Most of the snow had melted by the time they got back to the cave entrance, and it was decided to return to the lower levels of the plain and make their main camp by the remains of the water cistern they had found earlier.
At Moss’s insistent request, they returned to the Radio Telescope complex twice more over the next few days, discovering several more accessible rooms much to Moss’s delight, but Kel and Jay had little interest in looking for things they could see no use for.
Before long, Moss started visiting the complex on his own, and as time went by he became more and more withdrawn and sombre in his attitude towards the others, not that they seemed to mind very much.
Nature was beginning to take a firm hand with their hormones and Kel and Jay were becoming inseparable.
Jay’s natural instinct to find food which was safe for them all to eat added several new items to their diet, their health and general well-being improving beyond all measure.
A crude shelter was constructed in among the jumbled concrete blocks of the water cistern to provided a reasonable form of protection from the torrential rain which swept in from the sea every few days, although sometimes they just cavorted about in the downpour for the fun of it.
The thunder and lightning caused a degree of fear for Kel and Jay, and they took shelter whenever it was particularly fierce, but Moss largely ignored it, as he realized that most of it was collected by the lightning attractors high up on the mountainside, and therefore wouldn’t affect them at this low level.
The time came when nature decided to take a hand in the proceedings, and Jay became even more attentive to Kel’s wishes.
Snuggling up to him one cold night, the inevitable happened and next day a completely unabashed Kel remarked, ‘What we did was so much better than what happened when Moss and I were with your group of females so long ago, I had no idea it could be so pleasant.’ Jay just smiled, remembering how the two lads had been rushed from hut to hut in a drug induced stupor by a desperate bunch of broody females, blindly intent on changing their status to that of motherhood.
Many were the pleasurable moments shared by Jay and Kel, while Moss went about his business of exploring the labyrinth of passageways and rooms of the complex in the mountain. He showed no interest in Jay, except as another companion, and a rather simple one at that.
Moss suggested they set out to explore the surrounding countryside a little more, and later, from a high vantage point they were amazed to find they were on an island, with no other land in sight.
Kel and Moss had earlier discussed at length what they should do with regard to trying to get back to their home land, mainly in order to report to Mec, but now they realized the chances of achieving it were so remote as to be not really worth considering.
After much discussion, the general conclusion was that they were trapped on this island, and the only sensible thing to do was to start a group of their own, and as Moss said,
‘That’s your job. Anyway, I didn’t like the last time we tried it, and I’m much more interested in what the giants have been doing in the past.’
Kel didn’t bother to explain the difference between the two ‘times’, as somehow he didn’t want to share Jay with anyone.
The gestation period was a lot shorter than expected, not that they knew a lot about the birthing process, and when in a more jovial mood, Moss made many jokes about Jay eating too many ripe fruits and filling up with wind.
The birth was without problems, and Kel and Jay were thrilled to bits with the little one, Moss merely remarking that it was a bit wrinkled and needed drying out in the light of the Greater Sun for a couple of days.
While she was still feeding the little one, her stomach began to swell again, this being greeted by more ribald comments from Moss, and a lot of tender loving care from Kel, who tried to make up for the somewhat disinterested and nonchalant attitude of Moss.
Something he couldn’t understand had been worrying away at the back of Kel’s mind, and it was when Jay was with her third child that Kel took Moss to one side one day.
‘Do you remember the law we had back in our groups that we mated with someone from another group, and never with one of our own?’ Moss nodded, wondering what was coming next.
‘Well, there must have been a good reason for that law to be enforced so rigidly, what do you think it was?’ Kel asked.
Moss had no idea, or if he did, he wasn’t going to offer it.
It was Jay who put Moss on the spot one day, by asking him if he would mate with her next time, as she somehow felt that was the right thing to do, but didn’t know why. A rather reluctant Kel agreed with her, and between them they persuaded an even more unwilling Moss to do the honours.
Jay later confided to Kel that he was much better at ‘it’ than Moss, which restored Kel’s feeling of manhood and partnership more than anything else she could have done.
When the twins were born, Moss was just as surprised as any of them, and tried his best not to show the interest he now felt in the double production.
A second set of twins, initiated by Moss, really put Kel’s nose out, and that was the last time he was allowed to mate with Jay. At least for some time.
It mattered little really, as nature had achieved her aim of
