Chapter 2

Jordan, Norman, Harold, and Jordan’s immediate office staff were relaxing in the small break room/bar on the top floor of the colony administration building. After a long day of meetings and project reviews, their conversation bounced from topic to topic. Throughout the discussion, when a concubine passed near their sponsor, they were touched and made aware they were appreciated. Each sponsor limited their touches to their concubines, but eyes ... That was another matter altogether. Beauty should be enjoyed by all within sight.

Tori noticed several men had empty drink glasses and jumped up for refills. The men watched appreciatively as she almost pranced across the floor to the replicator. Nothing was said during her departure or return with the new drinks and snacks. The men were all too busy watching the beautiful woman serve them. After Tori resumed her seat, she curled against Jordan and settled in to listen to the conversation. This was supposed to be a relaxing, social function, but much of the discussion involved current projects and problems.

Jordan looked at his father, Harold, and asked, “How are you and the other new engineers settling in, Dad?”

Harold sighed before he said, “I think we’re going to be okay. It was quite a shock for a few days. The social upheaval was going to be bad enough, going from an enlightened, if you can call it that, society where men and women were equal to one where men are in charge and women are second-class citizens again, but that would be incorrect. A sponsor, whether a man or woman, is the master of their household, and the concubines are less than nothing to the Confederacy. Most of us try to mitigate the impact on our concubines, but it’s still a struggle for us and them.

“Then we have the unpleasant fact that the knowledge we worked for years to obtain is either wrong or so outdated we will never use it again. We must re-educate ourselves before we will be useful to our new society. It’s quite humbling for sponsors and concubines. Many of us are still struggling to find our way.”

“I understand. We all went through that. I tried to minimize the loss of self and individual freedoms for the concubines, but I could only go so far because of the rules laid down by the AIs. As for your knowledge, I think you’ll be surprised at how helpful our Earth education will be. Those of us who came before you have used many of our concepts to use Confederacy technology. We modify or use their discoveries differently than the Confederacy BECAUSE of our Earth education.

“That’s one reason we need more professionals. Just looking at the Confederacy’s old, outdated (to them) technology with our skill set can result in modifications or different uses that favorably impact the conflict.”

“I can see that. I agree, but we have so much to learn before we can make useful contributions again. I don’t think we understood how primitive our knowledge was until we were hit in the face with the differences.”

“Well, you’ll all find your niche again and begin contributing shortly. You’ll be old hands and will be able to help out the next group when they arrive.”

At that point, Tony jumped into the conversation, “Speaking of which, how are we going to get the colonists we need now that DECO has cut us off?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Louie told me that they can’t prevent us from obtaining colonists. They can only refuse to use their ships and marines to pick them up and bring them to us. We are already building small K’Treel ships and pods. I propose we build a few larger combat ships and an Aurora or two, then extract our own colonists. I know some engineers are already working on the first Aurora, so it won’t be long before we can begin extracting new colonists. I plan to be more selective than DECO, so there will be few public extractions. I want to target people who will enhance our society and research, people who will fit in with minimal interpersonal friction. We’ll need some generalists if I can use that term, but not as many as if we were building a large fighting force.

“We want a good cross-section of society for our sponsors and concubines. We need researchers, educators, technicians, civil servants, ship officers, and crew. Can anyone suggest a way to target and extract citizens in the needed categories?”

Bianca said, “Why don’t you just do as you did with Norm or the engineers he brought back on his last trip to Earth? Figure out who you want and go get them.”

“That’s one way, but it’s slow and dangerous. We have to approach the target and then go elsewhere, at least some of the time, for their concubines. If they don’t have concubines selected in a pre-pack, they have to select concubines, and then we have to pick everyone up. We need a better way, but I can’t think of one.”

Su Li quietly asked, “Sir, why do you not have them come to you? That would save time and effort, would it not?”

Jordan turned to his quiet concubine and bit his lower lip, trying to think of a way to answer her. He said, “It would be ideal if we could do it, but I’m afraid it’s impossible. How would we target the ones we want? How would we ensure only they and their concubines came to the rendezvous? With any public invitation, we’d have every crazy and hopeful in the country at the extraction point. At the head of the list would be Earth First and all the other crackpots and religious fanatics. It would be a bloodbath.”

Sally said, “Don’t be too anxious to dismiss her suggestion, Son. You couldn’t publicize an extraction, but what if you invited your targets to some other function and then extracted them either at the function or in transit to or from it?”

Jordan had the trademark look of someone communicating with the AI, then answered his mother, “That might work. We would have to find some function our targets would be interested in attending, and even then, we might or might not get them. What kind of function would interest enough of the target group to get several to attend?”

Harold said, “It could be a professional seminar or an awards banquet.”

Tony said, “Gaming. We have a GameCon, man. I bet we could get a ton of gamers if we publicized it enough.”

George excitedly said, “Yeah! That’d be so cool!”

Jordan wasn’t too pleased with his friend’s idea and said, “When are you guys going to grow up? We want serious people, professionals. Not some overgrown kid couch potatoes.”

Tony cut in, “Dude! Cool it, man. Look at us three, man. We were gamers, and we had the score, too. Now we’re here and do the work, but we still game, man.”

Jordan forced his disgust with his friends’ manner of speech down while he considered their statements. He tried mightily to ignore their gamer speech, but it wasn’t easy. They were both brilliant and capable but insisted on speaking like ... well, like boys.

Norm glanced at Tony, then Jordie before he said, “Jordie, he may have something there. We don’t want to get all our people from a GameCon, but that might be how to get our worker bees. I bet many people who would attend will have sponsor-level CAPs. All we’d have to do is figure out how to select the ones we want and separate them from the common herd.

“Louie, I know you can read CAP cards from a distance. Can you compare scores and rank them for compatibility with our current colonists?”

“It is possible, but I cannot do that.”

“Why? I thought TU’ULL AIs were the most capable.”

“That is true, Norm, but even I cannot read a CAP card on Earth from here. It would have to be an AI in Earth orbit.”

Norm blushed, sighed, and said, “Damn literal AIs. I’m sorry, Louie. I meant, is it possible for an AI to do that?”

“Absolutely.”

Elsie entered the discussion, “If you take me with you on this mission, I could be of assistance, Captain and Governor. Remember, we Tu’ull are much more capable than the Darjee, and I have a vested interest in your endeavor.”

Jordan sat, listening to the conversation and sipping his drink while he thought about their dilemma. Shit, he hated the poison the replicators called alcohol. He wrenched his mind back to the subject at hand. They needed more citizens, and currently, they had no fast or easy way to obtain them. It was plain that DECO had no intention of sending more colonists, so it was up to them if their colony was to grow. They could either increase their population by having tons of babies and waiting a long time, or they had to extract new sponsors and concubines from Earth.

During a lull in the conversation, Jordan asked, “How long will it take for us to complete a larger ship and begin extracting people for Cay?”

The men involved with manufacturing, design, and shipping looked back and forth before Harold said, “I don’t think any of us know for sure, son. If I understand what I’ve learned correctly, we need more and larger extruders, or whatever you call them, to build the ships. Conversely, we could build one piecemeal and assemble it, but that would take a long time and could be, probably would be, a poorer quality ship.”

Louie said, “Governor, I have been helping Harold and Norman with this problem. I believe we can build an Aurora and have it ready to make its maiden voyage to Earthat in approximately two months, twenty-six days, eleven hours...”

Jordan laughed and broke into Louie’s conversation, “Ok, Louie, we get it. We could have a completed ship in about three months. How would that affect our other projects?”

“We would have to remove the industrial replicator from use in building the space station and moon bases until the ship was completed. It is the only replicator large enough to build the Aurora. As you humans say, the smaller replicators could take up some of the slack while the industrial replicator is building the ship.”

Jordan looked around the room before he said, “Comments?”

The room was quiet momentarily, and there was a surge of comments almost immediately. After the noise died, Jordan said again, “It sounded like you’re all in agreement. We need to reprioritize our construction to build an Aurora so we can perform extractions.”

Jordan looked around the room again before saying, “Louie, as soon as the industrial replicator completes its current build, re-program it and begin building the Aurora. Also, begin re-prioritizing other work and reassigning tasks to the smaller replicators. Except for Dad and Norm, continue your current assignments. Any questions?” He looked around the room again before smiling and saying, “Good. Now, let’s get back to the social hour. I need some finger food.”

The next three months were busy for everyone. In addition to trying to grow the colony, many of the sponsors and higher-educated concubines were burning the midnight oil working on the Aurora, which they decided to name ‘FINGER’ because that’s what it was, a Finger to DECO and the REMF establishment at Earthat.

Louie and Elsie were confused during the naming discussion, especially after the final decision on a name for the new ship. Upon the final vote confirming the ship’s name, Elsie asked, “Why do you all say Finger is an appropriate name for our new ship? What do phalanges have to do with the ship?”

Tony replied before anyone else could, “Elsie, it is very appropriate, but few will understand. It shows our disrespect for those assholes.”

“I still do not understand.”

Jordan replied, “Elsie when a human gives someone the finger like this (he made a fist then extended his middle finger), it means Fuck You.”

“So you wish to have sexual relations with DECO and named the ship like this to let them know? Why do you not just ask?”

“No, Elsie. In this context, it is derogatory, an insult. It means we do not like what they have done or said and take exception to it. We are going to do our own thing. There is also a connotation that we’re light-fingering colonists. Many years ago, thieves would light-finger goods from stores or persons. In other words, light-fingering was stealing.”

“Why do you not tell them directly instead of giving them the finger, as you say, and why does naming the Aurora Finger serve that purpose? I also do not like the idea of stealing. I will not support that endeavor. Perhaps your CAP test results are erroneous if you consider theft.”

Jordan sighed before he said, “I think you’ll just have to trust us on this. Most won’t understand, but some will. Knowing those idiots, it will be too subtle for them. We’re not stealing, so put your mind to rest. That is just an expression in this case. We’re merely taking volunteers ahead of other potential extractions. Should we take one desired by other colonies, they might consider we stole them.

“Now, let’s get back to the subject at hand. Finger is completed. Now, we need to complete the shakedown voyage as soon as possible. Norm, if you want it, she’s yours to command. Assuming you take command of Finger, who would you recommend as the new Captain for Elsie?”

“Are you crazy? Hell yeah, I want the command. I’m sorry, Elsie. It’s nothing against you; I hope you know. Humans always strive to increase their responsibility, and command of Finger will be a giant step upward for me. I will always think highly of you.”

“You know AIs do not have feelings, Norm. You cannot hurt something we do not have. I understand fully. Millennia ago, my Tu’ull commanders did the same. Numerous Captains have come and gone during my lifetime.”

“Thank you, Elsie. Now, Jordan, regarding the question you asked about my replacement for Elsie’s Commander, I suggest you promote the XO, Lieutenant Jones. I believe he’s ready for command.”

“OK, done deal. Give Finger a good workout, but I want your first extraction trip to begin as soon as possible.”

Almost nine weeks later, the Finger slid into Earth orbit. Their maiden voyage was problem-free, and their reception upon breaking out of hyper went smoothly until the day after their arrival. When he reviewed the morning reports, the newly promoted Colonel Roger Thomas saw a ship’s name he did not recognize in the arrivals column. He yelled out his open office door at his receptionist, “Lieutenant Harris, I don’t believe I’m familiar with one of the ships that arrived yesterday. Where did the Finger come from, and what is its purpose here at Earthat?”

“Sir, I believe it is a new colony ship built at Cay. They’re here for their first cargo of colonists, Sir.”

“WHAT! Who authorized their movement in-system and orbit? Get me the Captain of that ship immediately.”

“Aye, Aye, Sir.”

Colonel Thomas sat seething, awaiting the connection to the Finger. He didn’t even allow Norm to greet him before he began berating him, “What do you think you’re doing here at Earth, whoever you are? How dare you waltz in here and take up orbit like you owned the place! You will break orbit immediately and return to that failed colony you call home. Do I make myself clear? And you’re out of uniform. If I see you again, you’d better be in the proper uniform.”

“Colonel, I’m sure you know we’re here to extract sponsors. We’ll break orbit as soon as we’ve filled our pods. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to work so we can depart as soon as possible.” Norm broke the connection before Roger could respond.

Roger sat at his desk glaring at the communications screen in shock, his face red and pulse racing. He couldn’t believe the gall of those upstarts. He looked toward the ceiling and spoke to the AI, “I want you to order the AI on the Finger to depart this system immediately and ensure they do so.”

“Sir, I cannot. They are a Confederacy ship here on Confederacy business. They were given authorization to enter the system and assume orbit around your planet to select and remove sponsors and concubines. I have been assured they will depart immediately after loading their cargo.”

“I am in charge of traffic control in this system and ordered them to leave. I rescind their permission to orbit Earth. Now, do your job.”

Roger was so angry that he decided to take an early lunch to relax. He picked up his cover and stormed out of his office. Walking past the Lieutenant, he snarled, “I’m going to lunch. I’ll be back later.”

Instead of going to the canteen for lunch as usual, he went to his quarters. He didn’t want to talk to anyone and thought he could unwind in the quiet of his home. Instead of going into his soundproofed office and closing the door, he poured himself a glass of actual Earth-distilled 24-year-old scotch before he relaxed on the couch, leaned back, and ordered the AI to play his favorite classical music medley.

Roger was almost asleep, barely holding his now empty glass, when the gravity lift settled to the main floor from above, and the room was filled with screeching children running back and forth. He jerked awake from the noise in time to see his youngest concubine descending with the remainder of the children. Without thinking, he jumped up and strode angrily toward the woman, fury distorting his face.

When he was close enough, Roger slapped the poor woman as hard as he could while he snarled, “You stupid cunt! How many times have I told you to keep those damn brats quiet? Damn stupid bitches are more trouble than they’re worth,” he said before he turned and stomped into his office, closing the door behind him.

When he hit her and knocked her down, the woman dropped the young child she was carrying. The landing, even in the reduced gravity of the pod, caused a landing hard enough that the child broke its right arm. The child was crying, and the other children were screaming and crying, trying to get their mother to wake up.

Having seen the entire affair, the AI locked the Colonel’s door and called for help. A medical team rapidly arrived, and soon after that, the Master-at-Arms arrived with a senior officer to supervise taking Colonel Thomas into custody. If the only injury had been to his concubine, no harm, no foul, but a child was injured. A snarling, spitting, angry man was led from his pod and directly to his boss, Admiral Sikes’s office.

Colonel Thomas was led into the Admiral’s office to face him. The admiral sat quietly for several moments, glaring at Roger before he said, “Roger, what in the hell were you thinking? You broke a child’s arm. I can’t cover for you on this one.”

“What? No, sir, I did no such thing. Did that lying cunt claim I hit a child? I’m going to whip her within an inch of her life.”

“I’m afraid that’ll be difficult, Roger. When you hit her, she dropped the girl she was carrying. You’re concubine hit the table near her when she fell and broke her neck.”

Roger felt his stomach knot when he heard the results of his fit of temper. That damn asshole from Cay had fucked him again. His mind immediately turned to his problems, trying to figure out a way out of his dilemma.”

Admiral Sikes looked at the escorting officer and said, “Please escort the Colonel to confinement until we can impanel a Court Martial.”

Norman was unaware of Roger’s problems and continued working on the extraction. He wouldn’t have cared much had he known about Roger’s impending trial. Oh, he would have been sorry for the concubine and child but not so much for Roger.

During Rogers’s interview with the Admiral, Norm and his Marines met to solidify their plans for extractions. Norm asked, “Finger, have you identified Sponsors that meet the compatibility and educational criteria we established before our arrival here at Earthat?”

“Yes, Captain, I have. I am afraid there are many more than we can fit on board. How shall I reduce the number to only 96 sponsors?”

“I thought we discussed methods of elimination while en route.”

“We did, but those qualifying still exceed available capacity.”

“Ok. Please show a map with potential sponsors pinpointed: display names, CAP score, and specialty for each concentration. We’ll begin extractions from the areas with larger concentrations of our targeted sponsors and work down in size until we fill our pods. Does everyone still agree on the method we’ll use to extract the sponsors?”

Sergeant Collins looked uncomfortable, stood, and said, “Sir, I still believe it’s too dangerous. I think we’d be better off extracting the new sponsors as everyone else does. We can’t give you adequate security if we have that many people coming and going.”

“I understand your position, Sergeant, but we can’t be guaranteed to obtain our targeted sponsors any other way.”

“Sir, you can’t guarantee we’ll get them this way either. What if they don’t accept our invitation to the convention or the clubs?”

“Then we’ll try to pick them up at their homes as we did when we were using Elsie for transport.”

The unhappy marine stood at attention and replied, “Aye, Aye, Sir.”

“Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started. Tony, you and George have the lead on the convention. I’ll lead the targeted pickups at the clubs, with Harold assisting. He has several people in mind and a way to entice them into coming to us. Remember, we want to fill as quickly as possible, but safety for us, our targeted sponsors, AND the general public is paramount.

“Harold and I will begin our operation tomorrow. You two and your team need to find a venue for your convention and set it up as soon as possible. I doubt we can hold it this trip since that type of program has a long lead time. Find the venue, let contracts for publicity, catering, and so forth as soon as possible. We’ll ensure Finger is back in time to pick up the families from the convention. Now, let’s get started.”

Tony and George went to another room to begin working on the venue and publicity for their gamer’s convention. Harold and Norm remained in the room they had been in while the Marines went back to the Marine Country. Harold said, “Norm, I don’t know enough sponsors to fill all 96 pods. How will we do that if we don’t have the convention to choose from?

“Harold, think about it. You know people you want and have already given their names to Finger. Jordan and the folks on Cay gave us some names, too. Those individuals have been vetted and placed on our order of merit list if they’re sponsor grade or on a desirable concubine list if they aren’t. We work down the list until we extract everyone on the list, or they refuse to go with us, or we fill all the pods. After that, we ask the new sponsors for suggestions, and Finger vets them, and we do the same. We also have all the sponsors Elsie and Finger identified earlier that are compatible with our population. Remember, Finger can read CAP cards and access records of those individuals. It may be slow going, but I have no doubt we can fill all our pods several times over. All we have to do is get them to attend a meeting where we can gather several at once.”

Harold winced before he said, “I forgot the unknown sponsors we identified earlier. If we have to dip into that pool, we’ll have to find a way to vet their educational credentials, won’t we? I understand the concept, Norm. I just worry about the execution. I understand the Sergeant’s points and even agree with him, but I don’t see a better way to do the extractions. In some way, the Confederacy has it right. Isolate a venue, take the sponsors, and move on. We’re just asking for trouble sending invitations and waiting for the fish to come to us. Sooner or later, Earth First will get wind of one of our extractions. If not them, someone will talk, and we’ll have a large influx of hopeful sponsors and potential concubines who weren’t invited.”

Norm sighed and replied, “I worry about that, too, but I’m still convinced we can do it if we follow the plan. Who’ll refuse a free meal and an interview for a great job in their field? I still believe that if we use that enticement, we’ll be successful and keep the danger within tolerable limits. If we get an Earth First sympathizer in the mix, we should be able to eliminate them safely.

“Now, shall we pop down to Earth and find a venue for our first Job Fair or interview or whatever?”

“Where to first? Austin or Cupertino? They each have the same number of targets.”

“I think Cupertino. We can pull from the entire Silicon Valley there, and those tech weenies are always looking for startups. They all want to get in on the ground floor and make a killing.”

Norm and Harold arrived at a testing station and began their search for a venue. Most of the larger venues were unavailable, having been booked months before, but they kept searching until Norm got smart and asked Elsie to research them. Within moments, Elsie found a Sheraton hotel that had a cancellation because the startup that reserved the room went bankrupt.

Norm and Harold quickly made their way to the hotel, and within an hour, they had the venue. The available date was only eleven days in the future, so they had to scramble to get invitations out to their targeted sponsors. Thankfully, with Confederacy technology, printing and presentation materials were quickly available. Invitations were sent via e-mail and followed up with a paper invitation delivered afterward. They even sent invitations to several engineers, programmers, and technical people from the failed startup. The invitations requested that each attendee bring their spouse or significant other(s), promising information they would find interesting should the candidate decide to join the new endeavor.

While searching for the venue and the conference dates, Norm and Harold extracted several individual ‘targets of opportunity’ for extraction one at a time. Only one caused any problems, but it was a doozy. The man, a PhD, was chief of research for a small Aeronautical Engineering firm and demanded that his entire team be extracted with him. Only three of the remaining twelve persons on the team were sponsor grade, and the four sponsors had pre-packs that did not include any of the remaining nine team members.

Doctor Small, the man they wanted and had selected before leaving Cay, was insistent. Take them all, or he wouldn’t go. Finally, Norman agreed to his demands after obtaining promises from the non-sponsored concubines that they would accept concubinage with other sponsors if allowed to continue working on Doctor Small’s team.

While Norman and Harold were awaiting the dates for their ‘conference,’ Tony and George returned from their preparations and cornered Norman. Tony was so excited that he reverted to his joker personality again and gushed, “DUDE! We’re Golden, Man! We don’t have to set up our own Con. George and I discovered a huge conference scheduled in Vegas next week. It’s going to be super! It’s mostly about computers, electronics, and crap, but it also has a software section for new software to run on the faster machines Confederacy technology has made possible. There’ll be engineers, programmers, AND gamers running all over the town, Man. All we have to do is send invitations to the dudes and dudettes we want and hope they attend on our dime, man. If they don’t, we scoop up the ones that do and then pick up the others before we take off.”

Norman and Harold looked at each other with smiles. Harold beat Norm to the punch, saying, “Ok, Tony. If I understand you correctly, you discovered a scheduled convention that mirrors the one we were considering, and it’s next week in Vegas.”

“What I said, Dude. All we have to do is pop in, scoop up our dudes, and take off. Easy, peasy, man.”

“And how do we ensure our targets are in attendance and separate them from the other attendees? Also, what about their pre-packs? How are we going to go all over collecting them?”

“Man, don’t be dense. Everyone knows these things are pick-up magnets. I guarantee they’ll have their concubines if they come, and they’ll stick together like glue.”

Elsie interjected, “For once, Tony is correct. If they have a pre-pack and attend this gathering, the odds are nearing 100% that their concubines will be with them. Unfortunately, it is also nearly certain the crowd will be filled with Earth First terrorists. You will have to be extremely careful during the operation.”

Tony said, “Yeah, Elsie, we get it, but we can entice the dudes and dudes into our lair in many ways. There are always party rooms and demonstrations. We’ve cabbaged onto a hospitality room and booth space already. We can extract the targets from it or wait until they return to their rooms and nab them while they’re the only ones in the room. Like I said, Easy peasy.”

They set up two booths at the convention. One was for employees, one for new hardware and software. The individuals they were interested in recruiting were shown tablets with informational recordings. When each candidate first took the tablet, they received a prick on their finger to inject nanites. The screen swirled, and the two, working together, gave a hypnotic suggestion, almost impossible for the target to ignore, to visit the hospitality room with their concubines.

Soon, the operation dubbed ‘Operation Necessity’ by the planners on Finger was in full swing. Harold was responsible for the individual, single-sponsor extractions and the final plans and execution of the Job Fair extractions. Tony and George ramrodded the Convention extraction, and Norman commanded the ship, extractions, and mission.