She was a fascinating girl and the mother of one of his children. Sara cooed and played with his hand. He could hear emotions being broadcast by her young mind. As happened with most of his kids, they seemed to be delighted any time that he focused on them. That was a singular joy.
He wondered for a moment if his own asshole of a father would have been a better man if he could have felt how important he was to Jay when he was young. Of course, the man’s actions had killed that and driven a wedge between them. So much so that he hadn’t even mourned when he learned that his father along with the rest of the Earth had been killed. Jay was determined to be a much better father.
“I love seeing how she looks at you,” Rosa said.
“That’s good cause I love her. She is precious. So is her mother,” Jay replied.
Rosa stared at him like she wasn’t sure what to say back. So, Jay just kept going. “I know now isn’t the time and I know you aren’t sure about any of this, but I want you to know that once we get some time, I’m willing to date you or whatever you want to call it. I’m willing to put in the time for you to know that you are important. I want you and Sara to be in my life.”
“And this isn’t just because you want to add my power to the collective?” Rosa asked, hesitantly.
Jay was actually caught off guard for a moment because he hadn’t even considered that. But then he realized why she might think that. Her power was different, but it had many applications and with enough power might actually be a game changer. When he spoke, he was very deliberate. “That hasn’t crossed my mind. Now that you mention it, yes, your power would be useful and yes, I would be willing to fuse with you, but that wasn’t what I was proposing. I get that you want to take it slow. Even if we have slept together there were reasons for that. And why shouldn’t a girl get properly romanced even at the end of the world?”
She ran her hand along his arm and said, “There may be hope for us after all.” Then she looked to where Amelia was motioning for Jay to come over. “Looks like you are needed.”
Chapter 5- Breaking into Pods
For two hours, Jay did little more than go around and check in on his children and their mothers. It was a pleasant experience while at the same time being a reminder of Higen’s absence. Still Jay knew first-hand what happened to the child who was left if a parent couldn’t get over the child who was lost.
He had no intention of giving up on finding his son. In fact, he was about to undergo some very grueling training in order to make it happen. The reports from the tech division had been encouraging. They were going to start doing brain surgery tomorrow.
It sounded scary and he supposed it was, but he trusted his team. If they said they were as ready as they could be then so be it. They were going to remove the A’snkarnt implants from three volunteers and replace them with newly designed ones which they hoped would provide all the same controls for the leveling process without being a possible back door for the enemy to control them or even blow their heads up.
Jay had volunteered immediately, but his seven wives had unanimously outvoted him and forbade him from risking himself first. There was a certain logic to it. Only nine men left and all that. But Jay didn’t imagine it would ever be easy for him to allow someone else to stand in his stead when facing danger.
Ava’s report about the implant got a little crazy as she was speaking a million miles per hour but there was one crucial part that she mentioned at the end. They believed that Veronica had figured out a way to allow the user to interface with the A’snkarnt systems on board their ship and essentially control them with their mind. It surely sounded cool, but Jay was gonna hold his breath to see how it worked out.
As for the newcomers, in the end fifty-one of them joined Team Jay. Amelia and Trina had required that each of them get a sponsor before being accepted onto the team. Then Samantha had overseen them all making oaths of loyalty to the team and had insisted on adding a bit about personal loyalty to Jay.
The pods had been broken down again by fuses rather than wives. So now there were one hundred and eleven women on Team Jay but with eighteen fuses they each were only responsible for a relatively small number. They also established certain schedules as part of the next week.
Jay still needed sleep but fortunately not as much as a normal human. He was going to have to allot the equivalent of four hours each day to refining the newcomers. Two hours per day would go to further enhancing the refinement of those who were already at least partially through the process. One hour was allotted for his personal refinement. Four natural hours without time distortion for sleep, two hours for relaxation and time with the kids, and one hour for extracurricular activities. That left ten hours a day
