Ringworld 08

She was waiting at the gate with a surly guard when my limo pulled up, I was out and over to her even as we stopped.

"Come on. Let's get you that look over my ship you wanted."

I escorted her to the car and climbed in after her, pulling her into my arms as soon as we were seated, a discrete real driver turned his face forward and started to drive us to the space port.

"Listen, I wasn't exactly honest with you back there, I love you but there are one or two little problems."

"I don't care, I'm just so happy to be in your arms again, I don't care if you're a mass murder, I love you as well and I'll live with whoever you are.

"It's nothing like that, how do I explain this, I discovered an abandoned asteroid, or at least one that had been drifting for ten years...." I told the story up to the point of waking Freya and Radha, we were getting close to the spaceport and I promised more when we were settled in the shuttle.

Our way had been cleared and two seats booked, I silently thanked my benefactor and took her through to the departure lounge. She clung to me all the way, pulling her seat around to sit close as I ordered a large steak 'to keep her strength up'.

I hadn't given her much time to tell her story, how it was that she came to be in Marta's house. We talked about this over dinner, despite her pestering for me to finish my story, she was intrigued as to what my 'little problems' were.

She was mollified and somewhat content with my assurances of my love for her, my promise that we would marry and live in my splendid asteroid, that she'd be the mother of my children. She was beginning to relax a bit, opening up as she related her tale.

Because she got off relatively scott free she must have had a hand in Sara's arrest, helped the authorities in some way. Her copy of the film had disappeared when she produced it in her defence. She was initially taken to Sara's house to keep her quiet, to keep her out of circulation, while a different story was spun.

When Sara was sentenced to a year of slavery they were furious, they arranged for someone to go and buy her time and devised a plan to sell Hillie to make her sorry for causing trouble for the family and to help defray the costs of keeping Sara safe.

Happily she hadn't been abused beyond the verbal tirades Marta had subjected her to, she still couldn't quite believe that I had come to her rescue, my asteroid space ship my white charger, she would willingly forgive me anything after this.

Our flight was called while we were drinking coffee, I walked with her to the gate, mentally girding my loins to tell her of her two rivals waiting for us up in orbit. I was going to have to get her sold on their conditioning, their compulsive need to 'make me happy'.

We were seated at the back, I gave her the window seat and she watched excitedly as the grav field lifted us up into the clouds.

"Hillie," I said taking her hand.

"Yes," she answered expectantly.

"About my little problem, you know the two girls I revived?"

"Yes."

"Well I found out they were mindwiped, do you know what that means?"

"Not exactly." A frown briefly clouding her face

"Well it means their memories and personalities were cleansed, when the woke it was like they were born, their memories start from then." I paused for a second to let her think that through. "They were given limited new personalities, ones that programed them into sex slaves."

"Oh god how awful."

"Yes, yes it is, but the part that affects us is they were programed to imprint on whoever woke them."

"You woke them."

"Yes, and it was me they called Master, all they wanted to do was please me, sexually and every other way."

"What's happen to them?"

"I'm coming to that, patience."

"But I want to know."

"They were the reason I was on the ring." I continued, ignoring her interruption. "I was looking to see if there was a cure for them, something to make them normal."

"And was there?"

"Not that I could find there, there's another lead on Beta Prime but from what they said on the Ring there's no way to undo it."

"So what will you do now?"

"That's something we'll talk of later, right now there's a bigger problem."

"What?"

"They're waiting on my ship, you'll be meeting them in twenty minutes or so."

"What!"

"Yes, I'm as much bound to them as they are to me, their 'love' for me isn't like normal love where you can get over a heartbreak, they can't live in the real world without me to keep them stable."

"Isn't there anything you can do? Put them back into hibernation or something."

"That would be cruel, none of this is their fault, they're still human."

"Are you sleeping with them?"

"Yes, that's part of the problem, I tried to talk to them on the trip here, telling them how special you were to me but, oh I don't know, they expect you to be an extra bed partner with them, that nothing much will change. It's difficult to explain how normal they look but how different their thinking is."

"So I've got two sex slaves competing for your love."

"No, you have my heart, I don't love them I love you."

I leant in to give her a kiss to prove it but she moved back.

"Hillie," I said taking her hand. "I mean it, I'll put them in a hospital if you really want me to, but because I woke them I have a duty to them as well, I don't want to just abandon them."

"So you want the three of us to share your bed?"

"No!"

I said it forcefully, my voice loud in the cabin. The people in front of us turning to look.

"No," I said quietly. "I want only you, I sleep with them to stop them from begging to please me, the first morning with them they seduced me in my sleep, then by lunch time they were raping me."

Her face softened. "Oh, I'm sorry"

"Water under the bridge. We have sex before sleeping now, one fuck a night and they take it in turns."

She edged closer to me. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know, I had expected to have time to sort this mess out, but then I met you."

"What's this Beta Prime thing?"

"They're at the leading edge of understanding how the mind works, it's a rather drastic solution."

"What?"

"To have their minds wiped again, to give them new personalities that will make them 'normal'."

"Would that work?"

"I don't know, I'd have an ethics question there but I'd trust them more than the ones on the ring."

The seatbelt lights came on and the announcement that we'd be docking in a few minutes. Hillie leant over and gave me a kiss on the cheek before she belted up. I felt so pleased and relieved; the physical contact gave me hope that things weren't as bad as I feared.

We turned aside before the arrivals hall, making our way to my ship through the service tunnels. At the lock to the ship I stopped and faced her.

"It's traditional to carry the bride across the threshold." I said bending to lift her.

"But we aren't married yet."

"A minor matter, we will be as soon as I get you home."

She laughed as I lifted her, wrapping her arms around my neck as I asked Sue to open the door. The bare passage leading up wasn't as welcoming as it could have been but I don't think she cared. I took her straight to the lounge and nearly dropped her when we found Freya and Radha making love on the carpet.

I mentally cursed Sue for not warning them we were coming but then who knew how machine logic worked, to Sue lovemaking like this for the girls was normal, it was their cure for boredom and there were few rooms in the ship where they hadn't made love.

They were on their feet and rushing over to us, naked breasts bouncing, as I put a surprised and slightly shocked Hillie down.

"Sorry, I should have messaged them to tell them we were coming" I said.

Hillie was giving the girls the once over as they came to a stop in front of me and wrapped their arms around me in greeting.

"Girls, I'd like you to meet Hillery." I said untangling myself from them

I took hold of their arms. "This is Freya, and this is Rada," I said presenting each one.

"Hello," Hillie said, still examining them.

"Are you the new girl?" asked Freya.

"Never mind that now, go and put some clothes on and we can talk over coffee." I said.

"Okay," said Freya.

They both gave me a hug and disappeared out the door.

"Their very pretty," Hillie said watching them go.

I took her in my arms. "Now don't start that, pretty doesn't matter, I love you."

Hillie wrapped her arm around my waist. "So, this is my new home."

"Um, no actually, this is just a runabout, I was going to sell it. I've got a much bigger one back home, four bedrooms a couple of lounges, room enough for a family and more."

"What!" she said surprised. "What other secrets are you hiding?"

"It's not a secret...." She shut me up with a kiss.

We were still kissing when the girls returned.

"Master, shall I get coffee for us?" asked Freya at my elbow.

"Mm, no," I said breaking off. "Sue can we have at pot of coffee please."

I walked Hillie over to the settee, the girls trailing behind, and sat down.

"Freya, Radha, Hillie is in charge now, she is the new master. I want you to follow her orders as if they were mine, you understand."

They both nodded.

I looked up into the air. "Sue, get us permission to undock and plot us a course home."

"Acknowledged," Sue replied.

I lay back, relieved and happy, Hillie was sitting next to me and all was right with my world. In a way I was glad we'd walked in on the girls making love, it reinforced my telling her of their need for love and sex in a way no words could.

The little bot floated in with the tray and deposited it on the table, I leant forward to pour but Radha, who was nearest, beat me to it. I lay back, wanting to talk to break the silence but I not knowing what to say.

I looked up again. "Sue, could we have some music, something soft and relaxing."

Another thought struck me. "Sue?"

"Yes Frank."

"Hillie has full authority, accept her orders as mine."

"Acknowledged."

I sipped my coffee and wondered what common ground I could find to start a conversation going, I wanted the girls to get to know each other, Freya and Radha were girls of very few words anyway but both of them were intelligent and curious, Freya especially.

I looked over at them, they were dressed in shorts and halter tops, the thought occurred to me that neither was probably wearing underwear and my thoughts jumped to the sleeping arrangements, on this ship there was only one bedroom, something I should have thought through fully before now.

I put my cup down and turned to Hillie. "I'm going to check on how Sue's doing, I'll be on the bridge if you need me, okay."

"Can I come with you?" she asked.

"Yes of course."

We stood and walked to the door, as we got there Hillie took my arm.

"Where are the toilets?" she asked quietly.

"There's one in the corner over there," I said nodding my head to point. "There's another in the bedroom, along with a shower, and another topsides off the bridge."

"And the kitchen?"

"That's down there, and we call it a galley on a ship."

"You'll have to show me around, I don't want to get lost."

"Just ask Sue if you do. You want the grand tour now?"

"What about checking on Sue?"

"I can do that later, we'll start with the bedroom, you can use the toilet there."

I led her to the lift and up one stop. The holograms on the bedroom walls were of green fields, blending with the blue sky of the ceiling, the only thing that spoilt the effect was the outline of the doors and cupboards.

"Frank, this is beautiful," she said standing stopped just inside the door and looking around.

"Oh, there are lots of others as well, we've got lakeside, underwater, moonscapes or you can just have the view of space around us. Sue will display the range if you ask her."

"No, I like this."

"The bathroom is over here," I said, walking towards the near invisible door.

I sat on the bed and waited; glad the housekeeping bots had tidied the place. She came back out.

"Are the bedrooms in your home like this as well?"

"Yes, and you can play with the ones in the lounge as well, it's set to neutral at the moment."

"Really," she said sounding excited

She walked over and sat next to me on the bed. "This is nearly as big as my room back home."

I looked as she patted the bed. "Your new home has one just a bit smaller, but you can have your choice there."

The thoughts of the sleeping arrangements for tonight crept back into my mind, bringing worries with them.

"Shall I show you the bridge next?"

"Yes if you want," she said sounding a little less than enthusiastic.

"On second thoughts, we'll go see the galley, the food processer is a bit old but it was all mod cons when it was fitted."

"Yes, that's more interesting than boring displays and dials."

I took us back down and into the galley, the single processor set into one wall, countertop under it. A breakfast bar ran the length of the other with three stools, it was maybe a six – seven foot square with neutral walls, small, but big enough to serve our needs.

What couldn't be seen was the support system behind it, the yeast and fungi cultivation, the nanobot converter and the store of nutrients. Sue governed all that, there was redundancy built in to stop us starving should anything break, and as far as I was concerned it was something best left to her.

I dialled up a burger for her to demonstrate and she saw mango nectar and ordered that herself. We wandered back to the lounge where Freya and Radha were watching our departure, seeing the planet shrink on the big screen, looking about as big as a beach ball as we headed for the nexus.

I got Sue to dig out a couple of bottles of real wine and truffle chocolates from storage for the evening meal, a pre-emptive peace offering, assuage my guilt for not sorting out the sleeping arrangement, I really wanted the night alone with Hillie, but with only one bed.

I wasn't sure what Hillie's thoughts were. I had deliberately shown her our single bedroom; I'd hinted at sharing on the shuttle up, I was afraid of asking outright since her little outburst. I had another little wrinkle as well, how would the other two react to being put aside for Hillie?

I'd spent nearly an hour sitting up here on the bridge, we'd jumped through one hole and were realigning on the next one. Around us were the gleaming shapes of other ships jumping in and out of the collection of holes that made up this nexus, jumping hither and thither across the galaxy.

My tummy rumbled, there'd been a four hour offset in time zones, down there I had been four hours behind, not that I'd really had time to acclimatise properly, just enough so that I felt out of kilter back up here, my tummy at least was getting back into sync.

I strolled back down to find Hillie playing cards with the girls, not thank god, consequences, but trumps. They all seemed to be getting on well, all three turning and smiling at me as I walked over.

"I'm hungry, shall we have tea now?"

The all assented, Freya nodding, Hillie standing and Rahda's exaggerated grinning agreement. I turned and started back, Freya and Radha catching up with me as I made the corridor. I let them into the galley first, waiting for Hillie, a step behind us.

"They worship you," she said quietly.

"Their programed to," I said just as quietly, emphasising 'programed'.

It gave her pause for thought.

"I've got you a treat for after," I said with my normal voice.

We shared a perfectly replicated lobster, not that I've ever had a real one, but this was the best that I'd tasted. The girls were satisfied with their more organic stir-fry, the vegetables grown here at least. The wine and chocolates were waiting for us on the table back in the lounge.

We sat around it, crosslegged on the floor, Hillie and me on one side and the girls on the other. Hillie and me got nearly touchy feely, helping her crack the claw, hand over hand squeezing, hers on top. The thought of the girls watching drew me back; instead I turned my attention to the wine and poured four glasses

I raised mine in a toast. "Here's to 'Happy ever after'."

They all looked at me, they didn't understand, I should have realised, especially the two girls.

"Never mind, I'll explain sometime."

We finished the meal and I had the bot clean up while we moved the seats back and sat. I topped up the gasses and brought out the chocolates, offering them around, Hillie first. Their reaction was something else, I'd only had them once before and it brought back memories of then, a much younger me impressing a young girl with misappropriated ones from an ambassadorial dinner.

I closed the box and put them in the centre of the table then picked up the cards.

"We'll play trumps, winner gets the next chocolate." I announced.

I gave the cards a quick shuffle and dealt. Radha was the first winner, I ignominiously lost on Six, overtrumped twice and having my ace trumped as well. In the next game I was eliminated on three, leaving Hillie to go on to win.

I took the cards and then took the chocolates and handed out two each, leaving two in the box.

"Two left." I put the pack down. "Someone shuffle and we'll cut, two highest cards win one each. The other way was taking too long."

I sat back taking one of my two and popping it into my mouth, savouring it as it melted and the chewy centre was exposed and its unique flavour flooded my mouth. I took the last cut and lost, a twinge of disappointment flickering as I watched Freya and Radha take them.

There was still nearly two hours till our normal bedtime but usually we went to bed early after I'd been away, what few time they were. The choice was mine, Hillie was four hours out of sync, she wouldn't be tired yet, I doubted she'd suggest going.

On the other hand she might ask to think to get some privacy with me there, privacy I'd never had to have from Freya or Radha before, they'd follow or sit as the mood took them. That might be a future problem as well but it wasn't important now.

We'd finished the wine and my thoughts led me a wicked dance to the idea of getting us drunk so there'd be no real sex tonight and we could just fall into a drunken sleep and put the problem off till tomorrow, I had spirits and liquors curtsey of our builder who only liked the best.

I resisted temptation and instead opened the question.

"What shall we do now, we won't get there till mid-morning probably, shall we watch a film or play cards or something for a while or an early night?"

"Could we make love and stay up, I'm not very tired we slept while you were out."

I gulped. "I'll be loving Hillie tonight, you and Freya can love each other."

"Yes Master," she said

I'd notice they used that title when they were disappointed or disagreed with me, it was their way of complaining. I hadn't minded until now, now it brought a twinge of guilt and regret with the knowledge that our relationship had changed irrevocably.

I couldn't be as cruel as I should be and say no more, tomorrow I promised myself, tomorrow I'd sit them down after we got home. The thought of boyfriend, vetted of course, flashed through my mind, I filed it under pending.

There was an awkward pause filled by Hillie's. "I vote for cards."

I looked at Freya and Radha. "You want to play?"

They nodded.

"What shall we play?" I asked, letting my eyes linger on the girls' then flick to Hillie.

"Whist," asked Freya.

"I've never played that," said Hillie.

"It's like trumps only you play in pairs, the four of us would have thirteen cards with the winning pair having the highest count at the end," I explained.

"Spades are first, then hearts, diamonds and clubs and finally no trumps, that decides the overall winner in a round of games." Freya added.