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Grey Chronicles
Fifteen
(10/06/06 0800 Austin, Texas League)
Sofia rested her head on Iain’s knee and purred as he scratched behind her ears. His other hand held his wizardry book since this was supposed to be his study time. Whenever his fingers slowed too much or stopped as he focused on his reading, Sofia would bite him gently on the leg just below his shorts to display her dissatisfaction and remind him to continue.
“Sir?” Iain looked up at the still unfamiliar voice. It was Joyce, the pregnant Milktit. Iain wasn’t an expert on pregnancy but his twee estimated that she was probably near the front end of her second trimester, right at the time when the physical changes in her torso were starting to become evident. She was a shapely thing who stood about a hundred and fifty seven centimeters tall with a thick mop of honey blonde hair and a matching tuft on the end of her knee length tail. She was topless by choice since she wore a knee length peasant skirt that left her tail free. On her feet was a pair of tennis shoes. He blinked. The fabric of the shoes was the same as the skirt so they matched. Even the soles matched the uppers. Someone was playing with the weaver again. “Sir, I wanted to thank you for what you did for me.”
Sofia nipped Iain again and he went back to scratching her ears. “Trust me, Joyce, it was my pleasure.”
She blinked and suddenly a blinding smile appeared on her face. “Yes, sir,” she said happily. “I wanted to ask what my job here is going to be.”
“What did Ninhursag say?”
“She said to talk to you, sir. I know I’m supposed to get milked every morning and evening, but while Lara is happy with that I want to do more.”
Lara was the other Milktit. April had been mistaken and she wasn’t pregnant, but that didn’t bother Iain. What bothered Iain about Lara was that she was stupid. It wasn’t that she was uneducated. Uneducated could be fixed. Canaan had checked and there wasn’t anything wrong with Lara’s mind. She just didn’t use it and, more importantly, had no desire to use it.
Iain hoped that her children didn’t turn out like her or he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. The word cull kept drifting through his head and he suppressed it ruthlessly so Eve and Canaan wouldn’t detect it. Eve would complain at the idea while Canaan might just take care of the problem for him before he’d finished deciding it was necessary. “Well, what do you think you might like doing?”
A worried look crossed her face. “Sir, I have never done anything. How could I know what I might like?”
Iain frowned. “What was it like for you during the war?”
Joyce blinked. “I was a food provider. I ate and I produced milk for the fighters. That’s all any Milktit ever did, sir. If a Milktit showed initiative, she was put with a team of other food providing pokegirls who got to tend to the Chickenlittles.”
“Did that happen to you?”
She shook her head. “I despise Chickenlittles, sir. I was very careful not to show that much initiative.”
Sofia snorted. “You must not think much of Lara then. She is much like a Chickenlittle.”
Joyce’s face crinkled in what looked a lot like disgust. “I try not to think of Lara and me as being the same breed. We weren’t encouraged to think, sir, but she likes being that way.” She shivered.
“Forget about Lara,” Iain said soothingly. “We’re discussing you. I take it you’re not needed with the crops or gardens?”
The Milktit shook her head. “Sir, Ninhursag has made it plain that her Elves are doing the gardening. All she wants me to do is get fat, be pregnant and someday have kits.” She made a face. “Lara isn’t pregnant, but soon you won’t be able to tell. Someone will have to make sure she moves around from time to time since she appears to have taken up permanent residence in the sugarcane ring. She only leaves it to get milked.”
Sofia chuckled. “April will see to that.”
Iain looked thoughtfully at Joyce. “Are you willing to try something new?”
She gave him an annoyed look. “Sir, everything is new to me. I have never tried anything.”
“Oh. Now I feel stupid.”
Instantly she looked contrite and more than a little afraid. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Iain could have smacked himself in the head, but she’d probably panic if he did. “Sofia, let me up.” The Peekabu sighed theatrically and slid to her feet. He got up and walked over to take Joyce’s hand. She stared at her hand in his and trembled slightly. He kept his voice soothing. “I am never going to hurt you for being yourself, Joyce. Hopefully I’ll never hurt you at all, but sometimes I’m an unthinking bastard. I apologize for frightening you. What I meant to ask was would you be willing to try something new for me?”
Joyce almost snapped to attention. “Sir, I would be honored to do anything for you!”
“What do you know about beer?”
Her tail flicked excitedly as she squeezed his hand hard. “I don’t know anything about beer, sir, but if you want I’ll learn it all!”
“That’s actually what I was hoping for. You see, we’ve got lots of barley and, despite Lara’s attempts at decimating the entire crop, a lot of sugarcane. I’ve also got a small field of hops and I need a braumeisterin.”
Her head came up eagerly and she grinned. “I don’t know what that is, sir, but you’ve got one now!”
***
(10/06/06 1445 Grey Ranch, Texas League)
Vanessa squirmed in Iain’s lap as he tickled her. “Stop it,” she mock glared at him. “If I pee on myself you’ll get soaked too.”
He chuckled as he continued tickling her. “Yeah, I would and I’d dry too.” Considering who she was if she really wanted to stop him he’d already have been stopped.
Vanessa’s laugh broke off into a groan as her belly rippled under his hands. She grabbed his wrists hard enough to leave bruises, not relaxing until the contraction passed. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That felt different. I think I’m going into full labor.” She eyed him balefully for a few seconds. “I can’t stand it anymore. Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
She twisted around in his lap to straddle his waist and poked him in the chest with a steel hard finger. He’d have another bruise from that. “Iain Grey, why are you helping April with her hobby of getting that flatbed truck running?”
“I can see into the engine with my perception and trace wires to make sure there aren’t any more direct shorts.” It was April’s second truck project. The first one she’d tried on her own with her twee. When she tried to start the truck an electrical fire had broken out and the truck had burned until she’d put it out with a water based construct. It had been a total loss and she’d had to find a second vehicle that might be repaired. To help prevent another calamity he’d been roped into helping her with the restoration.
Vanessa gave him a triumphant smile. “Exactly. If you can see through metal, you can see through flesh. Are my babies ok?”
Iain’s face froze. “I never said I could do that.”
Vanessa gave him an affectionately stern look. “Don’t play games with me, mister. I’m not supposed to be able to do this, remember? I’m scared I’m going to give birth to some kind of monster.”
He nodded slowly. “They’re healthy and relatively normal.”
“Define relatively.”
“They don’t look like you or each other. They’re very near human and won’t really draw attention to themselves, but since we weren’t having sex at the time I expected them to be standard parthenogenesis offspring.”
“How long have you known?”
“I’ve been watching them since I accidentally gave myself perception.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Do they look like a blending of yours and my DNA?”
Iain shrugged. “I can’t tell. I’m not an expert on babies. All I’ve ever been able to do is identify ugly babies from cute ones and, no matter what people say, there are some really ugly babies out there and not all of them are pokekits. I’ve already asked Theodora to do a workup on them after they’re born.”
Iain already has twee for them and they’ll be implanted right after delivery.
Vanessa gave him a happy smile and nestled against him. “Thank you Iain.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Not just for this, for everything. I’ve been alone all my life until I met you. Now I have a family and even children.” Her face darkened slightly. “Even if I can’t keep them.”
Iain’s eyes narrowed. “What?” His voice was an angry hiss.
“I wasn’t supposed to have children, Iain. When you made me pregnant the whole universe shifted on its axis. I have a destiny and my daughters will share that destiny with me. When they are fifteen they will leave us and go on a journey to the worlds they are supposed to protect.”
Iain snorted. “I don’t believe in destiny.”
She nodded. Her eyes suddenly showed all her centuries of life. “I know, Iain, and for that you frighten me. Because you are who you are if you don’t believe in destiny you don’t have one, which means you affect the destinies of everyone around you and not always in beneficial ways.” She gasped again and the look was gone.
Iain felt wetness on his thighs. He shifted her slightly. “I think your water just broke.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“It’s been over a year, Iain. It’s about damned time.” Her eyes unfocused for an instant. “I’ve contacted April and she’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“Not Eve?”
The legendary shook her head. “April has had a lot more experience with deliveries of pokekits. Eve’s going to assist, but right now nobody expects my hard labor to start for hours yet. April just wants to give me a lecture and a quick check.” She gave him a coquettish look. “Will you hold my hand the whole time?”
“For April’s lecture or the labor?” He grinned when she scowled. “I will need that hand back from time to time when I have to go to the bathroom or get something to eat.”
“Deal.”
***
(10/07/06 0455 Austin, Texas League)
Iain held his wrinkled red daughter as Vanessa fed the first one. All babies were reddish purple when born and her skin would lighten over the next few hours. The newborn in his arms had light green hair while her sister’s was a red so deep that it approached black. Both, however, had the same color eyes, which was easy to see on the one he held since she was staring into his eyes in a decidedly adult fashion.
Her eyes were blue with an inner ring of green.
I will be fascinated to get the first information from her twee when it comes on line, Theodora said over his twee. She should not be able to focus like this for several months. Like any infant her eyes are completely developed but her brain shouldn’t be able to process these images yet.
April wiped her face with a towel. “I need a healing cycle.” She gave the two of them a warning look as someone knocked firmly on the door once more. They’d been knocking for the last three hours. “I’m going to open the door now before someone batters it down.” She stood, placed her fists in the small of her back and bent backwards to stretch out muscles stiff from ten hours of sitting in one place.
Vanessa smiled tiredly. “Zareen already snuck into the room through the wall and is crouched on the other side of the bed.”
Iain leaned over the bed to see and the Nightmare gave him a sheepish look as she stood. “I wanted to see the babies. I accept whatever April decides to do to me for ignoring her order.”
The Duelist paused before opening the door to give Zareen an angry stare. “Yes, you will.” She threw the door open. “Hours for baby visiting are now open.”
Suddenly the room seemed nothing but pokegirls. Iain took a deep breath, swallowing a sudden and irrational spurt of anger. “Ninhursag?”
She straightened at something in his voice. “Yes Iain?”
“Clear the room and set up an orderly system before me and my daughter get crushed by any well-wishers with enhanced strength.”
The Elfqueen blinked and nodded. “You heard the man. Everyone exit the room in a calm and expeditious fashion. We’ll set up a rotation and I promise that everyone who doesn’t start complaining will get to spend some time in here.”
The room quickly emptied. A few minutes later, while Vanessa and Iain were swapping the little girls, Canaan and Allison slipped into the bedroom. The Umbrea touched the infant Iain was holding with a hesitant finger. “Does she have a name?”
“No,” Vanessa replied softly. “Iain says there’s no hurry since you don’t have to register babies with the state in Texas. I want to get to know them for a little bit before deciding on names for them.”
Iain sighed and then bit the bullet. “That may not be exactly true. Both of them are focusing on things that shouldn’t be within their range of notice, which suggests that cognitive ability may be well above normal for a human baby at this time and they may be even more precocious than a regular pokegirl. Canaan, could you very gently and carefully look at their surface thoughts?”
“I can try, but only with Vanessa’s permission,” the Splice replied. “Babies they might be, but they are still the parthenogenic offspring of a legendary and pissing her off is counterproductive to a long life and good health. That and they may be legendaries in their own right.”
Vanessa looked at the daughter sucking on her nipple and nodded. “We need to know their development so we know how to work with them.” She turned to April as Canaan’s antennae unfolded to their full length. “After everyone has had a look at the girls, I need to talk with the senior harem members.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Is this something I need to know,” Iain asked quietly.
Vanessa shook her head, her sweaty copper tresses had dried against her scalp and barely moved. “I would prefer if you let us meet alone this time.”
“All right. Just let me know when I should leave.”
Canaan was silent for a few minutes before her antennae curled back up. She pursed her lips and looked at Vanessa. “Compared to humans, mentally your children are somewhere between five and seven years old. As soon as their muscle development allows and their twee teach them, they’ll probably start speaking.” She smiled slightly. “At least they’re not telepaths. The league ranches have problems forcing some of their telepathic pokekits to speak with their mouths. My kits will have similar issues.”
“So they need names?”
Canaan shrugged. “They know who their mother and father are and they know who I am, at least mentally. They are aware enough to know when they are being spoken to, but perhaps not when they’re being spoken about just yet. I’d name them sometime in the next few days though.”
Allison had been stroking the baby in Iain’s arms as delicately as if the newborn was made of thistledown. “Sir, will we in the satellite harem be allowed to have children?”
“Of course you will.”
Her eyes were intent on his. “Will you be their father too?”
“No, he will not.” April said firmly before Iain could answer. “He will be the male role model for satellite harem babies but he will be father to inner and outer harem children only.”
Allison nodded. “Have you started interviewing for outer harem yet?”
“We plan to start in a few days. Are you interested in the promotion?”
The Umbrea’s eyes lingered on the infant and then lifted to meet Iain’s gaze searchingly. What she saw in them made her ears prick forward before she nodded as she turned to April. “I am.”
April smiled at her. “I’ll put your name on the list and schedule your interview.”
Eve tapped on the door frame. “Time’s up, ladies. You can take another turn later.”
***
(10/07/06 0615 Austin, Texas League)
Vanessa was sitting upright to make room for April and Eve on her bed. Ninhursag, Pandora and Canaan leaned against the walls while Dominique and Raquel were squeezed together in the chair Iain had been using. Zareen sat cross legged on the floor next to Sofia. The Nightmare and the Peekabu had uncharacteristically insisted on attending the meeting and Ninhursag had agreed that they were inner harem and therefore eligible.
Iain had taken the babies to bed with him. He’d nap while keeping an eye on them and return with them when they needed fed again. So they didn’t have much time.
“What is it,” Ninhursag asked.
“We need to make contingency plans to locate and kill every other legendary on the planet,” Vanessa said calmly.
Eve’s mouth dropped, and she wasn’t alone. She recovered quickly. “I think you should elaborate on that. Why do we need to kill them?”
“I said contingency plans.” Vanessa had been run though a healing and cleaning cycle and was brushing out her hair. “I want to be ready to kill them if it becomes necessary. I am a legendary and while they won’t know that instinctively, any of them who meet me will figure that out in short order. I don’t know how to pretend to be afraid of them, after all. When they find out I have children, they’ll gain hope that it will be possible for them to reproduce. When that doesn’t happen they’ll become disillusioned and some will become angry while others might engage in research to determine why I got pregnant while they can’t. This could lead them to attack us in some misguided attempt to deny us what they can’t have or it could lead them to the fact that Iain was the catalyst for my pregnancy,” she met Eve’s eyes, “and might be so for theirs if they can acquire or coerce his aid.”
She held the brush out and examined it for a second, watching the light play over it. It was a gift from Iain and was made of a chased copper alloy in colors that matched her hair. “I love Iain but I am not bonded to him. I envy you that, you know, in spite of the telepathic link we share.” She blinked and grinned suddenly. “I am a pokegirl. I’m feeling envy over the fact that you have something with Iain that I don’t, even if it is something minor.”
Her smile faded. “Other legendaries are capricious and will not concern themselves for his wellbeing any more than they do for any human outside their own needs. I do not trust them around him any more than I would trust a powerful feral.” She gave a little laugh. “I don’t think of myself as a legendary anymore. I’m Vanessa more than I was ever Evangelion.” She looked around the room. “These legendaries are less than twenty years old and are still experimenting with their power. This is when some of the greatest battles between them took place and when they are at their most dangerous because not even they are sure what they will do next. And this time they don’t have to hide from the more powerful legendaries because they’re all gone.”
“Can we kill them,” Dominique asked.
Vanessa nodded. “If we can find them, I can kill any legendary who still lives on this world without working up a sweat. But some of them are very hard to locate, even now before they become as paranoid as you knew them to be.”
Canaan cocked her head. “Why isn’t Iain present for this?”
Vanessa smiled thinly. “Because Iain won’t wait for the legendaries to decide they want to be a threat to us. In this case, to protect us and my babies, he would move preemptively and kill every legendary he could find. While I admit that for the most part they’re not good people, I don’t want murdering them because they might be a problem for us someday on my conscience.”
Cassiopeia has a detection program that she has used to monitor the locations of the legendaries for Kerrik in New Beginnings through visual sightings via her satellite constellation. I will purchase the data she has accumulated along with the program and begin my own program of surveillance for them. Analysis of the data may prove beneficial in tracking their habits as well as in locating potential lairs.
“That is an excellent idea, Theodora,” Ninhursag pushed away from the wall. “Anyone else have any good ideas for this?”
Eve frowned. “I can talk to Danielle and Lucifer to see what they know. On my world we kept track of the legendaries as best we could. Sometimes we could pinpoint their locations fairly well and at other times didn’t know where any of them were. Raven and Kerrik’s other hunters might know something too or their private network might.”
Raquel leaned over and whispered into Dominique’s ear. The Archmage blinked and grinned. “That’s a good one too. You tell them.”
Ninhursag beckoned to her. “Yes, tell us.”
The Rapitaur looked slightly embarrassed. “I thought we should talk to Poppet Wolf and get an introduction to Poppet Harris. She has been or probably will be contacted by the legendaries about having children. Perhaps more importantly, this world’s Ming Die will be there. She has a very good reason to try to keep track of the legendaries since she’s not sure which of them might or might not have been put to hunting her and her sisters. She has no love for them and would not mind us planning to eliminate them.”
“Moirai,” Sofia muttered.
“What’s that,” Eve asked.
The Peekabu didn’t look up. “Moirai is Whisper’s half-sister and bonded to the ruler of Nippon. Whisper could either introduce us to her or ask her about what they know about the legendaries.”
April frowned. “If she’s bonded to the ruler she’ll think like he does. What could we offer to Nippon to make them want to even talk to us?”
There was silence for several seconds. “I have no idea,” Ninhursag said.
Theodora spoke into their minds. Right now Nippon is involved in a shooting war with the Shanghai League. Kerrik, and to a lesser extent Shikarou, is selling them pokegirl supplies. The emperor believes that Kerrik is the personal kami to his family and is unlikely to switch suppliers. However, nobody is selling them information. We could offer them real time surveillance from our satellite constellation as well as any radio intercepts I capture. Nippon never had military surveillance satellites due to treaties from losing World War Two and has lost too much of its industrial base to build them now.
China still has an active satellite program and launched two crude communications satellites this year. They have fallen back to using 1950’s technology however and are unlikely to deploy any Terran sophisticated military hardware anytime in the near future. Only brute force and lots of cheap manpower has allowed them the launches they’ve done so far. Our aid to Nippon could help to equalize the current disparity in forces as much as possible, considering the population disparity between the Shanghai League and Nippon. If we wanted, we could also take a more active role in the war. My parasite craft could steal or destroy the Shanghai satellites without being detected. I could also install my own software on them to allow me access to all of their communications for monitoring, editing or even for injecting false data into them.
“Ninhursag, I suggest that we hold off on Sofia’s Nippon idea,” Eve said quietly. “It’s not a bad idea but we would have to involve Iain and then we’d have to explain we’re trying to protect him and the children from a threat that might not materialize for centuries. The rest of it we can at least start without notifying him.”
Ninhursag went over and patted Sofia on the top of the head. “She’s right, it is a good idea, but we’re going to wait on it.”
“I understand,” Sofia replied, finally looking up. “I am not hurt. I am happy that I was listened to.”
The Elfqueen cocked her head. “However, Theodora, go ahead and install that monitoring software, but monitor all radio traffic from everybody involved. Knowing what’s going on between Shanghai and Nippon could be beneficial whether we help Nippon or not.”
I will take care of it immediately.
***
(10/08/06 0500 Austin, Texas League)
Dominique nodded to Ninhursag and plopped down next to Iain. She kicked off her shoes and dipped her feet into the water from the spring next to his. “What are your plans for today?”
He glanced at her. “Good morning. I’m supposed to spend time with Vanessa and the girls today but I suspect she’s going to have all the company she could ever want. Eve and April will ferry most of the outer and satellite clan to the ranch so they can get back to work while Ninhursag and some of her Elves work on the land around here. I’ll probably spend the day studying.”
“If that’s what you’ll be doing then Theodora and I would like to ask that you come with me out to the Theodora today. The shuttle will be here in ten minutes.”
His eyebrows went up. “Oh?”
We have some things to show you and some things to tell you.
“I can’t be given this information here?”
Some of it is a request for forgiveness that I did not get permission and I would like you to experience what I have done before I begin pleading with you.
Surprise flickered across his face and vanished to leave concern written on his features. “What did you do?”
I would prefer to answer that when you are on the Theodora. Please, Iain. If you insist I will tell you here and now, but I would prefer to do this my way.
He turned to look at his maharani. “Do I need a bodyguard on the Theodora?”
She considered it for a few seconds. “Theodora, I know I’m not your maharani, but will you be his bodyguard while he is on board?”
I would consider it an honor.
He sighed and pulled his feet out of the water. “You’ll know where I’ll be, Ninhursag. Have fun growing plants here today.”
She was already gazing over the property with a proprietary air. “Don’t worry, I will.”
“I expect I’ll be back with Dominique at the normal time. If anything changes I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”
A few minutes later the air near the pool wavered as the shuttle dropped its cloaking field. Once they boarded, it turned the cloak back on before slowly rising to a hundred meters. Then it accelerated hard into the sky, staying just below the speed of sound until it was in space. At that point the shuttle went to full power and streaked for Luna. A couple of minutes later it docked with the Theodora.
Theodora’s hologram was waiting for them once he’d disembarked. “If you would follow me to the bridge we can get started immediately.”
Iain looked in Dominique’s direction. “Are you coming too?”
She nodded. “I’m providing some of the entertainment.”
He grinned suddenly. “Do I get to pick the music you’ll be stripping to?”
She blinked and fury swept over her face. “No, you don’t. That’s not funny.”
Iain looked surprised and then apologetic. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.”
She sighed and hugged him. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I don’t suppose you’d explain so I don’t put my foot in it again.”
She buried her face against his chest. Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his shirt. “I’ve been alive for three centuries, Iain, and without a tamer for most of that time after the Pendragons caught me. Whether I was free or bonded there were always some knights who insisted that I dance for them before they’d fuck me. Later, some of the Blue League agents I worked with weren’t any better.”
Iain wrapped an arm around her and stroked her hair with his free hand. “I’ll never refer to that again.”
She looked up at him, her face unusually somber. “Thank you. I know you love me and I know that you would never make me beg for anything, but,” she shuddered. Iain held her until she pulled away from him. “I think we’re wanted on the bridge,” she said with a sad smile.
“Theodora can wait and she’s smart enough to know it.” Iain pulled Dominique back against him. She made a happy noise and burrowed into his arms.
Indeed I am more than willing to wait while you comfort my sister, Theodora said into Iain’s mind, for as long as it takes for you to make her smile again and tell more funny stories about you.
Finally Dominique kissed him and slipped out of his arms. She took his hand and waved to Theodora. “Let’s go.”
They followed the hologram as it took them to a transit station and the car sitting there. They entered and the door shut. Although he didn’t feel anything, Iain knew they were moving at high speed. “Do you know the way to the bridge?”
She shrugged. “I follow Theodora. I do know the way to my lab.”
Iain nodded. “Ok.” He spoke to Theodora through his twee. I want a complete set of schematics and route maps. If you change something I also want updated versions as soon as practicable.
I’m uploading them to your twee now. I’d also like to give you some time with a teacher so you can learn to pilot the Theodora and her parasites.
He grinned. I’d like that. Like a lot of kids I wanted to be a pilot and an astronaut. Now I get to be both.
Theodora led them onto the bridge. “Just a second, sir.” A huge holographic display activated, showing the Theodora floating near a cylinder that was split down the long axis. Each half was connected by what looked like, from this distance, strings but were probably struts thicker than his body was tall. “This is the hyperspace drive module you instructed me to build. With it in place I can’t harvest materials, but I can process anything already in my storage bay. Besides, I do not expect to be called upon to harvest items inside hyperspace. If the situation arises, it will prove a great many theoretical physicists wrong and we’ll work something out.”
Iain looked at Dominique. “What’s your role in this?”
She grinned. “I finished the portal design and we’ve tested it.”
“Wow. Ladies, I am impressed.” He frowned. “How did you test it?” His eyes narrowed. “I know neither of you even thought of leaving without the rest of us, even for a test.”
Dominique’s smile widened. “No, Iain, we wouldn’t take the chance of being lost without you. It was a team effort. We moved out from behind the moon and I opened the portal. Once the measurements showed the portal was the right size Theodora sent through some drones programmed to exit, scan the area and return.”
The data they brought back showed they were orbiting the moon of an Earth whose continents matched the maps I downloaded from your pokedexes.
“I am doubly impressed, ladies. Excellent job.” Iain folded his arms. “Now why am I here?”
The hologram and the Archmage exchanged a look. Theodora nodded to Dominique. “With all due respect, Iain, Dominique was only peripherally involved in why I asked you here and any displeasure you might feel towards this should be properly aimed at me. May she be released to return to her laboratory? She still has a lot of work to do.”
“You two are really worried I’m going to have some kind of meltdown, aren’t you?”
Theodora nodded. “I am concerned. This is something so far out of my and Dominique’s experience that neither of us is sure how you will react.”
Iain looked from one to the other. “Dominique?” She looked alertly at him and he could see the nervousness in her eyes. “Go.” He was more than a little hurt at how promptly she fled. “Am I that much of a monster,” he asked plaintively.
Theodora knew the question was rhetorical but answered anyway. “No, but you may decide that I am.”
“Do you want to tell me or is this one of those things you have to show me?”
“You have to see this while I explain. I believe it will lessen the shock.”
“Lead on, then.”
She led him back to the transit station and they boarded another transit car. “So what’s been going on while you were doing whatever it is you expect me to explode over?”
“The chaser ships brought back the first comet and are off fetching another one for the depot. In the meantime I have finally finished all of the rest of my parasite vessels.”
“What exactly is a chaser ship?”
“It’s a powerful tug that seeks out suitable small bodies and brings them back for processing. Having them makes things easier by allowing me to find and have the computers at the depot process comets at the fuel depot while I’m busy doing other things. I’ve almost finished cleaning out the orbits around Earth, too. There were several tonnes of debris from dead satellites and orbital trash floating around your new world.”
“Yeah, well humans have never been known for their neatness.”
“I have also increased my living cubage to from two to five percent of my overall volume. It has increased the volume from a hundred and eighty eight million cubic meters to four hundred and seventy one million cubic meters.”
“We weren’t exactly crowded before. Why did you do that?”
“It makes the living area a hundred and fifty meters high. This allows for a park with fifty meter deep soil and a roof tall enough that Ninhursag can plant and properly root a few full sized omega trees if she sees fit to. I took the cubage from my storage space, but it didn’t really affect the ship’s ability to do her job.”
“Thanks, I think. Will you be making the Theodora longer to compensate?”
The hologram shook its head. “No, sir, I will not. If you require me to process an object larger than the vessel’s internal volume, I’ll chop it up first or build an external weaver control system around it if for some reason you want it processed in toto.”
The car’s door opened and Theodora beckoned him out of the vehicle. Iain stepped into a glade of wildflowers. The chamber was roughly a hundred meters on a side and filled with plants from one end to the other. “Pretty. What is it?”
Theodora headed for the center of the park where a long strip of basalt stuck out of the ground. It almost reached the ceiling. She stopped in front of it and gestured around her. “After Mhodvitnar assaulted you and your harem, Dominique took samples from each of the fallen members of your family before and after they were cremated. When I discovered this, I asked for them and made this. This is the clan memorial garden and where the ashes of your dead family have been laid.” She motioned towards the menhir. “I have taken the liberty of inscribing the names of your clan dead and, with your permission, will continue to do so as part of my self-appointed job of clan archivist.”
Iain looked at the stone and closed his eyes for a moment. “I formally make you the clan archivist, Theodora, with all the rights and responsibilities inherent in the job.” His voice trembled as he forced the words past the lump in his throat.
“Thank you, sir.”
Iain looked around the garden again. “Ninhursag and her Elves might be willing to help you grow this into whatever you want.”
“I intend to ask her about it when the clan comes aboard for the trip back to their home universe.”
“Is this what you’re concerned might piss me off?”
Theodora shook her head. “No, that’s next.”
“So why bring me here first?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Sir, the happier I can make you beforehand the less you are likely to order something rash.”
“Me? Rash? This must be something pretty dramatic.”
She gestured back towards the transit station. “It’s time we find out.”
Iain was out of questions that he figured Theodora would answer, so the trip was made in silence. When the door opened, he rose without a word and exited the car.
The chamber was seventy five meters long, the same wide and ten meters high. Every three meters was a cylinder two meters wide that ran from the floor to the ceiling. They were laid out in neat rows and filled the entire room. “What are these?”
“These are artificial wombs. I have taken samples of every protein that your clan brought with them.” She smiled. “Did you know that there is a potted meat made from kattle that Zareen is particularly fond of? From a ten gram sample of it I separated out two hundred and ninety distinct DNA partial strands and a hundred and two complete DNA profiles. I am growing those complete profiles to give you a large herd of kattle.”
Iain blinked. “How many?”
“There are six hundred and twenty five wombs in this chamber and two more identical gestation chambers dedicated to kattle production. Another gestation chamber is set up for the other meat items that April brought with her, including chicken, duck and rabbit. I figured that scattering the kattle through your property would give ferals more to eat which would lower predation of your cows and other livestock.”
“This isn’t what you’re worried about me being upset at, is it?”
“No. That’s in the next room.” She led him through a door into a much smaller chamber also filled with artificial wombs. She took a deep breath. “As I said before, Dominique took samples from your fallen and I have taken the material she gave me and propagated parthenogenic offspring from them. They are in here.” Iain stared around him in shock as she continued. “I was unable to get viable genetic material from Sable’s DNA and unless you give me a direct order I refuse to use Mhodvitnar’s DNA, but you have essentially the children from Scheherazade, Irena, Hathor and Montsho here.” She spread her hands pleadingly. “Please don’t make me destroy them.”
Iain abruptly found himself on the floor with no recollection of how he got there. “Why,” he asked numbly. Tears glittered in the corners of his eyes. “Why did you do this?”
Theodora’s hologram sat down next to him. She reached out a hand, stopping the motion just before she touched him. “I did it for several reasons, sir, but primarily for one practical one and one romantic one.”
Iain’s voice sounded strangled. “Romantic?”
“You love Scheherazade so much, Iain. I can’t bring her back, but these children might help to assuage your pain.” She folded her arms around her knees. “And practically speaking, she was the only Dread Wolf and without these children the breed will stay extinct. I’d really like to make a full run of six hundred and twenty five Dread Wolves, grow them to pokegirls and distribute them throughout the Texas League, but I didn’t think I could ask for that with any reasonable hope you’d say yes to the idea, at least not yet. My reasoning for the other kits in here is essentially the same, except for Hathor. She wasn’t with you that long and Milktit are fairly common, but she was clan and deserves the same consideration as the others. I did make one minor change and while their horns will grow as large as hers, they can be trimmed and will stay short if desired.”
Iain rubbed his face and lay back flat on the floor. “How far along are they?”
“A little more than a week. I intend to stop their development about halfway through and hold them there until April has delivered and you’re ready for them. Then I’ll restart their growth and bring them to full term.” She cocked her head. “This technique will allow you to make sure that when she’s ready, Canaan can have children although she may have to forego pregnancy.”
He sat up slowly. “I’ve been concerned about that too. She hasn’t been pregnant since she became a Splice.”
“It has occurred to her as well. With research the issue should be able to be corrected in her kits but if she is infertile there may be little we can do for her.” She reached out towards him again, stopping before touching him. “Are you angry with me?”
“I was. For an instant I was in a murderous rage aimed at you. After a little bit of reflection I realize that you did this for me.” He smiled slightly. “After a little more reflection I decided that I appreciate the gesture and I think the children will be welcome in our family. Thank you.” He clambered slowly to his feet. “How many of the full sized chambers do you have that aren’t in use?”
Theodora rose gracefully. “I have a dozen more rooms that are set up for this kind of production. I was hopeful that you’d have more ideas about animals that we could produce.”
“When we get back to the universe we arrived from, there are many breeds of animals there that would be considered heirloom breeds. We’ll buy what we can and copy it for sale to others here.”
“That sounds eminently practical.”
Iain looked around the room once more and suppressed a soft shudder. “I really need to spend more time getting used to your technology. Take me to the teacher you had in mind for me and let’s get started.”
Theodora rewarded him with a warm smile. “I hear and I obey, my lord and master.”
He snorted. “Right.”
***
Iain Grey
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Peekabu
Vanessa - Evangelion
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Slutton
Ranch employees
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck - Doggirl
Ryan - Ponytaur
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Kitten (Uruguayan)
Allison - Umbrea
Silver - Ponytaur
12 Elves
2 Elfqueens - Dionne & Adrianna
Joyce - Milktit
Lara - Milktit
LakeEmployees
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
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