James's Descent Ch. 04

This was going to take years for the colony. Significant events were slowly becoming commonplace. One could expect a raid every two weeks. It became a routine... when that alert sounded, get to the defensive positions, ready to fire at the approaching enemies. Once they were down or dead, make use of the bodies and what was on them... and sometimes they would not be dead and they could score some untainted clothes. There was a slow improvement in the power of those raids... numbers, weapons, skills.

James still decided to keep to the previous idea of how they would expand in numbers. By now they should have had six to eight people, but it was still just the three of them. And for that reason... he should help them out. Often enough, the family would find their enemies collapsing before they were responsible for it, covered in wounds that they were not causing. Anna took it as another sign.

Slowly, did that base get dug out. Pam would keep building some things in there... until it was time to move in. Everything was still rough, barely functional. But it was enough.

*

Almost three months now. Almost. Pam rose with difficulty from her bed. Every day, she felt slower. The girl didn't hate it... she hated only one thing. Being away from that man. The girl waddled towards the bathroom to engage in the much-needed biological act, one she had to do a lot more since this process started. Her hand rested on that swollen belly where life was growing, a warm smile on her face. It was like a reminder of him... even if it was not a pleasant one right now.

She was not alone when the girl went into the torchlit bathroom. Her mother was already there, planted on the one crapper and not shy about relieving herself in front of her family. A smile was given as there was an understanding between them... especially as they shared this other state.

"Oof.... can't wait to be back to normal." The girl did not even hesitate to start unloading while next to her mother.

"Everything's harder to do, hm?"

"Men have it easy. Wish I could say I'm not gonna do this again... but we're gonna need more."

A symphony of sounds was produced by their pussies and assholes, the squirt of liquids, the forcing out of half-solids that would fall into the pit. They did not upgrade soon enough.... Emptying those things was not a pleasant job.

Anna was further ahead than her daughter, noticeably more swollen. Both of them had an upgrade in the breasts department. Pam was most pleased with that fact, now having tits worthy of a D-cup. The mother hoped her breasts would not grow to insane sizes from all the children they had planned. In fact, she felt like her size had grown almost a bit too much... she did not remember being this big before.

"Sounds like you're gonna strap me with the job of caring for the children."

"I'll help! Can't put too much on you."

"Gonna have kids draining our boobs."

Pam squeezed hers to have a squirt of that white liquid come out. She now had actual milk! It was also fun to play them like this. Her mother would mirror her action, giving her mammaries a squish to have that nipple spray out liquid. A warm smile between them as they could engage in this innocent play. Perhaps they would have thought it unhinged at some point, but now it was just... acknowledging reality. Anna's children liked to suckle on those tits even more now that they produced something again.

Both of them were naked while doing this. They had taken to sleeping naked out of comfort, the inside heated enough to allow it. Not just because they'd engage in some sex around bedtime. The first time Nathan had a go at his sister's pussy was a bit significant, but he could blow safely in her with no worry. At least for now. And his mother was right... the women got a deal more horny since they started growing outwards. Nathan almost had too much pussy... those years could not pass soon enough to give him another man to share the burden. Though they still had no idea what would come out.

"I like that we can be so comfortable doing this." Pam felt like she didn't have to suffer alone.

"Thank the outsider."

"I'd thank him if he could give me back my man already! What's taking so long?"

"Maybe there is something he can't do. Or doesn't know how to do."

Implying that the outsider was not omnipotent was not heresy... it was fact. And it made them feel so much more caring, thinking that something limited was still trying their best for them.

"He was just so... perfect. But... I'll have a bit of them. If they don't come back soon enough, I'm just gonna raise my baby to be their replacement."

"Ah, taking after me, hmmm?"

"Okay, no... I.... nah. Getting what James was would... mean doing bad things. I don't want to be bad to my child."

"Maybe you don't have to. But let me tell you something... If your father would have been better, Nathan would have had no chance. So if he is so good... your children will never be a better choice. And that might sound hypocritical coming from me."

"Nah, you're just saying it how it is. I get it. If they were some loser deadbeat, I'd get better even by raising a decent boy. But..."

She thought about it. Even a sweet boy might do no more than impress. But there was something to James that she thought you just could not equal. Those thoughts were interrupted as Anna felt a gush of fluid leave her, one that was... not from her bladder. A momentary confusion before she started to feel the beginning of labor. Painful, but not crippling.

"Get Nathan." The woman said that with a pained sense of urgency.

The next few hours would be difficult. Much more difficult than it could be. Nathan and his sister had to work together on this, a process made more difficult by her pregnant state. Anna had left instructions on how to deal with it... and they even had things halfway prepared for it. Just a bit more rush to heat water and ready for the arrival. It was as unpleasant for Anna as it used to be... bones having to bend to allow that child out of her, a shape far bigger than what usually went in there to come through her vagina... there is really no comparison.

Nathan would be surprised when even after he had drawn this new life into the world, this screaming life that was no doubt a girl... his girl... so small, so fragile, so adorable even as it was covered in his mother's liquids... Anna was still swollen and in pain. Oh... damn. Panic later, help now. And he would panic later.

Twins. One boy, one girl. Phoebe was just a few minutes "older" than her brother. They would not grow to be identical. Anna was ready to faint after the process, but she could spend some final waking moments to see her two new children... washed, bundled up, and presented to her to hold. In one move, she doubled the amount of children she had. All that sex with Nathan seems to have spurred a bit more in her. Ben and Phoebe. Part of her could not wait to see them grow up... the other part wanted them to stay young and playful.... But the world was cruel and she had to ready them for it.

The mother would have to spend the day resting after that, with Pam helping with the two children when they'd start needing it. Whatever was affecting growth seemed to be very real... not just because their pregnancy lasted just a third of the time, but because Pam could swear those two kids were meatier when she came in to check on them... already sucking on those exposed boobs with hunger. Sometimes you could just SEE them growing. It was utterly bizarre, but she had to agree it was convenient... no having to wait as long. But, one thing was certain... Pam needed to build one more crib. She had made one for the mother and one for herself... expecting just one from each. Now they would need three.

And in just two more days, the girl would go through the same process, now with her mother able to assist in full. Fiona would come out healthy and eager, leaving her mother in a better state, but still in need of a rest. James was now an actual daddy...

*

He stared far too long at that child. Deciding what to name her, just checking up on her... this was a virtual being that the man seemed to have a parent-like care for. James liked to see when Pam or Anna came in to feed her, to play with her...

James had discarded even the idea of having children five years ago. You had to be a millionaire to afford a house without selling your soul to a bank, women wanted you to be a model AND a millionaire to consider you worthy of one that brought nothing to a household. He was automatically discarded because he didn't have a car. James didn't like driving, he didn't like the idea of traffic and the absurd costs of maintaining one. It should have been a luxury, not a requirement. Damn the people who made civilization revolve around cars.

And now he had one... In a way. No doubt he would be shamed by a billion women for taking something that was not one of them, but the man decided to stop caring about other people's opinions on his course a long time ago. They do that shaming because it does not benefit them. This was his logic with everything the world forbids either legally or informally... women still had a mild hate for gay men because those were men who were not turning to them, but a quiet hate that they could not voice since that movement started.

He'd keep watching the girl as it was time to go back to the growth of the colony. Those two would be ready in two years. Yes, they grew to 18 in three, but were ready for work when they were teens. Three growth stages to set their passions and traits... and they were done. Technically, you could put children to work, but that was inefficient and James was not for that. He took the precept to forbid child labor because it also boosted their learning. Much better investment and he was not engaging in what other countries of the world casually did.

Pam could get back to her usual speed of work after that rest, though now the women were being constantly interrupted by the childcare. Those babies would have their own room, chaotic and unpleasant to be in most of the time... one where the women would often breastfeed a baby side by side, and not always their own. But, time to focus on the colony growth.

Power would be achieved as generators were set down in that room that the man designated to be solely for power generation. Normal ones because they hadn't researched industrial ones. One of those babies needed to become a scientist... and probably a medic as well. Power conduits would run through smoothed stone walls and power up the ceiling lamps, bringing light to the dark caves. It was still mostly rough stone, the man focusing on the important parts. Heating was done both by dedicated heaters... and the generators would also have the heat spill into the base. He used to have that heat go outside, but on additional thought, that was free heat. A couple of air conditioners set on the wall separating them from the courtyard would keep them at a nice temperature. For now, he'd still use those evaporation freezers because they were better than air conditioners, but he'd need to add some later just in case they ran out of wood. Why did it take wood? Because it had to take something and water was not part of the base game... that was another mod.

They had a freezer, they had a dedicated kitchen, and butchery was done in the adjacent room where one day there would be drug cooking and drink mixing. All of these were close together to save time. The great hall was adjacent to the freezer, meals ready to be enjoyed at that big table. For now, he'd also place some school desks in there for the kids' education. This was self-imposed early-game hell, but he was managing it.

Anna got her first psy powers a while ago, a trader coming along with just the right psytrainers to unlock those paths and let him go get the ones he wanted. Normally, it took a point to unlock a path or a power, but if you gave them a psytrainer, it also unlocked the path for free. Inefficient to use those points for unlocking. If the mod devs wanted him to not do that, they should make it so you can't use a trainer if you don't have the path unlocked. Ironically, this also meant those restrictions on who can get those exclusive paths were moot if you had the right trainers. Now the woman could throw around lightning thanks to the incredibly useful staticlord path, making her combat potential better than Nathan... until he got better weapons. The skipmaster powers would let her do short-range teleportation... useful both for friendly purposes and unfriendly ones. Positioning is important in combat, so having the power to instantly change it is almost a game-breaker. He even found the worth of that chaotic skip a while ago... you don't need line of sight and it can be a great "panic button" to make something fuck off behind a wall.

This was going well enough. Now to just endure the years until the kids grow, make more kids... A pause. He felt like Pam might want to have kids with him rather than someone else. How can he do that again? No, he might need to tell Anna SOMETHING. It was like choosing between two different desires. The desire for them to not fawn over him for what he considered to be an incorrect reason... and the desire to be with that girl again. No, not just to be with her... to have her happy with him being there. A deep sigh was let out.

Time for another smoke break. A time when he could think as he stared out from his balcony. He could still pass this off as a dream. It was barely a few hours ago, now his section of the world going into the afternoon. But something told him this was more than that. He was responsible for a very small world in there, one that was not just an easily created simulation. Or maybe it was... maybe he could just discard it and make a new one, one that he might turn into something to please every desire he had. But the man would not have that. Fuck that.

Back inside... he'd pay attention to Anna in the evening... maybe she wanted to talk. Maybe he could tell her. Or at least enough to not tell everything.

*

That was the last of their old home... torn down. The mountain would be their new home. For now, it was like living out of a mineshaft, everything around them rough stone as Nathan had left it from the excavation. But it was warm, a bit more secure... and well-lit. Things got a bit better for them over the last few months. Winter was here and the pelt coats were absolutely needed. Pam was working through snowfall, seeing everything get covered in white.

She didn't think they'd last this long, but here they were. The outside was insanely cold... not arctic level, but she didn't dare think of exposing bits in that weather. She even took the time to build a snowman earlier... a small thing to make the world a bit brighter. But so often did her thoughts return to that man. She should have forgotten him by now... Pam had attempts at boyfriends and she forgot about them in weeks when they didn't want to meet again. Now, she could still imagine his face, remember that pain that she could feel in him, pain that she still wanted to take away... make it all better.

Everything had been moved in the mountain. One room for storage, the freezer for holding things with a more limited lifespan. This started to feel more like a town... with a workshop, a warehouse, a hospital, a room for gathering... even if it was just the three of them... and the babies. Those buggers were growing quickly. Still no talking or walking, but plenty of eager babbling. Pam found Fiona to be an absolute cutie... and she had those green eyes that her father had, rather than her brown ones. A reminder of him when she saw the girl.

The wood shall go into the warehouse and... that's that. Everything she made from here on would be a bit more permanent. Time to move on to smoothing that stone to make it resemble something much more homely. This would take a while. She armed herself with tools to start polishing the base to a smooth finish.

And then she got that little impulse to set out a few things... more walls... but now she knew it was not her own. The Outsider wanted to talk. She was only mildly disappointed when they wanted her mother instead. Oh well... Pam taught her how to do this so they could have their private conversation.

Once the girl would bring over that tablet she used to organize things, Anna would look up, eager to hear what their god had to say to her. She felt a bit like a prophet, though the woman did not take much zealotry from it. The outsider's words were brief.

"YOU CAN BRING HIM BACK"

"Bring... I can make that man come back? I... don't have a power for it. Not yet."

"NO POWER, BUT IT TAKES PSYCHIC EFFORT"

That explained why she was getting more and more burdened while he was there.

"Why does it take that effort? What is it with him?"

"HE WILL EXPLAIN"

Now it felt like that man was possibly important to the outsider as well. Maybe he was more than human... something else. But to bring them back and see her girl smile? Oh, yes. Her power had grown a tad, though with her sensitivity that meant much more than others. Just two levels and she had moved up to double the heat and a faster recovery. Not that she was aware of those statistics. It was just instinct. Those levels came from simple meditation... done in between her tasks.

It was tempting to tell Pam... and possibly have her jump for joy while rushing ahead to meet them. She had the tablet where that notice would come. No, she won't... and get a bit of time to hear from that man.

And now, time to see HOW she would do this. It was easier than she thought... she just had to want it enough... and the notice came up.

*

Okay, now this wasn't a dream. James was sitting on his chair and looking at the screen before he saw Winter Wonderland. This time he was dressed in his black parka fit for such conditions... and he was still feeling the cold. Boreal was no bloody joke. Best hurry ahead to the base. Go north, easy to know because of the cliff.

Yep, this was not a dream. This was some weird, freak event that made the contents of his game real. He could be a god here... he WAS a god here. Okay, he was no better than any other pawn while he was here, but he could set things up and have things that those overlords dream of. He could come to find every food he wants, every kind of booze, drugs... and possibly have every person here bend over to be fucked willingly. No, go away intrusive thoughts.

Boy, this was a long walk. The snow made it harder. Thankfully, he had his winter boots on. If he arrived in his pajamas, barefoot, this would be hell. There's the kill box, get inside already. No more forward base on his right, now he had to traverse the courtyard toward the mountain base. Warmth would greet him inside... but someone else would wait for him in front of the door.

He saw the older woman, dressed in that pelt coat worthy of a Stark, leaning against the door with an expectant air. There were two doors into the base, it was not like she was blocking the way, but it might be impolite to not say hello. Anna straightened up to approach him as he came under the cover of this "entry section". Once, he set defenses here, but greater threats required a bigger killbox. From the start, the man felt like this was not just a polite conversation. Right, he had to explain why she was bringing him here. Time to make up some amazing bullshit.

"We meet again." The man tried to be nonchalant.

"That we do. How curious... that you come when I wish you to do so."

"Right. Well..."

James spun a story about being something like a runaway, needing constant shelter from some pursuers who could track him in some incredibly precise ways. To stay here, she had to mask his presence with psychic power, which was really just him doing it and her acting like a battery. Because he had to save his power to bolt the moment she might be unable to do it. He admitted that it might be unfair to not tell her about it, but most might not be too welcoming to him if he said it from the start. The man could be proud of that story... it made sense.