Chapter 1

"Tonto," Rob asked, "are we ready on both ships?"

"We are, sir," Tonto replied. The full complement aboard Behemoth Bounty is in place and has coordinated with the existing Navy crew. Everything appears to be fine there and we are also set here. May I suggest that as we pull apart we hold a two family conference just to give everyone aboard both ships a degree of comfort concerning our ability to stay united in spite of distance?"

Heads nodded all around the bridge of the Kedah as they looked out across the expanse of space with only the Behemoth near by. There was no sensation of movement or acceleration, as the Behemoth seemed to drift lower and to the port side of the bridge view screen and grow smaller.

Val, aboard the Behemoth said, "Rob, do I sound as if I am getting farther away?"

"No mom, you sound just as you always do even though I've just lost sight of your ship against the background stars. Is your entire family gathered on the bridge as we are on the Kedah?"

"No," Val responded, "The old crew insists on having a watch on the bridge at all times – regular navy, you know. We are almost all here in our own staff meeting room and Tonto has swept it to make sure there are no bugs. There are many places where we can be observed or overheard on this ship so we will have to be careful until we get to Demeter and the old crew gets off. We are not all here right now, Charlie, Junie and Janie are trying hard to become pregnant and Tonto assures the twins that now is the time. You should have seen the grin on Charlie's face when the girls gave him the news."

"Rob, Val, family," Tonto said, "the Kedah is now at three fourths power and has shifted course for Kon-at in the Kon System. We are eighteen light minutes from the Behemoth's position and are on a 70 degree tangent to the line of Behemoth's flight, still within the plane of the galaxy. Do you remember the films of the first landing on the moon? There was a lag of 1.2 seconds from the time a message was sent until it was heard at the other end and the answer took another 1.2 seconds to get back, the wait for each complete exchange was aggravating and dangerous.

"Has anyone on either ship noticed a lag? As I said originally, we are in constant contact and know that we can maintain that for at least eight light years distance. We are better off than next door neighbors back on earth."

Val asked Tonto, "What do you expect to find on Kon-at? Is there anything special that made you select that destination?"

Tonto replied, "Kon-at has a well developed government that strives to promote people from concubine to sponsor status and protects those who are concubines. Reports say it is working well and could be a model for our society. As we grow there will be problems that are beyond our collective experience and Kon-at might be a great learning opportunity. If they have any exportable personnel we would be wise to test them for inclusion in the family."

Val picked up the conversation when Tonto grew silent. "Rob, I don't think I have the mental capacity to follow all that you will learn at Kon-at while we are learning all about our really big ship and building families of those on board. What do you think of the idea of the two Tontos keeping track of both locations constantly while we simple humans concentrate on our local situation? We can chat at the end of shift break periods about the small stuff and if there is a real need we can all gather as a single unit instantly to solve whichever problem is most pressing."

"We are all nodding in agreement mom," Rob replied. I was already in trouble trying to think about Kon-at while trying to picture how the families are going to shake out on the Behemoth Bounty. That old tale about humans multi-tasking is so much stuff. Just try writing one paragraph while reading another. It can't be done by mere mortals, nor is true human multi-tasking possible. So, we agree, let's keep out lives simple by concentrating on just one major task at a time.

"Are we all still agreed that we won't add any new families to our Tontos for at least thirty days to allow a familiarization period?" Rob concluded.

A chorus of yes responses from the Behemoth Bounty family was clearly understood by everyone on the Kedah and confirmation went the other way too. There would be just two Tonto families for the next thirty days and each would concentrate on their own self-assigned tasks.

"An in-person family meeting would be helpful at this time," Tonto said by sub-vocalization to the entire inner family. "Can we meet on the bridge or would you prefer the veterinary units Doctor?"

"I would prefer in the veterinary surgery if you don't mind," the newly rejuvenated vet replied. "I've got a very pregnant nanny goat with problems. A more practical farm doctor would suggest that shish kebob is the answer. However, this is a family pet for young Darmahn Hicksman's earth family and they have had their share of family stress. A little good news about love conquering all would have healing power far beyond this old goat."

Katie piped up, "We'll come your way Horace. You are so correct about that family. When we transported them into the base hospital it took all we could do to convince them that they were free of the tyrannical brothers who controlled them for years. We had to show them video of the two monsters locked up in the brig before they even began to relax. They need all the help healing that we can give. Can't you just put the nanny goat in a med-tube and let the nanites do the work?"

They could hear the thump as the doctor whacked himself in the forehead. "Why didn't I think of something that simple?" he asked. "Tonto, will it work?"

There were a few seconds of silence and Ellie was the first to comment, "He must be digging deep into several data bases to come up with an answer. A few hundred thousand queries per second is child's play for Tonto."

"I'll have you know that within my on-board data storage I am capable of several hundred million queries per second," Tonto snorted. "We already know that animals other than humans are fine in the tubes. Young Darcy Vaughn refused to go into the med-tube without her dog, Red Rover. It was done and the dog seems to be fine, even looking a bit younger and in better health. In fact, even when she goes into the learning tubes Red Rover still goes in with her, she won't do the tubes without her most trusted companion.

"Just now I was ordering the ships replicators to produce two med-tubes in the pod next to the doctor's surgery especially for animals. Doctor, you'll have to let me know before you use the tubes on other animals so I can verify the programming of the nanites for each species. We don't know what would happen if we used human programming on some other species. In time we will have a full data bank for all your various charges.

"Now, the goat is going to be just fine if she can hold out for another three minutes until her med-tube is ready for her. Can we begin our meeting?"

By the time all the inner family members had gathered around veterinarian Horace he was strapping the med-tube around the nervous nanny goat. Tonto suggested that he place a mat under the goat saying, "That nanny is going to be a momma before she gets out of that med-tube."

Tonto addressed the gathered family, "While we are waiting for nature and nanites to take their course, we need to talk about the situation on Kon-at. I've downloaded the entire content of their computer network and there is trouble in River City. So much trouble that I had to contact and download the ships records from the Confederacy Pod Transport Vessel Nothing Gained which is running several hours behind her sister ship, Nothing Ventured."

Ellie ruffled her throat feathers to indicate 'intrigue' and said, "Curiouser and curiouser," in her best Alice-In-Wonderland voice. Her breast down rippled to show silly delight.

Tonto replied, "Just as the nanny goat is more than a pet to the Hicksman family, the situation on Kon-at is more than a mystery ala Lewis Carroll or Sherlock Holmes. The Captain of the Nothing Gained took the easy way out of a problem on his ship. Following an extraction he had several thousand colonists on board for a seven-month trip to an unsettled world. Eight of the male sponsors developed a god complex with their new powers and really ran amok. They were recycling concubines just for the sadistic pleasure of watching the other women's terror. The ships AI kept hands off and the Captain knew that his reputation in the Navy was headed down the drain. Rather than dealing with the men as a strong leader should, he simply stopped at the nearest planet and transported the men to the surface, just outside of the major city.

"He didn't bother to notify the planet government and his only act of humanity was to keep the men's remaining concubines onboard, hoping that they would be assimilated into other families. As soon as the men were on Kon-at he ordered full throttle toward his original destination. He thinks he has pulled a fast one. However, his ships AI, with some prodding, has filed a detailed report with the Fleet Admiral and the AI has requested reprogramming at the nearest refit station. The failure of AI leadership was so great it is more likely that the unit will be decommissioned, as will the Captain."

Katie and Rob looked at each other to determine who would voice their joint concern. "Tonto," Katie said, "that has to be very bad news for Kon-at. From your initial report the planet is much more geared to civilian enterprises and doesn't have a permanent military strike force. They are a production planet, not a group of warriors. How has the 'invasion' gone down?"

"That is the crux of the problem," Tonto replied. The bad guys knew just enough science to trash the city-wide computer network, taking out the planet's AI in the process. By arming themselves they have taken control without resistance. The planet's leaders are trapped in a small enclave. They can't get out or communicate with anyone and the only good news is that the bad guys haven't gotten into the enclave to kill them yet. When they do there will be a massacre and there will be no leadership at all. These guys have visions of being sadistic kings."

Rob thought about the situation for a moment with an engineer's mind, looking for technical solutions. "Tonto," he said, "can you patch me into the leader's enclave for a two way conversation without letting the bad guys know?"

"Yes, Sir. I most certainly can," Tonto replied. "I've done enough software patching to activate most of the network that was not physically damaged. There isn't anything I can do about those repairs until we have a hands-on situation. For the record, the Planetary Governor is Mike Farris and the moving force behind the Governor is one Sarah Miller who is the Civil Service Officer on the planet and one smart cookie. Confidential computer files that the bad guys have yet to uncover indicate that the password 'Waltzing Melissa' will not only get the leaders attention but will also gain you great creditability. Should I open a channel now or would you like to discuss your plans first?"

"Go ahead and open a frequency now, I'll wing it depending upon the response from Farris and Miller."

Weapons Specialist Carla Pemberton and the rest of the core family were all in the same room with Rob. It wasn't necessary as Tonto could link them instantly and constantly from anywhere, but human nature called them into close proximity. Carla was of special importance as her education and work backgrounds were in explosive weapons development. She could provide the tactical knowledge that the civilian leaders of Kon-at lacked.

Tonto sub-vocalized to the family that the channel was ready.

Rob spoke with confidence but just a bit above a whisper since he didn't want to risk being overheard. "Governor Farris, this is Rob Tufts of the Confederacy ship Kedah. We understand that you have some serious problems. Can we be of assistance?"

The response was instant from Mike Farris, "Please say again and identify your ship and location, we have no knowledge of a Confederacy ship called the Kedah."

"No, you wouldn't," Rob responded. "My name is Rob Tufts and our extended family is the human contingent of a special envoy to the Darjee. We have been provided with a new class of ship. For our human population it is one-of-a-kind and only became operational very recently. We are inbound to Kon-at and are about 50 hours out from your location. This ship has some extraordinary capabilities. Our AI has linked to your computer network, that is, to the portion that is left operational after the outlaw raiders attacked. We also linked to the computer network of the ship that dropped those bandits on Kon-at to learn who and what they are. If you are interested we believe we can assist you in retaking control of your planet long before we will be able to arrive in person. Are you interested in our assistance?"

There was muffled conversation between a half dozen or so voices that lasted for some moments before the Governor responded. "Mr. Tufts, we want to trust you as we believe our position will fall shortly. Once those bastards get in here we will all be dead, their brutality is unbelievable. Still, the bandits are slick, how do we know that you are what you say you are."

Rob replied with just two words, "Waltzing Melissa."

Sarah and the Governor spoke at the same time, "How could you..." then Sarah continue to speak for them, "How could you know about her and what she means to us here on Kon-at. There are only a handfull of people here that know who Waltzing Melissa is and how much she means to us."