Chapter 1: Questions

Sis had been down for a few days since her fourteenth birthday. She'd taken her CAP test of course, and she hadn't liked the result: 4.8. She was already resigned to scoring less than 6.5, so she wasn't surprised at not making sponsor. What annoyed her was that she hadn't even made 5.0, and Ann, her best friend, had already got herself a 5.1. She'd really wanted to beat Ann's score. Mainly for the chance to tease her, I think.

She'd been snappy ever since, so I'd been avoiding her as much as possible. That evening I was hiding in my room, working on my computer. No, not porn, school work. I only allowed myself to look at porn -- "research for if I'm extracted" -- after I'd done that day's homework.

There was a knock on my door, and Danni called, "Can I come in, Steve?"

"Sure, Danni." Don't ever try to call her 'Dan', she'll make sure you sing soprano for days afterwards. And if you call her 'Danielle', it'll be for weeks. Only Mum was ever allowed to call her that, and even then, not very often.

She came in and sat on my bed. I spun round in my computer chair and faced her, waiting for her to start. We both have brown eyes and light brown hair. I keep mine pretty short, while she has hers longer, about shoulder length. Her breasts weren't as well-developed as some of her friends, Ann for one, but her shape was filling out nicely. She was showing off her legs and flat stomach in a dark blue micro-skirt and a cut-off white T-shirt with, "You suck. I swallow." across her tits -- typical for a potential concubine. Female potential concubine that is, I was in my usual full length T-shirt and jeans.

"You're a guy," she said.

I couldn't resist, "No officer. I deny it all. I wasn't there at the time whatever it was didn't happen."

Danni glared at me, "This is serious, Steve."

"Sorry, Sis. Yes, I'll admit to being a guy."

"What are guys like?" she asked. "At pickups, I mean. I don't want to let a guy do stuff to me and then leave me behind. I don't mind doing things if he takes me, but if he's gonna leave me behind, then I really want to know first. How do I tell?"

Well. There was a question and a half. Of course, when she was still thirteen, she'd had a chance of going as Dad's dependant if he'd been picked as a concubine. We'd even signed some legal papers so she could have gone with me, if I'd been selected. But that was in the past. She'd turned fourteen now, so she didn't count as a dependant any more. How could she tell if a guy was playing it straight, or if he just wanted a free fuck? It isn't so bad for us non-sponsor men. We have a slim chance of being picked, but I'd be happy being test driven by half a dozen women and then left behind. I could understand Sis' point that it wouldn't be so easy for a girl. I was pretty sure she was still a virgin, which would make it even more difficult for her.

"Yeah, I can see that would be a real bummer, Sis. Doing ... whatever, and him leaving you behind." I was careful how I phrased that. We hadn't discussed sex much between us, so I wasn't sure how she would react to more explicit descriptions.

I took a bit of time to think. "Most guys are OK. There's sort of an implied contract there, if you let them do stuff, then they'll take you as their concubine. Provided you don't make a complete mess of it, of course."

She reacted to that, "I can do OK," then blushed at what she'd said.

I pretended not to notice her reaction and went on, "Most guys, most of the time, are going to honour that contract." That sparked a thought, "Actually, that's a good idea. If you speak out loud then there will likely be a Confederacy recording of what you said. That might help. At the very least he's going to think twice about dumping you. Some guys aren't OK, so there really aren't any hundred percent guarantees I'm afraid, even with a good CAP score. Look at Wayne for instance."

Sis grimaced, "Ugh. Never in a million years."

Almost everyone in school wondered how Wayne had ever managed to scrape a 6.5 CAP score. It was a big puzzle; the guy was a complete plonker. None of the girls I'd talked to would even consider going with him. He was probably going to have to fool a couple of women who didn't know him, or find two who were really desperate to get off Earth.

I told Sis, "You'll basically have to trust your instinct. If he feels wrong, then don't take the risk. Now, some guys, a lot of guys probably, will do silly things at pickups, just because they've got the chance. Stuff like, 'Show me your tits, Mrs. Cooper, ' for example." Mrs. Cooper taught us English, and she had the world's most awesome pair of bazongas.

Danni nodded at that. "Yeah, I can see a lot of guys going wild over her. But that isn't going to happen to me, is it? I won't have a queue to look at mine."

"No, probably not, nice though they no doubt are." I wasn't kidding her, they were nice. A bit on the small side, but definitely nice. They still had that tight, teenage shape. I'd gotten the occasional glimpse as we went in and out of the bathroom we shared.

Getting back to the main subject, I carried on, "What Mrs. Cooper will do is help you sort out the ones who just want a look at her, and the ones who want to go further. You'll probably be able to tell which guys are really serious about actually taking her, and which just want the bragging rights without filling one of their slots. So you could keep an eye out for how the sponsors are treating the other women. If he test-drives a whole bunch of women, probably best to avoid him, unless he has a really high score. You can always ask to look at his CAP card, so you can check."

"What if he won't show me?"

"Then that tells you something about him," I told her. "If I were you, I'd say 'no' to a guy like that." Sis nodded in agreement. "If the guy just tries out a few women, then he's probably not looking to put one over on you. If he's good he'll be up-front about things. Something like, 'There are three of you, and I'll take the two who give me the best blowjobs.' That's not a guarantee, but at least he's being straight about what he's offering."

She nodded, "That wouldn't be as bad as just being left. At least I'd know what the deal was in advance."

"Yeah. You can always ask the guy what the deal is, like I said with speaking the contract out loud. You don't know him and he doesn't know you. Get all the cards out onto the table, so everyone knows what's what." I had another thought, "That also gives you a chance to talk to him a bit. Even a short conversation might help. Something a bit more substantial than, 'Drop your knickers and bend over.' It should help you suss him out better."

"That's part of the problem," Sis pointed out. "There might be a load of strangers I know nothing about. At least with the guys from school I know something about them. I already have a fair idea of who I'd want to go with, and who I wouldn't."

"Don't forget the teachers as well. I wouldn't say no if Ms. Chung asked me."

"In your dreams, Bro. I think there would be a queue for her almost as long as the queue for Mrs. Cooper's boobs. And it wouldn't just be the boys."

Sadly, she was probably right.

We managed to find four seats together: Dad, Mum, Danni and I. We were lucky, since there was a big crowd in the school hall. Post-Swarm, people made sure to attend events like this, just in case the Confederacy arrived to make a pickup. Pre-Swarm, a school concert would only have had a fraction as many people attending. There weren't many large events round town, so everyone tried to make the most of whatever opportunities there were.

While the performers were setting up on the stage, I had a look around to see who else was there. Ms. Chung was sitting next to a woman I hadn't seen before: European, age about twenty-five or so, with short blonde hair. Looked to me like a probable pre-pack. I'm sure a lot of people had done the same; it would obviously make sense if you were hoping for a Confederacy extraction. I couldn't see Mrs. Cooper, but perhaps she was helping with things behind the scenes. I suspected all the teachers were around somewhere. Frankie, one of the sponsor level girls, was sitting two rows in front of us -- I recognised her long red hair. As far as I knew, she hadn't picked a boy for her harem yet. My problem was that there were so few female sponsors, and so many of us low CAP boys. I knew my chances weren't at all good if there was a pickup. Danni had a far better shot at going than I did.

"So Sis," I asked, "see any sponsors you fancy?"

"Barry's here, and I saw Ravinder's dad so he likely is as well. I haven't seen John, but he said he was going to come, so he's probably around somewhere."

"John R, John L or John K?"

"Oh, John R of course," she said, looking at me as if I should have known already. "John K is taking his sister and Chloe, I asked him. John L is creepy, I wouldn't want him as my sponsor."

That made sense. John Lancaster was one of the Goth crowd, and worked hard at being creepy. "What about the teachers?" I reminded her.

"Hmmm, Mr. Ross is OK, but a bit boring. Mr. Mason is nice, though he's married, so one of his slots has likely gone already. There's a rumour that he's also taking some girl who lives next door to him, so both his slots might be filled. I don't think he scored a seven or higher."

"Mr. Ross might be safer for you. He's married to another guy, so you might not get bothered too much."

"And what if I want to be bothered, Bro?"

She did have a point there.

Just then the concert started and put a stop to any further conversation. The choir sounded pretty good to my ears, though some people in the orchestra needed to practice more. They were all playing enthusiastically enough; it was their skill that was lacking. We all applauded anyway at the interval.

After the applause died down we were just about to head out for a necessary break, when a big man in a green uniform walked onto the stage and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, my apologies for the interruption. I am Lieutenant David Harlow of the Confederacy Space Marines, and we are here to perform an extraction."

Woo hoo! An extraction! Result! It was rather a let-down that the first thing the lieutenant did was to send most of us out to use the toilets, where we'd been heading anyway, while they rearranged the hall. The interdiction field they'd set up was a big one, large enough to enclose all the main school buildings. I was sure a lot of people would be grateful for the lieutenant's thoughtfulness before the evening was over. He'd probably done this sort of thing many times before, so he knew the pitfalls.

While we were washing our hands, I asked Dad, "Are you going to try?"

He shook his head. "No, Steve. Your mother can't go, and Danni's fourteen now, so I'm not going to bother."

Mum had some problems after Danni was born, so she couldn't have any more kids. It was something even Confederacy medicine couldn't fix, so she was stuck on Earth. Like the rest of us, Dad wasn't a sponsor, so he couldn't take either me or Danni. If this had happened before Danni's birthday, then I was sure that he would have tried, on the off-chance he could have taken Sis as a dependant. I was sad that he was staying, but there was no real chance of us both being picked by the same sponsor. Either way, we'd be apart if I got lucky and someone took me. He loved Mum and didn't want to leave her. "OK, Dad. I understand," I assured him.

Sis was looking a bit teary-eyed when we met back up, so she and Mum had probably been having a similar conversation in the Ladies. There were a couple of Confederacy Marines at the entrance to the Hall, separating out the non-participants and dependants. Those guys are huge. You don't realise how big two metres really is until you see it in the flesh, and there's a lot of flesh to see. They aren't stick-thin like high-jumpers, they're very solidly built with lots of muscles. We hugged goodbye as Mum and Dad left for one of the classrooms. They would be helping look after the under fourteens whose parents were in the main hall trying to be picked up. Mum and Sis were crying, though I managed not to. This might be the last time Mum and Dad would see me in person, and I didn't want them to remember me crying.

Inside the hall they had stacked most of the chairs away, and set up some tables in the middle. Us single concubines gathered over on the left side: girls and women towards the front, boys and men further back. The married couples who were trying to get picked together were on the other side at the back. The concubines already in pre-packs waited near the front, just below the stage. Some of the Marines herded us into our areas. They made it very clear that the sexes had to stay inside their assigned areas; coloured lines on the floor marked the boundaries. You only stepped out if a sponsor wanted you for a test drive. The sponsors gathered up on the stage for their CAP card readers and a quick briefing from Lieutenant Harlow.

One of the Marines, he had three stripes so I suppose he was a sergeant, told us, "All potential concubines, if you aren't already naked, then strip now. Just keep your CAP card with you. This is an order."

I started undressing.

Predictably, there was a rush of sponsors, the boys anyway, to where Mrs. Cooper was stripping. I didn't get to see anything interesting because the crowd blocked my view. She was the only concubine in the melee as the other women and girls had moved away from her. Anyone else standing near her wasn't going to get noticed at all. I wondered what was going on in the crush...

PFC Kate Vickers received an alert over her AI link, «Private, there's a problem in the unselected females area. The lieutenant wants it sorted out.»

«Yes, Sergeant. I'll see to it.»

As soon as she got close, Kate could see the scrum of sponsor boys round one of the women. She easily made her way through the crowd and saw the source of the problem. The AI notified her, «This is Mrs. Elaine Cooper, an English teacher at the school.»

Kate wondered how on earth could she ever teach boys anything? Every boy in her classes would be thinking of something other than the lesson. That also explained the scrum round her now -- they had a chance to make their classroom fantasies come true.

"Stand back boys," Kate ordered. "You can't all fuck her at once." Mrs. Cooper was beginning to look worried; moving back the crowd helped her to relax a bit. Kate turned to the teacher, "You look like you could do with some protection?"

"Yes please," Mrs. Cooper replied. "I don't want to have all of them test driving me."

"Do you mind taking on a few of them?"

"No, that's fair, provided they're serious about selecting me. There are too many here for me to go with them all. A small group would be fine."

"OK, you pick out as many as you can handle, and I'll get rid of the rest." Kate had been in similar situations before. The easiest way to deal with it was to let the concubine cut the number of sponsors down to something she could cope with.

"Yes, I can do that," Elaine agreed. She knew most of the boys in the crowd, and she could see some she wouldn't mind having as her sponsor.

Kate turned to the boys. "There are too many of you to all take a test drive, so Mrs. Cooper is going to pick a few of you. She picks you, not the other way around. Those she picks get to test drive her, the rest of you go and find yourselves some other concubines."

"But we're the sponsors," one boy complained. "We get to choose, not her. She's just a concubine."

"You haven't been paying attention in class, have you?" Kate told him, sharply. "Every concubine gets to say 'yes' or 'no' before the AI registers her as yours. If she's going to say 'no' to you anyway, then you're better off not wasting your time here."

Elaine broke in, "I won't ever agree to be your concubine, Wayne, so you may as well leave now." She addressed the wider group, "I'll pick four of you to test drive me, and the rest of you will have to find someone else. There are too many of you for you all to do what you want." There was some grumbling among the boys, but most of them could see the sense in what she said. Even naked, she was still a teacher, and could project her authority. "OK, I'll pick Martin, John Riley, Ravinder and Nick," pointing out four of the boys in the crowd. "The rest of you will have to go. Sorry boys." She smiled regretfully at the others.

Most of them did get the message and leave, though a few hung around to ogle. Stupid of them, Kate thought, the sensible ones would get first pick of the other concubines. The one who had complained, Wayne, was among those who stayed.

Elaine asked Kate, "Can you record agreements, before I become a concubine?"

"Sure. The AI hears everything," the big Marine assured her.

"Does my sponsor have to stick to the agreement?"

"Provided it doesn't go against Confederacy Law he has to. You can't give him orders, for instance."

Elaine nodded and turned to the four waiting boys. "OK, I've got two conditions. First, you don't let Wayne touch me. Ever. He can't lay a finger on me, and you won't loan me to him, give me to him or trade me to him. Agreed?" There was a chorus of yes's from the boys. Wayne was not generally popular except within his own small coterie who, apart from himself, were all below the 6.5 CAP cutoff.

"Second condition. Once we get on the ship, whichever one of you takes me is going to have a lot of his friends asking for a crack at me. That's understandable, but I don't want to play hostess for a gang-bang. One or two at a time is reasonable. I don't want to have to take on ten of your mates at a party. OK?" Again four more yes's.

"The AI says it is prepared to enforce those two conditions," Kate confirmed.

Elaine turned back to the four expectant boys and took control of the situation, "You can start by fondling my breasts. Martin first."

When the scrum round Mrs. Cooper cleared, I could see she had a female Marine standing guard by her, and four guys waiting for their test drives. Lucky bastards.

Looking at the other naked girls, I had to laugh. One of the Goth girls, Nat, hadn't dyed her pubes. Everything else was black: hair, lipstick, nipples, eye-liner, nail-varnish (toe-nails included) but not her pubes. They were just a boring mousey brown. She'd have done better to have shaved them off. I'd never been able to discover whether she was a Natalie or a Natasha; she only ever answered to 'Nat'. I wasn't in with the Goths so I couldn't ask her directly, she'd have just glared at me. John L was talking with her, and as I looked she knelt down and started sucking him.