CONQUERED

Chapter 18

Kate was resting next to Rick. That had perhaps been their best love making session ever. Granted they had only recently started and didn't have that many sessions under their belt, so to speak. But this was clearly the best.

"Did I hurt you?" She would apologize if she did. She had maybe gotten just a touch carried away using the strap-on on his ass but she had totally enjoyed it.

"A little…at first," Rick admitted. That had Kate up and sitting on him so she could look down at him. She needed to study his face to determine if he was going to lie to her about it or anything else.

"At first?" Kate thought she saw the start of a blush but he must be pretty good at not blushing since it vanished quickly. "Admit it, babe, you loved it." Kate smiled at him.

He tilted his head and she could see furrows in his forehead. "I don't know that I would go that far." Rick was still processing last night, or was it still this night? Whatever.

Kate put her hands on his chest and leaned down closer to him. "Don't lie to me, Rick. I haven't lied to you since I got here. I've told you nothing but the truth. I love you, and I trust you. And I thought it was great." Kate searched those amazing blue eyes of his. If she concentrated on them too long she might lose herself in them.

"Love is a strong word for that. But I won't stop you from doing it again some day far in the future," Rick admitted even if he was still unsure about doing it.

Kate sat back up. "I knew it! You loved it. We can do it again tonight when we make love." Kate was ready to do it again.

"Tonight!?" Rick wasn't so sure he was ready for that. He was thinking like next week or maybe next month. Not tonight.

"We need your ass to get used to being stretched. That way I can use a larger dildo. The one I'm using is the thinnest I could find." Kate leaned way down till their lips were almost touching. "I have much larger dildos I want to use on you. You'll love it."

"I may never walk again," Rick complained but Kate didn't hear him say no, so that was a yes to her.

"You'll love it." She kissed him and kept kissing him. "Have you got another round in you, babe?" Kate sat up and reached behind her to grasp him. He was soft but she could fix that.

O~O~O

Amazingly, while taking a shower Rick didn't feel that his ass was burning or anything. It actually felt normal to him. But doing it again so soon was still on his mind.

Rick saw Kate gone when he returned to the bedroom. "Off to get Libby up, I'll bet." She was a good lover and so far a pretty good mommy.

He had laid there and watched her pick up all the sex toys that they had used and took them with her to the bathroom. To wash them, he thought. She brought them back and put them away for next time and started to get dressed. He got kissed when he got up, and reminded yet again that she loved him and trusted him.

Still it was time for his daily chores. Opening the door, he was greeted by the sound of the rooster crowing. He was actually a pretty stupid rooster. Roosters supposedly crowed only when the sun came up. This one crowed whenever he felt like it all day long. So long as the sun was out, he crowed.

Still if they were going to have fuzzy little chicks soon they needed a rooster.

The goats came first. He fed them and milked one of them. He would milk the other one after feeding the chickens.

O~O~O

Rick was finally walking back toward the kitchen with another small amount of goat's milk when he spotted Libby sitting all alone in the dining room. Then he heard activity in the kitchen. "Libby, where's Mommy?" Rick watched her point at the kitchen. He nodded and quietly walked in.

"Good morning, Mommy." Rick kissed her cheek.

While she was Mommy to Libby, listening to Rick say it had a slightly different connotation to it. "Rick, I love you, but don't call me mommy. That just sounds weird coming from you. You can call me wife, if you like." Kate smiled at him. Maybe he would say yes to her proposal.

"I'll think about that," Rick answered as he put his goat's milk away – he was pleased that the doe had given him almost 3 quarts – so they could use it to make more cheese. Everyone here loved the cheese they made with it and that included Libby.

"Don't think to hard, babe. Wife is an easy word to say. You just have to say yes followed by I DO," Kate said hopefully.

"I'm not sure how we get married around here these days. It's not like it used to be." Except Kate heard something else entirely.

"Did you just say yes?" Kate wrapped her arms around him. "I accept!" Then Kate offered an enticement. "We could have honeymoon sex for two straight days after the wedding."

"Did I?" Rick tried to replay everything that was said.

"Please, Rick. I want so badly to be married to you. You and Libby are my life. You said you still loved me." Kate searched his face. "You trusted me enough with your ass last night."

Rick wasn't sure he had a choice about last night but he hadn't stopped her so maybe he trusted her at least a little. "Maybe."

"Yes!" Kate kissed him. "I don't need a ring, I don't need a dress, I don't need anything blue, I just need you. So where do we get married? I know! We could go to Butchart Gardens. Just pay the fee to get in. I'll bet it's still amazing."

"So who marries us? How do we get the paperwork to prove it? Don't you want pictures of your own wedding? Think about it, Kate."

Kate rested her head against his chest. Damn it! She hated it when he was right. Then she brightened back up again and looked up at him. "But you said yes. Now I just need to figure out how to get you to say I DO." Kate kissed him again.

"MOMMY, I'M HUNGRY!" She was starving and Mommy was taking forever. Kate groaned. She wanted to stay in Rick's arms and figure out how they were going to get married and where. How to make it official. Then she felt Rick let go of her. She needed to finish making breakfast for herself and her daughter.

"COMING!" Kate yelled. She kissed Rick, let go of him, and went back to what she was doing.

Rick was gone by the time she came out dressed and ready to feed Libby. She had one more thing to talk to Libby about. She needed Libby to be okay with this. She was going to marry Rick and she needed Libby to like Rick. To really like Rick. As in love Rick. This was going to take some work on her part.

O~O~O

Kate had Libby down for a nap which were getting shorter and probably wouldn't happen much longer, and decided to go looking for people. But all she really found was Alexis. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know where Laura is and I'm guessing Grams and Chris, as she calls him, are still on their boat. Dad, Michael, and Dean are looking for things that need repair. Maintenance you might call it. I don't know if they have found anything, though.

"I'm getting ready to go out to the boat. I can't get the satellite phone to work, so I'm thinking of going out to check on them," Alexis told her.

"You mean they're not answering?" Kate was now suddenly concerned over both of them. She liked Martha a lot.

"Not that. The phone just says NO SERVICE, like it can't find the satellite," Alexis explained.

"No service? You mean like when a cell phone is in a dead zone? But a satellite phone is just that. There are no dead zones," Kate said. She was puzzled and a touch worried.

"That's just it. So I'm going to go out and talk to them. You want to come? I know how to sail alone, so you don't have to do anything." Alexis waited for Kate's response.

Kate did want to know but… "I can't. Libby's taking a nap." She couldn't just up and leave her.

"Stay, find Laura to watch her, or wake Libby and bring her with you. I'm headed for the boat, you have 10 minutes to decide." Alexis wanted to get there and not have to wait.

Kate didn't know what happened if she didn't let Libby sleep. She hadn't ever had to worry about that. Ten minutes told her that she didn't have time to try and find Laura.

O~O~O

"You made it!" Alexis watched as Kate showed up carrying a what looked like a sleeping Libby who looked like a limp rag doll.

"I just have to get her life vest on her while she sleeps." Kate did it on the Catamaran while Alexis untied them and got started.

Kate kicked herself for not asking if Libby knew how to swim. Still a vest was the best choice even if she did.

"Are you sure you don't need help with something?" Kate had the still sleeping Libby down on her back and she looked safe.

"I'm fine. The Cat isn't that big. I think that's why Dad got it. It's easy enough for one person to sail it." Alexis wasn't having any trouble.

Once they made the last bend they could see the 93-foot boat just sitting there, so they hadn't left. Maybe Anderson knew what Alexis and she didn't about the phone.

"Alexis, dear!" Martha had spotted them. "And Katherine." To Martha she was getting everyone this morning. Then she spotted a sound asleep Libby. "Hand her up to me." Martha reached down while Kate lifted Libby up. "Am I babysitting?" As far as Martha was concerned Libby could stay there all day.

"I hadn't thought of that," Kate actually admitted. "I suppose that's possible."

Alexis looked around. "Where's Chris? I have a question for him."

"Far forward checking the sails. You couldn't use the satellite phone?" Martha questioned them, not that she wasn't happy they were both here.

"It isn't working." And with that, Alexis headed for the bow of the ship to find him.

Kate went with Martha into the ship. This was a place she had never been. In fact, she couldn't even remember seeing this ship before. It really was different.

The interior was full of dark wood with little pops of color everywhere. The kitchen turned out to be bigger than she expected. There was no real living room. It looked like you were supposed to be outside on the stern of the ship most of the time. But it was a little cool outside for that.

Martha took off the vest and found a place to lay Libby down. Kate was still amazed that she hadn't woken up for this entire trip.

"Would you like something to drink? We actually have wine," Martha offered. "And tell me about this phone business."

"I would love one! Thank you, Martha." Kate didn't remember when her last glass of wine had been.

"Alexis said the phone said no service. Except it's not a cell phone. It doesn't need a cell tower, just a satellite. We're always in range of a satellite." That was as technical as Kate got.

"Well the phone is over there." Martha pointed and kept watching Libby sleep.

Kate had put her glass down, went over to the phone, and found that it was still on. Making a call on it was easy, so she tried and got NO SERVICE.

"It doesn't work, either." Kate took it over to Martha and handed it over. Martha knew even less than Kate did and she saw what Kate saw.

Then Anderson and Alexis showed up. He noticed Martha had the phone and took it when she held it up.

Anderson read what it said. "NO SERVICE." He had already seen what Alexis's phone had said. "It's a satellite phone and we're not underground, which is a satellite phone's Achilles heel. Only one thing comes to mind. And that is the satellite is gone."

"OH, NO!" Kate kicked herself for not thinking that. She put blame on getting Rick to say yes and caring for Libby.

"They wouldn't, would they?" Alexis thought she knew what he was thinking.

"Explain it to me," Martha asked since she wasn't following.

Anderson sat next to Martha, and to Kate and Alexis those two looked very comfortable together. "Think about it, Martha. Alexis saw this ship with massive sails. Behind it was clean air and clean water. I'm just guessing, but I think it was removing pollution. What if they have another one in orbit doing the same thing? Do you have any idea how much junk we have put in orbit of this planet?"

Alexis answered his question, "Over 27,000 pieces large enough for radar to spot." And that got those three to look at her. Alexis shrugged. "School and I read a lot."

"What if they're cleaning the orbit of this planet?" Anderson proposed. "Maybe to them our satellites are just more space junk. For all I know our space station is just another piece of junk so far as they're concerned."

"If you're right, these things are now useless." Alexis frowned. "So is our Garmin and anything else that requires a satellite, like Dad's internet connection."

"I hate to break it to you, but a lot of TV these days uses satellites as well, even if it is a cable company. The military and the CIA only use satellites. Smart bombs, you name it," Anderson said. "Of course, there is no military anymore. Oh, the hardware, I'm sure, still exists. But if you use it, you're hostile and you'll end up dead."

"You know, they could at least tell us what the hell is going on. It is our planet." Kate was more than a little angry. Killing people that were killers she could see, but everyone else was taking things to the extreme, and now this?

Anderson shook his head slowly. "It's not our planet any longer. If you can't defend your planet, it's not yours any longer."

"Well, shit!" Alexis sat back with a thump and stewed. "I can't finish college, half the planet's population is gone, and now I can't even call anyone!" She raised her arms and let them fall. She was sitting next to Kate and suddenly felt an arm around her; she let Kate hold her.

Kate looked at Anderson. "Any suggestions?" He used to be CIA, after all.

"No cell service here. No satellite phone now, either." Anderson didn't say anything for a couple minutes. "I have people I know I could call, assuming they're alive, but to do that now I would need a land line, if those even still work. To do that means going into a city and finding a phone. Now will that help us if they even have an answer? I wish I knew."

"Knowledge is power. At least that's what people keep telling me," Kate offered.

"True enough. The trick is does that knowledge translate into power and right now the aliens have all the power. However…" He had an idea but wasn't sure it would work or help.

"I'm listening, Gramps," Alexis said and that made Anderson smile. It was the first time she had called him that.

"We need a radio. Something powerful enough to send a signal out to orbit," Anderson suggested. "If the aliens can take over all our signals and understand all of our languages, surely they can hear us."

Alexis looked skeptical. "You would think the military and President, let alone other nations, would have tried that already."

"Quite true. But we aren't going to be demanding or issuing orders," Anderson assured her. "We just want to be able to communicate and find out if they have a plan for that." Doing anything to the aliens was obviously out.

Alexis moaned. "Dad's right. We're the ants and the aliens have big cans of Raid."

"Pretty much," Anderson agreed easily enough.

"Are you three staying? We have room and food. Maybe fewer movies to watch, but we have space," Martha inquired since she was willing to have guests.

"I have work. You three can do what you please." Anderson stood up, then bent down, and kissed Martha soundly. He waved a hand at Alexis and Kate, then left.

Kate was staring at Martha and Alexis was watching Anderson leave with her mouth hanging open. Her grandmother had kissed him right in front of her! Knowing her dad was having sex with Kate was one thing, thinking that her grandmother was having sex with him was another.

"Alexis?" Martha was looking at her.

"Sorry." Alexis closed her mouth and tried not to think about those two having sex.

In the end they had stayed only long enough for Libby to wake up so Kate could explain that she was leaving her behind in the care of Martha and Anderson on the boat where she used to live. When she finally got an okay from the little girl was when Kate felt better.

O~O~O

When they got back they found everyone waiting for them. Apparently their absence had been noticed and everyone wanted to make sure they were all right.

"No Libby?" Rick questioned Kate.

"Martha and Anderson are babysitting. Just till dinner, but we have news we need to talk about."

A short while later, a very loud, "WHAT!" could be heard.

"The aliens killed all the satellites?" Dean couldn't believe this shit. "Do they have any idea how important those things are to us? How are we supposed to talk to anyone?" Dean sat back and shook his head in disbelief.

"Babe?" Laura took his hand and raised it to her lips to kiss it.

"I'm fine, just angry. We're going to be back in the Stone Age soon. The plane is probably still fine and I'm betting the airport still has lots of aviation fuel to fill the tanks. But where the hell do we go that won't be affected? What could possibly be better than here?"

"Hawaii? Smaller population and maybe less death overall," Kate suggested and watched Rick shake his head.

"I did a lot of research before I chose this place. Everything not made in Hawaii is shipped in. The only food that will be there is what is farmed there. And where would we live? Think of all those tourists that never got to go home and are likely still there." Rick kept shaking his head.

"California was out because of earthquakes. Florida, the east coast, and a lot of the Gulf states was out because of hurricanes. Then there was tornado alley. Go too far north, and it gets too cold. Life would be hard.

"Mexico?" Rick shook his head again. "Nope, drug cartels. Keep in mind I selected this place long before the aliens showed up."

"So we stay." Dean didn't have a problem with that. "Anderson wants a radio. The Victoria International Airport control tower will have a nice big radio, so long as the power is still working. My plane has a radio, though the range is shorter."

"Victoria, Vancouver, maybe even Seattle," Alexis offered only to watch Dean shake his head along with Michael.

"Seattle is Sea-Tac, babe. Seattle and Tacoma and located about halfway between. Not that easy to reach and we won't have a car." Michael shot that idea down. He got kissed for it.

"Victoria is technically closer than Vancouver, though either will work. If we use Anderson's boat to save on gas, Vancouver might be a better bet," Dean said thoughtfully.

"That means we use my car, but without Rick's Garmin since it uses satellites," Kate pointed out.

"That leaves Victoria. We've even walked it a number of times," Dean mentioned.

"We take the boat and all the gas cans I have and fill them from the pump at the marina. Just leave the cash for it," Rick said since that solved that.

"ATMs?" Kate asked him since they had used up a lot of cash on the last trip.

"We're going to need one of those and find one that still has cash in it," Rick admitted.

"We run out of ATMs, and we're in big trouble, Dad." Alexis was very concerned. "We need that cash and with banks likely all closed, what else is there?"

Laura spoke up. "Every place that has anything has long since been looted, and that includes cash in cash registers."

"I really didn't plan for this." For some reason Rick felt like some of this was his fault.

Kate took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "This isn't your fault, babe. None of this is. We're all doing the best with the cards we've been dealt."

Dean made his decision. "Victoria airport. Maybe Anderson can convince them to talk to us. So far all they've done is dictate to us."

"We can tell him when they bring Libby back." Alexis was willing to try that. What else did they have? "And remind me again why we did all that walking?" Alexis glared at her dad about that.

Rick had a truck and they walked to and from the airport carrying all that stuff when he had a truck.

"I said I was sorry! I didn't actually lose the keys, I just didn't remember what I had done with them," Rick grumbled as he defended himself yet again. Besides, this was all old news. He had been beaten over the head for that already.

"Where are the keys now?" Kate asked him; she didn't want to walk it either, if she even went.

"In. our. room." This time Rick glared at her, not that it appeared to be working.