Tehom: The Tehom Legacy Book One

by S. Abel de Valcourt

  “Will there be a funeral? I want to be sure to say thank you and remember the man that saved my family.”

  “I ordered the body frozen and preserved. I… I’m not sure why. Maybe it will mean something to our descendants to be able to look upon the face of the man responsible for all of this.”

  Hao looked disturbed slightly. “We will of course have a memorial service.” Eleanor hoped it would be enough. “Many people will want to remember, to grieve and to say goodbye.”

  “Thank you Miss Tehom.” Hao bowed and walked out of the room, the Xiang family had kept many of the traditional courtesies and customs of home. It was a welcome bit of flair to their exotic heritage and bloodline, nearly unique aboard the TOGS.

  Eleanor sat alone for hours, half of her thinking of her father, the other half continuing his work. There were no other visitors that day, either no one knew what to say or were too grief stricken themselves.

  ***

  Elsewhere on board, within the private entertainment rooms on the third floor of Rushes the usual sounds of love making, debauchery and parties had ceased. Instead three friends had gathered and gossiped.

  “Are you pregnant?” an exceptionally pretty Asian woman named Wen Yuan whispered.

  “It’s too early to know, but I hope so.” Regina Beauvers held her belly in a slightly protective manner.

  “I can’t believe you did it the artificial way.”

  “What? Why? It’s part of our job here!” Regina seemed put off and glared.

  “It’s much more fun to try the natural way.” Wen laughed.

  “I am thinking about trying, do they let you pick what you want? I mean, do they tell you anything about the father?” A much younger girl spoke up, uneasily.

  “Sort of. They removed all names and races from the records, you only know hair color.” Regina looked at the youngest of the three.

  Tiffany Rutledge, the youngest daughter of Sven Rutledge had come on board alone at age twelve. She had just turned eighteen as the restrictions on pregnancy had been lifted; she had been surprised when so few had visited the DNA bank. Secretly she was already pregnant; she had been the first to undergo the procedure. With so little privacy on board Tiffany relished the idea of her secret, something she could keep to herself.

  “I think it’s weird they won’t tell you race, but will tell you hair color. It’s not like you can’t tell with hair color.” Wen crossed her arms.

  “You can guess, I guess if you choose a blonde or a redhead you know, but if you choose brown hair or black hair, you won’t. Besides they said that only like fifteen percent were blondes or redheads in the bank. The nurse said 87% were brown hair or black hair according to the computer.”

  “What did you choose Regina?” Tiffany said.

  “I went for brown hair, I like being surprised.”

  Tiffany had chosen red hair, to match her own, one of the few other redheads on board, only herself the Tehom family and a scarce few others had natural red hair. She enjoyed being different from everyone else on board, her red hair had been her own rebellion. It got her noticed in Rushes by the few Men not already taken, and it got her noticed at work because she stood out.

  The release of the ban against co-ed habitation along with the opening of the DNA bank on board did not go without notice. The majority of the women on board that chose an early pregnancy had been yearning for a baby for years but lacked the opportunity to conceive naturally. The men on board seemed few and most relationships desired to remain monogamous. There were the few men on board that saw it as their duty to breed, but most of them were overly aggressive and self-important and neither Tiffany nor Regina chose to tread there. Wen on the other hand enjoyed the party and free living and cared very little who the party was with.

  With the death of Simon, the celebratory mood that should have greeted the first planned pregnancies and the long waited shift in the regulations, instead was somber and more reserved. People were excited, glad to finally move on into the next chapter of their journey, but all mourned the passing of their leader.

  The memorial service had been quick but emotional for everyone on board. Eleanor knew her father had passed, but all around her she saw him. His touch seemed everywhere on board, she had even moved into the Tehom family cabin that her mother and father had first lived in. Their scant few heirlooms still scattered around and reminded Eleanor of both of her parents.

  Eleanor’s quiet genius and solo living arrangement had pushed her into a sort of malaise. Depression was common on board, and with the death of Simon she feared she too would be claimed by it. As the last of the Tehom family Eleanor felt a draw and a responsibility to push on the family name so that there would always be a Tehom on board.

  The Tehom cabin seemed very quiet, more so than usual. Eleanor hated waking up to silence, the metal bulkheads and carbon fiber frame meant that even in the Tehom family cabin with its wood veneers sound echoed and traveled easily. The sounds of love making, arguments between roommates, and even masturbation traveled easily from cabin to cabin. The total lack of privacy had taken time to get used to, but with enough time had become comforting, knowing that she was not alone.

  When she had moved out of her suite with Colleen and Sandra, the pair of them worried about her and begged her not to go. Eleanor however had inherited her father’s stubbornness as well as his property and responsibility. Instead Colleen and Sandra commonly visited and dragged her out of her room, their friendship kept Eleanor from ever being truly alone for very long.

  “Miss Tehom?” An electronic tone sounded and a voice came over the speakers in the room.

  “Yes?” Eleanor answered by pressing a flashing green button on the wall.

  “We are ready for you down in medical if you are free.”

  “I will be there shortly, thank you.” Eleanor responded and the speakers fell silent.

  “Are we ready for this?” Eleanor spoke aloud, to herself.

  Doesn’t matter if you are or not, we have to set the example.

  The wait list for the DNA bank was short, she had only put in the request the day before and demanded no special treatment. She needed to be seen as going through the same process as everyone else, both for the sake of morale and for political reasons.

  I may be the last Tehom, but I am also one of THEM. I have to show that.

  The doors to the medical bay opened automatically as she approached, inside a small waiting room which held three other young women. Eleanor didn’t recognize any of them but smiled anyway and said hello. Everyone on board knew her, but Eleanor in spite of her genius was terrible with faces. She knew people by their name and their database file.

  “Miss Tehom, we are ready for you now.” A nurse holding a digital pad computer said from the arched doorway.

  Eleanor stood up and walked to a privacy room down the brief hallway. The nurse was a bit older than most people on board; Eleanor guessed she had been chosen due to her expertise and job knowledge. The Nurses apprentice, a young boy of no more than fifteen followed her around taking notes and observing, never saying a word.

  “Brown, Black, Blonde, Red or Random?” the nurse asked as Eleanor sat on the medical table.

  “Excuse me?” Eleanor seemed surprised.

  “Hair color, you have to make a choice. I know it seems odd, but it gives you some bit of control over the process. Psychologically it helps you bond and creates a sense of attachment if you make the decision rather than having the computer spit out a sample at random.”

  “But you gave me random as a choice.” Eleanor stated the obvious and the boy laughed slightly.

  “Miss Tehom, I only am trying to let you know that you have a choice. If you choose random, that’s fine with me. This is your baby and your pregnancy.” The Nurse crossed her arms impatiently.

  If she is this cold with me, I wonder how she is with everyone else. Or heavens, this poor kid!

  “Blonde.” Eleanor said and the woman wrote a few notes on the
computer pad. “No wait, Red.” Eleanor fumbled over the decision like a schoolgirl.

  “Miss Tehom, you have to be certain, we can reschedule this if you want to, it’s no big deal.”

  “No no, it’s ok; it’s just a hard decision. Let’s do red, it’s a family tradition.” Eleanor smiled slightly at the nurse’s apprentice hoping for some sort of acknowledgement that wasn’t cold and unwelcoming like the nurse. The only response she got was a blush in his cheeks.

  “Red it is. I’ll need you to undress from the waist down. You can cover with a blanket if you get cold.”

  Both nurse and her tag along exited the room and returned shortly with a small box of sterilized pieces of equipment and a DNA sample in a glass syringe.

  “Lay back and spread your legs.” The nurse paused a minute and yelled, “Harry! Other end, no free shows today!” she pointed to the other side of the room. Both Eleanor and Harry blushed and were mortified.

  “Yes Nurse Fowler.” The boy stumbled and nearly fell to the other end of the medical table.

  The woman’s hands were cold but the glass vial had been warmed.

  “Done. Lay flat for the next fifteen minutes, and then you can get dressed. We are working with about a 17% success rate which is pretty good for this procedure, but you may have to come back a couple times. You are young, it should take fairly easily but you never know.”

  “When will I know?”

  “Come back in a month, I’ll call you and we will do a blood test.”

  Both the nurse and her totally embarrassed apprentice Harry left the room, Eleanor couldn’t help but smile at him and give him a friendly wink as he left the room.

  Aboard the TOGS childhood ended short, there were too many aspects to life and knowledge that needed to be passed down to the young. Children were trained for not one job or two, but three careers that they could at any time be called upon to utilize. It kept everyone busy, everyone engaged and everyone always learning. Being so busy drove away depression, boredom, and crime. The system worked very well.

  As she lay alone, the thin metallic walls echoed the business of the next patient in the other room. A negative pregnancy test, the poor girls third and the nurse was just as cold and callous.

  Eleanor did her best not to get angry or to stress her body or mind; it was not healthy for conception or for a developing baby. Stressed out mothers had stressed out babies. Instead she mused alone on baby names, and whispered them to herself. “Charlotte, Claire, Claudia, Liberty…” Hearing her mother’s name come from her own mouth made her tear up slightly and remember her mother.

  It never occurred to Eleanor that the baby born might be a boy. A silly oversight, but with so many women on board the thought never crossed her mind, a mental error of omission.

  Her return to the office was met by knowing smiles and nods of approval, word traveled fast. Eleanor also couldn’t shake the smile and slightly giddy feeling that put a childlike bounce in her step.

  She passed the door to her own office and approached one of the yeomen that scurried about rushed and hurried expressions.

  “Yeoman?” Eleanor called after one of them.

  “Yes First Minister Tehom?” The woman was older than her, only slightly. Yet still she used the formal title due to the customs and courtesies that had been drilled into all the bridge staff.

  “I would like to make a staffing change. Nurse Fowler would be much more adept in a supervisory role. Find someone with a bit more of a bedside manner for the DNA bank and to work with the apprenticed boy down there.”

  “Yes First Minister.” The woman wrote the note on her pad and continued on her way.

  Ten months later the first wave of Beta- Generation babies would be birthed and take their place next to their distant cousins, neighbors and fellow citizens. Constant education, musical therapy and communal learning awaited the Betas, the first wave of human children that would never see the Earth and never know anything but the spacecraft that was the mother of them all.

  Chapter Twenty: Live Goes On

  The advance and pace of life on board from a detached and outside point of view would have seemed normal. Children were born, older adults died. There were fights, an occasional murder or intrigue. There were disasters, famine, and sicknesses. For seventy five years the Tehom One plowed through interstellar space in a perfect straight line. There could be no diversion, no shore leave or vacations, no exploration or discovery; the design of the ship and mission parameters prevented such things. Even so, there would be no place to go, despite all the wonders contained within infinite space, the fact that had become clear to the space faring generation was that despite the infinite wonder and mystery that the vastness of space contained, in practicality space for the most part is empty. Nebulae, star systems, comets and asteroids like to group together, between them is nothing. Only dust and darkness, which the Tehom One easily brushed out of the way in its long charge toward a new home.

  Neela Delta-Tehom, a gentle and quiet girl bore the celebrated red hair that in the society on board marked her high in the social order and class. Still, despite the privilege her heritage had afforded her she still maintained a sublime and kind nature. Her primary job was a labor of love, caring for the last surviving Alpha. The only person on board that had ever set foot on the Earth. Eleanor Tehom, Neela’s great grandmother.

  At 90 years old, Eleanor still remained sharp. Her speech slurred and her body had taken the birth of five children rather hard, leaving her calcium levels low in her old age, osteoporosis and brittle bones marked her every day struggle. Officially she still retained the title of First Minister, and every important decision was given to her, especially in matters of crime and punishment. Eleanor, although having seventeen of her own descendants looked upon the entire society of the TOGS as her own children. In her youth, she had been harsh with crime and quick to squash rebellion and descent. However, now, in the twilight of her life had softened and sought to understand more than act. The result was a paradox, a society of people that both respected and rebelled.

  The social issues were a difficult one to manage; the Citizen Council had only a single member with brown hair, Samis Delta-Xiang who had inherited her seat from her grandfather early; two blondes Zelde Delta-Wright and Signo Delta-Goddard who looked upon the council as a repressive entity and manifestation of tyranny. The remaining 17 members all had red hair. A fact that had manifested itself slowly and accidentally as society had begun raising up the so called Tehom bloodline into an exalted status.

  Not all the council were in fact Tehom’s, many were not. Yokon Beta-Yuan, Astrid Gamma-Rutledge and Mariposa Delta-Beauvers were the main go getters and did much of the heavy lifting within committee. Still a Tehom sat at the big desk, Neela’s cousin, Eliisabet Gamma-Tehom had run the council for the better part of two decades and her reign was seen as fair by most.

  Around Eleanor, the Tehom family cabin was low lit. The bright light hurt her eyes and even her monitors and pads had their brightness turned down low. She often looked silently as the coat of arms on the wall, its archaic symbolism lost on her and totally foreign to her descendants.

  So many things that were once important, totally pointless now.

  The turning of the door latch as Neela came in, briefly startled the frail Eleanor.

  “Gran?” The meek voice of Neela called from around the door.

  “I’m still here, I’m not dead yet little Neela.” Eleanor laughed slightly.

  “So morbid Gran, your health is fine.”

  “Still tired. Always tired.”

  “Well, it’s time for your vitamin, and breakfast.” Neela gently set down a tray of a single egg, bacon, toast and orange juice.

  “You’ll never know how much of a miracle this is.” Eleanor mused.

  “What’s that Gran?”

  “Just this meal, the number of systems, peoples work, generations of people and their legacy is here, on this plate.” The old woman spooned at her eggs.


  “I’ve been down to the livestock bays, they keep it pretty clean and nice.”

  “It’s all a cycle you know. Feed the cow some grass, cow eats the grass, gives you milk and poops out fertilizer to make more grass.”

  “Yes, Gran. We talked about this last week. Remember? I said I think the pigs are gross?” Neela sat on the bed.

  “But they sure taste good don’t they!” Eleanor laughed as she took a small bite of bacon. “My dad used to say that the taste of bacon was proof that God loves us!”

  “Gran? Tell me about the Betas?” Neela had asked many times about the disaster that had nearly wiped out an entire generation and doomed the voyage.

  “I’ve written down everything that needs to be said about that, you’ve read it in school I’m sure.” Eleanor diverted.

  “Still, you were there.”

  “Still it was my fault!”

  “Gran, that’s not true. Please tell me.”

  Eleanor looked at the face of her great grandchild, the girl that brought her food, kept her company and had such a sweet and curious mind.

  “It was the birth of the Betas that was the first real test of this ship, the systems had been given the better part of a decade to fortify themselves, we had tested everything before, but in a closed system it was dangerous to grow so fast.” Eleanor started, looking not at Neela, but at the wall, remembering days and seeing faces she had long forgot. “The Company had tested the oxygen filtration scrubbers underwater in a prison for years and years before they were used here. But they were never tested on children, or babies. We lost so many Beta children because of that. The problem was with the filtration, we lost almost an entire generation before it was fixed. The death of so many babies, we started to lose Alphas too, suicide, depression. The darkness felt like it was creeping in.” Eleanor paused and took a sip of orange juice.

  “That’s when Ben Alpha-Opku built the filters right?”