Chapter 11

Dearest Willow,

Don't ask me how a ship can be hidden in space! I asked that question too and was told shielding. I mentioned that I thought that would mean that the heat was so directed that it became in essence an auxiliary drive. I'm still not sure that wouldn't happen. Then you couldn't lie still like a submarine, 'cause the heat of your life processes would be acting like a very limited jet.

I know you don't 'put up with teasing'. However there's not much you can do about it either. Do you think that the boys who don't shower just like to be dirty? Not so. The guys can be just as nasty. And for as frightened as most of them are that they might be called fags they sure were interested in comparing the length of their dicks and harassing anyone who didn't measure up so to speak.

Yeah all the female concubines are supposed to get pregnant. At least that's the legend of the diaspora. It isn't entirely true though, 'cause as Marissa noted none of us have experience with babies, so having everyone except the sponsor and me having babies at the same time would be counterproductive to the overall mission of increasing the number of humans who can be at the pointy end of the stick so far as the Sa'arm are concerned. She dug through piles of data to prove the point that humans don't do well at all in a creche situation.

That is something that you'll need to think about when ('cause I believe you will) you get a 6.5 CAP score. That is that families are better for children than daycare, especially for the first year or so. Her research intrigued the Civil Service Officer, Mr Ackermann, enough that he is making sure that it gets put in an information packet that will be sent to every other Civil Service Officer. I mentioned your impressions of the people that Grandpa is bringing in and he said you might want to pretest for the simple reason that if you are thought to be on track to be a sponsor it should give you some leverage. Of course that would mean that dad wanted you to take him. As if that would be a good idea!! Not just ICK, but I'm sure he would get himself killed because he failed to understand what it means to be a concubine. And I'd sure hate to think you had something like that on your mind or conscience...

If you have to, go to the Civil Service Officer who should be available at a testing center and put in a complaint against Old Man Pickering. What he is doing is illegal both under Earth law and Confederacy law. Of course what I'm telling you is something that Mom should be doing, but I doubt that she will. Instead she'll wait 'til dad does something them blame him if you and John get hurt.

I don't know that Marissa has failed to accept that she's the focus of our new family as that she doesn't want to accept the fact that Holly, Beth, Katy and I are her slaves and that what she did to Katy on pickup is mild compared to some of the things that the guys were doing. I saw one sponsor who must have tried at least half a dozen girls, all of whom were about Katy's age. I mean he told them to bend over and he just plugged in if they did. Then he took a girl who told him no! I haven't seen either of them so I don't know how that worked out ... Still I can understand where Marissa is coming from when she says she's embarrassed. After all she wants to make sure that she thinks of us as people, and she started out treating Katy very much like an object.

I have every confidence that your training camp will bear good fruit in your life. It may well be the telling factor that puts you over the top into the category of sponsor. I know that you can't protect John all the time. But do what you can to enlist outside help in that effort. Until the next time I write,

With all my love,

Will