Chapter 1: The St Petersburgh Extraction

L’ielit thought of herself as a front commander. The front line was Earth. The enemies were time and stupidity. With a growing number of people, stupidity grows, that’s a fact. L’ielit had to fill the Melbourne, one of the biggest transport ships of the Confederacy, with a quarter million people so the level of stupidity would be immense. L’ielit’s strategy was to split the crowd into smaller groups. Today’s goal was St. Petersburg, Florida. The plan was to extract the whole town.

“Go!” The command could be heard by five thousand Marines on board the Melbourne and two Tarawa class assault ships. Drones had delivered hundreds of transporter disks all over St. Pete. An equal number of transporters were lined up at the walls of the hangars on the Tarawa class ships Bendigo and Jundah and in the transporter rooms of the cube ship Melbourne. It took the five thousand Marines only seconds to go through the transporters. In the meantime, the AI had erected a grid of interdiction fields, separating the whole city in fields of two to four city blocks.

Within St. Pete, every TV and radio channel had been taken over by the AI and was broadcasting the message that the officers of the extraction groups were also spreading with the help of amplifier systems. “This is a Confederacy extraction. Please stay calm and leave the buildings. We have the whole day for this event.”

Thousands of drones were patrolling all over the city, scanning buildings for people who hadn’t heard the message yet and, more importantly, scanning for armed troublemakers. One hundred Marines were observing the drones and were ready to remotely pull the trigger on the stingers mounted on the drones. Without the AI, it still would have been a hopeless endeavor. Within the first ten minutes, they had had to stun nearly three hundred people. The worst incident was a group of five Earth First terrorists that started firing with AR-15 rifles at the growing crowd in the street from the safety of their house. L’ielit was still satisfied with the results. There were only fifteen seriously wounded that were currently in med tubes, one hundred and thirty-three lightly wounded and not a single dead. Four of the seriously wounded were Marines who had tried to shield people with their body armor.

Sabrina woke up late at nine o’clock in the morning. It had been a long night, celebrating the birthday of Humphrey, one of her friends from the university. Her parents had vanished eight months ago in another Confederacy pick-up, so Sabrina had the whole flat for herself. Nobody was forcing her to get up and go to the early lectures after a wild night. Nobody was there to give her a ticking-off for returning at two o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday night.

Samantha was lazy with her education but she cared a lot for her body. She stood one hundred and sixty centimeters, with long curly blonde hair and a sun tanned flawless body. It took her an hour to prepare for a normal day and another two hours in the evening at a local fitness center to keep her shape. But it was definitely worth it. She could get in any boy’s pants within an hour. Yesterday had been different. She remembered that Humphrey had asked her to join his pre-pack, so he definitely had to be a sponsor. She believed him without asking for his CAP card.

Samantha didn’t realize what had woken her up first, but something was different. Then she realized that there was not the normal noise level from the street. She couldn’t hear any cars. Instead, she could hear people, although she wasn’t able to understand what they were saying. Samantha rushed to the window of her bedroom and looked outside. She was shocked to see an interdiction field in the middle of the street. All she could think of was, “am I inside or outside?”

At nine o’clock, the auditorium was only half-full. Humphrey realized that nearly everybody who had been with him celebrating his twentieth birthday was missing. He had a hangover himself but had managed to reach the university in time for the quantum dynamics lecture. It had helped that his mother was a resolute woman who didn’t hesitate to use a wet cloth to wake him up.

Suddenly a speaker announcement interrupted the professor’s speech about Bohr and Heisenberg. The president’s secretary was announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is a big Confederacy extraction going on. Please keep calm. Follow the evacuation plan to leave the building. The Marines want everybody on the streets. This is not a drill and this is not a joke.” Then everybody could hear the woman’s cheer when she rushed out of her office.

Professor Harrington watched the students leaving in joy. Some of the female students were already dropping pieces of their clothing. Not that they wore that much. Fashion had changed drastically since the professor had started his job at the university twelve years ago. He often had had a hard time looking at his students and focusing on the lessons with so much female flesh exposed. Daisy Dukes and bikini tops that barely covered the nipples, combined with a see-through blouse were the more conservative costumes this year.

Professor Harrington noticed that one of his best students, Humphrey Plutarkis, was still sitting at his place, obviously being in a bad mood and cursing. “What’s up Mr. Plutarkis? Don’t you want to leave Earth with the Confederacy?” he asked.

“Professor, I’m probably the unluckiest student today. I turned twenty yesterday and I had a little party. Most of my friends are missing today, including those who have agreed to join my pre-pack,” Humphrey explained.

Professor Harrington couldn’t suppress laughter. “Sorry son but there should be more than enough willing women to follow your lead. I guess the whole campus is within the interdiction field. The Confederacy has done pick-ups at universities more than once.”

Professor Harrington and Humphrey followed the other students to the collecting point outside of the building where two Marines were already waiting and explaining the basic rules of the extraction.

“You know what, Mr. Plutarkis?” Professor Harrington asked after they each got a card reader. “I’ll go and ask the Marines if they can get my wife. I would really feel bad leaving her behind. I’ve heard that they sometimes do that during dependant pick-ups. Maybe I’m lucky.”

Humphrey got the idea. He tried to call the members of his pre-pack with his cell phone. Unfortunately the net was down. Just when he put the phone in his pocket a call came in.

“Hello, Humphrey Plutarkis here,” he asked.

<This is the AI speaking. You tried to contact somebody? Maybe I can help you.> Humphrey was astonished. “Well, just yesterday I built a pre-pack. I hope all of them remember it. We were all a little drunk. I wanted to check whether at least one or two of them are within the interdiction field.”

<They most probably are, > the AI replied. <The whole town is within the interdiction field, although we have split it into smaller sections. Please try to reach your concubines. I’ll lead you through, Humphrey Plutarkis. Tell them to search for the nearest Marine. All they have to do is to say that they are in your pre-pack and agree to be your concubine, then they will be sent to the transport ship.>

“Thank you,” Humphrey was able to say before he was disconnected. He dialed the first number. “Hello, Samantha?”

“Oh my god, I’m so glad to hear you. I’m caught in an extraction! I know we were all drunk yesterday, but I really meant it that I would be happy to be your concubine. Where are you?”

“On the campus of course,” Humphrey answered.

Samantha started to cry. “I’m so sorry, but the pickup only includes three blocks.”

“Stop crying, Sam. They are picking up the whole town it seems. Just go to a Marine and tell him that you are in my pre-pack and that you accept my sponsorship. Then they’ll transport you to the colony ship. You will most probably have to wait for me for some time. So follow the orders of the Marines. Okay?”

“Ohmygod, ohmygod, are you serious? I’ll do everything you say! See you later!” Samantha was all excited.

Humphrey grinned. Samantha was an airhead. The only reason for her to visit the university was to hang around the new cool guys. Nobody was revealing his CAP score these days, but for her it had been obvious that at the university the percentage of sponsors was higher than at the mall. So she visited a lot of classes without understanding very much, asking the smart guys for private lessons. She returned the favor by seducing several of the nerds, including Humphrey. Humphrey knew all that but he wasn’t jealous. Even these days it was hard for a nerd to get laid by a beauty like Samantha.

The next one Humphrey called was Mike, his friend from early childhood on. Mike was one hundred and ninety centimeters tall, black and all muscles. He was clever enough for astrophysics or even quantum dynamics. Unfortunately there was not a single aggressive bone in Mike, which disqualified him as a sponsor for the Confederacy. He was keeping his good shape by walking or, to be precise, by running where others used a bike or a car.

“Hey Mike, where are you?” Humphrey asked when Mike answered the call.

“You woke me up, man. What’s up?” Mike replied with a sleepy voice.

Humphrey laughed out loud. “Damn you, look out your window! You’re sleeping away your extraction!”

“What? You’re kidding, right?”

“Listen to my words. Look out the window,” Humphrey repeated. He heard some noises from the other end of the line. “Now you can slowly close your mouth again. Okay?”

“Yeah, man,” Mike slowly realized what was going on.

“Do you remember last night, and I don’t mean the drinking!” Humphrey asked.

“You mean that pre-pack stuff? You really mean it? I mean, we are best friends, but hey, you could easily get another hot chick.”

Humphrey sighed. “Listen dude, I have a CAP score of 8.1 and I can take six concubines with me. That would be me and six horny chicks. I won’t survive the first week. Now go to the nearest Marine and tell him that you are in my pre-pack and that you accept my sponsorship or I will have to search for a replacement. As you said, we are best friends and it’s damn hard to replace a best friend.”

Mike realized that it was all true. “Man, I’m so glad, I won’t disappoint you.”

“Then don’t forget to bring your sister with you.”

“You were really serious about my little sister yesterday? I mean she is really getting on everybody’s nerves. However, she’s my sister and I’m the only one she has since our parents died in that accident.”

“Yeah, I’m serious. I won’t leave an eleven-year-old behind, even if she is the worst pain in the neck. Now move your ass, I have some more calls to do.”

The next one on the list was Olivia. She was a Mexican-American girl Humphrey had noticed in a restaurant three months ago. She was a waitress and Humphrey immediately liked her. Since then he had been a regular customer at that restaurant. They had talked several times and Humphrey learned a lot about Olivia and her family. A week ago he invited her to his birthday party, already planning to invite her to his pre-pack. Olivia and her whole family were conservative and Catholic, but not to the point where people started to act stupid.

“Humphrey, where are you? I’m so scared. I’m about to leave the house with my parents, wearing nothing but a necklace.”

“I’m on the campus of course. Gimme your dad for a minute,” Humphrey said. Humphrey knew that Mr. Sanchez was a veteran of the gulf war, now sitting in a wheelchair.

“Hello?” a male voice asked.

“Hello Mr. Sanchez, my name is Humphrey Plutarkis. I met your daughter at her job a few months ago and I am the reason for her being late last night. I just wanted to apologize for that. Your daughter is part of my pre-pack and I am offering her sponsorship, so she doesn’t need to join in this humiliating procedure.”

Mr. Sanchez had a big knot in his throat when he answered, “muchas gracias, señor! You can’t imagine how hard it is for me to send my daughter in an extraction. Olivia, ir a buscar su ropa interior. I am a sponsor myself. The only thing that would be worse than seeing her fucking the guys from next door would be to impregnate my little hija myself, even if I could rescue her by taking her as my concubine. I really hoped to find a good sponsor for my daughter. So if she is happy with you, than I am okay with this arrangement.”

“Good luck for your own selection of concubines, Mr. Sanchez. Can I talk to Olivia again?”

“Okay, where do I have to go and what do I have to do?” That was Olivia again, a lot more relaxed now.

“You’ll have to go to one of the Marines and tell him that you are in my pre-pack and that you accept my sponsorship. Then follow their orders and wait for me. I’m calling the others,” Humphrey ordered.

“It’ll take a few minutes to say good bye to my parents but I’m definitely on my way,” Olivia said happily.

When Humphrey terminated the call, Professor Harrington returned. “You won’t believe it, they are extracting the whole town,” he said.

Humphrey grinned. “I already know. I’m calling my pre-pack.”

“How many? I’m just curious,” the professor asked.

“I have a CAP score of 8.1 so I got six in my pre-pack. Unfortunately not one of those who are students showed up this morning.”

Professor Harrington reached for the young man’s shoulder and said, “Son, you need to be strong now. You are two short.” He couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Didn’t you listen to the announcements?”

“What do you mean?” Humphrey asked. He was a little irritated.

“They said every sponsor can take one more concubine if she is a skilled mother and another one more if it is a male,” Professor Harrington explained.

“Oh my god, another two more. This is either heaven or hell,” Humphrey replied. They both laughed.

“Son, I definitely hope for you that it is heaven. In my opinion the secret trick is to get someone who is able and willing to organize the household and who definitely has a crush on you, including all your quirks. Fortunately, I found someone like that twenty years ago. Now I have to find three more concubines, but that should be no big problem on the campus.”

When the professor was gone, Humphrey called his fourth concubine of his pre-pack. “Hello Nadine, Humphrey here. Where are you?”

“What do you think where I am?” Nadine was crying badly. “I am surrounded by an orgy! I nearly got shot when this stupid jock called me a frigid broom. Unfortunately he is a sponsor and I am not, so the Marines got a little upset when I slapped him.”

Humphrey laughed. He knew Nadine well. She was highly intelligent, a one hundred and fifty centimeter tall brunette and she was flat like a boy. Nadine wasn’t an easy girl. Humphrey had needed a whole month before she allowed him to reach under her shirt. Another month later, when the ice was finally broken, she turned out to be hot like a nuclear meltdown. Nadine never held back with comments and that caused her trouble more than once. Humphrey loved her for her character and wanted her in his family for her organizing talents.

“Listen, Nadine. Go to one of the Marines, tell him that you are in my pre-pack and that you accept my sponsorship. That is, if you still want me after that incident with a man,” Humphrey added.

“You can bet on that,” Nadine sniffed away her tears. “I don’t want to be the only nineteen-year-old who can’t find a sponsor in St. Pete. And you are too cute to refuse such an offer,” Nadine now purred over the phone.

“Very well, see you on board the colony ship,” Humphrey said before he ended the call.

The last ones on his list were the Harms sisters, Janette and Veronica. They were both very practical girls and were exploring various ways for surviving the Swarm attack. Humphrey got to know them during last semester break when he was taking lessons at a local diving school. The sisters were part of a group that tried to build an ark. They somehow got the information that the Sa’arm avoided large water areas, so they figured an ark could save their lives if they were not able to leave Earth. The sisters had indicated that their parents both were not allowed to join the Confederacy but refused to tell Humphrey why. Later he found out that Johan Harms was a local crime boss, specialized in protection money from the shop owners of Bay Pines and Kenneth City.

However, the sisters convinced Humphrey that their father was supporting them in any way to get them off Earth in time. He had sent them to the best schools and tried to improve their CAP scores. When Janette, the younger of the sisters, turned twenty and both of them didn’t manage to get a CAP score higher than 6.0, he accepted that their only way to leave Earth would be in the household of another sponsor. It was Veronica’s idea to build a pre-pack. She just guessed that Humphrey was a sponsor, valuing his behavior and his wide range of interests. However, Humphrey didn’t tell them his real score until yesterday.