Epilogue

Vivie and Inkie had their heads together giggling. They were surreptitiously watching Wendy through her process of setting up her cadet corps. This was both high entertainment and even higher instruction.

Wendy started by brainstorming with her lost kids and included Helva and Bessie. They decided that they would need at least one experienced scoutmaster/leader for each ship and many more for the Harrad colony. Well, then, what should they look for and how would they know it when they saw it? Where would they find enough candidates so that they could be selective, highly selective!

One answer: covering over one hundred and forty thousand acres, Philmont Scout Ranch is located northeast of the old Santa Fe Trail and near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico. The training center residing there is the primary location for the Boy Scouts of America’s national volunteer training programs. It is also a working ranch with small herds of bison, cattle, horses, and burros. But the yield from the extraction there, while productive, wasn’t enough for Wendy’s purpose.

Another answer: in West Virginia, ‘the Summit’ is a Scouting adventure and training center and home to the National Scout Jamboree. Like Philmont, the Summit’s terrain features are ideal for a wide variety of outdoor activities and are used by other similar organizations. AND, in early 2019, Scouts BSA opened separate troupes for girls as well as boys, eleven to seventeen years of age.

The timing was definitely right; the next national Scout jamboree was imminent. This time, Wendy piggybacked on another, already planned extraction that followed Harrad Colony’s precedent of extracting kids. Some fifty thousand scouts, leaders, and observers provided one heckuva target rich environment. With Helva’s help, several scout leaders and other candidates were siphoned off as they were gathered in Luna Base.

Author’s Note: Some day, we might see the story of this massive extraction - by me or some other Swarm author. No promises.

As much as she had come to trust Helva, Wendy was not about to rely only on ‘potential’ from CAP scores. Any candidate was going to pass her personal inspection, her test, or she’d do without. Or maybe draft Gunny...

After the extraction, she put together her interview team, her brother, her sister, Summer, and Helva. She’d heard the story of Katie and her latent pedophile master, so her first test was exposure to obviously underage children. Summer’s pregnancy was obvious. If any adult was going to be tempted, clingy, scantily clad, even pregnant children should make that apparent. Especially if a child were behaving in a sexually provocative manner.

First, though, the candidates were observed while they were eating with their concubines and dependents. What were the interactions? Was there discipline? Did the new families seem happy? And more.

Wendy had chosen her finalist candidates well. Even ‘happening onto’ Helva’s realistic hologram enthusiastically licking Wendy’s lightly downed pussy brought on no inappropriate actions. Two of her candidates, in their private interviews with her, politely pointed out that she was violating Confederacy policy. Where upon, to their obvious relief, Helva materialized and explained the test.

All were asked if they could professionally partner with a preteen, taking and giving direction as a situation warranted. Finally, two were chosen for Helva and three for the Kuh. Others were placed in ‘inventory’ for later placement on Pern.

The two ships were filled to capacity. As anticipated, kids were everywhere, inquisitive, active. Early on, one of the scoutmasters was lunching at a table full of musicians and explaining the challenge of keeping over a hundred kids of varying ages productively busy. “So why not music lessons? Form a band? Put on a play? You’ve got two ships loaded with potential teachers and directors, most of them bored.” The idea was seized upon, and a battle of the bands competition was planned for their stopover at Azahar.