Teep

After catching Kenny, Aaron picked him up, threw him over his shoulder and walked into his office, holding onto him, Kenny of course giggling all the way. Spotting a stack of cookies in his desk, Aaron whirled Kenny around so he was sitting in his lap about the time he sat down in his chair, "Well, that was a fun way of getting me out of there; was there a particular reason you need me out of the room?" he asked, as he picked up the topmost cookie and started to munch on it as he hugged Kenny close.

Giggling and picking up one of the cookies, Kenny took a bite before saying, "Fred wanted you to look over two of the physical reports right now," getting serious for a moment, Kenny leaned back into Aaron's chest, "He said the one boy is pretty sick and the other one.the other one has suffered abuse before coming up to Sol Station with the others."

Bringing up the medical scans, Aaron saw the two names listed in red, Fred had highlighted them for him, opening the first one, he read the scan reports and glancing at the cluster report he saw all eight were green as he saw how far advanced the cancer was. Aaron looked down, as Kenny told him, "He doesn't think he is sick, he is just tired all the time and a little shaky when he does too much, David picked up on it when Fred stiffened in shock before smiling at him.

Opening the second report, he had expected it to be one of the Russian teens, but instead it was the Chinese teen, reading the report, he stopped at the genetic profile of the semen in his colon, it was a close match for a family member. Gazing at the screen in thought, Aaron hugged Kenny again, "Were the rest of them gay?"

"The lowest was six green clusters, I looked," Kenny stared at the screen, his half eaten cookie forgotten for the moment.

"The question is, was this consensual or forced, this type of reading could be from someone not knowing how to prepare their lover properly, or not caring, but it does not mean it's abuse," Aaron mused, as he magnified the scans, "Did anyone skim his mind to find out, I highly doubt chairman Woo, with how much he wants this to go though would know about this and not tell us, hell, he asked his people for volunteers, something unheard of in his country."

Closing the file, Aaron plucked the rest of the cookie from Kenny's hand and swiveled the chair around, "Let me take care of Rolph first, then we can find out if Ru was willing or not and we can deal with it then," Aaron stood up holding Kenny under his legs before setting him down on his feet, arm across Kenny's shoulder he walked out of his office and down the hall to the conference room.

Seeing the grins on everyone's faces and the chuckles being had by the outsider adults in the corner, Aaron held his hand up in the air with one of the cookies, "He was holding out on me but I was triumphant." Letting Kenny go with a slight nudge and a kiss, Aaron made his way over to the group he had left several minutes before, "I need to see Jens and Chairman Woo alone for a moment, and if I don't see the rest of you before I have to go on duty we'll talk again soon, an emergency medical case has come up that I need to handle." Aaron looked at Victoria with a look that conveyed why he was leaving, seeing her slow nod, he smiled at the rest and escorted the two men out of the room and back to his office.

Offering them both a seat, Aaron looked at them, "Let me get right to the point," Aaron had watched Jens pale as he saw the pile of cookies on his desk and picked up in the man's panic, "Yes, Kenny staged that exit to keep our prospective guests from getting worried, when Fred ran the physicals and did the scans, he came up with something troubling with two of the teens, Rolph and Ru both had something wrong with them that stood out." Skimming Chairman Woo's thoughts, he only found confusion, "Rolph has cancer and a pretty advanced case of it, lucky for us, it has not progressed to his brain yet."Coming around the chair as Jens started to become unglued, Aaron shook him slightly to get his attention, "Nothing that we can't easily correct, with treatment, all Rolph knows is that lately he has been more tired than normal, and has not had the energy he used to have, in a few minutes, I will be escorting the two of you to the med bay to start treatment to cure him of this, he will be fine and back to his old self shortly."

When he was sure Jens had control of himself once more, he looked at Chairman Woo, "The problem we found with Ru could be written off to two things, he had consensual sex with a partner who either did not know what he was doing and did not take proper care to prepare him first or his partner did not care, the other possibility is that it was not consensual, all I know from the scans is that sometime before coming here today, he had very rough sex and the DNA profile of the semen indicates a close relative." Picking up on the fear and anger over what had happened to the young teen, Aaron relaxed, his first instinct was right; Chairman Woo knew nothing about it.

Woo spit out angrily, "He has no other siblings and lives with his uncle, I shall have him brought before us to explain his actions and for you to look into his mind."

"You do know if you do this and he is guilty of forcing himself on Ru, he won't be leaving here.alive," Aaron asked, as he looked at the angry man.

"I am counting on it," Chairman Woo drew himself up to his full height, "the request went out for volunteers from the party and it was mentioned that they were to be untouched in the way of love, to defile one of our own, even if I do not take into account that this act will have broken the agreement with your country."

Aaron stood and shook his head, "No, it will not break the agreement, I would never expect any of the prospects to be virgins, I would only expect those that make it here and through the interview to never break the trust of having sex outside the Clan unless they did not wish to be considered, and once they are in the running, I would expect them to never have sex outside the Clan period, until a decision is made one way or the other."

Looking at the wall, Aaron pathed Master Lo and asked him to come to his office, "I am going to send one of my people down with you, if you choose that option, he will examine the man if you ask."

Smiling as Master Lo ported in and bowed, "Great Dragon, how may I serve?"

"Thank you for coming, Master Lo, Chairman Woo has need of our services, a man of his acquaintance may have taken that which was not freely given, if so, you would be asked to stand in judgment, unless there was a reason for him to stand before me." Aaron saw Woo nod his head and stand.

Slightly shocked to see the Shaolin standing before him, Woo bowed his head, "Master Lo, if you would be kind enough to go with me to my office, the one who volunteered to be a prospective to allow our people to immigrate freely to your worlds has been injured, whether it is due to ignorance that needs to be taught another way, or it is by force, I wish you to determine, I relinquish this person to you for your laws to judge if you so deem."

"As the Great Dragon requests, so it shall be done," Master Lo bowed to Aaron before holding out his arm for the Chairman to take, "Please hold onto my arm and I shall take us to your office, think very hard on what it looks like as you take my arm and I shall get the mental image allowing me to transport us to that location."

Once they were gone Aaron bounced off the corner of his desk, "Fred, would you round up Rolph and herd him back to the med bay, I've told his uncle what is going on and we will meet you there." Smiling to reassure Jens, "Come on, Fred is going to escort Rolph to the med bay, we can meet them there and cure Rolph of this little problem," Aaron escorted the distraught uncle out of his office, once out of his office, they took a right and then a left at the cross corridor, from there it was a short walk to the med bay.

Passing one of the desks as they entered, Aaron saw who was working behind it, "Carl, working hard, I see."

Startled, Carl looked up and grinned, "Hey Aaron, I have to be if I want to keep ahead of the sponge, he's even got Theo worried."

Blinking, Aaron stopped and looked up to the status board above Carl's head, there was an open bio-tube in this section that would do, "I'm afraid to ask who you guys have nicknamed the sponge, and why.I'm about to fill 1117A." moving over to the empty bio-tube Aaron brought it out of hibernation and uploaded the scans Fred did on Rolph, earlier.

"Well he lives with you and let's see.the last time he got angry at someone for not doing their job, he slapped them, rather hard from what Theo said," Carl smirked before looking up over the top of the desk to see Aaron was still confused.

Fred walked in with Rolph and they were chatting, well, Aaron thought, Fred was trying to chat, Rolph just looked tired, Smiling at the two, "Hey Fred, I've just heard an interesting bit of news and was wondering if you would explain something to me," Smiling at Rolph, Aaron went around and hugged him to his side and smiled when the teen did not stiffen, "Rolph, I'm not going to sugar coat this for you, I think you deserve to know the truth." Once Rolph looked up at him with a tired smile on his face, "when Fred did the physical on you the scans came back with a slight problem, one we need to fix before we can really get to know you, and it is the reason you are tired all the time," seeing Rolph was getting upset, Aaron hugged him hard and looked into his eyes, "I promise you will be back to normal, or whatever passed as normal for you soon," he grinned and was rewarded by a shy smile.

"Is this about the lump I found two months ago," Rolph looked confused, as he tried to think what problem they could have found.

"It could be, where did you find the lump?" Aaron looked at him, watching him struggle with the answer.

Blushing furiously Rolph looked at the floor and in a quiet voice pointed to his crotch, "Down there."

Hearing Jens' indrawn breath, Aaron stepped closer to the bio-tube, drawing Rolph along with him until he was next to the open end, "I'm afraid it is, but luckily, we can fix it very easily, it will take about three or four days, I would think, I'll know more once the deep scan is complete. I suppose you did not tell anyone because you were embarrassed about where the lump was?"

Getting a voiceless nod back as his answer, Aaron gently lifted Rolph's chin so he could see his face, "Well we can fix that problem easily enough, but if you are going to be around the Clan much, we will certainly break you of your shyness," he laughed at the shy smile. "Okay, now the embarrassing part; I need you to strip down and hop up here, you'll need to swing your feet around and slid into the bio-tube." ruffling Rolph's hair up at the deep blush, Aaron chuckled and pointed around the room, "No woman allowed zone, so no worries."

Still embarrassed and radiating heat from his blush, Rolph took his shirt off, looked around and noticed the small shelf for clothes on the next treatment bed and looked under his and saw that there was one there too, folding his shirt nervously, he sighed and slipped his shoes and socks off before slipping out of his slacks, once everything was folded, he nervously tugged at the top of his shorts wondering if he had meant all the way naked or just down to his shorts. Seeing the boys around him were all naked, he blushed further, then wondered why he was not cold, weren't hospitals supposed to be cold places, sighing, he tugged his shorts off and placed them on the shelf before climbing up on the bed and slipping his feet inside like he had been told, finally, he lay back and used his hands to cover his crotch.

Smiling as he looked up at the monitor to give Rolph some privacy, Aaron turned around to see Rolph was so red that one would be worried where all the blood came from, chuckling softly, Aaron picked up the first of the sensors and the gel, "Relax, Rolph, you don't have anything I've not seen before, now, I am going to place the sensors on your body and put the IV cuff on your arm, and then you'll fall asleep, I'll wake you up once this is all over, the good thing is any of those scars, like the one on your arm will disappear," placing the chest sensor and the IV cuff Aaron smiled down as he was about to place the temple sensor, "Goodnight."

Chuckling, amused, as Rolph closed his eyes, Aaron turned on the soma unit and quickly intubated the teen and lubing up the fecal tube inserted that one too, on the way back, Aaron examined Rolph's testicles and did find several large lumps where there should not be any lumps and sighed. Activating the cycle which closed the lid and replaced the air with regen fluid, Aaron looked back at Jens who was a nervous wreck, "Jens, I think you need to revisit your health classes being taught in your schools. How to examine one's self for lumps, testicular cancer is insidious as it spreads so fast, and the pain does not always hit, telling you something is wrong until it is far too late to do anything other than medicate for pain control and let them pass in a matter of days." Stretching, as the system came to life, reporting all the things wrong it was finding in nice bright red, "Granted Rolph will be completely fine once we fix everything, for the simple fact the cancer did not settle into his brain yet, we can pretty much re-grow anything else if we have to."

Seeing several large masses in Rolph's abdomen, Aaron decided that they needed to be removed, as he set up the surgical frame, he looked over at Fred, "Well Fred, what I want to know, is when physical punishment became an accepted form of discipline?"

Fred frowned as he tried to remember when he had punished anyone, and when Aaron said something about slapping someone, he grinned, "That was not punishment, he froze in the middle of a surgical procedure, he was working on one of the boys we brought back from Israel, and when the bio-tube sealed and I tried to get him to put on the servo gloves, he froze and had a 'Duh' moment, so I took a page out of the manual and induced painful stimuli to snap him out of his shock, classic text book stuff, really."

"UH.Huh, and the fact that you enjoyed it had nothing to do with it," Aaron held back his laughter, as he pulled the servo gloves on and tested the linkage, "Jens, one of the things I need to do is remove several large masses from inside your nephew, I want you to go back to the desk behind you, so you don't watch what I am doing, it is not the easiest thing to see on a loved one. Fred glove up and assist, please."

Smirking at seeing the shocked and then pleased look on his lovers face, Aaron went about making the initial incision, once the second set of servos started to move, Aaron went into teacher mode and started to explain why they were going to do things a certain way. Carl and several of the Shaolin healers had come over to listen in and watch how Aaron went about removing the tumors.

"Carl, if you're going to watch you might as well be useful," Aaron grinned over his shoulder, after pointing out the mass he wanted Fred to remove, "Since this is a cancer patient, we need to do an organ by organ assessment, and since I already have the patient surgically opened, what we are going to do is make a determination on what to remove so we can regenerate or re-grow the removed organs and what we will leave alone initiating cell regeneration instead, the only exception to this is reproductive organs, I prefer to leave them alone and regenerate them, instead of re-growing the organs, easier to regulate the hormones if you leave them." Chuckling, Aaron smiled, "The only exception to the exception is if there is no original viable cells left," watching Fred slowly work on removing the infected lymph nodes, slowly and surely Aaron dissected the large mass on his side near the renal artery.

"Well, both testicals read on the low end of compramised, the left reads nine percent compromised while the right one reads twenty eight percent," Carl read the results of his query and moved on, "Kidneys are clear, but the lower lobe of his liver is gone." Doing what Aaron had taught him, he circled the lower lobe and queried the system, then he redid the query after circling the second lobe, "If you remove the two lower lobes, the upper lobe is clean."

Almost as an afterthought, he remembered that the GI tract was also an organ and scanned it, "How do you handle the GI tract there is a small section that is near the Terminal Ileum that is fully compromised?"

Glancing up at the screen after the tumor finally gave up its hold on the teens body, Aaron looked at the screen, "Go ahead and dissect out the lower lobe of the liver, Fred," studying the image after asking for it to be magnified, "In this case, since the ileum is narrowed by that degree, we will remove that section and initiate re-growth, reset the parameters the Autodoc follows, to ten thousand nanites instead of the normal five." Smiling, as Fred had this adorable look of concentration on his face as he carefully removed the sections of damaged liver and set them carefully in the wire basket.

"What we are doing here is something different.let me rephrase that, in cancer patients, we are, in a sense, regenerating every system in their body. If you know the origin of the cancer you will regenerate that section first, and in this patients case, it is easy as it is testicular cancer, so we will start regeneration there, once the source is taken care of, we will start with the core system and move out. All the while letting the Autodoc work on general regeneration," glancing around to the assembled healers, he smiled, "So as a recap, in cancer patients, we regenerate or re-grow the source, then the core system of heart, lungs and brain, all the while letting the Autodoc handle overall regeneration. Once the core system is clean, then it is up to you to determine the order of organ regeneration, in this case, after regenerating the lungs, we will work on the liver and each of the other affected organs in turn by the percentage of compromise."

Smiling as Fred finished removing the second lobe without being told to do so, Aaron watched him carefully place it in the wire basket before stretching his neck and moving his hands carefully around in the patients abdomen, touching and feeling all the organs in his search for lumps, "What Fred is doing is how you used to deal with removing tumors, sight and touch, we, on the other hand, can go one step further, after finishing the exam, you can refer back to the original scan and look the monitor over, and in this case, we are free to close up." Smiling at Fred, Aaron removed his servo gloves, "go ahead Fred you're doing fantastic, you close up while I program in the treatment schedule."

Jens could not take it anymore, it seemed so impersonal, talking about his nephew as a patient instead of using his name, moving to the door he met up with Victoria, who smiled and pulled him into a hug.

"It's hard watching from the sidelines, as one of your own, one you love, is being operated on, "Victoria smiled as she pulled Jens further out into the hallway, "What you have to understand first off, and it took my own flight surgeon telling me this, before it sank in., When treating a patient, and one they know, it is very important for the surgeon to always refer to them as the patient, it helps them keep in focus and not worrying about how, Rolph is doing as they work inside him, it is a coping mechanism, a way to stay focused even through the tears."

"Aaron must think whatever is wrong with your nephew is troublesome, as I noticed he is in one of their wondrous bio-tubes, but not life threatening. " Victoria lost her smile as she remembered, "I watched Aaron focus so hard on working on my grandson, nothing else, or no one else was real to him, he worked at a frantic pace, his hands seeming to fly around as he saved Richard's life, afterwards, he came over and told me he would be fine, and in six hours or so, once they regenerated some of Richard's body, he would tell me how long Richard would be in the healing device until he came out whole and healthy, almost as if he was a new born babe."

Smiling once more, Victoria looked at Jens, "I've never known a more intense young man in my life or one that will say exactly what he means, so if he tells you your nephew is going to be fine, it will be exactly that, he does not know the meaning of failure it seems." Pointing back into the med bay, "If Aaron is using your nephew as a teaching exercise, he will be better than fine."

"But.But cancer is something so deadly," Jens protested, still upset over finding out how sick his nephew was.

"And something far simpler to cure than a lot of the trauma or other sickness that come our way," Aaron told him, as he walked out of the med bay, "It just takes time, Rolph will be released next Wednesday, completely cured, I might add." Running his hand through his hair, Aaron pulled Fred over as he walked past and kissed him, holding onto him with a grin, "The cancer was a little more widespread than the original scans could pinpoint, enough so that we had to remove some of the affected organs, which requires time to re-grow. While he is undergoing treatment, we will run a full genetic mapping on him to see if there was a genetic reason for the cancer, if so, we will scan the rest of your family and fix that little defect so it won't rear its ugly head in the future."

Looking back towards the conference room where they left everyone, almost an hour ago, Aaron tilted his head to the side as Kevin relayed that Ru had not had consensual sex, his uncle when he had found out that he had volunteered had decided to give him a taste of what he was in for, by asking for that duty, frowning as he thought about it, "Please relay that to Master Lo, he is in China and handling it for us, as a representative of Clan Shaolin." Blinking and looking back at the group of leaders, Aaron smiled tiredly, "Well, I keep getting distracted, I need to get the meet and greet over with before anything else nasty rears its head, that way we can get them settled into their temporary apartments until they do placement tests with the tutor, first thing tomorrow morning."

Walking the group back slowly towards the conference room, Aaron decided to explain a little about how he would get the teens settled in, "I plan to talk to them as a group and then ask them one on one if this is truly something they want, if it is, we'll take them to the non public part of the station and get them settled into apartments, leaving them to get to know some of Clan Shaolin over dinner and breakfast, after that, I expect them to spend most of the day doing their placement tests so we can see where they are scholastically." Stopping near his office and a dozen steps from the conference room, Aaron looked back up at them after contacting Security to act as escorts if any of them wanted to leave right away. "After the initial morning tests, you or their family are more than welcome to visit during meal times," kissing Fred and letting him go back to the conference room, with a smile, Aaron looked back at the group, "To be fair to each of them, we will give them each two weeks to get used to us and their new routines, I want to make sure they know what and why they are being tested and that they are fully comfortable with their new lifestyle before evaluating them," Aaron shrugged, "it's the only fair thing to do. If I had to make a decision after only a few hours, it is not fair to them or us, of course, they may choose to use the option of donating genetic material for children and leave at any time over the next two weeks without any questions, open immigration will be assured with that collection."

Pointing back behind them, "About one hundred meters that way," Aaron laughed at Victoria's expression, "there is an open lounge and several of my Clan's security detail can be found resting up there, feel free to hitch a ride back home or even chat for a while, they can always telepathically ask me about answering any questions they don't feel comfortable telling you the answers to. "Smirking at Victoria, as the others left, "Victoria, if you need to leave before I'm done, I'll stop by the palace to talk to you about upgrading your people's weapons."

Surprised yet pleased, Victoria waved as she walked down the hall with the others and realized Aaron was making a point, while he would allow open immigration for the donated genes, he was subtly telling them if they wanted closer ties and full ally status, they had to do something else to get the good toys, grinning, she followed the others down to the lounge area beaming at them as they each in turn glanced back her way, trying to come up with the proper way to ask what she did.

Silently laughing as he picked up on the speculation in those three's minds, Aaron was grinning as he walked into the conference room and saw everyone spread out talking, taking a chair near the door after closing it and sealing it behind him, he watched how his loves interacted with the new teens for a short while. It did not take long before the Russian teens saw him smiling and watching and moved over to sit on the floor in front of him, nervously watching him watch them.

Hearing the volume of conversations die down around them, Ru and Toshi saw the others were sitting in front of the King who would decide their countries' fate and quickly moved over and sat on the floor next to the others.

Aaron waited until the Clan had gathered on the couches behind the hopefuls before starting, "I want to welcome you all to Sol Station, and I expect all of you are more than curious about what is going on. You have been told things from the leaders of your respective countries and have been told things by members of the Clan that you are hoping to join so your country can gain access to open immigration to one of our worlds."

Smiling at them, Aaron hid his sigh, "I guess the first thing I need to talk to you about is what it means to be Clan, some of you have more than likely built up a mental picture of what a Clan is, and more than likely, you are wrong," Aaron chuckled as he settled down in the chair and ported in a large amount of cookies and drinks, he filled his plate with several nice selections and grabbed one of the drinks in the only red bottle in front of the prospectives, "First rule you need to learn is if it is in a red container, never eat or drink it if you are not Alteran, it will make you sick, as your metabolism is very different than ours," holding up the bottle he grinned, "All the nutrients and calories of three meals and snacks in one bottle, help yourself to the drinks or cookies they are safe for you to eat."

Once everyone was eating, including his lovers, Aaron picked up where he left off, "A clan is the ultimate form of marriage, all those Clan members you have met and a couple you haven't yet are my lovers, my mates as I am theirs," giving them several moments to go bug eyed and take several looks at the Clan sitting behind them who nodded in agreement. "So, when you are told you would be marrying into my Clan, it is not what you thought, you would be marrying all of us and we in turn you."

"There is another option that I want you to think about if you are unsure about what you just heard," Aaron looked at the eight Russian teens before looking at the two Asian teens, "to satisfy the terms of honor, that you are being asked to do on behalf of your country, you may donate genetic material so that we may have sons, using you as one of the fathers, you would have some cells painlessly removed from your bodies, the same way we remove them from our own, and they would be turned into eggs so one of the Clan could be the other father."

"A third option agreed to by your leaders is for one of the other Clans to find you compatible and you find that you are falling in love with them and their way of life, you may instead marry into their Clan to satisfy the agreement." Aaron smiled at the Russian group, "the eight of you are somewhat at a disadvantage, you are all volunteers and in a sense are competing to represent your country, so I will take the competition away. Frankly, I don't want you trying to compete against each other, the only competition we encourage is in school work, and even that is not all that much."

"What I am willing to do for you eight is give those that don't want to join the Clan or are not a good fit, the chance to join my people, a chance to become Alteran yourself," eyeing them up, Aaron lost his smile, "Consider this your first test, this secret should not be told to anyone outside the kingdom, we have the ability to resequence your genes so that you are like us, Alteran, you will gain our gifts and much more."

Skimming their thoughts, Aaron smiled at his lovers as several of the Russian teens were excited by the thought of becoming Alteran, "Of course, those of you that decide that you wish to join the Clan and we wish you to join us, well, you will undergo the process to become Alteran, so there is that to think about also."

Grinning as his lovers had gotten comfortable while the teens were occupied by his speech, Aaron shook his head, "One last warning before I talk to each of you one on one, Alteran's are by nature a bunch of nudists, we don't wear clothes unless protection is needed or we are outside the kingdom, "Seeing their shocked looks, his grin got larger, "The reason I mention this now instead of later is that my Clan has decided to get comfortable, and are now dressed like we are at home."

Enjoying the looks of astonishment as the group looked behind them and saw the naked smiling teens behind them waving back, Aaron couldn't hold his laughter in any longer, getting up, he went over to the wall closest to his office the one with the adjoining bathroom in it, "My office is on the other side of the bathroom, in a sense this is part of my office and the bathroom separates the two halves of my office, who would like to come talk to me first?"

Ton stood and quickly made his way to Aaron's side and followed him through the bathroom, glancing around he noticed the large shower, there seemed to be enough room in the bathroom to have more than several people in here at once. Glancing around the office space, the first thing Ton noticed was all the monitors situated so that they could be seen by the person sitting at the desk, the second was that there was a small area near the bathroom set up with a couple of chairs and a couch, approaching the desk, he noticed the video pick up pointing at the desk and by following the direction he was impressed, anyone who spoke by video to the King would see the image of the Earth floating behind him. Glancing behind him and seeing Aaron had his shirt off and was relaxing on the couch, moving closer, he tilted his head to the side, "Do you require me to remove my clothing?"

"The only thing I require is for you to be truthful, if you wish to remove your clothing that is up to you, as long as you are comfortable with talking to me while nude, "Aaron smiled as he finished his drink.

There is more than one level of testing going on here, Ton thought, as he slipped his shoes off and quickly removed his clothes then neatly folded them before setting them on the edge of the table, standing with his feet spread, he was pleased to notice the King scan his body with his eyes.

"Please sit down and relax, this will not hopefully be embarrassing, well I can see it could be, but it is not meant to embarrass you, and you're right, Ton, testing and evaluation started the moment all of you stepped foot on Sol Station," Aaron told him, as he looked into his eyes, "The thing is, your actions and attitude will only count once you have been with us two weeks, by then, you will have a good idea of what it means to be Clan and what it means to be Alteran, that is unless you do something really horrendous, I don't see that happening for the most part, or you would not have gotten to this point."

Finally deciding to take the chair across from Aaron, Ton sat down and made himself comfortable, "What do you wish to know?"

"Some things I will find out after you do your placement tests, things like what subjects you like and how you do in school. Tell me about what you like to do as a hobby, how do you spend your day when it is not involving school, what are your dreams.most important is why you would even consent to doing something like this?"

Ton smiled as Aaron asked the questions he had expected, the ones that let another person get to know you, and the final question, when it came, floored him, he sat staring at Aaron wondering what to say, thoughts running through his mind in different directions, trying to come up with an answer, just as Aaron had planned, as his mind skimmed Ton's as he tried to come up with a response.

Aaron smiled as he skimmed Ton's thoughts, watching as he tried to come up with answers to the questions he had asked, mostly fun loving and just what he expected to see, that is until he asked the final question and felt the panic hit Ton's mind and wondered why. "You do know that the only ones that will be considered, the only ones we will take a chance on, to see if they are a good fit with us and our way of life, are those that are doing this because they truly want this, not out of a sense of duty."

Aaron tilted his head, trying to figure out what Ton was thinking, his mind was jumbled, finally he sighed and Aaron felt the determination take hold in his mind and him recite the reasons he wanted to do this, and Aaron smiled as none of them included duty to the Emperor or being coerced into it, "Leave those thoughts for now, Ton, I want you to truly think about what you want out of life, over the next couple of days, once you get to your apartment tonight, you will find one of the P.A.D.D.'s like we all carry, in the top right desk drawer, it has a map feature that will lead you to my office if you want to talk, I will be here if you want to talk to me and ask questions, or even if you want to bounce ideas off of, well except at night, when I go home. Use the time to search through the system for whatever catches your fancy, use the time as you adjust to get to know some of the Shaolin and mingle with the others, right now, you have the universe at your fingertips and you need to decide which way to go."

Standing, Aaron opened his arms after motioning for Ton to come close, pulling him into a hug he radiated calm to the teen and after a few minutes, he pushed him back far enough to see his face, "You took the first step to get here, now, as far as your honor goes," Aaron smiled as he remembered Shoji and Ichiro in the beginning, "As far as honor goes, an enjoyable couple of hours in the med bay to donate some of your genes will satisfy that. Take this time to get to know us, to get to know yourself and to get to know my people, you might find a home here." Hugging Ton one more time and holding him as long as he wanted, Aaron finally let go when he started to pull away, "We'll get you some deck shoes like we all wear and then you will be properly dressed." Laughing as Ton picked up his clothes and walked out with a smile on his face, Aaron went back to the couch, this was going to be a long afternoon.

Several Russian teens later, Aaron smiled as the next Russian teen came in, and he was also wearing the standard Clan uniform of the day.nothing, gingerly he sat down, all of a sudden nervous, finally looking at Aaron's smiling face, he sighed, "Before I get into the answers to the questions you have, can I ask what would happen to the rest of us if one of those from my country decided to donate instead of wishing to be included into one of the clans?"

"Then the Russian end of the perspective's is over with," Aaron still was weirded out over the whole thing to tell the truth, and was running on trying to be nice and hoping and praying that they all chose to donate some cells and go away, "Of course for the others, if they still wish to try, they may do so or even just walk down the hall and become Alteran or go their separate way, or at least as separate as one can in my kingdom, I am trying real hard now that all of you are here, to give each of you as many choices as I can so each of YOU will be happy." Aaron skimmed the teen's thoughts and saw he wanted to just donate and be done with it, he was freaking out about the whole marrying so many people thing, it excited him and yet scared the living hell out of him.

"This isn't what you expected, is it?" Aaron smiled gently at him, "Tell you what, why don't you settle in and do as the others are going to, take the time to really examine what you want in life. I certainly don't want to add to the whole pressure of being here, plus you never know, in a couple of days it might be one of your comrades who will be donating for the Russian rights to open immigration, and you would be free with the knowledge you can do as you wish." Aaron moved across the room and knelt down next to the chair with the teen and smiled at him, "It is never a good idea to make a life changing decision like this one in such a short time, not this instance," Aaron modified it, "Tell you what, go out and discover the wonders that will open up for you if you just reach out and grab them.if you give yourself a chance, maybe you will find that one of the wonders you are reaching for is us, or maybe it will be the person you've not met yet."

Aaron smiled and glanced at the clock, he had expected Ru to be one of the first to walk into the room, not the last, "Hello Ru, how are you handling things, it must be very different than what you are used to and what you expected?"

Bowing towards Aaron, Ru stiffly sat in the chair, trying to decide if he should hide his shame, but without clothes on how does one hide the shame of losing one's most precious gift the gift he had wanted to give to this man. Aaron picked up on that thought and patted the couch next to him, "Ru, come over next to me, please," when Ru stayed seated looking at the ground, Aaron tried again, "Please Ru, come sit next to me, so we can talk."

"Tyler can you come in here for a little bit, I think you can help me with Ru, he's at a point you were before coming into the Clan," Aaron pathed as he had to resort to getting up, going over and picking Ru up out of the chair then bringing him back to the couch to snuggle next to him."Seeing Tyler walk through the door quizzically, Aaron smiled, "Thank you for coming so quickly love, I think Ru can use some of the insight you developed before you joined the clan, the insight about having what was precious to give to the one you wanted taken from you," Aaron pulled Ru in tighter as he said that. "He has a fear of rejection because he wanted to save himself for me, once he knew about the chance to marry into the Clan."

Tyler's eyes widened as he moved over to the couch and sat down next to Ru, scrunching the teen between his body and Aaron's and pulled Ru close to him as Aaron talked.

Aaron skimmed the teen's mind as he talked, so he could change the way he approached the problem if he needed to, "You are mistaken in your belief that I required everyone that came to me for consideration be a virgin, to be untouched, I never said anything like that, very few members of the Clan joined us, joined me while still a virgin." Aaron looked over at Ru, "What your uncle did to you was wrong, and for that, he has been punished, Master Lo of Clan Shaolin was sent to stand in judgment."

Tyler smiled as he pulled Ru tight against him, "Aaron told me that there were so many firsts that I still had to give, to share with my new lovers," watching the surprise cross Ru's face, he nodded, "My gym teacher, under orders from the headmaster of my old school, there was so much done to me without love and it took me a while before I finally believed it did not matter." Chuckling while looking over at Aaron, "It took the day you helped me and Andrew create our son before it truly sank in that it did not matter."

Ru was shocked by what he was hearing, and the thought that this teen who looked younger than he did had a son already, was thrilling.

Master Lo ported into the hallway outside the Prime's office, and pathed instead of knocking, in case Aaron was not in his office, "Prime, may I make my report, I have returned and left the chairman with the others in the lounge."

Aaron tilted his head as he listened to Ru, finally share some of his fears with Tyler, acknowledging Master Lo, he interrupted Ru gently, "Master Lo has returned and I think you will be able to begin healing from what was done, after he makes his report."

Master Lo walked in and saw the Asian teen between Aaron and Tyler and bowed, "Great Dragon," looking at Ru, he also bowed again. "Ru Kang, it is not easy to have one that you trust to protect you and cherish you to perform violence on you. It is my duty to report to you that your uncle, at Chairman Woo's urging, was judged this afternoon. Clan Shaolin stood in judgment, I was the Clan member that took this duty, your uncle is no longer, he was found guilty, and punishment was swift and final." Bowing once more to Ru, Master Lo turned to face Aaron, "Lei Kang was executed for his crimes, Crimes more numerous than the attack on his nephew." Bowing once more, Master Lo made his way out of the room after looking at Ru one more time.

Slipping off the couch so he could look directly into Ru's face without making Tyler let go of him, Aaron smiled at him, "What was done to you was wrong, and justice has been served," lifting Ru's face so he could see his own, "I will accept no other as a candidate for China, you are more than acceptable," seeing the shock on Ru's face," Leaning forward, Aaron kissed him, truly kissed him with all the passion he could bring to the simple act, when he finally released him, he smiled at the glazed look on Ru's face, mentally laughing as he took so much pleasure in being able to do that to people, "You honor me with your first kiss, you have given me a precious gift."

"Do you mind, love, I think he can use some of your perspective, just remember his culture is extremely different than yours, if you need help, I am only a thought away, just keep Ichiro in the back of your mind as you talk to him," Aaron pathed as he stood, 'Ru." once he had the teen's attention and a shy smile, "Tyler is going to walk you to your apartment, in the top right hand drawer of your desk, you will find a P.A.D.D. and it will have a map to the station so you can find your way around, including directions back here to my office, you are welcome to stop by at any time to talk, you will have placement testing tomorrow, but take the next few days to explore the system and the station and try to discover what it is you want out of life, what your dreams are so you can chase them."

Picking up his shirt and folding it before placing it on his desk, he would be damned if he got dressed for people in his territory, they would have to deal, "I see three options in front of you Ru, and all three involve you joining my kingdom, so I want you to relax and remove from you mind that you are not worthy, because you are tainted, it is NOT true." Aaron smiled at Tyler who pulled Ru up and grinned when the noticed the wet spots on Ru's abdomen, he still had it, and he mentally laughed as Tyler took Ru into the bathroom so he could clean up without being embarrassed.

Walking down the hall, he heard voices and as tired as he was, smiled as he walked into the lounge, "I'm afraid if I offend any of you for being without a shirt on, well it has been a long afternoon and frankly, I find this clothing confining," sitting down on one of the chairs, Aaron sighed, "If I ever find the person who invented the concept of undershorts, I will gladly send him to all nine levels of hell one level at a time." Aaron secretly smiled at the polite giggles and hidden laughs from several of the group.

"So what have you five been plotting while I was busy," Aaron glanced around the group and gently skimmed the thoughts of Chairman Woo who was looking a little nervous, "Just to let everyone know, the first interview and testing of your candidates went without any being rejected," Seeing Woo relax somewhat, he smiled at him, "Relax Chairman Woo, Ru Kang will be a citizen of my kingdom, the only question is, will he be a gene donor or will he shine enough that he is given the chance to join with my Clan. Open immigration for China is assured," laughing and looking at the Russian leader, "As it is with the rest of you, I expect."

Toshi being in the chair that had an unobstructed view of the hallway noticed movement and glancing over, saw Edward the heir to the British throne walking towards them pulling on his shirt and tucking it in his slacks before buttoning them up, filing this information away, he smiled at Aaron, "We have been in discussions on the best way to replace what the Security Council once stood for, between the five of us, we have almost three billion of the six billion people of the world in our countries or looking to us for guidance, with the inclusion of a select few others, we would cover all continents and most of the people alive in the world right now."

Aaron had a confused frown on his face as Edward slipped into the lounge and sat on the couch near Toshi.

"I guess I am confused, why do we need to replace the UN, more to the point why are all of you talking to me about it, I never liked the body or the concept of it in the first place, "Aaron was still confused and started to skim thoughts once more, trying to find the answer.

"We don't want to create a new UN, what we envision is a council where the other nations can come to us for advice and help," Jens smiled at Aaron, "We want to come up with a way that any country not part of the agreement we are finalizing right now does not have to offer candidates for your Clan to marry."

Aaron picked up on several thoughts, amusement from Victoria, and Jens hoping that he would not be backed into a corner again without a way out, and from the other three, wanting this agreement so no other nation would have closer ties to him than they did. Aaron thought about it as he gazed out the window at the other end of Sol Station in the distance. "Let me see if I understand what you are proposing, you want to create an advisory board that will act as an interface between the other nations and me, and you wish to act as an intermediary for those from other countries wanting to immigrate off world." Aaron left out the part about them not wanting any other nation to gain closer ties, "You envision that between the five of you, almost all the other countries would have someone to approach and you would act as go between for those wanting to immigrate, the question is why, and what would you get out of the deal?"

"It almost sounds like they wish to create a new clan," Edward looked at his grandmother and saw her start, before glancing at Toshi who was looking intrigued and thoughtful.

Ignoring Edward's comment, Victoria smiled, "The biggest plus we would get out of the deal is that we would hold the deposit bond to you, while banking and making interest from the deposit bond the immigrants would make, we would garner a nice influx of capitol off of the interest of the deposits. Any of your telepaths could verify that those in charge of overseeing the funds would not be taking advantage of it."

"This requires careful thought," Aaron looked around, "I'm not saying yes or no until I think about it," glancing at Edward, Aaron wondered what Edward meant about creating a clan, what was he thinking?

Jens looked at his watch and realized how late it was, "I need to get home, I have spent more time than I planned on, but I was wondering what time on Sunday would be good to meet with you," Jens thought real hard as he looked at Aaron about wanting to talk to him about the new non lethal weapons that were being released and that Victoria was about to receive, hoping Aaron would pick up on it.

Nodding his head, showing he had indeed picked up on the thought, Aaron looked up at the standing monarch as one of the security guards moved over to transport him out, "Does one o-clock work for you?"

"Very much so, until then, Aaron," Jens smiled and started to walk out, "Oh is there visiting hours so Rolph's family can visit, even though he will not be awake, they would feel better, we would feel better by being able to see him and talk to the healers."

"looking over his shoulder, Aaron nodded, "Eight in the morning until midnight, anytime between those hours, contact the number Brialey will give you and we can arrange transport any time you wish."

Catching Toshi and Edward scheming quietly in the corner, Aaron smiled and said his goodbyes with the promise of an update meeting on Sunday at two to the Russian President and Peoples Chairman before looking for Edward and Toshi and not seeing them any longer, turning to face Victoria, "Edward is scheming and I'm not sure if he has been taking lessons from my guys or not."

Laughing, Victoria nodded as she moved so she was facing Aaron; once she was seated again she asked, "So, besides dropping the seed in everyone's minds causing them to wonder yet again what we have offered you for our close ties, you mentioned weapons, why weapons?"

Laughing, Aaron smirked, "I hope you learned your lesson about unplugging your phone," settling down, he grinned, "Well, I was planning on talking to you about this anyway. In another week; Otto and Friedrich will have run through the first four hundred recruits from Tim's new security force, I was thinking since they are still geared up and they are currently training another three hundred of Tim's recruits from California, we can put your palace security through the training and issue them the same equipment."

"You do things in so many multiple layers Aaron, what else is behind this, "Victoria asked, as she leaned forward, "Have you heard rumors of another attempt on our lives."

"No," Aaron shook his head, "I've not heard anything, but you are our closest ally, hell your family in a way, because of your grandsons. If someone is going to try something that is not a direct attack against me or mine, it will be against you and yours." Seeing the stunned look on Victoria's face, he smiled, "preventative medicine so to speak, I want to train you palace security up to our standard and make them comfortable with the new equipment, plus, I want Thomas and those he eventually picks to round out Edward's team to be run through something extra Friedrich will come up with."

"I see," Victoria sat back stunned, thinking about the possibilities, she had to agree with Aaron's assessment, and then she giggled as the image of Captain Leftbridge's face popped in her mind when she told him about training with the right spooky blokes as he called them. "Oh I can't wait to tell Captain Leftbridge about his new training."

Laughing at the image he picked up from Victoria's mind, Aaron snorted, "Tell me please he's not named Stewart?"

Giggling madly as she recalled the BBC telly show, she shook her head, "Fortunately for him his name is Bob, I was devastated when I found out his name was Bob.much to his chagrin as I explained why."

Toshi pulled Edward down the hall and around the corner where they could not be overheard, "I noticed several things today, and I also noticed that you were getting dressed as you approached the lounge." Staring at Edward, he smiled, "I also noticed how much closer your kingdom is than any other and you did not bring with you prospective marriage partners."

"All that could be easily explained, and you do know that Alterans are what we consider nudists, they have no use for clothing," Edward wondered what Toshi truly knew and what he wanted.

"True, as you say, but there are other things that lead me to hope for my proposal to be looked on favorably," Toshi smiled as he let his gaze linger on Edward, finally resting on his crotch and the certain delight hidden there. Lifting his eyes and not seeing condemnation there, he smiled, "You have had the most contact with Aaron and his kingdom, please tell me what it would take to create a clan of likeminded individuals here on Earth, that Aaron would sanction, the technology he has, the ability to create children between two males, let alone that I sense you are closer than any one truly knows."

Edward was stunned as he leaned up against the wall he thought over what Toshi told him, "You're proposing a new clan being created and what?"

"That this clan be formed of likeminded heirs to their respective countries' thrones, that this clan creates ties to Aaron, but yet we would have the best of both worlds, I know of several likeminded individuals that would be interested." Toshi moved to the other side of the corridor, so he could lean up against the wall.

"You do know that Alterans only have one sex, if we even considered this, beyond what it would do for our countries, there is a major obstacle of following Alteran custom, no sex outside the clan and no females allowed," Edward was intrigued with the idea and wondered how far grandmother had gotten on her clan proposal, he had overheard his father and uncle talking to his grandparents the other night about it.

"Of course I do, I know exactly what would be required and I know that the council the others proposed will not be agreed to, not really. Aaron has a bad taste in his mouth as the westerners like to say about anything that remotely looks like the UN to his mind, and I am fully aware of what this would mean for my kingdom, how this would bring us to the same equal footing your kingdom now enjoys," Toshi stared, as he watched Edward seriously consider his words and took hope.

"Earth Clan." Edward muttered, before pushing off the wall, "I agree to discuss this further, let's meet for lunch tomorrow, I can easily get transportation so we can meet, but it needs to be somewhere secluded and where we can NOT be overheard."

Toshi grinned, pushed off the wall and moved close enough so he was very close to Edward, leaning over, he made to kiss him and felt a hand move between him and Edward's mouth, shocked and hurt he looked at Edward who looked confused.

"No.we.I can't, not yet, "Edward whispered, as he looked at Toshi, truly looked at him. "We will talk Toshi, I promise you that, and maybe, just maybe we will finish this."

Toshi was confused, hurt, then hopeful and then his mind flashed back to something Aaron said, "there would be no sex outside the Clan to those who were hopefuls or one of the." he trailed off as the realization crossed his face and he looked at Edward who said nothing , he did not deny it. "Tomorrow in the Ise prefecture of the Tokaido province, we can meet at the tea room and be guaranteed privacy for our discussion; my hope is that they are the first of many."

Edward watched Toshi bow and move back down the corridor as he filed the information away and tried to figure out what the hell just happened, he decided Aaron needed to know and went towards the lounge.

A/N: I know the famous authors notes before the editors, well, as much as I hope all of you enjoy reading my stories, it's time to get on my soapbox here. Testicular cancer in our young ones is something troubling, and in my experience, if caught early, easily treated and almost 100% cured, but the problem is, in our society, teaching our teens how to do a self exam will get you run right to jail without passing go. Too many teens used to come through the emergency room with cancer that had spread and it was almost too late, most of the time, it was, but if they had gotten the lump they found months before looked at, well, it would have been a different story, unlike a lot of other cancers, there is no pain associated until it has spread, and as a cancer goes, once it spreads it likes the liver and lungs best.

Do me a favor and do a self exam, I found a lump once and I was lucky, having panicked, I went into work and around the corner and grabbed one of the urology specialists, I only had a cyst which required, according to the specialist, some antibiotics and then he told me to masturbate at least 4 times a day if not more while on the antibiotics, to get the blood flowing and the drugs into the area faster. Well my expression could have sent anyone into hysterical laughter, I mean really take two pills and jerk off four times a day, instead of call me in the morning.

A long hot bath or shower is the best time to do a self exam

How to Do a Testicular Self-Examination

Any male, 14 or older, should practice monthly testicular self-exam. The test takes only a few minutes and is easy to do. Most lumps are not cancer, but any lump should be immediately checked by a physician.

The best time to check yourself is in the shower or after a warm bath. Fingers glide over soapy skin making it easier to concentrate on the texture underneath. The heat causes the skin to relax, making the exam easier.

1. Support the testicles in one hand and feel each with the other hand.

2. Gently roll each testicle between the thumb and the fingers. You'll feel a smooth, tubular structure (epididymis) that covers the front. back. and bottom of each testicle. Gently separate this tube from the testicle with your finger to examine the testicle itself. 3. Feel for any swelling or lumps. 4. If you detect swelling or lumps, see a physician without delay.

Editors' ramblings

RadioRanchers note: I concur completely with WolfWalker. As is true of women and Breast Cancer, men often get, but don't know they have, Testicular Cancer. Don't just think, "It can't happen to me." Another thing to think about is the prostate. Someone once told me that there are two kinds of men, ones that have prostate problems and those that will have them. It is a good idea to periodically have yourself tested for problems with the prostate. Believe me when I say that the old saying, "What you don't know won't hurt you," is well and truly false. If you don't know, then you give any problem you might have plenty of time to insinuate itself and spread throughout your body. Don't take chances.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

A/N