Over the next year, nearly a third of the prisoners were sent home or to their chosen destinations. Some took the relocation and new life offer when they expressed a desire to not return home, and they were quickly shuffled off and hidden after making the same pledge to help anyone that came to them and mentioned the same offer.
Surprisingly, no one caused any problems. They knew that they were getting out much sooner than what they thought was their sentence. A lot of them didn't realize how much their sentences had been inflated, just so The Order or some official wanted them out of the way. I didn't enlighten them to that fact or tell them exactly when they were going and only a vague 'next week' or 'next month'. It drove a few of them crazy that I teased them like that; but, they took it as the price of being let go.
Plus, the looks on their faces when their ride would suddenly show up was priceless.
Life on the planet became a little harder with less people to run things. I was doing the majority of the farming and the cooking, which seemed to always be the case no matter where I was, and I did it without complaint. I even took over guarding the town without anyone noticing. In fact, it took the prisoners another six months before they realized that the three guards and Peggy were no longer around.
When the big alien finally asked me when they left, I just laughed. I had sent them and the three food dispensary workers off to the Dizahl System. Peggy was immediately adopted into the family, much to her surprise and delight, and the guards were scooped up by the Bogorim Corporation. Surprisingly, the food workers were hired by our favorite restaurant and we didn't get the chance to offer them a job with our company.
Life went on and the population dwindled over the next year until there were only a few handfuls of people left, including the big alien and his crew from the mine. None of them were shocked that they were the only ones left, since they had been given multi-decade sentences like me.
What did shock them was when I called for a town meeting in the center of town and four shuttles landed on the outskirts of the town behind me. The only one not shocked was Noma, and she quickly went over to Monna and climbed aboard.
“I know this is short notice, and you can take as long as you want to make your decision.” I said to everyone else. “I've reviewed your sentences and your crimes, and I can't in good conscience commute your sentences and send you home...”
“I knew you were going to abandon us!” The woman on the big alien's crew spat and interrupted me. “You think you're so righteous and...” She stopped talking when the big alien put a big blocky hand on her shoulder.
“As I was saying.” I continued with a nod to the big guy. “I can't send you home, because they believe you are the most horrible criminals to exist and they don't want you there. If I commute your sentences and send you there, you'll probably be arrested on trumped up charges and sent off to prison again, and only god knows where they would send you after escaping one of The Order's secret prisons... assuming they don't just have you killed outright.”
The big alien laughed and tapped his head. “Yes, they can pop this at any time.”
“No, they can't.” I said and took out one of their devices and pointed it at him.
“NO!” The woman yelled and she and the rest of his crew, even her man, jumped in front of the big alien to take the shot.
I pushed the button and nothing happened. I pushed it multiple times as I pointed it at each of them and they all stared at me. “Oh, look. You were caught by the notorious Hunter and he killed you all.”
“WHAT?!?” The woman yelled.
“I've just registered the detonation of your devices.” I said and held up a datapad. “Congratulations! You're all dead!”
The big alien gave me a blank look for nearly a full minute, then he laughed a big rumbling and uproarious laugh.
“What just happened?” One of the other guys asked.
“Don't you get it?” Someone else said. “We just became corpses!” He laughed like the big alien had. “We're dead, man! No records, no tracers, no goddamn bounties! We're free! Completely free!”
“I disabled all of your suicide devices years ago. It's a fairly quick surgery to remove the remnants, too.” I said. “I've got a system set up to give you all new identities as well. I can also give you new lives, assuming you want one and you want to start over with a fresh slate.”
“I'll go anywhere and do anything.” One of the others said. “Rotting in prison isn't worth the crime.”
A bunch of the others agreed and they walked over to the shuttles to climb aboard.
“Me, too.” The woman said and grabbed her man's hand. “As long as we can stay together.”
I looked at the big guy. “It's up to you if you want them to stick around or let everyone on your crew to go their own way.”
“I can choose that?” He asked, surprised.
I chuckled. “I've set up towns like this on planets all over. You can have your own place or set up together in a settlement, or even spread out across several planets and moons.”
“Can we stay here?” He asked.
“You can do whatever you want.” I said. “There's not a lot of you left to keep this place going, though.”
“Don't worry about that.” The big alien said with a smile.
“I'll have some... things... dropped off in a couple of months when I come back to get those things out of your heads.” I said and he understood what I meant. “For now...” I turned and looked at Monna. “...I need one standard landing package.”
“Are you sure?” Jelly asked.
“We're taking most of the walking corpses with us, so yes.” I said and a few of them laughed as they sat down in comfortable shuttle seats.
Monna's cargo hatch opened up and something like a cabinet came out. I used Presence to levitate it over to where I stood and I pat the side of it.
“You'll know what to do with this.” I said to the big alien and smiled. “By the way, you can stay in my place and the display is interactive.”
The big alien gave me a stern look for a moment, then he laughed. “I wondered how you were arranging all of us being shipped off with no communications.”
“I had all of that arranged before we came here, actually.” I said, which surprised everyone. “I only used it to talk to the people I care about back home.” I let them think about that for a few seconds. “There's enough food stockpiled in the dispensary for six months, even if you eat three meals a day and bring fifty people here.”
“What? How did you... what were you doing in those fields?” The woman asked and I laughed.
“I was putting centuries of growing practises to good use.” I said and walked towards the shuttles, now that everyone that was leaving had boarded.
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“WAIT!” The woman yelled and I stopped walking and turned to face her. “Aren't you going to say goodbye to us?”
“Why would I do that?” I asked and saw her frown, so I walked back over to her. “At most I'll say see you later, because you can call me whenever you want and I'll be calling from time to time to check up on you before visiting again.”
“You will?” She asked. “I thought... I mean, I know you like me and everything... but, I thought you were politely keeping your distance.”
I chuckled. “I am politely keeping my distance. Your bitch is right there.”
She looked startled for a second, then she laughed. “He really is a good bitch.”
“I'd say he's a keeper.” I smiled and held a hand out for her to shake, then gave her a touch of Presence when she shook my hand. She gasped as she became really, really horny and I leaned in to whisper. “Give him a good ride.”
“Oh... oh, I will.” She whispered back, let my hand go, and quickly walked over to her man. He looked a little surprised when she grabbed his hand, then he had to jog to keep up with her as she went over to where they lived and they disappeared inside.
“What did you do to her?” The big alien asked.
“In essence, I did about two hours of foreplay in a few seconds with Presence.” I said.
He and the rest of the crew stared at me for a second, then they all laughed.
“She's going... to drain him... dry!” One of the guys managed to say, amidst laughing.
“Big guy, you know where the clothes and thing are, and I've also left you a little something in an account in your name on the galactic net.” I said and walked over to the shuttles. “You can let her know I did the same for the rest of you, too.”
“She'll be done in a few hours and I'll let her know then.” The big alien said and his crew kept laughing.
I waved at him and climbed onto Monna through the side hatch and sat down next to Noma. “I hope you're ready for your new life.”
“I've had a new life ever since that first time I met you.” Noma responded. “It's been wonderful and I've become a new person as well.” She said and took my hand. “Even if we never have sex again, I'll always be eternally grateful to you for what you've done for me.”
I opened my mouth to speak and she leaned in and kissed me. I gave her a touch of Presence and she moaned into my mouth, then she broke the kiss and sat back.
“Final Exodus Flight taking off.” Jelly said into the communications console and all four shuttles lifted off.
*
The big alien watched the shuttles disappear into the sky, then looked at the large cabinet. “I forgot to ask him how to open this thing.”
When he said the word 'open', the cabinet doors opened and he and his crew almost shat themselves. Inside was a full rack of assault laser rifles, two racks of laser pistols, stacks of adjustable armor suits, and two small crates of grenades.
“By Black Laura's pale white tit.” The big alien said. “Who in the seven hells was that guy?”
*
It was an anxious three months for everyone as Adona traversed the space lanes and made her way through various systems to drop off the people where they needed to go. She eventually made her way back to our home system.
The intermittent communications opportunities made it all the more harrowing, because our normal communication times had to be adjusted to the travel times. It could only happen when we were back in normal space between hyperspace jump points, so sometimes it was several weeks between contact, and that was almost too much for everyone to bear.
After making the transition into the Dizahl System and the only person left on the transport was Noma, we eased our way across the system and gently docked to the space habitat. We took our time and gathered at the main docking hatch, because we all knew it was going to be a spectacle. It was going to be the first time I had seen Hailey in person in over five years, and we all knew something was going to happen.
I couldn't contain my own anticipation as I stood there in front of the hatch and waited for it to open. I had intentionally restricted my own detection range to five feet, just so we wouldn't feel each other until we were almost face to face. We waited for everyone to gather on the other side and Deborah and her husband stood behind Noma and myself, with Jelly and her boyfriend behind them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Adona opened the hatch and my eyes met Hailey's for the first time. She was an inch taller than me, which means she had sat on the couch on purpose, just so I couldn't tell exactly how much she had grown. She was now nineteen, fully grown, and fully developed. It was a sight that I wasn't prepared to see.
Hailey's hair length matched mine, down past our shoulders, and her womanly figure was more alluring than I could have guessed. She had worn an outfit that highlighted her height and her features to perfection, and my mind wasn't quite prepared for the sight.
I stepped forward and let my five foot detection range touch her, and she did the same. She had been holding back as well, and when our Presences intersected, Noma almost screamed in pleasure as she was caught in the shock wave and she dropped to the floor.
“Oh, goddess! Blessed be thy match made in heaven!” Noma exclaimed, then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out from Presence overload.
“Oh god, you can't be real.” I said and my breath stopped as I stepped close to Hailey and held a hand out to her. Hailey took my hand and our Presences merged into a single powerful force and everyone dropped to their knees from the pressure.
“Hunter, you... you need to stay in control.” Hailey said and her eyes were so full of longing that I almost thought that everything else in the universe could go to hell for all I cared. “HUNTER!” She yelled and I started breathing again.
“I'm... sorry.” I said and let her Presence flow through me and exulted in the feeling. “Hailey, you... you really... I can't believe...”
“Hunter, you're letting too much out.” Hailey told me, and I took my eyes off of her to see everyone around us kneeling.
“Oh.” I said and drew the Presence into myself instead of letting it flow out. “Sorry, everyone.”
“I think Noma's in a coma.” Jelly said and tried to wake the woman and saw her huge grin. “She looks fine, though.”
That made a few of us laugh and Jelly and her boyfriend helped carry Noma to her room.
I looked back at Hailey. “I don't think we can be alone together for a while.” I said. “I'll lose myself in you if we don't have someone nearby.”
Hailey's face flushed red as she blushed. “I've waited a long time for you to come back to me.” She said and stepped close to me. “My beloved, I owe you a kiss for every day we've been apart.”
“I... Hailey, I...” I stuttered and she smiled the smile of a woman that had completely captured a man's heart and he was utterly at her mercy.
“I'm going to start now.” Hailey said and gave me a chaste kiss. “One.” She said and gave me another, slightly not so chaste kiss. “Two.” She gave me another kiss and it was a normal kiss. “Three.” She said and put her arms around me and kissed me like she had always wanted to kiss me.
The kiss went on for a while.
“That's one hell of a fourth kiss.” Sandy said from inside the habitat. “How many does she owe him now?”
“It's been just over five years and two months, so about nineteen hundred.” Opina said from the intercom.
“Screw that. I'm not standing here for that long.” Sandy said and took Beatrice's hand. “Welcome back, Hunter.”
“Thank you.” I said, still with Hailey's arms around my neck.
Sandy walked back towards the lift to take Beatrice back up to their room.
“I'm with Sandy on this one.” Sheph said. “Welcome back.” She said and walked away.
“You're being mean to your friends.” Peggy said and walked away as well.
“It's not my... no, okay. It's all my fault.” I said. “I'll give you all a welcome home greeting tomorrow.”
“You missed your chance.” Gleas said teasingly and turned to walk away. “See you later.”
I opened my mouth to tell her I appreciated her being there, then my eyes caught her wearing the same beige pants that she had used to tease me years ago.
“You still have a spectacular ass!” I said and she laughed as she stepped into the lift and disappeared.
“She really does.” Simone said and leaned in close. “Hunter, I know I don't have the right...”
My dear, I'll visit you as soon as I make the proper introductions to Hailey. I thought to her and she shuddered as she instantly had her psychic quota filled.
“Oh, god.” Simone moaned and started to walk away, a little wobbily. “I... god help me, I... can wait.”
Everyone else left after saying welcome back to me and that left Hailey and I alone.
I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine. “My heart.” I said to her. “You are mine and I am yours.”
“You've been that for a lot of women.” Hailey said.
“I have, and all of them have understood it was just casual. None of them compare to you in any way.”
Hailey delved into my mind and I didn't stop her. “What about Lashina?”
“As per my promise, no other love could compare to hers.” I said.
Hailey let out a sigh. “Hunter, I'm sorry that...”
“She never claimed my heart, Beloved.” I said and she caught her breath. “She knew that I would live for a long time and we would love others, some as partners, others as acquaintances, and we would eventually meet up again and share those experiences with each other.”
“Hunter...”
“I never imagined meeting anyone like you.” I said. “Someone so dedicated to me that you would grow to become my wife?” I shook my head. “I've had reservations with the galactic bureaucracy for seven years.”
Hailey blinked her eyes and looked at me in surprise. “We... we're getting married?”
“In six months.” I said. “On your twentieth birthday.”
“N-no, you... did you really...”
“Hailey.” I said and knelt on one knee and took out a handcrafted ring with a giant diamond on it. “I would be beyond honored if you would become my wife.”
Hailey nodded and accepted the ring and I slid it on her finger, then she kissed me. That's five. She thought. Only eighteen hundred and ninety five more to go.
We laughed into each other's minds.