Old Macdonald

The next few days were spent setting Iona up with her own space. After some hard work and stealing supplies, a decent one-bedroom house was constructed. Sasha and I also walled off our living space, with Al inside. At the end of the last day of building and designing, the three of us ate dinner.

"Thank you both for helping me. I wish there was more I could do for you."

"Well, for now, there isn't anything we can do." Al hadn't found any new branches in the multiverse; he claimed there were none, but Sasha and I were convinced he needed more data to find them more accurately. 

Iona nodded and took a few bites before speaking up again. "Do you guys always steal what you need? Shouldn't we come up with a way to grow food here?"

Sasha responded first. "Well, this is our first time living in this pocket dimension full-time. We could just steal the bare minimum when we traveled from world to world."

"Plus, I don't know if the conditions here would work for a farm; we would need to create entirely artificial soil and sunlight. Not to mention people to run the farm."

Iona didn't reply. She just finished her plate and then sat back deep in thought. After a couple of minutes, she leaned forward. "I'm sure there are people all over the multiverse in poverty, foster care, homeless, all of those things that could use a job and a safe space. We could bring them here."

I sigh and shake my head, "Any one of those people could be important to the timeline they are in. We could end up marking the timeline for destruction. Saving one person sends trillions to their death."

Sasha gasps and almost leaps out of her chair. I look at her, confused; she should have known this. She looks at me wide-eyed and excitedly stammers out some words. She realizes she isn't making sense and takes a deep breath before trying again.

"The Preservers have been keeping tabs on a group of spacetime travelers called The Company. I know, I know, not very creative. They steal goods, women, and weapons from all over the multiverse. If they mess up a timeline, they expect the Preservers to handle it."

"Why wouldn't the Preservers try to stop them?" Iona made a good point; these guys seemed like bad news to the Preservers.

"The Company doesn't directly oppose the Preservers, and many of the male Preservers partake in their, uh, services."

"Gross"

"Very much so." The girls agreed with each other, but I was focused on the prospect of what Sasha had brought up.

"So, if I understand the situation correctly, there's a group of criminals with a large supply of food and prisoners that we can relocate for them."

"Exactly." Sasha continued, "They provide all the food for their restaurants, all the women for their clubs, and all the ships for their clients. We can liberate one of their smaller farms. If we get things set up correctly, we should be able to steal enough fertilizer and seeds to start a farm and enough food to last until our crops grow."

"Then it's settled. We'll spend the next couple of days creating a space for a farm while Al finds a location we can attack."

Iona sighs, "I wish I was still at college."

Sasha giggles and stands up, clearing the table. "Go get some rest. We have a lot of work ahead. Plus, if I recall correctly, it was your idea to start a farm."

Iona gets up to walk out, "I'll keep my ideas to myself." Even with the sarcasm, she smiles brightly before leaving.

The hard labor starts again the next day. We decide to make a large enough space for potatoes, wheat, carrots, rice and tomatoes. We create a separate space for livestock. With magic and the unlimited space of the pocket dimension, only two days later, we have a functioning area for food growth. All we needed were people and supplies. 

That night, Al informed Sasha and me of a company farm that is also used as a holding center for new acquisitions for their club employees. With the constant movement and changing of prisoners, it would be easy to sneak in and cause a riot. 

"The biggest hurdle to overcome is creating enough portals to bring everything over."

I rub the back of my head. We only had two options: kill everyone and hope we could get everything off of the base before reinforcements showed up, or steal things slowly and hope they don't notice before we retrieve what we need. "I think we take the supplies first. Even if the guards notice, they will be distracted investigating the warehouses. Afterward, you can maintain a portal while I cover the jailbreak." 

"It's not much of a plan, but there are only two of us."

"We might be able to increase those numbers. Hired meatheads only work for themselves. If we offer them more than The Company does, I think we can slow-play this to maximize our benefit."

"You want to infiltrate their base and win the hearts of the people?"

"More or less, if you get captured and end up with the girls, and I enlist as a mercenary, we can figure out the best way to get everyone out without raising too much suspicion."

Sasha flops onto our bed and looks up at the ceiling. I leave her be for a minute before lying down next to her. "This is a lot. We can find another way."

She puts her hand on mine and squeezes, "No, I can't get those girls out of my head. I had to push The Company to the back of my mind while I was with the Preservers. Their hands-off attitude toward kidnapping and sex trafficking was something I had to forget about in order to handle. Now that I remember, I won't be able to forgive myself if I walk away."

I continue to look at the roof with her holding my hand. I decided to change the subject; we might be out of contact for a while, and I needed to say, "You know, eighteen-year-old us would be way too nervous to lay in a bed together."

Sasha smiles and lets out a tiny sigh, "We sleep next to each other every night, but we still haven't kissed."

"Seems pretty silly, doesn't it?"

She rolls over, and I feel her breath on my cheek, "Do you want to kiss me, Alex?"

I face her, our noses touching, and look into her eyes. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"Maybe." She pushes past my nose, and her lips brush against mine. In less than a second, all the built-up tension and suppressed passion come to the surface. We are locked in a firey embrace before our clothes come flying off, and we seal our relationship. We lay panting next to each other under the covers.

"Why did we wait so long to do that?" I breathlessly say after a few minutes.

"You never made your move, lover boy." Sasha smiles and starts to draw shapes with her nails on my chest. "Now you are stuck with me; I expect you to come home every time."

I put my hand on hers and squeezed it tight. "As long as you make the same promise."

We kiss again before letting our tired eyes rest. We had a big mission ahead of us, but with our relationship solidified, I was confident we would overcome any challenge.