Sisterhood of Suns: Daughters of Eve

by Martin Schiller

  But wasn’t time all that she really had now? And what else deserved that time? She couldn’t think of a thing.

  EPILOGUE

  Grunvaald Haarmaaneplaatz, Vaalkenstaad Township, Zommerlaand, Sunna 3, Solara Elant, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1049.03|13|07:93:32

  Sunset was turning the skies of Zommerlaand a deep red-orange. Kaly stared into the fires of the twin suns, ignoring the pain that their light caused as she poured out Margasdaater’s ashes. A gust of wind came up and caught the dust, scattering it in every direction, but Kaly kept at it until every bit of her friend’s remains had been emptied from the urn.

  When she was done, she carefully resealed the container and put it into her carry sack. Grammy came up and joined her. “She is home now,” she said.

  “Yes,” Kaly answered. “We both are.”

  ***

  As Kaly and Grammy returned to the farm, Jon fa’Teela stepped into a plaza on Thermadon, accompanied by his acolytes. On this world, the sun was high in the sky, and the day promised to be hot and pitiless. This did not deter him though. He had things that he needed to say to the crowd. He had a message to deliver.

  Expectant eyes turned towards him as he mounted the makeshift stage, and voices stilled, waiting for his words. Composing himself, he looked out over the audience, and finally, at the very edge of the assembly, he spotted her.

  She was just as he had seen in his vision. Her eyes burned with hatred for him, and under the folds of her cloak, he knew that she carried his death.

  Is it today? he wondered. Just as he had expected it would, the Angel had appeared at his side, dressed in its strange green robe.

  “Not today, Jon”, it told him. “But soon enough. Today, you must speak with wisdom. These women have all come a long ways to hear your words.”

  Jon stepped forwards, raised his hands, and ignoring his assassin, began his sermon.

  ***

  Maya walked into the cabin that had once been Sarah’s. It was hers now, and she had replaced the decorations in it with some of her own.

  The most significant of these was a holo of the Necropolis, seen from the Free City. It was animated, and she paused to watch as the random program spun a dust devil into existence on the clean white sands that separated the Xee city from the ancient ruins.

  Finally, she turned away from the image and made for her bed. Jeena taur K’aut’sha was already there, sound asleep.

  It had been a long shift and Maya was bone tired herself. She looked forwards to curling up with her lover and finally getting some rest. And in the morning, when she was in better shape, she planned to make the process of waking up with Jeena something to look forwards to.

  Lowering herself onto the mattress, she thought about the lights going off. They flickered for a second, then dimmed and went out.

  This got her attention.

  Normally, they went out instantly. She realized, that in her fatigue, she had not taken the additional step of using her psiever to send the command. Tentatively, she formulated a desire for illumination, and made certain to omit the usual ‘send’ command that should have followed it. After a brief hesitation, the cabin lights came on.

  Suddenly, Maya didn’t feel tired any longer. She left the chamber, and headed for the bridge. Zara was on duty there, pulling third watch, and already ensconced with one of her hellish TroieDoku holopuzzles and a snack from the galley.

  The JUDI‘s Engineer looked up at Maya in surprise. “I thought you were goin t’bed.”

  “I was,” Maya answered. “I couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d come back up here and get in some study time on the astrographic charts.”

  Zara shrugged in acceptance, and went back to her puzzle. The JUDI was laying over in an anonymous binary star system, in preparation for a transit that would take them into V’raan space and a potentially lucrative smuggling deal. For now however, they were forced to wait. Their contact was still on the way to the rendezvous point.

  Maya pretended to look over one of the files, but as soon as she knew that Zara was completely distracted, she shifted her gaze to the forward sitscreen and the twin stars that were shining in the distance.

  Silently, she mouthed the notes of the Song and formed a wish in her mind. Then she waited to see if what she suspected was true.

  When the star that she had been concentrating on dimmed, went dark, and then brightened again, Maya knew she had been correct.

  Ever since leaving the Tree, a deep feeling of connectedness had remained

  with her. Little things had been happening; odd ‘coincidences’ like the incredible luck that she had enjoyed when she had thrown her sword at Angelique, and other events just like it.

  Oddly, it had been Angelique herself who had provided her with the vital clue. “Come,” she had said, “you don’t need these others; they might not have told you, but once the Tree has been unlocked, only the User really matters.”

  The woman had been telling the truth, she realized. Somehow, she had managed to retain a portion of her God-like powers to influence physical reality.

  Most women would have either been excited by this, or terrified. They also would have made some outward display of their emotions.

  Maya didn’t do so. Instead, she pretended as if everything was completely normal, and simply rose, offered Zara a polite goodnight and climbed back down the ladder.

  This time, when she reentered her quarters, she smiled at the image of the ruins. The Tree—or at least the one on Ashkele—was gone, but not her connection with the galaxy spanning network of machines that it had been linked to. Once the User’s hand had directed them, the machines never forgot, and the bond between them was never really broken.

  It actually made perfect sense, she reflected. Just as her experience within the Tree had shown, the Drow’voi ruins were everywhere in the galaxy. No place was too far from any one of them, and as long as she was within the confines of the Milky Way, they could, and did, hear her.

  This was not something that she planned to disclose to anyone however. Not to Lady Ananzi, Jeena, or even Skylaar. Her escapade had taught her many things, but the most valuable lesson she had come away with had been about keeping secrets. Some information was simply too dangerous to entrust to others. Even to friends.

  ***

  Fleet Admiral Myrelli ebed Cya watched as the star in the JUDI’s sitscreen vanished and then reappeared. She wasn’t overawed by the sight in the least. She had expected it, and sighed in contentment.

  Her guest, who had joined her to view the secret recording, mirrored her reaction. Lady Ananzi was proud of her protégé, and what they had managed to achieve with her.

  Maya didn’t know it, but as long as she was alive, she was the Sisterhood’s metaphorical ‘ace-in-the hole’. It didn’t matter to either of them that the girl had abandoned her nation. That was only a temporary condition. With the right manipulation, by the right agent—in this case

  Jeena taur K’aut’sha—they both knew that she would eventually be

  persuaded to return.

  When she finally did, the Sisterhood would enjoy a golden age. As twisted as it had been, Angelique bel Thana’s vision of Humanity ruling the galaxy had actually possessed great merit. All it had required was the right leadership, and the right guidance. In time, and with patience, Maya n’Kaaryn would become the very queen that Bel Thana had failed to be. Then, the possibilities would be endless.

  ***

  The Galaxy Mind had chosen the visage of the angel who had visited Jon on A’latar. Seeing this, Bel Hanna was surprised, but hardly disturbed.

  “Tell me,” she asked it. “Was it you who spoke to him?”

  “If everyone in this galaxy is part of me,” it answered obliquely, “Isn’t it equally possible that all galaxies are part of something even larger?”

  “It is,” Bel Hanna replied. “Is that what the angel was?”

  “Perhaps,” it answered. “Perhaps not.”

  Knowing that it was poin
tless to press it any further, Bel Hanna let the matter go, and together they observed the JUDI and the twin stars beyond it in companionable silence. At last, the Galaxy Mind spoke again. “Is she not magnificent?” it asked.

  “I have also grown quite fond of Maya,” Bel Hanna agreed.

  “And what marvelous things await her and her species,” it added.

  Knowing what she did now, Bel Hanna could certainly not contradict her companion. Marvelous was as much an understatement as the word for ‘God’ was.

  THE END

  The Elants of the Sisterhood and Planets of Interest

  There are 12 Elants, or provinces, in the Sisterhood. Of these, Thalestris and Solara Elant are the oldest, and Sagana, the youngest. Elants are named after a navigational star in their area, commonly referred to as the Name Star. Each Elant comprises hundreds of individual worlds, and as of Book 3, the total population of the Sisterhood in all Elants is approximately 100,000,000,000 women.

  In this section, the Elants and the worlds within them which were mentioned in the series are listed by their Sisterhood name, followed by pre-Sisterhood labels, and then their star catalog numbers (prefaced by HP, Gl, GJ, Wo, NN, HD, or HSL)

  “HP” stands for the Hipparcos star catalog, and “Gl” and “Wo” are from the Gliese Catalog of Nearby Stars (later reclassified as the GJ or Gleise-Jahreiß catalog). “NN” denotes a star listed in the Gliese Catalog that has no name assigned. “HD” is associated with the Henry Draper Catalog (one of the first large scale attempts to catalog the spectral types of stars).

  Only one designation, “HSL” is completely exclusive to this series. It represents the catalog currently in use by the Sisterhood, and honors the astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921 CE). Her work studying Cephiad variables ultimately allowed other scientists to measure the distance between Old Gaia and distant galaxies.

  Star Types:

  Most stars are classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters “O” (blue giants), “B” (blue), “A” (blue-white), “F” (white), “G” (yellow), “K” (orange), and “M” (red). This sequence goes from the hottest (the O type) to the coolest (the M class).

  Each of these classes is further subdivided with a number; 0 being hottest and 9 being coolest (e.g. F0, G2 and so on). In addition, luminosity is included as roman numerals, distinguishing dwarf stars from giants. Our sun is a G2V type, a yellow main-sequence star with a temperature of around 5,800 Kelvin.

  In the hunt for extrasolar planets, many stars have been found to possess planets, but only certain kinds are believed to offer the right conditions for complex life to arise (and then only within a limited range known as the habitable, or ‘Goldilocks’ zone’). Premier among these are the F and G types, and some K and M stars might also be included, provided that their life arose on an inner world. For this reason, the majority of Sisterhood planets orbit around G and F class stars, and rest within the habitable zone (with some notable exceptions).

  Almastris Elant

  Name Star; Almastris, in honor of an Amazon queen (Zeta Leporis A, GL 217.1, a white dwarf star twice the mass of Sol and fifteen times its luminosity). Capital: Delgen.

  Delgen, Ergane System (HSL 53, HP 27922, a G6V star); a powerhouse of industry, Delgen is the Elant capital and the hub of civilian manufacturing. Its industrial power is rivaled only by Ara’s underground factories.

  Sai, Ifria System (GL 199A, a K4V); Orbiting a red dwarf, Sai is known for its wild spaces and the Sword Dance, a coming of age ceremony.

  Artemi Elant

  Name Star; Artmesia (Alpha Phoenicis A/Ankaa, a K0-1III star), after Queen Artemisia I of Caria, ruler of Halicarnassus during the First Persian Empire, and a naval commander in the second Persian invasion of Greece. Capital: Wrede.

  Wrede, Lyssa System (HP 4189; a G2 variant); Originally named for the fantasy and science fiction novelist Patricia Wrede, this world is the capital of the Artemi Elant and the location of the Battle of Wrede 178. Here, during the War of the Prophet, Sisterhood forces managed to defeat the Prophet’s armada and turned the tide of the conflict in humanity’s favor.

  Larra’s Lament, Lalita System (GL 27.1, an M class red star); The Lament derives its name from the commander of the exploratory vessel that first discovered it, Laara Reade, and her disappointment when she realized that the world was not as rich in mineral resources as she and her financial backers had hoped. It is the location of the USSMC 93rd Special Operations Training Center, and the Sniper Training School. It is also the motherworld of Ensign Jan bar Daala.

  Nightshade, Dayea System (NN3063, an M3 star); the center of Sisterhood arms manufacturing and military weapons research, the majority of this world is owned by the Sisterhood government, or private contractors, and is off limits to civilian traffic.

  Hella’s World, Hecate System (GL 4.2-522, a G2 variant); a desolate arid place, and the location of the primary USSMC Basic Training Facility. Graduates of the program are entitled to wear a special award, called “The Eye of the Goddess.”

  Chandi Elant

  Name Star; Chandika (GL 107 A- 12777), a binary star system, named for an aspect of the goddess Kali, as the protector of Rajas. Capital: Kevan.

  Kevan, Sakina System (Gl 67-7918, a G2V star); Like Sai, Kevan is a desert planet and the motherworld of Caleda bel Tridis, the Athena’s Helmsmistress. It is also the home of the Martha McSally Naval Base and Air Combat Training Facility where future Sisterhood pilots learn the art of aerospace combat.

  Avia, Tetra System (Gl 61, an F8V); From the Latin, ‘avis’ or bird, Avia is a Bio world where the dominant life-forms fly or glide on the air currents. The women who call this their motherworld have been genetically modified to live an aerial existence.

  Halasi Elant

  Name Star; Halasi (GL 8351 - 107089, a K0III type giant star), after a woman who fought with the Hungarian freedom fighters against the Nazis during the second of Old Gaia’s five World Wars. Capital: Meriditha.

  Meriditha, Aglaia System (Wo 9189 - 26394, a G3IV); from the old Welsh word ‘mere’, meaning ‘splendid’ or ‘great’.

  Durandel, Niniane System (HP 64690, a G5IV); named for Durandal, the sword carried by Roland, Charlemagne’s paladin. Settled during the heyday of the Gaian Star Federation, Durandel is one of the most terraformed planets ever settled by humans. Its creators reworked the entire ecosystem, converting it into a fantasy realm complete with forests, castles and fanciful creatures. Once a premier tourist destination, Durandel still receives some off-planet visitors, although not as many as it did in the days of the GSF. But this picturesque world has a much more important role that none of these sightseers are aware of. It is also the secret location of The Hive, which serves as the supreme command center for the Sisterhood’s government in the event of a severe national crisis, or an alien invasion.

  Kalian Elant

  Name Star; Kali (GJ 1294 A, an M0V class star with a K5V companion), for the Indian goddess of creation, destruction, change and empowerment. Capital: Sita.

  Sita, Brizona System (NN 3021 – 1292 a G6V star); Capital of the Kalian Elant, Sita is also known for the Athtar Commercial Shipyards, which produce most of the civilian vessels in the Sisterhood, including the great space liners like the Star of Aphrodite.

  Corrissa, Saraswati System (HP 110719, a G1 star); Corrissa, and especially the city of New Lyrrica, are considered to be the center of Sisterhood art, music and culture. New Lyrrica is the home of the famous musician and Living National Treasure, Celina.

  Marpesia Elant

  Name Star; Marpesia (Formalhaut/GL 881--113368), an Amazonian queen who ruled with her sister, Lampedo. She was one of the monarchs who helped establish the Greek city of Ephesus and a city in the Caucasus Mountains referred to as the Rock of Marpesia, or the Marpesian Cliff, where Alexander the Great established fortifications. Capital: Esyllt.

  Esyllt, Drystan System (GL 780--99240); from the Welsh word for ‘fair lady’, it is Lena n’Gari’s motherw
orld, and the setting for Lena Calidrayth’s “Where the Blue Flowers Grow”.

  Trilane, Taran System (GL 783 A--99461, a binary K2V star); On this world, silicon-based life is dominant, and the native women play host to a variety of symbiotes which grant longevity and accelerated healing (and according to unconfirmed sources, even psychic powers). It is the motherworld of Admiral Kaysa Da’Kayt.

  Pantari Elant

  Name Star; Pantariste (GL 55 – 5862, an F8V type); after the Amazon fighter who fought alongside Hippolyta against Hercules and his men. Capital: Mirande

  Mirande, Prospero System (GJ 1021, a G5IV type); a variant of ‘Miranda’ and derived from the Latin ‘mirandus’ or ‘wonderful, admirable’. The name Miranda was first used by Shakespeare for a character in his play “The Tempest.”

  Rixa, Belletrix System (Iota Horologii /GL 108 - 126583, a G3V type); home to USSNB Rixa, the largest Sisterhood naval base and the headquarters of the Topaz Fleet Command. The name Rixa is derived from the Latin word for a quarrel, or a fight.