CAUTION... CAUTION...
CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION...
STANDARD WARNING
This
story is of an erotic nature.
I wouldn't dream of telling
you what you can or can't read but if the law, in your part of the
world, says you must not read this sort of fiction then please go
read something that they'll let you.
Don't break the laws,
change them.
CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION... CAUTION...
CAUTION...
A Story in The Swarm Cycle Universe
A Piece of my Imagination
The Swarm Cycle is a collection of stories manufactured
around a concept introduced by the Thinking Horndog positing an alien
invasion and Earth's reaction. The intent is for this to be a
multi-author universe similar to the popular Naked In School stories.
If you're a budding author of erotica or sci-fi and see something
here that strikes your fancy, pop over to the Author's
Page for more info on what's going on here and how to submit a
story for this collection. The rest of you are probably here to read,
so...
---oOo---
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
©
2009 Duke of Ramus.
All rights reserved.
---oOo---
The Swarm Cycle Universe
Copyright © 2007
The Thinking Horndog
---oOo---
I'd like to thank Mulligan for his assistance in turning
this into a better story than my initial effort.
Also thanks to
the Swarm Universe authors group for their comments, corrections and
ideas.
Any errors remaining are of course mine
---oOo---
"Is everything ready?"
Herbert
Beard turned to the speaker and managed to smile in response, "Fred,
when have I ever let you down?" His smile turned to a grin, "On
second thought, don't answer that, you'll only bring up that blind
date with your sister again."
Fred looked to the
heavens momentarily, "Herbie...."
Herbert waved
his arm along the seafront, "We've got three different marquees
erected, the far one is for the rock crowd, the middle one is hip hop
and this one, thank God is for us old fogeys." He nodded in the
direction of a dark green vehicle parked reasonably close to the
nearest marquee, "The Terriers have let us use their forty
kilowatt generators and have even designated one of their number to
join us in case there are any problems."
The Terriers
was the nickname given to the Territorial Army and the local unit, a
battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was always
willing to help out the college whenever it could. The simple fact
that soldiers liked looking at pretty young girls was a pretty good
draw.
"So the tents are up and running," said
Fred. "What about the food?"
"Since your
mightiness gave the catering staff the day off as well as the rest of
us minions we're having to rely on Benjamin's Restaurant for the
food. But Maggie has been breathing down the necks of the crew that
Bennies sent all morning and she assures me that there won't be any
problems on that front." Margaret Tindle, or Maggie as she was
known, was the head of catering for the college, a task she thought
of as thankless but essential.
Herbert indicated an area
roped off at the end of the beach, "They've set up barbecues at
both ends of our beach front along with clean up areas and the
bars."
Fred scowled, he was fifty-four years old and
was having a hard time accepting the changes to the drinking age
brought about by the universal acceptance of fourteen as the age of
majority.
"Don't worry about it," said Herbie
when he spotted the scowl, "I've detailed off the Phys. Ed.
department to keep an eye on things and make sure that none of the
kids drink too much."
Frederick Dalton, the principal
of Highcliffe College ran a hand through his thinning grey hair and
gave a nod of appreciation before slowly turning through three
hundred and sixty degrees, "Can you think of anything we've
forgotten, Herbie?"
"Fred, if we've forgotten
anything it's too late now. The kids will be arriving in an hour so
grab yourself a beer and try to relax until they get started."
He chuckled, "There'll be enough going on then to raise your
blood pressure without giving it a head start."
Giving
the principal a squeeze on the shoulder Herbie led the older man
towards the nearest bar, "You know Fred, I think this has been
one of your better ideas. Things have changed so much in the last
four years, ever since we were told about the Swarm and it's good to
be doing something positive."
"Two Grolsch,"
ordered Fred from the young man behind the bar, "I know what you
mean, Herbie. For the first couple of years I was running around,
setting up the CAP testing and trying to implement all the rules the
government sent out. Then we got that AI that was supposed to help us
with the transition and all it did was tell us how wrong we
were."
Herbie chuckled, "Yeah, and when we asked
what it meant it replied that it couldn't tell us because we were so
primitive."
"Primitive," snorted Fred, "I
was all for pulling the plug on the damned thing until the powers
that be finally got their fingers out and instructed the bloody
machine to assist with the administration and we started to make
progress."
He looked down the beach towards the other
bar, "You know, I never suspected that I'd be giving the
students beer, I always pictured that I'd be the one confiscating
it."
Herbie raised the green Grolsch bottle, "That's
the one good thing about school these days as far as I'm concerned."
He took a sip of the cold beer, "What's really surprised me is
how many of the students have stuck with it."
Fred
raised an eyebrow in query and Herbie continued, "Don't get me
wrong, I might be the vice-principal but I'm still a teacher at
heart. When the coming of the Swarm was announced I was convinced
that the Confederacy would cherry pick the best of the best, high
academic qualifications along with a perfect body would be the order
of the day. No one was more surprised than I was when that didn't
happen, I was totally gobsmacked when a willingness to give up a
human's basic rights was a better selling point than being a
genius."
He took another swig from the bottle, "Once
all that became general knowledge I expected attendance to fall
through the floor, what was the point in attending school if it
wasn't going to mean anything in ten years time?"
"I
think a lot of us believed that we'd be out of a job," agreed
Fred nodding, "and for awhile things did start to fall away but
as people began to realise just how few were going to be saved that
trend reversed."
"The riots," scowled
Herbie. "At least the improvement in attendance was something to
thank Earth First for, even if there's nothing else."
Fred
snorted, "I can't think of anything else they've done right,"
he said.
---oOo---
The party had barely started when Adonis and his
girlfriend Penelope arrived, the young man, whose looks lived up to
his name, had no difficulty parking his battered pickup near to the
beach.
"Come on gorgeous, let's see who's here and if
there's anything worth joining in with," he called as he slammed
the driver's door shut. By the time he'd pushed the keys into his
denim cut-offs Penny had his free hand in hers.
"Have
you any idea what this is all about?" she asked.
"Only
the official version," he replied as his blue eyes scanned the
beach for signs of anyone he knew.
"And you believe
that?" asked Penny, her voice imply just how implausible she
found that idea.
"For once I do," replied Adi,
pulling his girl's topless body against his own naked torso. "Look
at all the trouble they've gone to just for us." He kissed
Penny's cheek and continued, "The idea of allowing us to meet
the staff in a non-academic setting is a good one though it should
probably have been done at the beginning of the year rather than
halfway through."
"But why this weekend,
everyone knows we head to Spain for a bit of sex, sun and sangria
over this weekend."
Adi frowned, "And that's
probably the main reason for having it now," he said. "Look
at what happened last year with that gang that took advantage of
those cheap flights. My guess, and that's all it is, is that they
want to get us off to a slow, call it more controlled start to the
break. We can begin partying here in a safe environment before we hit
the wilder shores. I'm betting that after today half the kids who are
here won't even leave town."
Penny pursed her lips in
thought, "What about us, are we still going?"
"You
bet," he replied, "You know I had to get a special
dispensation to arrive a day late as it was. There's no way I'm going
to miss out on any more training than I have to with the Swarm
heading this way."
Penny hugged hard against the
muscled upper body of her lover as they reached the beach level.
"There's Angel and Desiree," she murmured nodding in the
direction of two good-looking girls who stood near the bar. "Let's
go join them."
The couple changed their direction and
ambled towards the friends. Alongside them, waiting to be served, was
a bunch of lads who were just a little on the rowdy side. The two
girls, like many of the others near the bar were edging away from the
group whilst eyeing them nervously.
Adi exchanged nods
with Joel Vance, the head of physical education who was watching the
lads with a growing sense of mistrust. He stood back as the three
girls exchanged hugs and kisses then asked, "Do you two need a
refill?"
Desiree glanced back at the bar and then
down at her glass.
"Don't worry," chuckled Adi,
"I'm going into the lion's den and I'll bring back whatever you
want."
"White wine and soda," said Desiree,
smiling in relief.
"Just a lemonade for me,"
said Angel.
"Your usual, Penny?"
Penny
nodded then looked around, "We'll wait over by the marquee,"
she said.
"OK, see you in a minute."
The
trio of beauties headed for the relative safety of the marquee as Adi
made his way to the bar. The talk around him was loud, and in some
cases profane, but he ignored it and tried to catch the eye of the
bartender.
"Look, I'm telling you that our wonderful
government is not going to force the Confederacy to take us all,"
said a short guy with dark hair and glasses. "As long as this
bunch of buffoons remains in power we," his hand waved to
encompass the group, "are doomed."
"And how
are we supposed to get rid of these 'buffoons'?" asked a lad
with dirty blond hair. "They don't need to hold another election
for three years and I'm willing to bet that they'll be able to come
up with a reason to put that off as well."
"Stage
a revolution?" asked a swarthy skinned individual from the edge
of the group.
"That's one option but that always
leaves the new government open to a charge of being illegal,"
said the lad with the glasses. "No, the best method is a
systematic demonstration of public disillusionment with the current
incumbents. If they can't get anything done because the people will
no longer obey them they'll have to call an election."
"And
you think that would be enough for the Earth First party to get into
power?"
"Look at this place," said glasses.
"We're all adults and entitled to vote. How many here have got
CAP scores high enough to let us volunteer for the Confederacy? How
many of the rest of us would be willing to prostitute ourselves to
get off this planet, how many of us would even be given the
chance?"
He waited for an answer that wasn't
forthcoming then looked around the group again, "You know the
Confederacy is taking their picked volunteers and as many women as
they can cram into their ships. Blokes like us are pushed to one
side, our girlfriends taken as slaves and we're left here to
rot."
"Earth First promises to cut off the
supply of volunteers that the Confederacy claims it needs so
desperately. Once that has been achieved a government that is sworn
to look after us will renegotiate the deal that the current bunch of
traitors have struck with the aliens." The lad settled his
glasses firmly above his nose, "As long as we stick together
there is nothing the Confederacy can do but fold and take us all.
It's only the traitors, who are thinking of their own skins who are
letting them get away with it."
Adi shook his head,
he'd heard it all before and he'd seen the ideas the lad with glasses
was putting forward ripped to shreds by other members of the Earth
First movement. Members who had a firmer grip on reality and a plan
that might just save the majority of those who were going to be left
behind.
---oOo---
"What's going on over there?" asked Penny as
Adi handed out the drinks.
"There's a guy sprouting
off about Earth First and how it's going to save us all."
Penny
snorted derisively which drew a puzzled look from Angel.
"Don't
you think the Confederacy should be taking us all?" she
asked.
"In the ideal galaxy I'm sure they would,"
replied Penny, "but you've seen the figures, the same as I have.
They haven't got enough ships to lift us or places to put us if they
had the ships." She glanced towards the group of guys and shook
her head sorrowfully. "At least we stand a chance if we can get
involved in a pick up; those poor buggers would just get pushed to
the side and ignored."
"You think so?"
asked Desiree.
"Come off it," said Adi. "The
three of you are young, beautiful and intelligent. Most guys have
been programmed since birth to look for those attributes, the simple
fact that the Confederacy is telling them that they can make any
woman they pick look like you do now just doesn't wash, not when the
pressure's on."
He smiled at the three girls, "The
figures that have been released show that about a third of the guys
who are extracted base their selections on what would be good for
their future households, just like they're supposed too. That still
leaves two thirds of the volunteers who are using their gonads to
make up their minds for them."
His smile disappeared
and was replaced by a more serious look, "Provided you can get
rid of your clothes and service whatever's put in front of you all
three of you should have no problem getting picked."
"What
about you?" asked Angel, "You're young and handsome, so you
shouldn't have any problems getting picked."
"Looks
count for a lot but not so much for us men," said Adi, "If
we're too intelligent or pushy we'll be dumped. No woman wants to
risk being undermined in her own house."
"So
what do you think will happen to you?" asked a wide-eyed
Desiree.
"I'll still be here when the Swarm land but
I'll be ready for them," replied Adi firmly. "I've joined a
group that are seriously looking at what can and should be done to
make Earth as safe as possible."
"But the
Confederacy aren't going to do anything, are they?" asked
Angel.
"That's not strictly true," said Adi with
a small smile. "What they've said officially is that they will
not commit troops to a ground battle. The Confederacy Navy will
endeavour, that's their words for it, to endeavour to make sure that
no enemy units reach the planet's surface. If however they are
unsuccessful in that task it will be up to the planet's defenders to
repel or destroy the incursion."
He looked at the
three girls with almost wide-eyed innocence, "That's where
you'll find me, fighting against the aliens who are out to take my
planet away from me."
"What sort of chance would
you have?" asked Angel, shock showing in her voice.
"The
word is that the Confederacy estimated that Earth would still be
fighting back after ten years," replied Adi, "And that was
without any warning or a space navy that would stop a lot of the
attackers."
"You're serious?" asked Desiree
after a moments silence."
"Deadly," said
Adi firmly.
"And how many of you are there?"
"It's
hard to say," admitted Adi, "I know that there are ten
thousand of us in the UK who've started training. We're sure that
number will grow and eventually the regular armed forces are going to
have to be put on alert as well. When that happens the Confederacy
will be banned from recruiting volunteers from within the armed
forces because our need will be greater than theirs will. By the time
the Swarm arrives I think that at least ten percent of the population
will have received some sort of training and will be armed."
"Ten
percent, that's not many," said Angel.
"No?"
said Penny, "You think that six million armed fighters in this
country alone is not many? There are six billion people on this
planet and even after the Confederacy has had its share there would
still be more than five billion. Ten percent of that means that the
Swarm will be facing five hundred million armed fighters!"
Angel
looked from Penny to Adi and back again, "You're one of these
fighters too, aren't you?" she asked looking at Penny.
"Dead
right I am," replied the girl, "and even if I get a chance
to escape I'm not going. This is my planet and I'm not going to
desert it!"
"And you feel the same?" asked
Angel switching her gaze to Adonis.
"The fighters
have taken the name of Einherjar and I'm one of them," he
replied seriously. "We've all vowed to stay and fight."
Desiree
looked at the group of guys who were still clustered around the bar,
"What about them?"
"At the moment they're
part of the ninety percent," said Adi. "Whether they will
see the light and start to behave realistically only time will
tell."
Angel looked at Adi and shook her head,
"That's all well and good but if I get a chance to get away I'm
grabbing it with both hands."
"And so you
should," said Adi. "It's a personal decision, one that I'm
happy to have made but it's not for everyone. Those are the ones I
feel sorry for," he said indicating the milling throng. "You
and I know what options are available and we've made up our minds
what to do. They're still milling around in never-never land and the
only thing it will achieve is getting them killed." He shrugged,
"And there's nothing any of us can do about it."
---oOo---
"Come on Doreen, let's sit over there and eat
this in peace."
Doreen York nodded and followed as
Mona Blackwell headed for the grassed area she'd indicated, each of
them was juggling a full paper plate and a plastic glass of beer as
they negotiated the tricky going left by a hundred people.
Mona
lowered her plump posterior to the ground and twisted the beer glass
into the soft ground to support it, her pendulous breasts jiggled
with each twist she made. Doreen couldn't help watching her friend's
blatant display even though she'd seen it many times before.
She
dropped to her knees, "Do you have to do that all the time?"
she asked.
"If you're not advertising, you're not in
the game," came the well rehearsed reply, "and you know
that Doreen, so why do you ask?"
The skinny teacher
glanced down at her black bikini top that barely showed any sign of a
bulge and snorted, "What have I got to advertise with and
besides, what's the point advertising here, have you seen how those
girls are dressed?"
"You mean not dressed,"
replied Mona casting an almost jealous glance in the direction of the
girls who were playing volleyball. Only one of them was wearing a top
and that was totally see-through.
The home economics
teacher picked up the first thing on her plate that came to hand and
bit into the sausage, she chewed a couple of times and swallowed,
"Have you heard the rumours that the Confederacy has been
messing with people?"
"In what way?" asked
Doreen as she dropped down beside her friend.
"Something
I heard the science guys talking about the other day," said
Mona. "Apparently the state of our health is improving and
there's no logical explanation. Or, as one of them put it, there is
nothing we've done that can have had that impact so it has to be
something the aliens have done to us."
"What
sort of thing?" asked Doreen, picking at the plate of barbecued
food.
"From what they were saying they believe that
the replicators we're all using don't just produce food but also
treat it in some way to improve our health," said Mona before
popping the last of the sausage into her mouth.
"I'm
not sure if I like that," said Doreen frowning as she considered
what Mona had just said. "I mean, that's messing with my body
without permission, isn't it?"
"It is,"
agreed Mona, "but think of everything else the Confederacy has
done to us without asking and it doesn't seem that much of a stretch,
does it?"
"No," replied Doreen still
frowning, "but surely the people they've extracted wouldn't let
them mess with us, would they?"
"Depends on how
you view those who've gone," said Mona before glancing around.
"You know that some people are starting to talk about those
who've been extracted as though they were traitors, deserting us to
go and work for the enemy."
"The Confederacy
aren't the enemy," said Doreen as a statement and then added
"Are they?"
Mona shrugged, "That is open to
debate, isn't it? I mean, they're taking the best people away from
Earth in its hour of need. They've reintroduced slavery and they're
oppressing the vast majority of the planet's population because it
doesn't meet their ideals. Simply they're condemning most of us to a
horrible death, now does that sound like a friend?"
Doreen
sat there wide-eyed, "You don't think it's a deliberate plot or
something, do you?"
"Not really," replied
Mona, her shoulders dropping in resignation. "Those who are
volunteering really are leaving us to fend for ourselves but I'd
describe them as being more like the French Foreign Legion or the
Gurkhas than as true mercenaries or even traitors. If the Confederacy
is telling the truth about what they can and cannot manage and what
is coming then they are doing the best that they can and our personal
survival is down to the luck of the draw."
She pushed
a chicken wing around her plate for a moment, "Even all of the
volunteers aren't going to be extracted so having a high CAP score
isn't a guarantee of survival, I just wish it wasn't so, I don't
know, call it dependent on luck. I've never been that
lucky."
Unknown to Mona a space ship in orbit around
the planet was about to change her luck.
---oOo---
"The drones are in position and are ready to
deploy the transporter pads, sir."
Commander Ray
Avila nodded and after a final glance at the screens showing the
beach scene he crossed the hold of the colony ship Cassiopeia and
rejoined the Marines of his extraction team.
"All
right, pay attention, you've all been briefed on what's going to
happen and we've all done extractions before so this should be a walk
in the park."
Around him the Marines started sealing
their skinsuits, the closest thing to full body armour they were
allowed to wear. The suits had become the everyday wear of the
Marines and provided sufficient ballistic protection to counter most
handheld threats that they were likely to encounter on Earth. The
surface of the suit could blend with its surroundings like a
chameleon or maintain a fixed colour depending on the instructions
given to the nannites that made up its surface. This capability had
led to some rather remarkable uniforms appearing around the Corps as
various commanders let their artistic abilities, or the lack of them,
loose on their troops' clothing.
The suit also looked
after the wearer in an everyday environment, regulating temperature
and humidity as well as dealing with the hair and skin particles that
became detached from the human's body.
The suits were
matched to a pair of synthetic boots that could mimic almost anything
from a slipper to an armoured boot. For the wearer the only real
difference was the sound made as the boot hit the surface, on board
ship it was a soft sound whilst on the planet it could sound like a
hobnailed boot or be almost silent.
Ray glanced at the
ceiling, "AI, how many are we looking at?"
The
ship's disembodied voice replied, "There are eighteen people in
the extraction zone with CAP scores over the threshold, however four
of them, three females and one male have been artificially lowered as
they are incapable of breeding."
Ray flinched, as he
always did when it was confirmed that people were being left behind
simply because they couldn't breed. It was bad enough when the person
in question was simply too old but there had been cases where the
person was the victim of a medical condition that could have been
cured using Confederacy technology. Unfortunately for them, that only
applied after they were extracted and not before.
"In
addition," continued the AI, "there are two people in the
extraction area who haven't volunteered, a male with a CAP score of
seven point two and a female whose score is six point eight."
Ray
couldn't hide the look of surprise that flashed across his face and
he noticed that several of his Marines had shown their surprise as
well.
"How many concubines are there going to be?"
he asked.
"The entitlement is for thirty,"
replied the AI, "In addition you are detailed to bring back four
more females for the Civil Service pool."
Ray nodded
once and turned his attention back to his Marines, "OK people,
you heard the AI, we're looking at picking up twelve volunteers and
thirty-four baggage items. Kiddie lifting will commence as soon as
we're back aboard and will be dependent on what we get stuck
with."
His demeanour turned serious as he continued,
"Remember, this is a college and they're always hot beds of
extremism, whether it's communism, Islamism or any other ism you care
to name. It's almost certain that there is going to be a large
contingent of Earth First loonies in the extraction zone so don't
take any chances, zap them as soon as they show themselves. The good
thing is that this one's happening in Great Britain so there
shouldn't be a lot in the way of firepower on their side but stay
alert and stay alive."
"What about the high CAP
scores who haven't volunteered, Sir?"
"I'll look
them up and see what's going on," replied Ray, "If I can,
I'll get them to volunteer and we'll deal with their six concubines
at the same time. Any other questions?"
He looked his
people over and when no questions were forthcoming he indicated the
transporter pads, "Get in position," he ordered. "AI,
drop the pads and activate the interdiction field."
"Field
up," responded the AI.
"Go," ordered the
Commander and the first four Marines stepped onto the transporter
pads.
---oOo---
"Oh, my God!"
Mona's exclamation
was one of many as the bright sunlight gave way to a grey, almost a
twilight. A quick look confirmed that an interdiction field,
something that most people hadn't witnessed from the inside but had
heard all about, caused it.
On the beach people were
milling around in confusion, some of them staring out to sea whilst
others sought out friends and loved ones.
Mona bounced to
her feet and grabbed Doreen by her arm, "Come on," she
called dragging her friend along, "this is our chance to get
away."
Doreen struggled to get her feet under her as
Mona ploughed ahead, heading for the centre of the beach. In front of
them a disk appeared on the ground and two men stepped of it. They
turned outwards and looked around, their faces set in a grim mask and
their arms extended in a threatening manner.
Mona and
Doreen slammed to a halt as two more figures appeared, one of them a
woman. The two new arrivals adopted a similar posture to the earlier
arrivals and Doreen realised that they were now covering all avenues
of approach.
The four of them slowly relaxed as their eyes
failed to spot a threat and after a couple of minutes there was a
flurry of arrivals including one who stood out as an
officer.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," began the
officer, "I'm Commander Avila of the Confederacy Space Marines
and this is an extraction of volunteers for service with the
Confederacy Armed Forces." His amplified voice could be heard
over the whole of the extraction ground, the AI ensuring that his
voice came out of the speakers inside the three marquees.
"At
this time I require everyone to remain where they are whilst we
identify those we are here to collect. When that is done we will
separate the remainder into those who wish to be considered as
concubines and those that don't." He looked around, assessing
any threats, "Be aware that we will use whatever force is
required to carry out this task without endangering ourselves or
those we are here to collect."
His eyes picked up
movement near one of the marquees and he looked that way, "So
don't do anything stupid and we'll get our job done and be on our
way."
Ray Avila turned away from the marquee and a
rush started as soon as his back was turned, another group charged
from the direction of the bar and a third group magically appeared
further down the beach adjacent to the second transporter pad.
Ray
kept going, goading the attackers into a desperate sprint across the
sand simply by ignoring them. Around him the other Marines did the
opposite, separating slightly so that they all had room to manoeuvre.
The attackers were within twenty metres when an amplified voice said,
"Now!"
A buzzing sound filled the air as the
Marines let fly with the heavy duty stingers they were carrying, all
around the beach people dropped as though they'd been pole-axed, one
or two managed a grunt of surprise before they hit the sand
bonelessly.
Commander Avila scanned the scene and pursed
his lips, "Any more?" he asked.
Nobody moved or
said a word for twenty seconds.
"Check out the
bodies," ordered Ray, "and make sure they're not going to
choke themselves." His expression showed that as far as he was
concerned they could choke in their own vomit but orders were orders
and he would obey them.
The Marines split into pairs and
as one of them rolled the unconscious body into the recovery position
the second member of the team stared around belligerently. Still
nobody moved as the Marines carried out their clean up.
"How
many are down?" asked Ray.
"Forty-three,"
responded the AI.
"Any of them ours?"
"No,
they're all sub-standards," replied the AI.
"Good,"
said Ray, "Now let's get on with this pickup."
The
last of his Marines reported in and he switched the voice amplifier
back on, "Now that the fun and games are over we'll do what we
came here to do. There are twelve volunteers here, no doubt you know
who you are so I want you to make your way to the nearest Marine in
the yellow uniform."
At his words two of the
skinsuits turned bright yellow, clearly visible in the grey light.
Cautiously a small number of people started to move, making their way
towards the highlighted Marines and reporting in.
"That's
all of them, Sir," reported the senior NCO on the team.
"OK,
now for the messy bit," said Ray softly, "Keep you wits
about you and stun anyone who gives any trouble."
"Ladies
and gentlemen, would those of you who have no interest in being
extracted make your way to the middle marquee," said Ray. "That
includes those of you who are beyond the child producing stage."
He
stood there and watched as about half of the people who were still
awake headed for the middle tent, he was surprised at how many were
heading that way but it was no skin off his nose if they wanted to
die.
He remembered the two high CAP scores he was supposed
to check out, "What were the names of the two high scores who
haven't volunteered?"
"Adonis Illiescue and
Penelope Powell," responded the AI in his ear.
"Could
Adonis Illiescue and Penelope Powell make themselves known," he
called and wasn't that surprised when the two of them turned up
together heading towards the middle tent.
"Gunny,"
he sub-vocalised, "get the selection process underway while I
have a talk with these two."
"Aye aye, Sir."
---oOo---
Ray approached the waiting couple and was impressed,
for a couple of humans who hadn't undergone augmentation they weren't
in bad shape, the girl was good enough to be one of his concubines as
she was.
The boy was just about one metre eighty-two, or
right on six feet tall in old money; he was toned and moved with a
certain gait that implied some sort of martial arts training. He
wouldn't be able to take one of the Marines but he wouldn't be a
pushover either.
"Afternoon," said Ray when he
was close enough to talk comfortably, "my name's Ray and
according to our AI you're Adonis and you're Penelope, is that
right?"
"Yes, Sir," responded the boy and
the girl nodded.
"I know what your CAP scores are, so
is there any particular reason why you haven't volunteered for
service?" asked Ray. "If it's something specific maybe I
can answer your questions and put your minds at rest."
Adi
cocked his head to one side in thought but remained silent; Penny
just smiled softly.
"Well?"
"I've
no reason to volunteer, Sir," said Adi.
"You
don't look like someone who doesn't want to fight," said Ray,
"but if that's the problem I'm sure they could find a place for
you in the Civil Service."
"No, Sir, you don't
understand," said Adi, "What I mean is that I have no
reason to volunteer for service in 'your' Confederacy."
"What
do you mean, 'My' Confederacy?" asked Ray, "Are you one of
those Earth First idiots?"
Adi continued to smile,
though it was showing signs of strain, "It is your Confederacy
because it has nothing to do with Earth. We are not part of the
Confederacy until we are extracted, the Earth doesn't profit because
of the Confederacy and has no say in how it is run or what its aims
are."
"You're not even committed to defending
us, an action that would be demanded by any other member of the
Confederacy if they were attacked." Adi's smile was back now.
"If by Earth First you mean do I object to you taking away your
pick of the people to fight your battles, but not all of us, then no,
I'm not a member. But if by Earth First you mean do I put my planet
before those of a bunch of aliens then yes, I'm very definitely a
member."
Ray's eyes had grown wider as the young man
had spoken, his words forcefully put.
Adi continued, "As
to the rest of it, the stealing of our resources to build your ships,
the slavery, the destruction of families, there's not a lot I can do
about it. But I know there will come a time, after we've defeated the
Swarm, that the Confederacy is going to be held to account and those
who've deserted the home world will have to live with the
consequences."
"Are you threatening me?"
asked Ray in amazement.
"No," replied Adi,
simply, "I'm telling you that ten years from now, when the Swarm
have been kicked off Earth and we're free to develop as we should you
and your kind will no longer be welcome here, nor will your
interference be tolerated from that time."
"And
now?" asked Ray.
"I'm going to watch your
extraction and stay out of the way," said Adi.
Ray
turned to Penny, "What about you, do you believe all that crap?"
he asked, not noticing that his polite manner had gone missing in the
last two minutes.
"Personally I don't think it's
crap," said Penny. "I'm pretty sure that when the truth is
revealed we'll find that the politicians were sold a bunch of crock
by the military and those of us back here have been left to pick up
the pieces."
"What we're doing young lady is the
best thing that can be done," snapped Ray. "We’re
fighting to defend the Confederacy against a foe that could destroy
us all."
"That's just it," stated Penny in
vehement response, "you're defending the Confederacy, not the
Earth, not the human race, just the fucking Confederacy and that's
not right!"
Adi slipped his arm around his irate
girlfriend, "It's all right Penny, they've made their choice and
have to live with it, just like we have to live with ours." He
squeezed her to him and started moving away from the open-mouthed
Confederacy officer.
---oOo---
Gunny Rich knew what needed to be done and set about
the task with relish, it wasn't much but he enjoyed watching the
various women dropping their inhibitions along with their panties for
a chance to get off this rock.
"OK. I'll keep it
simple because I know most of you aren't thinking straight," he
called out to the group of volunteers. "As a reminder you all
get to pick two concubines and let's not beat about the bush here,
they're slaves with less rights than dog shit. Once they accept you
as the boss you can do what you like to them."
He
looked at the group and was pleased to note that most of them were
shocked at his words. "That's the theory anyway," he
continued in a quieter tone. "But, and this is very important to
understand, the fact is that you're going to have to live with these
people. And in most cases they'll be having and bringing up your
kids, so if you don't want the little darlings to grow up into
backstabbing bastards you had better set a good example from the
off."
"Now I'm going to give you some advice,
advice that is based on experience," he tried to catch the eye
of each of the volunteers before he continued. "Pick one for fun
and one to do the mommy bit; girls, it might be fun to have two dicks
on tap but you'll be better off with a mommy to look after the brats
whilst you're deployed. Those of you with scores that start with a
seven get an additional pair, same thing again, make sure you can
live with them and they can live with each other. The last thing you
need is to come back after a three month deployment to find the
remnants of your home and a bunch of dead slaves. It's happened in
the past and will probably happen again, just make sure it's not your
family that blows it."
He held up a CAP card reader,
"This allows you to dig down on the scores on the CAP cards, see
one of the Marines and they'll give you the thirty second tour and
then you're on your own. Grab your slaves and come back here. Ladies,
I'd suggest that you have a word with Corporal Johns there before you
begin hunting so that she can give you the low-down on what things
are really like out there."
He looked around and
smiled, "Get your card readers and get moving, we haven't got
all day."
He stepped clear of the melee as the
volunteers tried to find a Marine with a card reader and headed for a
clear space from where he could see the potential concubines. He
turned the amplifier rig on and yelled, "Attention!"
He
smiled and dialled back his volume, "Right, we're about to begin
the selection process, I'm sure you all know how it works but I'll
just hit the high points in case you've been living under a rock.
These people over here are volunteers, they get to take people like
you with them to do with pretty much as they please. Now if you want
to be one of their playthings you're going to need two things, the
first is a valid CAP card and the other is to convince one of the
volunteers to take you with them."
"If you had
time to sit down and make your case I'm sure that most of you could
convince someone to take you with them, however you haven't got the
luxury of time, so the tried and tested method is obedience and sex.
That's right! You do what they say and you perform whatever sexual
acts they demand." His smile disappeared, "If you don't
like that or can't do it you shouldn't be here. By the same token if
you find you can't do what they ask of you, just step back, taking a
swing at a volunteer is going to get you stunned by one of my
marines, and will remove whatever chance you may have had."
"Once
you agree to go with a volunteer as a concubine and they accept you,
it's over, you're their property and they can and will do what they
like with you." He looked around at the anxious looking crowd,
"Am I just trying to scare you? No, what I'm telling you is the
God's honest truth. Once you say 'I do' that's it and there's no
chance of an annulment or a divorce."
"Now strip
and wait in line for your chance," he finished and turned his
back on the crowd.
The crowd were shocked, everything
Gunny Rich had said was well known but it hadn't been real before,
and now, well maybe it wasn't real yet, but it did sound much more
realistic than it had ever done before. Those who were still in the
running, and the number had definitely fallen after the Marine's
speech, began to peel off whatever clothing they had on.
Naked
they lined up in straggly lines and waited to see what would happen
next.
---oOo---
Jimmy Lovell was the first of the volunteers to get
hold of a CAP card reader and head for the waiting crowd. Being a
nerd had meant that the seventeen-year-old didn't need much in the
way of instruction, however the sight of all those naked females had
him stumbling to a halt, "Shit," he muttered, "where
do I start?"
Beside him a Marine grinned, "My
advice, pick the girl that's given you the hardest time and have some
fun with her. You don't have to take her and you'll be able to get
the worst of the lust out of your system before you need to get
serious."
Jimmy grinned when he spotted Bernice
Connolly in the crowd, she wasn't the prettiest girl there but she'd
been someone that Jimmy had had a crush on. She'd shot him down in
flames and then kicked his reputation all around the school. Getting
a piece of her would be a good start.
Frances Burrell, the
thirty-four year old art teacher, knew whom she was taking before she
even picked up her card reader. Cynthia Abrams had been her long time
lover and friend, they'd discussed how things would be from the
moment that Frances had received her six point eight CAP score. The
only worry had been that they might have been separated when the
extraction occurred and now they'd been lucky. If things were going
as planned, Cynthia would be hunting up Peter Stover, one of the
assistants in the gymnasium and getting him locked down for when she
arrived.
Timothy Quick and Jeffery Hatch were easily
pleased, especially when Angel and Desiree stepped out of the crowd
before they'd even reached the main line and dropped to their knees
side by side.
"Would this get us picked?" asked
a naked Angel.
Tim managed to nod and Angel smiled, opened
his trousers, and took him in hand, guiding his throbbing prick into
her mouth. Beside her Desiree batted her eyelashes and it was all
Jeff could do to avoid coming there and then. Two minutes later both
eighteen-year-olds had shot a load down the respective throats of
their new concubines.
"Can we help you pick your
other concubines?" asked Angel fluttering her eyelashes.
Still
dazed, the boys agreed and followed along helplessly as the girls
headed for the area containing most of the mature women.
The
last of the volunteers to leave the Marines in the middle of the
beach were two women. Diane Tomlinson was a forty-two year old
teacher of mathematics and Teresa Colbert was of a similar age and
taught history. Both had managed to score in the sevens and didn't
think much of the selection being offered after a casual perusal of
what was on offer.
"There's got to be something a
little younger and more, how would you put it?"
"Manly,"
suggested Diane with a snigger.
"Yes, manly would
do," agreed Teresa. "I know we can change them after we've
got them but it would be nice to have something to start
with."
Diane's roving eye spotted Adi and Penny
sitting on the edge of the beach. "How about him?" she
asked.
"Adonis by name and Adonis by nature,"
said Teresa as she identified whom Diane had spotted. "Come on,
one of us should be able to pull him."
"What
about his girlfriend?" asked Diane as she followed the fast
moving Teresa.
"Hell, I'll take her as well if he's
any good."
"She's gorgeous, could you live with
that?" gasped Diane.
"If it proves to be too
much I'll just make her ugly," said Teresa. "If pretty boy
keeps up his performance I'll change her back for him until he drops
off, that should keep him in line."
The two women
puffed up to where the teenagers were sitting and Teresa eyed up the
blond bombshell hungrily. Without even introducing herself or asking
for his CAP card she snapped, "Do you fuck?"
Adi
smiled but it was Penny who answered, "Of course he does, like a
bull."
Teresa scowled at Penny but she was determined
to have a ride, "Then get on your back and get it up."
Penny
grabbed Adi before he could say anything and whispered in his ear.
The young man looked at her wide-eyed and when she nodded, he smiled
at the older woman and lay back opening his cut-offs as he did so.
Moments later he was hard and eight inches of hot throbbing manhood
were pointing to the sky.
"Oh my," murmured
Teresa as she stood over the young man and pulled her knickers to one
side. With barely a pause she bent her knees and dropped towards her
idea of heaven. Seven minutes later according to Penny's watch Adi
hunched up and Teresa gasped as he emptied the contents of his balls
deep inside the history teacher.
"Damn, he's good,"
she said with a smile as she opened her eyes.
"And
he'll be good to go again in five minutes if you give him a little
encouragement," said Penny looking at Diane.
Diane
took the hint, "Come on, shift your arse Teresa, I want a go,"
she said placing a hand on the history teacher's shoulder.
Adi
had barely started to soften when Diane slipped him into her warm
welcoming mouth, that he was covered in her friend's secretions and
his own discharge didn't slow her in the slightest. Convinced that he
wasn't going to be drooping on her any time soon she rolled along
side the bronzed young man and pulled him towards her. If he hadn't
been co-operating she'd have failed but Adi was all for burying his
hot rod into another willing snatch.
He lasted longer, and
even with the encouragement of his girlfriend it still took him
nearly fifteen minutes to reach a peak. Under him Diane had climbed
the mountain three times and was inches from the fourth when Adi
bellowed over her and hammered his hips into her. Her fingers grabbed
the back of his head, her hands slipping in his sweat coated blond
hair and she added her scream of completion to his roaring.
Sated
the young man rolled to the side as Diane sprawled spread-eagled next
to him.
Teresa eyed up the young man, "You're
magnificent," she said. "Be mine and you can bring her
along with you, hell you can pick my other concubines as
well."
Penny smiled and shook her head, "He's
not going with you, neither of us is," she said.
"But..."
began Diane rising up on one elbow.
"It's not
happening," said Penny forcefully, "Adi and I are members
of Earth First."
"You stupid bitch," hissed
Teresa before turning away. "Come on Diane, these two are just
wasting our time."
Diane rose to her feet and gave
the two youngsters a confused look before staggering after her
friend.
"Why?" called Ray Avila from his
position twenty feet away. "Why did you have him fuck those
women?"
Penny's smile took on a serene quality, "Just
because we're staying here to fight for what's right it doesn't mean
that Adi's genes need to remain here. With any luck he'll have got
both of those breeders pregnant and his offspring will survive this
war regardless of what happens here."
Ray looked at
the beautiful young girl with a mixture of horror and pure amazement.
Without saying another word he turned away and moved back towards the
middle of the beach and the on-going selection process.
---oOo---
"Jimmy, you kept Bernice?"
Jimmy
Lovell grinned widely, "What can I say, she's the girl I've
lusted after for the last three years, and no matter how badly she
treated me that feeling didn't go away." He squeezed the naked
ass of the girl in question, "She knows she's going to suffer
for what she put me through but once we're past that I think we can
have a good relationship."
"And she's happy with
that?"
"I wouldn't say she's happy," said
Jimmy seriously, "But she feels that it's better than the
alternative and besides, Mona here will keep me in check."
Plump
Mona Blackwell stood beside the two youngsters and beamed, she was
leaving this god-forsaken planet for a better life with a boy who,
although infatuated with the young girl he'd picked first had
promised that he would treat her as an equal. That he'd forgone two
of his picks until he could see how things panned out said a lot of
good things about her new owner.
Angel and Desiree had
managed to wave goodbye to Adi and Penny as they accompanied the two
men they'd trapped with their womanly wiles, their new sisters in
captivity were just as happy to be leaving as the rest. They didn't
realise how pitiful their lives were going to be under the care of
two adolescents who really didn't have a clue about relationships and
responsibility.
Diane and Teresa had each grabbed two from
the rugby team along with a couple of the newly formed cheerleading
squad to make up their families, their tempers guiding their
decisions rather than their brains. That response simply created
another pair of family groups ready to descend into hell when the
pressure was applied, a pressure that was as unavoidable as the
results were inevitable.
Skinny Doreen York didn't think
that she had to worry about the future any more as she'd been picked
up as one of the extras the Marines were entitled to, as had the
catering manager Margaret Tindle. That they were going to end up as
meat in a whorehouse hadn't been explained to them and it is doubtful
if an explanation would have made any difference to their
decision.
When everything settled down Fred Dalton would
be pleased to discover that they were the only members of staff that
he had lost to the Confederacy.
---oOo---
Once back aboard the colony ship Gunny Rich had a
chance to sit down with his Commander and discuss what had happened
whilst they were on the planet. His main concern was the way his boss
seemed to be preoccupied with whatever had occurred dirtside.
"OK
boss, are you going to tell me what went on down there or am I going
to have to stew for awhile?"
Ray relaxed in his chair
and sighed, "In a way nothing happened," he began, "other
than I got my nose rubbed in what may be a very peculiar
fact."
Gunny Rich frowned in confusion.
"OK
Gunny, try this for size," said Ray, "What would you say
our legal status is back on Earth?"
"You know,"
replied the NCO, "I've never given it any thought," he
said.
"And neither had I," admitted Ray, "but
if you think about it in terms of what we tell the people we extract
then any links we had with home are severed, we belong to the
Confederacy and nothing else."
"Hmmm," was
all Gunny managed by way of a reply.
"That young man,
the one with the high CAP score told me he was a member of the
Einherjar, a part of Earth First that was preparing for the battle
for Earth." Ray shrugged, "I'll admit I had to look it up
when I got back here but it refers to the warriors who fell in battle
and are waiting in Valhalla, at least they are according to Norse
mythology,"
"In that mythology the final battle
is called Ragnarok and Odin will lead the Einherjar from the halls
for that mother of all battles."
"So why does
that bother you so much?" asked Gunny, "It's just so much
mumbo jumbo to psyche up the locals."
"It wasn't
so much that as the way he looked upon us," said Ray. "To
him we were traitors, deserting Earth in its time of need."
"That's
crap," exclaimed Gunny Rich.
"Is it?"
"Of
course it is," said Gunny but there was an element of doubt
creeping into his voice.
"That's what got me
thinking," said Ray. "Can we still claim to be Earthmen
when we are not prepared to fight for our planet, when we don't even
have our own government anymore?"
"That young
man believed in the Earth First, of course but not to the detriment
of the human race nor its abandonment." Ray rubbed his face,
"There are times when I wish there were more like him and that
we could do more for them but..."
He turned away and
Gunny, sensing that the talking was over for now rose silently and
left his commander alone. Ray glanced at the display screen and the
image of a blue green planet filling it with a sense of wonder and
sighed. He was leaving another man behind who was prepared to give
his all for the mother planet, a planet the Confederacy had already
written off, and it just didn't feel right.
---oOo---
---oOo---