Chapter 1: Her Big Mistake

Katie came to realize she had made a very bad decision, and she was scared - horrified and scared. Her new master was a predatory pedophile, and she felt powerless to protect her children from him. Then, she carefully thought through the problem, set her goals, and prioritized them.

First - protect her children from immediate harm.

Second - ensure they were shielded on a long-term basis, especially from psychological spillover.

Third - her own personal survival.

Fourth - kill the deviant SOB.

That seemed to cover the problem adequately.

Nehemiah Joseph (Scud) Scudder was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. If the CAP test had been a high school class’s final exam, he would have passed on the curve with a rounded up 6.45. What Scud was, was crafty and very patient. He was also a closet pedophile and latent predator.

The pedophile Scud had tried to satisfy his urges with written and video porn and the occasional young-looking prostitute. As much as he wished, he had never acted out his true desires - he even verified the ages of the call girls before committing himself. Tales of child abusers raped, beaten, and killed in prison, served to keep him in check.

The coming of the Sa’arm changed things. Scud was one of the first to get CAP tested.

The AIs, evaluating CAP factors in silos, failed to correlate this ‘latent’ tendency with a potential for acting on it once he had absolute power over other humans. So they gave that factor a ‘pass.’

The predator began stalking pickups but for years he was very unlucky. Now, at age forty-two, his luck was about to change.

Katie Knott knew that she was never going to be extracted. She was a lesbian who simply could not envision sex with a man, so her CAP score was dragged down to 6.4 - unacceptable as a sponsor. And if she wouldn’t/couldn’t allow a male to impregnate her, she would only be a temporary plaything for any woman sponsor who took her along.

On April 1st, the year following the Swarm’s landing in Canada, things changed.

Katie and fellow teacher, Betty Sperling, had herded the final twelve first and second graders into a dairy bar waiting for parents to retrieve them after a field trip.

When the gray interdiction field came down, Katie and Betty moved the children to the back of the restaurant to shield them from seeing the orgy that was sure to follow.

Katie turned to the petite Betty and urged, “Go find yourself a man! I’m too lez to be with a male.” Then she added, “Don’t forget you can take some of our kids with you, if you find a good guy who will allow it.”

That wasn’t an idle reminder. Since the arrival of the Swarm, many, if not most, schools offered parents the opportunity to give ‘conditional guardianship’ to the school’s faculty and administration so the kids could be picked up should an extraction occur. It was rare for a parent to decline.

Each teacher on the field trip had two bundles of permissions in her purse. Today, each permission slip named her or Betty as guardian of a child. Katie pulled out her two bundles - clearly, the one with her own name would not be needed.

She had the students sitting on the floor in a circle playing a guessing game when Betty reappeared, naked and dragging along a well dressed, middle-aged man. “Katie,” Betty pled, “please come with us. This is Nehemiah Scudder, and he says he will take all our kids if you will come to help care for them. Please! For the kids!”

Betty knew exactly which string to pull, which button to push, and Katie relented. It was very much against her better judgment, but she loved kids, all kids, but especially her kids. She removed all her clothing except her shoes.

She went through the formality of becoming Scudder’s concubine, but only if all the kids were allowed to come with her and Betty and that they were to be their responsibility - care, education, discipline, whatever a parent should do - as long as they were minors. With his agreement, it was done.

One of the marines appeared and said to Scud, “Private, if you are taking this gaggle, the AI is offering you one more concubine to assist. It suggests that you find a teen that likes to babysit. That’s not typical advice, but you probably ought to heed it.”

Scud turned to the two teachers and declared, “That’s your department. Go find us a sweetie so we can get rolling. I’ll watch the kids.”

Surprised, the two new concubines surveyed the room.

In a corner, a young teen huddled with two preteens. Clearly the girl wanted to join in the pickup, but wasn’t going to leave the youngsters alone. Tears ran down her cheeks as she hugged a young boy and girl close.

“That one!” Katie pointed, and they hurried over.

“Over fourteen? Babysitting?” asked Betty, receiving a nod and another. “Got written permissions on the kids?” Yet another nod. “Wanna come with us? Lots of kiddies!”

“Oh-yes-please,” tumbled out of the teen’s mouth as she began to strip. “I’m Tabbi - Tabitha - Roth. This is Max Coburn and Ellie Jones. I’m their regular sitter whenever school’s out.”