by Ted Mayes
That was why she was heading up to visit the colonies, rather than sending Sigrid. She was carrying her ‘tool bag’ and had tucked her ID card inside the light sweater she was wearing. She wanted to sit among the ‘immigrants’ and talk with some of them, rather than sitting ‘upstairs’ in the usually-populated-by-officials area. She stood in line among the passengers, listening to the talk – most of which was excited talk, centered on the trip, the new wonders and the new life that was waiting for them.
Finally on the plane, she found herself sitting next to a young expectant mother with a two-year old girl, traveling up to meet her farmer husband who had gone up on an earlier flight in order to make sure things were ready at their new home. The two-year old fell asleep and Beth found herself deep in a discussion that seemed to cover every possible topic – romance, marriage, the honeymoon, the joys (and the sorrows) of marriage, childbirth, child raising, the good (and bad) points about men. The time fled by and the young mother finally left the plane, thanking Beth for letting her talk, and with a glowing expectation of seeing her husband at the debarkation point.
Thinking about the discussion and everything else occupied most of her attention on the walk to the Foreign Department. She did notice, though, the number of people to be found at Capitol now. It was so different from what she had seen her first trip up. Lots more people. Quite a number of restaurants. Stores starting to spring up the way they had at Ostia. A surprising number of older people strolling or sitting at café tables (she had an idle thought about whether her grandparents might like to ‘step up’ to Capitol). Even a number of children, one of them playing with a dog. Capitol was really starting to be an active and busy community.
She checked in at Foreign and was happy to see that Private Sandoval was her guide and ‘driver’ again. He explained that decurions and higher ranks were assigned drivers, but he was happy to go along for the ride. So, she carefully guided the floater out of the hanger and, when she was away from Capitol, she accelerated to top speed and headed for Copernicus Station.
On the way, Sandoval reminded her of the changes that had been taking place since the last time she’d been up, the changes that Sigrid had reported. When they reached the edge of the crater and got above the scientific station, it was easier to see the changes. Half a dozen parabolic dishes, some for communication and some for radio telescopy. A mix of Terran and Imperial technology – the imperial part underground, and the Terran obvious in the inflatable ‘buildings’ buried in lunar dust. A solar panel farm and what she knew from reports was a small reactor.
They were expected so Beth was greeted at the first air-lock entrance by a small group of the leaders of the station. She was given a brief tour of part of the station and was able to honestly compliment them on how the station had grown. With some questions, she was able to learn about some of their discoveries, but she noticed that they carefully refrained from saying anything about their investigations of Imperial technology. The scientists did, however, make an official request to start second international research station on the far side of the Moon – Tsiolkovsky Crater had been suggested. Beth promised to deliver the request and assured them that if they had international support, she couldn't see any problem.
She and Sandoval flew on to Kepler and saw a similar situation. There were the same type of Terran structures on the surface, but a more extensive underground. The tunnels ‘below’ were narrower, the ‘rooms’ more cramped. Beth realized that she had really gotten used to the spaciousness of Imperial excavations – and the lunar gravity was surprisingly annoying until you became accustomed to it. Especially with the more restricted space, one got the impression you had to be careful to not go bounding off the ground and smash into the ceiling. The ‘captain’ of Kepler Colony mentioned that, for the time being, they were rotating people over to Capitol to ‘exercise’ in full gravity.
It was very interesting, and fun, to experience Kepler. There was an energy, an excitement that all the colonists seemed to share. Everyone seemed to be aware that they were a ‘private’ colony, made up of ‘ordinary’ people. Everyone was eager to solve any and all of the problems they were encountering, and no one seemed to be interested in how the empire was doing things. Sigrid had reported that attitude before, Beth had passed it up the chain of command, and she’d gotten feedback that the emperor was greatly pleased by such an attitude. Beth had been told to reassure Kepler Colony that the empire was happy to remain an emergency backup system if Kepler ever needed it. She did that and had Molly pass on a message to Samantha (to be delivered after the honeymoon, of course) that the IP might want to check out Kepler Colony for news stories.
It was late afternoon by the time Beth started the floater on the return to Capitol, too late to make it to the refugee colonies that day. She was looking forward to seeing her sister and the family and maybe having a good chat with Becky. Sandoval had belted himself in, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. It made her chuckle just a little, how adaptable people could be. Here they were, flying over the lunar landscape, rigged out in imperial pressure suits, and her guide was so used to his surroundings that he was comfortable taking a nap. Well, it gave her a chance to think. She had Molly close the outgoing channels, and began talking to herself – well, and to Molly, too.
When they got back to Capitol (and Sandoval had his clerk wake him when they began traveling over Copernicus Crater), Beth had told her guide to meet her back at the floater hangar at 0800 in the morning and made her way to Jordan’s. She paused before entering, looking across Broadway to the lunar landscape, and remembering how frightened she’d been the first time she’d seen the sight. She laughed – maybe she was just as big an example of how adaptable people were as Sandoval had been.
She entered Jordan's and immediately spotted Becky, who hurried over to hug her. “Beth, you’re finally here. And you get to stay with us overnight. Brent was wild with excitement that Aunt Beth was coming, and you haven’t had the chance to see Sophie walking yet!”
“Where are they?”
“Sophie’s upstairs, finishing her nap, and Brent is just around the corner at a pre-school. It’s almost time to pick him up, so, do you want to come with me or just hang around here?”
Becky told her husband where she was going and together the two sisters stepped out onto Broadway. Beth was hoping to keep it to small talk, but they hadn’t gone very far when her sister asked if something was wrong. She glanced at her sister and realized that she couldn’t hide anything – they’d shared far too much over the years. “It’s Jon. Oh, not that there’s anything wrong – it’s just that I’m not sure how to move forward from where we are, or maybe, more accurately, how fast to move forward from where we are.”
They arrived at the pre-school, collected Brent and walked back, pausing at Broadway to let Brent run for a while. “How fast to move forward?” Becky asked.
Beth scuffed her shoe on the sidewalk. “Jon and I have been talking about a ‘permanent relationship’ for a while now. I’m just not sure how fast we should be moving forward towards it.”
“I assume you’re talking about marriage,” her sister said. “Are you saying that you’re having trouble figuring out how soon you want to get married?”
Beth let out a sigh. “I think so, but what’s so weird is that it feels so … inappropriate … to be talking about marriage.”
Her sister looked at her. “Inappropriate. To talk about marriage. To Jon. The guy you’ve been nuts about. For at least a year.” The emphasis of the short phrases felt something like hammer blows.
Beth gave her sister a wan smile. “So you can tell I’m conflicted, right?”
“Yes – I don’t understand why, but it’s easy to see you’re confused. Let’s get Brent upstairs and while he’s playing with Sophie, we’ll see if we can get things straightened out.” Brent slowed down enough to express an interest in a snack, and the sisters headed for the apartment over Jordan’s. After getting Brent and Sophie a snack
and watching Sophie walk from sofa to chair and back again, Becky looked seriously at Beth again. “So, about your problem … how do you feel about Jon?”
“I love him … I think. How can anyone know if they’re in love if they’ve never been in love before?”
“A good question, but how does Jon compare with other guys you’ve known or dated?”
“Oh, there’s no comparison, whatsoever. Jon is more of a gentleman, more of a man than any of the guys I’ve come across.”
“Okay. How does he make you feel?”
“Loved, safe, appreciated, competent, sexy.”
“Aha, expand on that last adjective, please.”
Beth looked at her sister with a grin and just a little bit of blushing. “If it weren’t for Molly and George watching us all the time, I would have already jumped his bones! The man keeps starring in my x-rated dreams!”
“It sounds like you’ve got it bad, baby sister. I won’t bother asking you how Jon feels, because I’ve seen the way he looks at you – like a starving man looking at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Now, the big question is, why in the world are you conflicted?”
“Sis, I just turned 18! I just finished high school! I start college in the fall! How can I be old enough to get married?”
Becky picked up Sophie and cuddled with her for a moment before setting the little one back on the ground. Then she turned to Beth. “I want you to listen very closely, baby girl, to what I say, think about it, and then we’ll talk again after the kids are down. You told us when Mom and Dad got their first shop that the empire said you were legally an adult. You’ve been promoted to decurion and you haven’t been in the Marines for a whole year yet. From what you’ve told me the Foreign department has had you meeting all sorts of big shots and representing the empire to various lunar colonies. Just that would indicate that a whole lot of people think you’re old enough to make all sorts of decisions.”
“Besides all that, the last time I was down to see Mom and Dad, I was laying down with Sophie, trying to get her to sleep. I heard them talking, and you might be interested to know that they’re already expecting a marriage soon, and they’re okay with it.”
Beth was astounded. “Even Dad?”
“Even Dad. In fact, he seemed a little more in favor of a marriage than Mom – he said something about being honored by you marrying Jon.”
“That’s strange.”
“Yeah, well, think about it and pray about it. The only one who seems to think you’re too young is you. Take some time, baby sister, and decide what you want to do with your life, not what you assume people expect you to do. Now, I’ll let you keep an eye on Sophie while I start getting supper ready.”
Beth played with her niece, trying to think. It was a little hard with all the cute facial expressions Sophie was making. It made her consider what their children would be like – and with that she realized that she was already planning on making babies with Jon. Becky was right that the empire believed she was old enough to make all sorts of decisions. What was even more surprising was that her parents were okay with a wedding – especially her father. She remembered that he had decided he could ‘trust’ Jon by the end of basic, but ‘trusting’ Jon in dating his daughter was quite a distance from being ‘honored’ by marrying him.
Okay, she told herself, let’s try putting this all together. I love Jon – at least, he makes me feel safe and desirable. I want to spend as much time with him as I can. I want to jump his bones and wake up in the morning with him. I’m planning on having babies with him. And I trust him completely. Obviously I’m completely nuts about him, so that means marriage at some time in the future.
Now, when should the wedding be? What good reasons do I have for planning on a wedding a couple of years in the future? …. The only thing I can think of is that I’m a little scared to make such a big decision. And don’t forget the big downer – I can’t jump his bones until the wedding, unless I really want to screw up our careers, and Jon is on the fast track for high office.
What about a wedding in a couple of months? Her University slot was guaranteed, and the University had no regulations about how quickly one had to get a degree, so she could take it a little slower if she wanted to. Housing was not a problem, nor were finances. Her friends thought a wedding soon was fine, and so did her parents – even her father, and wasn’t that a surprise.
She picked up Sophie and headed for the kitchen. She needed to finish this talk with Becky and study up for going out to the refugee colonies tomorrow. Then she needed to have a very serious talk with Jon at 2000.
* * * * *
Michael was finished dressing first and stepped out of the master suite to get Amanda a cup of coffee. It was a nice habit that had started on the honeymoon, almost two weeks ago – he’d bring her a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, often when she was in the bath or shower. She appreciated the caffeine and he appreciated the scenery. Unfortunately, now that he was back on duty, the ‘normal’ after coffee activity had to be postponed. He stood by the desk, scanning a summary of last weeks activities while Amanda was dressing.
She came up to him and pulled him down for a kiss. “Thank you again for that honeymoon. I think I’m going to have to write an article on it for IP and I would imagine that other people will want to have honeymoon there, too.”
They left the master suite to enter the kitchen, where all the praetorians were still greeting them with smiles. Amanda ate quickly and left, leaving him with a big kiss and promising to be back for lunch. Michael looked at First, who was sitting very quietly, and asked. “So, how does it feel to be the target of a matchmaker, Tommy?”
First grunted. “I guess I should be happy it’s not the empress pushing things along.”
“I don’t know about that,” Michael answered. “I always thought your Mom could give the empress a real contest as far as bossiness was concerned.” He paused and took a sip of coffee. “And Susan …?”
First glared at him. “Is this payback for all the grief I’ve given you over the years?”
“No,” Michael said softly, “but if I remember correctly, this is the girl you used to date, isn’t she? Your mother said something about her teaching on the reservation, and you’ve been a guest speaker in her classroom. It seems to me that Amanda would enjoy having another new friend around – whenever you get around to following your mother’s ‘suggestion.’”
“With no disrespect intended, sir,” First said with a stone face, “I’ll get my advice from the chaplain.”
“As you wish,” Michael replied. “Are the praetorians ready for the first action against Al-Qaeda?”
“Just waiting for the go sign from Marine HQ.”
“Which is waiting for my final word after talking with the emperor, so I’ll let you go take care of last minute things. At least, bro,” he said as Tommy was turning to leave the residence, “you can still take the field, and aren’t stuck in the rear.” Tommy paused, then nodded and continued on his way. Michael took the opportunity to send a note to the emperor, and ask if there was anything else to do before he gave the final order.
Ari and Jon came in and began getting the day’s work in order. It wasn’t long before the five pings of the emperor’s communication were heard in the atrium. Both Ari and Jon looked up from their paperwork. “Michael, is there anything else we could do to resolve this?”
“No, sir. They declared war on us four or five months ago and have refused to even respond to our communications. If we do not take action, some people, some groups, will get the idea that it’s okay to threaten or harm citizens or Latins. Since the protection of citizens and Latins has always been one of the primary duties of the empire, there is nothing else we can do. They should have learned from the mistakes of others, but they didn’t. Now others will be able to learn a lesson.”
There was a moment of silence. “You may begin the lesson, Michael,” the emperor said. Five pings echoed again in the room.
Michael ope
ned a channel to the prefect a militaribus and gave the order to begin the operation. When he was done he looked around to see both youngsters staring at him. “Questions, gentlemen?”
“Sir, I got the impression that the emperor was somewhat reluctant to react to the jihad,” Ari said.
Michael looked at both of them for a moment. “There was some reluctance, yes, but then the emperor knows exactly what is involved. You mentioned earlier, Master Levi, that you weren’t sure you could decide a capital case and impose a death sentence. What is war other than execution on a bigger scale? I would suggest that if there wasn’t some reluctance, I would have hesitations about following the emperor.” He paused as if considering something. “I will expect the both of you,” he continued, “to follow all the after-action reports that you can. Perhaps then you will realize that the emperor’s reluctance is a good thing. And, you are to share the details you see with no one – well, if the emperor would ask you, you can answer him, but otherwise no one else.”
The two youngsters looked at each other and Michael remembered some of the war stories they had avidly listened to in their first days at the residence. He hoped they would learn the lesson that war was absolutely the last choice that anyone should make. After a few moments of quiet, he directed their attention back to other matters. It was their last day with him, although he wasn’t going to tell them about letting them off early for a while. Next week they’d be leading a decury through basic training and he’d be breaking in the next set of helpers.
Michael shook his head and concentrated on the reports in front of him. The jihad was going to end – there was no doubt about that. There were other things happening that were more hopeful. The first Terra-class ship, now christened the ISS Tycho Brahe had finished all the test flights and would begin quasi-commercial regular flights to Mars. Some non-imperial colonists for Mars were scheduled to take the flight. A report from the tribune governing Mars reported that he was in favor of a ‘national forest’ in the Valles Marineris and suggested further studies and planning for raising the atmospheric pressure of the planet. He also suggested an ‘air-dam’ at the north-eastern ‘opening’ to the valley to reduce the amounts of gas required to bring up the air pressure to livable levels.