All of which would be pretty much impossible without the AIs. Most colonists of the first generation usually became part of the equivalent of the uppe... levels in a new world, having access to upper level medical treatment and education via neural learning. I’d gathered that the Empire set things at about one hundred million for colonists and then let nature take its way naturally as the AIs did not permit contraception and children conceived got you a bonus payment as well for about fifty. The place was disgusting, but Heather thought she could fix it up and make it bearable until she could get more established and find something better.The landlord was a man in his mid-50s named Charles Benton. He ran a gun shop on the first floor, lived on the second, and the third floor loft was a one-room apartment with a small kitchenette and a bathroom. Benton had served two tours in the Gulf and was on the ground in Desert Storm. His voice was rough when he talked, which wasn't often. . And he had gotten along with the two other children that the couple had themselves by a posthumous sperm donor named David Findley in his will.It had been pretty good in the Post Findley world. She would never have made the friendships she had without being yanked out of the stream that scary Friday morning.She had been thrown into a close quarters for a long time with the most intelligent people she had ever met, and they had treated her as a confidant, daughter, friend and equal ever since.. Without an experienced instructor, driving semis was problematic - especially backing - so they always took it slow and took ‘pull through’ opportunities whenever available.One revelation from teaching adult Travelers to swim was that it reinforced that male Travelers held no sexual attraction whatsoever for the Trips. Whatever pheromones they gave off rang no chimes, not for the Trips and not for Beryl. The lack of attraction seemed to run both ways, because the males reacted to Sugar and.