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region and work out plans for going in and "disinfecting" it as soon as
sufficient forces arrived. At least they paid little attention to the estate
and the encampment, except, of course, to ogle the girls as all soldiers did.
Also by mid-day, civil authority had moved in and at-
tempted to impose some order on things. Rumors swept the
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0-%20War%20of%20the%20Maelstrom.txt gathering that they would all now be sent
home as quickly as possible and that plans were being made to do just that.
Sam hoped to get a ride to Mahtri, since that was certainly where
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Crim would look first, but she wasn't particular. If the first batch was for
someplace far away that she'd never heard of in her life, she fully intended
to go there. They set up tables on the grass with clerks behind them to take
names and destinations.
Sam grew nervous when they ordered all the unwed preg-
nant women to one side; the vividness of the dream she had had was still very
strong and the sense of ruthless menace stayed with her. She wondered if she
could somehow sneak off in this mass, maybe steal a horse. She wondered, too,
if some of the other girls, Putie in particular, would let her do it. Damn! It
was always the worst case!
Still, Sam wondered just how many would actually come along when the
adventure and risks were so immediate.
Putie, certainly the small girl hadn't left her side and kept
309
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM
trying to show real affection. That was tough because Sam really had the need
for some of what Putie offered right now but couldn't bring herself to
encourage the kid.
But before she could do much of anything, one of the clerks emerged from the
crowded area of tables and records and came over to them.
"Is this everyone?" he asked them, sounding official. He was carrying a
clipboard and pen but not the sheaves of documents that the clerks at the
tables had.
"AH right, listen up, and shut up," he said brusquely.
"You've been real lucky up to now. First the Changewind abruptly changes
course at the last moment and moves away from you. Now I got some more luck
for at least some of you. We're trying to move everybody out as quickly as
possible and send them home, but we haven't got Navigators or Pilots on the
other end set up for everybody yet, and it's gonna be unpleasant here for a
while, but you know what's waiting for you when you go home. You're all whores
who have dishonored your families and the Abrasis clan. Don't give me any lip!
You know what you are. Now, a clansman arrived here yesterday, mostly in the
hopes of working out something about a few of you. We were going to take more
time and interview you. but under the current emergency he can't stay and
doesn't want to."
They listened silently, some seething at his terms for them, but they said
nothing, not knowing just where this was leading.
"I won't mince words. Now, there's a colony called Nayub.
Probably you never heard of it. It's not the world's most wonderful place, but
it has among other things an Abrasis-run company that was started up a couple
of years ago as an
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0-%20War%20of%20the%20Maelstrom.txt experiment with a small group of convict
laborers. It's now starting to pay, and the laborers are being offered full
com-
mutation if they settle there and keep working at it. And, yes, none have seen
a woman in at least two years. There's little of any civilization near their
camp and it's off the beaten track. We'd like to get a true colony going and
make the place permanent. We're offering to send you there instead of home.
Any questions?"
"Uh, sir you mean send us to these criminals?" one girl asked, a bit taken
aback. "Guys who haven't seen a woman in years?"
no
Jack L Chalker
"They are no longer criminals. They have been paroled under condition of
exile. As for the other well, I'd think that girls like you would have a ball
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as the only women for twenty love-starved men. Eventually it'll be a
full-fledged colonial outpost, with lots of regular people, but that's going
to be a slow build, and they'll be professionals with their own families, so
it won't be rugged forever."
"You mean he wants twenty of us to go with him out there?" another asked.
"He does, but due to the emergency he's limited to his own wagon and existing
supplies. Everything else was commandeered. We had planned on doing this
methodically, over time, but the Emergency authorities have ordered all
non-residents out as quickly as possible. That means no round trips, and by
the time he might get through to hire other wagons, you will all be gone home.
At the moment we can take only five- We'll take the names and homes of the
rest who might want to go, but there are.no promises."
No one said a thing, but they all could do at least that much arithmetic. Each
of us with four husbands .... It wasn't the tum-on it seemed. Even if all four
turned out to be decent sorts, which wasn't all that likely, you'd have to be
wife to all four. Not just conjugally, but cooking, cleaning, keeping house,
and all the other drudgery multiplied by four. The clerk knew they understood
that, but, like the clan lord and the man with the wagon, was counting on it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]