Chapter 5

In the announcer's booth, Commander McAndrews was watching the clock and the events on the track. He was aware that the timing was going to have to be almost perfect. Too much wasted time here and things would start going sour at the college. The idea was to set up pre packs, unite available sponsors with concubines on site and then get the college girls to provide the concubines needed to fill the slots. Once that was settled, all of the females sent to the track would be extracted as spares. If they went over capacity, some would be sent to the moon for later ships. The track had been divided into three sectors, the infield, the pit area and the grandstands. Of the three, the pit area was the most dangerous. Despite the search for weapons, there were tools which could be used in hand to hand combat. The infield was place under the control of the Tribune, the Decurion and a senior NCO had the pit area and he would take control of the grandstands.

At exactly 6:pm eastern time, the fields appeared. The infield and grandstands were encircled, with a separate enclosure in the pits. The Commander took over the microphone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Commander McAndrews. of the Confederacy Marines. This is now an extraction. Would all of you in the infield, please put down your tools and meet with our personnel at the pace car staging area if you wish to be extracted. In the pit area, move to the south end of the pits In the grandstands you should stay seated. Those of you in offices, concessions or behind the stands have ten minutes to take seats."

As the people started moving to the grandstands, the Marines moved into the concession area. With the help of Brenda and her crew, they loaded all the uncooked food, freezers and all. Beer was high on the list and they managed fifteen kegs. This had been cleared in advance with the track owner. He had a 7.3 CAP and was headed to the stars.

As the field went up, the Tribune and I slipped off our civies. By the time folks started gathering around the car we were ready. Most of the people had their CAP cards out.

"My name is Tribune Samuel Hansen. If you are not a volunteer and wish to be eligible for extraction, go to the flag stand and you will be allowed into the grandstand. Today we are going to allow specialists to be extracted. If you have at least a 5.5 CAP score you can join the volunteers."

It only took a few minutes to sort things out. There were no pre packs in the infield. The volunteers who had them here were sent to the grandstand. We had thirty five volunteers and fifteen specialist candidates left. Once I saw that things were settled, I headed for the pit area.

In the pits, things were a cluster fuck. I started walking and then heard gunshots. Good thing about my enhancements is that I run really fast. The folks had heard the announcement, but there was no organization. A group of Earth First folks had. gotten in with small caliber weapons. One made the mistake of firing at Rev Joe. He missed and got taken out by a tire iron. You do not mess with the Rev.. When I got there, he had his cigarette in hand and was talking to Paul James from one of the racing papers. Another had taken a shot at Ricky Morrison, I have known Ricky for a long time. He supplied racers with parts from his truck. Rick is also a member of a recovery fellowship. He took a hit in the hand and had a bandage over it. Again, the EF never had a chance. Two guys wrestled him to the ground and then gave him a good old fashioned ass kicking. The Marines took care of the rest in short order. Once things were settled down, I headed over to the end of the pit area and grabbed a microphone from one of the track guys.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Decurion Kucharski of the Confederacy. You have thirty seconds to disarm. Put your tools down at this time. If you do not wish to participate in this extraction, please go to the main pit area entrance. Once we leave, you will be allowed to load your vehicles. Volunteers, if you have your pre packs in the pit area, see Sergeant James in the modified pit area. If your pre packs are in the grandstand, see Private McCreadie at the gate and she will allow you to access that area. Volunteers who need to select concubines will be allowed into the grandstands once the pre packs have been removed. That will take about fifteen minutes. We will also allow concubines who have not been selected to join them. We are also going to accept certain specialists for extraction today. You must have at least a 5.5 CAP score. Please see Corporal Price in the Late Model pit area."

While people sorted themselves out, I looked for Reverend Joe. I found him in his pace car with several members of the ministry..

"Not volunteering Joe? CAP card please."

He handed me his card and I think he was shocked to see me in uniform. I saw a 7.5 and grabbed my reader. He showed as prior service, with an aversion to violence and low aggression. Toss out those sub scores and he would have been a 9+ easily..

"John, I am not a fighter. I think you know that my real purpose in life is to serve God and the racing community.".

"Racing is dead my friend. We are going to be extracting most of the drivers and a large percentage of the rest of the folks here. There are only six tracks left in New England and most of those will be gone within a year. Do you want to serve God on another planet or be Swarm food?"

"I choose to serve God as best I can. How can I be of service"

"I have a special mission for you my friend. Shortly after I was extracted, we picked up some members of the recovery fellowship. We got onto the ship and started meetings, On Dighton and other colonies, it has started to grow. There is also a experimental rehab program. Right now, my former concubine is running it in my absence, but she is not an administrator. We need you to take charge. It is a Civil Service program. You can bring your pre pack with you and are free to start a church if you can find time. There are several ministers on the planet, most are concubines. Some small churches have been started. What better way to serve God than to give your fellows a second chance? When I came back into racing, you made some connections for me. Now I hope you will let me return the favor."

I waited for a couple of minutes. Joe had rolled up the window. He and his crew had an animated discussion. They bowed their heads in prayer. The doors opened and everyone got out.

"Yes John, we will go. These people will go with me."

With that, I sent Joe, his family and his ministry to the grandstands and to the stars.