Because of her pugnacious personality, the
other fem avoided her, therefore Maddy had no one to warn her about
what would happen to her if she showed disrespect to the fem of the
most senior Elders on Sarran. The majority of the Earthen fem knew
of Syn’s work on the birthing classes, her concern over their
housing and welfare, and nearest to their heart, her programming
the fabricators with fresh Earthen foodstuffs. All of the Warriors
and their fem held her in the highest esteem and completely
disregarded Maddy’s attack.
As soon as Maddy spoke Syn was surrounded by
a Warrior guard at the ready to do their Te’s bidding if the
assault became physical. TeAllen spoke in a hard voice as close to
Maddy’s face as he could get without betraying the spirit of the
Codex, “This fem has no respect for our Ta or the Goddess…”
A soft voice seemed to come from the air and
spoke into the minds of all of those assembled. hear. “TaSyn is my
beloved fempring and no one may speak against her as long as she
follows the laws set forth in the Codex. In this she has served as
a help and example to all of the fem on how to a become Sarran. Fem
Dixon-Howard, you have no place on Sarran. When the
Brightstar
leaves the planet, you may leave with it for you
are not worthy of one of my WarriorPairs.”
Maddy yelled, “That was a cheap pallor
trick.”
The audience acted as if struck dumb. The
Warriors quickly surrounded Maddy and took her to a holding
area.
Naffie said, “That fem’s aura is black. You
can fix it, Mommie.”
TeZaron said, “Hush offspring, the Goddess
has spoken. Fem Dixon-Howard has broken the laws of the Codex.
Since she is not in Triad she is therefore not officially a Sarran.
The Goddess imposed a sentence of exile, which is, for the offense
of slander, is a mild punishment. Let her go in peace.”
The soft voice heard by all spoke again. “The
offspring has a point. She might yet be redeemed if shown the error
of her ways. For TaSyn’s sake I will make an attempt. Syn felt the
Goddess open the surface of her mind to Maddy and the rest of the
assembled fem. Maddy’s eyes opened wide. “This is not the truth. My
father would never do this thing. I do not accept this. It is a
lie.”
The Goddess said, “You cannot lie with a mind
that has been opened for all to see. There is no hope for such a
fem as this; she goes to meet her fate.”
“I once said that Fem Dixon-Howard would meet
her destiny with the Zyptz, I hope I was wrong,” Jonal told TeZaron
and TeBron.
“No one can escape their lot in life,”
Juraens added enigmatically.
* * * *
Just as the young Ensign Blot predicted,
after three tides every Warrior on Sarran and in the Fleet was
trained in birthing. The physicians were comfortable with emergency
procedures and it was a good thing because all of the fem who were
bonded were pregnant. Baby bumps were present at every market and
in every hall. The ratio of femprings to offspring was one fem for
every two Warriors, just right for the balance of the planet. By
this time there were only one hundred and sixty-one fem who hadn’t
found their WarriorPair. When Syn brought this up to Zaron and Bron
they considered her question.
“Perhaps Pa Chette, they are meant for
Warriors not yet bonded. All of the unmatched fem are young, from
sixteen to nineteen cycles. We generally do not pair until we reach
at least nineteen cycles. Although there are exceptions, Bron and I
bonded at sixteen and were brought to the Elder Council at
twenty-six. Perhaps the Goddess is waiting for culpability or as
the Earthen say,
coming of age.
”
Syn had no idea some of the Earthen fem were
so young. When Zaron and Bron told her that all of these fem were
orphans, she and Anya formulated a plan to open a social club for
the older fem to mentor the younger and meet single and unbonded
WarriorPairs. They also insisted that the younger ones finish
school on Sarran and have the opportunity for further study.
Syn was told by Zaron, “There is no need to
insist. Education is a right on Sarran. It is spelled out in the
Codex. The fem may study anything they wish and a tutor will be
provided.” Syn and Anya were embarrassed for doubting their
Warriors and the Codex that governed them all.
* * * *
The first Elder Council meeting after the
birthing classes included the fem bonded to the Elders. The Elders
decided that their fem’s input was so valuable that they needed
their counsel to help govern the planet’s new state of affairs. The
Earthen fem were different than the Sarran fem, and their life
experience left the unbonded wary of the Warriors despite the other
fem’s assurances.
The Earthen fem were also not used to the
pastoral lifestyle of the Sarrans and had to be taught its worth
with classes and entertainment presented to encourage them to
pursue opportunities they would not have been given on Earth.
The major complaint the Elders heard was best
summed up by Tina Ferrara while she was having coffee with Syn.
“The fem miss Earthen music and entertainment and socialization
with other fem.”
“We can arrange a library of all Earthen
music and movies that the fem could access from their coms. Every
trading trip back to Earth could bring the newest entertainment
home to Sarran,” Syn proposed as she sipped her coffee in the
sitting room that her Warrior surprised her with on the anniversary
of her first tide as their fem.
“The fem need to learn to use the public
transporters, the ones that don’t require much psy. That way they
could visit each other for coffee or bridge,” Tina suggested,
getting excited. “We could open a few clubs where the singles could
dance and mingle if we can get the Elders to approve.”
TaEllen piped in, “Hold your horses, Tina, we
don’t want to make Sarran a carbon copy of all of Earthen excess.
Dances held once or twice a month is a good idea, clubs are
not.”
“Those fem not in Triad are free to return to
Earth on the next expedition. It’s not the bonded who are
complaining,” said Adele who was usually very quiet.
“That’s true, but the remaining unbonded fem
are young and need entertainment. Let’s speak to our Warriors and
see what the young did before the Zyptz.” Syn started to gather the
coffee things; which was the signal for the others to leave.
“I’m glad we include Tina in these informal
Ta meetings. She provides insight into the minds of the young fem
as she is only twenty; not too far removed from her teens.” Anya
helped Syn bring the dishes to the kitchen.
As soon as he saw what they were doing,
Garlance protested, “TaSyn, TaAnya, you are doing my job. Would you
put me out of work?” he asked.
“I believe your main purpose is to guard
Naffie. I can take care of coffee cups; you watch my offspring who
is rambunctious and prone to wander,” Syn said in a serious
tone.
Garlance laughed. “My job is to serve both
you and Nafer; that is why we replaced Stoker with Emot. That is
also one of the reasons TeBron and TeZaron invited Juraens and Mark
to stay in the gatehouse. They wanted them there until your bonded
can find another PsyOps operative to guard the manse.”
* * * *
At the next full council meeting the Elders
and their fem were busy developing lists of goods which they wanted
to obtain in trade. Mark and Juraens were included in the
discussion as Mark was the only Warrior from Earth and could tell
the council what tech to trade and Juraens was a PsyOps trooper who
had been to Earth on a scouting mission before the
Brightstar
fleet’s arrival.
“Our first priority should be the cats.”
Tonas was absently brushing off his trews.
‘‘We can obtain them from animal shelters;
that’s where I got Tigger.” Anya said.
“We need someone to do this that has mind
speech. Most cats that we know of are not sentient,” Syn said
petting Duchess who just popped into the room. Tigger soon
followed.
::All cats have the potential to be sentient,
but Duchess and I agree, we should take felines who have already
developed the skill. With the cats over breeding on Earth, we
shouldn’t have a problem getting multiple sentient cats for each
household on Sarran.::
Tigger jumped on Tonas’ lap and rubbed his
fur all over Tonas’ trews. Jonal and Anya rolled their eyes.
::You can’t let the Earthens know why cats are so valuable. Our
brethren would be subject to scientific study if they found
out.::
Having had his say, Tigger went over to one of the
litter boxes of Zaron’s design—the no mess, no smell design was now
replicated all over Sarran.
The discussion continued, “We don’t want to
give tech that can be weaponized. Or we should modify any tech we
give them so it can’t be weaponized. The tech that the Sarrans used
in the Zyptz war would set Earth aflame in the wrong hands.” Mark
sat at a desk in the council room, making a list on his com.
“Medicine and medical equipment is a good
item to put on the list. We have to make it affordable so the
poorer nations could afford to put it in their hospitals. Some of
the poorer nations are the ones who grow coffee beans and the beans
for chocolate. The process by which they are made into useable
product should be available on Earth’s internet,” Anya noted. She
had a baby bump as did Syn, Adele, and Ellen.
“We need to pay for all of the copyrighted
material you took from the libraries and the internet. Some make
their living writing and making music. If we take their work
without payment, legally on Earth, it’s theft,” Ellen said, while
eating a donut. One of the fem had a Krispy Kreme franchise and put
the recipe in the fabricator.
“That’s true. Things we fabricate without
thought here on Sarran need to be paid for on Earth. The recipe for
that donut is probably patented,” Adele said while eating some of
Syn’s cookies.
“I thought that a recipe can’t be patented,
that’s why they are so secretive about the recipe for Coke,” Ellen
said. “My late brother was a patent lawyer. He died of Aids; which
now thanks to the Sarrans, will be curable.”
“Then we’ll need to retain a law firm. We
have to choose wisely, some lawyers are ethically challenged,” Syn
said dryly as she refilled coffee cups.
“After being here for some time you tend to
forget the greed on Earth. We really have to be careful.
Governments can also be corrupt. If you make a treaty for coffee,
most of the money could be taken as graft or bribes by government
bureaucrats.” Anya looked concerned.
“We could impose severe penalties for graft,
bribery, and failure to pay workers a living wage. Trade embargoes
for the merchandise we can provide would be disastrous to the
government who is corrupt or allows corruption,” Mark added,
getting up to stretch his legs.
“ Fabricators should not be on the list as
they would jettison Earth’s entire economy. They are not ready for
that type of tech with the corporations running the government
behind the scenes. The corporations would make sure that
fabricators would never see the light of day on Earth. You have to
wait until Earth finally gets its act together and forms a single
government which is more difficult with a population of seven
billion as opposed to twenty thousand.”
“And counting…” Syn added patting her
belly.
“So we offer medicines first; then com tech,
and gold and gems for anything we wish to buy outright. The rest we
wait and see how it goes.” Zaron looked to the others to see if
there was agreement.
“We are all in agreement then. The
Brightstar
will leave in two tides for a return trip to
Earth.” Bron closed and locked the council com port. “I propose we
adjourn the meeting to go out and enjoy this lovely day.”
The meeting broke up early. Syn’s Triad took
a tour of the Warrior College before making their way home.
They stopped in the village and traded some
credits for fresh meat and vegetables to be delivered to the manse
as Bron and Zaron hadn’t had the time to go hunting since before
the
Brightstar
left on its mission.
“I vow I’m going to shoo you two out the door
to go hunting sometime soon after the
Brightstar
leaves. You
need the relaxation,” Syn told her Warriors as they took a
leisurely walk home in the sunshine.
Garlance met them at the door with a look of
consternation. “Nafer is missing. Emot and I have looked
everywhere. Duchess and Tigger are out searching the grounds.”
“Have we received any coms?” Syn asked in
near hysteria.
“No TaSyn. Nothing has come in since we
discovered he was gone,” Emot said with tears running down his
cheeks. “I believed he transported out to the fields. We were out
in the garden I turned my back for a moment to pick up some flowers
for the dining table and then he was gone.”
::Mommie!::
Syn almost fell over from
the sheer force of the scream in her head. She had no choice, she
followed.
Syn found herself on the deck of a light
slip. Naffie was restrained by three men as he bit, scratched and
kicked. Two of the men were older and one of those two leaned
heavily on a cane. “Mommie’s here. She’ll help me,” Nafer
cried.
“Zuff and Angle, I assume.”
“One of the Warriors slapped her.
::These
are Elders, Earthen scum. Show some respect.::
“You’re one of the brood mares that Zaron and
Bron brought to Sarran. The fact that you’re here indicates you’re
theirs.” The one with the cane reached out to strike her.
Syn ducked the strike and used her feet to
set him off balance and send him to the floor. TeAngle went for her
throat when suddenly Tigger popped into the ship followed by
Duchess.
Tigger jumped on TeAngle’s back and joined
Naffie in causing general mayhem,
::We have the one with the
cane on the floor. The others are still fighting. Syn and Naffie
are both in danger!::