Pax Multi Pt. 07

"Lou, are you okay?" Beatrice's moth body asked, while her wasp body and her spider body cuddled against him.

"Yes, my wife," he said, quietly. "Just...thinking."

"I scent deception," her wasp body said, her black hands sliding along his chest. "You are still upset about your parents?"

"I..." Lou shook his head. "Can we have this discussion later? Once everyone's...asleep." His voice was very soft, but he was sure that his father was regarding him out of the corner of his eyes. Beatrice nodded -- and then all three of her bodies gasped again as the shuttle rounded the lighthugger. Lou had to admit, seeing her eyes widen and her faces mash against the windows as she boggled at the lighthugger was delightful. Amy walked over then, grinning as she did so.

"Want a tech spec on that?" she asked.

"Yes yes yes yes yes!" Beatrice said.

"That's a lighthugger," Amy said, cheerfully. "It five kilometers long -- and that white coloring comes from the hyper-compacted ice armor. We took ice, then mashed it up as much as you can. When you apply agrav fields to ice, see, it can be persuaded to actually compact, which is pretty hard. Water is one of the least compactable stuff in the universe. The ice is layered with a nanotech latticework that's made to create a huge magnetic field that reaches out for hundreds of thousands of kilometers in every direction, like a big scoop. It sucks up interstellar hydrogen and funnels it into the ship's stabdrive, so that it can be used as reaction mass for the engine." She grinned. "Now, normally, most of the ship is cargo space -- it's kind of...hilariously overdone, since other than colonial expeditions, lighthuggers never carry anything close to their maximum load."

Beatrice nodded, then blinked. "Why?"

"Well, because there just aren't that many human colonies out there," Amy said, shrugging. "Most of the human race is located in SOL."

"Oooooooooh!" Bea said, then giggled. "Well, dang! I should have gone with plan B, then!"

"Plan B?" Lou asked, his brow furrowing.

"Well, w-when the war was going on, I thought you were a hive mind. Distributed evenly, like mine. So, I had to beat you everywhere. But I did have an idea about taking out what I believed to be one of your systems via a kind of self replicating assassin bug. The idea was that I'd fire it at the inhabited planets in the SOL system, and they'd find hiding places and start breeding as fast as possible, then start stabbing! But then I decided to let my immune response handle it -- as that would have taken energy and effort away from my stabilization plans in my other systems." She bit her lip. "Of course, by the time I had made this decision, the war had suddenly turned very badly for me. It was most disconcerting."

"...that...would have worked, actually..." Amy said, slowly. "Most of Earth is wilderness. Humans live in a lot of tiny enclaves, and most of those are totally defenseless." She chuckled. "So, uh...wow. Thanks for not doing that."

Beatrice pouted. "Darn!"

"Beatrice!" Lou exclaimed.

"What? Am I not allowed to want to win the war?" Beatrice asked. Then she grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. "I am making a joke!" her wasp body whispered in his ear. "Is it not amusing, you see, the humor is derived from the fact that if I had done that, I would actually be quite upset!" She kissed his neck. "And I would not so gladly be able to ride your cock."

"So, about that..." Amy murmured.

"Amy..." Lou said, warningly.

"It is most excellent!" Spider-Bea said.

"Beatrice!"

"Once again, I am jesting!" her wasp body said, giggling. "By telling Amy of your amorous exploits, I am causing most amusing embarrassment!"

It was like this all the way into the shuttle bay.

***

"And this is your humble abode!" Amy said, gesturing as they emerged from the elevator that had taken them from the spinal docking corridor to the cargo hold. Beatrice and Lou stepped out of the elevator and gaped around themselves. Lou, who had had some idea of what to expect, still found himself stunned to the core as he slowly looked around himself -- and Beatrice looked as if she was barely able to remain coherent, her wings buzzing and her antennas twitching across all three of her bodies. Even her spider-body was clicking her mandibles excitedly.

The interior of the Lighthugger -- Lou had learned, through some questioning, that it's full name was The Eventual Redemption of Benjamin Carlos DeWitt, The Worst Man on Twitter and so was going to resume calling it 'the Lighthugger' from here on out -- was essentially one long cone. The cryocrypts were arrayed along the spine, where they were most protected from cosmic rays and any potential catastrophe. The stabdrive and the reaction mass tanks it took to get to ramspeed took up the bottom. But the front cone was dominated by the cargo hold. Nominally, it was filled to the brim with the supplies and tools that a colony would use to found a human civilization on a new world.

Now?

It was empty.

But give an AnCom an empty, several hundred thousand ton capacity kilometer by kilometer by kilometer cube that was crammed into the nose cone of an interstellar starship, and they will go all out. The entire interior had been sculpted to look like the pastoral wonderland of some bygone world -- not quite Earth, considering the three moons overhead, but it was so cleverly built and arranged that it was almost impossible to think of it as being inside. There were thick trees planted around the central clearing, receding to a high definition internal projection screen which made the forest seem to go on for infinity The screen was cleverly designed so that the conical shape of the sky was almost completely concealed, and there was even a sun that was beginning to slowly move overhead, casting shadows that felt so natural and real.

"This is amazing..." Lou whispered, softly.

"And, because I know you're a Neopolitan," Amy said, cheerfully. "I had the nanofabs work on creating some wildlife -- deer, rabbits, birds. There's not enough for a sustainable population, but the fabricators will be making them at a fairly steady rate -- based off your consumption, of course, so...you..." She reached behind herself, then brought out a compound bow. "Can hunt for your mistress!"

"I..." Lou gaped at her. "It's been so long since I've gone on a hunt!" he exclaimed, taking the bow, holding it in his hands.

"What is hunt?" Bea asked.

"Well, it's where you shoot animals -- oh, uh, they're going to have cyber-brains running subsentient personality routines that don't feel pain and will get digitally fed back into the main computer system," Amy said, nodding. "So, you know, you won't actually kill anything."

Lou, who hadn't even thought of that, blinked and nodded. "R-Right."

"Also..." Amy leaned in close, murmuring softly. "It'll mean you have a reason to have a weapon. Your father says there's no other assassins, but...you never know"

Lou nodded, while Beatrice's wasp body leaned in, curiously.

"Why do you shoot the animals?" she asked.

"To cook and eat them," Lou said, smiling at her.

"Oooh!" Beatrice said. "That sounds horribly inefficient but delicious!"

Amy beamed. "Now, for the piece of resistance..." she said, walking backwards so that the elevator could slide back into the floor. Once it had done so, Lou saw that the ceiling of the elevator smoothly merged with the grass -- it felt as if the illusion had been completed, save for a single pillar of silver metal. "This is a nanofabricator, but I have programmed it only to produce simple tools." She grinned. "This place never gets cold, rain is only programmed to happen rarely...so...you don't really need shelter. But I know how you Neopolitans like pointless labor. So, you can Minecraft it up here. Chop down trees, fashion them into a cabin, build it all with your bare hands, that fun stuff!"

"...you think I can build an entire log cabin by myself?" Lou asked, his voice dry.

"Just in case your royal training failed you, the fabber can spit out books too, we have the full computer library here." Amy chuckled, then bit her lip. "I know I'm going to see you again in subjective seconds. But..." She paused. "Well...I..." She shrugged. "I know it's just a year, but...like...it's still..."

Lou smiled, then hugged her tightly, drawing her close, squeezing her chrome body close to him.

"For I am a highly evolved creature, I am going to state how not jealous, nor overbearing I am!" Moth-Bea called out.

Lou laughed -- then blinked as the elevator started to whirr up. Godfucker leaned out, grinning. "Yo, dude, Amy done showing you around?" he asked, and at Lou's nod, he swept Lou into a hug as well, squeezing him tightly. Once GF had placed him down, he ruffled Lou's hair. "You're a cool kid, you know?"

"Kid!" Lou scoffed. "Godfucker, I..." he paused. "how old are you?"

"Ninety two," Godfucker said, casually. "So, Amy, you ready to leave these two love birds to their honeymoon?"

"If you ever need to talk to someone else, just send a wake up signal to either of us!" Amy said, nodding hurriedly. "We'll get back into the crypts after a few days, but we're more than happy to spend time with you, honest!" she said as GF took her hand and dragged her to the elevator.

"Bye!" Beatrice waved as the elevator started to smoothly recede. It locked down and Lou brushed his hands through his hair.

He shook his head. "What the fuck is a Minecraft?"

***

Lou grunted as he brought the ax whistling down into the side of the tree, his back bare, his sweat gleaming, while his wives watched him. Well, his wife. Watched him. Plural. With three bodies. Well, two bodies. Her wasp body and her moth body were drooling over him, but her spider body was currently buried in yet another book. She had printed about five in the two days since the lighthugger had begun to accelerate away from the Alpha Centauri system -- joined by the Invisible Hand as the Federal lighthugger rammed up to speed. The Federals were technically already accelerating far, far, far ahead of them, as they were burning at the full fury of a stabdrive. But once they reached interstellar cruising speed, their engine would shut down and their ship would cool down to be a floating, nearly invisible tomb in the vastness of space. Meanwhile, the lighthugger Lou was on would continue to (comparatively) slowly pick up the pace, going faster and faster at a stately one gravity until reaching the halfway point, swinging around, and begin to decelerate in the other direction.

He tried to not think about the time that would be involved. A year and change...it was almost too much for him to hold.

For now?

For now, he was getting some lumber.

And wallowing in the pleasure of showing off for his wife.

"You know, this should be everything the Neopolitans hate," Lou said. "It's artificial. Fake. False in every character. A bit of playacting!" He slammed the ax home again, wincing as the splinters went flying. He grinned, then stepped backwards, hearing the groaning, crackling sound of the tree beginning to give way. The tree fell slowly forward and crashed to the ground. He felt the tremor, transmitted through the false earth he stood upon. And yet...to his inner ear, to his eye, to his skin, it felt as if he was standing upon a world that was almost Earth...

"Neopolitan beliefs seem to be highly silly," Beatrice said. "Why do you find them so pleasing, husband?"

Lou bit his lip, regarding the tree he had felt, the endorphins that buzzed through him crackling along his brain. He rested his ax on his shoulders, thinking. "Because..." he paused. "Because..." He bit his lip, considering. "Because...humanity has done so much, over such a long period of time, and...I...refuse to believe there was nothing of value in that time. That...the whole reason why we were striving and building and seeking a better future was meaningless." He turned to face her, shrugging. "We...I...want my life to have meaning, like all those ancients did. I want what I do to matter..." He sighed, slowly, then swung his ax off his shoulders, looking down at it. "What does anything matter if a machine can do it better anyway?"

Bea nodded, slightly.

"And...there's something else..." Lou walked over, sitting down beside the two of them. He slowly flopped onto his back, onto the warm, soft grass. Beatrice's moth body immediately flung herself across his belly, like a sleek, blue-white blanket. He laughed, then caressed her hair. "It's...a-all those bullshit lies my parents told me. Honor. Fealty. Nobility. I...believed them, you know?" He looked up at the sky, then smiled as her wasp body leaned over, filling his vision with something infinitely more beautiful than even the most pure blue sky.

Big...delicious wasp titties.

Godfucker has infected me with his crassness, Lou thought. Not that this stopped him from admiring the way his wife's breasts swayed as she smiled at him.

"These words...I still am not sure I understand them the way that you talk of them," Beatrice said. "but if they are the qualities that you show...of warmth and kindness and understanding? Of...being not...of..." She bit her lip. "Of being good." Her fingers cupped his cheek, crooking as she stroked him slowly. "If those are what you show, then nobility, honor, fealty, all of those are excellent things indeed and we should keep them alive, indeed."

Lou smiled. Then he sat up. "Beatrice! How is your reading on human culture going?"

"I am currently reading about wives," Beatrice said, cheerfully, her spider body not glancing up, though her wasp body did perk up her chin, looking very smug and proud of herself. "Did you know that the brewing industry in England during the 16^th century was dominated by the wives of the brewers?" She nodded. "I shall brew!"

Lou chuckled. "If you can figure out how to build a still, I am all for you brewing," he said, smiling a bit.

"Oh, why use a still? I can simply breed some bioforms!" she said. "Most of the hive that I had are in the life support systems of the lighthugger. I worked with GF and Amy to integrate them into the recycling system. They said that it's ten times more efficient than the human systems.' She beamed. "I shall breed bioforms that make the best beer of all time."

Lou laughed, shaking his head. "And what of our little breeding program?"

"Oh, you raise an excellent point!" Her spider body rolled onto her back, her hands caressing along her belly. "Though you cannot see it yet, I am having the beginning of a zygote growing within me, I am positive. You know, it was actually fairly tricky, since your body does not produce the normal range of chromosomes as exhibited by the bodies I examined who you would identify as male...you are aware of this, yes?"

"Oh, yes, it'd be because I'm trans," Lou said, nodding, absently.

"Trans?" the three Beatrices looked at him.

"Also, wait, wait, you said..." Lou blinked. It had suddenly struck him, like a stone brick smashing into the back of his head. "You said...I thought that was dirty talk, you're actually with child?"

"What is trans?" Wasp Beatrice asked, while spider Beatrice nodded excitedly.

"I am indeed with child! I worked with Amy to ensure that all of the appropriate bodily functions occurred. She told me that I would need to have a round belly, for easy petting, and for my breasts to swell with milk, which is a little strange, but I am told that the milk is an important fetish for the male partner, to entice them to continue to make love to the pregnant body. And...Lou, you are looking very odd."

Lou continued to gape at her. "Y...You're...pregnant..."

"Yes!" Wasp Beatrice pressed up against her back. "This bioform has also deposited the cum that you have dumped into her to the external wombs located back in the hive. Those are also pregnant."

Lou blinked very rapidly. "I...I...okay...I just...w-what...will they...it...she? Her? Him?"

"Well, that is the first complication," Beatrice said, nodding. "I knew that our child would need to be a synthesis of human and my thought patterns. I wanted them to be a unique being, not merely another bioform. If I wanted that, I could have that far easier. So, I've worked out the blending -- this is why my wife forms are all terrestrial insects, they're all designed based off human DNA, and it's easier to integrate human DNA with insectoid DNA, as they are distantly related to one another, not to me. Then I began to tweak certain formations within the DNA patterns that lead to the development of the brain to create similar quantum communication structures. This took up a lot of the room that human brains normally have for sentience forming patterns -- according to Amy at least, after I showed her my design."

"Why didn't you tell me Beatrice?" Lou asked.

"Oh, so it would be a pleasing surprise!" Beatrice said. Then she paused. "Is it?"

"I...y-yes!" Lou said, then took her hands, as many as he could, squeezing them in his hands. "Y-Yes, I just...it is a shock. I...I swear to you, my wife, I will be the finest father that our child could ever wish." He gulped, slightly. "Our children! That is. If...you said three wombs? One in your spider body, two from your wasp..." He looked at her, and her wasp body blushed.

"W-Well, to be fair...it will be slightly more complex than a single zygote," she said, her wings buzzing shyly. "You see, ah, the quantum communication structure will take up a great deal of the brain room, meaning that, like me, our child will have a distributed intelligence. Less than mine, as it is still based on a human brain, which is considerably more able to maintain intelligence forming mental structures. So, we will need many 'children' to house a single child. D-does that make sense?"

Lou blinked slowly. "Y...es...I think?"

"It does mean that the first few that I birth will be only of animal intelligence, following instincts," he said, nodding. "They may be unpleasant and...possibly even quite vexing, doing nothing but eating and sleeping and needing petting and holding. I...is this different from human children?"

"I..." Lou smiled. "No, it sounds about right."

"But once we have enough, they will attain sentience!" Bea said, her antennas extending excitedly. "And they will grow more and more mature with each bioform that we breed."

Lou nodded, slowly. "All right. Um." He coughed. "How many will we need?"

"Not many," Beatrice said, smiling, her spider-form nodding. "One to two-"

Lou breathed a slow sigh of relief.

"-hundred."

Lou choked.

TO BE CONTINUED