by Ben Winston
Elias cleared his throat to indicate he wanted to answer the question. Ian nodded to him to go ahead. “I asked the Commander to speak to you three tonight. If you hadn’t asked if Tara and Kyle could come to dinner, I would have asked you to invite them over. It’s becoming obvious to Laura and I how you feel about each other. If it’s obvious to us, it’s got to be obvious to everyone else as well.
“If it were just two of you, I doubt I would have said anything at all, but since Kyle and Stephanie are known to be together, and it’s becoming obvious that Tara is getting close to both of them as well. I thought it best to ask the Commander and Talena over to speak to you tonight. I doubt if anyone would say anything about Steph ‘dating’ another girl, but I know someone would have words to say about all three of you.”
When he didn’t continue, Kyle turned back to Ian. “I guess I’m a little slow, but I don’t see how this secret affects our relationship.”
“Talosian culture is very diverse and liberal. It allows for same sex and multiple partner relationships, as well. However, the community here has no idea who we really are, or what we are really trying to do, and even if they did, I don't think they would be able to accept a relationship between the three of you. So, if I take you down to the base, and get you going on flight school, you three can be together, and no one will say a word,” Ian explained.
“But what about collage, and our friends and...” Stephanie began only to have Kyle interrupt her.
“Did you say down to the base, as in underground... here?”
Ian grinned. “Yes, underground here. That’s where the people have been disappearing to, not to the ship. The ship was severely damaged and is currently being repaired by special robots. You’ll understand more by morning.”
Tara turned to Talena. “Are you really from another planet?”
“Well, not exactly. I was born on a space station, but I’m not from here so I guess the question is still valid,” Talena answered.
“No one’ll care if we love each other?” Stephanie asked. It was obvious she had been the most worried about someone noticing.
“If they do, then they would be in the wrong. Ian is bonded to Beth, Cindy and Jenny. I'm sure they would let me join them as well, if I wanted to,” Talena said.
“Join them? As in... sleep with them?” Stephanie asked.
“Well, I didn't actually have sleeping in mind, but I imagine that would eventually happen,” Talena replied, grinning.
Ian looked at Talena in surprise. “I didn't know you thought of us that way, sweetheart. But that's something we can talk about it later.”
“Would you mind if we discussed it before giving you an answer? I don’t want to make a decision without talking to them first,” Kyle asked.
“Son, that - if nothing else - tells me you are off to a good start in a multiple partner relationship. Granted, I don’t know much about them, but even in a traditional relationship like I have with Laura, communication is the most important tool. Use it well, and often,” Elias said.
“Of course you should talk it over first. I know you probably have a thousand more questions, but I can honestly say that most of them will be answered tonight while you sleep,” Ian said.
“I do have a question about that,” Stephanie said. “We haven’t... done anything together yet. We wanted to wait, mostly because we didn’t want to hurt anyone.” She looked at her parents. “Does this mean we can sleep together now?”
“That part of your relationship is for you to decide. However, have you given any thought to children yet? Are you on Birth Control?
“No, neither of us are, but I think it is something we need to talk about, would you mind?” Stephanie asked.
“That’s not my decision to make anymore, sweetheart; it’s yours,” Laura said beaming proudly at her daughter.
“I wish my parents were as accepting as the both of you have been. I’m afraid they won’t understand this at all,” Tara said.
“Well, I think they’re going to be understanding a great deal very soon. Beth and I are going to be inviting them down to the base so Beth can cure your father,” Ian replied.
“Cure? There is no cure for alcoholism. You can treat him; help him to dry out, but it can’t be cured,” Tara said.
“Talosian medical science is a bit more advanced than what is currently available on Earth. In fact, if you two ladies approach Beth tomorrow and ask for birth control, she’ll get you set up,” Ian explained.
“Okay, so if we decide to do this, what then?” Kyle asked.
“Just come see me tomorrow, and I’ll get you set up. Tara, tomorrow after work, Beth and I were planning on meeting with your folks to tell them the truth about all of this, and get Luke started on his cure. Do you think you would be able to help us with that, or would you prefer to be out of the blast area?” Ian grinned.
“Oh, I’ll be there, but I don’t know how much help I’ll be to you, since this really isn’t real to me yet. But, I’ll do what I can to help,” Tara said.
“Well, if you do decide to become pilots, either Talena or Cindy will be your flight leader since they are the most experienced pilots we have, although, both have only gotten through ground school for now,” Ian said. “If you have any questions, you can ask them. The ear pieces we are giving you are also communicators. Simply touch the stud here on the side and say the person’s name you want to speak with. Be sure you have this as well as the contacts in your eyes before you go to sleep tonight.”
“You mean you sleep with these in your eyes?” Kyle asked.
“Yep, that’s how the teaching technology works. Tonight you’ll only get our basic history and a more detailed explanation of how things work,” Talena said. “But for now, it’s getting late, and I’d like to take our good Commander here back to his wives.”
“I’d better get home too. My folks already know I have the hots for Kyle, but they have no idea about Steph. I’m worried they’ll freak out,” Tara said.
“I don’t think they’ll freak too much, Tara. But they might need some time to adjust to the idea. You might start by asking your mother about this situation. She might not know very much about it, but I think she would appreciate the fact that you trust her enough to at least try to talk to her about it,” Laura said.
Tara grinned. “You know, I think you’re right. She might take it better if I ‘prepared’ her for it like that. One of the first things she is going to ask me is who I have in mind. I’ll bet she’ll ask me about Kyle too. Do you think it would be a good idea to tell her I like him too? I could use that as an excuse for ‘finally’ talking to her about it.”
“I think that’s a good idea, but I 'm sure she'll immediately ask you about how you feel about them being together, so be prepared to answer that,” Ian suggested.
The kids excused themselves to go back to Kyle’s room to talk for a few minutes, while Ian and Talena said their own good-byes to their hosts. When they got back out into the cooling desert air, Talena took Ian’s hand.
“I think they’ll be good to each other. Just watching them you can see how they feel about each other. Although Kyle and Steph have been together longer, neither one seemed to have an issue about including Tara,” Talena asked.
“No, not really, while the relationship is still new, I think they honestly feel for each other,” Ian said.
Talena nodded. “That a good way of looking at it. I do have a small concerns though.”
“Like what, Little Kitten?” Ian asked and she hugged his arm at his use of her pet name.
“They aren’t the only group forming here. Most of the other kids are forming groups of their own as well. I was led to believe that is abnormal for this culture,” The girl said sounding very mature and intelligent. Ian realized that this was the first time she had completely dropped her assumed persona around him.
“That isn’t normal. I wonder why they are, and why no one has tried to put a stop to it?” Ian asked.
“
Kyle, Stephanie and Tara are the oldest of the group. Perhaps the others are subconsciously emulating them in order to appear equal or perhaps it’s a form of adulation. Most of the children seem to really look up to them, instead of ostracizing them. It really is intriguing to observe,” Talena said.
“What about the adults? Have you made any observations about them?”
“Oh yes, I have. Some of it’s quite disturbing, but it fits in with what I’ve learned about this society and culture so I haven’t said anything. The adults seem to have a pronounced disinterest in the daily lives of their children.
“It’s almost as if they simply don’t care as long as nothing happens to bring their attention to the children. I know this is inaccurate, because it is obvious that they love their children a great deal. However, not one of the adults, with the exception of the Johnson’s, have yet noticed that their children are forming nontraditional relationships with other children.”
“Are any of the kids being abused? Or are any of them having problems?” Ian asked, suddenly concerned.
“No, I don’t believe so. Again, I attribute that to Kyle, Stephanie and Tara’s influence. They are showing the other children how to respect and love others without judgment or abuse. They really are having a good effect on the other kids. I’m slightly concerned about removing them from the group. What will happen when they are no longer available as role models for the group? It would be very easy for one of the other children to take that place and not do as good a job,” Talena said.
“Would you feel comfortable in guiding the selection of the next ‘leader’ for the group?” Ian asked.
“I’d like to make some more observations before choosing anyone. All this is still new to most of them. There is a possibility that I am wrong about the major guiding influence being Kyle’s group, though I still believe it is a factor.
“I think your group might be a strong guide to them as well. The adults here all defer to you. The children know that, and since their parents treat you with respect and in a lot of cases open admiration, the children are sure to have picked up on that.
“Since you and your wives treat everyone with respect and an unusual amount of caring, the children could be using you as their primary role model – Kyle’s group just reinforces that for them,” Talena said speculatively. “If that is the case, the parents should shortly begin to pay more attention to their own families since that would be the thing you would do. Adults have a slower curve with this type of learned behavior.”
Ian sighed. “It sounds like this is going to more difficult than I thought it would be.”
“How so?” Talena asked. “I’ve met most of the people here, and none of them strike me as particularly resistant to change. Currently they are not even aware that they are learning. Once they know that there is something to learn, I think it will go much faster.
“The hardest part will be getting over the ingrained biases a lot of people seem to have. I can understand if they are religious in origin. But most of them seem to be social in origin disguised as religious. People have been conditioned into these biases from birth; they’ll be hard to get past.”
Ian nodded his understanding. “Well, once people know the truth, perhaps we can leave it to them to make up their own minds about it, after all, it’s not like they have to become like us, just be open-minded about it.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I’m pretty sure I know how you two feel about accepting Ian’s offer. I’m worried more about what’ll happen to us,” Stephanie said as they closed the door.
“How so? It sounds to me like we’ll finally be able to be together with no one telling us that we’re wrong, or that we’re going to burn in hell,” Tara said.
“No, I don’t mean that. I mean that if I read between the lines correctly; we’ll be expected to be adults, and act accordingly. We’ll have to find jobs and work just like all the other adults, and we’ll have less time together. We don’t get enough of that as it is,” Stephanie said.
“That’s not exactly the way I understood this, Sweetie. From what Ian said, we’d all be in flight school together, and be able to live together. I get the feeling that there’s a lot more to this then we’re being told, but I don’t think any of it’ll be bad,” Kyle said. “Ian did say we’d be learning more tonight as we sleep. How about if we agree, tentatively, to join Ian, but see what we learn tonight. If what Talena said about these earplugs is correct, we’ll be able to talk to each other anytime we want. We can call each other first thing in the morning and discuss it.”
Tara grinned and nodded. “I'm kind of anxious to see what we're going to learn. Although I will miss you both tonight.”
Stephanie hugged her. “I think you know we will both miss you as well.”
The discussion stopped for a little while as the three young people expressed their feelings for one another. However, as it always tends to happen in times like this, time passed more quickly than they knew.
Tara glanced up at the clock on Kyle’s night stand. “Oh shit! I’m late!” She said as she scrambled to straighten her clothes. “No matter what we decide, I’m going to see Beth Williams tomorrow for that birth control!”
“I’ll be right beside you! Be sure to give us a call tonight after you talk to your mother and let us know how it goes, okay?” Stephanie asked.
“I will sweetheart,” Tara said as she stood. “I love you both and I’ll miss you tonight.”
“We’ll miss you too, love. Now scoot before you get grounded for being late,” Kyle said grinning at the pretty girl.
Tara kissed them both, then dashed out the door.
Kyle and Steph straightened their own clothes, and sat talking for a bit, before Steph sighed deeply. “I think we should go talk to Mom and Dad. I want to make sure they’re really okay with this.”
Kyle winked at his girlfriend affectionately. “I think that’s a good idea. I can just bet they have a few questions for us.”
They walked back out to confront Stephanie’s parents who had actually moved back to the kitchen.
“The man who figures out how to sound proof a trailer house will be a very rich man,” Elias said grinning.
“Oh God! You heard us?” Stephanie said blushing.
“That’s why we moved in here, dear. We didn’t actually try to listen.” Laura said sympathetically. “Besides, pretty soon, you’ll be forced to listen to us; Andrea is coming for a visit.”
“Huh? What has that got to do with this?” Kyle asked, clearly confused.
“Please, sit down kids. There are a few things you need to know about your old Dad,” Elias said before telling them about how he had fallen in love with Andrea before meeting Laura. Only when he told Laura about it earlier today, he found out that she’d feelings for her too. “So, we called her and talked for over an hour. Andrea agreed to come out for a visit and a job interview with Beth. We’re going to see if the spark is still there.”
“Maybe we can chase you guys into the kitchen! Of course I’m never that loud,” Laura said.
“I seem to remember someone that needs to smother herself in a pillow from time to time,” Elias said.
“Dad! That’s way too much information!” Stephanie said to her grinning parents.
“So, as I understand it, you really don’t have a problem with how we feel about Tara?” Kyle asked.
“Our only concern is that all three of you are happy. I think we’ve raised Stephanie to be kind and caring, and you seem to be the same kind of people. If this is what makes you happy; then we’re happy for you,” Elias said. “As Ian told you, you’ll learn a great deal about Talosian society tonight. You’ll learn that you’re both adults under Talosian law and thus responsible for your own actions and choices. Although, we hope that if you think you might need help, you’ll be willing to talk to us about it.”
“Just because you’re adults is no reason to think you don’t or won’t need help or advice anymore. If all goes well, ver
y soon, you’ll be moving into your own quarters in the base. I know you’ll be pretty busy learning to fly those ships, but you’ll always be welcome here. In fact, I’d be very happy to help with babysitting when the time comes,” Laura said kindly.
“We’ve decided to wait until we’re protected before actually... uh, Well, I'm sure you know what I mean,” Stephanie said quietly.
“I’m proud that you’re willing to take responsibility for your actions like that. I have no idea about how you will work this out, but there will be nights that one of you won't or can't be there. The reason I mention this is that misunderstandings will come up, and that could cause major issues. There can be no jealousy at all between any of you or you will have nothing but problems. Have you talked this over with Tara?” Elias asked.
“We hadn't actually talked about it that much, but you're right; it’s something we’ll need to talk about. Thanks for the advice,” Kyle said. “Tara is supposed to call us tonight after she has a chance to talk to her mother. We’ll also be talking tomorrow morning, after we learn more about what Ian’s offering us.”
“I think you might be disappointed in your expectations. The only information you’re going to get tonight will mostly be a history lesson on the Talosian people and society. I doubt you’ll actually learn anything about being a fighter pilot or any specialized information at all,” Elias said. “The first night I went through it, I was amazed by the way the society had developed, and I got a better understanding of why Ian’s doing the things he’s doing. I felt a lot better about my decision to help him after learning the whole story.”
“You’ve been through this? What’s it like?” Stephanie asked.
Elias shrugged, and looked at his wife, who smiled. “You’ll dream, but it won’t be like any dream you’ve ever had before. You’ll know that you’re not really there, but the whole thing’ll feel real. It’s a long sad story, but you won’t be bored. If you agree to join, the teaching lessons are far different. I can’t really describe them; you’ll just have to experience them for yourselves.”
