Chapter 1

He woke up with a groan that almost turned into a shriek of dismay when he realized his sheets were wet. He sat up, rubbed his eyes with a groan of embarrassment, and his hands sneaked down to his crotch. He looked down in surprise when his pajamas were not soaked, just slightly damp. In fact, they were damp all over!

It was then that the nightmare he had been having came back in flashes that made him shiver in the cold morning air.

He had watched a movie last night, with Toby, Alan and Thea that ended just before midnight. They had all headed upstairs, the three staying over for the night clambered into their sleeping bags, and Max into his bed to talk until they fell asleep.

The movie was an old one. His dad had said he loved it as a kid, and it had resurfaced the second year after the world had learned of the alien Sa’arm and had become a cult classic and favorite of children everywhere.

The movie, panned when it was made, was an adaptation of Starship Troopers, a book by Robert Heinlein. It was about a future society where the only way to become a full citizen and be able to own property, vote and so on, had been to serve the public in some capacity, primarily in the military.

An alien menace was threatening humanity, a swarm of insect like creatures that would land on a world, strip it of all life, then move on. There were scenes of epic battles between armored space marines and huge, insect-like creatures that attacked in waves, and it was so similar to the government videos of actual Sa’arm attacks on other planets that the movie had caused some of the more repressive governments to ban it as too disturbing.

The amazing number of parallels between the society in the movie and the way that Earth society might eventually become must have worked it’s way into Max’s subconscious and into his dreams.

In his nightmare, Max was at the battle front, armed with a futuristic beam weapon. No matter how many hundreds, or thousands of the bugs he mowed down, millions more were climbing over huge piles of corpses and the battle line was growing ever closer. In some areas, men were being devoured while trying to fight hand-to-hand, and those fights were moving closer as his fellow soldiers fell to the enemy.

Max pulled at the clammy flannel shirt, grimacing at the way it stuck to his skin. It reeked of sweat and something else ... fear, he imagined, and he had to stop himself from leaping over the sleeping bodies of his friends when the desire for a shower gripped him.

Instead, he moved slowly, carefully, tiptoeing over the sleeping bags strewn in the floor. He grabbed jeans, socks and a sweatshirt from his drawers and crept out of the bedroom.

In the bathroom, after locking the door, he stared at himself in the mirror. It was something he had been doing a lot more of lately. His doctor said he was just a late bloomer, and that tests were showing higher levels of testosterone than had been there this past summer, but Max wasn’t seeing any real changes.

At four foot, eleven and one quarter inches, and that one quarter of an inch was damn important to him though he would never admit it, he was the second shortest boy in the eighth grade. The only one shorter was Mike Pepper, the kid who had skipped from the sixth to the eighth level and was only twelve.

It was a great source of personal shame, though Max knew it was illogical. Still, he was constantly picked on and bullied at school by the Neanderthals who had shot up early. He had been stuck inside of lockers so often that teachers near his locker had taken to standing in the hall between classes. He thought it was not that they really gave a damn about him, just that it was less disruptive to their class than having to leave the classroom during a session and come back with a janitor to set the boy free.

Even his friends, Toby, Alan and Thea were taller than he was. Toby seemed to hit puberty first, growing that all-important pubic hair and a few mustache hairs. Alan came next, rocketing up almost a foot in the last year to stand five foot, ten inches tall, though he was comically skinny.

Thea had changed too, in bewildering ways. She had grown breasts, sometimes got moody, and had started looking at boys as something other than annoyances, except for her three friends, that is.

Max wondered again if this would be the last time she was allowed to have a sleepover. Her parents had expressed reluctance, and only their years of platonic friendship had allowed her to come over tonight. The three had been friends since kindergarten, after all. Max privately thought that it was the prospect of a night without kids around, as much as their daughter’s friendships, that had overridden their concerns this time.

When the water was warm enough, Max got in under the spray, sighing with pleasure as he felt the residue from last night’s nightmare sluice away down the drain. If only his other concerns were that easy to get rid of.

As he washed, he looked again, in vain, to see if he had miraculously sprouted any pubic hair or hair under his arms overnight, snorting in disgust when he found none.

Things were changing. People were freaking out about the pending invasion, even though the president said it was still three or more years away. The instructors at his school were even beginning to act odd!

His school was one of many provisional test-beds, with the curriculum focused on ways to produce as many sponsors, those who would become Confederacy citizens, as they could. Among many other changes was the shift from grades to levels. In stead of ninth grade, it was ninth level and your level was determined by your ability, not your age.

The new instructors had been chosen with this in mind and were counted among the most stable available. The last thing parents wanted was for their children to be knocked off a possible sponsor track by an unstable teacher!

The crux of the matter was, of course, that there was a cutoff score. Only people who scored high enough on their CAP test, a 6.5 or higher, would be allowed to volunteer. Those that scored lower could only go into space as a dependent, though calling them slaves of a sponsor was more accurate.

This made everyone who didn’t score high enough angry that they were not chosen, angry at the thought of the family that could be wrecked, and angry when relationships ended if one of a group went and the other stayed.

It got even worse when you considered a family could be split up if the mother decided to accept an offer during a pickup and took the kids. Maybe worse if the father was left behind with the kids. What about the kids who were fourteen or older? They were technically adults, or so the Confederacy said, but Max knew most of his peers were not mature enough to be on their own!

When he was done, he shut off the water and toweled dry before the cold winter air gave him a chill. He dressed quickly and used his towel to wipe the steam off the mirror.

He wasn’t a bad looking guy, not great looking either. He thought he was just kind of normal as he studied his face in the mirror, paying special attention to his upper lip and chin. Dirty blond hair, pale green eyes, and his mother said the cleft in his chin would have the girls swooning ... someday. Yeah, he’d believe that when the Easter Bunny brought him Christmas presents for Labor Day.

With a sigh, he opened the door and was almost bowled over by Toby.

“Gottapee!” Toby huffed as he pushed past, shoving Max out and slamming the door behind him.

Max just grinned and went to peek into the room to see if his other friends were awake yet.

Alan was, though he was still lying on his back and rubbing his eye.

Thea seemed to be asleep, and the top of her sleeping bag had shifted a bit, outlining the shape of the swelling breasts under her thin pajama top. He wasn’t sure exactly why it was so fascinating, and he would never be caught dead staring when she was awake, but for a moment, he really wished he could see them.

“Hey.”, Alan said, sitting up.

“Should we wake her? We still have an hour before you have to go to the testing center. Oh, happy birthday, by the way.”

“I’m awake and stop staring at my boobs.” Thea muttered, opening one eye for a second.”

Max blushed and started to stammer, “I ... I would ... wasn’t...” He stopped, swallowed, and tried again. “I am going to go and start breakfast.” he said, spinning away and hurrying down the hall.

Thea giggled, then pulled her sleeping bag back up to her chin.

“One of these days he is going to get wise to you.” Alan said, rolling his eyes.

Thea just shrugged and smiled. “What do you care? You don’t even like girls.”

Alan shrugged in return. “Max is worried about the whole delayed puberty thing. He’s my friend.” he said, climbing out of his sleeping bag.

Even though it was said that homosexuality would not even raise an eyebrow in the Confederacy, as long as they could still produce children, it was not all tolerated in Vernon, Texas. Thea was the only one that really knew about Alan’s orientation. He thought that Toby and Max might suspect, but they were guys and would ignore it as long as they could.

Today was Alanton Jeffries’s fourteenth birthday, the titular reason for the sleepover. His mother would come by in a bit and pick him up with his friends who were going to show him support and take them to the tiny testing center in Wichita Falls, about forty-five minutes South and East of town.

Vernon, Texas had a population of only about 11,000 people, even though it was the county seat, and was just six miles south of the Oklahoma border. The town was primarily oil and cattle, though there were a few farms that fed both the roughnecks and rednecks. Tyson had a big pig plant outside of town, but most of the folks, one way or another, worked for the Wagner Ranch, the largest spread in Texas under one fence. The oil and cattle were mostly there.

In a community like this, homosexuals of any variety were a rarity and were definitely looked down on. Alan knew that he would have to hide who he was until he could graduate and move away. The thought of testing high enough to get picked up as a volunteer was seductive, though there had yet to be a pickup in this county and very few in this part of the state at all.

Althea Lieberman was not what anyone would call cute, being a good twenty pounds overweight, with braces and wild hair that refused to be tamed. She had an IQ that was lower than Max and Alan’s score by a margin so slim that it might have been missed altogether. Since she was five, she also had a major crush on Max, but he never knew. Everyone else in the entire town knew, and it was a bit of a running joke to everyone but Max. Lately Thea had gotten more obvious in her teasing, though it was still very low key compared to most girls their age.

By a large margin, the four of them were the smartest kids in town. Consequently, they were among the few whose conversations often included topics other than dating, drinking, horses, and pickup trucks.

Max had pulled out a pair of skillets, a half-pound of bacon, a dozen eggs, some bell peppers, an onion, and a package of pre-shredded cheese. He had spread a pat of butter in the bottom of one pan and begun chopping peppers and onion for omelets when Toby wandered into the kitchen, still in his pajamas.

Max saw him and grinned. Count on Toby to be where the food was!

“It will be fifteen or twenty minutes, Toby, if you want to get a shower. We have to be ready when Alan’s mom gets here in less than an hour.” Max said, waving towards the stairs.

Toby just nodded, eyeing the pile of peppers for a moment before heading back upstairs. He didn’t talk much, Max thought, but when he did say something, it was usually worth listening to. Max privately thought that Toby might actually be smarter than he was, but he never would have admitted it out loud.

Max was the leader of this band of misfits, though he thought Toby might have been had he not been about eighty pounds overweight and terminally shy. Max hadn’t asked for the position, mind you, it was something that was ceded to him by the others. When a topic came up for discussion or a decision had to be made that affected them all, they all looked to Max.

Other than the four friends and his grandparents, almost no one in town knew how strong Toby was. Yes, he was fat, but under the layers of blubber were muscles that had to be felt to be believed. He was a farm kid, used to hard work, and could toss bales of hay all day long. Max had once seen him, quicker than you could spit, grab an injured yearling bull by the horns and drop it on its side for the vet.

When his three friends trooped back downstairs, Max had four omelets already on a plate in the oven, keeping warm, along with a stack of bacon. He was sliding the last of the toast on a plate to butter.

“If one of you would grab the orange juice from the fridge and glasses from the cupboard, we will be ready to eat.” Max instructed, closing up the butter and sliding it down the counter next to the fridge where Thea now stood.

Alan had circled the breakfast bar and was pulling out silverware and plates, while Toby was stacking their sleeping bags and overnight bags by the door.

By the time they had everything set, Max was serving the omelets and bacon and distributing the buttered toast to his friends.

As they ate, the topic was naturally the test. All four had been born within a month of each other. Alan turned 14 today and Max in two days. A week later, Toby and then Thea just three days after.

They had argued with their respective parents that they should wait and test together, but it was hard to mesh schedules for all of the adults. Max would have to test alone too, but Toby and Thea would go in together, driven to Wichita Falls by Toby’s grandfather on Thea’s birthday.

“ARGH! How can they give a test when you don’t know the topic? How are we supposed to study?” Alan growled, looking nervous.

It had been a favorite complaint of his for the last month. Alan was, by nature, a very structured person. He liked lists and check boxes and clearly defined boundaries and rules. He wasn’t above breaking a rule, but he wanted to know the exact limits of the rule he broke ahead of time.

When Alan pushed his plate away in disgust, his stomach too upset to eat more than a few bites, Toby slid the plate across and dumped the contents on his own, happily sticking one of the slices of bacon in his mouth.

“Alan, you are almost as smart as I am.” Thea said, using her forefinger to poke him in the forehead and make her point perfectly clear. “You know that it’s exceeding unlikely that a pickup will be made in Vernon, at least as long as there are high CAP scores to be harvested everywhere else. So whether or not you score high enough matters only if they get around to us before the invasion.”

“I won’t be in this town then, come hell or high water.” Alan said, shaking his head. “As soon as I graduate, I’m leaving. Assuming the Sa’arm don’t get here right away, I want to go to school in Austin or maybe even back East!”

Toby shrugged again. He had no desires beyond taking over his grandfather’s farm. His parents had been killed just a month after his birth, and he had been raised by his grandparents. He loved the animals, the wide open spaces and the simple life. As long as he had books to read in the evenings, he could see himself quite happy as a small farmer.

Max looked at his friends, wondering if he should tell them about the nightmare that had left him covered in sweat. He decided to wait, there was no sense giving Alan more things to worry about.

Alan’s mother arrived about five minutes later. The sound of the car pulling into the drive roused all four, and they hurriedly rinsed their dishes, slotting them into the dishwasher. Max’s friends grabbed their personal gear and piled out the front door.

Alan’s mom was a perpetually jolly and loving woman whose name was, unfortunately, Petunia. She was waving her slightly larger than Max’s waist-sized arm out the open window of the station wagon when she saw the kids come out.

She was, Max often thought uncharitably, a lot of woman. She claimed to have a slow metabolism, but Max thought when Alan’s father found out she was pregnant and disappeared, she had been heartbroken and never really recovered. She hid a lot of pain behind her layers of fat and pretended that she was happy.

“Ya’ll come on now. The appointment is in just an hour, and you know it will take us almost that long to get to the city.”

Wichita Falls wasn’t much of a city, barely over a hundred thousand people, but it was the closest thing to one in these parts, and people tended to just refer to it as The City, complete with capitals. If you wanted anything not sold locally, you went to The City. A night on the town? The City.

Alan claimed shotgun, and Max volunteered for the third row seat since he was the smallest of the three. Toby and Thea got the back seat and, once they were buckled in, Petunia backed out of the driveway and headed out of town.

The drive was quiet, Max and his friends allowing Alan to keep his own council and not really wanting to discuss the matter in front of Alan’s mother. Petunia was convinced that this was all a big scam, another way for the government to weasel its way into the private lives of citizens. The only reason she was allowing Alan to test at all was the threat of suspension, or even expulsion, of students who could not show the school district that they had complied with the law.

Since she was convinced that Alan was a genius, and he was, the education of her baby was the most important thing in the world, and she would even submit to this government thuggery for her baby. Something she was glad to tell anyone who would listen.

The testing center was on the western edge of The City, in the parking lot of what had been an old feed store before it had burned down and been leveled a decade before. The government had set up a pair of prefab buildings behind an eight-foot, razor wire topped chain link fence. There was a large sign erected out front that read, Confederacy Testing Center and beneath that, In cooperation with the CAP Testing Bureau.

Spaced evenly, every ten feet or so, there were signs that stated this was a Confederacy installation and that trespassers would be prosecuted under Confederacy law for any violations.

There were about twenty vehicles in the parking lot, about half of them were pickup trucks because - Texas. The buildings were almost blinding white in the morning sun, and several people were walking through the parking lot towards the gate in the fence.

There were two men standing at the gate, obviously guards of some kind, and Max gasped when he saw them.

“Look at the size of those guys! They look about seven feet tall!” he exclaimed, pointing over the seat in front of him.

The two men were huge, their heavily muscled bodies looking almost cartoonish compared to the regular people they were talking with. Even from the parking spot, thirty or more feet away, Max could almost imagine that he felt the menace coming from them in waves.

“Ya’all go on in. I’m just gonna wait out here in the air conditioning.” Petunia said, grimacing at the waves of heat coming from the asphalt parking lot. It was September but, in northern Texas, fall was still a month away. At nine in the morning it was already eighty-five degrees.

They clambered out of the car, Alan waving to his mother, and they trooped across the parking lot towards the center. Max’s eyes were glued to the heavily muscled men at the gate, his imagination putting them in the body armor from his dream. He could almost see these men actually fighting the bugs hand–to-hand, and even winning.

The huge Caucasian guard on the left just looked bored, but the black one on the right watched them approach with something resembling interest.

“You kids here to test? All four of you?” The man’s voice was almost impossibly low, and Max wondered if it was the size of his chest or if it had already been that way before he had been modified by the Confederacy.

“Just Alan here.” Max said, placing his hand on his friend’s back. “We’re here for moral support.”

The man looked surprised. “We see parents sometimes, once in a while we see a boyfriend or girlfriend, but rarely groups just for support. That’s nice.” His smile seemed genuine.

“You can go on in. Might be a little wait, but not too bad these days. Not like it was right after the announcement. A-M to the left, N-Z to the building on the right. Good luck, son.”

Alan looked pale, but he nodded to the guards, and the friends followed him through the gates. They headed left, of course, Jefferies, and walked up the steps to the front door. Stepping inside the building, they were relieved it was air-conditioned.

There was a counter to the right, staffed by a young woman not much older than they were. Just past the counter was a hallway with half a dozen doors, and to the left there was a waiting room half-filled with anxious looking people, most of them seemed to be parents.

“You kids here to test?” the girl behind the counter asked, looking their way.

Alan stepped forward and handed her his student ID.

The girl looked down for a moment, then appeared to be staring off into space before handing the card back.

“Alan Michael Jefferies, you can have a seat. It will be just a bit since all of our testing rooms are occupied. I will call you when there is an opening.”

Max stepped up, “Miss, those guys outside are Marines, right?”

The girl nodded. “That’s right. We were notified of a threat against the Testing Center, so they sent us a little help.”

“A threat? Whatever for?”

“Some people seem to think that the testing is unfair.” she said, then shrugged. “Some people would protest it if the government passed a law saying that you had to breath.” She shook her head, then leaned forward, her forearms on the counter top. “What’s your name?”

“Everyone calls me Max.” he answered, turning to go.

“But what is your full name, Max?”

He turned back, surprised. “Maximillian Andrew Xander, why?”

She looked surprised, then grinned at him. “M A X, huh? Did your parents not like you or something?” she joked.

“They think they are witty. The whole family are Maxes. Dad is Marten Allen, mom is Mary Agnes, and my two sisters are Melanie Anne and Margaret Alice. Heck, when I asked for a dog a few years ago, they would only agree if we named him Max. Personally, I think my parents did too many drugs in college.” He fumed.

Alan, Thea, and Toby all grinned, having heard his rant several ... hundred ... times before.

The girl behind the counter laughed, shaking her head. “It’s not that bad, Max, you got the coolest name of the bunch. So tell me, Max, what kind of score can we expect from you when we see you on Monday?”

Max looked shocked. “How could you possibly know when I turn fourteen?”

She tapped her temple. “One of the things that happens to you, if you are what we call Sponsor grade, is that you get an implanted link to the, well, the computer systems. With your full name, as unusual as it is, I was able to determine that there are only two people in the Unites States with that name, and you are most certainly not eighty-two and living in Boca Raton, Florida.”

Max was more surprised to hear that there was anyone else with his name than he was that she had computer chips in her head. He was a huge science fiction fan, so the idea didn’t seem far-fetched at all.

“Eighty-two?” he asked, shaking his head. “Since you already know all about me, how about letting me test early?”

“Sorry, Max, rules are ... she broke off, getting that strange look in her eye again, and blurted out, “Really? But we never ... huh. Well, you are the boss.” Turning back to Max, an incredulous look on her face, “Max, I have just been told that you can test today, but that your friends over there, if they are Tobias Boyer and Althea Lieberman, will have to wait. It is too soon for them. I gotta say, I have never even heard of allowing someone to test before their birthday!”

Max was stunned, spinning around to see the shocked expressions on the faces of his friends. Only Alan seemed to be pleased instead of apprehensive, as if he was relieved that he wouldn’t have to do this alone.

“So, what, I mean, don’t you have to notify my parents or something?”

“Nope, already done. Your mother and father have agreed to have you test early, with the understanding that your score will not become official until your actual birthday.” she said, leaning forward with a conspiratorial look in her eye. “Trust me on this. An announcement will be made soon that will explain why that is. And it will change a lot of things.” she said with a wink.

“Um, thanks, Miss?”

“Just call me Heather.” she grinned, smiling before moving away to talk to another set of people who were entering.

“Thanks, Heather.” Max repeated, turning to find his friends gathered around, Alan now smiling but Thea looking distinctly unhappy. Toby was just Toby.

“Jeez, tramp much? Why didn’t she just take off her blouse.” Thea grumped, throwing a caustic look at the blond behind the counter.

Alan rolled his eyes but Max was stumped. “What are you talking about, Thea? She was just answering my questions.”

“Yeah, sure. Look, you aren’t going to do it, right? I mean, test early? Don’t we get enough crap about being different without adding to it?” she asked, looking a bit put out.

“Hell yes, I am going to do it! No more waiting and wondering? Besides, I don’t have to tell anyone. My parents will register me with the school so I don’t even have to tell them, really.” Max said patiently.

His parents were both professors at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls but lived in Vernon because they could get a much nicer house outside of The City. His father taught Advanced Mathematics courses, and his mother taught American History.

Two days a week, each of them taught an advanced course at the local high school as a way of keeping an eye on their son’s school system. As faculty, they would see he was registered as having completed testing so there would be no worries after his birthday.

Max could totally believe his parents would not only agree to early testing but be excited by the opportunity. His father had tested out at 6.7 and his mother at 6.8, so they were both eligible. His sisters had tested lower, Melanie at a 4.2 and Maggie at 5.6. Even thought his parents has assured his sisters that it was perfectly okay, Max was sure they were hoping that not all of their children were duds.

Melanie was seventeen and a stereotypical blond whose only concern was what boy was asking her out this week. She had barely scraped through school so far and, now in her senior year, she was going to be lucky to graduate at all.

Maggie was fifteen, fifteen and a half, if you asked her, and was much smarter than Melanie. She got straight As in school, was never in trouble and didn’t date. Max had wondered why she didn’t score higher, thinking that she had more than enough brains, but there must have been something that held her back. She was a bit meek, and maybe, since this was recruiting for a war, it was holding her back.

Max, who had, internally anyway, been rolling his eyes at Alan’s nervousness, was suddenly not so cavalier. He felt his stomach clench a bit, and when he looked over at Alan, he saw his friend give him a knowing look.

“Max!” Heather called, waving him over to the counter. “Sorry, I thought you understood. You have to go next door. See Larry at the counter; he knows you are coming.”

He turned and saw the surprise on his friends’ faces, though why it never occurred to any of them had him baffled. He shrugged and headed for the door, only to hear footfalls behind him.

“I’m coming with you; Toby will wait for Alan.” Thea said, grabbing his hand.

Max didn’t say anything, just looked at their joined hands and kept walking. It was odd, but not completely without precedence. They had held hands when they were younger, but not since they were seven or eight years old. Still, it felt ... nice.

“Thanks for ... thanks.” Max said, watching Thea grin in response.

Inside the second building, identical to the first except fewer people were waiting, a man in his twenties was smiling at them.

“Max, right?” he asked.

“Second door on the left, Max, but your girlfriend has to wait here.” He pointed down the hall and Max saw that there were two open doors waiting.

“She, I...” he looked at Thea, surprised by the grin on her face, and shrugged.

Thea dropped his hand, wished him good luck, and he walked down the plain hall, stopping to look into the second room. There was a kind of lounge like thing in the room and nothing else. He looked back down the hall and saw Larry watching.

“Just lay on the couch, I’ll be there in a sec.” the man called out.