Daughter of Ethos

by L M Lacee

  ‘Hello, everyone and welcome to our flotilla of ships and our exodus from Earth. As many of you know my name is Peyton St. Hill. Recently of Earth, as are all of you, excluding the Warriors who are from the planet called Jenersar. So we finally made it, exciting, nerve wracking, terrifying and so thankful to be going to our new home.’

  She laughed a bright happy sound. ‘Well, that is how I feel and hopefully you all will feel some, if not all of those emotions too. I realize it is going to take a few days to settle in or on or whatever one does on space ships. So take your time, do not hurry, we have time. We are safe, we are healthy and we are all out of reach of people who wanted things from us, we would rather not give. Okay, so you probably would like to know where we are headed. A very easy question to answer, we are going to a universe named Indorino. Which for those of us uneducated in the wonders of astronomy is obviously not the universe we came from. Indorino is the universe the Warriors come from, and it seems Indorino has many, many planets that are inhabited, unlike our universe or so we were told. It seems our universe is very populated, but I digress. If you wish to learn more about that, I am sure there is plenty of information on the data stream for you to do so. As you can imagine, we will be as alien to these worlds as their populations are to us. It seems we have a very steep learning curve to overcome. I will give you some information now on what we may find. It seems a percentage of these worlds are technically advanced, years if not centuries beyond what we are used to. Some societies have only one ruler or a family of rulers; other worlds may have elected Governments or Governments that rule who are unelected. There will be Matriarchal and Patriarchal societies, and sentient planets and suns and moons. Yes, I do understand the concept of a thinking being having the physical form of a planet or sun and moon can be overwhelming. Stay calm, we have time, we will make time on this trip to learn about everything I am telling you… Stay with me now, stay focused!’

  They could hear gasps and animated talking coming through the comms. So Peyton gave them a few minutes to adjust to what she was telling them and then when it seemed they had quietened down a little, she began again.

  ‘Alright here we go again, now there will be sentient beings which can change form, from animals to bipeds as well as bipeds to animal. Also beings that look like nothing we have ever seen before. Whole worlds with only vegetation on them, yet they communicate and trade. There are worlds covered in water with sentient life forms who trade and live and contribute to the universe. There will be animals that are very different to what we are used to and they will think, feel, and communicate. I know it sounds frightening and overwhelming. Please don’t think it isn’t for me as well. Believe me, I realize this is so far from what we call reality, it seems surreal.’

  Again she heard voices through the comms as Darby paused the connections. Peyton looked around at the women in the room, at their surprise and in some cases stunned expressions, she said. ‘Now you see why I need you here? Is there anything I could have said differently?’

  They all shook their heads as Netta said. ‘No way to soften the blow.’

  Esther declared. ‘May as well use a hammer and get it over with in one big swing.’

  ‘Thanks for that.’ Peyton griped as she and everyone else winced at the images Esther’s words invoked.

  ‘We are here to help.’ Heather told her with a smile.

  ‘Seriously!’

  Melody ordered. ‘Speak, space girl.’

  ‘Yeah… yeah!’ She nodded to Darby who grinned and un-paused the comms, as Kerol softly asked Hawk in Coalition. ‘Hawk, did you know our comms could do that?’

  Hawk shook his head. ‘I had no idea.’ He lifted one eyebrow and nodded toward Darby saying. ‘I think we are very lucky she is on our side.’

  Kerol flicked him a smile as he agreed. ‘You know, I was thinking the same thing.’

  Peyton took a breath and started speaking again. ‘I know everything I am saying makes you have second thoughts and again I understand. We will have our doubts and our fears, I know as we lay down to sleep at night our imaginations will be working overtime. This is when we could let fear grab us by the throat and choke us, if we allow it to. We will cry, scream and be angry in our indecision. We may pull our hair out, worrying if we have made the right decision… No Willian, we won’t really hon’, it is an expression… don’t worry Brenda will explain it to you. Where was I... thank you Willian… pulling hair, yes an expression I promise!’

  Suddenly the air waves were filled with laughter and for the first time since starting this speech Peyton relaxed a little. If there was laughter, they were listening and hopefully understanding she was not trying to scare them. Only inform them of the challenges they were going to face. She blew a breath out and prayed she was saying this right, she had spent hours the previous evening writing and rewriting what to say.

  ‘Anyway, as I was saying, we will want to lash out and worry about whether we made the right decision or not. Truly, we all understand those feelings, you are not alone in having them. I wish I had a magic wand and could make all your worries disappear... No Lukkas, I don’t know if there is magic in the universes... are you reading fairy tales again?...You are, what did, I tell you... yes, they are made up stories… because I know... I really do… now, what was I saying? Yes magic… Thank you Willian, that was helpful.

  So I cannot magically waylay every fear and worry you may have; it is not possible for me to do so or for anyone really, this we must do for ourselves. We are adults well most of us are. We made this decision to leave Earth and find new lives in another universe. So I ask you to now own your decision. I know you can do this. We can do this. All I will say is, yes this is scary everything will be new and we are innocents in this brand-new universe. If we are not careful, we will be snapped up and discarded so quickly, it will make your head spin. No Lukkas... we cannot do that... yes it is another expression... Seriously, there are some beings who can really do that, how amazing. Oh sorry everyone, I got side tracked.’

  This time there was more laughter heard from the listening audience. ‘So as I was saying, we have several weapons at our disposal. What are those I hear you ask, as you should? Well, we have the best of the best technical advisors in the known universes, and that is saying something? Honestly Darby... yes, your team are that good... no, there is no pressure it’s just a fact... Aww shut up! Oops, sorry about that.’

  The laughter this time went on for a few minutes longer as Peyton shrugged and mouthed sorry, to a pink faced Darby. She frowned, but they all saw the small smile on her lips.

  ‘Okay, so that’s one. The other weapon we have is ourselves. We are women from Earth, adaptable, capable, intelligent and determined and more than ready to learn how to navigate this new life. We will survive! Was a motto on Earth many years ago and I believe we still can, and will survive whatever new adventure awaits us? You and I both know it is going to take trial and error but we will change, we will be better, our home world will be better.

  So let’s see; we covered determination and science we took everything we could ever conceive needing and wanting from Earth. Oh! And just a point here. I would like to say a big thank you, to Nina Jones, botanist extraordinaire. Who figured out how to bring and grow coffee plants away from Earth, because unlike some people I know, who swear there is a substitute for coffee? There is no substitute for coffee!’

  Peyton smiled widely, as she waited until the shouted agreements died down. ‘Lastly, our best and most valued weapon are our Warriors, who will be our shield against ignorance of cultures, societies, languages and customs. Also, we should not forget their physical prowess. To our Warriors, we say a large thank you, without your help and guidance we would never have gotten this far. Let alone to worlds we didn’t even know existed... Yes Darby I know, without their ships we would never have left Earth. I was getting to that and as Darby has reminded me without their ability to obtain ships, we would still be on Earth, again thank you Warriors. We r
espect each one of you.

  So now we come to that time in the speech when I impart some practical information, starting with how long our trip will take us. Somewhere between five and eight weeks.

  Now for some added technical information. The ships are engine driven and these engines are powered by drives which are called Cassuam drives. Now these drives are powered by crystals and how that works is like this. Light is refracted around and between the crystals, imagine if you will a drum and covering the inside of this drum are crystals, obviously these are very special crystals. So this drum turns, and the light is re-fractured within this drum. As it spins faster and faster the light gets pulled tighter and tighter together until it is a thin beam. Then it is pushed into the drives and from there to the engines that power the ships. Now this happens a million upon a million times every millisecond or less, you get the picture I’m sure. So it is more or less like that.’

  Melody leaned near Hawk and asked. ‘Is that how it works?’

  He was looking at Peyton with a small smile and amazement in his eyes as he replied. ‘Surprisingly, she is more or less accurate. How amazing!’

  Melody looked at him with horror then worry, desperately she grabbed his arm and asked. ‘You haven’t had any reports of dismantled drives, or engines have you?’

  He looked at her with concern and shook his head. ‘No, why would I?’

  Relief replaced the expression of worry on her face as she casually said. ‘Umm! No reason, none that I can think of, good talk.’

  He gave her a suspicious look and then turned his attention back to Peyton and this time when he looked at her it was with speculation, not amazement. He placed his questions away for later. He, unlike the ladies, did not forget.

  Peyton laughed a little as she said. ‘I will be honest here, I don’t really care how it works all I know is they drive the ships and move them very, very fast through space. If you wish for a more detailed definition, please ask our technical support team or look it up on your tablets. Which I forgot, I would like to thank everyone who worked tirelessly for the last few days to make sure you all received a loaded up tablet.

  I really don’t care if that is the wrong way of saying that... honestly, it won’t matter Darby. People will understand... yes, they will know I said it and not you. As I was saying, the other method of travel is through worm holes or what we on Earth thought of as black holes in space. Apparently the ships have a Comparium engine that allows travel through the worm or black holes. I am totally ignorant on how these engines work so your guess for these ones will be as good as mine. Let’s just say they work, and we are grateful they do. Now using the wormholes would be quicker than using the engines but would draw attention to our fleet of ships as they are frequented by the Coalition. So we are going to use them sparingly. I should probably tell you that if we used neither of these methods of travel, our trip would take over three hundred and sixty-five thousand years.

  So even though we are using the Comparium engines as little as possible, we are still taking years... okay Darby… yes eons... as in a long time off our trip. I wish to state here that the Coalition of Planets is not our enemy. It is just they are not for us at this time; I think in time we will be able to work together. We just have housekeeping to do first.’

  Helen started explaining the term to the Warriors before Peyton had finished speaking. She threw her a grateful look and carried on. ‘How they manage their acquisitions of new planets is not in my opinion just or fair. So, as we are of no use to them other than pumping out babies. No Kerol we do not do it like that... seriously was that not covered in your Sex Ed class... Oh, you haven’t gotten to that part yet, well okay looking forward to that! So as I was saying, we have elected to go our own way for now. Plus, they would hand over our Warriors to the Jenersar Emperor, which we will not allow.

  Now I know you are all waiting with bated breath to know where you are going... yes Willian, that is an expression as well... no, we do not bait people’s breath.

  I want to tell you about the worlds we are going to. But first I need to tell you that we the people on these ships will be the first humanoid inhabitants of these new worlds for many years. Yes, I said new worlds there are nine planets that are and can be made habitable. Each planet must be surveyed and assessed for habitation, more on that later. I should say here that as time goes by other beings, people. I don’t want to say aliens because seriously we are all aliens.’

  Peyton waited as the laughter she could hear from the comms quieted once more. ‘What I mean is there will be other people coming to live on our worlds with us. Now I think is a good time to introduce you to the governing council, such as it is. This council is small at present, eventually I am sure it will grow. Firstly, we have doctor, or healer Heather Wilson, then we have Commander Hawk Roeah and his second Kerol Naihal as well as General Melody James, obviously military. Darby Kline scientist and we also have Brenda Wilkson, Helen Merson and Esther Lioni.’

  Esther, looked stunned when Peyton mentioned her name. Darby paused the comm` as she asked. ‘Why?’

  Peyton took a moment to have a drink of water and answered. ‘Because you all don’t bullshit, you say it like it is and they like you and trust you three.’

  They, Esther knew meant the Warriors. Peyton drank some more then said. ‘Also, the women like and trust you. You will see why in a moment but believe me when I say they will need your calm guidance.’

  She swept them all with a look of regret as she said. ‘I am going to tell them all something they will not understand and may fear more than moving to an unknown universe will ever do. They are going to feel they cannot approach me for a while and may even feel betrayed. I hope not, but if they do, they will have all of you to go to and trust in.’

  Esther grunted not liking that one bit, but she would not say so in front of the others. With a quick look at Brenda and Helen who each gave her a small nod. She knew like her they would wait to see what this thing was, then take steps. No one, absolutely no one, had the right to feel anything but gratitude and loyalty to these young women without them they would not be here.

  She, Brenda and Helen knew what extremes Peyton had gone to, to make this all happen. So she and her friends would make sure to remind people of that, when and if it was needed.

  Esther felt something in her soul settle and her heart beat with purpose again. She now knew what part she, Brenda and Helen were to play in this brand-new adventure. With a smile she told Peyton. ‘Well, hurry up, there is food for my men waiting.’

  Peyton grinned in return, then nodded to Darby and said to her waiting audience. ‘Now, I have some revelations that will take a shift in your understanding of Divinity and may stretch your belief in how the universes were created. So here we go, the universes Indorino included was created by an Entity known as the Star Child. Every civilization in the universe of Indorino has knowledge of the Star Child within their histories. This is amazing if you think of all the languages and different cultures there are, anyway, throughout all their histories the name Star Child is a constant as is my other title of Star Daughter, which is a chosen or ordained position.

  All of this I understand, means very little to the women of Earth and a great deal more to the Warriors. So please read the information on your tablets about the Star Child and Star Daughter and who they are. It will help give you an understanding about the impact to your lives having these Entities in your everyday life will be. For now let me explain what happened to me. A little while ago I made a deal with an Entity or Entities known as the Star Child for our freedom and a new home. I will tell you here and now making this deal was no hardship and I am finding it amazing. Again I urge you to read up on what and who these beings are and if you have difficulty understanding what is written about them, ask a Warrior. They are well versed in the histories of the Star Child and Star Daughter… thank you Darby. Apparently Darby has downloaded the histories to your tablets already.

  So now that is out of
the way, let’s get down to business we are currently on our way to the Solar System of Maikonia. There are as I said nine planets which are ours to make our homes on. At present it is closed and shielded by the Star Child. We have between two and five of Earth years or sooner to establish ourselves in the universe with trading and our army. I believe we will have retrieved all our Warriors and brought them back home by then.

  Another thing I should probably mention is that the Star Daughter has been tasked with bringing the Star Childs ethics back to the Universe of Indorino. As well as uniting the worlds in peace. We will protect all those that cannot protect themselves, as you can see this is where establishing the army is a good thing. So when we are ready, we will open the doors wide and the Indorino universe will know we are there.’

  Peyton sighed as they listened to more laughter while she explained to Hawk. ‘Yes, I know Commander Roeah, there are no doors. It is a saying a metaphor for what is going to happen… Oh, I am glad you understand.’

  She paused and took another drink of water then resumed. ‘We are going to be establishing a military world, if you are wondering why, look around you. Our males and some of our females are Warriors and they will always be Warriors, regardless of what else they do. When new people arrive to live and work on our worlds, they more than likely will be a type of military personnel as well. I understand the dismay some of you may have, and I swear we will try to accommodate those concerns but there is no getting around this. We are young, new and ripe for the plucking in this universe, if we do not establish what and who we are from the get go. In simple terms, we will be hamburger, another metaphor!’ She quickly said for the Warriors.

  ‘We are going to have an established military, and that means Warriors. I am sure you already know this, but there is only a fraction of the males here that should be. Some will join us as we travel to our worlds, others will arrive after we do and still more are lost for the time being. Our main objective for the immediate future is to find them and bring them all home!’