In Evil Times

by Melinda Snodgrass

  “I do have a question,” the alien said. “What do you want us bug-eyed monsters to do? Wait here, go back to the Triunfo?”

  Tracy keyed his ring to privacy and leaned in close. “We want to keep all four shuttles close to hand, but you’ve served your purpose. Go back to one of the shuttles and wait. It’s only another two days.”

  Donnel made a face. “Oh goody, two days of K-rations.”

  “You’ll survive.”

  “You should focus on that too,” the alien said.

  “You think they’ll be trouble?”

  “You’re all humans. Of course there will be trouble.”

  18

  LIES AND DAMN LIES

  Tracy looked like he’d had as little sleep as her. Mercedes also noticed that he took the chair next to Cipriana rather than the one at her side. It felt as if she had a stone lodged beneath her breastbone. What if he had tapped on her door last night? Would she have… She pushed the thought away and smiled at their hosts.

  “Thank you for your hospitality last night,” she said to Melodia.

  “Our pleasure. Was breakfast acceptable?”

  “Yes, it didn’t taste like any oatmeal I’ve ever eaten,” Mercedes said.

  “It’s an heirloom grain that we took from the vaults in Svalbard.” Melodia’s wrinkled lips quirked in a smile at their evident confusion. “Svalbard was a seed bank in Norway,” she explained. “It was located above the Arctic Circle. It was meant for a doomsday scenario, but doomsday came creeping up on us. By the time we left they were trying to put the bank in orbit since temperatures on Earth had risen enough that they were having to run air conditioning during the summer months to keep things frozen.”

  Mercedes seized on the remark as the perfect opening. “So climate change was the reason you left?”

  “One of the reasons, but wars were breaking out all across the globe,” Virginia said. She paused and considered then added, “Primarily over water, so I suppose the climate crisis was the proximate cause of most of the Earth’s problems.”

  “That and men,” Melodia said. Her eyes beneath the withered lids were reptile-cold.

  “Well, you’ll be pleased to know that the League is taking steps to reverse the effects of climate change on Earth. The Rothschilds have made it their personal cause,” Mercedes said.

  “Just as we’re doing on Earth, we have the technology to help turn Sinope into a more livable world,” Cipriana added. “As you probably know better than we do, humans are really good at heating up planets. Which this one definitely needs.”

  “That might be of interest to us,” Virginia said.

  “So tell us of your journey,” Mercedes asked. “How you picked candidates for your LV ship.”

  The youngest member of the triumvirate enthusiastically began the story. “The world was beset with wars, famine, drought and vast poverty. All of these ills fell most heavily on women and their children, and so our founder, Selene Dukmajian, said enough…”

  The story played out. Amelia’s delivery had the feeling of myth or dogma rather than a dry recitation of history. Engineering both mechanical and genetic was discussed, how the final selections were made for the Argand, their ship. Tracy ran the word through his tap-pad and inclined it so Mercedes could read—Language Armenian, meaning womb. She nodded and went back to listening.

  “Selene attempted to find men worthy of inclusion, but they always failed to overcome their biology.” There was a subtle reaction from the listening men that was quickly quelled at a look from the admiral.

  “Please explain that,” Mercedes interrupted.

  “Women are collegial. We know how to set aside competition. How to work together in harmony,” Virginia said.

  Cipriana let out a snort. “Oh please. I went to an all girls’ school. Talk about a bunch of backbiting bitches. Don’t tell me you’ve never met a mean girl.”

  “There are disputes,” Melodia admitted. “But we can resolve our differences without resorting to violence.”

  “So your troops are just decorative?” Tracy asked and got a glare for his trouble.

  “Testosterone is poison,” Melodia said firmly. That brought another reaction from the men.

  “I think it would be more accurate to say that we’re humans and humans are flawed,” Mercedes said.

  The story wound down to the women’s eventual arrival at Sinope. Virginia sighed. “It was a less than ideal planet, but the cryo units were beginning to fail, and seed has to occasionally be planted. It can only last so long in storage. The soil on the Argand was played out. So we made the best of what we had found. Here in the deep canyons we are sheltered from the worst of the storms and can safely settle.”

  “And now it’s our turn to hear your story,” Melodia said. “I assume you’ve perfected faster than light-speed travel.”

  “Yes. The Fold technology. It was approved for general use in 2117.”

  The glances this time were dismayed. “That’s only thirteen years after we left,” Amelia said.

  “I’m sorry,” Mercedes said. “It must be very hard to hear.”

  “It’s done and we’re building the kind of society we want.” Melodia’s voice was firm and uncompromising. Mercedes looked down at the table, worried what her eyes might reveal.

  “So tell us about the League,” Amelia said.

  “Yes, why the whole aristocracy thing?” Virginia’s tone was amused.

  That had her stumped. Mercedes had grown up in the heart of her society. Accepted it as normal. She looked to Cipri who gave a baffled shrug.

  “Perhaps we could hear from the one person who merited an introduction, but didn’t spray around their title and family tree.” Virginia looked pointedly at Tracy. He looked to Mercedes and raised his eyebrows, a clear interrogative.

  “By all means. Do answer the lady’s question, Captain-Lieutenant.” Mercedes leaned back, feigning a relaxation she so didn’t feel. Tracy’s resentment of the FFH was well known to her. It was anybody’s guess what he might say. She had to trust his loyalty to her station if not to her, the League and the service.

  “Our history professor at the academy pointed to the shock of discovering that aliens existed as one major reason,” Tracy began. “Take your own reactions. All through human history there had been a sense that humans were unique, God’s most perfect creation. Suddenly we were just one among many. There was fear and we found ourselves in combat with the more advanced races. Notably the Isanjo, the Sidones and the Cara’ot. We beat them, but I think there was a need to underscore our superiority. Titles were given to powerful corporate and military leaders. The FFH was born.”

  Virginia frowned. “When we left Earth those initials stood for the Fortune Five Hundred.”

  “They still do, but in a hereditary sense now,” Mercedes said.

  “So it’s still all about money and war,” Melodia sniffed.

  “And we should probably add sex,” Cipriana said.

  Stifling a giggle and pleased to see a flash of Cipri’s old insouciance, Mercedes added, “Though never with aliens. That is strictly forbidden.”

  “How do you feel about same sex coupling?” Virginia’s tone was challenging.

  “It’s accepted though we insist that homosexual couples bank their sperm, and we encourage lesbians to have children using some of that sperm. Male couples frequently adopt children from—” She broke off abruptly, then went on. “We also sanction three-party marriages. Though those are less common in my class,” Mercedes added.

  The three women stiffened. “Polygamy leads to the subjugation of women,” Amelia said.

  “Don’t assume it’s just multiple women. Polyandry is also allowed,” Tracy said.

  Melodia pinned him with a look. “How do you feel about this?”

  “Well, I couldn’t afford even one wife right now, but I’d be open to being kept,” Tracy said lightly.

  Her hand brushed the air as if shooing flies. “No, no, about not having a title?”
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  Mercedes held her breath. “The League rewards intelligence and competence,” Tracy said. “I was given a full scholarship to the High Ground. My father could never have afforded to give me that kind of education so I’m grateful.” The tone was level, unemotional, which Mercedes knew indicated how much was roiling just below the surface. Tracy was nothing if not passionate, but these women didn’t know that. Didn’t know his actual meaning.

  “And what do you give up for that education?” Amelia asked.

  “I have to serve five years in the Orden de la Estrella. After that I’m free to do something else.”

  “And will you?” Mercedes blurted out.

  “No. I’ll probably stay in the service. That’s the only way I’m likely to win a title.”

  “And that’s important to you?” Virginia asked.

  Tracy shrugged. “It’s one way of keeping score.” He turned his gaze on Mercedes and it was almost physical in its intensity.

  To break the tension that gripped her Mercedes abruptly asked, “So, what sort of industry have you developed on Sinope, and what resources could this planet offer to the League?” It was an inelegant transition at best, rude at worst, but Mercedes wanted to turn the discussion back to the women.

  “We have yet to decide if we want to offer anything to your League,” Melodia said dryly.

  “Oh, of course,” Mercedes hastened to say. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

  * * *

  They had gotten through the rest of the day discussing industry, mining interests, the government structure, but by the time they returned to their quarters Mercedes’ exhaustion could be read in every line of her body. Tracy knew how his muscles ached from tension. He could only imagine how much worse it was for Mercedes. Tracy longed to shake out her braid and give her a neck rub. Instead he had returned to a shuttle to send a tight beam to the ships and learn the status of the transports. Best guess they were fifteen hours out.

  The evening meal was eaten in near silence. “They never offer to dine with us,” Cipriana remarked.

  “Maybe it’s better that way,” Mercedes muttered.

  People had retired to bed early and this night Tracy managed to sleep. Now they were once again assembled in the conference room.

  He glanced at the chronometer inset in the sleeve of his uniform. Three hours. Give or take.

  “So how do you produce only daughters?” Mercedes took the discussion right to what was going to be the flashpoint once the League came in.

  “I sense some criticism,” Melodia said.

  “No.” To Tracy it was apparent Mercedes was lying, but he knew her very well so perhaps it would fool the women. “It is different though and not something we would ever do.”

  “You don’t do IVF?” Virginia asked. Her surprise was evident.

  “We do that. As we said yesterday, gay men are required to donate sperm,” Cipriana spoke up. “To be childless is a great tragedy in our culture.”

  “We just don’t manipulate the genetic… well, you know,” Mercedes stumbled into silence.

  Admiral Kartirci was unable to contain himself. “To select for sex would be, well, criminal.”

  Mercedes looked over her shoulder. “Let’s not be judgmental, Admiral. Different culture, different norms.”

  “Your pardon, Majesty.”

  “Might we see one of these labs?” Mercedes asked.

  There was a discussion between the trio. “We have no objection,” Melodia said.

  “But you must leave all these troops behind. It’s delicate work; we don’t need a crowd tromping through,” Virginia added.

  “Her Majesty should not be denied her security,” de Vilbiss said.

  Melodia gave him a look that was both amused and contemptuous. “Do you find us so frightening, Captain, and aren’t you up to the task of protecting Ms. Arango’s person? More to the point, do you feel she and Ms. Delacroix are unable to defend themselves?”

  “Umm, no of course not, but… but…”

  “She is our ruler,” Tracy said smoothly. “I presume that’s why the three of you have a security detail.”

  “And going back to an earlier discussion. If women are so nurturing and collegial why do you have police and soldiers?” Cipriana asked.

  “Possibly because of the intrusion of people like you,” Virginia snapped.

  Tension crackled through the room. Tracy found himself literally holding his breath and wondering how quickly he could call in that extra fire team.

  Mercedes patted the air placatingly. “Please, none of this is necessary. Of course any society needs police forces. None of us are angels.” She smiled at the three women. “We’ll leave behind our troops, but may the admiral and Captain-Lieutenant Belmanor accompany us?”

  Smart, Tracy thought. Leave behind the captain of the Triunfo to coordinate with the fusileros and Flag Captain Vink should that become necessary.

  After another consultation Melodia nodded. “That’s agreeable.”

  This time they left the cliff dwelling, and took an enclosed snowmobile farther up the canyon and into the opposite cliff wall. They passed women who were using extendable brushes to remove snow from the top of the domes. Through the transparent walls they could see more women working among the trees and rows of food. In one dome sheep and goats were grazing.

  “It seems a fragile ecosystem,” Kartirci said softly.

  “We have two other settlements and a distributed population so we can cover for each other if any one system has a failure.”

  “And what if you have multiple failures?” Mercedes asked.

  “Sometimes you just have to have faith,” Amelia said softly.

  They pulled up in front of another entrance and moved quickly out of the wind and into the hollowed-out cliff. Tracy noted that their driver accompanied them and that the woman was armed. Inside there was the sound of power tools being utilized. Clearly this section of Amastris was given over to industry.

  They reached a doorway that led into an antechamber where they were instructed to put on clean room coveralls complete with gloves, booties, hoods and masks. They were then led into the IVF laboratory.

  Five women garbed in the same fashion were working with pipettes, test tubes and petri dishes. Tracy recognized a number of powerful inverted microscopes that had the light source at the top rather than the bottom, and the lenses beneath the stage rather than above it.

  Melodia spoke softly to one woman who moved aside from her microscope allowing the visitors to look. Tracy was the last to look and he saw an ovum floating in solution. He stepped back and listened as the woman doctor described the ICSI—intracytoplasmic sperm injection—needles that were used.

  “Though in our case they aren’t sperm injectors, instead we’re injecting the genetic material of one ovum into another to give us the necessary number of chromosomes to create our new daughter, so I guess they’d be ICOI needles.”

  Tracy wondered if his face held as shocked an expression as the others. He had a feeling it did. “So no families or pair bondings?” Cipriana asked.

  “No, we form families, but they may involve multiple women,” another technician said.

  “The advantage to this method is that we’re able to detect and weed out any genetic abnormalities before a fertilized egg is implanted. We can do our genetic testing before a woman gets pregnant.”

  It seemed the reaction of the League guests had finally penetrated. “You do do genetic testing, right?” Amelia asked.

  Mercedes hedged and dodged. “Well, not really. I mean we could, and sometimes we do but…”

  She really needs to get much better at lying if she’s going to rule, Tracy thought.

  Unfortunately the women weren’t fooled. “So what you’re really saying is that fetal abnormalities aren’t detected, corrected, or aborted.” Virginia’s tone was disgusted.

  And then Kartirci stepped in it. Tracy had been too busy watching Mercedes to notice the older man’s growing an
ger and revulsion. “No, because genetic engineering is against the law.”

  “That’s just… crazy.” Amelia wasn’t looking at them with the same enthusiasm she’d shown up until this point.

  Hoping to salvage things Tracy rushed to say, “You saw my batBEM. He’s a Cara’ot, but that’s not the physical norm for that race. No one knows what’s normal. The Cara’ot traded in genetic material. They’ve been altering themselves for eons.”

  Cipriana picked up the tale. “They were our toughest adversaries when we stepped beyond our solar system. We realized we couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t alter our DNA, change what makes us essentially human, conquer us from within.”

  The three women exchanged glances. “That seems quite… paranoid,” Melodia said.

  “You didn’t fight the bastards,” Kartirci said grimly. “My grandfather fought them and told me stories.”

  “We have to make sure that humans stay human,” Cipriana added, her voice pleading for understanding. Based on the hostile looks it wasn’t working.

  “Is genetic engineering outlawed in your League?” Melodia stared coldly at Mercedes. Tracy watched his love struggle, trying to find a way to dodge the blunt, implacable question. Seconds passed. “I’ll take your silence as a yes.”

  A space seemed to have magically developed between the women of Sinope and the four League officers. Tracy’s eyes met the eye of a technician. She took another step back as if his mere gaze was dangerous.

  “I think it’s time you left,” Virginia said. Her tone was flat, implacable. “There is clearly no point in continuing these talks.”

  “We’re not that different. We’re both trying to keep our societies pure,” Mercedes said. “Please, we’re all humans.”

  Amelia’s communicator chimed. She stepped aside, listened. Tracy was trying to watch everyone and listen to the argument that was going on between Mercedes and Virginia. The blood drained out of Amelia’s face. Tracy tensed.

  “Ginny! Melodia! Seven more ships have arrived in orbit. Security says they’re huge!”

  Virginia lunged for Mercedes. “What are you up to?” Mercedes grabbed the older woman’s wrist, spun away and dumped her onto the floor.