I am with you, my mind, my body, my life. The sex is a big part too, but I want to wait. The anticipation will be part of my pleasure."

"Mark, those are my feelings too," added Emily's core. "You can see all this, can't you? Yes, I know you can. Our feedback is getting better by the moment."

Mark's core answered with a deep sigh. He was surrounded by love, and the subjective acceleration of time within their link was enormous. In contrast, Holly's presence at his groin felt frozen in time.

Emily opened her thoughts. "Holly talked with us before we came here. We all talked, with your wives too, and we linked, everyone except Jada of course."

"Do you see Holly's perspective?" asked Hannah. "This transition has been especially hard on her. None of us have had to undergo as many changes as she did. The enslavement, the brutality of rape, the struggle to accept her child. And even after her rescue, she had to watch her society move to polygamy, something she was completely derisive of before she came here."

Hannah gave a mental gasp as she continued her thought. "Listen to me think! I was completely derisive of polygamy too! I used to equate it with disgusting men wanting to have sex with groups of underage girls, coerce even their daughters! Holly did too. But at least I didn't have to handle being impregnated by rape!"

"But…" Mark's core was still struggling to grasp the central concept. "Holly… is drugged now…"

"Search your memories Mark," replied Emily. "Or even better, let me search them for you. I know what I want to find, and Toshi taught me where to look."

Mark agreed, lowering all his internal defenses. The world transformed, and he was sharing with Emily and Hannah the time of his first sex with Toshi, the privacy of the play and eroticism shared without embarrassment. Toshi had guided Mark into thinking he was a female, and Toshi was butt fucking him with her finger and stroking him and the sex felt so incredible and…"

"Do you see Mark?" Emily's mind whispered. "It's not the drug. The honey releases our core desires but it doesn't create them. Holly…"

"Holly wants to marry me?" Mark asked Emily in a thought.

"Yeah, kind of. But she wants to date you first. Don't you see?"

"Holly is one of the shiest persons I've ever met," thought Hannah. "She's even shier than I am, and THAT is saying something."

From Emily, "Mark, she's pregnant and she's part of a large group of women who are competing for just a few guys. Don't you see what's going on here? Yes, the drug is a factor. It's helping her leap over her shyness."

Hannah nodded. "It'll be much easier for Holly to ask you to date her if you have sex with her now. I must confess. Toshi helped me understand this."

Mark was still confused. "But Toshi and I had sex only after we committed to being parents."

Emily expressed the construct of a nod. "Yes, I know. But Toshi was already fiercely in love with her child to be, scared witless by her nightmares perhaps, but awake she was determined to find a solution."

"And Toshi is an accomplished actress," came the thought from Hannah's core.

"Yes, exactly," agreed Emily. "It was perfect training for her. Toshi is very skilled with examining and expressing her emotions. Holly doesn't have that experience Mark, and besides, her love for her child is more… tenuous. Oh, it's there now thank God, but to have a dating relationship with you, to not be embarrassed about imposing on you… You see the point, don't you Mark?"

Mark sighed within the linked mind. "Females! Your minds are so strange!"

"Absolutely!" thought Hannah in a mental grin. "Strange and mysterious! How else could we attract males? Doesn't the joy of exploring our minds add to the joy of exploring our bodies?"

"Uh…"

"It's true Mark," added Emily in affirmation of Hannah's insight.. "Otherwise, why don't you guys just get your rocks off by fucking inflatable dolls?"

"Emily!"

"Oops! Did I think that?! I guess I've been exploring your high school memories. Wow! I've heard rumors about how coarsely boys could talk in their locker rooms, but…"

Mark projected a mental grin. "Yeah, I don't why we're so cruel. It's not as if we're trying to dehumanize in real life…"

"Oh no?" asked Hannah with a teasing laugh. "I can see the memories too. And I can feel you blushing Mark. Can you feel me blushing also? You boys were talking about us as sex objects, treating us as base pads as you attempt to score at home plate!"