Chapter Two -- The Camp

Hope was puzzled by one of the things that the camp organised for the refugees to do. Soldiers would get everyone out of one of the tents, women as well as children, and line them up, one behind the other, facing a round piece of green cloth on the dusty ground. They all had to walk briskly onto the cloth and off again at the other side, one after the other, without stopping. Solomon always got a sweet when he did it right, and Hope usually got one too. She suspected that was because she looked younger than she really was; the more developed girls her age just got a smile from the soldiers. Solomon always enjoyed the game, mostly because of the sweet.

After a time Hope had talked to all the soldiers currently in the camp. She kept an eye out for any new faces so she could ask them about her father. One morning she saw that a batch of new soldiers had arrived, and a few familiar faces were missing. The camp had obviously brought in a new lot of convalescents. As quickly as she could, she made the rounds of the new soldiers, asking about her father. As she searched between the tents she spotted a familiar face, it was Gideon from her village. He had gone into the Army along with Daddy and the other village men. He would know where Daddy was!

As she ran towards him, her long legs kicking up the dust behind her, she saw that he had lost his left arm in the fighting. He noticed her coming towards him and his face lit up with a smile as he recognised her.

"Hope!" he greeted her with a one-armed hug.

Her face alight she asked, "Gideon, do you know where my father is?"

His face fell, and he shook his head, "I'm sorry, Hope. He's d..."

Hope screamed, "Noooo!" Gideon was still talking, but she didn't hear him. All the tears she had been keeping back for weeks escaped from her. Daddy was gone. She howled for her Daddy. He'd sat her on his knee and told her how pretty she was. She howled. He'd tickled her when she'd been sad. She howled. He'd looked after her when she'd been ill. She howled. He'd made her a shelf for her toys. She howled. He'd smiled and waved to her as he left to join the Army. She howled. Hope howled all her hurt and her pain and her anger. She cried for her baby sister. She cried for her mother. She howled for her Daddy. Daddy was dead.

Gideon was holding her with his one good arm as she cried herself out. "Everyone's dead, Gideon," she told him between her sniffles. "The aliens killed everyone in the village. Your mother and sisters are gone as well. Only Solomon and I got away." Now it was Gideon's turn to cry. Hope held him as he did. Helping him helped her to gather herself together.

"What do we do now, Gideon?" she asked.

Ajabu opened her eyes as the hatch swung back. She swiftly got out of the med-tube and put on her clothes. When she was dressed, the medic smiled at her and pointed to the replicator, where her CAP card was waiting. 6.8! She felt a great wave of relief. She was free of the General, and of Subira. "Where do I volunteer?" she asked in Swahili.

"Lieutenant Kaukenas is waiting for you outside. You can ask her," the medic replied in the same language. "And congratulations."

"Well done Ajabu," Daiva told her in English. Ajabu was confused, as she was hearing a simultaneous Swahili translation in her head. Her puzzled look alerted the Lieutenant.

"You have an AI translator installed until you've learned better English. You can speak Swahili to me and I will understand. I have a translator as well."

"It is strange hearing two voices."

"You'll get used to it," the Lieutenant told her. "Once your English catches up you won't need it any more."

Ajabu remembered her purpose here. "Where do I volunteer?" she asked again.

"Here and now," Daiva told the tall recruit. The AI had already indicated that Ajabu had tested as a sponsor and was acceptable for extraction. She paused and formally asked, "Do you, Ajabu Adobora, volunteer for service with the Confederacy?"

"Yes I do," Ajabu replied, equally formally.

"Acknowledged and recorded," came the voice of the AI.

"Navy or Marines?"

"Marines please, sir," Ajabu answered without hesitation. She had seen some of what the Swarm had done to her country and she wanted to get close to them, so she could see them die. "And could I be known as Ajabu Ngowi please, sir." She wanted to leave the General's name behind along with her old life.

"Yes, we can do that." Daiva ordered, "AI, make the requested change."

"Acknowledged and recorded."

Daiva paused momentarily, listening to the AI inside her head. "Private Ngowi, since you are pregnant, you will have an abbreviated and less strenuous initial training course. Then we will assign you to light duties in one of the Kindertransport camps, where your language and cultural knowledge will be useful. Once you have had your child, you will complete your training and be available for general duties."

"Yes, sir." She even managed a creditable salute. Being the General's wife had taught her something about military life.

On their way back to the 'VIP Lounge' the Lieutenant explained what was going to happen to her former husband, his other wives and the two children. Since neither of the young children were hers, Ajabu was happy for them both to stay with Busara, the General's second wife.

Hope decided not to ask Gideon how her father had died. Just knowing that he was dead was terrible enough. Hearing the details would rub salt into the wound, which was still red raw. Gideon seemed to feel the same, he didn't ask her exactly what had happened to their village. Quietly, holding hands for comfort, they both made their way back to the tent where she and Solomon were staying.

Solomon was happy to see Gideon's familiar face. He soon noticed that neither the wounded soldier nor his sister were happy and made the connection. "Daddy's not coming back, is he Hope?"

"No Solomon, he's not. Daddy's dead." Solomon started crying, which set Hope and Gideon off again. Somehow she managed to ignore her own tears and calm her little brother.

Solomon asked Gideon, "Did Daddy kill any Swarm before he died?"

"Oh yes, Solomon, he killed a lot of the Swarm."

"I'm going to grow up and kill the Swarm, just like Daddy," Solomon declared. "I'll join the Confederacy and fight them."

"The Confederacy?" Hope was shocked. "Pastor said that they were working for Satan, and we shouldn't have anything to do with them."

Her brother replied, "Pastor said that the Lord would protect us all from the Swarm, and he was wrong. I think he was wrong about the Confederacy as well. I'm going to join them and fight."

Hope was still dubious. Their Pastor had been insistent that the Confederacy was to be avoided. Solomon seemed very determined though. She decided to delay by asking Gideon. "What do you think of the Confederacy, Gideon?"

"I haven't seen much of then, though what I have seen has been good. They make a lot of our food and weapons for us, and they help with medical things as well. I hear they may be able to regrow my arm," he waved the stump of his left arm for emphasis. "I don't think they're as bad as Pastor said."

"What can we do to help Solomon to join the Confederacy?" she asked Gideon.

"I'm not sure Hope, I've only just got here. I'll ask around and see if there's a way."

Hope decided that she would sleep on it overnight. As Solomon had said, Pastor wasn't always right about everything.

Daiva, Ajabu and Busara, together with the General's two young children, watched his plane taxiing for take-off. He and Subira were leaving the rest of their family behind. Busara and the young boy were holding back tears. The young girl just looked on stoically as she held her mother's hand.

"Private," the Lieutenant asked discreetly, "you are allowed two concubines. Do you want to ask Busara?"

Ajabu thought about it for a moment. "No, sir. There is too much history that I don't want to be reminded of. I would prefer to make a clean break."

That was the answer Daiva had been anticipating. "In that case, you can select both your concubines from our pool here. The AI will be able to help you with suggestions. We have a large number of women, obviously, and a small pool of men for you to select from. You'll need someone to get your other concubine pregnant."

"Men, sir?" Ajabu was puzzled. She knew that the Kindertransport program only took women and children, not men.

"We have a few thirteen year old boys who turn fourteen while they are here. There are also some stowaways and those who try to pass for younger, as with the General trying to tell us you were thirteen. We do find a few women, like yourself, who test over 6.4, so we need a small pool of male concubines for you to pick from. All of the men have been CAP tested, and are likely to make good concubines. The ones who wouldn't do well with a female sponsor don't stay here for long."

Ajabu nodded. "I see, sir."

Daiva continued, "If you want a larger selection, we can send you up to one of the Moon bases, though the men there are mostly from outside Africa."

"No thank you, sir. I'm sure I'll be able to find my concubines here."

Hope awoke the next morning with a mission. Overnight her thoughts had crystallised: Solomon was right. Her brother was going to join the Confederacy to fight the Swarm, and she was going to help him. She had tried her best to find Daddy, but she had failed. She would make sure that she wouldn't fail this time. She got up with a new determination.

Every day she pestered Gideon to see if he had found a way to help Solomon join the Confederacy. She knew that she must be irritating him, but she couldn't stop herself. They had to do something to punish the aliens for what they had done. Every day Gideon smiled regretfully at her and told her that he hadn't found anything yet.

In theory, the refugees were flown out to an offshore Confederacy base in order of arrival. She and Solomon had been issued with their numbers when they were registered on their first day in the camp. The problem was that the queue moved so slowly. The Confederacy could only take a limited number of refugees, and there were influential people who used their clout to take up seats on the flights. It would take much too long for the two of them to get to the head of the queue in the normal way. Hope waited and visited Gideon daily. At least she had more time to play with Solomon, though now his games had taken a more warlike turn. He was trying his best to learn things from the soldiers in the camp.

One day she was surprised to see Gideon walking towards her with a big smile on his face. "Come with me Hope, I think I've found something." She was bouncing with excitement, but he wouldn't talk to her about whatever it was he had found with other people around. She had to wait until they got to a quiet corner before he would tell her.

"Hope, do you know what 'Kindertransport' means?"

She had learned what the word meant since first seeing it on the day she arrived here. "Yes, Gideon, it means women and children get taken to the stars to have lots of babies and fight the Swarm."

"Right," he confirmed, "and the important part is, 'and children'. Women who go need to have plenty of children with them. There's a rich woman who wants to go, and she needs extra children so the Confederacy will take her. I must warn you that she'll expect you to do all of the work. You'll have to look after the children without any help from her. I think she's always had maids and nannies to do everything for her. You would have to be both maid and nanny," he warned Hope.

"I can work hard," she assured him. "Will Solomon be able to come as well?"

"Of course he will," Gideon reassured her. "I wouldn't have asked you if he couldn't. She has one child of her own and wants six more from the camp. You and Solomon can be two of the six."

Gideon was right, Mrs Maruge expected Hope to do all the work looking after the children. She had collected a group of seven: her own little girl, Tegla, who was three, together with Hope, Solomon and four others from the camp: Khadija, Murua, Siti and little Bobo, the same age as Tegla. Hope was the oldest so she got to do most of the work. Khadija, the next oldest, was eleven so she could help a bit. As well as her own group of seven children, Mrs Maruge was also taking her maid, Patience, who had a further six children -- three of her own and three extras from the camp. The rich woman wanted to be assured both that she would be accepted for extraction and that she would still have her servant with her in future. Hope wasn't sure that the Confederacy worked that way, but it didn't matter as long as she and her brother got to the stars. The work was hard, but she could put up with it. Anything to ensure that Solomon would grow up to fight the Swarm, just like their father had done.

Hope and her brother both liked Patience, the maid. She was a bit overweight, but very motherly and comfortable. She was happy to give either of them a hug when they needed one. She was also very helpful with hints on how to avoid the worst of Mrs Maruge. Patience had worked for the woman for years, and knew how to keep on her good side. Hope was grateful for the advice she gave.

They were going by sea. Mrs Maruge had hired a converted trawler to take all of them out to the Confederacy base on its island. Hope liked the skipper, George. In her rare free moments she talked to him as he steered the boat. He reminded her of the truck driver they had first met; he seemed to want to talk to someone.

"You be OK wit' Confed'cy, Hope," he told the girl. "Take you for sure. George knows. George been dere before." He had a strange accent which, combined with his odd habit of referring to himself in the third person, sometimes made it difficult to understand him. To Hope he sounded like he might have come from somewhere in West Africa.

"You've been to the island before, George?"

"Oh yes, many times. Dey knows old George. Dey like George. I does what dey tells me. Confed'cy easy. Do what boss says and evr'tin' OK. George do what Genr'l says so I OK."

Hope wondered, "What happens if you don't do what they say?"

"Oooh, don't you be doin' dat, Hope girl," George cautioned her. "You don't do what you told, den you gets one warnin'. After one warnin' dey kills you. Dead." He gestured, slicing his hand across his throat. "Do what boss tells you. You be OK."

Hearing that, Hope wondered how well Mrs Maruge would get on in the Confederacy. She couldn't see the woman accepting orders easily, and she knew that concubines had to follow orders, just like George said. She thought that Patience would probably make a much better concubine than her mistress. The maid lived up to her name and just got on quietly with whatever she was told to do. Hope worried that if Mrs Maruge were rejected, then the children travelling with her would be rejected as well, including herself and Solomon. George assured her that it wouldn't be a problem, but she worried anyway.

Most of the children got seasick; Bobo was particularly badly affected and clung to Hope a lot of the time. Even at three years old, he had worked out that Hope was a lot nicer than Mrs Maruge. Dealing with seasick children was bad enough for Hope, but dealing with a seasick Mrs Maruge was worse. Even with both Hope and Patience looking after her she still managed to complain. She even irritated George, "Dem sharks lookin' skinny. Maybe need feedin' up?" he said one particularly rough day.

Hope looked round quickly to check that Mrs Maruge was out of earshot. "You wouldn't do that George, would you?"

"George sore tempted, but Confed'cy kill me if I do. Dead people no good to dem. Some guys try it early on, jus' after camp opened. Confed'cy kill 'em all. George not stupid. Confed'cy like doin' its own killin'. Don' want George doin' it for dem."

It was a relief for all of them when the weather calmed down and the island hove into sight. As George steered them into the harbour, Hope could see three people in green uniforms standing on the quayside. Even from a distance she could tell that they were bigger than average.

Commander Tolstova was waiting with a pair of Marines as George's crew moored the trawler. As always, he had radioed ahead to let them know when he was arriving. Some skippers didn't and tried to sneak in undetected; none succeeded. The island had advanced electronics, able to warn of any incoming Sa'arm raids, so detecting a ship was child's play. Any skipper who tried it once was warned. Twice and he was executed.

The Commander greeted George with a familiar wave as he came down the gangplank, "Hello again, George. Who do you have for us today?"

"George got two women and t'irteen kids dis trip, Genr'l. Jus' like you want."

The Commander smiled broadly at that. George always called every officer 'General', no matter what their actual rank. "That's good, George."

They both watched as the passengers disembarked. George was a veteran of many trips to the island. He understood who the Confederacy wanted and who they didn't. Those sailors who didn't understand had had their craft confiscated, or had even been executed. George was a survivor, he knew he had to play this game by the rules. "You ready to join us yet George?" the Commander asked him. The AIs had indicated that he was likely to make a good concubine, as he instinctively understood the necessity of following orders. The Commander dropped a hint about it every time he docked.

"Not yet Genr'l, George got plenty o' money to spend. Money no good in Confed'cy. George come back when money all gone."

"True, we don't have much use for money. One day you'll join us though."

"One day, Genr'l, but not today." George gave her an approximation of a salute, and walked back up the gangplank onto his boat.

Waiting on the quayside, Hope was astonished at the size of the Marines. They were huge; so much bigger than ordinary soldiers. Surely the Swarm would have no chance against men like this. And women as well, two of the three were women, including the officer. She could easily imagine Solomon growing up to become one of them. She whispered to her brother, "You're going to be big like them, Solomon." He just stared at the three giant Marines, round-eyed in amazement.

The Commander turned to the group. "I am Commander Tolstova. On behalf of the Confederacy I would like to welcome you all to Kindertransport Collection Camp Four. The first thing we will do is take you for your medical checks. Follow me please."

Hope followed with the rest, holding Solomon's hand. They were almost there.

Sonia gained a few more seconds delay by smoothing her plain grey uniform. Grey showed that she was owned by a Civil Service officer. All the concubines here had to be owned by someone. Like her, most belonged to the chief of the Kindertransport program, someone called Tribune Leo Nevin, so they wore grey. She had even seen her owner once when he had arrived for an inspection tour of the camp. The Marines did a lot of marching and saluting, while the concubine assistants, including herself, were lined up for him to see. He'd talked briefly to a few of them, though not to Sonia. After a couple of hours he'd left and she hadn't seen him since.

This was a part of her job Sonia hated. She was going to have to tell people that they hadn't been selected for extraction, and were going to be sent back. That was awful for them. To have come so close and to be rejected right at the last. Telling the AI to unlock the door, she steeled herself and went in.

The room went quiet as soon as she entered. She kept her face neutral as she walked to the small podium facing her seated audience. She felt exposed and vulnerable, even though she knew that everything was being closely monitored, with a stinger operator ready to fire in an instant and two Marines waiting just outside.

"Your attention please," not that she needed to ask, all eyes in the room were on her. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you all. You have been found unsuitable for extraction, and will be sent back to your home countries."

Some of them just slumped in their chairs, others leapt to their feet and started shouting. Sonia managed to catch a few of the usual cries of, "Why?" and even one, "Do you know who my husband is?"

In the midst of the noise, the two Marines who had been waiting outside entered and stood silently to either side of Sonia. Their hulking presence quietened the crowd down and people reluctantly resumed their seats.

Once she had quiet again Sonia continued, "I cannot give you individual reasons why, but I can tell you our general criteria. Anyone with too low a CAP score is not selected. We also do not take people who would not do well as concubines." Noticing a small group of boys to one side she added, "The same two points also apply to older dependants, where we look at estimated future CAP scores." She paused before continuing, "Many of you fall into the second category, those not suitable to be a concubine. A concubine is a servant who must follow orders. If you can't obey orders, then you won't be useful as a concubine. Disobedient concubines do not have a long life expectancy in the Confederacy. It is likely that you will do better staying on Earth than going to the colonies."

Sonia paused to let that sink in. None of them came back with any immediate response so she went on, "Having been rejected once, we do not want to see you here ever again. If we see any of you here again, we will execute you." A few of them gasped when she said that. She went on, "This is deadly serious. We will execute you. There are limited places available on flights, and we want to be sure that you don't take up the seat of someone else who could potentially be extracted. I'll repeat that a third time to make sure you get the message. If you come back here again, we will execute you. Please believe me, this is not an idle threat." She spoke quietly into her collar, "AI, show the video."

Sonia stood back, stony faced, with her eyes on the audience. She had seen the video before; some poor woman was stood in front of a Marine firing squad, executed and put into a coffin to be loaded onto a plane for the flight back. Some of the women screamed. At least they were getting the message, and would spread it back home. You got one chance, and that was all.

She waited for them to settle down again before she continued. "Some of you are here with your own children. You have the choice to take them back with you or to leave them here. If you leave them here, we will find a foster mother for them so they will be looked after. Siblings will be kept together, cousins also if we can. You have about an hour to make your decision before you need to board your plane. If you have any questions, you can ask me now."

Always they asked the same questions, and always they got the same answer: "The decision has been made and cannot be changed." Once the general questions had finished, she was able to talk individually to the mothers who had to decide whether or not to leave their children behind. Sonia found that especially distressing; such a terrible decision for them to have to make. She could well imagine how horrible it would be for her to have to stay behind, leaving Kwanza to go with another woman.

Eventually, the last questions were answered and she was able to escape. As soon as the door closed behind her she slumped against the wall. Those poor people -- what must it feel like to be rejected like that? She managed not to cry this time, though she'd done so the first few times she'd had to deliver that speech. The two Marines quietly moved away to their next task, leaving her to collect herself.

Hope waited. She was used to it by now. Getting away from the village had been a rush -- how long ago that seemed. She couldn't think of that too closely though, her pain was still too raw. She concentrated instead on waiting. These last few weeks there was a lot of waiting. There had been a lot of waiting at the camp on the mainland, and now there was more waiting here on the island as well.

When they had walked up from the quayside, the Commander had left them with the two Marines to take them all to a room with a lot of big metal tubes. Everyone had to strip and get into one, 'med-tubes' the nurse called them. There was a curtain down the middle of the room, with the boys and the male Marine on one side and the women and girls with the woman Marine on the other, so it wasn't too embarrassing taking her clothes off. When she got out of the tube, Hope had a vague recollection of some strange dreams, something about a burning house, but the memory soon faded.

The white-uniformed nurse had given the children identity cards to hang round their necks. Hope saw that hers had, "CAP Estimate 5.9 - 6.2," printed on it alongside her name. Khadija had an estimate of 4.9 - 5.3 while Nelson, Patience's eldest, had 6.4 - 6.8. He was eleven, the same as Khadija. The younger children got cards without CAP estimates. Solomon, being only eight, was frustrated at that. He was jealous of Nelson's estimate because it showed that Nelson was likely to be a sponsor when he turned fourteen.

Once they were all finished in medical, the two Marines had put them in this room and told them to wait. While they were waiting, things were obviously happening in the background. Mrs Maruge had been taken off to a meeting. Some time later a woman in a grey uniform had come to take little Tegla to join her mother, telling the other six children to wait with Patience and her group. Hope and Khadija helped the maid and Nelson keep the younger ones amused for the moment. There was a play area in the waiting room for them, as well as a replicator. It looked like the ones in the mainland camp, but Solomon had quickly discovered that this one could dispense sweets. Soon afterwards he also discovered that it would only allow a few to each child, much to his disappointment.

George had said that the Confederacy was fine as long as you did what you were told. Hope thought that was good advice, so she did what she was told and waited.

Sonia took off her grey uniform for the last time. Dumping it into the recycler, she took a new set of civilian clothes from the replicator. Just like her friend Rukiya, she had put on a bit of weight while working here over the last few weeks. The new clothes would have been loose on her if she had been issued with them back when she had arrived. She'd been anticipating this change. She was the longest serving of the concubine assistants, so it was time for her to move on.

As expected, she'd been assigned some additional children; the Kindertransport program wouldn't take a woman with only one child in tow. She was getting six more children, a group who had arrived earlier today by boat. The woman they'd landed with hadn't been selected, so they needed an adult to look after them. Sonia was relieved that all six were war orphans rather than the woman's natural children. That meant that they would have had a bit of time to come to terms with being away from their parents. Many of their parents were dead, some had become lost in the chaos of the war and others had to be left behind. The Kindertransport program wouldn't take fathers or post-menopausal mothers. Undoubtedly the the children would have problems, but they should have had enough time to deal with their immediate grief.

After finishing dressing she went to collect her son, "Come along, Kwanza, we'll go and meet your new brothers and sisters."

Hope saw the woman come into the room. She looked rich because her clothes were new, not dusty like the women from the refugee camp. There was a young boy with her, probably about five or six Hope thought.

The woman seemed to recognise Hope, and came directly to her. "Hello," the woman said, "I'm, Sonia. You should be Hope Malokotela?"

"Hello Sonia. Yes I'm Hope. Are you here instead of Mrs Maruge? Will you be going with us when we go to the stars?"

Sonia smiled, "Yes I will, Hope. We'll all go to the stars together."

Hope felt relief at that. This woman, Sonia, was here to replace Mrs Maruge. She even had her own little boy to replace Tegla. Hope had been apprehensive that when Mrs Maruge was sent back then the rest of them would be as well. George had been right about that -- she needn't have worried herself about it.

"Well, Hope. This is Kwanza, who is five." Hope smiled at the boy, who smiled uncertainly back. "Who are the others with you?" Sonia already knew of course, having been briefed, but she thought it would be better for Hope to introduce the other children herself. Besides Hope, there were Khadija, age 11; Murua, 9; Solomon, Hope's brother, 8; Siti, age 5, the same as Kwanza; and lastly Bobo, age 3. Nobody was sure what Bobo's real name was, but he answered to "Bobo" so that was what he was listed as. Even the AI didn't know. Bobo, Kwanza and Solomon were boys, the other four were girls.

After the introductions, Sonia wished Hope a happy birthday.

"Happy birthday?" Hope was puzzled. "What day is it?"

"It's the third of May, Hope, and your birthday is on the twenty ninth of April, isn't it?"

"Oh yes. I'm thirteen!" Hope was surprised; she'd lost track of the date during her weeks in the refugee camp.

"Shall we arrange a party then?" Sonia asked.

"Yes please!" said Hope excitedly, "I'd like a party!"

As Sonia had suspected, Hope hadn't had a birthday party yet, and a party would be a good way to meet her new charges.

Sonia left Kwanza with Hope and the others and went to introduce herself to Patience, explaining that she had replaced Mrs Maruge. Patience just accepted the change quietly, as she accepted everything else. It was obvious to Sonia that Patience would be happy to follow her lead.

Taking charge of the group, as if she was still in her grey uniform, Sonia gathered everyone together and led them out to their new accommodation in hut White Six. As they walked there she waved to some of her friends, still in their grey uniforms.

Hope noticed her waving and asked, "Do you know them Sonia?"

"Yes Hope, I used to be one of them. That's why I know where we have to go now."

Hut White Six was a wide single-storey building with a black '6' in a white circle by the door. Sonia pointed it out to everyone so at least some of the children might remember. Inside, the hut was divided longitudinally into two halves. The near half was a large common room with a long table and many chairs. At one end was a kitchen and a children's play area. As she had done many times before, Sonia gave them the usual tour, showing everyone the sleep trainers and the toilets. Nelson, Patience's boy, made the customary comment that the sleep trainers looked like the medical tubes they had all been in earlier.

Off the common room was a door to the sleeping area, which took up the other half of the hut. There were four bays along the outside wall, each with six bunks in two sets of three. Partitions separated the bays, though all four were open to the passageway. At one end of the passage was a shower room and toilets, next to a second replicator, similar to the one in the kitchen.

Sonia pointed out that the bunks in bay two had the names of Patience's group on them while those in bay one had her group's names. Sonia and Hope got the top two bunks with Khadija and Murua in the middle ones. The four younger children had to share the bottom bunks: Solomon and Bobo in one, Siti and Kwanza in the other. The shared bunks had dividers, so one child could sleep at each end. Being in bay one meant that, as she had expected, Sonia was the lead concubine for this hut. She could already tell that Patience would be happy to follow her directions.

Although bays three and four were currently empty, Sonia knew they would soon be filled, probably when the next planeload of refugees from the mainland arrived on the island. The hut was going to be crowded with four adults and almost thirty children. She hoped the AI picked two sensible women to lead the groups in the last two bays, they would need to be willing to follow what she told them.

As always, Sonia ended the tour at the replicator by the bathroom. She retrieved a concubine collar for Patience and fitted it on her, explaining its use. Most of the children got wrist units to let them talk to the AI, and for the AI to track them if they got lost. Bobo was too young for one, but Kwanza and Siti were pleased to be considered old enough. Sonia gave them a stern warning not to lose their new units. If they lost them, then they would be treated like younger children and not be allowed to have a replacement. Both of them nodded seriously; neither wanted to be thought of as younger than they were.

It was getting on towards time to eat, so Sonia started organising things for Hope's party. Patience and Hope herself looked after the younger children while Sonia, with Nelson and Khadija helping, worked in the kitchen to get the meal ready.

Once Sonia told them things were almost ready, Hope and Patience got all the children to wash their hands and sit at the long table. When Bobo sat down he discovered that the furniture was self-adjusting; his chair rose to the correct height for him. Thinking this was great fun, he immediately moved to the next chair so he could do it all over again. When he moved to yet a third chair it didn't change, much to his annoyance. Hope noticed him starting to cry and went over to see what the problem was. Her wrist unit beeped to alert her and the AI explained -- it would adjust chairs as needed, but it wasn't going to play games just to amuse Bobo. Hope moved him back to the first chair, which had stayed at its new height. The AI had already changed the second chair back to normal.

Grace, Nelson's younger sister, and Murua distributed party hats to everyone to get them in the mood.

The meal started with goat curry and steamed mealie bread. As the children dug in, Sonia asked the older ones what they wanted to do once they turned fourteen. Nelson wanted to join the Navy, but having seen how big Marines were, he was beginning to think that he might want to be a Marine instead. Solomon wanted to be a Marine of course. Sonia was surprised at his vehemence. She hadn't expected him to be so determined on his future career at such a relatively young age. Suspecting that it might bring up some uncomfortable history about what had happened to him and Hope, she decided not to enquire too closely.

Having seen her CAP estimate of 4.9 to 5.3, Khadija knew she was going to be a concubine. It didn't worry her too much, "I think it will be just like being married. Obeying my husband, and having his other wives to help me with babies and housework."

Hope wanted more. If she was going to be a concubine then she wanted to have lots of boys, so they could fight the Swarm. With her CAP estimate of 5.9 to 6.2, she even had a small hope of reaching 6.5 herself. Sonia told the girl that the Confederacy did offer special training, so it might be possible for Hope to raise her score. As with Solomon, Sonia noticed the determination Hope expressed, but kept her questions to herself.

Hope enjoyed her curry, it was much better than the food they'd been given to eat in the other camp. She asked Sonia about it, "The replicators in the old camp just made mealie porridge. Did all this come out of the kitchen replicator, Sonia?"

"Yes, Hope," Sonia explained. "The replicators here can make almost anything you want, including the party hats."

"But not more sweets," Solomon complained. Along with the others, Hope and Sonia both laughed at his miserable expression.

"No more sweets because you need to save some room for what's coming later, Solomon," Sonia told him. "Now finish your curry."

'What's coming later,' turned out to be cake. One with thirteen candles for Hope's group, and a similar one for Patience and her children, but without the candles. Hope blew them all out and silently wished for victory over the Swarm, as revenge for the deaths of her father, her mother and her baby sister.