Chapter 1: Going on Tour

Hugh wondered whether to wait in the car or head for the bar. He was driving, so he couldn't drink, but at least the bar wouldn't be as tedious as sitting on his own in the car park, waiting for the concert to finish. The downside was that he'd be closer to the thump-thump-thump of the music. The traffic hadn't been as bad as he'd expected – petrol was getting more difficult to find these days – so he'd arrived earlier than planned. In the end he decided to trust the bar's soundproofing and limit himself to soft drinks.

The conversations in the bar were noisy enough that most of the music was, thankfully, lost in the background. Why on earth Tina liked the Bread Brothers so much was a mystery. Probably just as much a mystery as his own choice of music as a teenager had been to his parents. He'd texted Tina to let her know where he'd parked the car. She'd acknowledged, and confirmed she'd bring Erica along as well once the band had finished. That done, he settled down to his very expensive orange juice, sipping it slowly to make it last.

The fans clapped, screamed and shouted as the closing chords of the second encore faded away. They wanted more. Tom waited for the noise to die down a little and stepped forward to the front of the stage, waving to the sea of faces in front of him, "Thank you all. Thank you. You're such a wonderful audience tonight, we'd really like to take you with us for the rest of our tour..."

Hugh was discussing the general awfulness of teenage daughters' taste in music with another father when their conversation was suddenly interrupted by shouting and a strange sizzling sound from the other side of the bar. Surprised, Hugh tried to see what was happening, but he was too far away. He started to get up from his seat, but was again interrupted. This time by a loud voice from behind him.

"Apologies for the interruption, people, but we needed to stun the Safety Patrol so they didn't interfere. I am Sergeant Jackson of the Confederacy Marines, and this is a pick-up. A very big pick up. A lot of you have friends or relatives in tonight's audience and we'll be taking everyone in the whole place. If they're here, then we'll extract them. Because of the number of people, we ain't gonna be running this like a normal extraction."

The sergeant was right, this didn't go like the stories Hugh had heard about Confederacy pick-ups. The bar was mostly parents – mums and dads waiting for their daughters. The Marines told the women to keep their clothes on for the moment. Nobody was picking concubines at all. The Marines just lined everybody up, ready to walk through one of the two transporters they were setting up. The sergeant continued, "We need to get y'all out of here quickly. All the fun stuff you've heard about will be happening later, up in the moonbase we're sending you to. You'll be able to see your daughters, or whoever, once you're up there. You can even come back down and be Swarm Food, if you're dumb enough that is."

Hugh wasn't dumb. He'd already decided to go with the Confederacy if he ever got the chance, and he'd told his family what he'd do. If they were taking everyone then he'd be able to meet up with Tina once things got sorted out. She wasn't dumb either.

The Marine team soon had everyone in two lines for the pair of transporters and got everyone through quickly. After the first couple of refuseniks had been stunned and stacked next to the Safety Patrol goons, people were sensible enough to do what they were told and the lines moved smoothly forward.

Tina realised something strange was happening when all these big new security people in green suddenly appeared. They were all really buff too, not with their guts hanging over their belts like a lot of the usual security guys. She looked at Erica, sitting next to her, "Do you think... ?"

"I think so too," her friend replied. "Look over there," pointing to their right, "they're setting something up in the aisle. I bet it's a transporter."

June hadn't noticed the new people yet. She was still too euphoric from the concert. She'd seen Chris! There on stage in front of her! Really there in the flesh, not just a video! She'd waved and shouted. Maybe, just maybe, he'd noticed her in the crowd. Then she overheard the two older girls next to her talking; she noticed the new people then.

She was only thirteen, so the big men – and big women as well – couldn't take her. The two next to her were old enough to go, but not her. Was daddy here yet? Would they take him? What if they took him and left her behind? She felt tears start to gather in her eyes.

Tina heard the sniffles next to her, and saw the young fan crying. She immediately put her arm round the girl to comfort her.

June felt a bit better when she saw that some other young fans had gone through ahead of her. They were taking everyone, so she wouldn't be separated from daddy. Nevertheless, she still held tightly onto Tina's hand as they waited for their turns to go through to wherever they were being taken.

As the three of them approached the Confederacy transporter – Erica had been right – the queue stopped for a few seconds while the transporter turned grey, and then back to green again. Tina confirmed with a nearby Marine that they were taking everyone, parents included. Anyone who was in the building, or waiting in the car park, would be collected. They could meet up once they were through. So Hugh, and June's dad, would be on the other side to meet them.

Frank was eating his sandwich in the car. Money was a bit tight, so he didn't want to pay concert food prices. He could barely afford the petrol, but June had really wanted to go to this concert. She'd looked at him with her big sad eyes and, as always, he'd given in. She looked too much like her mother for him to resist her for long.

Something drew his attention outside. Had the light changed? There were more people moving in the car park than there had been. Was the concert over? No, these were adults, not fans, and they were all wearing green uniforms. He could see one of them coming towards him.

The transporter disgorged Hugh and the others from the bar into a large featureless room. Along one wall, six streams of people were emerging from six transporters: two from the bar and four from the audience, overwhelmingly teenage girls. This room was obviously far too small to hold everyone who'd been at the concert, it had to be just one of many. The room was just starting to get uncomfortably full, when the transporters turned a dull grey and no more people came through. There was a buzz of conversation and a few sniffles from the girls. Not as many as Hugh had expected, perhaps because this audience was mostly older teens. The Bread Brothers had been together for a few years now, so a lot of their fans had grown up with them. Tina and Erica had first been to one of their concerts about five years ago.

The lights flickered and everyone suddenly stopped talking. A neat trick, Hugh thought. "Thank you everyone," a voice came into the quiet. "We need to sort you out quickly, so if you can please listen and follow instructions we can get everyone to where they need to be as soon as possible.

"First, can anyone with a serious medical condition please make their way through the white hatch and follow the white line on the floor to the Medical Section." A hatch opened in the wall opposite the transporters and a white light started flashing above it.

A few people started moving, including two girls who'd fainted and were being carried by their friends.

"Now can all minors, aged thirteen or younger, please go through the blue hatch and follow the blue line on the floor. We'll match you up with your parents or older siblings soon." There were more people in that group; not all the Bread Brothers' fans had reached fourteen yet.

The voice continued sorting people into groups and sending them through different coloured hatches. Those needing a CAP test through the brown hatch, concubines through the yellow hatch, sponsors through the green hatch. That was Hugh's cue; with his 6.6 CAP he'd volunteered for the Confederacy Navy. As he walked to his hatch, he heard the announcer send those who wanted to return to Earth through the red hatch. Dumb, just like the sergeant had said.

Tina, Erica and June followed each other onto the transporter and stepped off in an almost empty room. A voice announced, "Please move forward, away from the transporters. There are more people coming through behind you, and you need to leave space for them." Gradually the room filled with fans from the audience. June had calmed down a bit. If they were taking everyone then her dad would be here as well, wherever here was. Some of the younger fans were crying, like she'd been. She felt sorry for them, but she kept a tight hold on Tina's hand for comfort.

Once the room was full, the voice started sorting them out. First those with a medical condition went through a white hatch that suddenly opened in the blank wall in front of them. Then the voice told the under-fourteens to go through the blue hatch. It opened very close to where they were standing, and the three of them could see some women in blue uniforms waiting at the end of a short corridor. June smiled at Tina and Erica, thanked them and walked towards the women.

"Hello. What's your name?" the first woman asked. She was short, Asian and had a nice smile. Those people in green had been a lot taller, June thought.

"I'm June Keeling. Is my dad here? He's called Frank."

"Hello, June. If he was at the concert then he'll be here. We haven't got everyone's names yet, so you'll have to wait for a bit while we check everybody. Take a seat until we call you."

Another woman in blue came in and called out, "Michelle White, please." A West Indian girl got up and followed the woman out.

The woman led her to a small office. There were two chairs and they both sat. "Hello Michelle. I'm Denise. You said earlier that you didn't have a parent collecting you?"

"No. My mum works at the hospital down the road. I was going to get the bus there and meet her at the end of her shift."

"When is that?"

"About forty-five minutes."

Denise looked at the ceiling. "AI, can we arrange a drop near the hospital bus-stop within that time?"

"Yes," the AI replied, causing Michelle to start at the new voice from nowhere. "There is a suitable location in the hospital car-park reasonably close to the bus stop."

"Good. Schedule that please." Denise smiled at Michelle to reassure the girl. "That's organised then. Do you need to call your mother?"

"She isn't expecting a call. I'd only have to call her if I was going to be late," Michelle explained.

"You won't be late, but you will have to wait a bit until we're ready to put you back by the hospital. I'll take you to a different waiting room."

The new waiting room wasn't as crowded as the first one. They were playing a video of the concert! She could see it all over again, part of it anyway. Michelle didn't mind the wait so much, it was a lot better than standing at a bus-stop with nothing to do.

A Marine came for her before the video finished. She'd have liked to see the rest of it, but she knew she had to go. Mum would be really mad at her if she was late.

Michelle had already been through a transporter once today, so she was almost blasé about doing it again. The abrupt jump still surprised her though. They arrived in a quiet corner of the hospital car-park. She could see the main entrance and the bus she would have been on just arriving at its stop. Good timing! She politely thanked the big Marine and walked towards the entrance. What an adventure she'd had!

The green line led Hugh to a plain white corridor with a series of doors on the right. Ahead of him, he could see other sponsors turning off through the doors. The green line at his feet briefly flicked to point to his right, directly to an open door. He stepped through into a small white room.

"Please place your hand on the palm-reader, sir. We need to identify you."

The voice wasn't human. It was a good simulation of a human voice, but it wasn't real. One of those Confederacy AIs, Hugh thought. The need to identify himself was obvious. The UK's Earth First government had made it illegal to own a CAP card and had closed all the Confederacy's CAP testing stations, so nobody could get a new one. He'd been tested years ago, long before the election, though both Tina and Erica would need to go through the brown hatch for their first CAP tests.