Chapter 1

His aunt looked up as he approached.

“Did you get all the shopping to the car without dropping them in the wet?”

“Yes Aunt Edna.”

“That’s yours,” she said, gesturing dismissively towards a place at the table and turning to continue her discussion with her friend. The woman looked at him curiously, taking in the poor quality of his clothing and the plain hamburger waiting on a plate for him. It must have taken a special order to get a mere hamburger in a quality restaurant like this but there were probably other places in the hotel that provided room service snacks.

Chris could see that the woman was about to ask some question about his meal, so to forestall the trouble that would start he seized the hamburger and bit into it with every sign of relish. Yes, as he had expected, there was a double serving of beetroot. It never failed to amaze him how petty his aunt could be but he had long ago learned patience and the appearance of submission.

He looked around. Cherise and her school friend Sarah had half finished plates of what looked like veal parmigiana and his aunt and her friend were still toying with their beef tournedos. He sighed mentally. The hamburger was enough to keep him going until he could get to his stash. And revenge was at least seven months away unless he was taken in a Confederacy pickup before that.

There had never been a pickup in this city though. He thought it might be due to the strength of the Earth First following here. Still this might be the sort of venue for a pickup. His aunt’s friend was some sort of publisher and she was in town for the convention of businesswomen being held at the hotel. The restaurant was full of successful looking women. It wasn’t that they were expensively dressed although they were. There was something relaxed and confident about them. None of the brittle posing and anxious attention to makeup and appearance that he saw in Aunt Edna’s society circle.

He’d bet that there was a high proportion of volunteer level women attending the conference. The Confederacy was missing an opportunity here. Women didn’t tend to score as well as men in CAP testing, mostly through lower capacity for controlled sustained aggression. The women here though had all been successful in fighting their way to the higher levels of their fields of business. That probably meant that they’d had to be considerably tougher than the men they were competing with.

Cherise and Sarah had finished messing with their main courses. They placed orders for desserts and coffee and then, with the synchronised plumbing shared by women friends everywhere, they both rose and went to the toilet.

The publisher woman glanced his way again and he could see that his total isolation within the group had sparked her curiosity. He turned to the big windows as if to admire the sights of the busy harbour. If she started questions it would either be sniping humiliation for the rest of the afternoon or if Edna felt obliged to conceal her power then a painful set of reminders not to call attention to himself when they got home.

The waitress returned with the girls’ deserts. She was a mousy looking thing with a stick figure, a pallid complexion and rabbit teeth. She glanced at his empty plate and looked up. He could see that she was opening her mouth to ask him if he wanted dessert. When he quickly shook his head, her gaze flicked to his aunt and back and her eyes suddenly widened in understanding. She nodded and studied him for a moment before ducking her head and turning away.

Chris sat frozen for a moment, inexplicably shaken by the girl’s quick insight. She might be a mousy little stick but she was smart and she had knowledge of circumstances like his. Then Cherise and Sarah were back at the table and he turned to the window again.

He was staring at the scene, the ferries and the monorail and the container ship moving slowly out towards the heads, when the wall of windows went suddenly grey and opaque.

He froze for a second time in as many minutes, this time with a feeling of glorious exultation rising within him, as the shrieks and yelling rose behind him. His other avenue of escape, the one he’d always regarded as a long shot, had opened.

“Your attention please! I am Sergeant Nils Ingram of the Confederacy Marines and this is a Confederacy extraction. Please remain quiet and seated until I have finished and tell you where to go.” The amplified voice came from a tall man in the green Confederacy Marine uniform, who had appeared on the small unused musicians’ platform in one corner of the restaurant. Three other Marines walked out of the kitchen door and from the foyer to deploy around the walls.

Sergeant Ingram proceeded to give them the prepared introduction that they had all heard and seen before on TV and video dramas for the last two years. Ever since the first news of the approaching Sa’arm invasion had shocked the world, people had waited nervously for moments like this. Volunteers with a CAP of 6.5 or better were about to be taken off planet to train for fighting the Sa’arm. They were to select their concubines from those present who also wished to be evacuated. People accepting concubine status should be aware that they ceded all rights to their sponsor and were effectively slaves.

While the sergeant spoke, Chris looked at the group he was with. Cherise and Sarah were staring at the Marines with mixed trepidation and excitement. They had both started to undo their clothing, ready to strip when the word came. Cherise had long expressed the view that with her looks she would be taken up at any pickup and that her sponsor would understand what a prize he had and treat her well.

Edna was staring with equal intensity but instead of excitement there was despair and terror in her expression. Chris remembered much the same expression when she had viewed the documentaries on the Sa’arm and the pictures of the trail of devastated worlds left behind them. He’d also heard her ripping into his uncle for being inadequate to her needs in that regard.

“You know no-one is going to take me when there’s a pickup,” she had raged. “I’m too old and worn out trying to provide you with a spine. And you’re so pathetic and useless that you couldn’t even reach 5 on your CAP, let alone the 6.5 to properly take care of your family. Even the little creep has a 6.2. I won’t get taken up and when they come they’ll EAT us Henry.”

The sergeant was finishing the ritual speech now and was calling the names of volunteers. Chris had been right and there was a swag of volunteer level women at the convention. Cherise and Sarah watched with increasing dismay as, one after another, eleven women stood as their names were called. Then at the end there was one male name.

“ ... and Christopher James Bellamy.”

Cherise, Sarah and Edna swivelled to stare in astonishment and disbelief as he stood. He looked down at them and smiled. It wasn’t a warm smile.

“I retested,” he explained and showed his CAP card. It wasn’t hard to see the figure that lit up as the card responded to his DNA signature. It showed 8.1.

Sarah spoke to him for the first time in several months. Not that there had been all that many opportunities, but since Cherise’s Peeping Pervert campaign the year before she’d barely looked at him.

“But that’s an incredible increase. 1.9. I didn’t think something like that was possible.”

“At the first testing when I turned fourteen I was at the bottom of an acute suicidal depression. That tends to knock your scores around a fair bit. But you probably didn’t notice. You may remember some of the lies that Cherise was spreading about me at school about that time. And my Aunt Edna, dear Aunt Edna, was really starting to hit her stride about then.”

He glanced at Edna and found her staring at him in horrified despair. She knew that she had thrown away her only chance of escape from the fate she lived in terror of and that she had ensured the manner of her own death.

“They were all lies?” Sarah asked.

“I did walk in on her in the bathroom once when she was naked. It wasn’t a usual time for her to be showering. There wasn’t any water running and she hadn’t locked the door. She was posing and preening in front of the mirror. Holding her breasts up and playing with her nipples. You know she’s always been her own most ardent admirer. I suppose it was pretty embarrassing. Nonetheless,” he turned his attention to Cherise, “your reaction was totally over the top. I expected the screaming tantrum at home, but your campaign at school was beyond cruel. You had to know that those sick disgusting pictures were your father’s, not mine, and they were the proof for most people of the stories you made up. I only had a few friendships and you destroyed all of them.”

Cherise had gone pale as he spoke. “I ... I thought ... He said that he’d confiscated them from ... They had to be yours.”

“Sorry. Where would I have got the money for a collection of highly expensive and illegal magazines like that?” Maybe she hadn’t known after all. But that didn’t excuse the sustained malice of what she’d done.

Realisation had clearly descended on her as the full consequences of her error and actions hit home. Her colour had changed again and she was blushing with embarrassment now. That was interesting in itself. Cherise just didn’t do embarrassment.

“Chris, I’m sorry.” She stood and met his eye. She was getting herself together now and sounded almost sincere. “I know we haven’t treated you well. I ... Well, I’ve been a bitch to you. But we did take you in and we’re cousins. Blood is thicker than water. I’ll do my best to make it up to you.” And she moved her body, not obviously but enough to make the implied promise.

“Correction girl,” came a gravelly voice close by and they all whirled to find a two metre tall Marine standing there. “While you’re inside the interdiction shield this is Confederacy territory. No previous legal or family ties have any validity here. You’re just sponsors and potential concubines and you don’t seem to be doing anything to get yourself chosen.”

He turned to Chris. “You’re Christopher Bellamy? Right, you’ve got six picks to make. That’s more than most people here and very little time to make them. You’re only fifteen and I know it’s difficult to deal with suddenly but you have to get on with it.

“Never had a woman before?” When Chris shook his head, he sighed gustily. “And looking around all you can see besides these two chicks is old boilers. My advice is not to get too tied up with appearances. Don’t forget that you can get any of these altered to suit your tastes. Look for ready obedience and compatibility and make sure you include some mothering types to care for the kids while you’re away. With six, that still leaves room for a couple of spunky young ones like these if you want them.”

He looked critically at the girls. “Although they don’t look too motivated. Fully dressed while the rest have already got their clothes off and tongues and pussies working overtime. I’ll hold it as long as I can but you need to get test-driving straight away or however you’re going to choose. I’d definitely recommend test drives. At least you can tell obedience and willingness.”

He walked away to deal with some shouting that was occurring at another table. What he had said was true. Everywhere they looked there were men and women stripped naked and performing for sponsors. There were not that many men in the restaurant and most were hard at it showing what they could do. But women sponsors needed other women in their families also and there was a lot of testing females for submission and compatibility going on.

When he turned back, Cherise and Sarah had their dresses off and underwear was following. There was no shortage of appeal at the physical level. Sarah was a brunette and a cheerleader. He knew she was a gymnast too and her athletic body was a dream of its type with strong slender muscles on a well-proportioned frame. He’d always liked her face too, liked all of her in fact until she’d turned cutting and contemptuous after the Peeping Pervert stuff. She’d never asked him if any of it was true.

Cherise was slightly taller and bigger. She’d never felt the effort of cheerleader training was worth it as she was quite sure her body was perfect already and she’d always coasted to popularity anyway. The thing was, the bitch was right. She had improved on her mother’s figure and got the best of her father’s good looks. She was beautiful clothed or naked and the touch of softness of that body only made it more desirable.

They were both looking at him expectantly now, barely hesitating before rushing him. He had to take control. He held up a hand and turned to Edna and her friend. The other woman had stripped along with the girls and was looking hopeful despite or maybe because of the negative exchanges. He waved her away towards the other testing going on and she swallowed her disappointment and rushed off to try and catch up with one of the other sponsors.

Edna was sitting, unmoving in her chair. She looked as if she had aged ten years in the few minutes since the pickup started. She stared at him hopelessly, her mouth moving slightly as if she was trying to work up to say something.

“You’re not going to take us?” she quavered.

“The jury is still out on Cherise. As for you, why should I?”

Her mind was clearly racing desperately for an answer and freewheeling without traction. Then she seized on something and there was a sudden spark of hope in her eyes.