For the second time that evening, Garrison’s assistants were hard at work directing another group of women to enter the room. However, this group was completely human, unlike the I-Mates. All of the men watched carefully as the women were lined up behind Garrison, and quite a few were already chattering about them.

“Look at that redhead in the front row,” said Grant Lido, one of Serrano’s men. “Look at the tits on her! Fucking incredible!”

“I wouldn’t mind taking most of them to bed,” replied Serrano. “Hell, I wouldn’t mind a few threesomes or foursomes with this group.”

Even Rick was very interested in the women as they entered the room. He soon elbowed Alex in the side. “They actually got us good-looking women. I was afraid we were only going to get ugly ones. Damn, I hope my number is called.”

Once the women were lined up, Garrison started speaking again to explain the rules of the lottery.

“So here’s the deal,” explained Garrison as he gestured to his P-com. “There aren’t enough women to go around for everyone. I know you may find this hard to believe, but it was hard to find applicants who wanted to go to Vesta with you fine gentlemen.”

There was a laugh that erupted from the group of men upon hearing that statement. It was little wonder they were able to find any women at all. Who would willingly sign up to become a companion to a criminal?

And yet, there were still some who answered the call, much to Alex’s confusion.

“But these women have volunteered to be your companions,” continued Garrison. “Which means they will be assigned to you for as long as you live on Vesta. I can’t emphasize how important the bond is between a man and his companion. Some liken it to marriage, and personally I think that’s a very good metaphor for it. Your companions will look after you like a wife would—providing for your every need—spiritually, emotionally, and physically.”

“Now some have asked what is the point of assigning a companion as well as an I-Mate to you men, especially when you’re going to a colony that is already overflowing with female stock,” said Garrison. “The answer to that is quite simple. We want you to get started procreating immediately. Your companion and your I-Mate are here to bear your children. The more children you have, the higher the population of Vesta becomes. When you get to Vesta, you will take another woman or two or three as yours and you will impregnate them as well. Our only goal here is population growth and nothing more.”

“With that being said, we’re going to have a lottery to determine which woman is assigned to which man,” continued Garrison. “We’ll continue the lottery until all the women have been assigned to each man. Once the last woman is taken, there will be no further assignments. Some of you men will go back to your cabins tonight with just your I-Mate. I hope this is very clear.”

There was a groaning that came from several of the men, but the response was more muted than Alex expected. After all, most of them would be getting laid tonight. Did it really matter whether it was from a real woman or an I-Mate?

“All right, let’s get started,” said Garrison as he started a new prompt on his P-com. “I’m going to run a lottery app that’s tied to each man’s identification number. I’ll be assigning the women in alphabetical order, and seeing as we have over sixty men here in this group and only forty women, it won’t take too long to get the assignments. First up, we have the lovely Adela!”

Garrison gestured to a very buxom blonde who stepped forward nervously once he said her name. She looked out on the group of men and performed a small wave while they looked back at her like a wolf would look at its next meal.

“Identification number ending in 4139,” announced Garrison as he looked at the crowd. “Which man is that?”

“Hey, that’s me!” yelled out one of the men on the other side of the room. Alex watched as he dashed to the front where he was soon introduced to Adela. He was obviously very excited to get such a fine-looking woman even if Adela still looked to be on the nervous side.

“Next up, we have the beautiful Brittany,” continued Garrison.

The lottery continued for the next half hour as many of the men in the room received a companion. It would figure that Serrano was one of the first men called up to receive his, getting a mousy-looking woman named Daniela who looked less than thrilled to be assigned to him.

Even Rick was able to get a woman, getting a lovely brunette by the name of Nikki. Once they were introduced, they acted like awkward teenagers around each other, which definitely got a smile from Alex.

However, it was the last woman, a strawberry blonde by the name of Yvette, that earned the most attention as her man was selected.

“Okay, Yvette is the last woman tonight,” explained Garrison. “Anyone who is not called after Yvette will be going back with just their I-Mates. Our last lucky man of the night is identification number ending in 1990!”

Alex looked at his number again, only to see that he wasn’t the lucky man. The winning man stood up and collected the gorgeous Yvette as those remaining men started to grumble about their lack of luck.

“Are you sure there’s no more women?” asked one of the men in Serrano’s gang. “This is horseshit! I want a real companion!”

Garrison put his hands up to calm the crowd. “Now, now, you’ll get your shot at plenty of women. Remember, we’ll be arriving in Vesta within the week. There are currently ten women to every man on Vesta. You just have to wait a little longer before you can find one to call your own. For the rest of you, you’re dismissed! It’s time to get to know your new companion!”

That seemed to placate most of the group but there was still a low level of grumbling amongst those that didn’t get an assignment.

Alex wasn’t one that was grumbling though. Quite frankly, he was a little relieved to not get a companion. Being with a new woman would force him to confront the past, and he wasn’t quite sure if he was willing to do that yet.

“Master?”

Alex snapped back to the present as Kristina looked at him. “I believe it’s time to go, Master,” she said. “You’ve been dismissed from the orientation and the room is starting to empty.”

That was certainly true and most of the men and women had left already. Alex looked over at Kristina and nodded his head.

“Ah, thank you,” he replied, unsure of how to address her. “I guess we can go back to my cabin now.”

Kristina beamed with an artificial smile. “That sounds wonderful, Master!”

Just outside the door, Alex found Rick waiting for him alongside his I-Mate, Haley, and his new companion, Nikki. Rick gave him a look of sympathy as soon as he caught up.

“Tough break about not getting a companion,” said Rick as he gestured to Kristina. “At least you have Kristina for the night. You can still take her on a test run if you like.”

Alex made a face. “I’m not sure about that. She may look real but there’s little substitute for an actual woman. I can already tell she’s not real by her speech. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to relax with her, if you know what I mean.”

Rick gave him a long look. “At least try for me, okay? Listen, Alex, the past is in the past. Sophie is gone and she isn’t coming back. I know that’s hard for you, but you know that’s just as hard to admit for me as it is for you. She was my sister after all.”

Alex swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. “It’s not that easy sometimes.”

“I know that but we all have to move on sometime,” replied Rick. “Sophie would want you to be happy. Hell, I want you to be happy. And that’s part of the reason why we’re here, right? Let’s move on, Alex.”

Rick put a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder, which was only made more amusing by the fact that Alex towered over Rick.

Alex gave his old friend a genuine smile. “I’ll try. It couldn’t hurt to try out the new technology after all, right?”

Before Rick could respond, Kristina jumped in the air. “I think my Master means to have sexual relations with me tonight! That sounds super awesome to me!”

Both Alex and Rick looked at Kristina and then back at each other. Alex winced.

“It’s definitely going to take some getting used to,” said Alex.

Rick chuckled. “If anyone can do it, I’m sure it’s you.”

The two men parted ways and went back to their respective cabins. As soon as the door was closed, Alex was left alone with Kristina, letting him take his first long look at her.

He could certainly see that her developers had done a good job. There was very little that gave away the fact that she wasn’t a real woman. Her eyes seemed lifelike and her chest moved in a way that simulated breathing. Hell, even her skin looked like real skin.

It was as he was inspecting her that he noticed just how tiny she was. Alex dwarfed Kristina in size and he guessed she was just a little over 150 cm in height. He doubted she was even 100 kg either, which he promptly tested by picking her up.

“Oh, Master!” she giggled once he had her hoisted on his shoulder. “Is it time for sexual intercourse? That is my favorite activity of all!”

Alex winced at the choppy and overly formal dialogue. At least they could have spent more time adapting her to normal speech patterns but that was being nitpicky.

Still, it was his first time with an android, and that meant he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. A real woman had to be flirted with and dined before she would decide to hop into bed.

“So how do we do this?” asked Alex, looking at Kristina’s lithe body. “I mean for sexual intercourse?”

Kristina brightened considerably and unleashed a beaming smile. “I have three openings for you to choose from. What would you like to test out first? My mouth? My pussy? Or my ass?”

It really made no difference to Alex. He wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but hearing all the other men talk about getting with their companions and/or their I-Mates had put him in a certain mood.

Surely one test run couldn’t hurt?

“I guess your mouth,” replied Alex.

Kristina started clapping her hands as she jumped up and down. “Wonderful choice! You won’t be disappointed!”

With those words, she sank to her knees in front of him and started to fish his cock out of his trousers. Once she did that, her mouth fell open as she started to stroke him.

“My goodness, Master! You have the biggest cock I’ve ever seen!”

At least her programmers knew that all men liked to have their ego stroked. He wondered what other kinds of interesting phrases she could say.

Kristina wasted no time in putting her mouth around his cock and starting to suck. It was then that Alex realized just how lifelike the I-Mates were.

She was sucking just like a real woman! She was using her hands to stimulate the base of his shaft as well as his balls while she alternated between licks and suckles on the tip. She would go all the way down, deepthroating him completely since she had no gag reflex, before coming back up, repeating the motion altogether.

It was the best blow job he’d ever received, and that wasn’t including the intense eye contact and occasional dirty talk she spewed in the process.

“I love the way your big cock feels in my throat, Master!”

“Are you going to give me all that cum? Are you going to cum down my throat?”

“I’ve been such a naughty girl. I need Master’s cum so bad!”

It was the dirty talk that sent him over the edge. As soon as he indicated he was close to cumming, Kristina latched her lips around the tip and took every drop, moaning as she did.

“That was fantastic!” said Kristina as soon as she was done. “Are you ready to go again for me, Master?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to need some recharge time but thank you? That was . . . nice.”

She beamed with another smile. “It’s my pleasure to serve you, Master!”

The experience was strange but not unpleasant. What was even more odd was plugging Kristina in for the night, which served as a link that restored her power and downloaded any updates to her software. Alex thought about trying her out in the morning when he first woke up, but to his surprise, there was a very urgent knock on his door before he could get down to business.

He never expected the visitor he received and his jaw dropped when he saw who was waiting for him.