Going, Going...
Chapter 1

Copyright© 2011 by Tomken

Science Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 1 - To save its children, an entire remote town pre-packs itself. Slow-motion extractions present issues not usually encountered. mm sex is brief and tame.

Caution: This Science Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   mt/ft   Ma/ft   mt/Fa   Fa/Fa   ft/ft   Fa/ft   mt/mt   Consensual   Science Fiction   Incest   Light Bond   Harem   First   Oral Sex   Anal Sex   Masturbation   Fisting   Squirting   Water Sports   Pregnancy   Cream Pie   Exhibitionism   Voyeurism   Slow   Nudism  

"They've been doing pickups for over six years now. How many pickups have they done in Edgar, Washington?" Bob asked rhetorically.

"None," admitted Steve.

Bob continued, "I'm never going anywhere. I don't have the score for it. You're in almost the same boat. Even if they were having regular pickups at the Post Office, most of us wouldn't be eligible. We could move to a city where they actually have pickups, but it wouldn't do a damn bit of good. I was born in this town. When the Swarm come, we're gonna die in this town. I've made my peace with that. Kathy seems to be OK with that. Meanwhile, we're gonna carry on our lives every day.

"What I can't accept is that our children get the same fate," Bob lamented. "Steve, it's starting to haunt me. I have a duty to protect my kids, and I haven't done that."

The diner was doing a brisk business for a weekday lunch. Bob Minter and Steve Carpenter sat under the window. All of the staff and almost all of the other customers were their friends. Edgar was just a little town on a little highway that led from nowhere special to another nowhere special. About 700 people lived in town and a few hundred more lived outside of town. Forestry and logging were the most important activities, followed by indirect support like trucking and truck maintenance. There were farmers and shopkeepers. The women were mostly cashiers, office workers and the like. Life was simple, just as they wanted it. Few moved to or from the town, except that the youngsters tended to drift away after high school.

Steve replied, "I agree with you. I'd like to do something, but I don't know what. Do you have any good ideas?"

"Well, I do," Bob said sheepishly, "but I'm afraid no one will take it seriously."

"Bob," Steve said, "we've been friends our whole lives. This is heart attack serious. If your plan won't work, there may at least be a kernel of an idea that we can build around. Come on, spill."

Bob shrugged. "I'd like to share the briefest outline of the plan with you now, and then let you think about it all afternoon. I think your first reaction will be that there are massive problems with the plan. If I'm right, the problems can be overcome.

"My idea is to save all of the kids. A giant pre-pack would be organized. The students over age 14 would be matched up as sponsors and concubines. Every other volunteer in town would be brought in. Between the adult and student volunteers, the underage children would be parceled out. In one fell swoop, all of the children in school would be saved."

Steve was poleaxed. He sat in silence for a long time, turning the idea over in his mind. Finally, he shook off his reverie and turned with a smile to his lifelong friend. "Bob, your plan would send your kids to the stars and leave you here without them. Is that what you are suggesting?" Bob nodded grimly. "You're right, giant problems leap to mind. But I think you're also right that the problems can be overcome. I think an afternoon to think about it would be very useful. How about you and Kathy and the kids come have dinner with us?"

Bob smiled. "Marcie is going to kill you for inviting guests for dinner without notice."

"We were at your home last," Steve countered. "I'll check with Marcie when I get back to the shop. Check with Kathy, please, and I'll call you after awhile to confirm."

"Good enough," said Bob. "Will you please tell Marcie a bit about my idea? Kathy already has the gist of it, but she thinks it can't be done."

With that, they began their long-time ritual of fighting over the check. They got the bill settled and made their goodbyes to their nearby friends.


"Hello!" Kathy called as she came in the back door. Becky and Travis followed. Bob brought up the rear.

"Hi there! I'm glad to see you!" Marcie said. "Hi, Becky. Hi, Travis. Where is Sandy?" Steve came in from the living room. Hugs were exchanged, and Steve and Bob shook hands.

While her kids made their way deeper into the house, Kathy shook her head, smiling. "Sandy doesn't want to be seen with her parents. She said she would have died of embarrassment because we walked two blocks over here. I hope your two are here -- Travis and Becky went looking for them."

The cheerful banter continued. Kathy pitched in to help Marcie finish making dinner. The men got the table set and saw to beverages for everyone. The kids were corralled, washed up, and seated. Dinner was served and enjoyed. The four children, Travis and Becky Minter and Jack and Lisa Carpenter made their escape as quickly as they could. The four adults cleared the table and made their way to the living room.

"I spent most of the afternoon noodling your idea," Steve began. "Here are some pads and pens for us to take notes. I'd like you to start us out please, Bob."

"Well, Marcie, I hope Steve filled you in a bit. Kathy and I have spoken about this quite a lot," Bob began. "Maybe the best way to begin is to talk about the number of people involved. Now, just for discussion, let's think about the number of children. Grades K through 12 is thirteen grades. At 20 per grade, that's 260, so let's say 300. Say there are five times twenty, or one hundred children below kindergarten age. Say 400 kids total. If families had two kids each, then there would be 400 parents. Say there are half that many, or 200 people, without kids. Four, eight, that's one thousand people, adults and children. Does that sound about right?"

Marcie said, "I thought there were about 700 living in town. That would make 300 living outside of town but in the area. That sounds about right, at least for now."

Bob went on. "Again, this is broad brush, so we can get ourselves on the same page. With 25 kids each in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12, that'd be 100 potential sponsors."

"Why'd you do 20 per grade earlier and 25 now?" Kathy asked.

"Because I couldn't do 13 times 25 in my head," Bob answered sheepishly.

Steve said, "Almost all of the eighth graders reach age 14 before the end of the school year. When are you planning this pickup?"

"I hadn't gotten that far," Bob said. "Anyway, we're still just trying to get orders of magnitude. I still have to sell this idea to you three, then we'd have to sell this to the powers-that-be, and finally they'd have to sell it to the whole town."

"I see your point," Marcie said. "Please continue."

"OK," Bob went on, "we now have 100 students over age 14 and four plus two, 600 adults, a total of 700. That'd be 350 men and 350 women. How many of those do you suppose would be sponsors?"

Steve said, "I think I read that something like 15 to 20% of men achieved a CAP score of at least 6.5, and like 3 to 6% of women reach that level. I know, I know, the CAP scoring discriminates against women, but there it is."

"I bet it has a lot to do with aggression," Kathy said. "Girls usually aren't wired that way."

"I wonder whether anything can be done to raise those levels," Marcie added. "If we have a lot of time, maybe the desired attributes can be taught."

"We can hold that thought for later," Steve said, "but, for now, let's crunch some numbers. Pulling out my handy dandy calculator, 15% of 350 men is, say, 52; plus 5% of 350 women is, say, 18, a total of 70 sponsors in our whole town."

"I had figured something close to that, myself," Kathy said. "I don't think you can get all the kids away on only 70 sponsors."

"Hold on," Bob said, "it might not be as bad as you think. The objective is to evacuate all of the children. Let's deal with the high school kids first. 15% of 50 high school boys is maybe 8. If they take an average of 3 each, that's 24 girls. If 5% of 50 high school girls is, say 3, they take 3 boys and 6 girls. That's 24 plus 3 plus 6, or 33 girls of 50, leaving 17 girls unspoken for. There are 52 minus 8 students or 44 adult male sponsors. We can get the remaining 17 girls picked."

"But that leaves, what, 40 boys left behind?" asked Kathy.

Steve sighed. "The boys get the benefit of the CAP score bias but, if they don't score well, they suffer."

"They can stay with me," Bob said sadly.

"We still have all the under 14's to deal with," Marcie said. "How many are they again?"

"Something like 300," said Kathy. "With only 70 sponsors, that's an average of more than four per sponsor. That seems too many to me. Besides, Bob are you going to give our children to someone else, forever? Do you think every parent in town will agree to give away their children?" The very thought of losing her children had caused tears to begin flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Honey," Bob said softly, "neither of the options is attractive. I would rather watch them go, than to watch them die."

That remark hung in the air for a while, sobering them all. Finally, Marcie said, "Let's take a break and check up on the kids."


The kids were fine. The four adults decided that the antidote to their sobering discussion was a stiff cocktail each. Finally, they settled back in the living room.

Steve said, "The numbers seem to work, if nothing else does. As Bob pointed out, we have to organize a pre-pack or else none of the sponsors, their concubines or their dependants are ever going to be evacuated."

"There might be extractions in the future," Kathy pouted.

"Kathy," Steve answered quietly, "are you willing to bet your children's lives on that?"

Kathy looked shocked. She hung her head and whispered, "No."

Marcie asked, "Then we somehow have to organize a giant pickup, where maybe 70 sponsors, 200 concubines, and 300 dependants get collected at the same time? How daunting."

"Baby steps," Bob said, "we need to take baby steps. Until tonight, this was just a crackpot idea of mine. Kathy thinks it still won't work, and she might be right. I'm glad you two seem to like the idea. We've hatched the damned thing. Now, we need more help."


Their baby steps took the form of short conversations with many of their friends, one on one. Often, the concept was initially rejected, the thought of the loss of their children too much to bear. But often, after a day or so, the friend would bring it up again -- a long talk with the wife had persuaded them of the wisdom of the idea.

Soon enough, Steve and Bob were being approached by people they had not discussed the idea with. It became clear that most of the people in town were talking about it. When the mayor -- who doubled as the owner of the bakery -- invited himself to join them at their lunch table, they knew the idea had become a plan.

"Well, John," Bob said, "what can we do for you today? Do we get three guesses for the subject?"

"Sure you can," the mayor retorted with a smile, "if two guesses don't count. Bob, Steve, your 'save the kids' concept has grown legs. Most of the people I talk to are very much in favor. Those few who aren't convinced mainly don't know how such a thing could possibly be organized."

Steve smiled. "We aren't smart enough to orchestrate such a big event. We think we may have left some big holes in the plan. We worry we may have missed some big opportunities. How do you think this should proceed?"

"If you don't mind," John said, "I would like to gather a core group to hammer out the details. I would like your guidance on the selection. My thoughts are that the core group should include Jean Stevens, the school principal, at least one teacher, Jim Beatty for legal advice, Reverend Andy Evans, both of you, and myself."

"I think that sounds fine, John," said Bob. "Should anyone reach out to the Confederacy before we first meet?"

"John," Steve said, "what about adding a high school senior and an underclassman to the core group? Maybe the class presidents -- they ought to be among the most mature in their age groups. The kids may have some important insights."

"That's a very good idea," John said. "I suspect these meetings should be scheduled for after dinner on weeknights. Do either of you have schedule conflicts?" Both men shook their heads 'no.' "Then I'll set up a meeting and let you know the details. Would one of you write up your arithmetic on sponsor and concubine numbers? I'll get it copied and distributed so we don't spend the entire first meeting getting ourselves on the same page.

"As for the Confederacy, I think this idea needs more incubation first. We can try to contact them later."


"One of the best parts of small town life is that you know everyone," said the mayor. "I hope you had a chance to visit a bit before our meeting, so we can get down to business right away. I have taken the liberty to enlist my wife, Debbie, to act as secretary. I have a nasty habit of forgetting important items discussed in meetings.

"Debbie, for the minutes, I'll start from your left identifying Sarah Edwards, the senior class president. Next, in order, are Bob Minter, Steve Carpenter, Andy Evans, Jean Stevens, Michael Martin, the freshman class president, Jim Beatty, and Amy Rogers, the eighth grade teacher, and finally your favorite husband." John smiled.

"Mrs. Davis, how many husbands do you have?" said Sarah, eliciting guffaws.

"Cheeky! That's what you are Sarah, cheeky!" John laughed. "So much for formalities and our opening insult. I want to get to the heart of our business. I trust you are all generally at least sympathetic to the evacuation plan hatched by Bob and Steve, and have all reviewed the arithmetic they produced. I'll open the floor for general discussion."

"I'll start, I guess," said Jean. "I've gone over the arithmetic, and it is close enough for our use at present. You did a very good job, Bob."

"Let's get after the bugbear right away," said Jim. "The primary goal is to evacuate all of the children. The vehicle would be that the children are assigned to the few volunteers in our town, and they are all evacuated in a single, gigantic pickup. Is that right?" There were murmurs of agreement. "As I understand it, if the children would be going without either parent, both parents will have to execute a legally binding guardianship in favor of a specific sponsor."

John said, "Can the guardianship papers be conditional? Revocable? Does a judge have to approve?"

"I'm not absolutely sure," Jim replied, "and we need to be certain well before hand. It would be disastrous if a pickup started and the Confederacy rejected all of the guardianships. I will make some calls and find out. For now, let us assume that a conditional, revocable guardianship document can be executed and notarized, but not recorded or approved by a judge. If that proves not to be correct, we'll deal with the fallout at that time."

Sarah said, "I'm a little worried about asking high school students to become parents. That's a big responsibility. It will be one thing to become parents after a full pregnancy. Instant parenthood is a completely different matter."

That thought took them all aback. Silence prevailed while each of them considered the consequences and the alternatives. Finally, John said, "That is potentially a big problem. I can't think of a good solution. Unless any of you have an idea," and the rest shook their heads, "let's table that one. Perhaps a solution will reveal itself in due time."

"The next point we should touch on," said Andy, "is opposition to the proposal. A lot of people have talked to me about this. Without breaching confidence, I think I can say that a lot of soul-searching is going on. For many of us, the need to decide the lesser of two such terrible evils is very, very painful. Most parents have told me that they will participate, sending their children away forever. Some say they cannot bring themselves to do so. So far, I have heard no one express outright opposition. What do you think?"

John said, "My experience is the same as yours, Andy. I have never had anybody strongly express Earth First sympathies to me. I also talk to a lot of people. I know this is heart-wrenching for a lot of people. I can envision some withholding their children from the program. I just can't see anybody in town actively trying to block the program. I especially don't think anyone will do so violently. Until we get any inkling of danger, I think we can proceed. We should use care, I think, but that's all."

Jean asked, "How much time do we think it will take from now until the extraction? Maybe now we ought to touch on the steps we need to take to pull this off?"

"I think you're right, John, about dangerous opposition," said Steve. "Still, I don't think the Confederacy will ever tell anyone that an extraction will occur at a certain place and time."

"Does that mean," Michael asked, "that we have to assemble everyone and just hope the Marines show up?"

"I don't know," said John. "I will try to reach out to the Confederacy. Hopefully, I can get some guidance."

"Well then," said Bob, "on the simplest terms, what we need to do is complete the following steps. One, identify and count the number of volunteers and especially the total number of concubine slots. Two, identify and count prospective concubines. Three, identify and count the number of dependants. Four, match sponsors with dependants and collect guardianship papers and, lastly but most importantly, find a way to rapidly assemble everyone on short notice."

"Why do I feel that every one of those steps is a lot harder than it sounds?" asked Sarah.

"Part of the problem," said Steve, "is that the number of volunteers is a moving target. Kids turn 14 all the time. I guess we won't have to worry much about volunteers moving away once this program gets started. On the other hand, it is quite possible that people will move back to town when they hear about this."

"I think you mean older offspring, and in-laws," said John. "To me, those types would only move to town if the evacuation date was known. Nobody wants to move back in with mom and dad for very long if it can be helped."

"If the goal is maximum evacuation," said Andy, "then having kith and kin on hand for the event would be a benefit."

"You're right, of course," said Jim, "but it will bedevil our efforts to match up sponsors, concubines and dependants."

Amy added, "Something like seventy sponsors from our whole town is dismal. I did some research on the Internet. It looks like it may be possible to raise the CAP scores of some people if we can arrange for those candidates to concentrate almost exclusively on that goal. For the girls, it would mean dramatically increasing aggression. Full contact sports like football or rugby, martial arts training, or military training would be necessary."

"Boxing," said Bob.

"That's a really good one," said Amy. "For boys, it would more likely mean having them focus academically on the subjects they most enjoy: mathematics, physics, and science. Some boys might get enough benefit from military training that their CAP scores would move into volunteer category."

"Both boys and girls would benefit from military-type training," Andy remarked. "It would teach obedience, team loyalty, tenacity, and more."

"There are multiple thresholds for boys and girls, as well as men and women," said Bob. "Let's not forget that many of the men and boys, including me, will not be going. Every female helped to reach a CAP score of 6.5, saves at least one other boy. Every person helped to reach the next whole number in the CAP score saves two more people. Military-type training will be useful when it is time for us stay-behinds to fight the Swarm."

"Thank you for that, Bob," Jean said. "Then combining the opportunity to expand the pool of evacuees with the opportunity to raise CAP scores and thereby evacuate more people leads us to set a date, sometime in the future, for the evacuation. And remember that all the CAP tests must be taken before our scheduled pickup. There are no tests at the pickup!"

"I have a point," said Amy. "Assuming this plan is implemented, all of the children will be evacuated. There remains some unknown time until evacuation. Between now and then, it seems to me that the most important thing is to increase CAP scores of as many people as much as possible. It may be time to throw out the entire curriculum for grades 8 through 12. The students should spend all day, every day, in an effort to advance their CAP scores. I think I just fired myself."

That brought chuckles all around. "You can't get out of work that easily, Miss Rogers," laughed Michael.

Smiling broadly, Jim said, "Amy, someone needs to help figure out just how we will go about raising CAP scores. Someone needs to figure out how to assemble information on the CAP scores -- especially the sub-scores -- of everybody who wants a shot at evacuation. Someone needs to evaluate those sub-scores and determine the likelihood of a CAP score increase, and the areas of focus to achieve that CAP increase. Someone needs to lead some of the children in this process. Someone needs to demonstrate that the adults in the community should wholeheartedly get involved for their own benefit."

"OK, OK," laughed Amy, "I get it. I will devote more effort finding out about raising CAP scores. I bet you could persuade some high school students to figure out how to use computers to start assembling and utilizing the data we need."

"That seems to be my cue," smiled Michael. "I haven't taken an assignment yet tonight, and this is something my friends and I can do."

John said, "Let's review where we are, what needs to be done before our next meeting and what needs to be thrashed out at the community meeting. Debbie, let's see how well you have been taking notes."

Debbie smiled, "How about I go down my list and then we can sort them out? First was guardianship: Jim agreed to determine whether the guardianship could be conditional and/or revocable, whether it had to be recorded, and/or whether a judge had to approve.

"The next point discussed was outright opposition. We agreed that it probably isn't a problem, but it will be a point of discussion at the community meeting.

"Next, we talked about coordinating with the Confederacy to make sure a pickup can be arranged. We talked about how much time there should be from now until pickup, and how much time should be devoted to raising CAP scores. John agreed to try to reach out to the Confederacy for guidance.

"Then, we talked about identifying and counting volunteers, concubines and dependants, matching them up, and getting guardianship papers collected."

"Aren't we going to have a lot of trouble collecting CAP scores from people, and reading all the sub-scores?" asked Amy.

Bob made a show of pulling out his wallet, then tossed his CAP card on the table. "Here is my CAP card," he said. "I have lived in this town my whole life. You already know all about me, how I work, how I play, and what kind of dad I am. The only thing the card is going to tell you is my medical history and how much I like sex. I would have told you that if you'd asked." The entire group laughed. "Besides, after the extraction, there won't be a woman under 55 within ten miles of here. My sexual history will be just that -- history."

Jim said, "You're right, Amy. We'll have a lively discussion about this during the community meeting. In the end, though, anyone who wants to go will have to submit to having his or her CAP score read."

"We haven't really talked yet about how to assemble on short notice," Debbie said.

"I think we will have to begin drills," said Andy. "I think that that part can be held in abeyance for the time being. We should mention it in the community meeting, although that will spark a lot more heat than light."

Debbie said, "We talked about the number of sponsors being a moving target, with new 14-year-olds and the possibility of family moving back to town."

Jim said, "We should try to gauge the feelings of the town on this. We've talked about maximizing the numbers evacuated. I bet it depends upon whether the evacuation date can be reliably known, so the young adults don't have to move back in with mom and dad for very long. I can envision returnees crowding out some residents. Maybe that can't be helped."

"Do you mean I might not have to be celibate for the rest of my life?" quipped Bob.

"Then, the big one," sighed Debbie. "We talked about training students to improve their CAP scores. We went so far as to consider abandoning the existing curriculum. There was some discussion of including the larger community in the effort."

"After the notion of whether to do this at all," Steve said, "this is the most important issue. We could fairly rapidly get ourselves organized and get outa Dodge. If we do that, the number of boys and men left behind will be higher. Maybe we'll devote a lot of time and effort without much return. But if we don't do our damnedest to save every last one of us, we will regret it for the rest of our lives."

"So, you're saying," Andy asked, "that we should pull out all the stops on this CAP-raising thing?"

"I agree with Steve," said Jim. "Either we do an 'abandon ship' drill in the very near future, or we devote all the time and all the effort and, yes, all the money necessary to maximize the outcome of the CAP improvement program."

John said, "I agree, too. Amy is going to devote some time to find out more about CAP score improvement. The kids are going to start tinkering with their computers to get their arms around how to handle all the data. I think we are ready to call a community meeting. Does anybody object to that meeting taking place next Wednesday? Jean, can I prevail upon you to host the meeting in the school gymnasium?"

"We'd be glad to host the meeting," answered Jean. "I think another meeting of this group would be in order before that time. Several of us will have research to report upon. All of us will have further thoughts on the issues we have already discussed tonight."

"I think that's a good idea," said Andy. "I also would like to nominate Doc Waters and Coach Franklin to our core group. I suspect that they will have much to add."

Jean said, "How about we meet again on Monday night? That will give us several days to do our homework and to mull the issues discussed tonight. That will also give us two business days between our meeting and the community meeting."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Andy. "I think Steve's point is so important that the community deserves some time to consider. We shouldn't spring this on them next Wednesday night. Does anyone object to us starting to discuss this in public?" There was none.


Jean really took the bull by the horns. She wrote a rather long report detailing the proposal. The report showed the arithmetic, making no bones about the number of men and boys who might not be evacuated. It discussed the possibility of raising CAP scores with intensive training, and spent considerable time explaining the direct and indirect benefits of such a program. She concluded with a discussion of the abandonment of the regular curriculum for students and a discussion of the inclusion of as many adults as possible in the training. She even devoted some attention to the issues of money.

The report was posted on the school's Internet web page. Jean felt she could safely do so because the date of the future extraction was unknown and because the tiny town was so remote. In addition, a large number of paper copies were produced and distributed, mainly to restaurants, shops and stores in town.

The report generated an enormous amount of buzz in the community. At first, there was a wide disparity of reactions to the report. Over the following several days, however, it seemed the entire community embraced the concept without serious reservations. Sure, a few wanted to demonstrate their self-importance with grandiose suggestions. The high school students in particular were delighted with the prospect that their regular class schedules would be cancelled. After a while, it began to dawn on them that the new regimen might turn out to be far, far more difficult. Still, with the prospect of imminent evacuation, and with the rescue of additional people firmly in mind, the students rallied to the coming hard work.

When the core group reconvened on Monday night, there was a lot to talk about. Everyone from the prior meeting was present as well as Ellen Waters, M.D. and Dave Franklin, the school coach.

"Well, Jean," John began, "you really did a super job on that report. You managed to completely encapsulate the program and the major issues. I have heard little else all over town. I'm sure the community meeting on Wednesday night will be lively, but I have no doubt the plan will be accepted. Now, I think several of us have results to share with the group. I will begin, if you don't mind, by telling you what I learned from the Confederacy.

"Initially, I sent an email to an address I found on the Internet for the Confederacy. I told them who and where we are, and the approximate number of sponsors, concubines and dependants we expected. That got their attention, but the response to me was from a 'do-not-reply' address. As we expected, they wouldn't commit to a pickup at a particular time in a particular place. They were encouraging, however. They asked for more information.

"I asked Amy to respond. Using the email address I originally used, she explained what she thought she understood about being able to improve CAP scores. She sent a rather lengthy explanation of our complete willingness to devote our entire time and energy to achieve this goal. I'll let Amy describe to you the response she received."

"As you might expect," Amy began, "it was good news/bad news. The good news is that I received a lot of concrete recommendations for carrying out such a plan. They told me the obvious, that the longer the program, and the more intense the program, the more success we could expect. They confirmed that improvement in CAP scores could be achieved not only in those presently scoring below 6.5, but also those already above. Yes, that means that anyone improving their score to the next integer will be able to rescue two more people.

"The bad news -- or maybe it's really only sad news -- is that we shouldn't go into this expecting incredible results. We might, if we work really hard, we might be able to double the number of female sponsors from about four to perhaps eight. We might also see rewarding improvements in the CAP scores of the boys and men. On the other hand, it might be difficult to free the adults from their daily lives so they can do that. I'm sure an important aspect of that will be how long we decide to devote to the CAP improvement program."

"The part I'm worried about," said Ellen, "is getting the new CAP scores ratified. I have heard that it is permitted to re-test annually on one's birthday. Is there something magic about the re-test being near the birthday, or is it simply no more frequently than annually?"

"They told me," answered Amy, "that if we embark on such an ambitious program, they will make sure the re-tests are conducted in a timely manner. They left it up to us how long we would have the program last."

"But they didn't commit to a pickup?" Steve asked.

"No," Amy said, "they were kind of wishy-washy about that. They emphasized the danger and difficulty they have been having with pickups. They said it also depended upon the availability of transport ships at the time. However, I know they were trying to get me to read between the lines that, if we told them well in advance the date we would be ready for evacuation and, if they were given the opportunity to establish a secure perimeter, they would hold up their end of the bargain.

"Also, they told me that, in light of our basic objective of evacuating all of the children in town, that we should allocate a supernumerary concubine to each sponsor on the condition that the supernumerary concubine has borne at least one child, has five years' childrearing experience and has sub-scores in maternal instincts of at least 5.0. That by itself will ensure that every woman in town of childbearing age can be evacuated."

"That's wonderful, Amy!" said Ellen.

"The way I see it," said Jean, "if we aren't going to try improving CAP scores at all, then we should just pack up and go. I don't like that. I'm sure nobody else here likes that. I believe the entire town doesn't want to go along with that.

"On the other hand, we can't keep working here until the Swarm come. Is that still about two or three years from now? I bet this program is going to be very hard for the students. I see this as an attempt to turn teenagers -- some just barely so -- into people who think and act more like military veterans in their mid-twenties. If this is going to be like army boot camp, then the kids won't be able to take it for more than a few months. I worry that improvements will dramatically slow or even go backward, if the program is too long. Coach, what do you think?"

"You make good points, Jean," said Dave. "But as I understand it, there are a number of different currents, if you will, that will be running through this CAP improvement program. One, there is military-style training. The purpose is to dramatically increase the level of aggressiveness of girls. Another purpose is to train boys to be more obedient. Another purpose is to instill leadership in all of the trainees, together with group loyalty, decisiveness, initiative, and the like. This part, if done in the military, would be more or less equivalent to basic training, which takes from six to eight weeks. So, we could plan this part to take from two to three months. For the physical, military-type training, I had hoped that the kids would be organized in quite small groups of both girls and boys. In my mind's eye, these would be groups of three boys and three girls, grades 8 through 12 combined.

"Another aspect is almost exclusively academic. I think the academics will be almost entirely mathematics and the sciences. Here, it may not be advisable to have all the grades together. Or maybe we should. I'm just the coach and the gym teacher. Jean and Amy should weigh in on this part. How much can we intensely teach math and science, and how much time should be devoted?"

"I am honored," said Amy, "that you included me in your group. However, I only have one year of teaching under my belt, and that is in the eighth grade. I'm gonna punt this one to Jean."

Jean said, "I suppose two or three months will get most of the results we can hope for. In my mind, I see each day divided into a number of activities. I don't think children can do the equivalent of football practice eight hours a day, but neither can they study chemistry and geometry for eight continuous hours."

"That's a good point," said Andy. "I would like to circle back to Dave's mention of very small groups of all ages. That intrigues me. Coach, do you think one of the older boys will wind up being the leaders?"

"That's a very good question," answered Dave. "The short answer to your question is 'no'. I know that not only we, but everyone in town has made assumptions about how this program will proceed. I know I certainly have. I know it is important for us, as much as possible, to actually say what those assumptions are. To me, 'military training' is going to mean a lot of physical exercise and fight training, like boxing. To me it also means creating different exercises where different members of a group are at a disadvantage -- and must rely on the rest of the group. Sure, the big boys will have an advantage when they're boxing. When it comes to sewing themselves new clothes, the girls will be taking the lead. We hopefully can design exercises where smallness is an advantage.

"Frankly, Amy, this kind of thing is going to be right in your wheelhouse. We'll need a very wide variety of exercises. Each one should hopefully have a written description of the goals of the exercise."

"Another aspect of this is how many, and which, adults should be included in this program to improve CAP scores," said Sarah. "Miss Rogers, did the Confederacy give us any guidance there?"

"First of all, Sarah," smiled Amy, "you are closer in age to me than anyone else in the room. We're both equal members of this group. If you play your cards right, your regular school career is already over. I think you better drop the 'Miss Rogers' part, at very least in these meetings. Will you do that?" Sarah nodded, blushing. "You, too, Michael," she added. Michael grinned and nodded.

"As to guidance from the Confederacy, they promised to ship a number of card readers to John. They should be here any day. But they told us that even they couldn't relate sub-scores to the total in any logical manner. They know enhancing certain sub-scores changes the total, but they don't know how or why. We're pretty much on our own as to how to interpret the sub-scores in terms of the overall average score, and how to seek out the people most likely to benefit from the CAP enhancement program."

"Which brings us around to the data collection and data processing aspect," said John. "Michael, will you give us a report, please?"

"Yes, Sir," answered Michael. "Miss Rogers, errrr, Amy told me about the card readers. I was afraid the reader was sorta like a magnifying glass, so you could read really tiny writing on the card. Amy said no, the reader somehow has the ability to act more like an I-Phone. You put the card in the reader, use your finger to scroll to the area you want to see, then use your thumb and finger to expand that page.

"We need a way to get the CAP card information into a computer so we can analyze it, and use it to match people up in family groups, and such. Amy of course hadn't been thinking about that. I used email to contact the same people who told Amy about the readers. They replied to me, telling me it is possible to connect the card readers to our computers to collect the data. The rest is a fairly straightforward database matter..."

"If you're a teenager," interjected Steve with a smile.

"Well, yeah," Michael continued with a blush, "but some of us are teenagers. I am working on collecting name and contact information for everybody in the area. Mrs. Stevens, aah, Jean, helped by supplying information about all the school kids and their parents. We don't think the County Clerk will be able to help us. We don't think the Post Office can help us, either.

"The database will be very flexible. We surely don't have all of the categories that we need, and we probably will be trying to get data that we won't need. We can keep modifying the database as we go along, without losing anything. I'm going to have to see the CAP card reader before we can figure out how to capture information for every individual. It sure would be nice if I was ready in time for the community meeting on Wednesday night. We may be able to capture a lot of information then. After that, it looks like we will be making personal visits to a lot of homes in the near future."

"That sounds great, Michael. Can we summarize our discussion to this point," asked Jim, "and go on to other topics? We really need to hear from the community before we make firm decisions. I think I heard:

One, the Confederacy implied they would cooperate with us on scheduling a pickup in the future; Two, because of our basic objective, every sponsor will be allocated an additional motherly concubine; Three, the Confederacy indicated that a rigorous CAP score enhancement program would bear fruit; we seem to be rallying around the idea of a two or three month effort; Four, the Confederacy promised to provide CAP re-testing to ratify any score improvements in time for the pickup. By the way, I think we should ask everyone not to do any more CAP tests until community arrangements are in place, since anyone who has had a CAP test within the past year may not be eligible to re-test; Five, the CAP enhancement program will consist of military-style physical training plus academic work in mathematics and science. I sense a lot of preparatory work will be required before the program can be launched; Six, some adults will need to fully participate in the CAP enhancement program, either as members of Dave's small groups, or otherwise. Selection will be based upon CAP sub-scores that remain to be collected. It sounds like the dozen or so teachers will not be enough to fully supervise; Seven, Michael is making good progress on assembling a database of the town population. Much work remains to be done. The coming card readers will be essential."

"That's an excellent summation, Jim," said Ellen. "We are all concerned about guardianship issues. Can we have you update us on that, please?"

Jim pulled a stack of papers from under his note pad and passed them around to the group. "The answers on the guardianship were almost exactly as we had hoped. The document can be revoked if that is desirable. The document is conditional, and would only be effective when the pickup commenced. It becomes void by its own terms if the children are not extracted, or if the named guardian is not extracted. We do not need a judge's approval or recording.

"I admit this document is written in legalese, although I tried mightily to use plain English. I would like each of you to read the document thoroughly and carefully. If you think a passage is ambiguous or if you think that I failed to consider a contingency, please let me know tomorrow morning. I would like to release this to the community so it can be studied before the meeting commences."

Bob asked, "What do we know about an inflow of people into town in anticipation of the pickup? It sounds like we are moving towards a fixed length CAP enhancement period. Who has thought about how we assemble ourselves on short notice for the pickup?"

John answered, "I understand that some of the kids who have graduated in the past few years are planning to come back. Based upon the comments I've heard, I suspect that there will be quite an influx just ahead of the expected pickup date. The more I think about it, the more I think there will be a slot for every female who wants to go. I don't think the young men coming back to town will significantly crowd out the men who are already here. It is unlikely, though, that many of the newcomer men will be able to escape."

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