Delta: #7 - Family
Kris Me
Delta Series:
#7 – Family
By: Kris Me
Introduction:
Justin Ubobo and his siblings are looking for their dad. He has been missing for five years, and Justin had to step in to look after his half-brothers and sisters.
Now they have the opportunity to travel to a new solar system and find out why their dad didn't come back.
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Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Kris Me - All rights are reserved
This story is the work of Kris Me. Before you copy more than one page or ten percent of the content, you must contact me as per the Copyright Act 1968, Australia.
First Published by Storiesonline World Literature Company: 17/02/2016. Last Updated 23/04/2021.
The book cover was designed in Microsoft Paint 3D using art that is my own, copyright-free or covered by creative commons license for commercial use from https://pixabay.com/. The image of the airship was originally by Quique.
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Declaration:
~~ Adult Themes ~~
This book is part of an erotica science fiction series. It is NOT recommended for people under the legal age to access such stories, depending on the reader's country of origin.
The books may contain what some people consider vulgar language, references to religious icons, violence, coercion, murder, and-or rape scenes.
Some scenes may describe intimate heterosexual, bi-sexual, gay and-or group sexual activities. If you are homophobic, you may find some scenes in this series of book distasteful. In most cases, these scenes are integral parts of the story.
Some of the books include imaginary races capable of changing their gender and-or form into other animals. Copulation, while the characters are in their alternate animal forms, may be described.
This book DOES NOT contain descriptions of bestiality or coitus between persons closely related by blood.
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Editing:
If you find any of my assumptions fabricated, I would like to remind you this is a fictional story, and I have probably taken liberties with reality, as you know it. The humanoids in this story are not based on anyone I know or have read about.
Australian based dictionaries were used for reference, and Grammarly was used as part of the editing suite. The story was written in Microsoft Word.
If you find grammatical or spelling errors, they are not the fault of my editor or proofreaders who did try to fix my work. However, I do tend to fiddle around after the fact, so all errors are my own.
If my Australian colloquialisms or terms need clarification, or you just wish to correspond, I'm more than happy to answer your emails. You can send them to:
kris.me2@inorbit.com
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The Wiki:
https://keltria.fandom.com/wiki/
The Wiki contains information about the Keltrian people, wizards, the Keltrian magical items, colloquialisms and adapted words that have been created for this universe. Maps, character lists and other information that may relate to this book could be found.
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This is the seventh book:
The series 'Delta' was the first set of books I wrote for the Keltrian Universe that is posted on the Storiesonline website.
The books should be read in sequence, as some references to events or information about a character may not be explained in full if they were mentioned or introduced in a previous part.
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Additional Data on this book:
The original crew of the Fortune has disbanded. Some have died, and some have stayed. Some had gone home, and new people are coming, just as Lee had foretold.
Lee Watson is a Lord Wizard, and she can prophesy things to come. She was but a tradesperson looking for adventure when she had headed to the Delta Pavonis system on the starship Fortune a year before.
The people of Earth were looking for a new planet to colonise. Lee and the crew had found them two. However, one was already occupied with people from Earth's mythical past, and the other was occupied by dragons.
Lee and her cousin Kyle had found two magical boxes that had belonged to wizards of long ago, and now they are the protectors of the Delta Pavonis system along with six other people. Two of their members are yet to be found or to claim a box to complete the decad of wizards.
New people coming from Earth also have different destinies than they had first thought. Even becoming a novice mage is an achievement in these new worlds.
These are stories of some of the crew, and their families, as their adventures continue.
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Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to J. Konietzko and all of the readers who in the past have pointed out I do make mistakes and have helped me to fix them.
And thanks, Lazeez, for your patience and assistance in helping me with my weird requests and questions.
I hope you enjoy the story.
Kris Me
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List of books in series:
Delta: #1 - To Delta
Delta: #2 - In System
Delta: #3 - Utopia
Delta: #4 - Neighbours
Delta: #5 - Harmony
Delta: #6 - Twin Problems
Delta: #7 - Family
Delta: #8 - One People
Delta: #9 - Trixy
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Chapter 1
~~ December - Week 50 - 2094 ~~
Justin was wandering around the halls of the ship.
He didn't have a destination in mind; he was just walking and thinking about his dad. He had been mourning his father, Captain Allan Ubobo of the Starship GJ10, for over four years.
Justin had been shocked when he was given the vid from a woman called Glenda, who said it was from his dad. Apparently, it was true that his dad had been stranded on a planet that was called Utopia.
Glenda said that he had married again, had sired another three kids, with three more on the way. Two of the kids were to his new wife, Princess Darla. As per bloody usual, the rest of the kids were too different women.
Justin had watched the vid with excitement at first and then with anger the second time. His dad had said that he hoped they were all well. That he doubted that he would see them again any time soon.
Allan said he couldn't come back to Earth due to his new responsibilities. Then he signed off, and that was it. He had looked very uncomfortable, as if he didn't know what to say to his kids.
It's what he hadn't said that upset Justin the most. He hadn't said that he loved him or missed him or wanted him or any of the other kids he had so callously left behind.
Eventually, Justin had to show the vid to his family. He had missed his dad, and it still hurt. He hadn't been the best dad in the world, but he was still his dad. He wondered if his father knew about the mess he had left behind when he disappeared.
Justin reminisced about what had happened as if he was reliving it.
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When his father hadn't come back after nine months, the company had declared him dead.
This was so they could stop paying his wages. This hit his ex-wife, Terry, very hard, as she had received nearly half his salary. Terry had relied heavily on Allan's money coming in, with five kids to feed and clothe.
The useless boyfriend she'd had at the time left her when she told him that she expected him to help support her instead of him bludging off her.
His mum, Dee Williams, had basically kicked him out or more precisely, she had left him behind when he was fifteen and a half. Her new husband, Rod Smith, had gotten a job in Western Australia, and they were moving.
She told Justin that if he wanted to stay in Brisbane to do his Uni, he had to support himself. He'd have to get a job to help pay his way through University and live with his Gran.
Rod didn't want Justin going with them. The fact that he hated his stepfather with a passion, and knew the feeling was mutual, didn't encourage Justin to go with his mother. He didn't get on very well with his other siblings either.
The three boys each had a different father to his. His mother was a rare woman, as she only seemed to have sons, unlike most women at the time. The closest in age to him was five years younger.
His mum seemed to have a hard time maintaining relationships. He suspected that she still missed his father. She would mention what a stud he had been and talk about Allan a lot. This often led to the end of her current relationship.
Justin knew of several occasions when his dad had visited them in the past when he had ended up screwing his mother. These encounters hadn't helped her move on either.
His mum had actually been with the latest guy for three years, and the youngest boy was his, so Rod had married her. His brothers were right pains in the arse, as far as Justin was concerned.
His mother wasn't very maternal, and she let them get away with anything they wanted to do. She would often dump them on him and expect him to look after them. The problem for him was that he had little in common with any of them.
They didn't like rocks, music or martial arts. They just wanted to play games on their peepers or watch vids. Justin had spent more time at his Gran's house in the last few years, as the oldest two boys wouldn't go there with him, so he got some peace and quiet.
It was also ironic that his mother had left him, the same day his dad had left Earth, to go to the very solar system that he, too, was now speeding towards.
He guessed his mother had finally given up hope of Allan coming back to her.
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And yet, his father had always been good to him.
Allan had often taken him and the kids from his marriage on several gem hunting holidays with Gran. It had surprised Justin just how at home his dad had been in the bush, and he had learnt a lot of life skills from him and Gran.
When Justin was ten, he had been put in an accelerated learning program. He had already skipped a grade because he had driven his second-grade teacher nutty. She deposited him in a grade three class after the first month, and he didn't go back.
Legally, he was supposed to be in the school system until he was seventeen. He had been offered a scholarship to study Geology and Gemmology when he finished High School, but he needed money to live on to complete his studies.
He had been finishing his first term at Uni when his mum left. He could at least apply for study assistance since his mother had moved cities after she kicked him out.
He had also applied for emancipation so he could legally look after himself. However, he had to stay somewhere in the meantime until he was sixteen in February. So, Justin moved in with Gran.
Adina Ubobo - Gran, was actually his great-grandmother. Gran was his father's grandmother. She had always been his bolthole when things got bad at home.
He had stayed with her until he got his emancipation and then for a couple of extra months while she dealt with his dad's supposed death. He was glad he was with her when the company said his dad was dead. Gran refused to believe that Allan was gone.
However, Justin found her use of his time frustrating. His life was studying and looking after her. He had his music and still managed to get to his martial arts classes, and he had a few friends but no time or money for girls.
He needed to find his own place. However, moving took money. Gran's solution was to take him fossicking. They had gone every Christmas holiday since he was ten, and sometimes, they even went mid-year.
The good thing was that fossicking also helped with his studies. It didn't hurt that they often found enough gems to afford a few extra comforts her pension and his allowance didn't pay for.
The trip just after he turned sixteen was really good. He had gotten lucky and hit a pocket of quality gems that had a bit of size about them. He hadn't realised the value of his finds until a couple of weeks after they got back.
Gran said he could stay living with her or take his fifty grand and sort himself out. He loved Gran, but he didn't think he could live with her full-time for much longer.
Whenever he was trying to study, she had a bad habit of interrupting him. His list of chores also got longer the longer he stayed. He didn't mind helping out to help pay his way, but he knew she was taking advantage of him when he was doing favours for her friends too.
He decided that he could get through the rest of the two degrees in less than three years if he watched his spending carefully and studied hard. He was already well on track for this goal.
An occasional trip north with Gran to top up the bank account wouldn't hurt either.
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Justin found a small single room flat nearby.
He concentrated on his University study. He still checked on Gran at least once a week or stayed the odd weekend with her when she did need his help, and he didn't have an assignment due.
He was putting all his efforts into getting the degrees finished. He had even signed up for extra units in Metallurgy as it helped with the jewellery making he did with Gran.
Things were going very well for him.
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In early August, Justin got hit with the next whammy.
The Ubobo brothers and sisters turned up on his doorstep. Each of them had a backpack and a port. Apparently, their mum's new boyfriend, Paul, had tried to rape Kim, who was the youngest and only twelve.
Their mother wouldn't believe them, so they left. Plus, they all hated Paul. The girls said that he creeped them out and perved on them all the time.
Jamie and her twin Jennie hadn't turned sixteen yet. They were nine months younger than he was. Brad was fourteen months younger than they were at fourteen. Tyson was fifteen months younger again, at just over thirteen, with Kim barely a year younger than he was.
The twins were going to quit school. They just needed a place to stay until they could get jobs and a flat for the younger kids. Justin had refused to let them leave school.
He told them that he would look after them. They only had six months to go, to finish grade ten, so he wanted them to do at least that for him. They would manage somehow.
The first problem was that the flat was way too small for six people. It only had one bedroom to start with. Justin gave the bedroom to the girls, and he and the brothers bunked in the lounge.
His other problem was the three youngest kids. He knew Terry would come looking for them when Social Services realised that they no longer lived with her. They would take the money for them off her.
Justin thought he might have about a six-week grace at most. The twins didn't earn her as much now they were turning sixteen, so they were safe to leave at their current school.
It took him two weeks to find a two-bedroom flat close by with a garage that he could turn into a third room for the girls. He didn't want to move too far from Gran. He got the little room, and the boys got the main bedroom.
It didn't help Justin that he was in the middle of completing a heap of assignments. He was trying to get through fifteen study units a year. That was a very ambitious study plan.
The flat was going to cost him twice as much as his current rent, and he had already started adding up the utility bills and the cost to feed five extra mouths and clothe the kids.
He'd be lucky if the money he had left from his last Christmas trip to the Gem Fields with Gran would last him to the next Christmas, even if they were cautious.
He told Gran of his new money worries and about the kids.
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Chapter 2
~~ December - Week 50 - 2094 ~~
Gran said that they needed to go fossicking again.
If he could find it, she could sell it. Plus, the weather was excellent at this time of year up north. Her bones would appreciate it. The kids would all be on their September holiday in a week, so he agreed they should go then. They all had exams in the meantime.
Justin was able to sign the lease with Gran as his guarantor. As far as the agency he had to go through was concerned, emancipation or not, he still wasn't eighteen. Justin got the kids shifted to the new flat.
The three youngest would start at the new school after the holidays, thanks to Gran's help. She told them that they were her wards. The twins were better off staying where they were. Plus, they liked their school.
The new school covered Prep to grade twelve, and it was a short walk to the new flat. He had picked it because the boys could walk Kim to school. He would still have to catch the train to the University. Three train fares were cheaper than the six that he was currently paying for.
Justin changed as many of his study units to external as possible to give him time to look after the kids. He preferred studying from home anyway, plus it was cheaper. He also didn't like the kids coming home to an empty house.
Gran still had a driver's licence somehow, but she made him go get the twins, their learners. He was glad she did. He and the twins soon learnt it wasn't a good idea to let Gran drive. She had gotten even worse since their last trip. He hadn't let her drive much then either.
So, they had done all the driving to the Gemfields in Central Queensland.
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Gran's old Bus was a tight squeeze for seven.
However, Justin had sprung for some air mattresses, sleeping bags, a six-man tent for him and the boys, and apparently Kim. She insisted that she wanted to sleep in the tent rather than with Gran, who snored.
They all had a great ten days on the Gem fields. It turned out Kim had as good a nose for gems as he did. He even completed three of his new assignments while on the rock hunt.
One was mapping the geology of an area. The second was studying the rock formations. He had fun teaching Kim all he knew about rocks and their formations while he did the assignments.
The third assignment was recording the effects of erosion. He had started doing this one the year before, as he had staked out an area and had filmed it. This time, he was then able to record the changes, so this was easy to finish.
He was also able to collect some good samples for some of his other assignments, so the trip was not a waste for those reasons alone.
Gran said they had a good haul, and Kim had been a great help. As soon as she cleaned them up, she would get them sold. So, Justin then spent his spare time at Gran's helping to cut, polish and mount the gems.
Kim and Tyson also wanted to learn, so they happily taught them too. Justin was amused that the exercise also meant he got another assignment completed as well. He had completed the four units of study he had picked for this term already.
He signed up for another three units since he could now afford to do them.
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The Ubobo kids had been living with him for four months before their mother found them.
She turned up on the door one day and threatened Justin with having him arrested for kidnapping them. He just laughed at her. He informed her that the twins had already applied for emancipation.
They had also applied for joint guardianship of the three youngest kids. Their lawyer said they had a good case. Terry had said fine; she would see them in court. But in the meantime, she was still their mother, so the youngest had to go with her.
The arsehole with her tried to push Justin out of the way to enter the house to get them. Paul soon found out that Justin didn't intend to let him enter. He was not so easily pushed around.
"Get the fuck out on my way," Paul said, aggressively trying to puff out his chest over his paunch.
"Make me!" Justin replied quietly, looking down on him.
The underlying threat was evident in Justin's voice. The guy backed off, not so sure of himself after Justin's aggressive response. Justin wasn't a small man, either.
He was nearly as tall as his father was at 192cm (6' 4"), and he had also started filling out, even though he wasn't quite seventeen. He was not that easily intimidated by nature, and he was also fitter and younger than Paul.
"Justin, you are just making this very difficult. Just let Paul get Kim and the boys. I don't care if the twins stay with you. You can keep fucking them for all I care," Terry whined at him.
She didn't really want the kids back, but Paul had insisted they needed the money they brought in to help support their habits. The services refused to pay them until they saw the kids were living in the house.
Justin looked at Terry with a stony face. He was appalled by what she had suggested.
"Wait here," he said tersely.
Terry thought he was going to get the kids, so she waited. She wasn't happy when Justin came back and handed her a sheaf of legal documents.
"I think you should leave. The kids are legally under my custody until the court hearing. Good day," he then closed the door in her face.
Justin was almost hyperventilating when he put his back to the door after shutting it. He couldn't believe his luck. If Terry had turned up the week before, he couldn't have stopped her.
It took him another two months, twenty meetings with Social Services and the lawyers and thirty grand out of his bank account to get custody of the kids.
They all agreed that it was an awesome Christmas present.
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Terry couldn't believe that he had eighty grand in his account.
Justin told the judge that the money only had to support them for another couple of years. Once the girls would have finished High School, and he would have finished University, they could get jobs.
The younger kids all told the judge they wanted to stay with Justin and their sisters, as they were better off. Terry's lawyer said that sixteen-year-olds couldn't possibly look after them as well as their mother could.
Kim asked the judge if she could talk to her. The judge agreed. Kim approached the judge, and then she whispered in her ear. They had a quiet discussion for several minutes.
The judge then asked Justin if he had put Kim up to coming and approaching her. Justin and Kim, both assured her that he had no idea that Kim would do what she did or say what she said.
Kim had told the judge that Justin didn't know all the details of what Paul had tried to do to her; only Tyson did. Her brother had even been sleeping in her room for the last month they lived with her mother to try to protect her. But when Paul tried again, they left.
The judge called Tyson up to talk to him. He confirmed Kim's story. He then told her what his loving mother had told Justin that he could do to his older sisters on the day she tried to take them away from him.
He told her how upset Justin was that she could think he would do that to his sisters. Justin had treated his bother and sisters great, and they all felt safe with him.
Tyson also told her of how Paul liked to perve on all his sisters and touch them. He would often walk into their rooms or the bathroom when they were dressing. Their mother had even seen him do it and said and did nothing to stop him.
She was often too stoned or drunk to care. He told the judge that Paul had even removed the locks from the girls' doors and how often they went without proper meals while living with his mother due to her drinking and drug-taking problem.
Justin had made sure they were well fed, clothed and had what they needed for school. He listened to them, spent time with them and made sure they were happy. They wanted to stay with Justin.
The judge looked at the mother and the boyfriend in disgust and awarded guardianship to Justin.
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Justin wasn't impressed when he had to go through it, all over again two months later.
Ariel and Barbie Dayly, their other half-sisters who were thirteen and eleven, turned up on his doorstep the day after his seventeenth birthday. Their mum had OD'ed on some designer drug over Christmas.
Social Services had tried to put the girls in a foster home. They had run away twice already, and Justin couldn't turn them away.
When he had appeared in court three months later, he found that he had gotten the same judge. He had to smile. She shook her head at him and asked him if there were any more brothers and sisters he wanted to adopt?
He had to smile and said to his knowledge, these were the last of them. She asked him if he was sure he wanted to take on the responsibilities of two more children. She knew he wasn't much older than seventeen.
He looked at his brothers and sisters and then back at the judge, "My father and great-grandmother have always told me that the family is first in our culture. Gran is too old, and my father is believed dead. So as the oldest, they are my responsibility. They are my family as they come first."
The judge didn't argue with him. While he might be young, she believed that he was true to his convictions. He had managed to look after his other brothers and sisters for nearly a year, and she believed he would continue to do so.
The reports from Social Services were all positive. The house was clean and well cared for. There was food in the fridge, all the kids were doing well in school, and they were well dressed.
They all handed in their homework and turned up on time and every day. Kim had even been accepted into the accelerated learning program at the start of the year.
There were no complaints from the neighbours. The kids played a lot of music, but it wasn't loud. "It is good to see them all playing their instruments together as a family," said their closest neighbour.
"They often put on musicals for us old people in the neighbourhood on Sundays. But they don't have loud parties like one would expect from a bunch of teenagers," said another.
"The oldest boy keeps them in check," one report said. "The boys even mow our yards, and they help us, pensioners, all the time," was another story.
The judge had been amused to hear Kim answer a question from the youngest girl saying, "Nar, she is a smart judge. She already knows Justin loves us and looks after us really well. Although a bigger house wouldn't hurt."
In response, the judge ordered Social Services to get him and his family into a decent house.
They were moved the following week into a four-bedroom home near the school, and to Justin's surprise, he was back-paid the childcare allowances. He was still being paid a study allowance. The money sure did help with having two more kids to feed and clothe.
He got Ariel's, Barbie's and his surname changed to Ubobo. Apparently, their dad's name was on their birth certificates, so it wasn't a big problem for the Dayly girls, as they were happy to call themselves their sisters.
They were his family, and he was happy that they all now shared his dad's last name, even if Allan wasn't around to know about it. He did have a bit of fun with his University results, but they agreed to re-issue them in his new name.
They went to the Gemfields for the Christmas holidays that year with Gran. Other than Kim, the other kids weren't as keen now they were getting a bit older. However, they knew if they wanted new stuff, they had to contribute.
Plus, Justin made sure that they didn't spend all their holidays digging. The money they would earn would pay for the holidays, new furniture, musical instruments and clothes for his growing siblings.
He even had enough money to purchase a new minibus that sat fourteen. They didn't make lingers yet, to suit the size of his brood. He ripped out the back most set of seats and the next bench seat, leaving room for nine people.
The rest of the space was needed for their camping junk and the two six-man tents—one for the boys and one for the girls. Kim stayed in the boys' tent.
Justin made sure he picked a couple of extra study units he could complete on the trip as well.
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Chapter 3
~~ December - Week 50 - 2094 ~~
The next two years flew by.
Justin managed to complete the three degrees in the four years since he had been kicked out of home. He had ended up finishing the Metallurgy one as well. It didn't hurt that several units were basic units in all three degrees, reducing his workload.
One of his biggest problems had been convincing the Uni he could handle the workload. With the peepers, it had been relatively easy for him. He learnt that he had an eidetic memory. He could recall anything he saw, read, heard or learned.
Group assignments had been the biggest pain. The trips to the Gem Fields and other geological significant locations had helped, though. He and his family had fun teaching some of his classmates about living in the bush.
So, all he had to do was find a job.
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Now here he was, on a starship with his family, crossing solar systems to go find his dad.
Justin still couldn't believe he had gotten a job on Utopia and a berth on the ship. When the girls tried to convince him to send in a resume', he had been very reluctant. If their dad wanted them, then why didn't he send for them?
The twins decided that they would just go and find out. The other kids agreed. They wanted to find their dad too. Justin grinned and wondered if the people doing the hiring had taken pity on a guy just short of twenty years of age with seven dependants.
The Ubobos had been given the two rooms with four bunks in each on level three. The four girls got one room, and Kim was bunking with the boys. Justin had been surprised when they let Kim bunk in with them.
He had told the Doc when they were doing their medicals that Kim had nightmares and would come looking for him. She felt safest when with the boys and even considered herself one of them.
The Doc had talked to Kim, and then he had recommended the two, four-bed bunkrooms for them. He promised Kim that he wouldn't mention her gender unless it became an issue.
They had all agreed that Kim thought she was a boy anyway, so it worked out fine. She always slept in the tent with the boys when they when fossicking, after all.
Justin had to laugh because he had never seen Kim in a dress, and she sure dressed like a boy. She had refused point-blank to own a dress, not even for school. Kim even had her hair cut the same as Brad and Tyson.
People thought she was Tyson's twin brother. The family decided not to enlighten the rest, and then no one would realise Kim was a girl and kick up a stink about her being in the boys' room.
The only other people on board who knew her true gender were Glenda and her husband, Tomos. They kept an eye on the family of teenagers for a few days but decided there wasn't a problem. The doctor told Glenda he was also impressed with just how well Justin looked after his siblings. Glenda had to agree.
Glenda was surprised that Justin was strikingly like his dad in looks, possibly even more handsome. He was also as tall, if not a little more and had his father's build.
She wondered if he had the assets as well. Going by the fit of the jumpsuit that he had taken to wearing aboard ship, she believed that any girl that got him would be lucky. His younger brothers were also heading in the same direction she decided.
Glenda had to smile. She had already observed Brad, at just short of eighteen, chatting up one of the sixteen-year-old girls. He was still about 5cm shorter than Justin was, but she didn't think it would take him long to catch him.
As for Allan's daughters, at nineteen, the twins were very striking, and both were topping 187cm (6' 2"). They had already received several offers of entertainment.
Amusingly the guys trying to chat them up became very daunted in their pursuit when Justin turned up. He had the skill of intimidation without a word down to a fine art, just like his father did.
The younger girls either side of Kim, at sixteen and fourteen, also lucked in on the gorgeous looks, and Justin was going to have a hard time keeping them virgins too.
He was very protective of the girls, but he wasn't overbearing about it. The girls all respected his judgement and obviously loved him.
She had noticed that while Justin looked, he had not attempted to approach the interested parties. He politely rebuffed those that got game enough to try. It was amazing how many people of both genders and of many different age groups did approach him.
The fact that nearly two-thirds of the passengers were female also gave him plenty of choices. Many of them were young, single professionals that had engineering and/or teaching qualifications. This fact wasn't lost on the other young men aboard either.
On observing the brothers, Glenda noticed they also obeyed Justin without arguing about the decisions he made. He had done an excellent job taking over as dad.
She did wonder how he and Allan were going to get on.
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Lee and Sean were also wondering if they had done the right thing, including Allan's kids.
Lee told Sean if Allan didn't wish to acknowledge them, she would settle them in Clarksville. She believed the whole family would be an asset to either community.
Sean agreed that this was an acceptable solution. They, too, were impressed with how Justin and the twins looked after their younger siblings and treated them all equally and lovingly.
Glenda was amused to note that the other teenagers, who were seventeen and above, tended to flock to Justin, Brad and the twins. The younger teenage girls congregated around Ariel and Barbie, and the boys gravitated to Kim and Tyson. Kim was the ringleader of their little group.
When the Ubobos were out and about, the others soon found them.
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The crew soon learnt the family all had musical talent.
They tended to take over the end of the diner near the stage and then the stage. On their first night aboard, Jamie had found the Baby Grand Piano. Tammy had left it on board as they made a Grand Piano in Clarksville for her.
Jamie had played through the scales and then opened the lid and fiddled inside. She spent about half an hour tuning the piano to her satisfaction.
The old crew had also erected a set of drums and an electric keyboard that lived on the stage. Brad played with the drum set and adjusted bits and pieces until he, too, was happy with its output and alignment for his height.
Meanwhile, their siblings had gone and got their instruments. Apparently, the group loved a form of Jazz music, but they could also play just about any other type of music. It depended on the whims and moods of the members.
Jennie favoured an acoustic guitar, and Tyson liked bass, but they also swapped when it suited them. The three younger girls mostly played wind instruments. Ariel played Sax, Barbie the trumpet and Kim the clarinet or harmonica.
Justin could play the violin in classical, jazz and country styles and often walked around with a harmonica in his pocket. Glenda soon learnt that Kim and Justin could play just about any of the instruments if they so wished.
The family limbered up, and Justin started on a slower song with the fiddle. The others soon joined in. Then Justin changed the tune, and they upped the beat. The diner was soon full of people.
Just about everyone, who wasn't doing anything in particular, and some that should have been working, ended up in the diner. Jamie and Jennie could really sing. However, it was when Justin sang, the audience quietened.
His voice seemed to spellbind the spectators. When he sang a sad love song about a guy being dumped by his girl, he just about had the girls weeping for him. Many were willing to take her place, as well.
Ivan and Iran asked Justin if they could join in. When asked what they could play, Iran said he could play the keyboard. Ivan produced a harmonica and said he had a bandolin and that he could bring it later.
Justin asked what that was, and Ivan showed him a picture on his minder. It looked similar to a banjo to Justin. He told them to play something, and the family listened for a bit and then all joined in.
Glenda was amused that they pretty much ignored the audience they had acquired and just swapped from one song to another. Ivan and Iran had a ball. They played for about two hours until the boys indicated they had to go do some work and reluctantly left.
The younger members wanted a rest, too, so they stopped playing. They collected the other kids in the room and trouped off to the playroom.
Justin swapped to his violin, and Jennie traded to the electric keyboard. They started playing some upbeat classical music with Jamie still on the piano and Brad on drums, mostly playing the percussion.
Esky and Nick walked in when the quartet was playing a complicated set that was very moving. Brad was using the bass drum to keep the beat and provided a low booming background while picking over a xylophone.
Jennie had the electric keyboard set on a different tone to the piano, making it sound more powerful, and Justin was leading on the violin.
"I didn't know we hired a band, Nick?" Esky queried, quietly entranced in the music.
"We didn't. They are Allan Ubobo, the Wizard from Antali's kids," he replied.
"Lee wanted me to find them, but they found us. The oldest, Justin, is the lad playing the violin. He applied for a job as a Geologist and Gemmologist. He had completed three degrees in four years. Apparently, he also qualified in Metallurgy and passed with high honours."
"The twin girls and the other lads are his half-sisters and half-brother. There are another four around here as well. They are from three different mothers, and apparently, nearly four years ago when he was just sixteen, he became their guardian and took them all in."
Esky looked at Nick and then back at the quartet. "Well, they could make a pretty penny as a band. They are bloody good."
The family finished the song and decided on a break, as they were hungry. They wandered off to collect food and ended up at a table full of other teenagers. They settled in a get to know everyone session with them.
Captain Esky (he didn't like Captain Cool as he thought it sounded pretentious) had a chat with Nick Clark about the trip back to Futura. He had been playing with the navigation algorithms Kyle had in the system.
Esky had determined that if they maintained a slower speed and did four short jumps, they could cut four nearly five days off the trip and landed closer into the system as well.
Nick commed Lee, and she agreed it would be more than possible. She recommended Esky do checks after the second jump. If all systems were still green, then, by all means, do the next two.
Esky informed the crew and passengers they would be jumping two days earlier than expected.
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Chapter 4
~~ December - Weeks 50 to 51 - 2094 ~~
One young lady who was not happy to be on the Fortune was Adison Maine.
Her father, Stanley Maine, had been the Dean of Carrington College in America. Stella, her mum, was a prominent obstetrician and gynaecologist. She would have been amused to learn they had been picked by Sean. Lee let him have his way.
Lee was perfectly happy to have Doc Von in attendance when she had the baby, but Sean was not. With the number of pregnant women already in Futura, it probably wasn't going to hurt to have a specialist. Plus, Stella also taught. Lee had thought that this qualification was her best asset.
Adison had already started at Carrington to study as a Veterinarian. Her father had put her in the GATE program when she was eleven, so she had finished school a year early.
Now she was stuck aboard a starship heading off to some backwater planet all because her sister couldn't keep her pants on. She could have stayed with her Aunt, but her father didn't want to leave her behind, so here she was.
She didn't care if her sister was into gang bangs as long as she was discreet about it. However, she had been caught fucking Tad Jones at a party, which she was also attending.
Tad had been the captain of the football team of her old High School. He was now Adison's ex-boyfriend. It had been the most humiliating experience in her life to date.
If that wasn't bad enough, there had been a rumour going around that Tad had been fucking both of them together in a threesome. As if she would want to shag her disgusting sister.
Adison had planned to drop Tad, anyway, since they were at different schools and didn't spend much time together with any more. And personally, he wasn't that good in bed either. Her sister could have at least waited until she had dropped him, though.
Their father had been irate. This wasn't the first time Lyndsay had been caught. She had been fucking all and sundry since she turned sixteen, nine months before.
Adison had walked in on her fucking that disgusting boy from down the street. He was covered in bad tattoos and piercings. The small detail that he had been twenty-five at the time was not lost on her father.
He told the guy he was lucky he didn't get him charged with rape. The fact that Lindsay had turned sixteen the day before and was willing was irrelevant as far as he was concerned.
When her youngest sister, Willow, who was fifteen, had shown her parents the webpage for the jobs on Harmony and Utopia, her parents, to her horror, had shown an interest and seriously discussed going. They even made her contribute to the vid they sent.
She only agreed to go as long as she could still study to become a Vet. Her dad assured her that the University he would help run would be offering the courses she needed. She would even get to study a whole heap of animals that didn't exist on Earth.
So here she was, on the bloody starship.
------
Adison looked over at the hunk, Justin Ubobo.
The other girls were making eyes at him, not that she could blame them. He had taken to wearing the jumpsuits from the replicator, and if any guy could pull off looking good in one, he sure did.
So far, she hadn't seen him pick any of the other girls out for special attention. He was always polite but treated them equally. She then thought of his younger brother, Brad.
Brad was damn near as hunky as his older brother, and he wore the jumpsuits too. He wasn't as tall yet, but he had slightly wider shoulders, and he was already showing thicker muscle definition. Justin was wirier but still well defined.
She wasn't surprised when her sister had claimed Brad as her property. He'd had his eighteenth birthday three days before, and she knew of one of the presents he got. Lindsay had been delighted to tell her that he was one hot stud.
Her sister's obsession was one reason why she was still sitting on the periphery of the group in the diner. Brad and Lyndsay were currently in the double bunkroom the girls shared, stinking up the place.
She wondered when she could safely go to bed. She watched Justin excuse himself from the group he was sitting with, and he walked towards her making her heart jump.
"Would you mind walking with me? There is a small problem we need to discuss?" he said to her quietly.
Adison glanced at the group and noticed several venomous looks sent her way. She swallowed and looked up into his gorgeous dark brown eyes. She found herself nodding and getting up. The book on the pad she had sort of been reading was forgotten.
Justin took her hand, placed it in the crook of his arm and headed to the lifts. He selected the button to go up, but he didn't say anything. When the lift arrived, Adison stepped inside. Justin had placed his hand in the small of her back and escorted her in.
As soon as the door shut, Adison stepped away from him. He had been making her feel hot and bothered the whole way to the lift. She watched him as he selected the button for the dome.
"You do realise the other girls are going to give me grief and owe me a lot of money?" she said with a smile.
Perplexed, Justin looked at her, "Why?"
Adison looked at him. He honestly didn't know what he had done, escorting her out of the room as he had. They had all seen him squiring his sisters around in that manner. All the girls found it very cute and very old fashioned.
"The girls had a bet going to see who could get you to squire them to the dome," she said by way of explanation.
Justin looked thoughtful. The lift dinged, and he again took her hand and put it on in the crook of his arm and then escorted her to the outer dome.
"My great-grandmother had thumped into me that a young man should always treat a lady with respect. She even had me practice with the twins once they came to live with me."
"The girls thought it was hilarious. After that, they always put their hand on my arm when we went anywhere. It has sort of become a habit," he explained.
Adison decided it was a lovely habit and left her hand where it was as they walked. "So, what did you wish to speak with me about?" she asked, intrigued.
Justin grimaced, "Our siblings."
Adison nodded in understanding and gently squeezed his arm in sympathy. "Do you know why my family is aboard this ship?" she asked.
He shook his head. So, she told him of Lyndsay's past indiscretions and finished with, "I'm sorry she has her claws into your brother. It probably won't last longer than this voyage. I hope he doesn't think that she is in love with him. It is only lust."
Justin sighed and directed her to a seat in an alcove before he plopped down beside her. "I seriously doubt Brad's intentions are long term, either. He seems to attract girls like flies to a barbie."
"I had a hard time getting him to sixteen, without him sticking his cock into the next girl who flashed her tits at him. I'm damn sure your sister didn't find him a virgin. He said that Lyndsay has been tagged. Is this true?"
"Yes, Mother got her tagged two months before she turned sixteen to make sure it had taken. She had found Lindsay lip-locked with her boyfriend and her hand down his pants."
"Lyndsay said they didn't do the deed, and Mother got her to promise she would wait until it was at least legal for her to do so. Although, she didn't wait a day longer."
Justin smiled at Adison, "So it seems that our siblings are as promiscuous as each other. Well, I suppose they aren't hurting anyone else, and they know the score."
"I'm sorry you're getting kicked out of your room, though. I think we should insist on a curfew so you at least can get some sleep. They probably wouldn't care if you were in the room with them. Although, that is up to you."
Adison shuddered. She, too, doubted that they would care, "No, thank you. I don't wish to go to sleep listening to my sister getting laid. A curfew is a great idea."
She looked at Justin, and he grinned at her. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get saddled with seven siblings to look after?" she asked him tentatively.
So, Justin told her about how he adopted his brothers and sisters, and who their mums were and how old they were.
"Hang on, your younger sisters are of ages that are either side of Kim?" Adison said.
Justin laughed, "Apparently, Dad liked repeat performances. He even visited my mum, but he didn't get her pregnant again, thankfully. He and Terry had split up at least twice that I know of, over his dalliances. They were going through a divorce when Kim was one."
"How old is your dad?" she asked.
Justin thought for a bit, "I think he not long ago turned thirty-six. Although most people believed he was two years older. Gran told me that he had borrowed his cousin's birth certificate. Apparently, they had the same names."
"My dad wanted to skip a couple of years of school when he was being shifted around between the Uncles and Aunts. His parents were killed in an accident when he was about twelve, and it took Gran a couple of years to get custody."
"Wow, he would have only been sixteen when you were born. At least he stopped having kids at twenty-five," she said.
Justin laughed again and told her of the current batch. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more little Ubobos running around, but they weren't in Brisbane to my knowledge."
"He joined UNSEC at that age, so he may have swapped to women who had been tagged. I know he didn't marry again before he left to go to the Delta Pavonis system. He came and saw us a month before he left."
Adison nodded and smiled at him, "No wonder Brad is the way he is. So how many conquests have you got under your belt?" she asked cheekily.
Justin blushed and shook his head. She looked at him in shock, "Not one?"
Justin shrugged, "I've been kinda busy the last four years raising my brothers and sisters and doing my degrees."
"But surely you have been on dates?" she said. Again, he shook his head. "Kissed a girl at least?" he still shook a no and blushed even harder.
While Adison didn't play the field like her sister, she couldn't let that challenge go past her.
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Chapter 5
~~ December - Weeks 50 to 51 - 2094 ~~
Adison stood and moved.
She straddled Justin's lap and took his face in her hands, and locked lips with him. Justin had automatically grabbed her waist when she straddled him and soon found a very nice set of lips pressed into his.
Her little tongue was licking his lips, so he parted them to let it enter into his mouth. It wasn't long before his cock registered her hot cunnie pressed into it and started to rise. Justin slid his hands up her ribs, and his thumbs came into contact with her breasts.
Adison rubbed against him and moaned into his mouth when his thumbs gently brushed back and forth across the undersides of her tits. She came up for air and looked at him, and he stopped rubbing her tits.
"I thought you said that you hadn't been with a girl before," she said.
"I haven't. I'm not uneducated, just inexperienced. I do own a peeper, you know," he told her and grinned.
He moved his hands around her ribs to rub her hard little nipples with his thumbs to demonstrate he knew what to do to them. Adison groaned, locked onto his mouth again and slid her hands into his lovely soft hair.
She pushed her nipples into his willing hands. She rubbed her crotch on his and found plenty to rub against. Unfortunately, things didn't get to progress much from there as they were interrupted by giggles.
Justin released Adison's mouth and looked over her shoulder to see his twin sisters standing behind them.
Jamie gave him a big grin, "About bloody time you worked out that dong of yours had other uses, Bro."
It was Adison's turn to blush furiously. She got off his lap, so the dong in question was plain for all to see. Justin sighed. There were no secrets in his house, so he didn't bother trying to hide them.
When the Ubobo kids first moved in with him, they only had one bathroom. The shower had transparent glass partitions, and the bloody loo was in the same room. The others soon got in the habit of walking in on whoever was in the shower or using the loo.
They also took great delight in flushing it, so the shower flashed hot and then cold. His siblings had all seen him in the nick many times. The boys had often gotten in the shower with him to save water and get a hot shower, they said.
He was very disconcerted the first time Kim climbed in with him. When he had asked her what the hell she was doing, she had said the other boys showered with him, so why shouldn't she. Plus, at least this way, she got a hot shower as the other girls hogged all the hot water.
In the big house, they at least had two bathrooms. He had allocated the big one for the girls and the smaller one for the boys. However, it didn't stop the girls from using the loo in the boys' bathroom while they showering if the other one was occupied.
"Sorry, Adison, I didn't mean for you to be embarrassed. Unfortunately, my family has a very loose definition of personal privacy."
The girls grinned at him. "Sorry, Bro, Adison," Jennie said, not the least bit penitent. "We didn't mean to interrupt, but we wanted to talk about the presents for the younger kids tomorrow."
"Oh shit! I still haven't finished the necklaces for the girls," Justin said. He then grinned at Adison, who was now sitting quietly beside him.
He picked her hand up and held it, "Any chance we can pick up where we left off, on another day?"
Adison looked at his sisters, and Jamie winked at her. She looked back at Justin, and he squeezed her hand. She didn't think a relationship with Justin was going to go a long way.
The guy could end up on a different continent or even a planet. However, they still had another ten days on board. She certainly wasn't immune to what he had been pressing into her cunnie or his charm.
"Maybe," she said coyly.
The girls laughed, and Justin stood and pulled her up. He tucked her hand back into his arm and walked her to the lifts while he talked with his sisters. He waited until the doors opened to the diner and then kissed her.
"Sorry, sweetie, but Santa's little helper has some work to do. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Adison nodded and floated out of the lift to a barrage of questions from the other girls, who had seen Justin kiss her.
------
Glenda had observed the interaction between Adison and Justin, and she grinned.
One of the girls had to get lucky; eventually, he was, after all, Allan's son. She liked how he made sure the others knew who he was interested in, and the girl now knew he wasn't stringing her along.
'He is a clever little bugger,' she thought.
Glenda approved of his choice as well. Adison at least had some brains, and she hadn't been flirting with every single guy aboard like some of the women.
Justin commed Kim, "Where are you and Tyson?"
"We were in the playroom watching you kiss that girl," she told him with a giggle.
"Crap, how many other couples have you lot spied on?"
"Lots, and it's a lot more fun than a peeper," she told him.
"What the hell are you doing accessing that sort of material? You're only fifteen?"
"Nearly sixteen, besides, I'm not stupid. Plus, if you guys want to leave them lying around turned on, what can you expect," she shot back.
Justin groaned. The boys often forgot that Kim was a girl. She sure didn't act like one. She was already 186cm (6'1") tall, the same height as Tyson. People assumed they were both older. He didn't think either had finished growing.
They were both very slim and flat-chested. He grinned. Going by her sisters' bust lines, she wouldn't stay that way for much longer. He had noticed the slight changes in the last couple of months but hadn't mentioned it.
The twins had gone up before going out as well. They had probably been a year younger than Kim now was. Her active lifestyle and the fact girls tended to develop a little later in these times might have slowed things down a little in her case.
The twins had grown their boobs after going up. Now they had more than enough to keep any bloke happy. They weren't huge for their height, but they had undoubtedly caught the eye. If there was one asset the girls got from their mums, it was that one.
Barbie was already in a bra, and Ariel had complained she had to change her cup size again just before they came on board. The younger girls hadn't gone up quite as high as Kim had before they started to go out. He doubted they would be as tall as the rest of them.
Justin looked at his minder, "I want you two to head to bed. Jamie will check on you. Santa called and told me you were up to no good. So, I suggest you behave."
"Oh, come on, J, you know we don't believe in that crap anymore?" Kim came back.
"Well, you will find out come morning when you get a lump of coal," he said, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"How the hell does Santa get on a starship?" Tyson came back. He might have been nearly seventeen, but he had always loved Christmas.
This stumped Justin for a minute. Then he grinned, "I think he is a wizard."
Justin hadn't tried to make them grow up any faster than he had to. It was bad enough he had a shitty childhood, so he had tried to make theirs fun while still being a good parent. This would be their fourth Christmas together, he realised.
"Well, he is a one nutty Wizard if he has nothing better to do than drop presents and loads of coal off onto kids once a year," came back Tyson.
Justin laughed, and Kim chuckled. "Just get to bed. I'll comm Jamie to come to check on you. You have five minutes," Justin replied.
The kids 'Ked' back, and Justin commed Jamie to check on them and make sure Ariel and Barbie also headed that way; it was getting late. Jamie said they were already in their room.
She would check on the boys.
------
Justin found Iran, who was on duty.
He told him he was heading to the workshop to finish his projects. After the first Jam Session, when the brothers had joined his family, Justin got to know them better, and they became good friends. The Burgis couples often joined the group of teenagers in the diner being of the same age group.
When Justin had asked him if there was somewhere he could make the girls' jewellery Iran had given him access to the ship's electrical workshop. He had finished most of the pieces, but they needed some finer touches.
When the boys had seen the necklaces and earring sets, they asked Justin if he could make them a set for their girls. He had agreed. When he had spent his weekends learning how to polish and cut gems, his Gran had given him a heap of old jewellery and taught him how to melt it down and make new items.
She said that she went to garage sales and picked up old jewellery for a song. Most of it was rubbish and only plated, but she could still acquire enough silver and gold to make new items.
His Metallurgy courses helped him learn how to refine the process. Gran had taught him how to set the gems and make simple moulds using modelling clay for special pieces.
They had gone on one last gem hunt while waiting for the ride to the ship.
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Chapter 6
~~ December - Weeks 51 to 52 - 2094 ~~
Justin wasn't aware of the fact that he had actually received the first job offer nearly two weeks before everyone else.
This gave them seventeen days to get organised. They spent ten days of that time on the Gem Fields.
He had put a for-sale on the Bus and found a buyer while on holidays. The guy said to drop it off at his brother's place in Brisbane. His brother would transfer the money as long as it turned up in good condition.
Justin asked him if he wanted the tents and stuff as well, and the guy agreed to add the extra and take it. Justin was more than pleased with the bargain. The Bus was only a couple of years old, and he had gotten a reasonable price for it.
They had found an excellent haul of sapphires and some good rubies on this trip as well. Kim told him to go somewhere a bit different. It was still in the licensed area, so Justin agreed. The site was supposed to be played out, so no one else was in the area.
It was right beside the National Park, so Justin was able to set up camp in the park. This suited the other four girls and Gran, as they didn't like digging so much, especially in the middle of the day. Gran would teach them about plants, animals and the Old Ways. They also did most of the cooking, so everyone was happy.
While none of the kids was more than a quarter Aboriginal, Gran said that her histories and knowledge should be passed on to someone, and they were her kin. Justin had no issues with the kids learning about their heritage from both sides of the family tree.
Kim and the boys did most of the digging. They had to dig a bit deeper than normal, but with many willing hands, they did. They still hadn't found much by the fifth day. Everyone but Justin wondered if Kim had got it wrong for once.
Justin made them keep digging. They were close, he told them; he could smell them. Gran said she would call up the Great Serpent and ask him to reveal his treasures to his kin one last time. The others all smiled at her.
The next day, Justin found that he was concentrating on the right side of his tunnel's and he hit pay dirt. He dug, and the boys cleared the overburden. The girls got the sieves and Willoughby going to extract the sapphires from the wash material. Kim acted as a spotter to make sure they didn't miss any.
Justin made sure he left Gran with a good haul of gems. Her eyesight wasn't as good as it was, but she could still cut and polish. She was getting too old to trip out to the fields by herself, and she now had a live-in carer.
He felt better about leaving her once he had organised the carer. Gran had insisted that they all had to go to Delta as their destinies were waiting for them. She had lived a good life, and now, it was their turn.
When Justin had read the pricing structure for Futura, he decided to keep his haul of gems. He had made enough money back from the sale of the Bus and his furniture for now. He believed he could get a lot more for the gems when he got there.
Hand-cut gems and handmade jewellery were classed as unique, and he could ask what he wanted for them. Even if the twins got into the University or got jobs, he still had five other kids to feed and send to school. The extra money would help.
He had thought the twins might stay on Earth, being over eighteen, but they insisted they wanted to come. When he asked, the people from the hiring committee had said that since he was still supporting them, the twins could go as his dependants.
Their Boss wanted mostly girls on this trip. Pretty ones, who were also smart like his sisters were, would soon find they were more than welcome. Justin had read the literature and knew that Utopia had an abundance of males, having the opposite population problem to Earth.
He did wonder how that would affect his chances of finding a mate.
------
In the workshop, he was putting the finishing touches to the pieces he had made.
He knew Kim wouldn't wear girly-style jewellery, so he had made the boys and Kim a set of 'dog-tags'.
On Tyson's, he had designed a kangaroo with gold wire and using a specialised heated tool, he welded it to the rectangular silver tag. He added a small green sapphire for the eye and three under the feet.
He had then engraved Tyson's name. Tyson got his nickname of 'Roo' because he grazed all day but tended to be easily startled. He also ran bloody fast, with a long loping gate.
On Brad's, he did a wombat with blue sapphires. He had originally acquired the nickname because he was hard to get out of bed. However, Justin believed he would live up to the common adage of what a wombat did, being – eats, roots and leaves. He was his father's son.
Kim's had a goanna with a dark-red ruby. She was very sneaky and didn't miss a thing. She also climbed everything. She loved lying around and being out in the sun. However, she could move very fast when required.
The boys each had a pierced ear, so he had made an earring for the three of them using a mould of their 'talisman animal' and a small matching gem in the middle as on their dog-tags.
For the other four girls, he made a necklace and a matching set of earrings. Jennie got the green sapphires, Jamie the blue, Ariel the yellow and Barbie the pink. He welded the pink and yellow gold onto an oval-shaped, white gold-plated disc 5cm x 4cm x 2.5mm thick.
He had scalloped the sides and touched them up with the yellow gold. The chains were more feminine as well and made of white gold. He had actually purchased them before they left.
Jamie's was the peregrine falcon. She was the most protective of the group. She was always the first to draw blood in a fight, be it verbal or physical. Jennie's talisman was the kookaburra. She was the joker of the bunch and always quick to laugh. Jennie's huntress nature also came to the fore if the girls felt threatened.
Ariel's talisman was the cockatoo. Her gift was languages. She also had a habit of nodding her head up and down several times to answer a question and looking at you sideways. The blonde streak she liked to wear down the middle of her short spiky on top but longer down her back hair also made you think of a sulphur-crested cockatoo.
Barbie's symbol was the lyrebird. Her gifts were mimicry and looking pretty. She was also known to tell some whoppers. She hid most of her lies well behind her 'I'm a cute innocent little girl' facade. However, Justin and Jamie could always tell if Barbie was lying.
Justin had found some 10cm square by 2cm deep boxes in the engineer's replicator. He also chose a satin-type white tablecloth, a piece of heavy card, glue and different coloured ribbons for decorations. He lined the card with pieces of the tablecloth, glued them and added slits and holes. He put them in the box to present his jewellery and then put on the ribbons and a name card.
For Sasha and Wendy, he had doctored up some of the other pieces that were in his kit. They were already made, but he hadn't sold them yet. When he showed Ivan and Iran the pieces he had selected and put into the boxes, they were more than happy with his efforts.
Justin had added ribbons and cards for them, and the boys left, thanking him profusely. They told him they also loved the jewellery he had designed for his family.
Tired, he went to bed thinking about Adison.
------
In the morning, Justin wasn't that surprised to find Kim curled up in his arms.
Not long after the Ubobo kids moved into his flat, he often found Kim in his bed. He had gotten so used to her doing it, he didn't even wake when she crawled in with him anymore.
She had told him she always felt safest when with him as she had bad dreams. Considering the stories that Tyson and the girls had eventually told him of what Paul tried to do on several occasions, he wasn't that surprised.
He had to go back to wearing his boxer shorts at night. Kim had a bad habit of curling up tight into his body. So far, on the ship, she hadn't crawled into bed with him.
He had hoped she was finally growing out of it. She hadn't crawled into bed with him for a couple of months since she started developing her boobs. The last time he had woken with his hand cupped around that little nub, and his cock pressed into her arse.
He had rubbed it and flexed his cock before it registered; he was feeling up his own sister. He had rolled away from her and was trying to will down his cock when she stretched awake.
She said good morning as she customarily did, and she had slipped out of bed. Justin was still mortified to find that he had been feeling his sister up. But she didn't say anything or treat him any differently, so he had let the incident slide.
He could only hope that she hadn't realised he had touched her in such a manner. On the ship, he had taken the bottom bunk across from hers. If she woke after a bad dream, she could see him.
Obviously, the thought of the first Christmas away from home had her coming to him looking for reassurance. Once awake, she was fearless, but not so much at night. Justin was at least glad on this occasion that his hand was only on her waist when he woke. He hoped it hadn't been anywhere else.
He poked Kim in the ribs, "Merry Christmas, Goanna girl."
Kim yawned and snuggled her arse back into his crotch. It wasn't the first time he had woken with his hard cock pressed into her arse. She then giggled as he tried, in the narrow bunk, to pull back away from her. He also realised she knew he would have a hard-on and had rubbed him deliberately.
"That Adison chick is sure gunna be in for a real big surprise," she said cheekily.
Justin tossed off the sheet and smacked her arse. He growled, "Get out of my bed, you cheeky wench. You are getting too big and too old to crawl in with me."
"Thank god, no one from the Services knows of your habit. They would never believe that I didn't touch you inappropriately." For good measure, he added, "Especially since you're finally getting titties."
Kim touched her chest in horror and grasped that it wasn't as flat as it used to be. They were only just getting going and were now the size of flat biscuits. She hadn't thought anyone had noticed.
The thick jumpsuits and her developed pectoral muscles still hide them for now. Although were she to keep developing like her sisters had, she didn't have long before they would be noticed by everyone and not just Justin.
"Shit," she said angrily.
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Chapter 7
~~ December - Weeks 51 to 52 - 2094 ~~
Justin laughed.
He hit the bunk above him with his fist, "Time to get up, Wombat, Merry Christmas."
Justin heard Brad groan and roll over. "What bloody time is it?" he mumbled.
"Breakfast time," Tyson added as he dropped off the top of the other bunk bed.
They all laughed. The kid just about ate them out of the house and home. But no one could work out where the fuck he put it. They let Kim use the loo first, and then the other boys went while Justin showered.
They had all taken to wearing the jumpsuits as it meant they didn't have to wash clothes but always had a clean set. The suits also meant less mess in the small cabin.
Justin and Brad wore jocks, but Tyson generally didn't. Justin guessed that might change going by the changes in his anatomy as well. Like Kim, he had only recently started to develop. He had stopped letting Kim into the bathroom with him about a year before.
He was going through that awkward phase when hair started to appear in places it wasn't previously, and boy things changed as well. He still didn't need to shave, though.
Justin and Brad had found they didn't need to shave very often either. Neither of them had a lot of noticeable body hair, except on the groin region and the top of their heads.
While the boys were in the shower, Justin said to Kim, "So, why last night?"
Kim shrugged, "My tummy hurt. I think I'm coming down with something."
"Crap, I think you had better go next door and have a talk to Jennie about girl stuff. You are older than fifteen, and most girls have started by that age."
Kim looked at him with horror, and tears welled in her eyes. "Stupid, stupid, bloody body," she said with anger. She then stomped out of the room and went next door.
Tyson came out of the bathroom to see her exit, "What's up with Kim?"
Justin sighed, "Growing up and 'Girl Stuff'."
"Oh," said Tyson. Having three older sisters, he understood what 'Girls Stuff' meant. "She is not going to like turning into a girl?" he commented and ran his hand through his top curls.