”Octavia shrugged. “The whole purpose to taking concubines is to populate the colonies as quickly as possible and make them strong enough to stand...against the Sa’arm. It’s a pretty cold way of looking at it, really, but I understand the need. You have six kids of your own already with two more on the way. You’ll catch up to my nine in no time. Of course, you have more concubines than me...”The young man looked thoughtful for a moment. “That worries me a bit, as well,” he admitted. “Not the. There was even a maternity section. The shear amount ofmerchandise gave the store an unkempt appearance, but it was cozy allthe same.After drinking in the atmosphere, Jack turned his attention to a reardisplay. A shapely little sales clerk dressed in a pale yellow jacketand matching skirt was adding new dresses to the rack. She had aslender, petite build and was probably a good foot shorter than Jack.Her face was blessed with large, light brown eyes and a warm smile.Reddish hair with pink. They held the embrace for a long time, just savoring the warmth, the realness of each other’s bodies. Then food and water slid through the slot in the door, and the need to replenish their strength after a session in the chair forced them to separate. ‘So how did you do?’ Missy asked, picking up her bottle of water and taking a long, grateful gulp from it. Damage assessment was always the first priority. ‘Not bad, I think. I can’t remember how I met Caroline anymore, though. I know it was in. At some point the other guy kicked me in my stomach and yelled at me to get up and walk.I was brought outdoors, and it was pretty cold since it was early February and I was (as always) totally naked since I don’t own any clothing.There was a metal trough filled to the rim with water, there were hoses, there were buckets filled with ice cubes and... there was a really mean looking older Woman. According to the look on her face and demeanor it was clear to me I didn’t had to expect much empathy.