The Preacher Man

Ammar had a valid point. My life had been a meteoric ride of advancement. One of the side effects was that I had missed spending much time with people who were CL-2. I realized with a start that after five years, over 60% of my Anqara class were probably still at CL-2. Such is the nature of the promotion system. About 62% of the population of each Citizen Level will eventually make it to the next level, but 38% will not. Those that fail the fifth and final promotional gate after 31 years at CL-2 will die on average about nine years later, when their annual anti-aging booster randomly turns into a placebo.

Ammar continued. "I thought up the idea of a Brotherhood, open to all but targeting men who had failed their fifth gate. The Priesthood and the township governments were very receptive to the idea. Work productivity for this group is well known for being low. I was proposing something where the men could find both peace and purpose in the final years of their lives."

Abigail nodded her understanding. "And the gold mine in Australia?"

"Yes, exactly. It's a mine staffed entirely by men on the lottery system. It's a perfect match for everyone. The coastal distillation plant was switched from the thorium cycle to p-b11 at the turn of the century. When that happened, we had an unlimited supply of fresh water. We petitioned the conservation Guilds for a hundred square kilometer exemption, changed the area around the mines from semi-arid to a lush temperate paradise, perfect for our roses."

Chanah smiled. "Perfect also for growing a discrete surplus of food."

Ammar smiled back. "Yes, that too. It wasn't our original intention. But it turned out to be a perfect hideaway. Production at the mine is superb, close to two metric tons of gold per month, plus supplying the majority of the world's copper needs, all with the registered work force of a class-C mining site, forty male overseers and their wives, plus four hundred unmarried virgins."

"Because you have an extra one thousand unregistered helpers?"

"Closer to eleven hundred. In the years after the monastery transfer, we were also shipping over small groups of unmarried women. We could only give them a little more than a year, but they died with peace and dignity, among equals. We would ask the women in private, just before their sleep cycle, if they wanted the choice. For the women who consistently begged for it, we faked their deaths in mining accidents, and then smuggled them to the coast and aboard the ore ships." Ammar looked at me. "You shut us down Illias, in mid 8235. You were so sharp! We were afraid you had discovered us."

"And that's when you tried to kill me. You almost got Abby too."

"Ah, that part was totally unforeseen. Not that it would have changed our plan. We would have assumed Abigail would have preferred death, rather than having her classmates discovered."

"You would have presumed correctly," answered Abigail.

Ammar nodded. "Your request to me Ilias, to help save Abigail's life, it was completely unexpected. It caused us to rethink." He laughed. "And besides, a second failure would have exposed us for sure. You didn't seem to be pursuing us. The secret society within the Brotherhood decided to become completely dormant."

He paused for a moment and then smiled at the memories. "The girls Ilias! They were so incredibly brilliant, even as young girls! The ones Abigail mentioned, a small core of others. During the Judgment of 8223, a small group of us within the Brotherhood started talking about the tragedy that would befall them, how the eternity drugs would rob them of their lives and insight. It started almost as a joke, but by the summer of 8224 we were ready. Our goal was to rescue six wings of the monastery girls before they were locked into the anti-aging drugs."

Abigail blinked. "Six?" She gasped. "My Holy! You were trying to rescue me too, weren't you?!"

Ammar nodded. "You were on our prime list. We managed to have the fire block both escape routes from your dorm, but our gas explosion in the basement failed to open a path to you. There was no time to improvise. We had to abandon you." Ammar sighed. "Perhaps it was Providential. If we had rescued you, you never would have met and married Ilias. Who knows how the world would have evolved?" He turned back to me. "So Ilias, what now?"

Ammar and I both had other afternoon appointments on our calendars. A few minutes later we were standing in my outer office, booking our next meeting with my secretary. We would meet again in five days.

Chapter 44. First Contact

Fifteen days later...

Time: March 30, 8240 10:32 PM

The congregational unions of Qataban sang me a spontaneous farewell hymn this evening, at the end of the cathedral Prayer service. It was an ancient folk melody and an extremely touching gesture. I had to fight to hold back my tears.

So many changes are about to happen. I'm flying with my family tomorrow to the Caribbean island township of Dalma, and I can't wait to show my wives the incredible beauty there. And at midnight tonight, we will have our first direct clandestine contact with the free women of Australia. Abigail has been acting like a coiled spring ever since I got home.

We think we have a perfectly secure means of direct contact. My personal quarters are secure, and Sheffie and Chanah have been busy these last several days making some unusual modifications to the holo-emitters in my conference room. We are scheduled tonight to transfer a great deal of encrypted data from my personal lab here at Qataban to my new quarters at Dalma. Through the entangled portal my wives will multiplex an encrypted video signal that will be laser-bounced up to a geo-synchronous satellite in the mid Pacific and then back down to Western Australia.

It's one of the many advantages of living and working so near the world's spaceport. It was fairly easy for the Brotherhood in 8228 to add a small laser to one of the communications satellites. Officially registered as diagnostic for analyzing wavefront deformation by the atmosphere, the laser also has a quite different unregistered ability.

I had taken a shower as soon as I got back to my quarters, intending to get dressed again for the meeting, but was met by Dodi and Michal as I came out of the bathroom. They didn't say a word. Both of them just grabbed an arm and began to nudge me over to the bed. There was plenty of time before the midnight call, and I realized I very much wanted to relax and cuddle with them. I eagerly allowed myself to be led.

A few moments later I was lying down, resting and being petted by two of the most beautiful women imaginable. I smiled and kissed and rubbed noses with Michal for a while, and then turned to Dodi who was lying patiently on my right.

Such gratitude I have for my Holy. The miracle occurred less than a month ago, in the first few days of March. Dodi lost all her fear of me, even when she first awakes. When we sleep together now, I awake to find her playful and affectionate and only slightly perplexed as to why she is so happy. She is a joy in my life and to the others too. Qataban's senior surgical staff is so impressed with her, they respectfully asked me to consider leaving her here when I depart for Dalma, assuring me she would be very well taken care of. Sorry guys, though I did use my influence with the Health Guides to get some very competent replacements for her.

A joy. Ha! Especially now! I suppose it was part of her training at her particular monastery, but Dodi has no bashfulness at all when it comes to having sex in front of her other sister wives. All my other wives are a bit shy about this unless we're engaging in group sex, but not Dodi. She'll use sexual activity as an open invitation for the other wives to join in.

I had turned back to kiss with Michal, semi-arousing, we were letting our tongues play with each other. Then I felt a cool breeze on my groin. Dodi had pushed back the folds of my bathrobe, her hand caressing my penis in a vertical position as it grew in the open air. Michal glanced down and giggled at the sight.

All worries about the future disappeared as I cuddled with soft and feminine Michal, all the while Dodi increasing her grip to match my own growing firmness. Once she had me fully erect, Dodi formed a tight circle with her thumb and forefinger and began short, pumping strokes at the base of penis. My cock began to feel super hard and in need of a warm, moist place to park itself.

Abigail came trotting in from the living area and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw me in my exposed and aroused condition. We made eye contact and I saw her gulp. I smiled back, knowing she wouldn't be upset even though this was her night to sleep with me. Abigail has more than just love for her sister wives. She also has a great deal of compassion for the two with the damaged minds, and Abby is very willing to defer her own happiness in order to support theirs.

But not tonight. Dodi saw Abigail staring at my exposed and aroused cock, and she wiggled my erection back and forth as an invitation to Abby. It felt vaguely embarrassing, having my arousal offered from one wife to another. I felt a little like a breeding bull, and was both impressed and mildly annoyed that Dodi would do such a thing. But it wasn't the first time, and one look at Abby's playful smile at me banished all of my annoyance. A few seconds later my first wife shed her clothes and joined us in bed.

Dodi and Michal pulled back my robe from both sides and I had naked Abby pressing her body onto me as we kissed. Dodi still had the base of my penis locked in a fierce circular grip, and my pole was bouncing back and forth between the soft inner thighs of playful Abby, making faint slapping sounds as Dodi continued to pump me. Abby raised her body slightly, arching her back and opening her legs wide while Dodi bent my erection down to an almost horizontal position. Then Abby pushed back down, sliding my erection deep within her body.

The sensuality was overwhelming. My penis was sheathed in a perfect vagina, hot and wet and forming a slick, firm grip on my throbbing cock. I tried thrusting up into Abby, but Dodi's fingers still had me locked in a super-tight grip. In the heat of my passion, I wondered if I would be able to ejaculate through such a viselike band. I thrust back and forth into Abigail's womanhood, both of us getting lost in the intense sexual pleasure. After several peaks and valleys of pushing our bodies against each other, we finally found a perfect fuck rhythm, and both of us started sliding down the chute of orgasmic release. My cock thinned and lengthened as I prepared to spurt, and Abby began to moan in anticipation of her pleasure. There was a stray thought in the back of my mind. When Dodi felt me trying to ejaculate, would she release her grip and let me cum?

More fingers at my groin. Michal! I knew she was trying to be playful, knew she was trying to be loving, but she was pushing her fingers deep into my scrotal sac and fondling my testicles just as they were beginning to lift into their ejaculatory positions. I wanted them high up and tight near the scrotal roof. Instead Michal started massaging my nuts and rolling them between her fingers, totally disrupting the orgasm I was about to have. I heard Abby whimper in frustration. She was unstoppable on her own slide into orgasm, and she suddenly felt me getting out of synch with her.

I grunted as I felt Dodi finally release her death grip on the base of my cock. A few seconds later I felt my scrotum being cupped and petted by a soft, loving hand, trapping Michal's fingers deep within my sac. The hand caressed the back of Michal's hand, and Michal sighed and withdrew her fingers. Dodi then gently cradled my testes in her palm. Meanwhile Abby's vagina clamped down on my cock as her orgasm began to take her.

Sweet, beautiful Abby, my heart ached for her as I watched her face grimace in the intensity of her body's sexual release. I began short, quick thrusts into her, felt my testes rise and tighten in Dodi's gentle grasp. Abby and I have become quite skilled in timing our orgasm with each other. We often start together, and then I have the pleasure of relaxing and winding down and enjoying the feel of Abby still going off in my arms with her much longer orgasms. But tonight, I started to spurt up into her just as she was winding down.

The effect of my semen splashing against her cervix was electrifying. Her body convulsed, and instead of relaxing she cried out as another wave of internal contractions shook her pelvis. The rhythmic pulsing against my cock was exquisite, and I thrusted hard against her abdominal muscles to deposit my seed as deeply as I could. The moment seemed to last forever, and transformed into a time where there was nothing in the universe except for my beautiful, perfect Abby and my overwhelming desire to inseminate her.

I slowly came back to my senses. My arms were wrapped around a sweaty Abby who was lying on top of me, still sheathing my manhood. She was slowly arching her hips up and down, keeping me stiff. I was dimly aware that Dodi and Michal had quietly slipped out of the room.

"Wow," Abby murmured. "Wow, wow, wow..."

I kissed the top of her head and nodded, and then a thought briefly made my body stiffen.

Abby read my mind. She opened her eyes slightly and glanced at the clock, then sighed and returned to resting her head on my chest. "We still have a little time, ten minutes..."

I nodded and stroked her buttocks, the backs of her thighs, the sides of her fit waist. I started kneading the muscles in her back and butt. She's so beautiful. Abby cooed and nuzzled her head into my chest in appreciation for the back rub. Her lips suckled my nipple for a moment, and then the tip of her tongue teased the hard point she had made.

"I love you," she whispered. I felt like the luckiest man alive.

Twenty minutes later...

"Two minutes," Shephatiah calmly called out. "All systems nominal. The photonic carrier wave is strong and stable." Sheffie was monitoring the communications console in my inner study, with Chanah as her assistant. They were showing no hesitation in driving the system into a very strange configuration. We were about to establish a covert link to the other side of the planet.

I glanced around and looked at my wives. I imagined we were all probably a bit nervous, but none of my wives were showing it. We were about to reveal our identities to the six senior counselors of the Free Women of Australia, counselor being their term for their top government positions. I felt a returning pang of indecision and thought again of my recent conversations with my marriage about the wisdom of this.

Currently Ammar is the only person who knows both of our existence and our identities, but all that is about to change. Chanah and Shephatiah have been sending and receiving vast amounts of technical information with Australia over the last seven days. The six counselors know that Ammar has found some new allies, but have no idea who. I idly wondered if they would recognize me once the video link was established, and what their reaction should be. The Holy's dice were about to be airborne again.

"Thirty seconds," called out Chanah. "We are receiving entangled session initiation packets requesting handshaking keys. Our photonic switch has issued a spectral challenge. Requesting source has responded correctly. Encryption keys are being transferred. Dual authentication complete, holographic resonance established and locked. Expect video in... mark! Five seconds." I took a deep breath and tried to smile.

And the moment was now! At the other end of our conference table appeared the images of six women. I marveled at the quality of the projections, far better than any I had ever seen with a live feed, even from Dakar or the capital. The Australian women looked real, as real as my wives! Their signal was driving our holo-emitters with a technology well advanced from anything my own government possessed.

The view was superb. The women appeared to be sitting in a rustic room with rock walls, entirely open at one end. Beyond lay a colorful forest filled with tall and unusual trees. The forest was beautiful, wild and free, brightly lit with sunlight and full of life.

All six women had their gazes locked upon me. There expressions were one of pure consternation at first, and I was sure they all recognized me. Hope began to mingle with their fear as I maintained a friendly smile and did not denounce them.

The woman I took to be their leader finally cracked me a thin smile. "We had no idea of course. This goes beyond our wildest expectations. How should I address you?"

I grinned back. "Just Ilias will be fine. Are you Dalis the leader?"

She nodded slowly. "I am Dalis, first facilitator among the counselors. We have a distributed form of government. The term leader doesn't quite apply. Ilias?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm beyond thrilled that you're helping us. We all are. Thank you."

I nodded. "The feelings are the same on this end. It is a joy to have found you." I noticed one of the women staring at Abigail. I turned and nodded to Abby it was okay to speak.

"Bithiah, is that you?!" Abby whispered.

"Abby?!" whispered the woman back. "Abby!" She then looked at Abigail with great compassion and pity.

Abigail understood at once. "Oh no, it's okay Bithy! My mind is undamaged. I'm not an eternal virgin."

The six counselors stared at Abby for a moment, and then focused their eyes on me. "How is this possible?" asked Dalis.

"I know a way to fake the medical part of the marriage ceremony. My wives Shephatiah and Chanah are also undamaged. I'm also married to my dear wives Michal and Dodi," I said, gesturing an introduction with my arm. The Australian women nodded their understanding of Michal's and Dodi's condition.

"My dear wives," muttered Bithiah. "How unusual to hear such words spoken by a man."

Dodi was staring at the forest beyond the room, ignoring the attention of the other women. "So unusual," she commented, "to see such sunlight this time of night!"

Dalis nodded. "Our longitude is almost 173 degrees west of Bandar Arenas. Solar time here runs eleven hours and thirty-one minutes late, about as opposite as you can get." Dalis smiled at Dodi, her eyes full of compassion. "Sunrise today was at 5:40 PM and sunset will be at 5:37 AM." Dalis paused for a moment and added with a smile, "When we were children, it did take some time getting used to."

Dodi frowned. "And you never thought of running a local clock?"

"Our own time zone? The mine and the men's Prayer cycle still have to run on Holy time. It would be too confusing to run two clocks at once."

Dodi thanked her. "And you grow your own food?"

"Yes. The mining site is 10,457 km from the capital, well within the legal limits for agriculture. We have active irrigation on 100 sq km, and a much broader area also benefits from all the fresh water we're bringing in from the coast."

Dalis took a moment to turn and admire the scenery behind her. "Our forests are very productive, full of edible fruits and nuts, and we're very careful never to have too many people outside for the satellite imagery."

I smiled in gratitude at my new acquaintance. Dalis was being as kind and patient with my impaired wife as I try to be. I realized Dalis must have much interaction with the legal eternal virgins at the mine.

Suddenly in the hologram a large, stout, powerful bird flew near and settled in a tall tree just outside the meeting room. It was a very unusual looking bird, with a white body and gray wings, bill, and eye markings. There were numerous orange stripes running crossways along its long tail. It gave a harsh, laughing cry. Michal couldn't contain her delight at the sight and sound. She pointed with her hand. "Oh look! How beautiful!"