“Not only permissible but an excellent idea. Loka, why don’t you take the children to the MK; the rest of us will start discussing ideas here. Don’t want Eldon cluttering Myla’s mind,” Lucy told them.
After they left, Lucy said, “Young humans, hormones raging, you’re not going to be able to tell them no, and I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that. Your people, as a species, are mixed enough you don’t have the drive they do, the desire. Oh it’s there, just better able to be controlled. In the long run a good thing as it was billions less people to try and save. As to them, they had high infant mortality and they did in fact kill many evil ones as early as a year old. Problem is, will your people be able to accept such barbarity, even knowing it is the right thing to do?”
“How many went to the swamp?” El asked Lucy.
“Three, a boy and two girls, why?”
“Move them all to the cold planet, by force if needed. They can have their own little area and follow both their religion and customs with less trouble from us,” she said.
“One problem, there aren’t enough girls for that, nor enough of them to sustain a culture as they described,” I pointed out.
“I know, if any of our people are willing to join them, fine, they will eventually be absorbed, as were the humans and all of us. Maybe their mind reading will be an inheritable trait to all of us down the line, who can say?” El said.
“Ha, the idea of three wives, jeez, one is enough to drive a man crazy,” I said.
“Different cultures is all. On Earth there were several sects and religions who believed in multiple wives as well. If you have high mortality rates it even makes sense in order to maintain a survivable level of people,” Lucy said.
I finished my coffee having daydreams I really shouldn’t have. El and Lucy were going over our supplies and manufacturing abilities and a long list of things we wished we had but didn't. They were looking for ideas and items that we could use as replacements under the present circumstances.
“Lucy, how can we find out where those MKs came from before they attacked Myla’s planet?”
“Not sure, why?”
“This sperm thing. Myla didn’t know what they ate that they were afraid of so it was some other place before they got there. Also, whatever planet it was, they obviously identified the problem and left them alone so they will either have been exterminated or left to roam. I think we need to find out which and where,” I told her.
“Agree, let the children work on the MKs a bit and let’s see what happens. Meanwhile, I want to kick-start the Olgreender II industry. We still need a lot. They found some iron and other metals and most of the basic minerals, and with most of Lord P’s experts there it should be a quick re-invent.”
“Need help?” El asked her.
“No, keep the new recruits training and be ready to have them move out. I did get one shipment of the new fort parts before the shit hit so I want to adapt the one on Earth to it to give us a new platform. Oh, elections on both planets next week, be sure to vote.”
She was gone as El sat there. “Interesting culture Myla’s people had, small and agrarian, yet they were fully capable of industrialization. Makes you wonder.”
“We industrialized, but we stayed small as well,” I told her.
“True, I wonder if somewhere someone didn’t see this all coming. Just curious. I also wonder, they were a lot more open with their sexual ideas. Multiple wives instead of the single wife we have. The funny part is most of our men cheated. I wonder if three wives would actually stop that.”
“I wouldn’t know, seems three would more than cover a man’s needs but maybe not his wandering eye.”
“Well, I think you know Lord P and Cullves were an item—his wife knew yet said nothing. I think you suspected Tici and me, and it was true. Did you know he was married too?”
“No.”
“Yes, his wife flat told me as long as she had him when he was home. Anyway, I suspect most men wander. Have you?”
I remembered the innkeeper at the village but started to say no, then, for some reason nodded.
“I won’t say anything. Maybe their way is better, who knows?” El finished her coffee. “Check the chopper maintenance crews for me? I want them ready to go in a moment’s notice. Also see if anyone can adapt those heavy ass things you and Lucy made, those needler cannons, to the top of a fort piece without it falling and killing everyone inside.” With that she stood and was gone.
I finished my coffee and went to find Garth. He assured me all was in order. I went looking for the new guy replacing Tici but he was in the desert, Lucy was on Olgreender II, so I drifted to the MKs. Myla was looking at them but glanced up at me for a minute. I got the clear impression of a rat-like thing as Reta saw me too and stood.
“Henry can read a little off the other, it is female. This male can’t fertilize the eggs so she eats them after she lays them. You’re right; it was a small rodent, not of our planet. If they were bitten or if they ate one the male became sterile and unable to perform. The female is seriously thinking of eating him for nourishment.”
Henry added, “They are guarding their thoughts now—they sense we can read them; still, they aren’t good at it.”
“Can you all concentrate on finding out where, from your planet, these rodents are? How far and how long to get there? Any information will help,” I told him.
“We are trying, but our star names and theirs are different. Myra is trying to draw a star map and she will pinpoint it with time, if the female doesn’t eat him first. I am trying to get her to think of it but she refuses. Also, she thought of something else, some mineral that burns their mind links, sometimes they use it to numb up sick or dying so the pain doesn’t hurt them when they eat them. Really weird beings,” Henry said.
“Yes, I expect we are just as weird to them. Keep at it.”
I started to leave but Myla grabbed my leg and pulled me down. She kissed my cheek. “It will be okay,” she said in perfect English.
Loka pulled me aside as I started to leave. “Henry said the female will most likely kill and eat the other tonight unless we separate them.”
“I see no reason to care, other than the information they may have. When Lucy or El get back leave it to them. I need to go to the sand dunes and find El’s new lover, dang, forgot the kid’s name.”
“Korkilite I think, call him Kork,” Loka said. “And he’s married, don’t start rumors.”
“Sorry…Um, Tici was too. Got to go, see you tonight.” I gave her a peck and she nodded.
I found the kid just off the gate, they weren’t doing it like Tici, too close to the gate, but what the hell, they’d get just as sore.
“Have you studied the fort and the mods El wants yet?” I asked him.
“Sure have.”
“See if anyone can figure a way to mount the new needlers on them please? If you come up with anything pass it on to El or Lucy will you?” I asked.
“Sure will,” he said. “Anything else?”
“Maybe move a little further from the gate is all, but up to you.”
“Okay, General, I will, we have no idea what we are doing really.”
“Ask the others who trained here already, they can tell you,” I suggested.
He laughed. “No one wanted to come.”
“Okay, then carry on. If you can move at the end of the day you’re not pushing hard enough. I went through it.”
“Thank you, sir,” he said, and saluted. I returned it and headed back. He was already getting a tan anyway.
That night Myla wasn’t there—Loka wanted some personal time so she sent Myla with Reta for the night.
El called a staff meeting for 6AM and it sure felt like it came early. Loka and I were at the mess hall eating when El came in with Lucy and Tally who just returned from a vacation on Olgreender II. There were eight new people I’d never met, though there was a couple I’d seen before at Lord P’s compound. She introduced them all as the ele
cted Council members and Sub-Council.
“After breakfast we will hold the first full meeting,” Lucy said.
Most ate in silence and a few had small talk, nothing important enough that I remembered any of it.
After the center had finished eating El called the Council to order and had guards posted outside with do not disturb orders unless dire.
“Lucy, call the meeting to order please?” El asked.
“I am Lucy, Head of Council and I call this meeting to order. You represent the remnants of the planet Orgreender now split into Olgreender II and Niketu. We are one Council member short aren’t we? The Tici replacement?” Lucy asked.
“Training, not yet ready. Continue,” El said.
“Okay. First the new planets—any problems that require Council approval or advice? Call it old business.”
A person raised her hand. “Elected Sub-Councilwoman Janice Freedmont. Can we beat these bugs for real or are we doomed like all the rest? Most of us were block moved by Lord P against our will. If he hadn’t said it must be done we’d have been there fighting.”
It was the first I’d heard of it but I saw no response from any of the rest except Loka. Lucy addressed it. “I am a computing machine, before a couple days ago I’d have said little chance, a chance but not much. Since then Eldon has come up with a weapon that may allow us far better results against them. The adopted child Myla, who Loka and Eldon take care of, has found a sign of a weakness unknown until the last few days as well. I’d say the odds are now better, say 50/50 at the moment, but if what I think may happen does, it could shoot to 80% in a hurry. At this time it is restricted to need to know, not because it is that sensitive but rather that it might give hope that isn’t there yet.”
“I am James F. Are we also denied that information?”
Lucy looked to El who answered, “All but one of you went to Olgreender II by Lord P’s orders. For a while I didn’t agree, but when I found out only the people of the Lord whose name no-longer exists in our records wanted to come here I agreed to leave them behind. Sorry to you all, but we needed fighters with spunk, not cowards and wimps so, to my knowledge, not one of his people left Olgreender.” El looked around and I saw heads nod.
“That one exception is the rep from Niketu of course, she is welcome as well to comment. Malisa Pitviper Nancing Loganith, do you have anything to say?”
Lord Pitvipers daughter? Didn’t know he had one old enough to be married.
“Thank you, not really. Like all of you he forced my younger sister and I off planet. I almost had to come alone—my mate wanted to stay and fight. We had to slip him some knockouts before our flight time.” She smiled at that. “Anyway, I promised we’d try our best to revenge his death, my mother’s, and all the rest somehow. So, how do we?”
El said it, “You are all sworn to secrecy and know I will kill you if you fail to keep it. We have identified a mating problem among the MK. We are looking into it now, it involves a single rodent from a single planet that seems to have disagreed with them, causing sterility of the males. We have much to do, including finding that planet and being able to find that rodent and see if we can isolate what causes it. Then see if we can manufacture it and spread it somehow, across two galaxies. That is what Lucy meant by changing the odds. Also there seems to be some mineral, as yet unknown, that affects their minds besides the LSD stuff we used—we are again looking into it. We have a problem there, only one MK is left, the other was eaten last night.”
I almost smiled then got a shock when she continued, “The male ate the female while she was laying eggs, and all the eggs as well. He will die soon, as there’s nothing to feed it.”
Someone raised his hand and Lucy recognized him. “We found some lizards, a lot of them in the woods a few miles north of the forest, out past the swamp. Still a lot to explore but they are a pest there. We are trying to build new factories in that area now. I think we killed a couple dozen and captured a few dozen more, and they seem to average about a pound to two pounds. You’re welcome to them; even their hides are useless to us, too thin.” He looked around, then said, “Oops, sorry, everyone calls me Tommy the tinkerer. Lord P told me to build the new factories as soon as I could find what was needed for either plastic or concrete walls. We now can make fired bricks and a type of light block from some volcanic cinders we found.”
“Thank you, Tommy, we will collect them and see if he finds them to his liking,” El replied with a smile. “Glad to hear things are getting done too.”
He nodded and sat down.
“Any more old business?” Lucy asked. None. “New business?” All the hands went up.
The next several hours went by with this and that being done on both planets as production and life tried to move on. Most were routine until Lord P’s daughter, representing us on the cold planet, asked a question.
“One of the new children, a Reta, has asked permission to marry. But not like we do, she wants to be one of three wives to a single husband. On top of that one of our women wants to be part of it. As if that wasn’t bad enough several of our young men say they like the idea and wish to try it as well. I told her no of course, but she demanded I bring it to Council, so I have.”
El laughed and said, “Lucy, why don’t you call for discussion on that idea rather than dismiss it out of hand?”
“I open the floor to discussion and will allow El to comment first, then I will, then each of you as you feel is appropriate. El your thoughts if you will.”
“I say approve it. They don’t have the numbers to rebuild their culture or people but let them try. Let our people try too. Look, they read minds, they talk through the mind, I’d give anything to be able to do that. If they interbreed with us either it will spread among us or it will disappear from them but worth the chance.”
Lord P’s daughter said, “But our men, our home life would be destroyed.”
“Look, most of you know me, or think you do,” El said. “Let me tell you something delicate. I have polled many of the men. Many. Care to try to guess the percentage that have had an affair while married? So what is being proposed for the young is probably more honest than what it is now. I know us women can accept it from personal experience. I am unmarried but have had affairs with two married men, and I assure you both of their wives know of it, though they don’t approve they claim to understand. Don’t discount it out of hand, I’m done.”
Lucy looked around as hands went up but she stopped them. “I have looked at all of Diboca Honor’s tapes now. She was the human in the group who set this place up. Before they came you were a small tribal planet, like those on Olgreender II are now.
“She compiled a lot of data, among it was the fact you had strong males that had from five to ten females they claimed by force as mates. The male protected them and fed them and they gave him children. Once the females were of breeding age young males from other tribes challenged that male for the right to take one to himself, so a male would have to fight once for each female he added to his clan or family. Over time it settled down to around three or four per. Then the Earth people came and they introduced their ideas so you adapted and adjusted to one and one. Then you went extreme and went to life mates. Only recently realizing this was silly.” She held up her hand and held silence as it sank in.
“I have studied Earth and all I found was like El said—men cheated all the time. It is not their nature to have one wife: that is forced on them. It is easily the nature of the females to have but one husband so I feel nature has been left out of the equation.”
Soon we all had our opinions but the overall belief was to let the young ones experiment while us old fogies stodgily stuck to our current beliefs, wrong or right. Only thing was it was still a no divorce scenario.
On vote, two of the six females voted no, the rest passed it. “Motion carried and approved that anyone 16 or older may engage in this new idea with the understanding it is for life.”
A few more problems were dis
cussed over different needs between both planets including food distribution, planting seasons, housing needs and developments, and hospitals finished the meeting.
It was well after noon and most were hungry. As I ate I realized how far we had come from the little bickering pre-space technological planet we had been so short a time ago. How absolutely everything had been turned topsy-turvy by a simple act of saving a computer that thinks she should be a gorgeous human female. How we now battle to save a damn galaxy and still hadn’t built a single space ship. I found I was smiling.
Loka saw it and whispered, “You thinking of getting more wives? Forget it!”
I laughed out loud and told her and the rest what I had been thinking.
“Yes, we damn sure have come a long way,” El said, as she released the guards to allow people in to eat. “Next Council one month on Olgreender II unless we need an emergency session.”
I had my mouth full of food when I remembered, as El was standing to leave. “Wait,” I managed to gurgle as I washed it down. “Forgot one thing. They haven’t got a single person who is trained in the desert with them out there and he said he had no idea what they were doing.”
“Okay, got an itch anyway. I’ll take Tally and a couple others and go whip them into shape. You know where I’ll be if needed.”
I smiled as she left and Loka punched me under the table.
Over the next two weeks we found Myla drew good star charts, the MK liked the Lizards, and El liked her new Intel Officer. Reta and Henry came by and both thanked us—they’d heard about the Council’s decision. Reta even agreed they’d be absorbed, as there wasn’t anything that could be done about it.
Myla and Reta kept working on the MK but nothing new. A few scientists stopped by every few days trying different minerals and compounds. It seemed the MK knew of it, just not what it was.
The third week we had a break—some bronze sulfate had a strange reaction, a few more experiments and some minerals found in blood were added and we soon had the MKs mind numbing drug. He appeared to almost go to sleep, he seemed to feel no pain, and Myla said his thoughts completely stopped. El was ecstatic over the news. Especially when she was told it was non-toxic to humans.
A Planet's Search For History Page 16
