Chapter 2

Upon their arrival on Kon-at, Sarah Miller's group found themselves working hard to finish both the set up for the family pod and to work on a "community center" of sorts. Sarah's office was in the community center and only a short walk from the office of the Planetary Governor. Sarah spent a good deal of time with Mike Farris, the Governor, and his cabinet of advisors. Her official role was as an observer, but she did interject on a few occasions. Farris had sketched out a government based loosely on the American democratic system. He, like a few other Governors before him, had realized quickly that concubines might rebel unless there was some opportunity for future independence. Working out what the route to independence would be was somewhat difficult.

In the end, Farris decided that each volunteer would be in sole charge of his or her concubines, but that concubines would be able to achieve the status of citizens by proving their willingness to participate in the work of the colony. Every colonist, meaning all colony dwellers over the age of 14, was required to serve 2 years in the military, learning how to use all of the weapons available.

After 2 years of service, any colonist who had scored below 6.5 on their initial CAP testing would be re-tested. Once the AI gave its report, each colonist would be able to receive further instruction in their strongest area. Should a colonist prove adept at a skilled trade, but be shy of the required 6.5 for full citizenship, the Governor would consider offering citizenship status on a case by case basis.

The Governor also decreed that all concubines had the right to protest certain egregious treatment by their sponsor. Farris put in a place a formal complaint process to handle complaints about lack of food, mistreatment of children, and made it mandatory that a sponsor could not recycle a concubine without a review. For the first two, Sarah, as Civil Service Representative, was the sole arbiter. With regard to recycling a concubine, Farris created a three person committee, which included himself, the ranking military officer on the planet and Sarah.

Farris wanted to insure that the Colony could use the skills of all colonists without leaving a sub-class of disenfranchised citizens. He didn't want to go as far as some Governors and offer to make every concubine on the planet a citizen, partly because he didn't have the housing available yet to accommodate all the new families that might create.

Sarah got her first major test within days of arrival on the planet. A squad from Kon-at took heavy losses in a skirmish with the Sa'arm in another sector. The AI informed Sarah that the troops were missing in action and that their concubines had been automatically assigned to her care. The pods in which those concubines were housed quit responding to the concubines almost as soon as the AI received the information, so Sarah knew it was critical to get the concubines moved quickly.

She put her crew to work immediately. Charles, Amy and Carlotta were dispatched to the community center while Ramona stayed at home to handle the family's children. Sarah took Lon and Louise with her to each pod, both to deliver the news of the sponsor's death and to get each family unit moved to the community center. In all, 10 sponsors had died, meaning that Sarah had to have the AI unlock the units to her for each group. By the time everyone was moved, Sarah was tired.

The AI informed Sarah that three of the family units had actually been reassigned because the sponsors had made provisions for their groups to be transferred to someone else. Sarah felt relief at this announcement and passed each group to the new sponsors as soon as possible.

Of the seven groups left to her, Sarah now had to find places for 15 women, 3 of whom were pregnant, 4 men, and 25 kids. Moving them all to the community center was a very short-term solution, so Sarah went back to the other Civil Service Representative's reports. One guy had created a bordello of sorts with his extra concubines; another used his extra concubines to run a hotel for traveling soldiers. Both met the primary directive for CS Representatives: Keep the concubines pregnant.

Kon-at, however, wasn't a stopping point for large groups of military people. Kon-at did have a research function, since a couple of the large research and development companies from Earth had been located there, but the researchers had brought their own concubines when they were extracted.

The answer came in a surprising manner. Louise spoke to Sarah at the end of the first week about the progress made in getting the concubines settled. Louise was very concerned that many of the mothers seemed to basically feed the kids, change their diapers, then let the kids wander aimlessly. Louise's informal survey found that the average concubine, both in this group and on Kon-at, was 16-22 years old and had little to no experience dealing with small children.

True, some sponsors had guidance at extractions from good officers who advised the sponsors to always bring a mother, but most sponsors didn't get that particular briefing. This meant that the majority of sponsors had families where the concubines had no guidance when dealing with children. The AI's, of course, helped where they could, but an AI had to be asked a question before the AI could answer the question.

This particular batch of concubines had three chronologically older people in it, two women who had run a day-care on Earth and a man who had been a teacher. Sarah decided to enlist these three to help teach the other concubines better ways to take care of the children. Sarah also thought that it was time the kids on Kon-at went to school, especially since it looked like the Confederacy planned to move more research facilities to the planet.

The three concubines, along with Charles, Louise and Carlotta, spent several weeks helping the other moms learn how to interact better with the children. The younger concubines soon were recruited to pass out coloring books, crayons, modeling clay and other small toys to the children of Kon-at. Once the word got out that the "CS Moms", as the concubines came to be known, were really good with kids, sponsors began coming by to visit with them. In just a few weeks, the entire group was passing along their newfound knowledge, both informally and in structured classes at the Community Center.

Joan Sampson, the oldest mom at 32, and one of the day care operators on Earth, was the first to find a home. She was at the Community Center one afternoon when Bob Stevens dropped in to find out more about the toys someone had left at his pod. He had been a widower on Earth and had brought his four kids to Kon-at. When new children started arriving courtesy of his 2 fifteen year-old concubines, he'd known that just feeding and diapering the kids wasn't enough, but he didn't know how to teach it to the young concubines.

When Bob walked in, he was amazed at how quiet it was in there, even though Joan had eight kids sitting in a circle. The kids were all under five, but they were listening raptly as Joan read them a story from an author on Earth. Bob was as fascinated by the story as the kids, so he sat down to listen.

Joan finished reading the storybook to the kids, and looked up in surprise when she heard someone clapping. "I didn't know anyone had come in here."

Bob smiled at her, "I loved that story as a kid and you do a good job with the voices."

Joan smiled back at him. "I think kids like it when the characters have different voices. It keeps their attention longer. Here, Timmy, why don't you show the pictures in this book to the smaller kids?"

The two adults moved away from the children. "Is there something specific I can help you with Mr.?"

Bob told Joan his name and that he was looking for someone to help his two concubines learn some parenting skills. "I wish I'd thought about having someone who had experience raising children, but my big head wasn't in charge during the extraction from Earth." He blushed.

Joan's rueful laugh sounded pleasant to his ears. "How do you think I got off the planet? The Corporal in charge of our extraction sold my flabby butt to Joe, my late sponsor, on the idea that I could at least take good care of the kids while Joe was out fighting."

"I'm Joan by the way", she held out her hand to shake, "We've been holding classes for the younger concubines here. Kind of like the Mommy and Me classes they used to have on Earth. Maybe your girls could sit in on one of them?"

Bob checked out the butt in question, "I don't think your butt is flabby. Maybe I'll send the girls over this afternoon."

"Great!" Joan said. Over the course of the next few weeks, Bob did send his concubines and children over to the Community Center. He often accompanied them and he always made it a point to talk to Joan about what the concubines were learning.

One afternoon, Bob asked Joan if she'd like to join his family. He had been one concubine short when he left Earth and had never wanted to fill the spot until now. Sarah had already approved the transfer, but Bob wanted to ask Joan directly before making the transfer official. Joan's happy smile and huge hug were all the answer Bob needed.

Once all of orphaned concubines were settled into a routine at the Community Center, with many going to new homes, Sarah began working in earnest. She spoke to Mike Farris, the Planetary Governor, about setting up a school system on Kon-at. The two of them also worked with the AI to add some enhancements to the training that concubines received while in the medical tubes. These enhancements would better enable concubines to raise children and give the concubines the knowledge and skills to begin teaching the kids basic things, color recognition, numbers, shapes, and cooperation/sharing.

As to schools, the kids would begin attending as soon as they were ready to learn how to read. The AI for each pod would offer each child instruction at the child's level, with the ultimate goal being to prepare the children to do well on their CAP testing at 14. If a child showed particular aptitude in certain areas, the child could be apprenticed to an experienced colonist, even before the age of 14. This meant that kids who were really good at repairing machines, for instance, could be apprenticed to someone who did that job daily.

Sarah dispatched her crew, Louise, Charles, and Carlotta, to visit every pod and speak to the concubines about teaching early learning for the kids. They also showed each group how to set up a child with an educational program through the AI. Farris made this much easier by telling the sponsors about the effort and asking them all to cooperate with it. On Earth, this would have been much harder, but the nannites installed by the AIs during the initial medical screening helped encourage sponsors to accept the small intrusion.

The Community Center began to function as a day-care center of sorts for both children and their mothers. Often, a sponsor would drop in for visits with the kids and end up visiting with the female concubines that worked there as well. Sarah had no problem keeping the concubines in her care pregnant!

Charles was livid when he came back from visiting pods one afternoon. Apparently, he had found a pod where the sponsor's primary concern was NOT taking care of his children or his concubines. The three women had been modeled after Earth's porno magazine stars. This was fine; having eye candy available at home was perfectly acceptable to the Confederacy. The problem came because the sponsor apparently only allowed the concubines to eat once per day and restricted that amount because he didn't want his concubines to become "fat". The 3 children in the pod were also only allowed one meal per day.