Part 14

Chapter 23

TUESDAY May 20

It seemed like it had only been a minute, but the clocks on the wall testified otherwise when one of the androids woke Kateryna and me. All of our ships had been in stationary orbit during the lull, well above their targets, allowing the pilots who were able to nap or relax. At 01:00, Eastern Australia was the target, and as the world revolved away from the sun, the Pacific Island Nations were next. Finally, we reached eastern China and SE Asia. At 02:13, the raid on the first baby factory began, and 26 minutes later, the first baby farm was raided. As expected, there were only 20 guards at the baby farm, but eighteen of the 20 were in the barracks with the girls, meaning we had to gas everyone. It was probably for the best, as the girls would be here, safe and in a clean bed when they woke up in the morning.

98 minutes later, all 1127 girls were safely tucked in one of the barracks here with hundreds of women from the base watching over them. I marveled at all of the cribs that had suddenly appeared and been set up for our youngest guests. I also noted that half of the children already at the base were sleeping on bedrolls on the floor, scattered throughout the four floors of the barracks, to help calm and welcome their new playmates in the morning. This barracks had all of the kittens, so I guessed that the next one would get the puppies. By this time, the other two baby factories and the other baby farm had also been successfully raided. The 1466 children from the second farm were also asleep upon arrival, and were bunked in the barracks next door to the first group. The other half of the kids from our base were scattered throughout that crowded barracks on bedrolls on the floor. I even saw Sven's wife and Johann's wife there helping to watch over the kids.

The pace of the raids in Asia was more hectic than in the Western Hemisphere, with 531 of the 620 estates in the Eastern Hemisphere, and over half of those in China and SE Asia. In spite of the numbers, eventually, we still had to wait for night to progress before proceeding further. Once the raids in China and SE Asia were done, the pace slowed considerably. I was impressed with the calm professional demeanor of the new captains and the new Bumblebee controllers. Confusion was practically nonexistent, and what little there was centered mostly on finding an available hive ship nearby to dock with and re-supply. There were a few times ships had to wait for five or ten minutes extra at a hive ship while they struggled to keep up with the demand. James had shuttles carrying loads of fireflies from the base to the hive ships, as well as carrying empty ones back to the base to re-fill.

The biggest surprise was finding a separate section of one baby farm that had infant boys up to about three years old. Evidently, at age three, the prettiest boys were sent to rejoin the girls to be trained just like the girls were. The rest were sold to Derevenko at a cheap, bulk rate. He raised and trained them, telling them they were the unwanted product of their mothers being raped by UN troops. It was those now fully grown boys that made up the bulk of his armed forces.

The last few raids were made in the twilight rather than waiting for dark. Great Britain, Spain, and western Africa were our last stops, and by 1:37 pm our time, the last raid was done. All that was left was the cleanup of the last group of bases. I chuckled, looking at all of the empty EB bottles scattered throughout Bumblebee command. We had cases put on every Attack Transport, as well as a couple of cases on each Bumblebee. Even the hive ships carried more ... just in case.

Kateryna reported that we rescued a total of 23,847 captives from the estates, and captured 18,714 guards and family members, 2197 ships, 16,157 public officials, and 5483 crooked lawyers. We also rescued an additional 4265 women at the homes of the officials and attorneys we arrested. Families of the public officials and lawyers were being held for now at some of the larger estates until we could sift through all of the information and find out how many, if any, were aware of and/or helped with the illegal activity.

Poor Li was dragging, still meeting the ships that had young kids, 22 hours after we started. She'd managed a few minutes of rest when none of the ships had kids, but overall, she'd met over 300 ships, escorting all of the youngsters to her also-exhausted friends.

As the last Bumblebee lifted off from the estate in Guinea, the androids took over watching the screens just in case something came up. There were six women 'on call, ' asleep in small rooms along the side of the control room in case they were needed. The rest had drifted off to their own beds as their ships finished and returned to the base. I followed suit and dragged myself to the surface, finding and carrying my tiny Li to bed as well. She was asleep in my arms before I'd gone 100 feet. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Feather-light kisses on both sides of my face woke me. The gentle caressing of my hard-on felt pretty good, too. They were kissing my closed eyes, too, but I could still tell by smell that it was Vonna and Jenna. "Are my wives horny?" I teased.

"No," Vonna chuckled, "just checking to see if you're still alive. We've been kissing you for a while and you haven't responded. I figured this was more fun than checking for a pulse," she shot back as she squeezed my erection. It took a little effort, but I finally managed to focus on the clock, which read 5:17. Since it was still light outside, I guessed it must be dinner time.

After a quick shower, they lead me outside. They had insisted I wear a tux to dinner. Since they wore evening gowns, I figured it was only fair, even if I didn't understand why. I was surprised that the dining room was empty. At least I was surprised until we got outside. It was a party waiting to happen. Tables were spread out all across the tarmac that had previously been used for parking all of our Battle Groups--and I do mean all across the tarmac. I was dumbfounded by the sheer number of tables and seats. Considering that we had nearly 35,000 freed captives here, as well as the families of so many of our people, I knew we had at least 45,000 people here depending on how many of the women had chosen to leave the base and go home already.

The crowd was made even bigger by the several thousand androids and domestic androids serving tables. Fortunately, most of the crowd was already seated and eating dinner as we approached. Strangely, almost three-quarters of the women were wearing evening gowns or nice party dresses. Since less than a third of them had been on a shopping spree with one or more of my wives, I assumed that there was a surplus of dresses available or the women that had gone shopping had shared. Most of the women who were still up moving around were also wearing high heels. Vonna lead the way to a table in a group of tables at the front that was set facing the others. Sven, Johann, the other judges, my leaders, and their families, as well as Renee, Helga, Li, and my significant others were already seated and eating dinner. I kissed each of my women before sitting down, and Vonna stood as I sat, the android standing conveniently at her shoulder broadcasting the distinctive sound of someone rapping a water glass with a knife.

The crowd was silent almost immediately and Vonna started. "Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome all of our newest arrivals and emphasize to them and everyone else to please ask if there is anything that you need or that you would like to make your stay here, be it brief or long-term, as comfortable and pleasant as possible. Before we continue, I just want to let everyone know we are very aware that many of you have had very little sleep in the last 36 hours. For everyone who worked so diligently last night and today to make the raids come off so well, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are free to leave immediately after dinner to go back to sleep. Our military commanders have assured me there is nothing planned tomorrow except R and R. Now for anyone who hasn't yet met him, I'd like to introduce the mysterious Commander Omega, our husband Mike," she said, motioning towards herself and my wives before pointing me out.

I stood and looked out over the expectant faces--at least the ones I could make out. "Once again someone has covered my ineptness as your host," I joked, getting a chuckle from everyone that knew me by now. "While I was busy sleeping today, they arranged this welcome and celebration and I would like to thank everyone who helped. Since I'm one of the ones looking forward to a good night's sleep, I'll turn this back over to my wives," I said, and sat back down.

Renee stood and took over. "Tonight we have many very special guests to help with an even more special presentation. Most of you have met or heard about one or more of the women who have started a frenzy of creativity right after being rescued. We have women painting, drawing, sculpting, writing, playing music, and in more than one case, composing music. Jocelyn is a composer who was rescued from PB3 early Friday afternoon, and shortly after arriving, began asking around if it would be possible to get a musical instrument, paper, and pencils. The request ended up directed to me, and when I found out what she wanted and why, got her a keyboard synthesizer that could record and write the score from the music she played. She worked feverishly, 20 hours a day after contacting her sister and her family, who arrived on one of our shuttles Friday evening to visit with her.

"Jocelyn's sister was excited, both by the rescue of her sister and by the music Jocelyn had written. Jocelyn wrote a brilliant piece in college and her sister's group was going to play it in concert about a month after Jocelyn's graduation. When Jocelyn disappeared right after graduation, they never performed it. That group has now been practicing her new work even as it was being written, teaming with the Albuquerque Philharmonic for tonight's special performance. Without further ado, I'd like to present our composer, Jocelyn."

The applause was polite as the young woman stepped from the cloaked part of the stage on our right into a spotlight. It was easy to see why the pirates had wanted her. She could easily have been one of the companions I rented way back when. She was at least six feet tall, slender, beautiful, and had breasts most women would be envious of. The main difference between her and the companions was that I could see the intelligence in her eyes even from where I was. She was wearing one of the classic ankle-length black dresses that the orchestra wore when they performed. I was somewhat surprised that she wasn't pregnant, but guessed that the pirates had wanted to continue to have their fun with her and didn't want to 'spoil' her gorgeous figure by getting her pregnant.

"Good evening," she began nervously. "Before we begin this evening, I would like to thank everyone that had a hand in the rescues--not just mine, but all of us. I would especially like to thank Nina, the Captain of the Bumblebee that executed the raid on the base I was being held at, and Dr. Miller."

She paused for a few seconds, trying to relax, deciding what she wanted to say next. "When my family got here, my sister immediately wanted to find the person in charge and thank him. We kept asking until one of the androids pointed him out about a hundred yards away. Rather than continue on to him, my sister stopped and got a strange grin on her face. When I asked, all she'd tell me is that she already knew Dr. Miller and knew the perfect way to thank him. Tonight is her ... and our thank you," she said, motioning towards the two cloaked stages. "I want to apologize to everyone ahead of time for any bad memories this piece might bring up. It's meant, in the end, to be a celebration of our freedom and new chance at life. Now, I'd like to introduce and turn the evening over to the conductor of the Albuquerque Philharmonic, Lavanya Vijaya," she concluded.

Again, the applause was polite, and one of the androids arrived with my dinner--my favorite lasagna. The cloaking over the orchestra dissipated and the spotlight found a viciously grinning Lavanya. "Good evening. Tonight's performance will be one of my favorite memories when I finally decide to retire," she said, looking right at me as she did. "Not only do the orchestra and I finally get a chance to thank Dr. Miller, but this is the first time the orchestra will be performing as backup for another group. Usually, we have individuals or groups as our guest performers, not the other way around."

She paused for a few seconds for the laughter to die down, then continued. "I am excited, for two reasons, to be here tonight for this performance. First, the piece we are performing tonight is, in my opinion, a truly exceptional composition. I believe it will become one of the classics, and tonight will be the first time it is performed for an audience. Secondly, it gives the orchestra and me a great deal of pleasure finally, to be able to do something to thank Dr. Miller for his support for the last six years. Without him, there would be no Albuquerque Philharmonic. He has insisted over the years that we not acknowledge or thank him publicly. Since this concert is at his home, I guess that, technically, we're not in public. So thank you Dr. Miller, from all of us," she said, as the entire orchestra stood and applauded. Okay, now I was embarrassed.

Six years ago, the Albuquerque Symphony Orchestra was in serious financial trouble. There just wasn't enough public support or donations to keep them afloat, and they were facing immediate bankruptcy after finding out that one of the people on the fundraising committee had embezzled several hundred thousand dollars and disappeared. Their bank was the same one I used, and I asked the bank manager to set up an early lunch meeting with all of the musicians and the conductor, promising them that they would be paid all of money due them. I reserved a restaurant in Denver that wasn't usually open for lunch and rented shuttles to take all of them there.

As they ate lunch, they listened to the bank manager explain that Dr. Mike Miller wanted to start a new orchestra, the Albuquerque Philharmonic. Most people knew my name by now from all of the news stories about my inventions, but had no idea what I looked like, or that I was only eighteen at the time. Rather than a publicly supported, non-profit group, I wanted the AP to be a business, strictly for profit. I didn't really expect to make much, if anything, but I wanted it run that way. I had asked Evelyn Reed, wife of a world-renowned Albuquerque architect and the woman that had been unofficially running the old orchestra, to be the Philharmonic's business manager. Even though it had failed, she was not the reason. In fact, she was the reason they hadn't folded years earlier. I also had Ramon Santiago, considered to be the best trumpet player in the world there with me.

Ramon and I had gotten to know each other in college. He was there on a music scholarship, and couldn't believe that with five minutes of instruction, I could play the trumpet well enough to play an entire page of music. I won't pretend that I did anything more than play each note, but I played the right notes and held each note for the proper time all the way down the page. Ramon insisted on introducing me to his teacher, sure that I would be a prodigy at trumpet. His teacher, Dr. Van der Horn, told Ramon the same thing I had. I could pick up any instrument, and within a month or so, could play it proficiently. He and every other music teacher at the school had tried to convince me that my future was in music. To date, they were still unsuccessful and frustrated. I lacked the drive to practice as much as would have been required to obtain and maintain that skill. I did learn to play each of the 'usual' instruments with a degree of general proficiency, including most of the ones on stage tonight. I could have played in any college orchestra, again, if I had the drive to practice as much as would have been necessary. My time was more valuable to me researching the things I wanted to learn more about. Ramon remained one of the few 'normal' students at school that accepted me as a close friend despite the decade difference in our ages. He quickly learned that I had a keen ear and could pick out the smallest flaw when he played.

I was also instrumental (pun unintentional) in the success of the piece he had to compose for one of his classes. He had the melody finished, but was having difficulty adding the harmony. After several unsuccessful attempts using different ways of explaining the process for writing harmony to him, I finally found one that made sense to him. It took him a week, but he finished the piece and asked me to proof it. It looked correct on paper, but something bothered me about it. I ran the music through a simulator and found the issue, then suggested a solution that he used. Throughout the two-semester class, he continued working on the piece and by the time he finished the class, it was a world-class composition and made him quite a bit of money. When he offered to share the largesse with me, I thanked him, then explained how many patents I had already and how much I currently had in the bank. He stared, slack-jawed, then commented "Shit, no wonder you're not interested in music. No musician could hope to make that much in a lifetime, let alone before they turn thirteen."

Evelyn explained to the assembled musicians what I intended to do. I would personally guarantee their wages as long as they were under contract with me. I expected a minimum of ten and maximum of fourteen public performances scheduled each month for that salary. Any additional performances that were added for broadcast or other special performances would be paid at the same rate, or they could split 80% of the proceeds from that performance, whichever was higher. They would split 80% of the royalties for any of their recordings that were sold. If they were used to record background music for any movies or other broadcast programs, they would receive 80% of the payment and royalties.

They all watched, not really believing what they were hearing. Orchestral musicians worldwide had previously tried to get contracts similar to, but not quite as good as this, and had been rebuffed every time. Then Evelyn explained the down side of my vision. I intended to recruit top musicians from all over the world. Any of the best artists on every instrument would be recruited with the goal of having one of the top ten orchestras in the world in three years, and to be the best in six years. That meant many of the musicians who were currently first chair would find themselves demoted--but with no reduction in pay. A few of the current members might not have their contracts renewed the following year. If that happened, they would receive a year's salary as severance pay. No matter what happened, anyone that signed a contract today would have his or her salary guaranteed for this year and next.

All but six signed. Those had already lined up new jobs and figured they probably wouldn't be offered a contract for the second year. Everyone gasped when, at the conclusion of business, I stood and thanked them, assuring them that this was not a passing fancy, but a lifetime commitment to the Philharmonic.

The goals I set were exceeded. When word got out about the guaranteed contracts, and the terms of the contracts, there was practically a stampede to join. After two years, they were recognized as second best in the world, and after three years, were considered the best. Now, they are in constant demand for public appearances, as well as for doing background music for the movies that can afford them. Their recordings outsell the next four orchestras combined. Overall, each member makes more than double what any other orchestra paid. I was also happy that more than three-quarters of the original orchestra still remained, although we had increased the size from the original 60 member orchestra to a healthy 96 members.

The only thing they were upset about was my insistence that they not discuss or acknowledge me publicly. I wasn't doing this for the attention or notoriety; I was doing it because I loved the music. Every year for the last five years, they had requested permission for a public acknowledgement of my role. Every year I refused. Now they had their chance, and were taking it--with a vengeance. I stood and bowed slightly, acknowledging their thanks and then sat back down. I saw the pride in my wives' eyes and realized that Vonna and Helga were the only ones I'd taken to hear them, something I needed to rectify soon.

Having taken their shot at me, the orchestra sat back down and Lavanya continued, her voice getting louder and more excited. "Now without further ado, I would like to introduce our featured group tonight..." Her pause was obviously planned as four notes were played from behind the remaining cloak. The four notes, played in perfect harmony, was the signature opening of my favorite group, DThroneD. Now I understood what Jocelyn meant when she said that her sister knew me. I wondered which of the four musicians her sister was.

The final cloak vanished and the girls stood, poised to begin, with huge grins on their faces. Jocelyn was standing next to Alexis Dubois, the viola player. Now I knew where she got her talent. Their mother, Celeste Dubois had been the top rock singer in the world until she retired a couple of years ago, evidently right after her daughter disappeared. Their father, Francois, was the first chair in the saxophone section of the Philharmonic, and considered the best in the world. A movement to my left caught my attention, and I saw Celeste Dubois walking towards me at the last second.

Grinning, she straddled me and sat on my lap facing me. "I hope you got lots of sleep earlier. We have plans for you after dinner," she whispered suggestively into my ear before she kissed me. I noticed that she had on a green necklace, and Jenna's grin let me know that she was in on the planning of whatever festivities they had in store for later. I motioned one of the androids that was waiting tables and asked for a couple of EBs. When the cheers and jeers from our kiss died down, the lighting shifted to showcase the stages, and a woman's voice coming from the darkness began to narrate the story:

"Tonight's symphony is titled 'A Pirate's Requiem.' Two years ago, a beautiful young woman was just graduating college. She was happy and excited about the promise her future held. The night of her graduation, two men accosted her and grabbed her at a party. She fought them ... until they knocked her out."

Lavanya raised her baton. Several bold, discordant notes broke the silence. The music that followed, however, conveyed a sense of happiness and excitement. DThroneD played harmony to the orchestra, their music amplified to the same volume as the orchestra. One of the things I had enjoyed most in my studies was music, in part because of the math and physics involved, but mostly because I enjoyed so many different types of music.

With my musical background, I could appreciate the intricacies in the harmony between the orchestra and DThroneD. I realized that, not only was Jocelyn a brilliant composer, she had to be an accomplished mathematician, too. To write the score for the orchestra, with all of its internal harmony, and then write a counter score for DThroneD in just two days was unheard of.

The sudden shift in the tempo and the tone of the music caught me by surprise. The violins, trumpets, flutes, and clarinets sounded like someone screaming while the remainder of the orchestra played suspenseful background music. The second scream stopped abruptly, as if in mid-scream, and I had to catch myself to keep from falling forward, much the same as when the music stopped suddenly the night Sven swore us in as Task Force Pita. When I looked around, I saw fear and tears on the faces of the former captives closest to me as they had just relived their own abductions. Many were clutching the person next to them for support. Jocelyn's mom had a pretty tight grip on me, and my shoulder, where she had rested her head to watch the performance, was quite damp. The applause started slowly as the audience began to recover and built in intensity until everyone that was able was standing and applauding. Jocelyn's ability to convey such powerful emotion so well in her music, as well as the sheer genius of the music was well met.

When the audience finally quieted, the voice from the dark introduced the next movement:

"The young woman woke up the next morning, bound, in a prison cell, and terrified. That morning, her worst nightmare became reality and every day after that until she finally gave up caring and accepted that her fate was to live out the rest of her life like this. Then one evening, a powerful warship attacked the pirate base where she was being held. The pirates were all captured and the prisoners were all freed. They were excited, but still unsure exactly what would happen to them. As two dozen women dressed in all pink explained that they, too, had been rescued captives, and assured everyone that they were safe now and would be free, a call went out that one of the captives was still missing. The heroic Commander Omega rushed into the house she was in and found the battered and unconscious body of the young girl in a hidden basement. He carried her to the hospital ship and refused to let go of her, even while the doctors worked to save her life."

Once again, Lavanya raised her baton. The next movement was jarring and chilling. The fear conveyed by the music was palpable. The screams of the instruments as she faced her first rape and the crying and sobbing from the lower pitched instruments afterward were followed by a shift to a minor key, depicting her descent into despair and hopelessness.

The screams from the instruments portraying the second rape weren't as loud, but the hopelessness built, even as the screams from the third and fourth rape grew quieter. Then, all that remained was the dreary misery of her daily existence.

The actual battle to free the captives could hardly have been called a battle. Still, it was depicted boldly in the music. Random and intermittent contributions from the percussion section included bass drums depicting cannon blasts and cymbals representing clashing swords. I was surprised to hear several snare drums, an unusual addition to an orchestra. Their rapid, staccato beat imitated gunfire--tat, tat, tat, tat, tat ... tat, tat, tat, tat, tat. The string section painted the nervous apprehension of the captives as they wondered who would win and what that would mean for them.

Then the drums and cymbals stilled as the battle concluded. The brass section played a triumphant fanfare indicating that the good guys had won, and the strings depicted the mood of the captives shifting as they hoped that they had been saved. DThroneD continued playing a counter melody that still carried an air of uncertainty.

Having been there, I recognized when the urgency reappeared in the music portraying the search for the missing captive. The bold notes depicting the appearance of the hero were just plain embarrassing. There was nothing heroic about what I'd done. I just happened to be the closest one to where she was. The tempo of the music quickened as I hurried to the hospital ship, and DThroneD played an underscore with an adamant tenor indicating my unwillingness to release Li.

The end of the second movement was rewarded with applause almost instantly. Most of the captives that I could see seem to have taken this movement better than the first. I found out later that all of the shrinks had been seated around the outside edges of the tables to be able to intercept and help any of the former captives that got up too leave. All of the captives had been warned about the content and theme of tonight's performance earlier in the day and had all chosen to stay and listen anyway.

Again, the voice from the darkness explained the next movement:

"The third portion of tonight's concert is not part of the composer's music. It is included to honor the men and women that bravely captained the Bumblebee warships. Our next piece is "Flight of the Bumblebee," the well-known orchestral interlude by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov."

DThroneD sat this one out, letting the orchestra perform alone. I could almost picture the Bumblebees in the music, scurrying from estate to estate last night. The applause was polite when they finished, and then the voice returned:

"The final movement tonight is largely the composer's original work. It was altered somewhat to fit the story. When the ships returned to their base, the brave Commander Omega carried the girl to the hospital where the doctor worked feverishly to save her. Unsure if she would live the night, Commander Omega cradled her in his arms throughout the night as they both slept. Outside, everyone on the base waited anxiously through the night to find out if she would survive. With the morning sun came the good news.

Later that morning, the pirates faced justice, and shortly afterward, the brave Commander Omega dealt final justice to the vermin that hurt the young girl. Sure now that they were safe and would be protected, the captives rejoiced ... and looked forward to beginning their new life."