Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth (32 page)

“Tibby, over the past few days Shuǐ Cǎo has started opening up to me more about Ming and what went on at the lunar colony.  While she won’t go into details, it sounds like things were really bad.  I tried to get her to tell me exactly what happened but she seems afraid to say anything.  What I have pieced together from what she’s said is Ming had most of the male scientists executed shortly after his arrival on the Moon.  He only kept alive those he believed vital to equipment maintenance, and food, water and air production equipment maintenance.  I’ve tried delicately to get her to talk about the women and their pregnancies, and while she won’t go into the details, she did reveal that none of the women wanted to be pregnant nor had any desire to carry their babies to term.  At first, the women were going to the doctor at the lunar colony and having abortions, but when Ming found out he had the doctor beaten severely.  After the first woman had her baby, Shuǐ Cǎo won’t say what happened to it, and the doctor committed suicide.  “Shuǐ Cǎo also implied that at least two women who became pregnant later also committed suicide; and while she would not elaborate further; it was clear their reasons were that they did not wish to have a child.”

“I don’t get it,” I said.  “I mean, I can understand under the conditions existed on the Moon some of the women may not want to have a child, but I would expect that some mothering instinct in some of them would want to keep a child regardless.  Everything I see and hear in this instance seems to indicate just the opposite.”

“I agree with Tib,” Kala interjected.  “It really doesn’t make sense.”

“You say that Ming had the doctor beaten for performing the abortion?”  I asked.

“That’s what.  "Shuǐ Cǎo said.”

“And after delivering the baby the doctor committed suicide!  Hmm, was the child deformed in some way, I wonder?”

“Shuǐ Cǎo didn’t mention it; in fact, she said nothing about the child at all.”

Kala spoke up, “Obviously, Ming wanted the child to be born, or at least that would explain his reaction to the doctor performing an abortion on one of the women.”

I rubbed my head as though in some way that would help to align my thoughts.  “Okay, here is what we know so far.  None of the pregnant women, at least the current ones, were impregnated by Ming but rather Láng is the father of their children.  Ming wanted the women to have babies even though they weren’t his.  The women did not want to have the children, but appear to have been forced into having them against their will.  The women are afraid to speak up about what happened.  A doctor committed suicide as a result of one woman having a baby.  Have I missed anything?”

“Tib, I don’t think you can say that the doctor committed suicide because of the birth of a child, even though it may appear that way; it may just be a coincidence.”

“Granted, but for the moment, I think I will keep it in the equation or at least until it is disproved as a related factor.”

“So what you are saying is that Ming wanted these women pregnant, even though he was not the one impregnating them, and that none of them wanted to be carrying offspring.  That at least one and maybe more women at the lunar colony had children, but there were no children present on the Moon that we saw and the women were getting abortions to prevent them having children, also that a doctor killed himself because they were forced to have children?”  Cantolla said with a puzzled look on her face.

“I feel like the answer is right in front of us and we aren’t seeing it.”  I said as I scratched my head.

“Tib, you keep scratching your head like that and you soon will be bald.”  Kala teased.

“Not to change the subject, but how are things progressing with the space-folding frames that you and A’Lappe were working on?”  I said, looking at Cantolla.

“I’m afraid we haven’t made any new progress,” Cantolla replied.  “The amount of power required to join the space between two frames increases exponentially as the frame gets larger.  A frame of sufficient size to pass a cup through requires nearly one millionths of the
NEW ORLEANS’
solbidyum reactor’s power.  To make a frame big enough to pass a ship through you, will max out the reactors' power output, and that’s just on one side of the frame.  You would need a duplicate matching set up at the other end, with another solbidyum reactor to make the system work.”

“Well keep working on it; with the way engagements with the Brotherhood have been taking place and the limited number of Federation starships available to patrol one million planets, we need a way to get from one location to another quickly to defend different planetary systems.  Right now there simply aren’t enough ships to go around, and the Brotherhood is slowly picking off worlds here and there.  In the meantime, see if you can get Shuǐ Cǎo to provide you with more details.”

One of the things that impressed all the refugees from the Moon and Mars on the
NEW ORLEANS
was the main employees' lounge.  Actually, there were several lounges on the ship catering to different tastes but this one lounge stood out above the others, partly because of Kerabac and A’Lappe and their singing and partly because of the dancing.  Added to that were a variety of other acts from talented crew members that kept everyone happy.  Recently, the number of amateur acts had been growing, and it had become necessary for Kala to appoint an individual to be an entertainment director just to book and handle events.  One of the first things the new entertainment director did was to put together a talent show, and everyone aboard the ship was invited to participate.  The event was too big to be held in the employee lounge, so we used the huge event area that could hold the entire ship’s complement of people at one time.  As it turned out, almost everyone not on duty showed up for the event.  Of course, Kerabac and A’Lappe received a lot of cheers, and that was no surprise, but a few others really caught the attention of the audience and were big favorites.  Padaran amazed everyone with his voice impressions in a comical routine that had people crying with laughter.  Kala laughed so hard at his impressions of Kerabac and me that I was afraid she was going to have a miscarriage.  He further surprised us by imitating Ming and Norkoda, both who had voices I would have thought difficult to mimic, but he was so good I honestly think that if I had my eyes closed, and I could not see him, I would have believed it actually was them.  Another real shocker came when Doctor Volkov and a woman from the Mars colony sang an operatic duet from back on Earth.  The place went dead quiet while they sang; it seemed that no one moved through the entire performance.  When they finished, everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds and then the room exploded in cheering and foot stomping that went on for several minutes.  When the sound began to die down, Kala asked.  “Was this a musical form common on Earth?  I’ve never heard anything quite like that!”

“Yes I said, it’s called opera, it is one of the Earth’s older music art forms.  It was more popular among the aristocratic classes of people but started coming back into vogue about the time I left Earth.  I’m glad to see we have two talented opera singers aboard; I hope they can teach others.  All the operas of Earth should be stored in the data cubes the Mars team brought with them.”

Regata performed next, playing a drum at times and a flute at others with tweeting sounds that mimicked the creatures from Goo' Waddle’s jungles.  The following two acts weren’t nearly as good and while no one booed them, the audience was less than enthusiastic about them.  There were a couple of dance acts representing some popular dance styles from around the Federation, and one couple performed many of the dances that I had brought with me from Earth..  The last act of the evening turned out to be Jenira; both Kala and I looked at each other questioningly when she walked out on the stage.  As always, she was dressed all in black with her two swords strapped to her back.  Her long black hair hung down her back in a single braid. She moved with the grace of a lioness as she approached the center of the stage and knelt down on one knee with her other leg and foot extended behind her.  She placed her right fist on the floor in front of her; her other hand was extended back gripping a sword pommel  The pose reminded me of a football player from back on Earth when they were lined up getting ready to make a play.

“What’s she going to do?”  I asked Kala.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she responded, as she was saying this four assistants walked out from opposite sides of the stage, each tossed four round fruit about the size of Earth lemons into the air and then stepped back very quickly.  Instantly Jenira became a blur of motion, as she drew her swords, the light flashing off her blades as they whirled through the air slicing the fruits.  Before the fruits had made it half way to the floor, she had sliced every one of them perfectly in two pieces.  There was a gasp from the audience, as everyone was shocked by the speed and accuracy displayed, and they cheered and shouted.  Next Jenira removed her two swords and took up training swords that had dull edges.  Her four assistants came out attacking her from four different directions at the same time.  Once again, Jenira’s swords were a blur of motion as she disarmed two of her combatants simultaneously and within less than three seconds, she delivered what would have been fatal strokes to the other two attackers before swinging her mock swords back, catching the two she had just disarmed while they tried to regain their balance.

“By the stars,” I heard Stonbersa say, and I turned to see him standing near me.  “I have never seen anyone that fast in all my years.  How does she do that?”

If we had been astounded by what Jenira had done thus far, what she did next totally mesmerized everyone.  She retrieved both of her real swords and took one and tossed it high in the air in such a way that when it began to descend, the point of the blade was coming straight down, and she was standing under it. Just as it seemed the point was about to hit her head, Jenira spun her other sword so that it caught the falling blade in such a manner as to spin it in the air; in one swift move Jenira caught it by the hilt. Then in another flawless move, that was but a fraction of a second, she swung both swords back over her back, securing them in their scabbards.  The place went wild with cheering and foot stomping and dozens of people rushed the stage to congratulate her on her performance.

“Wow,” I exhaled.  “That had me totally petrified for an instant.  I’m not sure I approve of her taking such risks.  How did she ever learn to become this proficient in such a short period of time?”

“Maybe she is just naturally born gifted like that,” Kala answered.  “Whatever the reasons, I’m impressed.”

It was a few minutes later that a beaming Jenira fought her way through the crowd of people to join us.

“How did you like it?” She signed.  “Did you see me?”

“Yes, I saw you, and you had me terrified with that last stunt.  That was very dangerous.”  I answered.

“It’s not as difficult as it looks,” she signed, “I practiced it a lot with the dummy swords and had it down perfect before I ever tried it with the real ones.”

“Well I think everyone here was deeply impressed,” Kala spoke up, “I don’t think anyone on the ship would dare to think of attacking you now.”

“The stars forbid they should try,” Stonbersa said as he approached Jenira, smiling.  “That was quite some show, young lady.”  I think for a moment Jenira actually blushed, then she noted Padaran across the room surrounded by a few people and she quickly headed in his direction.

“I must say in all honesty, Tibby, I have never seen anyone as skilled with swords as Jenira is.”

I watched as Jenira approached Padaran and saw them both laughing and Jenira signing wildly away.  The people around them both were congratulating them on their fantastic performances, but I also noted that Jenira seemed only to be interested in Padaran and paid little attention to others around her.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?”  Kala asked me, and I turned to see her looking at Jenira and Padaran.

“That Jenira is infatuated with Padaran?”  I asked quite enough so no one else around us could hear.

“It certainly looks that way.  Even so, I can’t say I blame her, he’s turning into a rather handsome young man and has put on some muscle since he’s joined your crew.  Tanden looked up to Padaran as a hero, and I’m sure some of that rubbed off on Jenira as well.”  Kala said.  “Do you think Padaran realizes her attraction?”

I looked at Padaran as he talked to Jenira and others around, laughing and enjoying the company of them all.  “I don’t think he does, at least not yet, but if Jenira stays true to her course and is as determined about him as she is about everything else, the boy is in big trouble.”

Kala smirked, “I suspect you are right. This should be interesting to watch develop.”

The next morning when I was having my usual session with Doctor Hughes, I noted he had his accommodations rearranged, painted, and different furnishing, and I admired it as we chatted.  His fireplace now had a Victorian façade complete with a mantle and an antique ticking clock.  We sat in two huge and very comfortable leather wing back chairs that were angled to face both each other and the fire place at the same time.  Over the fireplace hung a painting of Sigmund Freud; I wondered if it was an original we picked up on Earth or a replicate generated from data in one of the memory cubes from the Mars colony.  It gave me a nostalgic feeling, as it reminded me of Earth.  I was just leaving the session when I received word that we had entered back into Federation space.  On my first encounter with the Federation after leaving Earth, it had taken another five weeks to make it to Megelleon, but now with the improved Gravity Wave engines on the
NEW ORLEANS,
the trip would only take about two weeks.  We were about a half day inside Federation space when I received a call from Kerabac on the bridge.