A heavenly awakening, stunning news, and a new plan.
Anya's breath caught in her throat as she leaned closer, intently watching his sleeping face. He was frowning slightly in his sleep, and his fingers had twitched. Was this it? Was it a nightmare? But as she watched, his face relaxed again. She checked the time. Only ten minutes left in her shift. If he had a nightmare in the next ten minutes, she'd be the one to get to comfort him.
She was so, so very ready to comfort him. Wet and squirming from watching him sleep for two hours while her head spun with vivid memories of the unbelievably hot orgy at the dance party, where he had given her four of the most epic orgasms of her life with his magic cock, and where she had seen him knock up fifty-six women and then pass out before he could finish with the last five he had saved as his favorites, including herself.
Somehow after she finally fucked him, it had become easier to wait for his seed. It felt real now, certain. She knew how much she had blown his mind, how desperately he wanted to knock her up, how unbelievably potent he was, and how hard it had been for him to hold back and save her for later. It was inevitable now.
Again, vivid memories of that entire unbelievable day flashed through her mind as she watched him sleep.
The waiting that came before had been torture. All day yesterday she had yearned for him. She had first met him at breakfast only yesterday, but it had felt like an eternity. She had been utterly consumed with thoughts of how badly she needed him deep inside her, filling her hyper-fertile womb with his perfect seed.
But she and the other dancers hadn't let it distract them. They were highly disciplined professionals. Instead, they had channeled all that urgency into their preparations. All day they had trained and practiced, trying out and refining so many ideas. That genius Anna had first guided them through a seemingly endless repertoire of complex thrusting and stretching movements they could do in any conventional sex position. Then there were so many new positions only possible with their highly trained, flexible bodies and their exceptional balance and body control. They each practiced complex, fluid, sensual thrusting movements on their own, then worked in small groups to practice multi-girl positions that allowed them to alternate thrusts onto a shared cock, with the role of Jim played by a girl with a strap-on. Then they did a series of increasingly complex large-group positions where several of them worked together to hold up one or both lovers, trying many different props, including pillows, trampolines, and aerial dance harnesses. And finally, they practiced several techniques for the group to help rapidly switch pussies to maximize the number who could receive his seed from a single orgasm.
They had been joined after lunch by some girl band idols Anna knew, three Korean and four Chinese. The seven of them hadn't met Jim yet, so the others had to tone down the overtly sexual nature of the training by getting dressed and putting away the strap-ons they had been using. The idols were already well-trained in sexually suggestive dancing so they excelled at all the new moves Anna taught them.
As they trained, the thought kept hitting her that every single one of these wonderful bodies was going to bear his children. It was so fucking hot to think of, but also seemed so unreal, so impossible. How could he do so many? How many days would it take? Eighteen dancers, including the idols. Looking at each one of them, she was struck by the certainty that their perfect DNA would combine so beautifully with his. She craved it, almost as much as she craved his seed herself. It was mind-bogglingly hot, but part of her mind just couldn't accept it, just couldn't believe the scale of it. There were just too many of them. How could this be real?
But the true scale of the situation didn't hit her until they arrived for the dance party. What an incredible crowd, what impossibly beautiful bodies, gorgeous faces, and such intense joy and excitement. Eighteen dancers had seemed like an absurd, impossible harem for Jim. And then suddenly she was in a crowd of over fifty new recruits. All so excited, all so gorgeous, all utterly fertile, and all destined to combine their DNA with Jim's. Her brain couldn't process it, couldn't accept that he could possibly do them all, even though she felt so sure he would.
She didn't see Jim, so she had pulled Leizu aside and asked her where he was. Leizu had paused, smiling, savoring the moment, then leaned in to whisper in her ear. "He's upstairs sleeping, recovering from the dinner party. He needed a little rest after knocking up eighty-seven women."
Stunned disbelief. She had made Leizu repeat it twice. Looking into her eyes, she knew she wasn't kidding. Eighty fucking seven. It should have been unbelievable. But she knew it was true. And she knew it meant that this crowd wasn't too big for him. He really could do them all. Her lust then somehow ratcheted up even higher as she again gazed around in wonder at the crowd.
A few minutes later, soon after the dance music started, Jim had come downstairs. Anya had watched in awe as he made his way through the joyfully dancing crowd, shaking hands and leaving a trail of squirming new recruits in his wake. Soon he had met them all. And they were all bound to him, that entire huge crowd now destined to bear his children, consumed with desire for him, the air thick with the smell of it, each of them pouring their desire and excitement into their eyes and their dancing. They all knew, and he did too. He could have any of them. He could just pick any of them at any moment and take her. Yet he waited, keeping his hands to himself, savoring the anticipation.
The idol girls had performed first. They were the warm-up act. They were still wide-eyed and staring at him when their dance began, minutes after meeting him. They pushed him to sit straddling a low backless padded bench, and the crowd parted in a circle around them to watch. It started out sexy and then just went higher and higher as they danced, each girl taking a turn in front, each one dancing more and more suggestively, closer and closer to him until they were taking turns doing lap dances on him as he leaned back on the bench. His knuckles were white on the bench, gripping it tightly, seeming to use all of his willpower to stop himself from grabbing them.
Yun Hee was the one who finally broke his resistance. The K-pop idol had stripped off her panties and pushed him onto his back on the bench, straddling his head with both hands under her dress, clearly masturbating herself inches from his face as she danced over him. He had finally relented, seizing her and pulling her pussy down onto his mouth, and she had ridden his face to a powerful loud orgasm that drove the crowd wild as the other dancers took that as their signal to finally touch him. They quickly stripped off his clothes and their own and danced much closer, worshipfully caressing him all over.
Then they had taken turns riding him, their movements so sensuous, the pleasure it gave them so unbelievably intense, each of them coming at least once on his cock before he filled them all except two, Yun Hee and Qiaolan, who he wanted to save for later.
The crowd's reaction was indescribable. So much joy, so much giddy excitement, so much vicarious pleasure, such a powerful connection as they saw their driving purpose begin to be fulfilled, reveling in it, loving it, so utterly happy for each other.
Within minutes the entire crowd had gotten undressed. The penthouse was dark for the dance party, and they all knew the door was locked to late arrivals now that the party had started. They had all been told that if they were late they'd be sent to an overflow party. As they revealed their bodies to him, it seemed to drive Jim's lust even higher. His eyes repeatedly strayed from whichever sexy idol was riding him to ogle the crowd, feasting on their bodies as they stripped and danced, their eyes and their movements so powerfully communicating their wild excitement, their urgent need for him and for his seed.
And almost the hottest part of it all was how this affected Jim. His eyes. His movements. Just unbelievably intense lust. They were his, all of them. His eyes ravished them. He couldn't wait to take them. Everywhere he looked in that huge crowd, women gasped and moaned urgently. They all knew they were his. He had become a beast, a predator, the sight of his prey only driving his insatiable lust higher.
When he had pushed the last two idols away, saving them for later, and the professional dancers began bringing their props and pushing the crowd back to make room for their own performance, he had seized four random women from the audience and proceeded to fuck them all. By the time the next performance began just a few minutes later, those four were all knocked up, radiating contagious beautiful joy as they rejoined the writhing crowd, their sisters crowding around them, many hands reaching out to caress them, reveling together in their profound connection, their bodies moving as one, all driven by the same beautiful purpose, all just overflowing with wild excitement, exquisite pleasure, and perfect bliss.
And then, just when everyone in the audience must have been thinking that nothing could ever be hotter than this, the professional dancers began their performance. They were a whirlwind of gorgeous elegant nude bodies around him as he stood still, trying to hold back the urge to seize them, savoring the anticipation and the sight of their exquisitely graceful nude bodies, at first not touching but dancing closer and closer, each girl having a turn dancing suggestively in front of him, each one in a different position, sometimes held by others in mid-air in front of him, writhing their urgently wet pussies inches from his face or his cock, and always moving so devastatingly sexily, every movement crying out their desire for him to take them.
And when he finally did, it was somehow even better than they had imagined it could be. They had been imagining it all day, the anticipation and desire building up as they prepared, their visions of it so impossibly hot that it seemed the reality would have to be a letdown. But it wasn't, at all. It was the sex of the gods. Flashes of it filled her mind again, vivid memories of dozens of dizzyingly hot, beautiful moments. Standing, on the bench, draped over pillows on the floor, up against the windows, flying with the aerial dance harnesses, or held up by others, he had ravished them all in so many beautiful ways, holding his seed back so long. They were all his favorites, all of it was too good to be done with. It had gone on and on, the crowd utterly wild with it, everyone in the room shaking from repeated orgasms. Finally, his own exhaustion showing, he gave in, beginning to fill them with his seed, and that beautiful joy filled the room so completely.
And then Byeol, that absurdly sexy little Korean aerial dancer, had swooped in and pushed him to lay back on the bench and mounted him, suspended over him. And she spun. She fucking spun like a top with his cock in her. Whipping around and around like a figure skater. She utterly blew his mind. And everyone else's. Anya had never imagined anything like it. Jim didn't even try to hold back, just let her drive him to a gargantuan orgasm that way. It was so fucking ridiculously hot, utterly blowing his mind, making nearly everyone in the room come along with them. Then he had passed out, still not having knocked up Anya and her Chinese ballerina friend Qiu.
They carried him to a couch and he slept. Anya had worried he might be done for the night. But somehow, after a brief nap, he was recharged, again full of lust, rejoining the nude dance party.
Adeline, that lovely French modern dancer, had become one of his helpers, gaining that uncanny ability to know just how to use her fingers and her tongue on each of them to bring them right to the brink. With three helpers he had fucked his way through that crowd so quickly, everyone he entered being ready to have a massive screaming orgasm within a few strokes. He came in almost all of them quickly, saving only a few as favorites, again including Anya and Qiu, despite taking both of them two more times. And the joy from knocking up so many of them quickly was so powerful, so utterly overwhelming. It was the most beautiful thing. She had never imagined she could feel that way. So connected to each other, all of them just absolutely overflowing with profound bliss.
Anya was brought back to the present moment when she heard soft footsteps approaching. She turned to see Yun Hee at the bedroom door. That gorgeous Korean girl band idol had the next shift. Anya shook her head at her, pointing at her watch and then holding up five fingers. Yun Hee looked at her phone, then held up four fingers back. Shit. Four minutes now. She returned to staring intently at Jim. She of course wanted him to get the rest he needed after that impossible marathon performance, but a big part of her also desperately hoped for the nightmare Leizu had said might come.
Two agonizing minutes ticked slowly by. Then suddenly he twitched and frowned again. Was this it? She leaned in close. Yun Hee was hovering right behind her. Both of them held their breath.
His frown intensified and he turned onto his back. His mouth opened and they clearly heard him whisper, "No…"
She didn't hesitate. Instantly she was with him, caressing his face and hair and whispering in his ear, "There there, Jim, I'm here. Let me comfort you," while her other hand crept under the sheets and caressed its way down his nude chest.
His sleeping face relaxed. A happy moan escaped his lips as her fingers slowly circled lower. She kissed all over his neck, deeply breathing in his scent, her drenched pussy clenching in anticipation, her whole being full of excitement. Finally, her fingers found that magic cock that had delivered such unbelievable pleasure to her last night. It quickly hardened in her hand as she kissed her way closer to his lips. And then his eyes were open and he was kissing her back as his hips thrust against her hand.
His nightmare a quickly fading memory, Jim opened his eyes. It was Anya kissing him, Anya's soft warm hand stroking his cock. What a goddess. A favorite among favorites. That gorgeous angelic face, those soulful eyes, that heavenly silky skin, that absurdly sexy body shape, that amazing flexibility and body control, and above all the grace, sensuality, and expressiveness of her every movement. Four times with her last night, each burned into his memory forever, absolutely epic sex, so unbelievably hot, each time culminating in an exquisite, glorious orgasm she expressed so beautifully with her whole body, requiring every ounce of his control to hold back each time.
She pulled back from his lips and her gorgeous eyes met his. The desire there took his breath away. She wanted, needed him so desperately. She had been craving him for almost a full day. "Anya," he whispered, feeling his own desire rising stunningly quickly, almost matching hers. He paused a moment, pouring his growing lust into his eyes. "I need you, now."
"Yes!" she cried, throwing off her bathrobe, revealing her gorgeous nude body beneath, and whipping the sheet off of him. She was on him in seconds, straddling him and reaching down to position his cock at her entrance. Slick heavenly tightness, both of them gasping at the pleasure of it, somehow still not used to it. It was still overwhelming, stunning, every millimeter so delicious, so right, making time slow down. His wide eyes raked over her unbelievably sexy body stretched out over him, memorizing her utter perfection again, reveling in the moment. What a way to wake up. What perfection. Pushing down again, slowly, sensuously, welcoming him deeper and deeper inside her.
That absolute goddess body was now, right now, once again fully joined with him, his hard shaft pressing deep inside her body, and she was again beginning to move on him, sensuous, elegant, graceful, fluid. It was the first time he had fucked her in anything resembling a normal position, in a bed, and not surrounded by a huge nude crowd watching, many of them loudly orgasming along with her. This was so intimate, so personal, and it was also weirdly more amazing how sexy her movements were without the benefit of some impossible act of body contortion or balance. Not that she hadn't been mind-blowingly hot with one leg stretched straight up high in the air and her hands on the windows, or in a handstand with her legs spread wide, feet supported by other dancers, arching back toward him as he stood and pounded into her. But this felt somehow more real, more believable.
He gazed in wonder at those smooth shapely thighs, those exaggeratedly wide hips, and that impossibly tiny waist, that gorgeous flat abdomen flexing and writhing onto him, and he knew that deep inside her, the tip of his potent shaft was coming to rest on each stroke so close to two fertile eggs. The passion in her eyes was so intense, and he knew exactly what she was thinking, exactly what that look meant. Like him, she was consumed with thoughts of combining their DNA. Their twins would be so perfect. What a gift, what an unbelievable treasure, to be able to combine his DNA with this impossibly perfect woman. And it could happen so soon. If he let it.
"Fuck, Anya," he said. "You're too good. I'm close already. I don't want to be done with you."
"Shh, it's ok. Just let it go. I'm a dream. Just fill me and sleep."
He could hardly argue. She was a dream. Just too insanely hot, too impossibly beautiful, too absurdly gifted at lovemaking. Her strokes suddenly got deeper, slower, and far more intense, adding a new twisting and rolling motion with her hips on each thrust that made each downstroke impossibly tight, the pleasure almost irresistible. He fought for control, not wanting this to end.
Then he finally noticed they weren't alone. Yun Hee, the last of the K-pop idols, was standing nearby, her bathrobe open to reveal her gorgeous nude body, a hand busy at her wet pussy, eyes fixed on him, burning with lust.
"Join us," he said.
She threw off her robe and quickly slipped in behind Anya, pressing close to her, joining her movements.
On the next upstroke, Anya lifted slightly higher while reaching down to capture his cock, then smoothly pushed it backward just the right amount and he felt himself slowly entering Yun Hee's sweet little pussy. Oh my fucking god that was good. They paused as Yun Hee gasped out her shock and pleasure, then resumed moving again, perfectly in sync, a few deep luxurious strokes in each one before passing him back to the other. A perfect, smooth transition each time, not interrupting their rhythm at all. The two gorgeous women moved together so beautifully. As if they had rehearsed this.
Anya knew he was close. Her eyes filled with excitement as she took him extra deep each time, extending her turn a few more strokes despite Yun Hee's whimpering. He was right on the edge, hanging on for dear life.
"Anya, no, I can't get enough of you. Not in a lifetime," he said, pushing her gently up on her next upstroke. She yielded, letting Yun Hee take her turn again.
"It's ok," Anya said. "You have so many others. You can fill me!"
"No, there's nobody like you."
"You're wrong," she whispered, then moaned as she strummed her clit faster, still rising and falling perfectly in sync with Yun Hee's thrusts onto him. "There are so many. Fill me and I'll fly to Moscow today and bring them to meet you in Stockholm."
Holy fucking shit what a dizzyingly hot thought. More Anyas. She saw the already wildly intense lust in his eyes somehow double, and her answering look was triumphant as she reached down for his cock and Yun Hee relented, passing him smoothly back into her pussy. She began to ride him again, absolutely perfect deep strokes, clenching so tightly on his shaft, driving him inexorably toward her goal, their goal.
"Me too," Yun Hee whispered. "Fill me too. I'll fly to Korea today. There are so many like me. There's still time to bring them."
"Oh god!" he gasped, his eyes going wide at the thought. His last vestiges of resistance crumbled, his whole being embracing the idea. He was going to knock them both up with twins together, right now, and they would both go home and find him more, more impossibly perfect Russian ballerinas and K-pop dancers.
Anya first. Oh my fucking god, that goddess was about to make him such perfect twins. Her hyper-fertile body welcomed him, sucked at him, the pleasure of it so intense, her impossible beauty dazzling his eyes, her wildly sexy body driving again and again onto him. He gave a strangled gasp as his pleasure rose to a dizzying peak, his cock swelling, seeming to somehow get even harder, and she made her final plunge, pressing him deep inside and crying out as her knowledge of his impending orgasm sent her blasting off into her own, seconds before his.
Time slowed down for those few seconds as his pleasure peaked, now past the point of return, watching her gorgeous orgasm and again drinking in the impossible perfection of this woman and of this moment, his swelling shaft pressed deep inside her absurdly sexy, hyper-fertile body. Then it finally broke, and he was spurting wildly into her, drenching her womb, filling Anya's fertile goddess body with his seed, his whole body seeming to pulse with the force of his powerful orgasm as they moved together through wave after wave of pleasure.
Then she rose and passed him back to Yun Hee, and he was sliding back into her hyper-fertile pussy, deep in that gorgeous famous K-pop idol's heavenly body, where her two fertile eggs awaited. His orgasm was roaring back toward a second peak as she plunged herself deeply onto him a few more times, then he was hurtling over the edge again, crying out his peak, his cock pulsing powerfully deep inside her, blasting his seed into her womb.
They collapsed on top of him, the three of them kissing and laughing and thanking each other. And then Anya gasped. He looked at her and he knew, and it was so beautiful, so right. Pure bliss, happiness just rising higher and higher, gushing out of his eyes, and hers too, so powerfully connected, feeling exactly the same. Seconds later Yun Hee joined them and it doubled again, impossible glorious happiness. Both of these angels were bearing his twins. They were amazing. They would be wonderful mothers to the perfect babies they would make for him. And they would be wonderful recruiters.
The joy still overflowing from their eyes, they tucked him in and kissed him goodbye, then rushed out, their powerful new drive to recruit compelling them to hurry to catch a morning flight home.
***
That beautiful bliss still filled him when he awoke a couple of hours later to the sound of the espresso machine downstairs. He got up and headed for the bathroom. After he showered, shaved, and dressed, outside the bathroom two women were waiting for him.
It was Xueqin and a stranger. For some reason, he felt like he should avoid eye contact with Xueqin. This was easy enough given how captivated he was by her absurdly beautiful companion. Xueqin introduced her as Meifen, her life partner. He shook and then held her trembling warm hand, gazing into her eyes, watching the beautiful sight of her desire growing on her lovely angelic face. Meifen looked uncertainly at Xueqin a few times, finding only a reassuring, loving, joyful smile in return, not the confusion or jealousy she expected.
It got a little more difficult to avoid looking at Xueqin when she began to speak to him. He still didn't know why he felt the need to do it, but he did. "Jim, did you get my note?"
"Note? What note?"
"What you asked me to write down last night. Don't you remember? I put it on your bedside table."
Ah ha. He remembered feeling like there was supposed to be something important on that table after he woke up. But the memory was gone, as was the note.
"No, it wasn't there."
"Who would have taken it?"
"I don't know. Maybe… someone I made eye contact with," he said, still not looking at her. "Do you remember the note?"
There was a pause. He still had Meifen's hand in his. She was squirming in place now, eyes closed, biting her lip. He brought his other hand up, surrounding her little hand in both of his and caressed it lightly. She moaned in response.
"I took a picture of it," Xueqin said, getting out her phone. "Here."
The word stasis was at the top, underlined. That must have been the answer he had gotten. And he knew the question he had planned to ask it: what are the pods really for? The pods were for stasis. Stasis pods. It sounded creepy as hell. Alien. He shuddered involuntarily. But what exactly did it mean?
And then there were a few lines written at the bottom: "You tried to tell me two more words at the end, but I couldn't quite make them out. They sounded a little like relay and conception."
Relay conception? Maybe the pods could pass on their pregnancies to others? But maybe those weren't the right words anyway. They didn't sound familiar at all. Stasis definitely did. What else sounded like relay, or like conception? He'd have to brainstorm it later, make lists of similar-sounding words, and see if any two of them seemed familiar together.
"Ok. Thank you," he said, finally meeting her eyes. There was a strange look there, a sudden jolt of surprise and alarm.
"Jim, you're… resisting. Aren't you?"
"Yes. A little."
"How?"
"I don't know. Early on I couldn't. Or I thought I couldn't. Then I kind of found my will. The strength to resist any feeling. I'm the one deciding what I do, no matter how I feel." He paused, watching her a minute. "You're strong like that too. You did it already. I saw you, last night. You felt compelled to join in, didn't you? But you didn't. Why?"
"Yes. You're right. It was because of Meifen. I couldn't… do that, yet, not without her. But what do you want? Jim, do you want to… shut all this down? Do you want the Chinese government involved, to make it all end?"
"No. God, no."
"Or maybe your own government?"
"Hell no. Absolutely not."
She paused a moment, staring piercingly into his eyes, then nodding. She seemed to believe him. "Good. That makes us allies. What do you want then? What's the goal of resisting?"
"I just want to get back to my normal life after this week. And I also want to understand what is happening to me. To all of us. The scientists we recruited are working on that. But I don't know if they'll really tell me the whole truth. Can you… watch them?"
"Yes. We already are because they're our biggest security risk. You know what happens if an outsider sees your body scans. But I can also keep you posted on their findings."
"Thank you," he said. "That's great to hear."
"No problem. Now, I think I need a few minutes alone with Meifen for a little chat about family planning. Come along sweetheart," she said, smiling reassuringly at her confused, extremely aroused lover, taking her hand from his and leading her into the third bedroom. Meifen stole a last longing glance at him before the door shut.
***
Downstairs, he tiptoed past three girls asleep in the living room, his three remaining saved favorites. Qiu, the Chinese ballerina, and Jingfei and Meirong, both of whom had been recruited by dancers from the after-party the night before.
Susu was in the kitchen and Leizu was having a hushed conversation at the dining table with Norika and Lanying. He stopped by the kitchen first and gratefully took a cappuccino and a plate of delicious-smelling food.
Then he joined the others at the dining table. Their faces looked serious, worried.
"Are you ok? What's wrong?" he asked.
There was a long silence. Norika and Lanying both looked down.
Finally, Leizu spoke up, "They got their periods."
"What? How? Are you sure?"
"Yes," Leizu said. "We don't understand it. But yes, they definitely are having periods."
"So they're not pregnant?"
Leizu just shook her head. They sat there in silence. Jim's head was spinning, thinking back to those moments of joy: with Norika as the elevator closed, and with Lanying upstairs in the bedroom two nights ago. He had felt so sure they were pregnant. That feeling of certainty had been just like with any of the others. And now when he looked at them, he didn't feel it.
There was one thing that had always been different with these two though. They had both been over-ripe. He had felt like he had to hurry or he'd miss his chance to knock them up. Two of the three over-ripe ones had gotten their periods.
"What about Anastasia?" he asked.
"Yeah, she got her period too. How did you know about her?"
"These are the three who felt over-ripe. Like we might miss our chance."
Leizu nodded, and they lapsed into silence again. This seemed at least a little reassuring. Maybe it was only the over-ripe ones. But he had felt the same certainty with them as with the others.
Then he realized nobody yesterday had been over-ripe. What were the odds of that? Almost a hundred on Monday, with three of them over-ripe. That seemed about right if over-ripe meant the day before their period. But he had done almost two hundred yesterday and zero of them were over-ripe. That seemed a bit too lucky.
"You knew yesterday, didn't you?" he asked. "You didn't introduce me to anyone else near her period."
Leizu sighed and nodded.
"And you didn't tell me. You let me keep going and do two hundred more."
"Jim, it's not like that. We didn't really know yesterday. We weren't sure. They were just spotting at first. So it was just a precaution to keep you from meeting anyone about to get her period."
He stared at her a moment. She was smarter than that. She was always a move ahead, always anticipating every possibility.
"Bullshit, Leizu. You knew what this really meant. We can't trust the feeling that someone is pregnant anymore. Implantation failure."
She looked down, sighed, and nodded.
"When did you know that?"
"Jim, we still don't know that for sure. That is one possible worst-case scenario. I'm spending every waking hour worrying about every worst-case scenario so that you don't have to."
"But when did you know it was possible? Did you keep letting me meet people after you knew it?"
She sighed again, looking down, then nodded. Then suddenly she looked back up at him, her eyes piercing. "Jim, when did you learn that phrase? Implantation failure isn't exactly a common expression. You knew it was possible, and you kept going too."
It was his turn to look down and then nod in shame. She was right. He had known that this was possible. And he had kept going. He had known a full day ago that the certainty of impregnation might only be the certainty of a fertilized egg. And that fertilized eggs normally failed to implant three out of four times.
After another long silence, Lanying spoke up. "Jim, there's one more thing you should know. Remember Dawa last night?" He nodded. "She was on day one of her period yesterday morning. And it stopped and she rapidly progressed to fertility in twelve hours instead of ten days. But that doesn't seem to be happening to us. We're all on day two of what seem to be normal periods."
"And how do you feel about me? Do you want me again? Never mind, don't answer that." He knew the answer already, looking back and forth between Lanying and Norika. They didn't feel it anymore, any of it. No desperate lust, no desire to bear his children, maybe not even any attraction. "That's why you're here this morning, isn't it? To see me, see if that starts it again?"
They all nodded. Another long silence as he absorbed this. "Any idea why it wouldn't start again?"
"We don't know," Leizu said. "Maybe we each only get one chance. If so, even if implantation failures happen with a lot of others, at least we don't have to worry about anyone being obsessed with finding you after this week."
"Except maybe Mei," he joked. They all smiled knowingly at that, confirming she had shared her hopes of him returning to them after nine months.
There was another long silence after that. It was a little reassuring to think of the possibility that they might each only get one chance, and the spell was broken after that. But he couldn't assume that. The worst-case scenario still seemed equally possible, if not more so. Leizu had said she needed his to-do list to be at zero at the end of the week because she couldn't control desperate rogues trying to find him. With the normal rate of implantation failures, over two hundred of these women might be desperate for another chance with him within a few weeks.
"What do we do in the worst case?" he asked.
"Like I said, I have a plan for that," Leizu said.
"Is it Mei's plan? Just having me come back?"
"No, of course not. Unless you change your mind, we are planning to keep our promise to you that this ends after this week."
"How? What do you do if 200 desperate rogues are seeking me?"
"The same thing we'd do after nine months anyway. Or hadn't you thought that far ahead? What if everyone wants more, like Mei already does? Yes, we've been planning for that. That's one reason we needed intelligence agent expertise. We need to be ready to help you and your wife disappear. So that none of us can find you unless you want us to. Whether it has to happen next week, nine months from now, or after an outsider sees your medical scans, we're ready for that. Hopefully, it won't ever be necessary."
He was stunned. How hadn't he thought of that yet? Of course, she was right. He should have realized it when Mei brought up wanting him to come back. He had only been focusing on trying to return to something like his normal life in the short term. But now it seemed he could only get at most nine months of normal life back, and then they'd need to leave everything behind. Home, work, friends, family, everything. And this was yet another thing that he couldn't imagine how he'd even begin to explain to his wife.
After another long silence, Leizu spoke up. "Jim, I'd understand if you want to take a break, not meet anyone new right now. That's ok with us. No pressure. We have a lot planned for today in case you're up for it, but it's no problem to push everything back to tomorrow. Everyone outdid themselves recruiting, especially those cosplay girls, so there will be a huge crowd of potential recruits at a waterpark today, where we have a private party room reserved. Anyway, if you want to take a break, you might want to head down to your old room now. Tung-Mei is leading a bunch of recruits in a yoga session here this morning. They should be arriving soon. Then we're going to pack up and bring your things to Diwei's yacht, where you'll be staying tonight and tomorrow. If you want to skip yoga, that's fine too. If so just text whenever you're ready for the waterpark or to go directly to the yacht. Oh, and here's your kryptonite back in case you want to use it," she said, handing him his sunglasses.
He nodded, appreciating the gesture, but still angry at them for not bringing this up yesterday. And even more angry at himself. She was right, he had known implantation failure was possible yesterday morning, and yet he had continued. The offer to let him stop now was an empty gesture, far too late. It wouldn't really change anything now that he had already done over three hundred. He got up to leave, bringing his breakfast, and just waved goodbye, not wanting to say another word because he knew the intense emotions would come out in his voice. If he could speak at all.
A few minutes later he was sitting alone in his old room. He was still feeling the last traces of the joy from knocking up Anya and Yun Hee, but that feeling was hollow now. He still felt that same strange certainty that they were pregnant, but he no longer believed it. And that joy no longer seemed to protect him from the swirling doubts and fears that now came back in full force. The new fears from the idea of having to go into hiding someday soon, along with the impossible question of how he could ever explain that to his wife, on top of everything else. And was he dying of cancer? And what was in his body, everywhere in his body? And what the fuck were those pods? Stasis pods. What did that mean? Sci-fi horror scenarios filled his head again, nightmare visions of pods hatching alien offspring with a dozen long tentacles ending in cocks.
He fought to suppress those thoughts and turned to the more pressing matter of what to say to his wife, just a few minutes from now. He had to get a hold of himself, figure out what to say, and not look like a wreck. He sat on the bed breathing deeply, trying to clear his mind, then trying to anticipate what she might ask. She might ask about his health and whether he saw a doctor. She might ask about his supposed new client if she'd heard about it through his colleagues. Oh, the bakery! She'd definitely ask him what he thought of the documents she'd emailed. He hadn't read them yet. He jumped up and pulled up his email on his laptop, feeling like a student who remembered a homework assignment minutes before class started.
There was a new unread email titled lab test results. Oh, fuck. Not now. He cringed and scrolled past it to find the documents from his wife.
It turned out he didn't need much time to read them after all. There was just a half-page cover letter from Fei Fei and a very simple three-page contract. It didn't need to be long because it was simply ridiculously generous. It wasn't even really an investment. It explicitly said there was no way for Fei Fei's company to get their money back. It was basically a gift. Generous startup capital to open up to four new bakery locations, and an irrevocable trust fund to guarantee covering rent and salaries for two full-time employees per bakery location, for up to five locations.
He flipped back to Fei Fei's cover letter. It read: "My grandmother always insisted the most important ingredient in any recipe is love. When I tasted your croissant, I felt like I was with her again. I believe you and your family have a beautiful gift of love and happiness to share with the world. I have invested in many brilliant technology startups with grand visions of disruption and innovation, and I have made more money than I'll ever need investing in them. With you, I see a chance to invest in a simpler but more powerful force. I will accept no financial returns from this investment. This is an investment in love. It is a permanent commitment to support you, as long as you want to use your bakery to spread joy. I wish you all the happiness in the world, and I simply ask that you continue to share that happiness with the world. I hope, but I will not insist, that your new bakery locations include Beijing and Shanghai so that I can commune with my grandmother more often."
He knew immediately what effect this letter would have on his sweetheart wife. He couldn't help feeling moved by it himself, despite knowing that the story about tasting her croissant was a lie, and knowing what kind of joy Fei Fei really wanted them to spread. The rest was still heartfelt, despite the lie. It was still a beautiful gift. Fei Fei really wanted them to be happy, and not to have to worry about money.
His wife would be over the moon about it. Could he talk her out of it? He knew she'd want to accept the offer right away. And to open bakery locations in Beijing and Shanghai first. Fucking checkmate, again. Maybe he could at least get her to wait a week. After he had a chance to confess and explain everything, when she really understood what was behind this, she might change her mind. For now, he'd tell her he wanted to run it by a lawyer when he got back because it seemed too good to be true.
And then there was no more time to think, or to read those lab test results he was dreading. It was time for their call. His head spinning, he took a few deep breaths, then clicked.
He was expecting her to be happy, giddy, excited, even overjoyed. But not this much. Or rather, not in this particular, familiar way. And he had known she would have met with Chun-Hua by now, but he wasn't expecting Chun-Hua to be right there next to his wife, in his kitchen. Their flour-covered counter was visible at the bottom of the screen.
"Jim, watch this!" Catherine said, picking up a ball of dough. She stretched it wide between her hands, folded it with a twirl, and stretched it again. He knew right away what she was making. He had seen these movements so many times. It was performance art. A beautiful, traditional dance of dough and hands that produced one of his favorite foods in the world. Chun-Hua was teaching his wife fine hand-pulled noodles.
"Oh my god!" he cried, stunned. "Are you learning hand-pulled noodles? I fucking love that!"
"Yes! Oh, Jim, we're having the best time! This is my new best friend Chun-Hua, the chef they sent to work with me. She's giving me a crash course in Chinese cuisine, so I can adapt our bakery recipes for China. But we're starting with all of your favorite foods. I made a list of everything I can ever remember you craving and not being able to find here. We're doing chili oils, broths, and soup dumplings next."
"Oh my god, Catherine. You're blowing my mind. I love you so much right now!" He did. So fucking much. And then he was crying happy tears. And she was too, and she joked that he was going to ruin the noodles by getting them wet with her tears. And then he was just crying, breaking down utterly, sobbing uncontrollably for a few minutes. And she knew something was really wrong.
"There there, Jim. Oh, honey. What's wrong? Are you ok? What happened?"
Finally, he got control, wiped his face, and managed to respond. "I don't know. I just… I have a lot I need to tell you. When I get back. And I really miss you, and that's the most beautiful gift. All of this. Learning my favorite foods, the bakery offer. It's all just so much love. I don't know, it just hit me really hard. I'm ok now. God, how embarrassing. Your new friend must think I'm insane."
They laughed. Chun-hua shook her head reassuringly, saying, "No, no. You just have a big heart. And good taste. You're a lucky woman, Catherine. Not insane. Or maybe only a little. I could almost imagine sobbing about hand-pulled noodles."
More laughing, then healing, soothing, comfortable warm chitchat while Catherine made her noodles. She soon tossed the first batch in the trash, saying it was his fault for getting it wet, but the second batch came out perfect. Hundreds of long fine noodles, with that amazing firm texture he craved. What a gift. His wife could do that for him now, for the rest of his life.
Catherine was so happy, so overjoyed. And so bonded with Chun-Hua. Not just instant best friends. Sisters. Like Mei with Aihan. Or so many others. It was familiar now. But that didn't mean it wasn't real. It was all centered on his wife's love for him, which was so very real, and so powerful. Her love was the center of everything, the purpose for his resistance, the light that was guiding him home. And the other women weren't the enemy. Fei Fei was helping him in her way. Helping him return to his loving marriage, helping support them in any way she could. She really did want them to be happy together. Leizu too. He had assumed the worst, assumed she was his enemy, but she had been planning to keep her promise even in the worst-case scenarios. And Chun-Hua too. He had thought she was on some nefarious mission, but there she was, giving his wife a new way to show her love, one that she knew would touch him so deeply, hit him right in his soul.
His health didn't come up, and neither did his work, so he didn't have to lie about either. They talked about Fei Fei's offer. He didn't even need to say what he'd planned to say. Catherine said it first, that they should wait a week and run it by a lawyer just in case. He agreed, and Chun-Hua nodded along.
After they hung up, he just sat there in the glow of his wife's love. And only then, a minute later, did it hit him. Catherine would understand. When he confessed, she wouldn't be jealous or even hurt. She would accept. She had made eye contact with Chun-Hua. That was why they sent Chun-Hua there. Now, like any of the other women, she wouldn't be jealous. Or angry. She would understand completely.
And she would not just be accepting. She would be supportive. Like all the others. Beyond supportive. Enthusiastically, passionately devoted to helping support his new hobby of knocking up gorgeous strangers by the dozen. His wife was one of them now.
And instead of relief, he felt a rising wave of anger. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense anymore. He felt cheated. And that made no sense either. He deserved for her to be angry at him. Even that was being taken from him. He deserved that punishment, but he wouldn't get it. Not from her, anyway. He deserved either to lose her or to have to spend years striving to re-earn her trust. But it would, he knew, all be instantly forgiven. He was the only one who would be angry at himself. The only one he would have to strive for years to earn forgiveness from was himself. And she would understand that too, he knew. It would all be too easy, and for a few minutes, he just sat there stewing in anger.
And then finally he realized one more crucial thing. He wouldn't break her heart. When she learned what he had done, it wouldn't hurt her. That sweet, kind soul would not be damaged. Her trust and faith in him wouldn't be cracked in the slightest. Whether she was hurt was so much more important than whether she was angry at him. It was so silly, selfish even, to focus only on whether she'd be angry at him. What really mattered, the real underlying reason it was wrong to cheat on her, was because it would hurt her. And that wasn't true anymore. It really wouldn't hurt her. He knew then that he really would be able to forgive himself. Miraculously, it really might all be okay.
He had been so negative, so paranoid about everything. Assuming his wife could never understand. Imagining that Leizu, Fei Fei, and Chun-Hua were plotting against him, plotting to blow up his marriage. It had been just the opposite all along. They were plotting for him, trying to help him. They wanted him to be happy. They wanted to help him do what he said he wanted to do, to return to something like normal life. Leizu had been plotting to keep her promise, Fei Fei had been plotting to support him and his wife financially, and Chun-Hua had been plotting to help his wife show her love.
What else could he have been too paranoid about? Instantly, the news about the three who had gotten their periods came to mind. Their bodies weren't rushing to get ready for him again. And they didn't want him again. Suddenly that confusing development seemed like a message, a peace offering almost. Maybe it meant that he had done enough, or that he could soon have done enough. Maybe after this week, he would be free.
But he was already free, really. Leizu's threat to tell his wife no longer carried any weight. And his paranoid thoughts that Leizu might try to blow up his marriage after this week even after he cooperated no longer made any sense either. He could now see, as Leizu probably had long ago, that Catherine would understand. The threat was a bluff all along.
It was overwhelming, dizzying. He just sat there a few minutes trying to process it all, thinking it all over again and again. The anger, guilt, and despair that had filled him just kept melting away. His fears had been baseless after all.
Well, not quite all his fears. It was time to read those test results. He braced himself a moment and clicked on the email. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he read the summary at the top: "Good news! All the blood and urine results are excellent. We can't fully rule out cancer until we get the biopsy results in another day or two, but we can rule out the late-stage malignant cancer that your scans resembled. There's just no way your kidneys and liver could be functioning this perfectly if those nodules we saw on the scans were malignant."
His fears of imminent death, just like his fears of imminent divorce, had been wrong. Those two twin fears had been like massive boulders looming just overhead. But now, as they both fell harmlessly to the side, the true scale of his one remaining fear came into focus. It was like a massive rockslide roaring down a mountain at him. Still distant, not an immediate threat, but far bigger, so big he couldn't even wrap his head around it. Bigger than any danger to one person's life or happiness. It was a planet-wide fear, a species-wide fear. What was he doing to humanity? What would his hundreds of children be like? What the fuck were those stasis pods going to unleash on the world?
But now, right after seeing how foolishly paranoid he had been about those other fears, he couldn't help but see how much of this biggest fear was built on imagination and guesswork. He didn't know enough about it. They needed to get that information. And then he knew what he had to do.
He texted Leizu and Fei Fei, and within five minutes Leizu and Xueqin were in his old hotel room with him, with Fei Fei joining via video chat.
"I want to change our deal," he said.
"You're backing out of what you already agreed to?" Leizu asked.
"No. Offering to add to it. When we made that deal I had done, what, fifteen? How many did you think I would do per day then, when we agreed? If I just did twenty or thirty a day through the end of the week, that'd be exceeding what you expected when we made the deal, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, fair enough," Leizu said. "So I take it you're offering to keep going like yesterday if you get something else you want? You did almost 200 yesterday."
"Yeah. At least. I'm pretty sure I can beat that by a lot if I try. I hardly did any until the afternoon. And I only had two helpers most of yesterday. Now I have four."
"Four? I know about Adeline, who's the other new helper?"
"Me," Xueqin said.
Leizu stared at her a moment. Jim felt like he could see the wheels turning in her head. Was she realizing that Xueqin had resisted? He wouldn't put anything past that chessmaster brain.
"Ok. You're offering to try to do over 200 per day until you leave. And what do you want? Jesus, Jim, you're the luckiest guy in the world. What the fuck more could you want?"
"A research center. To do what Mia, Lanying, and Cheon-Sa are already trying to do. To study this, to figure out what's happening to us and why. A lot more scientists. And all the funding they need. And a place to do it that's all our own, so there's less risk of leaks. Right, Xueqin? Should they be doing that research at a university lab?"
She shook her head. "He's right. There was security camera footage of Jim in those labs, and his scans were on an auto-backup server even after Mia deleted them. Biluo found that last night and took care of it already, but someone else could have seen it first. It's a risk we shouldn't be taking."
Fei Fei spoke up, "Jim, I wonder if you know how much biomedical research costs. Even just the equipment. This is a big ask."
"Yeah, actually. I'm an accountant. I've had clients in that field. It's that important though. We need to do this. And it needs to be us doing it, not them. Not outsiders who see us as a threat. We need to get ahead of that. We have a head start, at least a few years if we're careful before anyone else starts studying this. And we have the money now, right? Because of Wenling and Emma?"
"We don't have Wenling and Emma's money. They do," Fei Fei said, pausing for effect. "But yes, I'm sold. I will ask them. And I will at least chip in my own funds. But to do it right, I'm sure we'll need Wenling and Emma. And maybe even some others, but there's still time to recruit more rich women. We need a budget before we ask. Leizu, call Mia's team and tell them we want a budget for a research center and lists of a dream team of female scientists to recruit from anywhere in the world, as soon as possible. Jim, we'll need them to meet you of course. Please think about whether you'd be willing to meet a few of them after this week. We'll have to fly someone to them to recruit them in person, then fly them back here or to Stockholm to meet you, so time is tight. It's totally up to you, but if you agree to some meetings later it will make planning this a lot easier. And there will be specialists they'll only realize they need later anyway. And I'm sure they'll want you to visit for more tests."
He paused a moment, thinking this over. She was right. They probably would need to add other scientists later. And they would of course need him to visit, to study him again. Anyway, his wife wouldn't mind. "Ok. You can make those requests, with an explanation of the scientific need for each one. I will consider them on a case-by-case basis. I have just one more thing to ask. I want Xueqin overseeing it all. I want her watching over everything and everyone involved, keeping it all secure."
Xueqin nodded. Leizu looked sharply at Jim and smiled slightly, her eyes sparkling. What was that expression? Surprise, amusement, maybe a little pride. Like a teacher proud that an underperforming student was finally getting it. Had Leizu been resisting too? Holding everyone to their deal, planning to keep their promise - maybe that was her resistance.
"Done. I couldn't agree more," Fei Fei said.
"And not just security," Jim said, locking eyes with Xueqin. "I'd like Xueqin to be in charge of HR too. Choosing which scientists to recruit."
"I'm not qualified to judge their science ability," Xueqin said.
"That's ok. The scientists will get you a short list of scientifically qualified candidates for each position, but I want you to make the final call. Scientific ability is only the second most important quality."
"What's the first?"
"Strength of character. Self-control." There was a long silence, and then Jim continued. "Attractiveness is a distant third, hardly important at all."
Another long silence. Leizu was staring hard at Xueqin. Xueqin nodded. Leizu turned back to Fei Fei, saying "I agree. Jim is right. Xueqin is perfect."
"I don't know what Xueqin did to earn your trust so quickly," Fei Fei said, pausing. "But I can't think of anyone I trust more. Alright then. We will make it happen. Jim, thanks for bringing this up. You have a deal. Now go get to work."
"I'm on it. Leizu, I hope you have enough recruits for me today."
She laughed, "Oh, don't worry about that. We have a huge backlog. There are three hundred of us now recruiting and most of us have at least one or two pending recruits, some a lot more. But you can see for yourself today at the water park. I'm going to greenlight everyone who wants to bring recruits to the waterpark today. I'd expect upwards of five hundred. Wear the sunglasses so you can control when you recruit, and just relax and enjoy the eye candy. Your helpers will be in the private party room, as well as your masseuses, stylists, and chefs."
What a mind-boggling thought. A whole waterpark full of gorgeous bikini-clad recruits. Hundreds of women, all chosen perfectly for his tastes, all irresistibly sexy, all his for the taking on a whim. He was going to enjoy the fuck out of this day. Even more than yesterday. To be able to choose them himself would be such a thrill, from a pre-recruited crowd where they were all absolute goddesses and all hyper-fertile.
Leizu continued, "And tomorrow we'll do the same open invite at the beach, with Diwei's yacht anchored nearby. Oh, and tonight, the first big batch of Kai Ming's models arrive, mostly from nearby countries. We'll helicopter them to Diwei's yacht as they arrive in town throughout the evening."
Mind-boggling again. The models. How could he forget the models? Tonight and tomorrow would be incredible. And then there was Friday, and that flight home. It would just keep getting better, just keep ratcheting up, just keep finding more tops to go over. And above all, he was ready for it now, ready to really enjoy it. There was none of the guilt or fear that had filled him every spare minute yesterday. He could just enjoy it. There wouldn't be that crazed feeling of needing to distract himself from those dark thoughts. He was at peace, finally. He wasn't trapped. He wasn't dying. His marriage would be fine. And he was doing this for a good reason, almost something he could tell himself was a noble cause, if he didn't think too much about it. He would do his part to build that research center to save the world, one delicious fuck at a time.
That feeling of peace just kept growing. It was even stronger ten minutes later, as Jim sat in the penthouse in the center of a circle of twenty gorgeous women, fifteen of whom he'd just met, all wearing tight yoga clothes. He was sitting cross-legged, meditating, and periodically gazing around at their lust-filled faces and absurdly sexy limber bodies. Tung-Mei slowly led them through their poses as he watched, including many delightfully fuck-ready positions, always with each pussy aimed directly at him in the center, as if each body was being offered to him, which he knew it was. Tung-Mei's calm, soothing voice spoke in a mixture of mystical yoga gibberish and increasingly obvious sexual innuendo, telling them to focus on their center, feel that spark within, know its true and beautiful purpose, offer it up to be filled, and flow toward conception.
He did feel centered. Finally. Fully present in this beautiful moment. No distracting worries. Peace. Relief. He was able to just sit and feel. And what he felt was pure lust, pure enjoyment of the anticipation. He reveled in it, savored it. What a feeling. Three hundred pussies into this crazy experience, and it still hadn't gotten old, still didn't feel repetitive. Not in the slightest. The moment of enthralling each of these fifteen had been so powerful, so unique, so important to them and to him. The look of growing lust in each of their eyes was instantly seared forever in his memory. The delicious anticipation right now, the wildly urgent sexual tension. Their lust for him. Their eyes, their squirming, stretching bodies. The growing wet spots in the crotches of their yoga pants. Each of these lovely bodies was his to explore, conquer, and impregnate, whenever he wanted. And that too wouldn't be repetitive, would still be stunningly powerful and unique each time. And now he was finally at peace enough to truly enjoy it, to fully embrace it. This was going to be a fucking great day.