“A wedding present for your mother and her bride,” Angelique announced. “It is a fine Chasadan silver tea set from the Sarayanne Mountains. To bless their home.”
Sarah was duly gratified. “Thank you, Angelique,” she said bowing. “That was very thoughtful of you. I will make certain that my mother and her bride both know where the gift came from.”
“It was only fitting,” the RSE General returned airily. “I like to think that everyone that I share a conversation with, and their families, are part of my extended family as well. When you get back, I would like to speak with you some more, especially about a little project that I have in the works.”
“Thank you. I will look forwards to that,” Sarah said, taking Angelique’s hand just long enough, and with just enough warmth, for Maya to finally realize that at one time in their past, the two women had shared more than just their loyalty to the State. This was only confirmed when they hugged one another and held on for just a shade too long.
Filing this interesting bit of information away, Maya followed Sarah to their gate and boarded the passenger ship.
The trip to Zommerlaand itself proved to be a short and uneventful affair. Located only 21.4 light years from the Capitol in the neighboring Solara Elant, the entire transit took them only two standard hours to complete.
As worlds went, Maya immediately discovered that Thermadon and Zommerlaand were as far away from one another in character as any two planets could have ever been.
A confirmed ‘city girl’, she was immediately taken aback by the sheer openness of the place. With the exception of Waanderstaad, the planet appeared to be one gigantic agrifarm, with only small towns interrupting the otherwise unbroken fields and patches of woodland. She could almost smell the boredom from space.
They touched down two minutes later, and as they disembarked, and walked across the tarmac together, Maya began to wonder what she was going to do with herself during their visit. Other than watching the crops grow, it didn’t seem like Zommerlaand had very much to offer anyone who was still alive and breathing. Even the gigantic silos lining the spaceport, and the constant coming and goings of the merchanters failed to impress her. Although it was considered to be the ‘Breadbasket of the Sisterhood’, Zommerlaand also appeared to be a planet of hicks.
Still, it was far better than suffering any more of Angelique’s company, or her stuck-up sisters, and after the ETR, she had to admit that it was just possible that a little quiet would do her some good. As long as there wasn’t going to be too much of it.
The Chief of the Vaalkenstaad Police was waiting for them in the terminal, and positively gushed over Sarah’s presence. “Colonel n’Jan, it is so good to meet you. Welcome to Zommerlaand! I do hope that you will enjoy your stay on our little world.”
“I am certain that my mother’s wedding will make the experience a pleasant one,” Sarah answered regally. “And thank you so much for coming out here to meet us, Chief. I am sure that you have more pressing duties that you could be attending to.”
Maya strongly doubted this, but kept her tongue. Absent a serial ‘cow-tipper’ rampaging through the darkened countryside, she didn’t imagine that the local kaapers were terribly ‘busy’ with anything. They were after all, yokels.
“Nothing that I couldn’t put aside for a guest,” the Chief assured her. “I understand that you just completed a tour of the ETR.” The way she said this made the Republic seen like some fantastic and exotic land, and not the shess-hole that Maya knew it really was.
“Yes,” Sarah replied. “We have just returned. As you can imagine, we are very glad to be back in the Sisterhood—and civilization.”
The Chief smiled and beckoned to her companion, another policewoman, and Maya had to suppress a gasp. The woman was unquestionably one of the largest ‘Zommies’ that she had ever seen, and she hefted their luggage as if it weighed less than nothing. Her name tag read simply, “Jotunsdaater.” Another hick, Maya decided, but a really big one.
“Well, Colonel,” the Chief was saying, “some folks wouldn’t call Sunna 3 ‘civilization’ exactly, but we do like to think that we do our part here to keep things going. Zommerlaand is after all the grain basket of our great nation, and we’re very proud of what we contribute.”
“I tend to regard Zommerlaand as the very hub of our Sisterhood,” Sarah returned. “Without it, and other great planets like it, the Sisterhood would simply grind to a halt. I think that some of the more urbanized worlds—and their women—could stand to remember that when they sit down at their tables to eat. Certainly, the efforts of your department, and others like it, only helps to ensure the security of such an important planet.”
Maya tried desperately not to gag. The Chief however, bought the whole thing, and actually seemed to be standing taller, and straighter. “We do our best in Vaalkenstaad,” she replied.
“We know,” Sarah assured her. By this point they were outside, and the Chief’s hovercruiser was sitting at the curb. It was an older model, Maya noted, and had clearly just received its new RSE markings. Nonetheless, the woman beamed with pride as she opened the rear door for them.
Despite herself, Maya had to hand it to her companion. With only a few brief words, Sarah had the woman, and her entire department for that matter, in the very palm of her hand. Hicks liked it when they thought that they were part of something that mattered.
The drive out from the spaceport to Grunvaald Haarmaaneplaatz felt like something out of a primitive animation, with one stretch of corn field being replaced by another that looked exactly like it. Only the momentary appearance of farm houses and barns lent the experience any variety, and then, only slightly. After a while, even these structures began to look alike.
Just when Maya was certain that she was about to doze off from pure ennui, the cruiser slowed and turned off of the main highway onto a dirt road. Cresting a small rise, and coming down into a shallow valley ringed with woods, she got her first glimpse of the farm itself.
It was rustic, and it was plain, but she could immediately see why Sarah’s mother had chosen it for her residence. Grunvaald Farm was all of this, but also charming in a way that the other farms she had seen were not. There was a simple grace, and a peacefulness to the place, that seemed to transcend its neighbors, and Maya felt herself being drawn to it. Here, she realized, she could rest if she wanted to, and the entire galaxy with all of its strife and drama, would pass her by and never find her. It was safe.
A figure stood on the porch watching their approach. Although she was far shorter than their giantess of a driver, or any of them for that matter, the old woman exuded a feeling of power that overtopped her guests. This had to be Lilith’s in-law, Maya realized.
Grammy came down the stairs and walked out to the hovercar. “Vaalkomm,” she said. “Thank you for coming such a long way, and Chief, thank you for bringing Sarah to me.”
Where the Chief had been obsequious towards Sarah, the woman was positively subservient with Grammy. “Oh Grammy,” the official said. “Don’t mention it. Always happy to do a favor for our local Vitkaa.”
Grammy grinned at this, and then regarded Maya and Sarah. “Sarah, Vaalkomm to both of you! And Maya, a great pleasure to meet you.”
Maya found this greeting a little odd, but immediately passed it off as a local custom. It would only be much later, that the old woman’s words to Sarah would make perfect sense. For now, it was simply a pleasantry and nothing more.
“Now, I’m sure that after your long trip, you would like to freshen up,” Grammy continued. “Fryya here will show you up to your rooms.” She indicated a small girl who had come out to ogle at all the excitement. “Oh, and Chief, I have fresh lemonade for you and your officer.”
“Ach, you are too kind,” the Chief replied. Together, they all followed Grammy into the cool interior of the farmhouse.
Once they had been settled into their rooms, Sarah went off in search of her mother, and Maya suddenly found herself with no partic
ular destination. Grammy didn’t let things stay this way for very long, however.
“Marta and Lisl just rode up,” she informed her. “Gaane, I’ll introduce you.” They went back outside. Two young women were just getting off of their horses.
“You two,” Grammy said to them, waving a cooking spoon towards them with great authority. “If you’re not too busy riding ‘round in circles, you might want to show Maya the farm. I’ll bet she’s never seen a working farm before.”
“Yah, Grammy,” Marta said, tying her beast and coming up to Maya. “Gaane an, Maya. You’ll like our little place.”
Maya gave the horses an uncertain look, and Marta laughed. “No, don’t worry, we’ll walk. We can save the horses until later.” Reassured, she fell in with them as they began to walk away from the farmhouse and left the dangerous looking creatures behind them.
Not more than ten paces along, Grammy called after them. “Make sure you’re back for supper! You hear me? I want us to greet Lily’s daughter and her friend right and proper!”
“Yah, no troubles, Grammy,” Marta promised, waving back at her. She turned to Maya. “So, you’re from Thermadon then?”
“No,” Maya told her. “Delgen. But I’ve lived in Thermadon on and off for the last few years.” She didn’t mention the circumstances though. “You two?”
“Straight up Zommies,” Marta replied with a broad smile. “Born and bred right here in the middle of nowhere.”
“So, what do you do for fun around here?” Maya asked.
“Oh, all the usual hick things,” Marta said casually. “That, and party down with what we don’t ship off planet.”
That got Maya’s attention. “What would that be?”
Marta winked at her sister conspiratorially. “What we don’t put in the czigavars,” she answered. “They only use the low grade stuff. What’s too powerful for the Vreestaande, we keep. Sort of a reward for all our hard work.”
By this point, they had come to a large barn and went inside. After the brightness of the suns outside, the interior was as dark as a black hole, but as they went deeper, Maya’s eyes gradually adjusted. At the very back, Marta took a box down from a set of shelves and opened it up.
Inside were what looked just like normal czigavars, but they weren’t labeled, and to Maya’s eye, they didn’t seem to be filled with the usual tobacco-cannabis hybrid that so many Sisterhood women indulged in.
She was completely correct. “The Green Goddess herself—the straight stuff,” Marta explained, inhaling and igniting the thing. She held her breath for a few seconds, and then, exhaling, passed it over to Maya. “She helps us to pass the time now and again.
Then she laughed, and added, “And Grammy likes to put some of it in her cookies. You should try them. They’re gaanska geshmaak.”
Maya took a drag. When she exhaled at last, the stuff hit her full on. It was Zogat all over again, only better. Much, much better.
As she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation, Lisl produced a jar of clear liquid, took a sip and offered it to her. Whatever it was, Maya thought that it made Aqqa seem like watered down fruit juice, and like the homemade czigavar, it was just as welcome.
She also discovered that she wasn’t that unhappy with Zommerlaand after all, or as concerned over what she was going to do for entertainment. Even though Marta and her sister were still hicks, they weren’t bad people after all, she concluded. And by the time supper was ready, she was not only pleasantly high, but totally ravenous.
***
Much later, in the early hours before dawn, Grammy, Ingrit and Jan bar Daala stood together out in the front yard. Grammy inclined her head up towards the window of the guest bedroom.
“There’s a few things I need you to tell Sarah,” she said to the Ensign. Then she related the details.
Jan listened, and when she was ready, she let her eyes roll up in her head, and sagged into Ingrit’s arms. Barely ten minutes went by before she was back with them again, and standing up on her own.
“It’s done,” she announced. “She was a little hard to reach, but I’m sure she got the message.”
“Gaanskaa gaad,” Grammy nodded. “When the time comes, it will make all the difference for Maya. You are a good, good friend to us, Jan bar Daala.”
Jan blushed. “I only do the Watcher’s bidding.”
Grunvaald Haarmaaneplaatz, Vaalkenstaad Township, Zommerlaand, Sunna 3, Solara Elant, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1048.11|09|04:68:39
Lilith was exhausted. She had spent her entire morning finishing work on projected dispositions for the Topaz Fleet for the next month. Even though Admiral ebed Cya had given her time off to attend to her wedding, her sense of duty had compelled her to work on the project—a little bit at a time.
The afternoon brought no reprieve. Grammy had also tasked her with work. She was expected to handle the invitation list, and this proved to be even more daunting than posting starships to their respective quadrants. There were hundreds of possible invitees, from all over the planet, not to mention women from everywhere else. Between herself, and Grammy, it seemed that they knew everyone in the Sisterhood, or at least knew someone who knew that person. Deciding who to invite, who not to invite and who would feel slighted if they weren’t invited, felt like a truly Sisyphean labor.
And as she worked, a growing feeling of depression had also begun to overtake her. She knew the cause of it readily enough; regret. Of all of the events in her private life, her impending marriage to Ingrit was one of those that she would have wanted to share with Alex Rodraga. She hadn’t thought of him in many months, but the long list of friends and associates had brought his memory back into focus.
She needed a break, she finally realized, and the chance to regroup herself emotionally.
The day was warm, so she sought her respite on the large swing on the back porch with a cool glass of lemonade. She wasn’t alone for very long however. Sarah, who had also been involved in the ‘Great Invitation Campaign’, came out with her own glass in hand and joined her.
“Something’s been bothering you all morning, Mother,” she observed “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Lilith responded with a sigh that belied her words. “I’m just remembering someone from the war.”
Sarah reached out and touched her hand. “Who was she?”
Lilith shook her head. “Not a ‘she’, a ’he’. He was the ETR liaison officer aboard the Athena.”
“A ‘he’?” Sarah asked stiffening.
But Lilith didn’t notice this. She was gazing out over the fields, her eyes fixed on the past, and what might have been, had they all made different choices.
“Yes,” she answered. “’He’. I killed him.”
“Of course you did,” Sarah said. “You were only doing your duty.”
Lilith looked over at her with a bitter expression. “Yes, my ‘duty’. I’d rather have not ‘done my duty’. Alex was my friend and he deserved better than that.”
“Your friend?” Sarah returned incredulously. “How could he have been your friend? He was just a man! He was the enemy! Frankly, had I had my way, we would have cleaned out the lot of them when we were given the opportunity to do so.”
Lilith’s mouth opened in astonishment, and she put her glass down before her fingers failed her and she dropped it. “Sarah, do you sincerely believe that?”
“I do, “Sarah replied, drawing herself up. “Thanks to them, the Republic was as backward as it was, and if their men hadn’t been allowed to interfere, the ETR might have actually won their silly little war. As it was, they did interfere, and naturally, they lost. Of course, this is all that one can expect from such a degenerate society.”
Lilith shook her head. “Sarah, I can’t believe that this is coming out of your mouth. I thought that Jan and I had raised a daughter with more intelligence. Haven’t you learned anything working in the ETR?”
“I have learned,” Sarah retorted. “I’ve learned that without males to weigh them
down, the women of the Republic have great potential. Once they fully embrace Motherthought and rid themselves of those perverted creatures, the sooner they will be ready to become part of the greater Sisterhood and realize their true greatness.”
“That,” Lilith said pointedly, “is madness. Sheer, unadulterated madness.”
Sarah stood angrily. “No, Mother it is not. It is enlightened thinking. I for one, am ashamed to learn that you actually befriended one of these men. How dare you call yourself a patriot! You should be glad for what you did; you did your fellow women a favor by eliminating him.”
Now it was Lilith’s turn to stand, and she found herself shaking with rage. “Sarah, let me tell you something; we’re the ones who lost the war, not the ETR! Do you want to know why? Because it turns out that men are not ‘inferior’ at all. They are our equals!”
Sarah looked at her in shock. For her part, Lilith was just as surprised at herself. Only a few years earlier, she had been more than happy to see Trooper Jon fa’Teela sent off of her ship in disgrace. Rodraga, and her experiences in the ETR, had changed her far more than she had realized.
“Do you know what else, Sarah? Motherthought is dead. It died the day that we made contact with the Republic. And someday very soon, they’ll become part of the Sisterhood, and then we’ll all become something else.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Sarah hissed.
“I think that we need to stop talking,” Lilith growled.
“That suits me just fine!” Sarah retorted icily. Abruptly, she spun on her heels and stormed back into the farmhouse, slamming the screen door behind her.
Lilith made a vain attempt to compose herself, and then decided that she had had enough of the porch. So she went inside, and met Ingrit as she came into the kitchen. Her future bride had been working out at the barn, helping some of the other women to build the tables that they would need for the wedding feast.
“What was that all about?” Ingrit asked, wiping away the sweat from her brow. “Sarah just stormed past me like some pissed-off Valkyrija.”
Sisterhood of Suns: Daughters of Eve Page 37