Chapter 20

It was daybreak when Sally woke up laying between Sarah and Tara. She shifted slightly closer to Tara, when she did Sarah moved to maintain their contact. Through their mind-link she checked the rest of her ‘friends’. Sally smiled when she realized her ‘friends’ were still asleep, but not for much longer. “An interesting question,” she thought, “while we are all very close ‘friends’, should we now consider each other to be spouses as others have intimated.” She softly chuckled at the idea of trying not to wake her ‘friends’. “The idea of being an equal member in a clan of twelve spouses would have been laughable before coming here. Although, the five of us were moving in that direction before we were brought here, but twelve ... I can’t deny that crossing paths with Sarah was the best thing that’s happened to me. I’ve felt a link with her from the very moment we met at the resort and it grew while we worked on that project. When we met at her house, our connection resumed. Observing the first time she met Rusty seemed almost magical. I could feel the link instantly form between them. Even now my link with them seems slightly stronger than those with our other ‘friends’. We really are more than ‘friends’. Being known as Sarah’s Clan seems appropriate, since it is around Sarah that we gathered to begin our relationship. I do love every one of them, as I know they love me.”

“And we feel the same about you,” responded her other spouses startling her.

“I didn’t think the rest you were awake yet.”

Each of them indicated that they had woken at different times during her introspective thoughts and had remained quiet so as not to disturb her. They all shared their feelings for each other which confirmed that they all felt the same way about each of their spouses, though the framing of each vision was a bit different. All agreed that the intensity they felt was the same. With that they kissed and caressed each other before beginning their morning ritual.

“To me we are more than a collection of ‘special friends’,” said Judy. “I like the idea of referring to our group as Sarah’s Clan. Actually, haven’t we already done that?”

“Yes, at times,” responded Joyce. “I’ve heard some refer to us that way.”

“We thought of you collectively in those terms,” said Erin.

“I agree,” said Janet. “We have referred to each other as spouses already. But I was thinking we should do something special to formalize this change.”

“Let’s think about it,” said Rusty. “My preference leans toward a private ceremony for us. I love the idea of being a member of Sarah’s Clan.”

“After we exercise and let our milk down, let’s go to the gym so we can do Tai Chi then practice Aikido,” said Sally.

“I think that would be a good idea,” said Sarah. “Continuing Tai Chi and maintaining our Aikido skills will be very important to everyone in the future. Especially since it maintains our fitness.”

The intensity of Sarah’s comment caused her spouses to pause then respond, “We agree.”

“Sally, could you start the classes today? Say, at around 16:00, that should be late enough in the afternoon not to interfere with anything but still give us enough time so we can freshen up before dinner.”

“I will mention it at breakfast. We could also have a session before breakfast. We should limit participation to every other or even every third day.”

After they finished expressing their milk and letting the exercise bench take them through their general conditioning exercises, they left for the gym.

Arriving at the gym, Judy happened to notice that they were all bare foot. She realized that her feet felt fine and the strain she felt before was no longer apparent. That train of thought reminded her that with Betsy and Connie incapacitated, she would need to function as the site’s doctor. She thought, “I need to discuss some training sessions with Donna.”

“We agree,” responded her spouses.

“You know this sharing of thoughts is neat but it still takes some getting use too,” said Judy.

“Yes. But, I have noticed we have started to use it a bit differently,” added Joyce. “We each have our own thought process, just as we have always had, but we can see each others at the same time. We seem to wait while they construct a thought then make a comment if we think one is needed.”

“Yes. I’ve noticed that as well. But there are other times, like yesterday, when it seemed like we were one mind with multiple bodies,” said Janet.

During their Tai Chi session, they used their mind link to follow Sarah and Rusty’s guidance. When the chime sounded Joyce glanced at the clock and said, “Boy that was quick.”

As they left for the shower Alison said, “Was that a typical session?”

Sally responded, “Pretty much for Tai Chi. Rusty led us through a longer routine than we typically do. Considering, everything I think it was good choice. For Aikido we usually spar, which means we actually practice the moves against an opponent or two. We need to think about our protocol when we spar since we now have our mind-link and our opponents likely will not. Now when we have new people, we initially practice how to do the movements along with the why and when.”

“I don’t think the mind-link will be a problem,” said Rusty. “Now our sparing will be a means to hone our timing and movement rather than as a competitive exercise.”

As they left for breakfast they all slipped on their shoes. Judy said to Alison, Erin, Tara, and Claudette, “The last time you all mentioned the incubators you hadn’t decided on when to do it.”

Tara responded, “I think we should go up to the ship today and see when we can start.”

Erin added, “We should do it before we get involved in something. I think right after breakfast would be a good choice.”

“I agree,” responded Claudette and Alison.

“I think a couple of our new medical assistants are going up this morning,” noted Judy. “You all might want to mention it after breakfast.”

“Okay,” they responded.

Once Sarah saw that everyone was finished eating, she stood. The room became quiet as everyone turned to look at her. “Before we resume last nights discussion, are there any announcements?”

Alison, Claudette, Erin, and Tara stood then Erin said, “We are going up the ship this morning to see about starting our session in the incubators. While the discussion this morning is important, we know you all will do it well. We also recognize that if we delay because of this it will be to easy to push it off. So see you in a few weeks.”

After hugging and kissing their spouses, they headed for the shuttle.

As they started to leave Sophia said to Patricia, “Let’s ride up with them.”

“Okay. We should tell Judy.”

“She knows.”

As the group left Sarah said, “Last night we started a discussion on recruiting people to join us for the purpose of assisting with repairing the ship. As we ended the discussion, we had concluded that we really had two distinct needs. The first is that we need assistance in caring for the babies that will soon arrive. The other is that we want to find people capable and interested in helping us repair the ship. I think many of us see filling this role as being more difficult.”

“For our child care needs, why don’t we run an ad for people seeking a degree in education and an interest in child care,” inquired Nancy. “Initially we could do this for the colleges near N&R’s estate. If we need additional people to fill other roles, then spread out from there. The estate has the advantage of providing us with a reasonably secure area from which to operate.”

“Shouldn’t we define what we see as an ideal candidate before we go too far?” asked Ann.

“Let’s go to the conference room so we can use the white board,” said Sarah. With that they all moved to the conference room. Dorothy and Maria brought coffee and cups for the group.

“Before we get too far into this,” said Rusty, “remember the issue Bob mentioned last night. For now, those returning to Earth society will need a cover story. It needs to be simple. The initial idea was to alter their memories in some way and we discarded that approach. The second idea was to alter their perception of the time here so it seemed like a dream. While these seem like a good options, I think there may be some problems with them, both in implementing them and in the long term impact on the individual. One issue would be references for the time with us. I think that anyone we approach or who works here should be left with a way to contact us. This complicates the idea of changing their perceptions. We need to think this through carefully before we decide how to handle it.”

“Okay,” said Janet, “now that we have additional food for thought, lets go back to defining attributes needed for nannies.” Many laughed.

They decided to seek child care staff with the following attributes: Single, although couples were acceptable, no close family since visiting them could be problematic. Potentially telepathic. College course work in early child development or education was desirable but not a necessary requirement. A high IQ, intuitive, friendly and sociable. Compensation would be room and board plus full medical care and vacation time. For each year with them they would receive either $30,000 after taxes or a year’s worth of expenses to attend a college of their choice. While working for them, provisions would be made so they could participate in correspondence courses.

They decided to seek at least eight and up to twenty people. Jessica and Nancy, or Pat and Julia, would do the initial interviews. That way one of interviewers would be pregnant. During the interviews, they would seek to determine the candidate’s feelings toward nudity and other aspects of their life style. Security would be provided by two cloaked bots and a drone. A second round of interviews would be conducted and might include some of Sarah’s Clan. Before an invitation was extended to visit they would be scanned. The scan was to avoid any surprises, such as those found with Jennifer and Laura, and potentially to clarify their psionic capabilities. All candidates that met their needs would be asked to spend a week with them as a trial period.

Once they had completed their plan Judy said, “We need to move quickly but carefully in securing the nannies. Erin is due in two weeks with Tara not long after. The babies of Alison, Ann, Jessica, Mary, Gina, Marsha, Cathy, and Wilma will begin arriving over the next six to seven months. We could handle everything without help but we would be diverted from taking care of other needs.”

“We will try to place an ad in the college and town papers this coming weekend,” responded Nancy. “If they are already registered for the semester, will we compensate them?”

“Yes,” Sarah quickly replied.

The discussion on recruiting additional crew members was not nearly as straight forward. It eased a bit when Donna indicated that she could search the records for recent college graduates and those in their senior year. Based on that, they decided to screen science majors for high IQ, class standing, above average height, single and no close family. A second pass would focus on personality, interpersonal activities, general skills, and common sense.

Sam said, “How do we quantify ‘common sense’?”

“Sam,” said Rusty, “I think we mean practical skills or someone who seeks workable solutions.”

“I agree with that. Should we change the wording then?”

“Sure. Let’s just say practical or hands on skills.”

They all agreed that once a candidate or candidates were identified, an attempt would be made to meet with them informally. This would give them an opportunity to assess their psionic abilities. If they didn’t have psionic capabilities then the person would most likely be dropped from the candidate pool.

Jean said, “We’ve talked several times about the need for above average height. Why?”

“It’s in part a psychological issue,” said Jessica. “Generally short people are uncomfortable around very tall people. Although that doesn’t seem to be an issue among us, as there is about a foot difference in our heights. It is not an absolute issue but one to consider.”

“While that is one aspect,” said Sarah, “another is that the ship’s work suits are designed for people of nearly the same height as Amy’s group or taller. Altering the suits to accommodate shorter people is a possibility but diverts resources. Another is that the work suits are considerably more complex than the name conveys, so until it is attempted we don’t know whether it is feasible at this time.”

“Okay that makes sense. Does this mean that the genetic treatments will increase our height?”

“Yes,” replied Judy. “The mean height is about 81 inches or 206 centimeters with a spread of about 4 inches or 10 centimeters. The distribution is skewed to the taller side. Which is a good thing, as when we had to wear them they were a tight fit for us. They would have been very uncomfortable if worn for several hours.”

“We think Nancy and Bob or Julia and Stan should be the ones who approach the candidates with the offer,” said Ann, “although, Zoe’s group would be a good choice as well.”

“We could also include Alice and Susan in the group,” added Jill.

“We can do that,” said Nancy. “Actually for this teams of two women would likely be better. Our offer is going to be pretty unbelievable, so we will need some way to convince them it is valid. We also have to figure out a way to avoid unwanted attention or publicity.”

“We will probably need to vary how we approach to each candidate or group,” said Bob. “Let’s try, and think this through from the perspective of us being approached and what we would want to hear. This should give us a basis on which to plan.”

“Good idea,” responded Sam. “We now understand why we were initially approached the way we were. At that time Amy’s group didn’t have any alternatives. Now we have some, even though we are seeking a broader range of skills.”

“While we are not certain,” said Sarah, “we suspect everyone working in space will need to be fully telepathic.”

No one said anything for a few moments then Rusty said, “I think it is time for a break so let’s get back together on this tomorrow morning.”

Everyone nodded their agreement.

As everyone was starting to get up Sally said, “Before you go, starting today at 16:00, I will lead martial arts / exercise classes in the exercise room. If there is enough interest there will be a morning class before breakfast. Initially the sessions will be six days in a row and then two days off. Participation is limited to no more than every other session, preferably just once a week. I prefer to keep the groups to 10 per instructor. Sign-up sheets will be on a table at lunch.”

Sam and Ann then made announcements on what they needed help with. Jessica followed with a schedule for the nursing staff. She noted that Patricia and Sophia were spending a day or two on the ship.

Judy said, “With Betsy and Connie unavailable, I will be utilizing Donna’s learning system for most of the day in order to become better acquainted with the available medical resources. Fortunately those resources are much more extensive than currently available to humans. I just need to learn more about them.”

Sarah said, “The treatments for Amy’s Clan began yesterday so during their time in the incubators, they will be unavailable. Once out of the incubators, access will be limited as they recover their strength. Currently this is projected to be at about four months.”

Jessica reported, “We’ve been informed that Cynthia, Margaret, Barbara, Diane and Carol are progressing as expected. They should be out of the incubators in two weeks, then up and about in two to four months. Their height will be about the same as Amy’s Clan. Their other features are similar to the women in Sarah’s Clan. We’ve offered to assist with their daily exercising.”

As they were sitting down to breakfast the next morning, Erin, Tara, Sophia, and Patricia joined the group. Smiling Sarah said, “I am surprised to see you two. Where are the others?”

“Well if we start the treatment now, we would be giving birth in them. So we decided to wait a couple of weeks. Since there wasn’t any urgency, we decided to wait until a week after birthing. The staff were pleased with our decision. Alison and Claudette entered the incubators yesterday afternoon.”

Jill said, “I noticed my connection with them had diminished a bit.”

“Ours did too.”

“So what have you been doing?” inquired Sally.

“Well we didn’t think it was necessary to rush back and tie up a shuttle, so we accompanied Alison and Claudette as they went through the prep. After that we spent time in the learning center, socializing with the crew and listening to you all.”

“Well it is good to have you all close by,” said Sarah’s Clan with a smile.

Joyce said, “Let’s eat. I am hungry.”

It was a week later when Nancy said, “Sarah, we’ve received a lot of responses to the ad for live-in child care. We’ve selected twenty-four to interview as they meet our criteria and can start immediately.”

“When are you going to interview them?”

“We’ve made arrangements to interview them at a hotel near our place in two days’ time.”

“Are you going to be able to finish them in one day?”

“Jessica, Pat and Julia are going with me, so yes, we plan to. We plan on inviting those we want hire, to come visit us here for up to two weeks.”

“It just occurred to me. How are we going to get them here?”

“Jessica told me they flew on a private jet when they went to the other place. So I asked Donna, and she told me that it could be arranged.”

“Excuse me,” said Donna, “but I heard my name.”

“Nancy and I were talking about the upcoming interviews with the nannies. How will we bring them here for their visit?”

“In the past, we’ve used shuttles to make pickups after dark at private airports. This was because we didn’t have the necessary resources to alter their appearance. Now that we have full access to our ship, we don’t have that concern but we do want to avoid controlled airspace for now.”

“So what will this shuttle look like?”

“Similar to a twin engine business jet. Due to a lack of familiarity with ground crews and air traffic control, we’ve used remote air fields with virtually no night support. This is something we will likely need to soon change.”

“Agreed. It should work for this though. Was this the way we were brought here?”

“Basically, yes.”

“What if you picked us up from the estate after dark?” asked Nancy.

“We can do that.”

“Okay then I will arrange for our people to meet them and bring them to the estate. After a late dinner there, you can pick us up.”

“There will eventually be questions.”

“Yes. I think it best to deal with them as they come up.”

“True,” replied Sarah. “If they leave then this all becomes a dream or the remembrance of a fictional story.”

“I heard that proposal earlier,” responded Donna. “Will that work?”

“Yes. We can do it if we need to. It won’t create issues for them because it just changes their perception of a memory. We won’t be able to do that for those who stay here for a significant amount of time. We will likely just ask them not to talk about us after explaining how others would perceive their comments. This needs more thought though.”

“Agreed. We are playing it pretty loose, but it is difficult to know how people will react to our unique environment.”

Sarah laughed then said, “Yes. It is unique in many ways.”

Sarah and her spouses had just finished exercising when they heard Nancy say, “Sarah, are you at a spot where we can talk?”

“Sure. We were just finishing exercising. What’s up?”

“We just finished our interviews and have ten excellent candidates. However, there are eight others that are essentially equal to those we extended an invitation to visit. We didn’t actually extend an invitation, but their comments indicated that they were interested and available.”

“Are you saying you found eighteen candidates out of a pool of twenty-four?” Her spouses looked at her with a questioning look.

“Yes, we have eighteen candidates that we think should visit us, but the pool was really much larger than the twenty-four we interviewed. They were from pretty close to 100 candidates. I didn’t realize it until we started the interviews, but semester break just started. Is it alright to bring all eighteen for a visit?”

Sarah looked at her spouses who nodded their agreement then said, “Yes. Are they all telepathic?”

“None are what we call active but all have a high level of intuition.”

“Great. Are they all students?”

“Yes. They have between one and three semesters left.”

“I’m curious. Why not the other six?”

“They had plans for the semester break.”

“Okay. Between the four of you, can you collect them and bring them to a pickup point.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. We could get two large vans. Why?”

“We’ve been talking with Bob and Stan. We think it would be best not to use the estate as the pickup point. See if Al will collect the vans and return them after you leave. This way we can pick you up at another location and not leave much of a trace. We are thinking of using a rest area or roadside park.”

“Won’t the shuttle look strange in that setting?”

“We are thinking of having it appear as a tour bus until there is an opportunity to vanish.”

“Interesting. Okay. Now we need to call them and establish a firm departure date. We will suggest tomorrow evening or the next day. In either case we will pick them up and go to dinner before meeting the bus. We have internet and cell phone service at the island, correct?”

“Effectively, yes.”

“Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yes. Take care.”

While they were talking Sarah and her spouses had taken their showers. “Can we afford to hire all eighteen?” asked Tara with a worried expression.

“Yes,” said Rusty, “by the time we have to expend the money, definitely yes.” Tara gave him a puzzled look. “There are a number of asteroids they’ve been mining for rare earths then selling them on Earth. Before selling them, trace contamination is adjusted so it doesn’t match any other commercial source. In the future, we could offer to adjust the composition to fit the buyer’s needs.”

“Why?” asked Jill. “How did you know that?”

“Intellectual property issues. In a lot of cases you can determine the source by the contamination, and many processes are patented. Composition can also indicate where the material was mined.”

“So you’ve dealt with this issue before?”

“Nope, read about it, as it was a part of the information we were given. Jim and Amy have been doing this since they began interacting with Earth. They have a warehouse in a remote area and move the material through that. That was the source of funds for the research institute and this island. We will need considerably more of Earth’s currency as we grow. So this seems like a good way to achieve that requirement without drawing attention.”

It was late morning when Donna said, “Sarah, Nancy called a few minutes ago. She wanted email addresses.”

“If they don’t have a personal email account, then they should sign up for something like Gmail. Then through our Internet access, they will be able to retrieve their mail. What Nancy may be referring to is a physical mail address. For that they could use one of the extra addresses that N&R Security has. You have a connection to the cell phone network, correct?”

“Not an active one at the moment, although we could set one up.”

“Rather than cell, perhaps we ought to have them set up a Skype account if they want to call out. It will be less expensive than cell phone.”

“Okay. I’ll pass that on.”