Timeline: Year 8 or 9

Chapter One: Going on Tour

Hugh wondered whether to wait in the car or head for the bar. He was driving, so he couldn't drink, but at least the bar wouldn't be as tedious as sitting on his own in the car park, waiting for the concert to finish. The downside was that he'd be closer to the thump-thump-thump of the music. The traffic hadn't been as bad as he'd expected, petrol was getting more difficult to find these days, so he'd arrived earlier than planned. In the end he decided to trust the bar's soundproofing and limit himself to soft drinks.

The conversations in the bar were noisy enough that most of the music was, thankfully, lost in the background. Why on earth Tina liked the Bread Brothers so much was a mystery. Probably just as much a mystery as his own choice of music as a teenager had been to his parents. He'd texted Tina to let her know where he'd parked the car. She'd acknowledged, and confirmed she'd bring Erica along as well once the band had finished. That done, he settled down to his very expensive orange juice, sipping it slowly to make it last.

The fans clapped, screamed and shouted as the closing chords of the second encore faded away. They wanted more. Tom waited for the noise to die down a little and stepped forward to the front of the stage, waving to the sea of faces in front of him, "Thank you all. Thank you. You're such a wonderful audience tonight, we'd really like to take you with us for the rest of our tour ...."

Hugh was discussing the general awfulness of teenage daughters' taste in music with another father when their conversation was suddenly interrupted by shouting and a strange sizzling sound from the other side of the bar. Surprised, Hugh tried to see what was happening, but he was too far away. He started to get up from his seat, but was again interrupted. This time by a loud voice from behind him.

"Apologies for the interruption, people, but we needed to stun the Safety Patrol so they didn't interfere. I am Sergeant Jackson of the Confederacy Marines, and this is a pick-up. A very big pick up. A lot of you have friends or relatives in tonight's audience and we'll be taking everyone in the whole place. If they're here, then we'll extract them. Because of the number of people, we ain't gonna be running this like a normal extraction."

The sergeant was right, this didn't go like the stories Hugh had heard about Confederacy pick-ups. The bar was mostly parents, mums and dads waiting for their daughters. The Marines told the women to keep their clothes on for the moment. Nobody was picking concubines at all. The Marines just lined everybody up, ready to walk through one of the two transporters they were setting up. The sergeant continued, "We need to get y'all out of here quickly. All the fun stuff you've heard about will be happening later, up in the moonbase we're sending you to. You'll be able to see your daughters, or whoever, once you're up there. You can even come back down and be Swarm Food, if you're dumb enough that is."

Hugh wasn't dumb. He'd already decided to go with the Confederacy if he ever got the chance, and he'd told his family what he'd do. If they were taking everyone then he'd be able to meet up with Tina once things got sorted out. She wasn't dumb either.

The Marine team soon had everyone in two lines for the pair of transporters and got everyone through quickly. After the first couple of refuseniks had been stunned and stacked next to the Safety Patrol goons, people were sensible enough to do what they were told and the lines moved smoothly forward.

Tina realised something strange was happening when all these big new security people in green suddenly appeared. They were all really buff too, not with their guts hanging over their belts like a lot of the usual security guys. She looked at Erica, sitting next to her, "Do you think ... ?"

"I think so too," her friend replied. "Look over there," pointing to their right, "they're setting something up in the aisle. I bet it's a transporter."

June hadn't noticed the new people yet. She was still too euphoric from the concert. She'd seen Chris! There on stage in front of her! Really there in the flesh, not just a video! She'd waved and shouted. Maybe, just maybe, he'd noticed her in the crowd. Then she overheard the two older girls next to her talking; she noticed the new people then.

She was only thirteen, so the big men, and big women as well, couldn't take her. The two next to her were old enough to go, but not her. Was daddy here yet? Would they take him? What if they took him and left her behind? She felt tears start to gather in her eyes.

Tina heard the sniffles next to her, and saw the young fan crying. She immediately put her arm round the girl to comfort her.

June felt a bit better when she saw that some other young fans had gone through ahead of her. They were taking everyone, so she wouldn't be separated from daddy. Nevertheless, she still held tightly onto Tina's hand as they waited for their turns to go through to wherever they were being taken.

As the three of them approached the Confederacy transporter, Erica had been right, the queue stopped for a few seconds while the transporter turned grey, and then back to green again. Tina confirmed with a nearby Marine that they were taking everyone, parents included. Anyone who was in the building, or waiting in the car park, would be collected. They could meet up once they were through. So Hugh, and June's dad, would be on the other side to meet them.

Frank was eating his sandwich in the car. Money was a bit tight, so he didn't want to pay concert food prices. He could barely afford the petrol, but June had really wanted to go to this concert. She'd looked at him with her big sad eyes and, as always, he'd given in. She looked too much like her mother for him to resist her for long.

Something drew his attention outside. Had the light changed? There were more people moving in the car park than there had been. Was the concert over? No, these were adults, not fans, and they were all wearing green uniforms. He could see one of them coming towards him.

The transporter disgorged Hugh and the others from the bar into a large featureless room. Along one wall, six streams of people were emerging from six transporters: two from the bar and four from the audience, overwhelmingly teenage girls. This room was obviously far too small to hold everyone who'd been at the concert, it had to be just one of many. The room was just starting to get uncomfortably full, when the transporters turned a dull grey and no more people came through. There was a buzz of conversation and a few sniffles from the girls. Not as many as Hugh had expected, perhaps because this audience was mostly older teens. The Bread Brothers had been together for a few years now, so a lot of their fans had grown up with them. Tina and Erica had first been to one of their concerts about five years ago.

The lights flickered and everyone suddenly stopped talking. A neat trick, Hugh thought. "Thank you everyone," a voice came into the quiet. "We need to sort you out quickly, so if you can please listen and follow instructions we can get everyone to where they need to be as soon as possible.

"First, can anyone with a serious medical condition please make their way through the white hatch and follow the white line on the floor to the Medical Section." A hatch opened in the wall opposite the transporters and a white light started flashing above it.

A few people started moving, including two girls who'd fainted and were being carried by their friends.

"Now can all minors, aged thirteen or younger, please go through the blue hatch and follow the blue line on the floor. We'll match you up with your parents or older siblings soon." There were more people in that group; not all the Bread Brothers' fans had reached fourteen yet.

The voice continued sorting people into groups and sending them through different coloured hatches. Those needing a CAP test through the brown hatch, concubines through the yellow hatch, sponsors through the green hatch. That was Hugh's cue; with his 6.6 CAP he'd volunteered for the Confederacy Navy. As he walked to his hatch, he heard the announcer send those who wanted to return to Earth through the red hatch. Dumb, just like the sergeant had said.

Tina, Erica and June followed each other onto the transporter and stepped off in an almost empty room. A voice announced, "Please move forward, away from the transporters. There are more people coming through behind you, and you need to leave space for them." Gradually the room filled with fans from the audience. June had calmed down a bit. If they were taking everyone then her dad would be here as well, wherever here was. Some of the younger fans were crying, like she'd been. She felt sorry for them, but she kept a tight hold on Tina's hand for comfort.

Once the room was full, the voice started sorting them out. First those with a medical condition went through a white hatch that suddenly opened in the blank wall in front of them. Then the voice told the under-fourteens to go through the blue hatch. It opened very close to where they were standing, and the three of them could see some women in blue uniforms waiting at the end of a short corridor. June smiled at Tina and Erica, thanked them and walked towards the women.

"Hello. What's your name?" the first woman asked. She was short, Asian and had a nice smile. Those people in green had been a lot taller, June thought.

"I'm June Keeling. Is my dad here? He's called Frank."

"Hello, June. If he was at the concert then he'll be here. We haven't got everyone's names yet, so you'll have to wait for a bit while we check everybody. Take a seat until we call you."

Another woman in blue came in and called out, "Michelle White, please." A West Indian girl got up and followed the woman out.

The woman led her to a small office. There were two chairs and they both sat. "Hello Michelle. I'm Denise. You said earlier that you didn't have a parent collecting you?"

"No. My mum works at the hospital down the road. I was going to get the bus there and meet her at the end of her shift."

"When is that?"

"About forty-five minutes."

Denise looked at the ceiling. "AI, can we arrange a drop near the hospital bus-stop within that time?"

"Yes," the AI replied, causing Michelle to start at the new voice from nowhere. "There is a suitable location in the hospital car-park reasonably close to the bus stop."

"Good. Schedule that please." Denise smiled at Michelle to reassure the girl. "That's organised then. Do you need to call your mother?"

"She isn't expecting a call. I'd only have to call her if I was going to be late," Michelle explained.

"You won't be late, but you will have to wait a bit until we're ready to put you back by the hospital. I'll take you to a different waiting room."

The new waiting room wasn't as crowded as the first one. They were playing a video of the concert! She could see it all over again, part of it anyway. Michelle didn't mind the wait so much, it was a lot better than standing at a bus-stop with nothing to do.

A Marine came for her before the video finished. She'd have liked to see the rest of it, but she knew she had to go. Mum would be really mad at her if she was late.

Michelle had already been through a transporter once today, so she was almost blasé about doing it again. The abrupt jump still surprised her though. They arrived in a quiet corner of the hospital car-park. She could see the main entrance and the bus she would have been on just arriving at its stop. Good timing! She politely thanked the big Marine and walked towards the entrance. What an adventure she'd had!

The green line led Hugh to a plain white corridor with a series of doors on the right. Ahead of him, he could see other sponsors turning off through the doors. The green line at his feet briefly flicked to point to his right, directly to an open door. He stepped through into a small white room.

"Please place your hand on the palm-reader, sir. We need to identify you."

The voice wasn't human. It was a good simulation of a human voice, but it wasn't real. One of those Confederacy AIs, Hugh thought. The need to identify himself was obvious. The UK's Earth First government had made it illegal to own a CAP card and had closed all the Confederacy's CAP testing stations, so nobody could get a new one. He'd been tested years ago, long before the election, though both Tina and Erica would need to go through the brown hatch for their first CAP tests.

"You are Hugh Jeremy Pearce, male, age thirty-nine, with a CAP score of 6.6?"

"Yes, I am."

"I have no record of any dependants below the age of fourteen."

"Right." Tina was his only child, and she was eighteen.

"You previously volunteered for the Confederacy Navy. Can you confirm that option?"

"Yes, I'm happy with the Navy."

"Noted."

Something pinged and a small hatch opened to show an ID card. When he picked it up, he saw that it wasn't like his old CAP card. It still had his CAP score on it, but it was a Confederacy Military ID for Recruit Hugh J. Pearce.

"What about my daughter, Tina? She was at the concert."

"Information on other extractees can be provided later after all persons have been identified. Please exit the room now as we have many more people to process."

A second door opened, opposite the first. He took the obvious hint and left. Given the many thousands in the concert audience, it made sense that they hadn't had time to ID everyone yet. With no CAP cards they would have to do more work checking who people were. He trusted Tina to have chosen to stay with the Confederacy. She'd probably be a concubine when they tested her, but that was a big improvement over being eaten by three-metre aliens. Given the way the government was acting lately, it would probably be better than staying in the UK even if the Swarm arrived late.

June had barely started walking down the blue corridor when the voice sent Tina and Erica through the brown hatch. As they'd expected, they ended up in a big room with lots of small CAP-testing stations in cubicles, each with its own chair and screen. They sat down in two adjacent cubicles, identified themselves to the computer voice and dozed off as it asked questions.

Beyond the small white room, the green line continued to the Medical Section. Hugh had heard of Confederacy medical tubes, but the reality was much more boring than he expected. He slept right through it all, getting a clean bill of health at the end. With so many people to process they were keeping everything short and simple. The most obvious change was his internal interface to the AI. It announced its presence by giving him some good news, "Your daughter, Tina Nicole Pearce, has been identified among those extracted. She is currently being CAP tested. You will be able to contact her later."

That was a relief. He hadn't really expected Tina to do anything stupid, but it was good to have her smarts confirmed.

No more need for the green line on the floor, the internal voice of the AI directed him to a transporter room and from there to his new apartment. The decor was a dull beige hotel-generic style, though there was a lot more space than in a hotel. His bedroom was huge, much larger than the two small rooms for his concubines.

"AI, what time is it here?" Hugh asked through his link.

"It is 19:09," the AI said aloud. "There is no requirement to use your internal interface when there is no risk of confusion and you do not wish a conversation to be kept secret."

He checked his watch. "That's an hour different."

"Correct. This base runs on UTC, which is effectively GMT. Your watch is set to BST, hence the one hour difference."

"How did you know that I looked at my watch?"

"In addition to my audio sensors, I also have video sensors in all areas of this base."

'Big Brother is watching me,' Hugh thought. "I suppose there's no chance of you extracting Molly, is there?"

"Your former wife is not a dependant, so we will not make a special trip to extract her. She will receive the standard notification that you and your daughter have been extracted."

That was disappointing, more than disappointing, but not unexpected. The Confederacy had made the rules clear. That 'former wife' hurt as well. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but they'd been instantly divorced when he'd been extracted from the bar.

"Can I talk to her?"

"That is not currently possible. Civilian communication channels are under heavy use at the moment. Priority is being given to unaccompanied minors needing to contact their parents or guardians on Earth."

He'd miss Molly. He'd miss her a lot. Over twenty years .... They'd talked about it of course. Back then Tina was still a dependant and they'd both agreed that if either of them got the chance to be extracted, they would go and take Tina along as well. They both worked so it wasn't possible for them to go around together all the time, like some couples did. They hadn't actually discussed it again since Tina turned fourteen, but the implication was still there that either of them should grab the opportunity to get off Earth. At least Tina had come along with him. That would be hard on Molly, but she had to know that it would give her daughter a chance at a better future. Despite all the Earth First government propaganda, they both knew that the Sa'arm were coming and that staying behind was a dumb idea, like the sergeant had said.

It was also dumb to sit around moping about something he couldn't change. Much easier to distract himself with something trashy on the TV. The TV! No TV in this apartment. "AI, is there a TV somewhere?"

"Video images may be displayed on any convenient blank surface." A BBC logo appeared on the wall in front of him.

"No, not government propaganda. Something else, something trashy. I don't want to have to think."

The AI switched to some internet channel he'd never heard of before, supposedly showing real footage from Confederacy extractions. Was this a sneaky example of AI humour? The film was obviously fake: good lighting, high definition, lots of naked women with too much make-up and too much silicone. There were hardly any erections on display at all; a bit more than softcore, but not really hardcore. Limpcore maybe? It certainly fitted the trashy and mindless requirement, so Hugh just turned off his brain and sat there.

One of the women in blue had told June her father was here! She'd almost cried with relief, but she'd managed to stop herself. She was too big to cry twice in one day, and she didn't want to look like a silly little girl. She was thirteen years old, almost an adult. After giving her the good news, the woman had taken her to another waiting room. This one was just off a big hospital ward with lots of large metal tubes. The woman told her that her father was in one of the tubes getting his medical check and would be out soon. She settled down to wait, watching the footage from the concert they were playing on the wall in front. She could see Chris from even closer!

The AI interrupted Hugh, turning down the sound on the TV. "Recruit Pearce. Your daughter will finish her CAP test in a few minutes. Where possible, we are placing new extractees with friends or relatives overnight. Do you want her to join you in your apartment, or should we make alternative arrangements?"

"Let her stay here of course. And better have Erica come with her. They'll want to be together."

"An Erica Bailey accompanied your daughter to CAP testing. Is that the person you mean?"

"Yes, that's her."

The AI continued, "Could you please clarify the relationship between Tina Pearce and Erica Bailey? We have no record of any legal or genetic link between them."

"They have been best friends since they were twelve. They do a lot of things together, like going to concerts. The plan was that I would collect them both after tonight's concert. Erica would sleep over with Tina and return to her parents tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"What are their CAP scores?" Hugh asked, curious.

"Tests are not yet fully complete, but with a very high probability, Tina will score 5.9 and Erica will score 5.7."

So both of them would be concubines. Not unexpected, since it was so difficult for women to get the 6.5 score needed to make sponsor. Would they both want to be his concubines? That was certainly a possibility. He'd have no problem sponsoring Erica, he knew her well and she was a very attractive young woman. The question was Tina. Would she want to be a sex-slave to her father or would she prefer someone else? Erica would likely go with Tina's decision, she usually followed Tina's lead, and the two of them would definitely want to stay together. In the end he would let Tina decide. He'd have to anyway, since all concubines had to freely accept their status. He returned his attention to the TV to wait.

June sat on her father's bed, holding his hand. The chairs in the living area were more comfortable, but they weren't private. There were ten people sharing this apartment, so only the small bedrooms were private.

"What are my options now?" Frank asked the AI. He'd had a short explanation from the nurse in medical, but he'd been too busy hugging June to pay much attention.

"You have two options," the AI explained. "You may return to Earth at any time within the first twenty-four hours with some financial compensation and your free medical check. With your permission, a free medical check can also be done for your daughter."

"And my second option?"

"You may offer yourself for selection as a concubine. The offer of financial compensation is not available under that option."

"Would any sponsor have to accept June as well as me?" Frank asked.

"No, he or she would not. However, we do strongly recommend that sponsors accept dependants and the great majority do so."

He knew that male concubines found it very difficult to get a sponsor. "What are my chances of finding a sponsor if I go the concubine route?"

"Very low," the AI told him. "You do have experience as a father, which is an advantage, but we have a surplus of unselected single male concubines available. We do retain a pool, since some sponsors do require a male concubine. When the pool gets too large, we send those who have been there longest back to Earth."

"How long does that take?"

"Nine days currently, though that is variable. It is dependent on how many are selected and how many new unselected concubines arrive. Those figures are not constant."

"I don't get my card marked or anything? I can try again later?"

"Not unless you are completely unsuitable. If you are merely not selected, then you can try again later. But your chances will still not be good."

"If I try for a concubine slot, then does June get her medical check?"

"Yes."

"So she gets the check whatever option I pick?" Frank confirmed.

"Provided you give your permission. She is still a minor."

"Can you arrange one for her early tomorrow, please."

"It has been set for 09:22 tomorrow morning."

"Thank you." Frank sat thinking for a few seconds. He looked at his daughter, who'd been listening to the whole thing. He couldn't be objective about her of course - she looked too much like her mother. Mid-brown hair, with a rather nondescript face, she wasn't conventionally beautiful. Her eyes were her best feature: large, brown and liquid, just like her mother's. Frank had fallen in love with those eyes. Twice. "Well, June?"

"I don't know, daddy. It's really confusing. Back when I started school the teachers told us about the aliens and how we needed to escape from them. Now our teachers say that the aliens aren't real. I'm confused."

"I agree, it is confusing. But I think that the aliens are real. A lot of the anti-Confederacy stuff is coming from the government, and you can't always trust everything politicians say."

"Well," June said, "if the aliens really are real then we need to get away from them if we can. They sound creepy."