Chapter 76

I explained to Sparkle what the drone had warned me about as Margaret left. She cursed and said she'd better get going too since she would need to warn her people to be ready if the altered plan didn't reduce the numbers enough. Reluctantly I let go of her. I just lay there while she showered and dressed. Then I got up and rinsed off myself.

After I'd dressed I wandered down into the offices and found Rodney. He was heading up the small contingent that was trying to make plans to get some type of education system going. I told him the drone was preparing some plans to help him with it. He was curious about it so I told him if he wanted it I would give the OK for his virus to contact him and let the drone send him a report on what was being prepared. He was delighted and so I thought an approval to my virus and told Rodney he probably should go take a nap. He left at once.

I couldn't get over how smoothly things seemed to be running now and I wondered what the next fuckup would be. Surely they weren't over. I could see the drone and the viruses would help us avoid them in the future. The drone had averted a major snafu this morning with the heads up about our broadcast. I decided to go down and watch the process for the first announcement.

I went to the studio we were using for the broadcast on CNN's former channel. No live broadcast was going out. On a monitor I could see a movie was on the air. I watched it for a few minutes and a small window would appear telling people an AM radio station was also operating now and instructing them where to tune. It also explained if they couldn't get the AM signal yet others would be coming online later.

Apparently they were using the Satellite Broadcast to direct survivors to the radio frequencies. The radio's range could be managed more easily so the call up information would be going out via radio. I wandered around a little and found the radio broadcast booth. The two anchor babes were in it and seemed to make an announcement every few minutes.

I idly wondered how many people were actually listening to the transmission. We'd have no way of knowing how many were coming until they got here. I noticed a message in my immediate memory area. My virus sent that it had requested the drone to update me on the number of people listening to the broadcast and the number of those who had decided to come in.

I had the figures in about fifteen minutes. Twenty-two hundred and sixteen people had heard the announcement so far and nine hundred and thirteen had decided to come to the hotel. Two hundred and six were already on the way.

I went to find Margaret so I could give her the happy news. She was in her office. When I gave her the figures she called down to the studio and asked them to stop broadcasting the call, since we had nearly a thousand headed this way already.

"Jack, do you realize we won't have any control over the ones coming in today," Margaret asked.

"We won't have direct control over them until they've been tricked. We will have information telling us if any are likely to give us any trouble. The drone will point out individuals who need our attention and we can have the nurses examine them at once." I told her grinning.

"What makes you think only men are capable of giving us trouble?" Margaret asked.

"I guess it's my overwhelming confidence in the magnetism of my personality. I just always assume I will be able to handle any recalcitrant women," I said, grinning again.

"I understand, and I'm inclined to agree with you to a certain extent. You do realize if we get a thousand people joining us today there will more than likely be eight hundred women and two hundred men. I think eight hundred new women might tax even your abilities," she said, and laughed.

"I had forgotten it completely about somehow. I just assumed we would get nearly equal amounts of men and women. I know it was a ridiculous assumption and if I'd thought about it for a minute I would have known I was being foolish.

"It might make things a little difficult. We have male trick teams I know, but it isn't as easy to get a woman to go for a quickie as it is to convince a man to dip his wick with a willing nurse," I said.

"Maybe and maybe not. I'm assuming most of the women who come in will be attached to a male also coming in. Once we trick the male he can take care of his own women."

"It should be a help and if women do come in alone they might be more amenable to a little slap and tickle if they've been alone for a while," I said, but I knew I was just hoping for the best.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what develops," Margaret said.

"I'll ask the drone to check over the data of all those who are coming and warn us about any who might need immediate attention."

People started arriving less than two hours after the first broadcast started. They were met at the airport gate and directed to the receiving area of the hotel. Interviewers were waiting for them there and their vital statistics were recorded, even though we could get any information we wanted about them from the drone. We didn't feel like we should let them in on that little fact just now, or maybe ever.

They were all asked if they would like to participate in our efforts or if they would rather just stay here for shelter and security. I had already decided I wanted to maintain my all-volunteer workforce if it could support us. I wasn't going to make people work if they didn't want to. Their wishes along these lines were recorded along with information they volunteered regarding what they might be qualified to do if they were inclined to help.

The machinery was under way now. I got a memory flash telling me there were now eleven hundred and eight people who had decided to come in. The last of them should be at the hotel by four PM. I also had a list of twenty-seven men and sixty-two women who should be brought under control immediately.

Sixteen of these men were already actively planning to reconnoiter for situations they could take advantage of and planned to leave again if things looked too difficult to manipulate. They would be in for a big surprise.

Most of the women who needed attention were just listed as very intelligent and very manipulative. The drone pointed out they had already been the cause of much consternation in the groups they were with.

The drone suggested the best approach for most of these women would be to have them examined by doctors who seemed to be higher ranking. I gave Margaret the drone's suggestions and list of arrivals who needed attention and she said she could take care of it.

A gathering was arranged that evening and I made a short speech to all the new volunteers. I welcomed them and laid out the no coerced sex rules, making sure I repeated that infractions would not be tolerated. I also explained again that work was not required to obtain subsistence or security. I did mention any participation by them would be greatly appreciated.

Since there were so many, Margaret explained I wouldn't have time to greet each one of them individually. She told them I was usually at the hotel every day and they should feel free to introduce themselves to me if they ran across me.

I was glad there wasn't going to be another receiving line. It wasn't that I didn't want to meet the people, I did. Meeting a thousand people in an endless line everyday didn't seem much like actually meeting them to me. It was more like a useless formality that took hours and hours.

When I got back upstairs for my supper I found Sparkle and Seven there. We talked and they said they would like to get started with their memory modification. When Margaret arrived later she said she was anxious too, but she didn't think she could take the time right now to do it.

My memory gave me a tickle and I saw a message from my virus. It told me Margaret could get her modification in two stages. The first would take only a couple of hours and could be done during her normal sleep period. The second would still take about twenty-two hours.

She would get some advantages from just the first stage, though they would only amount to better utilization of her current memory and intelligence. I asked Margaret and she agreed to undergo the first phase tonight.

I was curious about this partial enhancement. I asked Margaret to be ready to report any advantages she found from this stage alone. She promised she would try. My virus messaged me and told me even the first stage would allow Margaret and I to communicate through notes passed between our viruses and our memory, since the immediate retrieval area had been placed in existing cranial memory. I felt strange for a moment discussing the usage of my brain with what was technically an infection.

I got a message from my virus shortly. It pointed out even though it had entered my body uninvited it really felt it was more of a symbiote than an infection. I wondered if I had offended my virus.

It sent me another message that assured me it wasn't capable of being offended. This was starting to seem a little strange to me so I asked the virus not to communicate with me for a couple of hours unless an emergency came up. Frankly, I thought that I needed some time to just be a human again if I could get it.

Nancy and the others were all back at the house but I contacted Clair and asked her to have them return to help watch over Seven, Sparkle, and Margaret. They loaded up and made the trip.

When Nancy discovered what was going on she demanded to be in on the action. I graciously consented at once, knowing I didn't really have a choice.

"I guess you need more memory so you can keep up with my short comings."

"Jack, you have several faults, but short comings aren't any of them. I'd say there isn't any thing short on you." Nancy said, to howls from the others.

"Yes Ma'am." I said, and then gave her a little grin.

"That's enough of that Jack. Actually, I'm intrigued by the thought of being able to send you a message anytime I want to."