Vandergast (8 of 10) - Cinema Extraction Part 3 - Murder in the First

Thanks again for proofreading to deGaffer and Akarge.

<Centurion L'ielit Debir, we have an incident,> the AI noted. <Concubine Amelie Lane tried to kill her sponsor Rashid Clark in stateroom C-04. The concubine is already remotely stunned. Medics are on their way. The sponsor and his second concubine Mary Middleton are in critical condition.>

"Damn. She was on the watch list, right?" L'ielit asked. She was already on the way to the named stateroom.

<Yes Centurion, but unfortunately for the sponsor, Amelie started her assault in the middle of the change of shifts. 3.35 seconds passed before a Marine pulled the remote trigger of the installed stinger.>

L'ielit reached the apartment. She entered and noticed bloody shoeprints. The medics had already been there. There had been no reason to be careful at the crime scene since the AI had recorded everything from different angles. Sponsor Rashid Clark hadn't changed the apartment's interior very much. L'ielit looked in the bedroom. The concubine Amelie was still stunned and lying on the floor beside the bed. A steak knife had fallen from her hand. The bed and the floor were stained with blood. "That's a lot of blood for 3.35 seconds," L'ielit noted.

<Concubine Amelie managed to cut both her victim's carotid arteries.>

L'ielit picked the bloody knife. "Where did she get the knife?" L'ielit asked.

<Most probably concubine Amelie stole it yesterday from canteen two. You can use the replicator's scanning abilities to prove that.>

L'ielit carefully examined the knife. "I don't think that is necessary. She didn't bring it from Earth, since it's the common canteen design with the engraved 'V' in the handle. AI, please replay the whole incident for me with your holographic projectors."

The AI started the replay with Rashid entering the apartment with his new second concubine Mary following. L'ielit listened to the argument between Rashid and Amelie when Amelie refused to join them in bed for a threesome. Ten minutes later, when Rashid was wildly fucking his new girl, she entered the bedroom. Only in the very last second did she get the knife from her sleeve, where she must have hidden it the whole time. Rashid had turned his face halfway to talk to Amelie when he was struck by the knife. The sharp blade cut through Rashid's throat and he collapsed beside the shocked Mary mid-fuck. Then Amelie rammed the blade into the girl's throat two times before the stinger paralyzed her.

L'ielit sighed. "AI, please tell me if we would have been able to prevent this on a modern ship with better internal scanners and a state of the art AI."

<I calculate a thirty percent chance that on a modern ship concubine Amelie wouldn't have been able to hide a knife. The incident itself would not have been preventable. I'd like to note that on almost every trip from Earth to a colony there are casualties.>

"I thought we could make it better. It seems I was wrong," L'ielit said. "For the protocol. Concubine Amelie Lane tried to kill her sponsor with a steak knife. She heavily injured her sponsor and another concubine. Therefore she has to be recycled. The verdict is to be enforced immediately."

<Confirmed.>

L'ielit lifted the paralyzed concubine and carried her to a bigger recycling unit in a storeroom.

L'ielit sat in her office with her concubine and personal assistant Carmen and Lieutenant Sneider for the daily meeting. "Six days and we have a second dead. Do you think there will be more?"

"I don't think so," Lieutenant Sneider said. "We still have several people under closer observation, but those two have been by far the worst. The others are slow learners and tend to ignore facts. Two of them are aggressive but they have limits. They throw things or slap someone, but would not use a lethal weapon."

"Thanks for your assessment. I hope you are right," L'ielit said. "Now to our normal passengers. Our little lie worked on the gays. Each of them took a woman. With some help they found concubines that feel fine with two gays around. I heard that they have found the gap in our plan. It seems some of them plan to let their male concubine impregnate their female concubine and the word spreads. I really hope those women don't stay excluded from their sponsor's beds forever. That would be a constant source of concern."

"We still have thirty-three sponsors that are short on concubines. It seems they are the hardliners among the monogamists. Should we do something about that?"

Carmen piped up. "I'd say no. If they are happy with that and don't try to force monogamy on other sponsors, I see no reason to force them to take another concubine. In addition, four of the sponsors on your list are from the mensa group. They have taken their female concubines and weren't happy with the remaining male candidates. That gives the unassigned males on Vandergast an unexpected opportunity to get a sponsor."

"Well said. I agree with that," the Lieutenant said.

"Okay, then we should start to tell them how life on Vandergast is organized," L'ielit said. "They will be happy that it is not half as bad as they have been told until now. Every sponsor is allowed to use the apartment's replicator and can send his concubines to the med bay for augmentations. The restriction wasn't all too effective to force them to fill their slots. I'm happy that the exception on the Mills girls worked that well. But I don't think that it would have helped the others."

Carmen nodded. "You know, Susan Mills might have initiated a vogue. Not exactly the robot girl fashion, but the use of tattoos instead of clothing. It will be interesting to see if this spreads when we arrive on Vandergast."

L'ielit grinned, "Yes, maybe you are right. Now to the next point on the agenda. It seems we have enough sponsors that have volunteered for the Navy or the Fleet Auxiliary. This means we have a full crew for the kilo class ship that's currently under construction. AI, how many sponsors have not yet decided which branch of service they want to join?"

<Currently there are forty sponsors that haven't joined a branch of service,> the AI answered.

"In my opinion it would be best to guide them towards Navy and Fleet Auxiliary. Any objections? I don't think the kilo is the last spaceship Vandergast will create."

Lieutenant Sneider and Carmen both shook their heads.

Rashid woke up in a med tube. His first reaction was to gasp for air and reach for his throat. His last memories indicated that he should be dead.

A nurse talked to him and tried to calm him, "Sir, you are okay. The med tube repaired all damage your concubine inflicted on you. You are as good as new."

Finally Rashid realized that he was still alive and there was no trace of his injury. He climbed out of the tube. The medical assistant handed him a new set of clothes. Rashid dressed mechanically while he tried to figure exactly what had happened. Finally he asked the AI, "AI, please tell me what happened. I remember being stabbed with a knife in my bedroom."

<Your concubine Amelie Lane attacked you in your bedroom with a knife. She managed to inflict massive damage on both you and your concubine Mary Middleton before she was stunned. Your concubine Mary Middleton is in med tube eight. It is just to your left. Mary Middleton will need another few hours since her spine was damaged by the attack of your concubine Amelie Lane. Your concubine Amelie Lane has been recycled for attacking her sponsor with a deadly weapon. You are one concubine short again.>

Rashid looked for Mary, but he couldn't see anything through the fogged screen that covered the tube. 'Poor Mary,' he thought. 'Only one hour under my sponsorship and she was nearly killed.' He carefully touched the material of the screen. "What should I do now?"

The nurse tried to be helpful, "You can wait for your concubine, but it will take another two hours at minimum before she will be released. Do you need someone to talk with you? Talking helps one to get over traumatic shock."

"Yes thanks," Rashid said. Rashid sat down on a chair near the med tube where his concubine was lying. "What's your name?"

"My name is Nadia." Nadia sat down beside Rashid. "How do you feel emotionally?"

"I feel like being paralyzed by too much alcohol. My mind is fogged. No, it's not my mind. It's my feelings." Rashid clenched his fists. "I'm mad at Amelie for attacking me, but the target for my anger no longer exists. I'm happy that Mary and I survived, of course." Rashid paused. "I'm also mad at myself. I made a series of mistakes. It was me who took Amelie just for her good looks. I didn't release her when I realized that she wouldn't cope with the new lifestyle. I forced her to face a potential rival even though I knew that would create trouble."

"Sir, please stop that," Nadia interrupted his speech. "Don't make yourself the target of your anger. Yes, you made a few mistakes. But it was she who had a psychopathic personality. You tried to be a good sponsor and not just casually dump your concubine. This is good. Sometimes you just can't do the right things and the good things at the same time."

"You are probably right. But what should I do now? I don't feel traumatized or anything like that. There is just an anger that gnaws at me."

"I'll give you some very practical advice. Go and ask one of the Marines for a light training session. Physical exhaustion helps a lot to flush bad feelings. Then you come back and help your concubine over her shock. Celebrate your survival. Get a feast from the replicator with a lot of sugar and cream and then flush her fears with passionate sex. Don't give her or yourself the time to link sex with the fear of being murdered."

Rashid looked at Nadia. "Thanks for your advice." He took another look at the med tube and then left the med bay. Once outside he looked around. There were a few sponsors and concubines in the corridors, but no Marine. 'Oh well, I can exhaust myself without a Marine.' Rashid started to run the corridors in a jog trot, but quickly switched to full speed. After a minute and several near collisions he returned to a jog trot.

A Marine joined him. "Hello sir, are you Rashid Clark? My name is Paul Glazier. The AI informed me that you might need a punching bag. Well, it didn't use those exact words, but that's how it sounded."

Rashid looked at the two meter Marine. "Thanks for your offer. Where should we go? I don't know of a gym or anything like that."

The Marine led Rashid to a storeroom that offered enough open space for a fight. He ordered a padded sports suit and a pair of light padded gloves from the workshop-sized replicator that was installed in the room. "Here, take the gloves," he ordered Rashid. Then he dressed in the suit.

"Now don't hold back. I'll try to counter your blows with my hands but it doesn't matter if you hit me one or two times. I'm augmented to stand that," Paul grinned.

Rashid tried a few straight blows that the Marine easily caught. Rashid remembered the lessons from the two weeks of self-defense training for his security job at the cinema, the boxing part. He lifted his hands to protect his own face and tried a series of quick blows.

"That's not bad," Paul encouraged Rashid. "If you start moving your feet it might get even better. So your Concubine tried to kill you?"

"Yes." Rashid focused his anger in his fists. "I knew her sub-scores, but I didn't see the signs that she might blow up in my face." He tried to hit the Marine with a swinging blow. But Paul caught his fist again. "Then I selected my second concubine. She's nice and not aggressive at all. She didn't deserve this." Rashid tried another series of quick high blows.

"I can understand that you are angry," Paul said. He countered another series of high and low blows. "Will she be fine? I heard she's currently in the med tube."

"The nurse and the AI said yes," Rashid started to breath heavily due to the workout. "At least physically." He started with another straight blow, but instead of drawing his fist back, he grabbed the Marine's hand and used a judo move to throw him.

Paul was halfway taken by surprise by that move and decided to give Rashid a success. So he found himself lying on his back, defending against another fist blow targeted at his head that he managed to block again, thanks to his augmented reflexes. Rashid let Paul stand up again.

"What I don't know is if she will be mentally fine," Rashid said while trying another combination of low and high punches. They fought for ten minutes in silence. Rashid was sweating and felt his arms getting heavier.

"You will do your very best to not make the same mistakes again and help your concubine, right?" Paul asked. He recognized that Rashid's blows had lost speed and strength. For Paul, the fifteen minutes of fight had just been a warm-up.

"Yes," Rashid panted. He stopped fighting. "I have had enough."

"You are a good, caring man," Paul said. "Your concubine will find that out and that will help her to heal any inner wounds. You'll see."

After taking a shower, Rashid returned to the med bay and waited for his concubine to come out of the tube.

For Mary, it was an even bigger shock to wake up. She remembered the attack of her sponsor's first concubine Amelie and how she lost control over her whole body from the neck south. She thought she had been beheaded before she lost consciousness.

Rashid was there to hug and comfort her. He helped her out of the med tube and helped her with her first steps. The AI informed them that nanites were still in her body, reconnecting the last cut nerves in the right way, so Mary would need a few days before her coenesthesis and her motor function were back to normal. In the meantime, lots of sensory input would be helpful.

Rashid remembered the words of the nurse and asked Mary, "Let's go to the canteen. What's your favorite meal? We'll make this a celebration."

Mary still clung to Rashid. Her legs felt funny and she was unsure if her feet would carry her anywhere. "My favorite? Well, I like a fine spiced, grilled fillet of beef with a grilled corn cob and real butter, and a glass of good German beer."

They slowly walked to the nearest canteen. On the way, Mary asked, "Where is Amelie?"

"Don't worry," Rashid answered. "She will never again harm anybody. She was executed while we were in the med tube. The Marines are very short-tempered when it comes to attempted murder."

"Oh my," Mary clung a little closer to Rashid.

At the canteen, Rashid made Mary sit down and then he served her almost like a professional steward. While eating a really delicious meal, they told each other stories about their past life. They both learned a lot about each other during that hour. Somehow their conversation turned toward sex. Half an hour later, they were in their apartment, which showed no trace of the previous incident.

"I'd like to make love to you," Rashid whispered in Mary's ear.

Mary giggled. "You are seducing a tipsy girl that's already your concubine," she said. Then she french kissed Rashid for the first time. "I can get used to this."

Five minutes later they lay on the bed, exploring each other's body with all their senses.

The rest of the journey went smoothly. The travelers learned that their target colony and new home would not half as bad as they had thought. Sponsors were assigned to their future jobs and spent several hours a day in the sleep training units. All of the sponsors and a lot of the concubines got their augmentations. Most of the females on board got pregnant.

When the ship arrived at Vandergast, the sponsors got their pods assigned. They went down from orbit with their concubines through the transporter nexus. It was a rainy day on the planet's surface, early afternoon. They got a good impression of the public life in the town.

L'ielit went to her office. She had asked for a meeting of the colonization project team leaders when the ship had left hyper. She was greeted warmly by Joacim, Mark Evans Benish and Fred Fish, who already waited at her office.

Fred and Mark shook L'ielit's hand.

Joacim hugged his former concubine lovingly and indicated that he wanted a private session as soon as possible. "Welcome home, L'ielit," he said.

"Nice to see you again. How was your first real extraction?" Mark asked.

"The extraction was the easiest part," L'ielit replied. "But several things didn't work the way we thought. Letting people get sorted on the trip doesn't solve any problem. Instead, it generated several new ones. We have twenty-two unassigned male concubines on board. I'm not sure if we should add them to our pool or just bring them back to Earth with the next trip."

"Are they a cause of trouble?" Joacim asked.

"Not really," L'ielit replied. "In fact they are perfectly normal people. We just picked too many males. We would have even more if not for the gay sponsors on board. But once they are on the planet, they have as few chance to get a sponsor as our own long term unassigned male concubines. In addition they have never been part of a sponsor's family. They don't even know what they are missing. They only know that they were humiliated during the trip forcing them into something they sometimes still call slavery."

"Hmmm, what's the standard procedure for something like this?" Fred asked.

<You probably won't like the answer,> the AI replied.

"That sounds bad. I think I know it already," L'ielit said. "But I want to hear it."

<The standard procedure in colony ships is to recycle unassigned concubines after forty-eight hours. Since you picked all of the people at a single location and let sponsors select their concubines on board, this rule was overridden. A few colonies have adapted this rule and recycle unassigned male concubines after one year.>

"You mean they kill their sons at their fifteenth birthday?" Fred asked.

<If a sponsor doesn't keep a son with a low CAP score as supernumerary, yes.>

"You were right. I don't like it," Fred growled.

"I see generally two possibilities here," Joacim stated. "We can keep them in our pool just like those we already have, or we can send them back. We can explain to them what it means to stay here. But what would it mean for them to be returned to Earth?"

<Most probably the single males have lost their jobs and their household on Earth no longer exists after nine weeks. They are expected to never return after an extraction. Family members have a better chance to return to a functioning household,> the AI said.

"We could bring them together with the Einherjar, train them and then send them back," Mark noted. "That would most probably dim the feeling that the trip was a waste for them."

"Good idea," Joacim said. "Maybe we can do that with our more aggressive and disobedient male concubines too. I mean those few we don't trust enough to let them work as crewmen on one of the Mammoths. Those who have already stated that staying on Earth wouldn't have been half as bad as being an unassigned concubine at our colony.

"Any more problems you brought back from your voyage?" Joacim asked L'ielit with a wink.

L'ielit looked at Joacim with a crooked grin. "Only if you think that nude concubines with whole-body tattoos are a problem. One sponsor started with a tattoo that made her sister and concubine look like a robot girl. The trend spread and morphed. Now we have everything from classic Japanese dragon tattoos over simple color gradients to tattooed clothes. The most exotic in my opinion is one that changes colors and patterns depending on the concubine's mood just like chameleons do."

"Wow, I have to see that," Fred declared.

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow for my whole report of the trip. Then I'll present it to the colony council in detail. All in all I think it would be best to return to standard extraction procedures, with the exception of extracting a few female supernumeraries for the expected growing number of home-grown sponsors," L'ielit summarized.