The Ragnarok Protocol Pt 09

Zeb is a world class engineer living a life normally reserved for the super wealthy: traveling to exotic locations and bedding beautiful women. All on someone else's dime.

Then comes The Plague. Fifty million dead worldwide and no end in sight. After more than a year stuck alone in his house, he gets a cryptic offer: solve an impossible problem first and get a million bucks. But the strange missive is just the beginning. His mysterious new employer has loftier plans which will take Zeb around the world, and beyond, in a sexy science fiction adventure.

The Ragnarök Protocol is a tale of erotic science fiction about an engineer who, with the help of his beautiful companions, attempts the impossible in an effort to avert the end of the world. If you're a fan of the science fiction and spy movies of the sixties and seventies, but always wished they didn't fade to black when things got sexy, then this novel is for you.

Author's Note: This is a full novel (~98k words) which I'll attempt to break up into easily consumable sections. All characters are over eighteen. Enjoy!

*****

Chapter 28

The shuttle made it back to the space station in another four hours. They were desperately trying to balance expedience and keeping the acceleration as low as possible. Once their course was laid in, the commander came back on to give us a more detailed update.

"She's hurt pretty bad, Mr. Anson. She lost her right arm below the elbow, and she's lost a ton of blood. We've got a tourniquet on her and she's still breathing but I don't know how long she'll last."

On hearing this, Margrethe said, "We must get her to surgery as soon as possible. In addition to blood loss the risk of infection is severe. I will go find the surgeon and we will prepare. Have her brought to the hospital as soon as they land. Commander, what about your co-pilot?"

She said, "I think his arm is definitely broken but we've got it sprinted and he's doing all right. The fracture was not, I repeat, not a compound fracture. I'm sure he can make it until you take care of Ms. Kristiansen."

I said, "All right Commander. I'll let you and Ilsa take it from here. I can't thank you enough for this. You, and your crew, have been nothing short of heroic. Anything you need, just let me know. If it's in my power to make it happen, I will."

After they docked with the space station, they quickly made their way to the shuttle and headed for the Enclave. When they landed twenty-three minutes later, we were all in what passed for a terminal waiting for them. Hadley was indeed in pretty bad shape. Her skin was ashen due to the blood she had lost, and the bloody stump of her arm was strapped to her chest. She was rushed toward the hospital by Margrethe and another nurse. Lucy and I stayed behind to congratulate the crew once again.

After that I just wanted to find a quiet place to cuddle up with Lucy and wait for Hadley to get out of surgery, but things kept popping up that demanded my attention. It seemed as though I was the de facto mayor/governor/prime minister of either the Enclave or the entire Moon.

I spent over an hour talking to General Turgidson. I was relieved that their nuke had effectively eradicated the shuttle, but I was growing wearing of his overbearing demeanor. He behaved like a significant other who spends all day psyching themselves up for a fight, only to have their partner immediately agree with them, leaving them with a tank of stored up anger but nowhere to release it. After the fifth time I told him that not only did I have nothing to do with the stupidly named Ragnarök Protocol, but that I had indirectly caused the deaths of the people most responsible. I eventually told him I was tired and hung up on him before asking Ilsa to stall him as frustratingly as possible if he called back.

Next came a group of department heads who looked to me, as the most senior living member of the company, for what to do. I told them to keep doing what they had been up until this point, with the exception of the food service group. I told them to stop adding the contraceptives and the bimbo cocktail to the food. I told them we would meet again in twenty-four hours and then dismissed them.

When I finally made it back to our cubic, I had no idea what time it was or how long it had been since I last slept. I found Lucy sleeping on the couch with Zoe, Elin and Sophie. I stopped to kiss each on the forehead before I stumbled into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

*****

I awoke the next morning pleasantly nestled between Lucy and Margrethe. I suspect it was the arrival of the latter that awoke me as she looked at me apologetically with a sleepy expression.

I kissed her and then whispered, "How's Hadley?"

Margrethe said, "She will live. We obviously could not save her arm, but it was a clean amputation, and we suspect she will be able to utilize a prosthetic. Otherwise, she is in good shape, considering all she went through."

"What about radiation?"

"No more than we would expect from one spending several days in space. The rest of the crew is also fine."

I said, "Thanks, beautiful. Get some rest. You deserve it. I love you."

She kissed me once more and said, "I love you too, dear man," and then quickly fell asleep.

I managed to get up without waking Lucy. I put on some shorts and slipped into the living room.

Zoe, Sophie and Elin were in the kitchen. I went to join them and get a much-needed cup of coffee. Zoe intercepted me and pulled me into a tight hug before looking at me and saying, "It was touch and go for a while there, Z. I'm glad you're ok. I couldn't have taken losing you too."

I returned the hug as tightly as it was offered and said, "Thanks for saving my ass, Z. None of this would have worked without all of us working as a team."

When Zoe let me go, Sophie and Elin hit me from both sides. They each gave me a kiss before reluctantly letting me go.

Sophie said, "What happens now, Zeb?"

"I think that's up to us. First priority is to find the formula for the Plague vaccine and get it to the UN. After that, I guess we let whoever wants to go home go and see if there are enough people left here to make a go of it."

Elin said, "Does that mean you want to stay?"

"Yeah. I have a lot of reasons for wanting to stay but the biggest is Ilsa. It's not like she can get on a rocket and emigrate back to Earth. As long as it is feasible, I want to stay where she is. I hope you'll all stay as well."

To their credit, no one asked why. I hoped that meant that Ilsa's place in our family was as much of a given for them as it was for me. I took my coffee and headed for our office, leaving the door open behind me for the first time. I simply said, "Good morning, Ilsa. What's shakin'?"

"Thank you, Zebadiah," she began humbly. "I cannot tell you how much that means to me."

"You're part of the family, sweetheart. I could no more leave you than I could leave any of the others. And just like the others, if there's ever anything you need, just let me know. If I can make it happen, I will."

She said, "There is nothing I need, now. But I will let you know when the time comes. You have several action items which require your attention, the most important being the vaccine you mentioned. Would you like to start there?"

*****

Two hours later, we had transmitted all of Sinnsyk's data on the vaccine for the Plague, and its creation, to the UN. I believe this more than anything finally convinced them that I was not a Fifth Columnist. I could feel their desire for someone they could stand up in front of the TV cameras beneath a chyron reading, 'Worse than Hitler!' but I felt confident they could handle the relatively easy task of convincing the people of Earth that a bizarrely aloof billionaire was, in fact, the bad guy. They said they would need to independently verify the vaccine's effectiveness and safety, but I knew what they would find. Ilsa also found mention of several million doses of the vaccine which had been left behind at Île Amsterdam.

I also called a meeting of all citizens of the Enclave for the following day. I wanted to lay everything on the line for everyone and give them an opportunity to ask questions. Sinnsyk's files indicated there were no other co-conspirators other than the ones already dead or captured.

Those two action items being handled, I asked Ilsa, "Something else occurred to me, baby girl. How long will it take for the contraceptive that was in the food to wear off?"

She said, "For most adults the effects of the combination of pharmaceuticals you refer to as the bimbo cocktail should be mostly worn off by the time you meet with the other residents. As for the contraceptive, it would theoretically be possible to get pregnant almost right away but in most cases the female will need to wait until ten days after her next menses. As for the males, their virility should be restored to its previous state within a few days. If you are asking for your wives, they have been off the contraceptives for five days and are due, collectively, for the next menses in another five days. So, they should all be fertile in roughly two weeks unless other measures are taken."

"They're not really my wives, Ilsa."

"Perhaps that is something you should seek to rectify."

"Indeed. Ok, anything else we need to handle now?"

She said, "Nothing else is urgent. I believe Ms. Kristiansen should be coming around soon if you were interested in visiting her."

"Thanks, Ilsa. I think I will. Please let me know if anything else changes."

"Always," was her only reply.

When I left the office, Lucy was up. I told them I was going to visit Hadley and Lucy and Elin said they would tag along while Zoe and Sophie stayed behind to watch their boys. When we got to the hospital, we spoke briefly to the doctor who had operated on her.

"She's a remarkably strong woman," he said. "If you had asked me last night, I would have said it would take a week for her to progress this far. She is partially lucid, mostly due to the massive amount of painkillers and antibiotics we're pumping into her. No signs of rejection with the prosthetic mount thus far. I hate to curse things but at this point I would expect we could release her in less than a week."

"A week!" I exclaimed. "I thought amputees spent months in the hospital and took years to recover."

"Unfortunately, although I suppose fortunately for Ms. Kristiansen, we've had a lot of experience with amputation. Those laser drills are hard to handle and will lop a limb off in an instant. We've become quite adept at handling these sorts of injuries. Its nearly all we deal with since no one ever really gets sick here, thanks to the natural quarantine."

I thanked the doc again and then we went into Hadley's room. She was awake but looked exhausted. However, her face lit up when she saw me. I crossed the room and kissed her cheek before we sat down next to her bed.

"How you feelin'?"

"Like I was too slow opening the airlock. But also, thankful to be alive. Thanks to you and your team."

"I had very little to do with it, Hadley."

She said, "Yes you did Zeb. It was your leadership, your decisiveness, that made the rescue mission a success. I owe you my life. You, your family, the crew from the rocket. I can never repay any of you."

"You don't owe us anything Hadley. I'm just thankful you pulled through. I can't believe I'm asking this, but the doc said you're doing really great. Would you consider coming to a meeting I've called for all the residents tomorrow? I think your voice could be a powerful one to help convince people to stay and continue to try to make an extra-terrestrial colony work."

She said, "Anything for you, Zeb."

*****

The meeting the next night went both better and worse than I expected. We met in the banquet hall. I had a table set up on the stage and chairs set up on the floor. The banquet hall was nowhere near large enough to hold the thousands of residents, but it was barely sufficient to hold one representative from each family. I tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention and then began.

"We discovered a plot, conceived and implemented by Oskar Sinnsyk and Diana, to kill every human on Earth. Working in conjunction with the UN on Earth, this plot was foiled. Sinnsyk is dead. As is Diana. In addition, we have detained several of their co-conspirators.

"Additionally, we discovered that your food was being drugged. These drugs were designed to keep you ignorant and happy while they carried out their dastardly scheme. The drugs made most of us hyper-sexual and lowered inhibitions. The drugs have been removed from your food. You have likely noticed a decrease in the public acts of lewdness.

"Lastly, we discovered that the Plague was developed by none other than Oskar Sinnsyk. He also had the vaccine, which is why none of us have it. The formula for the vaccine has been shared with the UN, along with the location of a stockpile of the vaccine. They should be well on their way to eradicating the virus within a month's time. Once they have done so, the detainees will be sent to Earth for trial.

"Ok, I think that about covers it. I'm sure you all have a ton of questions, so let's do this Q&A style. If you have a question, please queue up at the microphone."

My mood crumbled when I saw the first questioner. Bonnie stepped up the mic and said, "What if we like the drugs Mr. Sinnsyk was giving us, you lying piece of shit."

At this point Hadley spoke up. She was in a hospital gown with large bandages covering her stump, but it was impossible not to notice her wound. She said, "I'm sure Ms. Barton is not the only one who misses the food additives. In many ways that particular combination of chemicals could represent one of humanities most effective treatments for anxiety and depression, albeit in lower concentrations. I did much research on this after Mr. Sinnsyk ordered me taken off the additives. While they are not harmful, they are also not moral to be administered without the recipient's knowledge. I suggest that these chemicals could be made available, with Mr. Anson's approval, by the hospital when appropriate."

It was a master stroke of a statement. All at once, she had deflated Bonnie's attack and propped me up as leader. Bonnie slunk back to her seat after giving Hadley a nasty look. There were hundreds of additional questions, but most were just requests to rephrase portions of my opening statement.

When the questions started to run out, I said, "There is one thing we need to do here today. Up until now this Enclave has run as something of a corporate entity, which is just another way of saying dictatorship. I suggest we work towards developing some sort of official government. I have spent the last several days acting as a de facto head of state but as we continue to deal with the nations of Earth, but we need something more official."

Hadley said, "I nominate Zebadiah Anson as emperor of the Moon."

A round of chuckles rippled through the audience, but Hadley said, "I'm quite serious."

I said, "I don't want to be emperor. I refuse to participate in anything that isn't representative. That's why I'm bringing this up here."

There followed several hours of debate, but in the end the collective nominated what amounted to a governing board of nine individuals, with me as their leader. Also on the board were Hadley, the commander of the rescue mission and Sophie.

After the meeting broke up, we took Hadley back to the hospital. She insisted that she kiss each of us goodbye when we left. The kiss she gave me was filled with longing and desire. When I broke the kiss, her hand lingered on my face as she smiled up at me.

As we walked back to our cubic, Elin said, "You know she wants to join our family, don't you?"

I said, "That's not up to me."

Margrethe said, "Of course it is, my love. It is just not

only

up to you. I know our family unit is a little unusual, but I believe it is up to all of us. The fact that Zebadiah and Zoe are not intimate does not detract from the reality that we are all one family. Am I right?"

Lucy said, "Of course you are right, my love. We all must agree."

Zoe said, "We are all one family. I've decided to just think of us as Z's Harem. Because if you think I'm not dragging every one of you sexy broads into the sack every chance I get, you're crazy."

Sophie and Elin signaled their agreement by kissing each of Zoe's cheeks before giving me the same treatment.

Margrethe said, "I think we should go slow with Hadley. She has been through a catastrophic trauma. We should give her time to heal and us time to get to know her. But not tonight. Tonight, I want to take my man to bed. It has been far too long since I've felt his exquisite touch. Anyone else want to join me?"

When we got back to our cubic, Zoe hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. She said, "I'm proud of you, big brother. Mom and Dad would have been proud too. And you're a wonderful role model for my sons." She then kissed Margrethe and Lucy before heading to her bedroom.

Sophie took her place and kissed me deeply before saying, "I still want you to give me a baby, Zeb. But I won't be ovulating for another few weeks. Just be prepared for me to demand lots of that tasty baby batter from you then. By the way, I agree with Zoe. Your folks would be proud. I know I am." She then kissed the others before following Zoe into their bedroom.

Elin kissed me next before saying, "I also want your child, Zebadiah. But I can be patient. I know much is still undecided and I am not the only one who has this wish. Good night, my love." She had already kissed Margrethe and Lucy good night, so she walked into the room with Zoe and Sophie.

I caught a glimpse of her two lovers crawling naked onto the bed as she closed the door. I said, "Anyone else want to opt for the lesbian orgy?"

Margrethe said, "While I certainly plan to enjoy my lover's pussy tonight, it will be while your delicious cock is deep inside me. Come on, dear leader. Time to enjoy the spoils of victory."

I turned to face her and discovered that she and Lucy had disrobed while I was saying goodnight to the others. They melted into me, Margrethe claiming my lips first as Lucy peppered light kisses along my neck and upper chest. Margrethe ceded my lips to Lucy and moved behind me to begin undressing me. When I stood nude between them, still locked in a passionate kiss with Lucy, Margrethe said, "Perhaps we should move the bedroom, my loves."

Lucy and I happily followed, enjoying the way Margrethe's perfect ass moved in a flawless figure of eight as she walked. When we reached the bedroom, they laid me down on the bed. Lucy lay next to me and continued kissing me while I caressed her breasts.

Margrethe crawled between my legs, slowly kissing her way up my inner thighs until she reached her waiting prize. She kissed her way up one side of my throbbing erection until she reached the tip and the welling up of precum threatening to spill over. She sucked the tip into her mouth, languidly rolling her tongue around my tip as she savored the first offering of my seed.

I bent down to take one of Lucy's nipples into my mouth, flicking it with my tongue as I felt it harden in my mouth. Lucy leaned into me as she sighed in pleasure. "I love it when you play with my tits."

"I love that you love it, baby girl," I whispered as I switched breasts. "You are magnificent." I reached down with both hands, one to stroke Lucy's glistening labia and the other to caress Margrethe's cheek as the latter continued to slowly worship my cock with her mouth. I unhurriedly kissed Lucy again, savoring the way her tongue felt against mine as we wordlessly declared our love for each other. As we broke the kiss I said, "I want to taste you."