Hello, there! It seems I'm making a habit of apologizing for the time between chapters. Just know I'm hoping to have lots more coming soon. At least one more chapter on this story. Hope everyone had a great holiday season! As always, constructive criticism in the comments is encouraged but abuse will not be tolerated and summarily deleted. Enjoy!
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"Ten more, ladies!" the fitness instructor shouted at the spandex-clad class of women with their knees pointed to the ceiling. The gathering was being put through their daily paces of calisthenics by Miss Armstead, the blonde cropped-haired trainer lovingly dubbed Matilda the Hun by the attendees. The group had finished their daily squats and was now on to sit-ups. The daily regimen concluded with no less than twenty-five of the core-crunching maneuvers but most of the women stopped at ten. Annette Simmons smiled as she reached number twenty. Twenty-five was a walk in the park for her when it came to sit-ups, normally hitting fifty during her personal workouts. When the instructor blew the whistle, Annette threw five more quick reps in for her own satisfaction, but Armstead showed her displeasure.
"Simmons!" the gruff trainer shouted. "The whistle means stop! I don't need you pulling a muscle and screwing up your session!"
"Sorry, Matilda..." Annette said under her breath with a smile.
"I didn't quite catch that, Simmons!" Armstead hollered as her eyes stared daggers into Annette's shapely frame.
"I said 'Sorry, ma'am'," Annette replied as she laid back on the cushioned gym mats covering the floor that used to be one of the conference rooms at the now-shuttered casino. Hawks Casino and Resort was once the largest gaming establishment outside of Las Vegas, but the virus and the subsequent economic downturn had seen to it that the monolithic structure would never host another bet, concert, or hotel guest. Not until the OEA had renovated and designated it a welcoming station would the enormous parlor see people once again roaming her halls.
Miss Armstead turned her attention from her subordinate trainee and addressed the class. "Ladies, most of you have been doing very well these past three weeks but there are a few of you that must pick up the pace if you want to fulfil the terms of the agreement. Let's push ourselves to do better! Be here tomorrow at 7am SHARP! Dismissed!" At that the ladies picked their sweaty selves from the floor and wandered toward the exits.
"Christens! Norman! Simmons! Velasquez! Front and center!" Armstead shouted before the women could reach the doors. The four ladies did as they were told and stayed behind as the throng filed quickly out of the large meeting room.
"Ladies," the trainer began, "I have your appointment dates here." She held up a clipboard with attached paperwork to emphasize her point. "Instead of coming here for your workouts, you will refrain from overly strenuous activity until after your date has passed. Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." All four women stated in unison.
"Good." Armstead replied then pulled the pages off the clipboard and began reading the sheets aloud as she passed them to the corresponding woman. "Christens, June 19
th
. Norman, June 21
st
, Simmons, June 12
th
. That's this Wednesday if you weren't aware. Velasquez, June 26. That's all, ladies. Dismissed!"
The four ladies left the meeting room then huddled outside of the large double doors. Bubbling with excitement, the quartet of young women couldn't contain their giddiness as they conversed.
"Annette!" Velasquez exclaimed as she put a hand on her roommate's shoulder. "You get to go first! Wednesday! That's tomorrow!"
"I know, Carrie," Annette replied to the young Hispanic woman. "I wonder why they want me to go so soon?"
"Are you kidding?" Christens, a tall brunette who was no fan of the daily calisthenics, retorted. "Look at you. You're in better shape than any of us here, even Matilda. They know you're ready. Those Nebulans probably can't wait to get their tentacles on you!"
"Do you think they really have tentacles?" Norman, a short young blonde with curves in all the right places, questioned. "I mean, like an octopus?"
"You guys worry too much," Annette said. "This is going to be a cake walk. You'll see. I'll go first and set all your minds at ease. I'll..."
"Simmons!" a shout from behind them startled the group and they all turned to the doors to see Miss Armstead staring at them. "A word, please."
Velasquez mouthed
good luck
to her roomie as the group disbanded and Annette slowly made her way over to where her fitness trainer stood.
"Yes, Miss Armstead?" Annette said as she stood in front of the tall blonde muscle-bound woman.
"Simmons," Armstead began, "the higher-ups wanted me to let you know that you are not to relate your experience to your peers while in gestation. All experiences are different and we don't want anyone going in with any pre-conceived notions."
"Of course, Miss Armstead," Annette said and gave a slight curtsey to her trainer. Annette was quite certain that Armstead was a lesbian and that she had the hots for her. Annette played that to her favor by showing more and more skin as the days went on and made sure to bend at the waist often enough to catch the instructor's eye. Annette didn't want anything from the blonde Amazon, she just wanted to try to see if she could make her squirm with her obvious sex appeal.
"Be sure to arrive at the designated spot at the designated time, Simmons." Armstead said as she looked up and down Annette's luscious frame. "Dismissed."
Annette started to salute the gestapo-like trainer then thought better of it. She turned to leave and swayed her hips and backside a little more seductively than usual. Annette didn't look back- she didn't have to. She knew that Matilda the Hun was watching her shapely ass bounce in her leotard. Annette could almost feel her eyes burning holes in her taut butt as she sashayed toward the staircase that led to her floor of the defunct casino. She could barely contain her excitement as she climbed the steps to the third floor then down the hall to her room.
It was all happening in less than twenty-four hours. She would accomplish everything she wanted. She would get the money owed to her so that she and Mac could finally buy their dream home and start a family, but more than that, she would be able to fulfill the fantasy that she had been dreaming of since she turned eighteen and was eligible to participate in the breeding process. Things were finally starting to look up. She just had to convince Mac that everything was going to be all right.
++++++++++
Mackenzie Simmons, for his part, was keeping up the appearance of a supportive spouse. He let on to almost no one that he had his doubts about the Nebulans seemingly benign plans. However, he had spoken with a couple other men that shared his views on the extraterrestrials' true motives on Earth. On the morning before his wife's appointment with her designated Nebulan partner, Mac and his two new friends were walking the courtyard and discussing their next move.
"We can't just try to take over the place, Mark" Danny Davison said after a heated exchange between Mac and their other companion, Mark O'Meara. The two were arguing about the best way to expose the outworlders as the frauds the trio were convinced they were. Mark preferred the direct approach- his theory was that the three of them could steal some guns then hold the higher-ups hostage until they admitted what the Nebulans were really up to with their women. Mac proposed a stealthier alternative. The three would take turns sneaking out of their rooms and reconnoitering the grounds after hours to find where the aliens were taking the women and then take some clandestine photos with Danny's smuggled-in cell phone.
"What if we get caught?" Mark asked the other two angrily. "We won't have any way to defend ourselves. I would feel much better with at least a sidearm if not one of those automatics those Marines out front are carrying."
"No. No guns, man." Mac answered matter-of-factly. "We don't know for sure anything crazy is going on. We don't want to go blasting away at the first thing that moves because three of us think the aliens have ulterior motives with our women. No, we have to be smart and be undercover on this."
"What about the pills?" Danny asked Mac. All of the men were required to take what the government called essential supplements. The official explanation was so that the men could be in tiptop form for their wives and girlfriends when they left. Some of the men though, including Mac, Danny, and Mark, thought there was more to these supplements than the government drug-pushers were letting on.
"There's gotta be something to these things," Danny continued. He held out his hand to show his daily ration that he had somehow gotten around taking that morning. "I swear these are not vitamins. This one here," he pointed to a long yellow pill, "I think that's a Valium or some sort of tranquilizer. And the pink one, I couldn't swear to it, but I think it's Ketoconazole. It's an erection suppressant. It inhibits the production of testosterone so you don't get a hard-on. It's been used on patients that have had reconstructive surgery on their penis and groin area. Postoperative erections can be painful so they give them this shit. Have either of you had a boner since you started taking these things?"
Both Mac and Mark shook their heads in the negative. "I tried to the other night but couldn't get it up," Mark said embarrassingly. "I just miss my Dana so much..."
Mac put a hand on the dejected man's shoulder for comfort. "I know, Mark. Don't worry. She'll be fine."
"How do you know?!" Mark said, his anger returning and refocused on Mac. He shrugged Mac's hand off his shoulder then grabbed the supplements from Danny's hand. "It's these things! They're making us crazy!!" he began to shout then walked quickly to the steps of a raised reflecting pond at the center of the courtyard. "We've got to quit taking these things or they'll kill us all!" Mark's voice became louder and attracted the attention of both the other guests at the welcoming center that were outside and the guards that patrolled the enclosure.
