After four and a half months of travel, the Havana docked at Higgins. Jenetta left her packed bags inside the door of her quarters so they could be taken to the BOQ later in the day, then went to say goodbye to Captain Meyers and thank him for the ride and his hospitality.
Jenetta had sent notification of her imminent arrival to her sister, and Eliza was waiting on the platform when Jenetta emerged from the docking tunnel with the cats. As they hugged tightly, the big cats sniffed Eliza. They seemed confused to find the same basic scent as Jenetta, but they accepted it and relaxed their vigilance due to the warm embrace.
"So these are the Jumakas. They're absolutely beautiful."
"Yes, this is Cayla, and this is Tayna. Cayla, Tayna, this is my sister, Eliza." The big cats each made a deep throated mewling sound at the mention of her name. Jenetta knew it to be a form of greeting. "They say hello, and seem to have accepted you already."
"Hello Cayla, hello Tayna," Eliza said as she stooped to pet the large cats. Looking up at Jenetta, she said, "We probably smell alike to them." Straightening back up, Eliza said, "Sis, you look wonderful, and it's so great to see you again. You look as fit as we've ever been."
Jenetta smiled. "You too. Lots of time in the gym I'd guess?"
"What else is there to do? A year and half, and still the Galactic Alliance Council hasn't made a decision about my citizenship. I can't leave the station because I can't enter any world without a passport."
"I know; it's ridiculous. I've been thinking about it, and I believe it's about time that we did something about it. I don't like to play power games but the Council has had long enough to take action. Our fame should be worth something."
"You can't get involved! It'll damage your career in Space Command."
"Career? I've been marooned inside a rocky asteroid for the past year, and I had to find out from a lieutenant at a dinner party that my post on the Prometheus was permanently assigned to someone else. The first I knew I was being relieved at Dixon was when the new base commander arrived in my office and showed me his orders to take command of the base. I was on the Havana, on my way here, before Space Command finally bothered to send me new orders. Lately, it hasn't seemed like much of a career to risk."
"You're just tired and a little cranky after the long trip. You'll feel better after you get situated. Are you staying at the BOQ, or on the ship?"
"The BOQ; I was only a passenger on the ship. I have to check in, and then we can go do something together."
The cats took up positions on the outside of the two women, allowing them to walk together as they proceeded to the Headquarters section. Everyone they passed gave them a very wide berth. Unlike at Dixon SCB, where everyone had grown accustomed to seeing Jenetta walking with her cats, here they only saw two ferocious looking animals without tethers.
There weren't any orders waiting for Jenetta, so after making arrangements for quarters in the BOQ, Jenetta and Eliza walked to the shopping concourse. For the next few hours, they perused the merchandise in the shops. People already familiar with Jenetta may not have been aware that she'd been promoted to Commander a year earlier and she received quite a few double takes, but it was the two cats that drew the most attention. A Marine security patrol discretely followed them around in case the animals caused a problem, but they never approached Jenetta. Jarheads don't tell senior SC officers that they can't walk with their pets, as long as the pets behave; especially when that senior officer is Commander Jenetta Carver. The presence of the two cats ensured that neither Jenetta nor Eliza was jostled out of the way by other shoppers.
At dinnertime, Jenetta fed her cats and left them in her quarters while she and Eliza went to the officer's mess. After each woman filled her two trays to overflowing from the mess hall's freshly prepared offerings, they found an empty table where they could enjoy their meal.
"So what can we do to establish my citizenship?" Eliza asked.
"I thought you didn't want me to get involved?" Jenetta said, smiling coyly.
"Stop it. Just tell me what you were thinking."
"Okay, sorry. I don't really have any specific plan. It's just that over the past year I've learned how big our reputation is. I've met people from dozens of different worlds all over Galactic Alliance space, and most of them already knew of me, even if they didn't recognize our altered facial appearance. With that kind of fame we must have some kind of leverage. If I went to the press and started an appeal on behalf of you, Christa, and the other clones, we might be able to whip up enough interest to get this finally resolved. Right now, the issue has all but disappeared from the public view, and once an issue disappears from public discussion, politicians lose interest. We have to get it center stage again, or you might never get your citizenship. Worse, someone might decide that you're not a real person, and therefore eligible for medical research or something. Since you can't travel without a passport, I'm sure the other clones are all still on Higgins as well."
"Yes, I see them often. I understand they're collaborating on several books about their discoveries on Dakistee. They asked if they could reference several passages from our book and I gave them permission. Their originals have all returned to the planet to work, but the clones can't travel without legal identification. So you want to raise a public outcry in favor of establishing a policy?"
"Exactly. The politicians can ignore you, or me, or the people on Dakistee, but they can't ignore all the people of all the populated worlds."
"And just how would we get this outcry started?"
"How many interviews have you given since the book was published?"
"None. We didn't write that book for personal attention or gain. That's why we established a foundation to distribute most of the proceeds from the sales to help our people on Obotymot, with the rest going towards grants to fund the continuing scientific research on Dakistee."
"Exactly. We missed a golden opportunity to keep the issue center stage, but at the time we believed they would do right by you. I've since become a lot more cynical in that regard. I traded a job that I loved for a promotion. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd been straightforward with me. There are a lot of unpleasant jobs in the service and I don't mind doing my share, but I feel that I should have been told the truth."
"Why?"
"Why what? Why should I have been told the truth?"
"Yes. We joined the service without any expectations other than to serve. Of course, we wanted to get into space, but other than that, we would take what we got. Remember how excited we were when we found we had gotten a ship? It didn't matter that it was a Quartermaster supply ship, or that we were only the science officer, we were going into space. And that's where we've been for the past year. You were stuck on one base in space and I was stuck on another, but the point is that we've had it pretty good, even if our futures were a bit uncertain. Poor Christa has had it the worst. We don't know where she is or even if she's still alive."
Jenetta silently mulled over what Eliza had said. "Okay, Jiminy Cricket," Jenetta said with reference to the fictional moral adviser and conscience of an animated puppet named Pinocchio. Richie, who'd developed a love for twentieth-century vids when he was young, had found a copy in an old archive and presented a copy of the animation to Jenetta when she was a young girl. She must have watched it fifty times. "You're right. I've been feeling sorry for myself because I lost my posting on the Prometheus. I just have to get over it and stop blaming Space Command. They've been good to me. They gave me the dream post in the first place, and if they feel that I could serve better somewhere else, then I go where they send me. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to work to get you and Christa recognized as citizens. And I intend to find Christa if I have to resign my commission and go all the way to the Uthlaro Dominion to find her."
"You think she's on one of the Raider's resort moons?"
"If Mikel Arneu got his hands on her, she's probably on her way there. But it's a long voyage so she won't be there yet."
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Three
~ March 6th, 2272 ~
Eliza had completed work on the second book. Already having been cleared for distribution by the Intelligence Section of Space Command before Jenetta arrived back at Higgins, the book was being readied for publication. When contacted to determine if they would attend a press conference where the new book would be introduced and discussed, the response from the representatives of the news services on Higgins was overwhelmingly positive. Each requested an exclusive interview, so Jenetta and Eliza promised that each news service sending a representative and broadcasting or printing at least the two opening statements in full, would be permitted a private half-hour interview, to be conducted during the two weeks following the conference.
The women knew they would control the tenor of the initial statements as they prepared for the press conference, but they also wanted to control the direction that the questions would take afterward. Carefully crafting responses to every anticipated question and topic, they worked out answers that would always segue to the issue of citizenship for the clones. The dialogue was intended to be strong, but not overly critical of the Galactic Alliance Council. Jenetta and Eliza wanted the Council allied with them, not rallied against them.
The Nordakian ambassador seemed hesitant at first, when Jenetta requested permission to hold the press conference at the embassy, but then consented. How could he possibly refuse a member of the nobility and his planet's greatest heroine? Jenetta knew that the location would lend an air of apparent support for the issues that would be raised, although she naturally promised to inform all press conference attendees that the opinions expressed were not necessarily shared by the King and Queen.
Every news service represented at the station did send someone to the embassy on the day of the press conference. Jenetta and Eliza would be busy doing private interviews for the full two weeks, if everyone fulfilled the broadcast requirement.
Coming out several minutes before the conference was set to start, Jenetta and Eliza took their seats on the raised platform and waited for the appointed time. Jenetta would speak first. The conference was being broadcast live in the station and on Vinnia.
As the wall chronometer indicated that it was time for the conference to begin, Jenetta rose and moved to the podium. "Welcome, everyone. Thank you for attending the first press conference that we've held since my sisters and I released our book for publication. We've been extremely pleased by the reception the book has received, and we're happy to announce that roughly sixty percent of the proceeds from the sale of that first book have gone to help our people on Obotymot through our Obotymot Relief Fund. Most of the remaining funds have been funneled into our Dakistee Scientific Expeditionary Foundation, which has so far issued twenty-six grants to qualified researchers, scientists, and academicians. The money is being used to fund more research into the history of the people that occupied the planet so many eons ago. Our first book barely scratched the surface of the culture and technological advances made by the people of Dakistee, which is why Eliza has written a second volume. We hope it will be embraced as strongly as the first.
"As many of you know, my sister Eliza is a product of the technology developed by the original inhabitants of Dakistee. Although cloning has been illegal for two-hundred years, an ancient process, initiated accidentally, has resulted in the creation of seventy-nine new people, virtually indistinguishable from their originals. The equipment has since been dismantled, in accordance with the laws of Galactic Alliance, but the people born before that occurred are still with us. Their lack of citizenship and passports prevent them from traveling, so you're likely to meet them anywhere on this station. Space Command is currently housing all but one.
"I'd like to turn the podium over to Eliza now for her opening statement, and then we'll entertain questions. Thank you."
Eliza moved to the podium and looked solemnly out at the reporters. Every bit as strikingly lovely as Jenetta, Eliza enunciated loudly, "Good afternoon. I don't exist." She paused for a few seconds for effect. "I'm here. I'm flesh and blood. I breathe air and consume food to live, but to the Galactic Alliance Council, I don't exist. A year and a half ago, there were long debates on how to handle the problem of the new people. The number of debates has slowly decreased, and if you'll check the council records, as I have, you'll see that they have not discussed the issue once during the past eight months.
"We've been fortunate in being permitted to travel here to Higgins rather than being restricted to living on Dakistee, but now we're prevented even from returning to Dakistee. Look at me. Is there anything wrong with me? The physicians at the base hospital tell me that I'm in perfect health. Is there any legitimate reason why I should be denied citizenship in the galaxy? Any reason why I should be denied travel privileges and documents? My sister Jenetta, the person from whom I was duplicated, has citizenship on two worlds. I'm denied citizenship on both because the Galactic Alliance Council can't decide how we should be treated. Is that fair? I was born in a different manner than Jenetta, but I have every memory that she had at the time I was conceived, so I feel I've lived every second of her first thirty-three years. As Jenetta said, the equipment has been dismantled. We're not seeking a license to produce more clones. All we want is for the seventy-nine 'new people' to be granted citizenship by the planet they feel is their homeland. Is that so much to ask? With all of the billions upon billions of people on the inhabited worlds throughout Galactic Alliance space, would a few dozen more citizens really make that much difference?
"We'll answer all questions now about Dakistee, the cloning, or the citizenship issues."
The press conference lasted for another two hours. Jenetta and Eliza were both delighted that the majority of questions concerned the cloning and citizenship issues, and they answered openly regarding the events on the planet, but didn't reveal anything about how the cloning process actually worked. After the conference, the various news services lined up to request a personal interview with the two women. They had been told in advance that the order would be decided by random selection once all requests were received, so there wasn't any jockeying for position in line.
That evening, broadcasters around Galactic Alliance space began to air the footage from the press conference. Due to the distances involved, it would actually take a week for it to reach the extreme edges of Alliance space, even being transmitted on an IDS frequency. Every news service that hadn't carried the broadcast live, rebroadcast the original statements made by Jenetta and Eliza. Most networks included an editorial news piece about the press conference, and came out strongly in favor of granting immediate citizenship to the Dakistee Seventy-Nine, as they were now being called.
On the fourth day following the press conference, Jenetta received orders to report to Admiral Holt's office the next morning. She arrived promptly at nine a.m. and stared at the plain off-white walls of the admiral's outer office until the admiral's aide finally told her to go in, thirty-three minutes later.
Entering the Admiral's enormous office, she walked directly to his desk. Holt was reading from his com screen. An impressive image of the Grand Canyon on Earth was showing in the SimWindow behind the Admiral. Jenetta wondered if the view had been selected to transmit an intentional subliminal message. Coming to attention in front of the desk, she said, "Commander Jenetta Carver reporting as ordered, sir."
Holt didn't look up for fifteen seconds. He then stood, and walked around his desk. The seventy-one-year-old officer's still fit body, and prematurely gray hair, gave him a look of marked superiority. He was still as sharp as they come, but his six-foot two-inch height no longer made him quite the larger-than-life figure he had seemed to be when Jenetta was only five-foot-four. The two stars on each shoulder would make most junior officers quake, but Jenetta was no longer a junior officer, and no longer quaked. Speaking in a very loud voice, his irritation clearly evident, he said, "Commander, why is it that every time you come to Higgins, my com
panel lights up like a globular cluster? You've been gone for almost a year and a half, and for that entire time my com panel has only occasionally been somewhat lit. But just a few days after you return, I've got every news service in the galaxy calling me. And I can't even begin to count the messages from Space Command Supreme Headquarters and Galactic Alliance Council Chambers."
Jenetta, still at attention, said, "I'm sorry, Admiral. I assume that the messages are in reference to the press conference that Eliza and I held to discuss our book? We were given permission to publish and promote the new book."
"That press conference wasn't to promote the new book and you damn well know it. It was to promote the issue of granting Terran and Nordakian citizenship to the clones."
"With all due respect, sir, the clones have been patiently waiting for more than a year and a half for something to be decided regarding their status. The Galactic Alliance Council has ceased to even discuss the issue."
"So you figured you'd just hold their feet to the fire for a bit. Is that it?"
"We just wanted to bring the issue out for discussion again, sir. We didn't intend to cause any problems."
"Commander, don't try to do an end run around me. I've been fighting in the political trenches for too long. I know exactly what you were trying to do."
"Yes sir."
"Ohhh–– at ease!" the Admiral barked.
Jenetta relaxed.
"I would have left you on Dixon if I thought that you'd pull a harebrained stunt like this. You might very well have undone the solution that we had worked out for the clones. The Galactic Alliance Council has been waiting until the issue appeared dead so they could slip some legislation through quietly. Now every group opposed to granting citizenship to clones has had new wind fill their sails."
"You're saying that the G.A.C. had decided to grant citizenship, sir?"
The Clones of Mawcett Page 38