by Mary Carmen
I had expected Len would stop all the improvements to our house during the war, but I was wrong. He continued to add to my quarters with a wonderful library and a large exercise room. The library, started after Helen’s birth, was decorated with woods from many different planets, including some from Earth. The architect’s original plan for the room showed a design that rivaled anything I had ever seen, and after I returned to Earth I wrote extensively about it.
The War Continues
Just after Eliza’s birth, the Assemblage replaced the general in charge of combat training with General Heoshe Nddmemmap. General Nccmemmap was a charismatic figure, and the troops believed in his leadership.
Of course, he asked for funds, and I was part of a small meeting in Mr. Mipdomp’s mansion to discuss how to best change the work of many districts so the troops could be clothed, armed, and fed.
I was surprised to learn the Treasury was in much better shape than the silos. Entities in the Assemblage were very willing to work for the established currency, and I heard how two factories could be modified to make firearms instead of aircraft. Several clothing plants also were changed from making bedclothes to constructing the basic uniform worn by both men and women.
That basic uniform was decorated to show each soldier’s rank. Officers did not have more elaborate uniforms; they had only platinum pins and braids to identify them.
No uniform was created to be worn in the worst of the weather. When the temperatures reached their lowest points, soldiers on both sides retreated to armories and conscripted homes.
In addition to training soldiers, the Assemblage’s war efforts concentrated on improving the navy. As soon as the navy was staffed and trained, that service started a long effort to blockade the coast of the Alliance.
The people of the Alliance were much more proficient fishermen than the people of the Assemblage. They fished for their own food, and they sold fish to make money. The Alliance had Octula’s only coastline along the equator, and entities of all income levels were able to fish without limit.
The Assemblage’s coastal strategy was to block the Alliance’s large fishing vessels from the most fertile parts of the ocean. The blockade started in March of 2083 and continued for the many years of the war. First, the seaports along the equator were blocked, and later smaller seaports along the southern coast were rendered essentially useless to the Alliance.
This blockade also had the effect of removing one of the most efficient means of transporting goods from one Alliance district to another. After the blockade was in place, all troop and supply movements had to cross over land. By controlling the coast, the Assemblage had made it easier to control troop movements in the Alliance and to know the locations of troops more accurately.
Soon, though, the Alliance had developed very small vessels that could weave through the large ships of the blockade. These small vessels enabled the Alliance to continue to fish for food, but they were not large enough to carry troops.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mipdomp had grown weary of the continual training of troops with no progress in the war. He wanted to have the districts of the Alliance return to his country. I privately believed he was alarmed at the shrinking food supplies and the lack of products for export.
Anna certainly believed he was becoming more and more nervous. She told me he looked older and older each time he appeared on a television broadcast. I did not yet have a good idea of how Octulians aged, so I trusted her belief.
On October 3, 2083, Mr. Mipdomp issued an order requiring General Nddmemmap to initiate full military action against the Alliance within two weeks. Mr. Mipdomp appeared on television that night to announce his order to all Octulians, including any Alliance citizens who might be able to tune in. My heart went out to him; he spoke with his usual eloquence, but he looked very sad.
I went to work each day with the expectation we would be involved in running a war room. I knew the Alliance had a significant set of weapons to use, and I expected to have New Philadelphia reduced to rubble before the two weeks had passed.
October 17 came and went with no action. Anna was so nervous that she made beds for all of us, including Miss Gasnes, in the basement storm cellar, and we started to sleep there every night. The children were delighted with the smaller room and with being able to spend the nights with us, but I found it hard to sleep with such a crowd. However, Anna cried so bitterly when I suggested I should sleep upstairs that I could not leave her.
On February 8, 2084, Mr. Mipdomp had had enough. He fired General Nddmemmap and ran the war himself by sending orders to various generals and colonels. Several small battles were fought, and the Assemblage won one large battle that allowed it to control one district for the next two years.
By early February, we knew Anna was pregnant again. Len exercised his heavy-handed tactics with the doctor, and Anna prepared for the long months of bed rest.
She and Miss Gasnes decided she should spend the time in the basement, so Miss Gasnes rearranged the furniture to make private areas for herself, Anna, and me. The center of the room became a nursery, with cribs and toys. The children were able to spend the entire day with Anna while Miss Gasnes prepared food on the upper level of the house. I spent time in my library, except for the hours over the basement bridge table with Len and Louella.
During April, May, and June of 2083, I helped run a plan for the rationing of food and clothing. The policy was the most difficult part: who should be able to get what. My client spent much of his time dictating his ideas to me, and I wrote detailed policies for review at the Secretary level. The Octulians were very large entities, and they needed their food. They had not have much interest in new clothes, using and reusing hand-me-downs until they looked like rags. Entities certainly wanted good boots, and the rations had to take this into consideration. The worst part about writing the policy was the continual indecision about whether to allow trading of ration coupons. Should a fish eater be allowed to trade his grain coupons to a vegetarian for meat coupons? Finally, Mr. Mipdomp decided to allow trading to begin with and to reserve a trading rule until we could see how the rationing worked out. Certainly, I decided, everybody was going to lose about ten percent of his or her body weight within a year.
Finding Enough to Eat
By June of 2084, the one district of the Alliance that had been conquered, Nittousi, was producing enough food to significantly improve Mr. Mipdomp’s outlook.
Nittousi was situated on the equator, and it was a major producer of vegetables. My Secretary requested one division and 7,500 farming machines, including the networks of heaters that allowed many vegetables to grow in cold climates, and these were sent to Nittousi. The people of that district were anxious to help because, it seemed to me, we made it clear the farming machines would stay with them after the end of the war.
Energy delivery systems, including the most robust electrical wiring on the planet, were quickly installed all over Nittousi. The farming machines were put to use almost right away, preparing the land and planting crops. The division’s soldiers, not trained as farmers, were very quick to pick up what farmers needed to know from the citizens of Nittousi. In the evenings, the tractors and harvesters were returned to large garages, and each evening the citizens of Nittousi walked through the garages to inspect them.
Within a few weeks some Nittousi products were being delivered to food distribution centers in New Philadelphia. Mr. Mipdomp insisted the citizens of Nittousi be fed first from this food, and that was done. I could see the difference on my charts by November of 2084.
Of course our own household was not hungry because Len and Louella had hoarded so much food right before the war began. Miss Gasnes took our rationing cards to the store each day to buy whatever fresh fruits and vegetables were available, and some days she returned empty-handed. Anna, as a pregnant woman, had special rationing privileges for fruits and vegetables, but some days even Anna’s rationing card did not allow Miss Gasnes to buy anything.
Len cont
inued his trips to other planets to buy whatever food he could, but this food went directly to the military units. The only meat our family ate during the war was the canned ham Len and Louella had stocked in the basements.
We were not hungry, but we were never satisfied.
Morris Arrives
With Franklin and Eliza in the basement with her every day, Anna had an easier time with her fourth pregnancy. She stayed in her bed, as the doctor insisted, but she was able to read to the children and join in some of their games. I did not hear the usual complaints about how bored she was, and it was helpful to me, as I worked harder than I ever had before, to know she was happier.
The last month, while Anna was in the hospital, was difficult for the children. She talked to them over the videophone, but they still cried when she said she would not be home that night.
Finally the doctor took the baby and was pleased with his size and robust voice. Morris was born on August 31, 2084, and we knew about a week later he would live to come home with us.
The Anthony Waltrop Wing of the Anna Murphy House
After Morris’s birth, Len added a complete kitchen to my quarters in the house.
My American children have never seen the large house Len built for Anna after our wedding, but it has been frequently pictured in tour guides of Octula and architecture publications on both planets.
I had asked, when I met with Len prior to my marriage to Anna, that the house Len was building include a “gentleman’s quarters” for me, a place that would be a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of domestic activities.
At that time I certainly had in mind the 1,500-square-foot guesthouse in Pittsburgh. That house was just large enough to allow me some privacy and just small enough to maintain without facing bankruptcy when the place needed repainting. A library, a bedroom, a bathroom, a sitting room, a kitchenette, and a spare room. That is what I had in mind.
Len was never one to do anything in a small way, however. He had agreed to add to my quarters after the birth of each child, and he stuck to it.
Right after our wedding Anna and I lived in my little house in New Philadelphia. We had some of our most passionate moments there, and during those times I did not have any interest in moving to a larger home. While we were there I started to believe I was truly loved by someone, and I no longer wanted my separate quarters. Instead, I wanted to spend every moment with my beautiful wife, and I wanted to sleep with her in my bed every night.
However, while Anna was pregnant with Franklin, we moved to Len and Louella’s house so Anna could be attended around the clock. During this time, too, the first phase of the wedding gift was ready for occupancy, and I stayed there most nights after visiting Anna during the evenings. For this first phase, my quarters consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom, and a sitting room. It was very comfortable.
Then Len fell in love with little Franklin, and nothing was too good for Franklin’s father. Within a year after Franklin’s birth, my quarters included an exercise room and a sauna.
Clearly my quarters were in a separate wing. This was called the east wing on the architect’s ever-changing blueprints, but it was essentially southeast.
The northwest wing was expanding, too. Each child had a bedroom, a study, and a bathroom. Anna’s suite in the center of the building had easy access to the living center, the kitchen, the children’s rooms, and my wing. When she was not under her doctor’s orders to keep to her own room, she slept in my arms in my large bed.
After Helen’s birth, Len started to build my library. This was a two-story room with four fireplaces. Shelves lined the walls, and a staircase and a catwalk allowed the upper story’s books to be accessed. Building the library took nearly ten years because Len was constantly finding different materials on other planets for the architects and the builders to use. After Eliza’s birth I was able to occupy a small corner of the library, but the rest was boarded up for access only by the craftspeople.
After Morris’s birth, I was able to occupy about half of the lower level. It was at this time that real books started to appear.
With each trip to Earth, Len and his sons brought back printed books. Nearly all were first editions, and some were fabulously expensive. Len installed a special humidity system to make sure they did not get too wet or too dry. He always brought his visitors to my library to admire his latest finds, and I was always pleased to show them everything.
Naval Battles
In January of 2085, just before Morris came home to live with us, the Alliance secretly moved a submarine vessel into the waters near the eastern shore along the equator, near the town of Posgoml.
This vessel was detected by the Assemblage’s reconnaissance equipment, but not before it had outfitted two Assemblage ships with potent explosives.
Right after Mr. Mipdomp received word about the submarine, the two Assemblage ships were annihilated. Each ship was staffed by thirty-seven sailors, and all hands were lost. This loss was the highest of the war to that point.
Mr. Mipdomp was incensed. He called a meeting of his secretaries to storm about the lack of vigilance. One attendee pointed out the need for a senior military officer to be in charge of the war, and Mr. Mipdomp became even more enraged.
A month later Mr. Mipdomp ordered a large division to the town of Tjimoj. These forces were under the command of General Umyttet Hsapv, a man who would play an important part in the war later on. At the time of the action at Tjimoj, General Hsapv was somewhat untried, but Mr. Mipdomp liked him because he showed Mr. Mipdomp the respect Mr. Mipdomp believed he deserved.
The forces of the Alliance attacked General Hsapv’s troops at Tjimoj within a week of their arrival, and General Hsapv’s division was nearly defeated. As both commands withdrew for the night, a messenger arrived to tell General Hsapv reinforcements were just a few hours away. General Hsapv ordered the messenger to return to his unit to ask the reinforcements to appear before dawn. When the Alliance forces arrived the next morning, they were turned back.
This was a terrible battle, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Assemblage won the battle of Tjimoj, but at a huge cost.
Just after this defeat, the Alliance enforced conscription for their military units. Although they did not want their young people to be conscripted into the scientific professions, they were forced to order them to die for the Alliance.
A Governess Comes to Octula
Just after the battle of Tjimoj, our circle was enlarged to include Miss Martha Worrell, an Englishwoman with significant experience as a teacher of young children. Len had found her with the help of an agency in London.
By that time Franklin was just five years old. There was no school for him on Octula, and Anna was not willing to let him go to Earth without her. Len was also anxious to keep the children at home on Octula, too, because he, then at the age of sixty-five, had started to scale back on his trips away from the planet.
Len gave Miss Worrell a small house in the Murphy compound, and she and Anna agreed on a lesson plan for Franklin.
One room in Miss Worrell’s house was turned into a schoolroom, and Franklin went there nearly every day for his lessons. I understand Len attended many of these sessions, and he helped Franklin in the evenings with his reading.
My children on Octula also became fairly proficient with speaking Octulan, too, thanks to help from our major domo, Miss Gasnes. Certainly Franklin was speaking Octulas as well as I when he was ten. Neither of us ever learned to write Octulan because the computers we had allowed us to speak English into them and receive near-perfect Octulan text as output.
Mattie Arrives
During 2085 and 2086 the war continued at the same pace. The Assemblage won some battles and the Alliance won others. The rationing of food continued.
My work with the Department of Commerce went on as before. I tracked imports, exports, production of grains, and funds into and out of the treasury. I usually worked ten hours each day, with only one day each week for rest. When I went
home at night, my desk was always full of my work for the next day.
Anna spent most of 2086 in the basement bedroom, again awaiting the birth of a child. Although no military action had taken place in the lands of the Assemblage, Anna still believed we should be prepared to defend our home. The basement, with its heavy walls and ceiling and lockable entrance, was our fortress.
The streets of New Philadelphia had been modified to include a system of alarms. The wiring that delivered the power to melt snow was upgraded to include a data line to deliver information about the safety of the streets. When the streets were unsafe, as they had been right after the battle of Cumm Sup, the monitors in each home showed a warning in both Octulan and English about which streets were open and which were occupied with troops. When Anna was not confined to her bed, that monitor stayed in my first-floor bedroom. When Anna was in the basement, the monitor sat just outside the basement’s trap door.