Three Square Meals Ch. 087

"Just over a week, but we haven't ironed out all the details yet," Edraele said, sharing the electrifying thrill of excitement that now buzzed in the room. "It'll take us just over four days to reach the border, so we'll need to depart fairly soon."

Nyrelle bit her lower lip, her eyes flaring with lust as she murmured, "Do you think it's time?"

Edraele pushed aside the floating tray, smiling appreciatively at Valani as she did so. "That omelette was delicious, thank you so much!"

Now that the way was clear, she beckoned Nyrelle towards her, a coy smile on her full lips. When the House Aeberos Matriarch obediently approached, Edraele placed her hands on the younger woman's toned abdomen.

"John loves the idea of being with all of you," she said gently, caressing the soft blue skin on Nyrelle's lower-belly and drawing a lusty moan from the trembling girl. "He holds to Terran ideals of long courtships before embarking on parenthood, even though the idea of siring a baby with each of you excites him very much. We might have to gently encourage him to embrace the Maliri way..."

The Young Matriarchs giggled with excitement, hugging each other, eyes sparkling at the prospect of rebuilding their Houses with John. Edraele glanced at Luna, Ilyana, and Almari in turn, seeing the wistful smiles on their faces. Speaking to the trio via telepathy, she said kindly, *It'll be your turn soon, my beautiful, special girls. When it is, it will be glorious!*

***

The sound of quiet conversation finally stirred John from his long sleep and the moment he opened his eyes, he was met with a shower of kisses. The happy purring identified the girl kissing him even before he was able to register the doting emerald eyes gazing down on him.

"Good morning, Jade," he said with an affectionate smile.

The Nymph beamed at him in return, overjoyed to see he was awake. "We've been discussing ways to find my sisters!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight.

He laughed and returned her hug, before she finally released him. Sitting up, he saw that the girls were all sitting around him on the bed, watching him and Jade with some amusement.

"I hope you didn't mind me telling everyone?" Alyssa asked, leaning in to kiss him in greeting. "You were out like a light, so it seemed like a good use of time while we waited for you to wake up."

"No, I don't mind at all," John replied amiably, looking around at the girls and smiling at them. "Have you come up with any good ideas?"

"We've had a constructive discussion so far," Calara said, looking thoughtful. "Tracking any surviving Lenarrans down will be very difficult, but not necessarily impossible."

"I think we should definitely use Alyssa's suggestion to offer a cash reward for leads," Sakura said with certainty.

John glanced at the blonde sitting beside him. "Did you tell everyone about my reservations?"

Alyssa nodded, looking pleased. "We agree that any remaining Nymphs are probably in the hands of the rich and powerful, but Sakura pointed out something interesting."

"Just because the Nymphs' current owners might be incredibly wealthy, that doesn't mean their servants are..." the Asian girl said, a knowing glint in her dark-brown eyes. "Many of Shinatobe's assassinations were aided by information gathered by bribing security staff and the like."

John looked at her with concern. "I thought I wiped all those implanted memories?"

She returned his look with one of profound gratitude. "You did! I can still remember a lot of what happened, as I've seen those implanted recordings being played back. They're just normal memories now, not sharp and vivid like before."

Alyssa made room for Sakura as she crossed the bed to give John a big hug.

"I'm so glad it worked," John said, feeling tremendously relieved as he put his arms around her.

"I should have listened to you months ago," Sakura replied, glancing up at him and blushing. "Last night was the first time in months that I've slept without any nightmares. I feel so much better this morning!"

"I can't claim all the credit for that," John said with a playful smile. "I believe Dana and Rachel went to considerable effort to tire you out..."

"She was insatiable," Rachel interjected, giving Sakura a fond smile and making her blush even harder. "Having a tummy full of your cum gave her loads of energy!"

Dana grinned at the Asian girl. "When you're being all dominant, you're nearly as bossy as Alyssa on a combat mission!"

Sakura looked mortified to hear that, but John stroked her back soothingly. "I briefly saw the three of you together. Don't worry, it was very exciting to see you enjoying yourself like that! Maybe you'll let me watch the whole thing next time?"

Alyssa flashed her friend a quick glance. *I guarantee you'll love it! Play at being the lesbian dominatrix for him and I'll explain why later...*

Drawing herself up, Sakura arched an eyebrow and nodded, boldly meeting his fascinated gaze. "Tell me which naughty girls you'd like to see disciplined and I'm sure something could be arranged..."

John grinned at her and the rest of the girls, who were looking flushed with arousal. "I'll definitely let you know." Coughing to clear his throat, he continued, "We seem to have got a little sidetracked, but we better get back on topic. Did anyone have any new suggestions on ways to find the Nymphs?"

Faye eagerly raised her hand, her cupid-bow lips quivering in anticipation.

"You don't have to hold up your hand, Faye," he said with a fond smile. "Go ahead, what was your idea?"

"I thought I could go through the news archives for every mention of Nymphs or Lenarrans that I could find!" she began enthusiastically. "Then I could build up a database of their history and perhaps find some clues as to who might currently own any survivors!"

"That's an excellent idea!" Calara agreed, grinning at the AI in her eagerness. "If you can gather that kind of data for me, it'll be much easier to narrow down the search for any Lenarrans that might still be alive."

John noticed Rachel grimace, a pensive expression briefly flickering across her face. "What is it, honey?" he asked, trying to catch her troubled grey eyes.

"I just thought of something, but you might not want to hear it... I'm not sure I want to tell you either. I'm already worried you might think I've got questionable morals as it is," Rachel replied, looking very reluctant to elaborate further.

"If you've thought of something, I definitely want to know what it is," John replied, doing his best to sound encouraging. "I promise I'll listen to your suggestion with an open mind."

Rachel sighed, then glanced at Jade and said, "I know this sounds pretty ghoulish, but I don't think we should restrict our search to the living. If we can locate the resting place for any Nymphs, then..."

"You can bring them back!" Jade blurted out, gaping at John in awe. "She's right! You saved me, you could save all the Nymphs the same way!"

John looked at Rachel in shock. "Is that even possible after all these years?!"

"Nymphs have a radically different physique to a Terran. They wouldn't decompose in the same way we would," she replied quietly. "If we can exhume any Lenarrans, you might be able to bring them back to life, just as you did for Jade."

The room went quiet as everyone pondered that astonishing thought for a moment.

"It's alive!" Dana crowed with a maniacal cackle, elbowing Rachel playfully.

The brunette blushed bright red, shooting a nervous glance at John. "Don't... I'm sure he thinks I'm some kind of mad scientist as it is!"

John glanced down at Sakura and smiled at her as he said, "I think someone else urgently needs a hug."

Sakura laughed and moved out the way as John beckoned Rachel over. The tawny-haired girl joined him, only relaxing when she was in his arms.

John's tone was soothing as he said, "It might be an unconventional idea, but it's an excellent one, just like everything else you come up with. You know I wouldn't think anything bad about you, so why are you so self-conscious all of a sudden?"

She nuzzled into him and murmured, "This visit to my father... It's been preying on my mind. I'm just worried... about everything."

"You'll have me, Alyssa, and Dana there to support you," John said, brushing his fingers through her hair. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that."

"You don't know what he's like," she said quietly. "He gets me so mad sometimes."

John glanced at the ship's chronometer to check the time. "We're meeting him for lunch at twelve, right?"

She nodded, turning to look at the clock. "I didn't realise how late it was. We better start getting ready fairly soon."

"Don't worry. It'll be okay," John said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Jade put her arm around the brunette and gave her a tender kiss on the cheek. "Thank you... You've given me real hope we might be able to restore my lost sisters."

"You're welcome," the brunette said, smiling fondly at the Nymph.

"I'll start finding out what I can!" Faye offered, her face lighting up with her enthusiasm. "My boys are nearly done with installing all the power couplings, then they'll be able to move on to installing the Photon Lasers. Once that's out the way, I'll put every available avatar onto researching the Lenarrans."

Calara stretched, then smiled with a look of eager anticipation on her face. "I'll get stuck into this straight away as well. It'll be nice to have something challenging to sink my teeth into." She glanced at Irillith and added, "I know you're going to be busy working on the new software for Faye's body, but can I call on you if I need any hacking assistance?"

"Of course," the Maliri girl replied with an easy-going smile. "I can't claim hacking any of these feeble Terran networks will provide me any kind of challenge but I'll be glad to help."

Calara laughed and grinned at her in thanks. She turned to Jade next. "If you aren't busy now, it might be helpful to get a first-hand account of what you can remember about the Terrans arriving on your world... if you can remember back that far?"

Jade's eyes flicked to John for a moment, then she nodded hesitantly. "I remember what happened."

He spotted that moment of indecision, but decided to ask her about it privately later. Looking around at the group, he said, "There's actually a couple of other points I wanted to raise before we all go our separate ways this morning."

Alyssa gently squeezed his shoulder, giving him a loving smile. "I've already asked Calara and Irillith if they can find out more about my parents. Thank you for remembering."

John returned her smile, then turned to look at Dana. "Alyssa told me you've tried to find out more about your parents, but not had any success?"

The redhead looked surprised by his question, then her expression turned grim. "I haven't found shit so far. Whoever my parents were, they didn't leave any clues to help track them down. Along with the fucking useless records in the Karron orphanage I was dumped at, I've drawn one big blank."

"Do you want us to help?" John asked, giving her a look of sympathy.

Dana looked torn with indecision as she met his searching gaze. Finally, she shook her head and exclaimed vehemently, "Fuck them! They got rid of me and left me in a big pile of shit. My life's fucking awesome now, but that's due to you, Alyssa, and all my new sisters. My parents are dead to me."

He nodded his understanding, putting his arm around her when she came over to join him and Rachel. "If you ever change your mind, you know we'll do whatever we can to help you. Okay?"

She smiled at him and planted a big kiss on his cheek. "That's why being with all of you guys is so fucking great; I never feel like I'm just on my own any more, it's always us as a team. I want to move on with my life though, so I'm not shedding another tear over my past."

"Sounds like a good philosophy to me," he said, giving her shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"Do you want to go over our upcoming plans, handsome?" Alyssa prompted, a twinkle in her eyes. "I'm sure the girls will be fascinated to hear about the cross-border hook-up..."

He stifled a grin at her playful teasing and glanced at the girls who all looked intrigued now. "As you all know, we're planning to visit Rachel's father, then go on a skiing trip to Jericho." He looked at Calara next. "I thought we could all visit your mother at the end of the holiday, but you're welcome to spend as much time with Maria as you like while we're on the planet."

"Once we're settled into the chalet, I better go and catch up with her. She's desperate to know all the details about our wedding," Calara said, sounding more than a little frustrated. "We haven't made any decisions yet, but she expects me to have everything planned out already!"

"She's just excited," John said. "If you want to discuss anything beforehand, just let me know."

"I might just have to take you up on that!" she replied, giving him a grateful smile.

John looked around the gathering of girls again. "So, after the skiing vacation, we were planning on travelling to the Brimorian Enclave. I still want to do that, but we'll make a couple of minor detours along the way. Firstly, I'd like to travel to the Trankaran Republic to exchange some of our tech for materials we can use for the new starbases. It should be a relatively short detour as the Invictus is much faster now."

Alyssa had already calculated the travel times to the second, but she rounded up for convenience. "It'll take us one day, eighteen hours to get from Jericho to the Trankaran loyalist fleet, assuming they're still near the border."

"Thanks, beautiful," John replied, patting her sleek, toned thigh. "While we're there, I'd like to discuss an alliance with Chancellor Niskera. Assuming all goes well, we can load up the Invictus' Primary Hangar with the first batch of ore we trade and arrange for the rest to be transported independently to Maliri Space."

"Wait a minute," Dana said with a frown. "You're planning this cross-border hook-up with the Trankaran Chancellor?! I thought you weren't into the Trankarans and Ashanath?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No! I'm not planning anything like that with Niskera!" Glancing at the Maliri twins, he added, "Edraele was sounding a bit down, so Alyssa suggested we meet up with her near the border. That's why I want to visit the Trankarans first, so we can transport the first batch of ore with us and load up Edraele's ships. They'll be returning to Genthalas immediately afterwards so they can make a start on the first starbase as soon as the refit is done."

"That's not all you'll be loading up!" Alyssa said with a mischievous giggle.

"What a charming way to discuss our mother," Irillith observed archly, flashing a furtive smile at Tashana.

The blonde shook her head and looked coy. "I wasn't just referring to Edraele, either..."

"Oh, of course!" Tashana said, grinning at John as Alyssa's innuendoes made sense at last. "You were planning to father children with the Young Matriarchs!"

"I don't want them to rush into anything," John said warily. "I know three of them are in their early-thirties, but that's still relatively young for Maliri, right?"

Before either Tashana or Irillith could reply, Alyssa said, "Why don't the rest of us leave you three to discuss the finer points of impregnating Maliri girls. We've still got a bit of time before we have to get ready for our visit to New Eden. Do any of you girls care to join me for a bath?"

John watched with amusement as Jade and all the Terran girls immediately agreed, moving in a synchronised group as they slid off the bed and sauntered towards the bathroom. The lingering glances between Alyssa and the twins confirmed that she was planning something, but the smouldering look the two sisters gave him a moment later made him lose his train of thought.

"Maybe we should talk about impregnating Maliri girls in more detail..." Irillith purred, stalking towards him across the covers.

"That sounds like a fascinating conversation," Tashana agreed, a playful smile dancing across her dark-blue lips as she matched her sister in her approach. "What are your thoughts on the matter, John?"

"I'm very much for..." he murmured, transfixed by their bewitching violet eyes.

They stopped in front of him and gently took each of his hands in their own, then guided his fingers to their toned blue tummies. Each girl had a knowing smile on their face as he began to caress them, their own fingers lightly brushing the backs of his hands.

"Our species was originally designed by a Progenitor with just two purposes in mind," Tashana whispered as she stroked his hand. "And I can't see any enemies for us to fight at the moment."

"Are you looking forward to becoming a father?" Irillith asked him, her voice uncharacteristically gentle and wistful. "The Young Matriarchs are so lucky..."

John slid his hands around their waists and pulled the twins closer to him. "The Maliri are exceptionally beautiful, but amongst those billions of gorgeous women, I managed to find the two most precious jewels of your species. If things were different, you know that I'd..."

"Shh... It's okay, we understand," Tashana whispered, giving him a loving kiss. She glanced at her twin, then added, "Even though we wish it could be us, we both know it isn't our time yet. The Young Matriarchs will be quite safe from any danger, protected by our mother on Valaden."

Irillith nuzzled against his ear, her breath sending shivers down his spine. "We'll be with you for eternity, we can be patient for six months..." She pulled back and gazed at him from inches away, her angular eyes drawing him in. "I think we should get lots of practice though..."

"Practice makes perfect," Tashana whispered in agreement, her face appearing next to her sister's.

They both kissed him at once, their soft, dark-blue lips brushing against his own. John returned their kisses, alternating from one twin to the other, then shared a three-way kiss with them both. He had his arms around them and his hands explored their glorious athletic physiques, gliding over the toned muscles in their backs, down to their pert buttocks. A gentle squeeze drew a gasp from both girls, their identical voices sounding like a perfect echo.

He felt a pang of guilt about how much Irillith and Tashana being twins turned him on, despite doing his best to treat them as individuals. Whether the girls noticed a flicker in his expression, or if one of his ever-present Matriarchs let them know his thoughts, he wasn't sure, but he saw a glimmer of recognition in the look they gave him.

"We're twins; there's no point trying to deny what's right in front of your eyes," Irillith said, punctuating her sentence with a lingering kiss.

Tashana stroked his hair, smiling at him tenderly. "Irillith and I were separated for so many years, but you brought us back together again. I love every moment being around her."

Irillith nodded, darting a loving glance at her twin. "I feel complete now that we're reunited."

"You feel that way too?" Tashana murmured, her angular eyes searching the matching pair of violet orbs.

"Mmmhmm," Irillith purred, gently stroking Tashana's face.

They began to kiss, hooded eyes gazing at one another as they let out soft, alluring sighs. John watched in awe at the sensual display, gently stroking their backs to encourage them, but not wanting to do anything to disturb the moment. They inched closer, pressing their firm breasts together, dark-blue nipples disappearing from sight as the flesh swelled with the gentle pressure.

To show they were still acutely aware of his presence, they reached down to grasp his throbbing cock in a delicate combined grip, their hands working together to stroke up and down his length. John couldn't help flexing in response and he saw smiles tease their lips as they felt him react to their touch.