Chapter 4

The Kedah would not get to visit as many planets as originally planned and they would arrive at Demeter just a couple of days ahead of the Behemoth Bounty where the Bounty's original crew would release full control and possession of the ship to the Tufts family. After a brief stay both ships would then head for the transition point Kayteetee'. The travel time for the Bounty on the leg to KTT would be almost 11 months while the Kedah could make it in just under two. There would be some shifting of family members between ships while they were together at Demeter. It was agreed that during the long trip additional people would be processed into the inner families. They still had to decide how many Tonto groups would be optimal so they planned up to a week of face to face meetings with everybody present while in orbit around Demeter.

The original Confederation intent was to have families multiply as fast as possible, breeding like rabbits to produce human canon fodder for the war against the Sa'arm. Both ships were large but with a year in transit they could approach breeding themselves out of living space. They had much to think about and then take action to make the plans work to fruition. About the only worry they didn't have was a Confederacy AI sticking its imaginary nose in the family's business.

A couple of the personnel moves were dictated by the decision they had already made that the Kedah would not wait at KTT for the Behemoth. Kedah would transit on to the new home planet and get things going before the bulk of the family arrived with the Naval Air Station. Medical technician Charlie Blackmun with Junie, Janie and Molly would come aboard the Kedah so their combined skills would be available to the advanced team. The medical needs aboard the Bounty would be directed by Val and Tonto, utilizing the Med-tube technology. Val would have to fill in as the ships veterinarian too as Horace and his surgeon/emergency room MD daughter, Sandra Hamilton-Tufts would travel with the Kedah too. The advanced team needed all the human skills they could muster.

The planning for being self-sufficient was crucial. Neither of the Tontos knew if their constant contact would hold once the Kedah had been transported. The Kedah's logs and manuals told them that KTT had the ability to shift them up to 30,000 light years distant or about one third of the way across the Milky Way Galaxy. It seemed reasonable to assume that contact would be lost for the nine months it would take the Behemoth Bounty to join the Kedah at the new home world. No one aboard knew where or what that new world might be.

As the two ships drew closer and closer to Demeter the Tonto-augmented communication increased. The distance wasn't a factor; they had instant communication at all times. However, as they drew closer they thought of each other more often and so talked a lot more. Most of it was chatter about who would be going where and with whom and doing what was anyone's guess as to the nature of their new home world. Some of the talk was strictly family:

"Hi, Grandpa Dan," Ellie thought to her only grandfather. "Where is that big old slow barge you guys are herding along now?"

"Hi sweetheart, I'm so glad you thought of me. I feel better now that we can talk. We're really in the middle of nowhere. After our last course adjustment there is nothing between us and Demeter except more space travel."

"Grandpa, I really want to sit on your lap like I use to. I'm so sick of these feathers. They itch and Tonto says I'm going into a molt. He says there is a real possibility that we may meet with more Darjee when we arrive at KTT and again when we get to our new home so I can't just shed them. I miss you."

"I miss you too, my love. Go take a naked shower with Jason and see if he'll scratch your itch."

"Oh grandpa, I never knew you could be so nasty. I love you and would never disobey, so I'm off to the shower with my brother. Good night."

"Good night, baby girl."

Demeter loomed large for the Behemoth Bounty as the ship seemed to fill much of the sky in the transport orbit. Kedah was off all but the best radar screens as it coasted outside Lagrangian point three. The last of the original Navy crew for the Behemoth had transported down with their possessions. Both Tontos combined with their human partners to sweep the ship clean of sensors, cameras, recorders, transponders and tracking devices that might be used to report to the official or unofficial navies in space.

It wasn't just the Confederation Navy that concerned the crew. The Darjee most certainly would have some sort of tracking device aboard and it was possible that something that the Sa'arm might be able to connect to was aboard. It did not matter who the outside influences might be, the Tuft's family needed privacy to be themselves, which included two Tontos and soon to be even more.

In the first joint face-to-face session of all family members, resolution A-69 was adopted without dissent. Of course, no one except the inner family knew what that resolution was all about, it had been forged in interstellar space via Tonto communication. Up to six new Tonto families would be created with a maximum of three additional on each ship. To assure that as many of the souls aboard as wished could join the inner family there would be no limits on the maximum number of humans that could be in a single Tonto. They had also decided that the minimum Tonto family size would now be ten. Having three more minds to help power the organic intelligence provided a greater margin of safety and, as there were more than enough people to make up eight total families, there was no pressing need to transfer folks elsewhere.