Jennifer stared at the corner of Myka’s desk where he frequently perched. “Look at what it got him. The Emperor is not going to be happy when he finds out that Myka bonded with me. His future is now ruined, and I have no doubt that the bonding somehow is going to reflect poorly on the survey results and what will come from that.”
Poke flinched, but Jennifer didn’t notice. She looked at the same spot that Jennifer had fixated on. “Unfortunately, Jennifer, there’s still more that you need to know.”
“More? Why do I get the impression that it’s more bad news?”
“In your discussions, did the mission commander ever talk about Wakiran society and Wakiran families?”
Her gaze never left the corner of the desk. She desperately wished Myka would soon be sitting there telling her that it was all a false alarm. “He said something about how the females dominate the households, while the males dominate the society. Some sort of parallel structure. I figured that it was a way of creating some sort of gender-based balance of power.”
“You are correct, Jennifer. Bonded females rule in the family. Males are subservient towards their mates. It is part of the bonding process. Even the most headstrong male becomes submissive to his mate upon bonding. To counter this, tradition requires that males dominate in society. Organizations are always led by males. The Empire can only have an Emperor. It can never have a female ruler. In an organization, if a bonded pair work together, the male dominates. Once away from their jobs, the female dominates. It’s a balance that has prevented gender-based uprisings from occurring, since The Before Time. It is a necessary part of the Empire and of society. Balance of power is a necessity.”
“So, this means that I have to dominate Myka, when we’re together? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
Poke took her eyes off the desk, and looked at the barbarian sitting beside her. It was clear that she had no clue of what was going to happen. “That, unfortunately, is not the information I’m trying to impart. It is much much more than that, Jennifer. Much more. There is a position in society that is called the Mother of the Empire—.”
“He mentioned that once. I called it the Warrior Queen. Something to do with being a figurehead leader of the military, I think.”
Again the alien woman blinked twice. The Terran doesn’t know at all, she thought to herself. “Part of the necessary balance requires a balance of power with the Emperor. Since The Before Time, a female has been appointed the Mother of the Empire. The Great Mother. She is more than a military figurehead, Jennifer. She IS the military head.”
“Huh?” Jennifer looked at the alien woman with a confused look on her face, before turning her eyes back to the desk.
“Like a mother protects her offspring — protects and nurtures — the Great Mother protects and nurtures her children. All of the Wakira. Every male and female. No matter how young or how old. We ‘become’ her children. We act like her children — wanting to obey, to please, to support and to protect. We have never been able to figure out why this change in us takes place. It’s not just tradition — we cannot help ourselves. And the female, when she becomes the Great Mother, also changes, becoming more like a mother. She looks upon us as her children, expecting obedience and submission.
“The Great Mother possesses more power than the Emperor does in a certain limited area. She is the one who plots and plans military actions, and manages the military forces. It is not ceremonial. She actually composes the battle plans, often with input from her generals, but that isn’t a requirement. She is also responsible for internal migration and colonization, for health, medicine, and welfare, for education and for culture. In these areas, she rules. The Emperor can ask, but cannot overrule. In everything else — internal commerce, external relations, economics, justice, politics, taxation, and whatever else, the Emperor rules. The Great Mother remains completely silent in these areas.”
“I get the impression you’re leading towards telling me something that I’m not going to like to hear.”
“The Mother of the Empire is always either the mate of the Emperor, or the mate of the heir. You, Jennifer, will be the next Great Mother.”
Jennifer had trouble letting the words sink in. “Being the mate of the next Emperor I could possibly handle. But being the next Great Mother? The Wakira will never accept an alien being their mother. Assuming I’ve understood you correctly.”
“The Empire will have no choice, Jennifer. Nor will its people.”
“But I don’t know anything about interstellar warfare! I can’t be your Great Mother. Crap! What are we going to do?”
Poke patted Jennifer’s hand once again. “There will be time. The current Mother is in reasonable health, and will remain in the role of Our Mother for a number of years yet. You will have time to learn all that you need to learn. Normally, once the candidate has been found to be acceptable, several years pass before she is appointed.”
“How am I going to be deemed acceptable by anyone? Who decides anyways? Is there some sort of great council that gathers to question the female and test her?” Jennifer’s gaze returned to the desk. Oh Myka, hurry back and tell me that it was a false alarm!
A light flickered just above the desk’s surface, right in the corner where she was looking. Poke noticed it too. “There is the answer to your question. The symbiote knows what has happened and has appeared. It decides if you are acceptable. And it decides when you are ready to take over the role.”
The flickering stopped, and gelatinous gray mass sat on the desk. “What is that?! Where did it come from?!”
“It is a symbiote. Since the beginning of our recorded history — at the end of The Before Time — a symbiote has decided if the candidate was acceptable, then when the candidate was ready to assume the position. We do not know where they come from. We do not know how they know when a bonding has taken place, or where. But here it is. It knew that Myka —” she used the same form of the name that Jennifer did “— was here on Terra, on board this ship, and that he had just bonded. It has come to join with you, Jennifer. To become one with you.”
Jennifer looked at Poke with a horrified look on her face. “Become one with me? What the heck does that mean?” She looked back at the strange looking mass and started feeling queasy. “I’m frightened, Poke. Every part of me is screaming to run away.”
“You cannot, Jennifer. I beg you not to. If you refuse, the Empire will collapse into civil war within a decade. Planet against planet, tribe against tribe, clan against clan, family against family, gender against gender. If you refuse, you condemn us all to certain destruction.”
The horrified look was replaced by a look of incredulity. “You want me to let that thing into my head? Just so you won’t go around killing each other? When I stayed on the football field to greet your people, I wasn’t offering myself up as some sort of bizarre sacrifice. I didn’t ask for any of this. I just wanted to be helpful. It’s not bad enough that I was going to have to leave my dad and my dreams just to be the future Emperor’s consort, but now you’re insisting that I stick something into my head that you admit you know nothing about. You ask for too much, Poke! Dammit! I just wanted to be nice to you people.” She turned her eyes back to the gray mass sitting at the corner of the desk.
“No one can make you do it, Jennifer. No one will. It was a mistake to send the heir on a mission. At least, with him still unbonded. But they sent him. The scientists were sure that males would be safe from bonding with Terrans. They were clearly wrong. And we have no idea why it has happened. But it has happened. And I am not exaggerating when I say that tens of billions of lives will be lost if you do not allow the symbiote to join with you and enter your mind. As a young girl, I learned about the joining. They taught us so we would be ready, in case it happened to one of us. I got to meet with Our Mother. She said that she scarcely noticed that the symbiote was there. She talked like we talk. She walked like we walk. She had the same emotions as before, just like all the other Wakira. He
r thinking scarcely changed, she said. Except for the change in attitude towards the rest of us — when she became Our Mother in spirit not just in title.”
“How many other aliens have been chosen by these symbiotes?”
Poke sighed. “None. You are the first. No one thought this sort of thing would ever happen.”
“So, you don’t know what it will do to me. It might not like the fact that I’m not Wakira. Instead of joining with me, it might try and harm me.”
“There is no reason to assume that it would, Jennifer,” she replied.
“But you have no proof that it won’t!” Jennifer stood and faced the alien female. “Poke, you’re asking me to do something that I absolutely don’t want to do, for a people whom I scarcely know, risking who knows what in the process.”
Jennifer spun to face the mass that was still quivering. “What the heck are you?” she said to it. “What would you do to me? Would I be too alien for you?”
She turned back to Poke. “You’re asking me to give up my hopes, my dreams, my family, my future, my very being — who I am — so your people won’t go and kill each other. You want me to give up everything. Everything!”
Poke looked down at the floor. “Yes.”
Jennifer walked past the mass to the far wall, and turned to face the Wakiran again. “This is unbelievable. This is totally unbelievable. Do you ask for the impossible from other species that you survey? Or am I the lucky grand prize winner?”
Poke’s eyes stayed down. “I do not understand the reference.”
Jennifer walked back and sat back down beside her. “Nevermind.” This time, she picked up one of the alien’s hands. “I don’t want to go, Poke. I don’t want to be paraded around your Empire as the barbarian female that the prince brought back with him. I don’t want to be the only human around. And I certainly don’t want that thing in my head. What am I supposed to do? You guys are asking too much of me.”
Poke lifted her eyes up. “There are no other options, Jennifer. You give up everything, as you said, and come back with us, and we live. You refuse, and we shall surely die. This never should have happened! If we females had not entered cycle prematurely, one of us might have accidentally bonded with him, before we realized we had entered cycle. Then neither of us would be in this situation. But it has happened the way it has. I do not know your religious beliefs, but this must be what the Provider, our god, wanted to have happen. I have no idea why. This is sheer disaster. Ignoring entirely the fact that the Emperor is 12 days away. A surplus of bother! They should never have sent us here. Your species is too immature — your technology too primitive still. There was no need. And now this. The future of my species depends solely on the decision of a frightened alien female. It cannot possibly get worse than this!” Her eyes again looked down, and her face became drawn, as if she was trying to cry.
Jennifer said nothing. She gently stroked the top of Poke’s left hand. “Oh God, why? I should’ve run. I should’ve run, should’ve run, should’ve run. But no, I had to seize the opportunity to be the point of first contact! A nerdette’s dream. Only now, it’s turned into a fricking nightmare!”
Again, she fell silent. Poke was too distraught to speak. Are my people at risk, Jennifer asked in her mind. Has this visit just been about learning about us? Are we being judged? What happens if we are and we’ve failed? Madness! But what if it’s true? Would they even tell us that they were going to destroy us? That we’ve failed somehow and that we have to be eliminated? If so, would my sacrificing myself to save the Empire mean that mankind would be left unharmed? I think I could do it — I think I could do it if that was the only way to ensure that we would survive. But how do I know if that’s the case? Are we in danger? Are they going to destroy us? They haven’t said what the consequences might be, or even if there are consequences. If I don’t have to do this in order to save my people, I don’t want to. Do I offer to? Would my offering to allow that thing into my head mean absolute protection for my people and my planet? Oh God, rescue me from this, please!
“I don’t want to do it Poke. I can’t bear the thought of having an alien presence in my head the rest of my life. I can’t bear the thought of being in a place where I would know no one. Where I wouldn’t have a single friend. But how could I live with myself if I refuse and let billions of your people die?” She dropped Poke’s hand and wiped away tears. “I don’t want to go —. What was that curse you used? A surplus of bother?”
The alien’s eyes were still fixed on the floor. “We are not as well endowed with expletives as you Terrans. A shipload of fecal matter is definitely far more appropriate for this situation.”
Again, there was silence. After several moments, Jennifer finally spoke. “Will you stay with me?” Poke froze. “Will you be with me? Will you be there for me? I have to have someone. I can’t relate to a prince or an emperor. I’m not even sure that I’ll be able to relate to Myka as a lover. I’ll need someone who can understand me. Whom I can relate to. I can’t face an entire Empire alone.”
Poke’s face brightened. “Of course I will, Jennifer. I will be your guide. I will speak only English with you. I will learn to understand your humor. I’ll even pretend to like your music.”
Their eyes met; tears were streaming down Jennifer’s face. “I’m afraid, Poke. I’ve never been so afraid before in my life!” She stood. “Oh crap, what am I agreeing to?” Poke stood, and slouched to be closer to eye level. “We better hurry before I come to my senses and change my mind.”
“Thank you Jennifer. On behalf of my people — my species — thank you!”
Jennifer buried her face in her hands. “Oh damn. I don’t want to do this. But I have to. There’s no choice —. Why did you guys have to come? Why am I having to sacrifice myself for a people I don’t know?!” She dropped her hands. “Oh crap! How do we do this?”
Poke quickly explained the process to Jennifer. The symbiote gains access to the mind through skin contact. It would be worn like clothing — or more precisely — like a second skin. She needed to completely undress, then place the symbiote anywhere on her body. It would distribute itself. Within seconds, she would start to have visions, first of her past, then one single vision of the future. At that point in time, the symbiote will have entered her mind.
Jennifer undressed, then walked over to the still-quivering mass, while Poke politely looked the other way. “I hate this Poke. I want so much to run from the ship as far as I can.”
“Try not to feel fear or apprehension, Jennifer. You must try as best as possible to welcome it into your mind. That is what we were taught.”
“Protect me, Lord,” she said under her breath, as she picked up the mass and placed it on her left thigh.
It was pleasantly cool on her skin, as it slowly spread itself up onto her torso, and down the leg at the same time. Jennifer couldn’t bear to watch. Be nice to me, she kept saying in her mind, hoping that the thing would hear her and understand. She felt it spread around her left leg, around her groin and start down her right leg. She closed her eyes, and let the nerves in her skin tell her where the symbiote had spread to. Around her backside, and slowly up her back. Across her ribs and over her breasts. One shoulder then the other, then down both arms.
“I’m afraid, Poke!” she called out.
“Try not to be, Jennifer. Welcome it. Think of it not as an invader but as a friend.”
Then the visions came. In the first, she was a young girl, climbing out her bedroom window clutching her glitter dress Barbie. Her first visit to the Stone porch. As soon as it faded, the second appeared. Her mother and father laughing, being nice to each other. A late summer evening by a lake. She was 7; it was her Great Camping Adventure. The last time her family was happy together. It too faded, and was replaced by an older Jennifer. She was in an arena. It was a gymnastics competition, and she was about to do a vault. The costume she wore in the vision had purple sleeves — college. The regional intercollegiate championship. Her first vau
lt she had botched, the second one she had aced. Hopefully, the thing wouldn’t make her relive her most embarrassing moment. The step back, the hop step, exploding down the runway, hit the board, half-twist, touch the horse, complete the twist, null it out, pull hard for the double back summy. Nailed it! She felt good inside as this vision too faded. She was now sitting at her drum kit. They were performing. She looked around, and recognized the gig immediately. Davenport, in a small theater setting. Biggest gig they ever had. Best performance ever. This vision, too, faded.
Then she saw a battlefield. A brutally scarred landscape, stumps of destroyed buildings, smoke and searing heat blowing against her skin. And bodies. Dead bodies laying scattered all across the ground in front of her. As far as the eye could see. Thousands, millions of dead bodies. No billions. Billions dead, all because of her. She cried out wordlessly. Whole planets destroyed; civilian populations wiped out. Innocent civilians dead, all because of her. “Noooooo!!!! Make it stop!!!!”
Somewhere a voice said something unintelligible.
Then blackness. And a presence. “Slowly,” she told it. “Don’t push. Don’t push!” She could no longer hear, nor see, nor feel. As if she had been cut off from her body. “Don’t leave me this way! I let you in — don’t leave me trapped like this!”
She could sense it move from place to place in her mind. “Not my music! That’s the most important thing in my life! There’s plenty of room — don’t delete who I am. Please, I beg you. Don’t destroy me.” She felt like crying, but found that she couldn’t. “Please. I let you in. I didn’t fight. I tried to welcome you. Give me my body back, please.”
The voice spoke again. “Jennifer, are you alright?” The voice was distorted and reverbed. Almost like an echo. “Jennifer, can you hear me?”
“Who are you?” another voice said. It too was distorted and echoed.
“It’s Pokaifashta, Jennifer. Did it work? Did it enter your mind?”
And What of Earth? Page 10