His date with Amber had gone very well last night, and they’d not only gone for round three after their date, but for four and five as well. He’d noticed a change in her as well last night, she was far more secure now knowing he returned her love.

  She was also, if anything, even more impulsive and generous in expressing that love for him. As if she’d been holding back before, so he wouldn’t feel awkward.

  That made seven women he loved, five already living with him. They were also quite unique, all of them. For some reason that surprised him, he’d have thought at some point they’d all run together in his mind and emotions, but the flavors of the love he had for all of them were quite different.

  As for the eighth, Jennifer, he wasn’t really sure how he felt. He knew he cared for her, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t protecting himself in case she decided to bail. The thought of her leaving was quite painful.

  The door opened and he looked up and smiled as Trudy and Mia came in.

  “Hey, good timing ladies, I needed a distraction.”

  Mia winked, and they joined him on the bed.

  Trudy smiled in her usual flirty manner, but her words were serious, “Mia and I worked together for a solution for the Xaran issue, in getting Xia and her crew to change back to their normal forms and escape their addiction.”

  Mia nodded, “I figured out fairly quickly the only answer is the survival instinct. The only drive in the human body that trumps procreation and sex, is survival. The problem of course was how to make use of that, there are no weapons on board, and while you could probably go around and strangle them all, it wasn’t an ideal scenario.”

  Trudy snickered, “So when we got the data I tried to figure out what to do. I could lower the air pressure, or even make the air toxic with CO2, or lower the oxygen, but I was thinking that might actually kill them, if they didn’t understand what was happening. They have a system on their ship that makes fabrication look old fashioned, they can actually create matter on the quantum level using just energy.

  “It’s how they created an Earth atmosphere without needing those elements on board, and how they created the bed and silk sheets. So the plan is for you to bounce to that android, and then find the environmental controls. You’ll need to be local to that system for me to override the safeties and create a poisonous gas that will slowly, and very painfully, kill any human that breathes it.

  “Then you can announce over the ship’s intercom that they’re all going to die, if they don’t change back.”

  He frowned thoughtfully, “What if it doesn’t work?”

  Trudy sighed, “I wish you hadn’t asked that, the plan depends on them believing your threat. It’s a slow killer, it will knock them out, and put them in a coma for hours before it will kill. I’ll have plenty of time to reconfigure for an aerosol antidote to neutralize it.

  “But it better work, because I don’t think we could stop them from destroying Earth if they decide human DNA needs to be sterilized from the universe. I’m building an FTL ship that should be able to match their power, scanning ability, and weapons, if not their replication and smart metal technologies. We will get those latter two done, but we have to build a few generations of machines to get there first.

  “But the ship will only be able to protect itself, and attack them, a planet is too large to protect if they got passed us. So when you threaten them, make sure they believe it, or it won’t work.”

  Mia put a hand on his leg and squeezed, “It will be fine.”

  He frowned, “Anything else going on?”

  They exchanged glances, and then Mia said, “We decided we can’t keep this a secret. We’re going to reveal the existence of the Xaran empire, and the other races to Earth.”

  Trudy snickered, “We’re also telling them that you’re going to be representing Earth and Mars, that should drive them nuts. We aren’t going to tell them they’re in danger though, that would just start a panic.”

  He shook his head, but he knew it was true.

  “Is that really a good idea?”

  Mia shrugged, “It’s what we have to do, humanity deserves to know. Also, you’re all set for your date tonight, and your new Mars digital passport is uploaded to your implant, as well as Silvia’s. When you come down at the spaceport, you’ll automatically be logged as entering our ally’s country.”

  “Thanks love,” he said almost absently as he still tried to come to terms with telling Earth about the Xarans. He’d asked about the Australian thing, since he and Silvia’s date night was tonight, and she couldn’t really join him in virtual world. So they were going to take the yellow VW bug ship down to Earth and check out a restaurant and the night life in Sydney.

  It was really the only place they could go, at least until Mars city was complete with restaurants, parks, and night clubs. There was still over six weeks to go for that.

  “Anything else going on that I should know about?” he asked curiously.

  Mia shook her head, but added, “Don’t forget to pick up milk, eggs, and veggies.”

  He smirked, “I won’t,” after all, his perfect memory worked for mundane things too.

  They both gave him kisses before they reluctantly got up and left to work on whatever they were working on. He knew he only got told the broad strokes of what was going on, Mia and Trudy were busy. He sighed and closed his educational overlay. The mess onboard the Xaran ship had gone on long enough, and as they say, there’s no time like the present.

  He laid back and logged into his alternate android.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The ship was huge, but he’d found the control room near the center of the ship, and made the assumption all the other important things would be in the center as well. He also noticed as he walked around, that there were a lot of passed out naked hot woman that looked like Xia, often snuggled up to another copy or two.

  Those that were awake were fucking, and he lost count of the amount of threesomes he’d turned down as he poked his nose in all the rooms. Truthfully, despite the perfection and sensuous beauty of form, he wasn’t even tempted. At first he was a bit worried about the sleeping ones, but realized they’d all wake up when their bodies became violently ill. He shuddered at the thought.

  This plan was crazy.

  Eventually he found engineering, and went inside and looked around. He imagined there should be someone on duty, but no one was there. He had no clue if environmental was in here, and no idea what it would look like. Especially since there’d be no tanks, they literally created air out of thin air. He smirked at the ridiculous thought. He opened his overlay, and contacted Trudy.

  When she answered he said, “Hi baby, is this the right place?”

  She frowned, “No, you need to leave that room, and go left, and then it’s your third door on the right.”

  He suppressed the curse on the tip of his tongue, of course his lovers downloaded the specifications, including the ship’s layout, and knew where everything was. He’d wandered around for no reason at all.

  “Thanks babe,” he replied evenly with some effort, and made his way over. He just left the connection open, he wasn’t very far from his destination.

  She smiled in his overlay when he walked in. There was nothing in here that screamed environmental at all.

  “Just a second Ted, and then I’ll put you on the intercom system.”

  He nodded and waited patiently, while she whipped up a poison from nothing but energy, and flooded the ship with it.

  “Now Ted,” she said softly, and then nodded.

  He waited a moment, and then said, “I’ve released a poisonous gas into the ship. Anyone in human form will die a slow and painful death. That is all.”

  He shrugged and winked at his golden blonde. He figured short and to the point was best. Then he waited. He wasn’t sure what else to do. He was pretty sure they were in the Xaran system by now, it had been three days. He just hoped that Xia would want to talk, and that their mental addiction wouldn’t hit them so hard in their natural form…

  Trudy grunted, “I’ve just been cut out of the systems, as Helen suspected they have no trouble maintaining security when they’re paying attention. All of your internal scan and interface systems are being blocked, only your quantum connection is still working. Several of them were on the way to you when I lost connection to the ship.”

  Trudy cut off as the door opened, and several of the creatures slid into the room and surrounded him.

  He cleared his throat, “Hi, glad to see you all back to normal.”

  One of them morphed into a human looking statue, it was different this time though, it looked like a statue of Xia’s human form. Honestly, he was a bit disturbed by it. The form and appearance was perfect this time, but still statue like.

  She demanded, “Explain, why did you attempt to kill us?”

  “I didn’t. It was the only way to get you to change back. The only human instinct stronger than our mating instinct is our drive to survive. I’d hoped that once you changed back, you would come to your senses. How do you feel?”

  Xia stood their frozen for a moment, and then said, “Disturbed. I miss the incredible feelings associated with human touch, but I know it would be suicide to change back. My mother had been close to deciding to destroy us as we sat unresponsive in the home system.”

  “So my actions actually saved this ship, and perhaps the future of the human race. As was my true intent.”

  Xia asked, “And if we hadn’t changed back?”

  He replied, “We would have administered an anti-dote if you fell into a coma without changing back. Of course, we couldn’t have told you that, or it wouldn’t have worked.”

  She said, “The idea of never experiencing that again disturbs me.”

  He shrugged, “You probably could, if you took precautions ahead of time.”

  She considered that for a moment, or at least he thought she was thinking over his statement. A statue is very hard to read, even a warm one.

  “We will deliberate on that, and consult with my mother, the empress, on how to proceed. For the moment you and your home world are safe. However, we are still under quarantine and will be so for at least a day, to make sure we can resist changing back to human. I will escort you back to the bedroom, now.”

  He nodded in agreement, and walked by her and out the door. He was aware of her being close behind him as he retraced his steps back to the room, and it made the skin on the back of his neck crawl. The door opened at his approach and he went inside, and then it slid shut as soon as he crossed the threshold. It didn’t open back up either, and he was close enough to the door sensors to trigger them.

  He sighed, he was locked in. He guessed he couldn’t blame them for that, and it could be a lot worse. He sat in the comfortable chair, and after a thoughtful moment he bounced back to Mars. He wished he knew more about the political realities and what he might expect.

  He spent the rest of the morning looking further into the various races in the Xaran empire in an attempt to discern just that.

  There were three highly aggressive species, much like humans were as a matter of fact, who held their darker instincts at bay out of fear of the Xaran’s technology advantage. About the only thing they were missing was humanity’s intense drive to procreate and the attendant pleasures. Ironically, these aggressive races didn’t bother him in the least, because he understood them from being human, and if anything they would be against destroying Earth because Earth’s DNA would put the rulers and peacekeepers of the Xaran empire at a disadvantage.

  No, if anyone was for destroying Earth, it would be the more peaceful races that depended on a strong Xaran world to keep their worlds and peoples safe, and of course the Xaran themselves. The catch there was he was pretty sure those on the ship could change to human at will now, so destroying all Earth’s DNA would include the ship and crew he was with. Hopefully the empress wouldn’t be inclined to kill her own daughter.

  Many of the other races in the middle would… he had no idea. He read through Mia’s notes, and came to the conclusion that she didn’t have a clue either, he supposed some would go one way, and the rest others. They were just too different to guess how their thoughts and motivations would fall.

  He knew if it came down to it that they would fight, but they didn’t even have one ship capable of FTL yet. Still, he wouldn’t underestimate the A.I.s, they’d put up a large city worth of buildings in just under three weeks, how long could a handful of ships take?

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was just after lunch, and Kara, Nicci, and himself planned to once again try to make it to block three out of the north gate, and see what the game offered for restaurant row. Both of them had given him quite passionate and loving kisses right in the tavern when they’d met up, and he decided not to worry about their relationship and just go with it.

  He’d given into the fact that he loved them already, being guarded at this point wouldn’t save him heartache, and would only lessen their intimacy and increase the chances of problems if he acted distantly. So he would just pay attention and look for changes. There was no point resisting, he was already there.

  Nothing was forever, and he would enjoy his time with them to its fullest extent while they were in love. Right now, they seemed just as in love and committed to the idea as he was. He hoped it would last a lifetime, and more, but there was no way to know.

  They’d sat and chatted for a few minutes, and gone over a few basic strategies, and then stood in preparation to leave. Of course, that’s when they were interrupted yet again. The first time by Tom and Bill’s ill-conceived approach to getting new armor, and this time by a system message that had been a long time in coming.

  Bastion is under attack by the forces of heaven!

  He’d kind of been expecting it sooner, a revenge strike for them destroying Stronghold as they had, and no doubt for beating back that first attack by the angels. He supposed they might see restaurant row someday, but it wouldn’t be today. Luckily, he had his army of fourteen demons, and five demon lord types in their usual mix just outside the door. They took a moment to assemble into the usual party shape as they ran out and headed for the eastern gate.

  None of the other players he knew were on, Tom, Bill, Kathy, and Ray weren’t around today. There were about ten other players heading that way though, and he wondered if that would be enough.

  He got his answer as they reached the street that led to the east gate, and that answer was hell no. There were at least fifty angels, and at a quick glance somewhere between thirty and forty human player characters.

  They had twelve player characters, his army of nineteen, and an equal amount of demon guards for the enclave. Of course, he’d faced and won against two to one odds before, but not against that many players before. He gave brief thought to logging out, but that wouldn’t be any fun. He casted Demonic Aura to boost the demonic forces nearby, and then immediately cast Demonic Confusion at the largely clumped group of enemies at the gates.

  About half the angels turned and randomly attacked their allies, but it lasted for less than a second as a bright white light flashed and dispelled his spell.

  They were obviously prepared for him from last time. They’d even had the spell ready to counter, he doubted it could have been cast that quickly otherwise.

  There was nothing else he could do that would create a large impact on the battle, so he kept casting Balefire. His five imps similarly attacked with chain spells, as did Kara and a couple of other players he didn’t know. The rest of the unfamiliar players charged the enemy along with Nicci, his warriors, and succubae save the one greater succubus who stayed back with him and Kara for their protection.

  Amber, of course. Although technically he supposed they were both Amber.

  It wasn’t even close to a two sided battle this time, spells flew and the invaders breached the walls with almost contemptuous ease. His spells were powerful now, doing a hundred eighty or so against each five creatures hit, but it was like using thimblefuls of water to put out a forest fire.

  He casted Balefire less and less, as he kept having to replace his lost demons more and more often, and he didn’t even see the end coming when it came.

  Pain filled his mind for a moment, as the trick he used on the roving patrols out of the north gate to kill their caster was used on him. Since it was area spells this time, there was nothing Amber could do to block it. They were hit with at least ten different chain spells at once which probably did three times the damage necessary, and everything went dark.

  You have been killed!

  You have lost a level! You are now level 33!

  “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. First death and all. It was bound to happen, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

  The lights came back on so to speak, and he was in the starting room with Kara, he assumed all his summoned demons were toast. He looked up at Genevieve who kind of shrugged helplessly, and then as if remembering her role, she winked at him sexily and outrageously licked her lips.

  He laughed.

  Kara snorted, and then kissed him.

  “So what’s the plan?”

  Kara leaned in and whispered sultrily, “We wait for Nicci to join us, and then we go have wild, uninhibited, passionate, and wanton sex until we can’t move my love.”

  He felt pleasure shoot up his spine as his cock twitched. He wasn’t sure what turned him on more, her sexy sultry words, or the fact that she’d called him my love. The idea that she wasn’t denying what passed between them the other day meant a lot to him.

  As far as her plan. That… sounded like a pretty damned good notion to him. Maybe dying wasn’t so bad after all, there were still hours left in the afternoon, and then Nicci appeared in the room with a sad pout on her face…

  He’d barely gotten out of the shower, and moved into the closet to get dressed for his date in the real world on Earth, when he heard Xia’s voice through the bounce program.