Chapter 22: Bob White’s Covey Is Ready?

As Katie walked with First Sergeant Patti Paiwonski, she acknowledged Signifier Woodrow Wilson Smith as he joined the pair making their way towards their new snowflake.

“Good evening,” Katie began as she sat. “As you probably heard me announce, my name is Katie Wyoming Knott. This is Signifier Woody Smith and First Sergeant Patti Paiwonski. Am I addressing Mrs. White?”

“Good evening. Technically, there is no Mrs. White,” the petite woman answered. “The Bob White Covey name is a take-off on Robert Quayle’s nickname. However, I am one of Robert’s sister-wives; please call me Eva Mae.”

“Well, Eva Mae, what makes today special? The day you want to be extracted,” Katie asked.

“Oh, today’s not so special,” Eva Mae replied. “We’ve been really ready for a little over a year. Every member of our family carries that note to use if caught in the middle of an extraction. There are actually eight copies here, the one you are holding and four carried by students and three more by faculty. I turned the four students loose to gather some supplemental concubines - their CAPs keep going up, and their needs grow. They won’t leave unless I give the go ahead, and whoever they pick will get added to the clan’s prepack if we don’t go this time...”

Eva Mae pointed to a nearby stunning young woman with light brown hair. She was surrounded by teens of both genders, some with bared breasts and two males with genitalia exposed. She explained, “That’s number four - Cassandra Anne - our oldest daughter. She’ll turn fourteen in a few weeks, so I told her to go assemble her choices. She can’t audition yet, but we’ll cover her for four picks out of our own allocations. I wouldn’t be surprised if she scores higher.”

She sighed and explained. “I’m here as the parental representative. We drew straws to see who had to endure Fuckwad’s foolishness, and I lost. But to answer the intent of your question, we heard that the rules on fertility had loosened for special cases. We are proposing one exception that will net you an additional three, maybe four, exceptional candidates. We want them for our clan.”

Eva Mae looked sad, “Might have been five, but the best of the best, Uncle Pete, was on up there in age and died several years ago.” She ticked on her fingers, “If y’all except Bettie Rule, you also get Judge Joshua Rule, probably Judge Eustace Holland, and Sheriff Joe Bob Peterson. All but Bettie scored over seven on their CAP tests. She wasn’t eligible to take it - menopausal...”

She looked at Katie and told her, “Some of us have been approached at assorted extractions over the years, never really understood why. At first we felt unprepared and more than a little leery of being used as cannon fodder. Once our education was complete and we had some experience under our belts, we’d ‘uv come if someone had offered to let us bring Bettie. No one did - and I’m sure y’all knew about her, right from our first pickup experience.”

“But you’ve always had a number to call. Why didn’t you?” Katie was puzzled.

Eva Mae began laughing and told her, “Well, there was no reason without Bettie, and Melba says you’re in a better negotiation position if you wait for the other party to come to you. And here you are...”

“Sometimes AIs can be rather dense when it comes to understanding humans,” Katie responded, “but DECO’s parochial failure is our gain. Tell you what, I’ll have Randy Pope - he’s our colony’s security chief - drop in on your friends and see if they are interested. If you wish, Dora, our AI can facilitate your speaking with them later.”