It was a change with which Miaree was familiar, for she had been the first to experience it. The wonder of it never left her, was with her, full force, as from the viewer-enclosed snugness of her South Cold weekend retreat on Five, she watched Rei bend and examine an ice formation. It was a basic chemical change in her body, a change which altered a thousand centuries of evolution. It was a simple, unpredictable change involving the interaction of Delanian sperm with the reproductive organs of the Artonuee female. Simply put, the alkaline seminal fluid of Rei reacted with female hormones to cause a slight irritation of inner tissue. The irritation was identical, in all respects save one, with the natural change which indicated the formation of eggs in the female body. The effect was to induce an artificial state of ripeness in the Artonuee female which had all of the emotional force of the actual thing. Once injected with Delanian seminal fluid, an Artonuee female walked in a constant aroma of pleele and experienced, with her lover, all the joys of merge.
The cyclical mating urge of the Artonuee female, all-powerful, was now a permanent part of Miaree’s life. And looking at Rei’s powerful back as he bent, she would not change it, would not trade it for the most perfect of ruby eggs. And her discovery of bliss was shared by others, many others, more and more as the number of Delanian males increased in the system. The love of a female for her man was a heady, irresistible drug. It was an obsession which could be mastered temporarily, to allow a female to function in society, as long as her lover was near, as long as the night could be filled with that most lovely of experiences, love. And if the price to be paid came in the shape of a sacred egg the color of dead flesh, there were billions of ifflings, and it had been proven that abstinence lessened the irritation, allowed the female to function as nature had intended.
In a time of racial excitement, of new and rewarding experiences, of hope, of a lessening of respect for the discredited Artonuee God, there was a future. For the first time since Artonuee astronomers had understood the meaning of the Fires of God, the race could look forward to something other than eventual extinction. There was a vast storage world of life, teeming with ifflings. The flow of winglings and walklings did not lessen. The decrease in the number of ifflings was insignificant. The stars called. The greatest building program in the history of the race was underway, centered on Five, an Artonuee world already transformed beyond recognition. Destiny called, and destiny, for multiple numbers of Artonuee
females, involved that new and exciting word, love. Alliances were made and sundered. Since neither race had evolved into permanent relationships between the sexes, the alliances were often multiple. No Delanian man was deprived of the beauty of the Artonuee females. Even Mother Aglee took a Delanian lover, and keened sweetly of his love.
The elected leader of four populated worlds appeared at functions of state with her colorful wings exposed.
And gradually, Artonuee men accepted the change. They too found compensation. It began with the workers on Five. Stimulated constantly by the pleele aroma exuded by artificially ripe females, they found that the Delanian women were not resentful of their men’s attention to the Artonuee females. In fact, the alien women found the males of Artonuee to be fair and took them to bed and suffered none of the chemical changes which altered the Artonuee female.
The first Delanian child to be born on Five arrived days after the landing of the fleet. At first, in the confusion, there were no reliable records of Delanian population increase. When a census was taken some three years later, it was discovered that the birth rate of the Delanian women was 1.2 children every two years. Yet the numbers were relatively small. It was only with the arrival of the fourth fleet, with entire families, that the Interplanetary Council recognized the problem and issued a request that Delanians control their population at zero growth. The request was promptly acknowledged and accepted. A potential crisis was averted. The good intentions of the aliens were reaffirmed.
"Ah, love, love," she keened, as Rei entered. She met him with open arms, felt the strength of his body. His lips fired her heart. The long night was ahead, the urgent reports forgotten, put aside for the morrow. In his arms she was not Overlady of Five. She was simply female, and loved.
In his arms no fears were allowed, doubts were banished. Gentle, loving, true, giving his love only to her, he was incapable of hurt. She would trust him with her life. And because he was a representative of his race, all of his race was good.
One day she would deprive herself of his love long enough to produce her contribution of ruby eggs. One day. Meantime, the work load was frightful and the nights were too short and she was merely a female, loved and loving and thankful to her God for her good fortune.
Chapter Eighteen
Assembled in space, it stretched over five miles in length. Square angles allowed utilization of all areas. Connected sections contributed to the length, but were removable. Huge enough to transport a section of juplee forest, powerful enough to push past the side portal of God’s Constant, it gleamed in the harsh, unfiltered sun, absorbed the blackness of space on the out-sun side. It was ready.
In Rim Star II she floated near, saw the towering walls of the ship extend above her. Skillfully she circled it, admired it, measured it with her eyes. Pride pounded in her breast. She put her hand on Rei’s and smiled. He understood.
"Yes," he said. "The first. The first of many."
Monitoring the communications frequencies, she knew it was time. She withdrew to a safe distance. Searing light flared from the trailing engine compartments. Aboard, outsized converters hummed. The movement was slow and majestic at first; then, with an acceleration which left her breathless, the star ship dwindled to nothingness. She followed it on her instruments, saw it. As it hit the side portal of the Constant, it disappeared.
Three years in the future, it would be back. It would carry a host of workers, workers sorely needed to mine the asteroid belt, to continue the gutting of hot First Planet for its metals and materials, to dig into the center of Five, to man the assembly lines and operate the mining drivers and labor at the thousand-and-one tasks ahead during the construction of a fleet of like ships which would release millions of Delanians and Artonuee from certain death before the Fires brought their doom. And while in the Delanian systems, it would serve as a prototype for a million of its kind. The entire resources of thirty billion Delanians would be diverted into building the star ships. The vast fleet would sweep outward, following the lead of scout ships which, at that very moment, were searching the stars toward the opposite end of the Galaxy for habitable planets. Planets would be found. Planets would be settled. Together, Artonuee and Delanian would spread across the empty reaches, planet to
planet, system to system, taking with them their life, their technology. Doom would be thwarted. Life would go on. And in the end, the labors of such as Bertt and Untell would allow an escape from the doomed galaxies, would allow life to be eternal in safe, green worlds of promise far from the Fires.
Meanwhile, there was endless work and continual problems and Rei’s love to inspire her. A day seemed endless, yet the days became weeks and the weeks years, and the first star ship returned to disgorge eager workers and the dread information—information which traveled at light speed and thus had not reached the Artonuee system—that the collision of the two globular clusters just outside the spiral arm had begun. Death raced toward the Delanian worlds. There, a crash program of building was underway, which, by the time the star ship reached Five at light times twenty, produced thousands of ships. The first of the final wave would be arriving in less than a year’s time.
The knowledge stunned Miaree. Somewhere there, where her eye could not see, billions of beings were to die. And she was helpless to prevent it. She wept for them, Rei’s strong arms comforting her. And she worked harder than she had thought possible, for the Artonuee, luckier than the Delanians, had been given time. The first waves of radiation and fire would strike the outlying Delanian worlds in less than three years
. Artonuee would have a minimum of twenty times that time span in which to prepare to evacuate the system. Although she wept for the Delanians, she rejoiced for the Artonuee. In sixty years she could build enough star ships to save all, to forest a ship with juplee and select prime ifflings for the long trek to safer planets. She could build a ship designed to salvage the artistic beauty of Outworld—flora, fauna, artifacts, art works. God was good. God had forgiven.
Thankful that she was young and able to cope with the long hours, she was everywhere. Inspired by Rei’s presence at her side, she was capable of going thirty-six hours without sleep. Her mind, expanded by the learned knowledge of Rei’s people, could absorb the most difficult of technical problems.
Miaree was forty, just at the end of her young adulthood, when Mother Aglee kissed her lover one final time and boarded a ship for the last flight. With the office of the Mother vacant, the five worlds of the Artonuee throbbing with frenzied activity, Miaree agreed to allow powerful
members of the Interplanetary Council to advance her name for election. Because of her travels and her prominence in the building program, she won easily.
Only ten days after Mother Aglee sought her iffling, Mother Miaree, wearing the robes of the first lady of all the Artonuee, entered a large conference room to be briefed on the state of the system. She had been so involved in the administration of the factory planet, Five, that she had not been able to keep abreast of problems outside her own field. The sobering facts which were thrust upon her from first one serious-faced official and then another left her in a state of shock and sorrow.
Spant, Delanian, Co-administrator of Space Exploration: "Lady, more than two thousand Light Twenty Scouts are in the outer stars. Although good news could be reported at any time, the results to date are discouragingly negative. As you know, the formation of planets is a rarity, requiring such a combination of conditions as to make only one star out of a half-million a planet producer. Aside from two planets in the early stages of producing water, no habitable worlds have been discovered. I request the authorization for the construction of an additional five hundred scouts."
Rei, by appointment of the Mother, Supervisor of Raw Materials:
"Lady, time is too short. We must consider the exploration program a failure in its present form and adopt Contingency Plan Two."
Mother Miaree: "For those of you who are not briefed on Contingency Plan Two, it is simply this. Should the exploration program fail, as it has failed to this date, at the time of final decision, when the exploding stellar material begins to threaten our system, we embark on the fleet of star ships and use the fleet, itself, as an exploration tool. Perhaps a word from Bertt, Star Fleet Overlord."
Bertt, Star Fleet Overlord: "Ladies, males, Delanians. Although passenger space is the primary object in the construction of a star ship, it has long been recognized that long periods of travel could be necessary.
We never had any guarantee that good worlds would be discovered within a reasonable distance. Thus, we have constructed each ship to have the capacity to live in space almost indefinitely. Unfortunately, the space required for growing synthetic foods, and for the other life support systems required, cuts down severely on the space to be allotted to passengers. Should disaster strike immediately, we would be able to save only a small percentage of the combined populations of our races. However, it is estimated that we have a minimum of twenty years to complete our building program. Should we make certain technological breakthroughs, the picture could be improved. If we allotted more of our time and our available resources to research—"
Mother Miaree: "Dear Bertt, that is an old argument, one which was settled long ago."
Belle, Overlady of Outworld: "Lady Mother, attention is required to the continued destruction of our most beautiful planet. As you know, the Council opened Outworld to Delanian settlement some ten years past. Since then, the Delanian population has grown out of control with new arrivals. Delanians outnumber Artonuee on Outworld ten to one. Their numbers strain the resources of the planet. We have been forced to utilize for dwellings and industry a large percentage of our natural parklands. Where once the Great Bloom stretched for five hundred miles, unbroken, sprawling cities now soil the air. This desecration—"
Argun, President of the Delanian People in Exile: "Would the lady prefer that two billion Delanians die on the home worlds?"
Mother Miaree: "None of us would wish such a tragedy. Too many Delanians died. Their death saddens all of us."
Caee, Overlady of The World: "Mother, it is true that we are all saddened by the tragedy which has swept the home systems of the Delanians. I deplore before God the sad fact that, together, we were able to save not more than one-fifth of the total population before the Fires destroyed all who were left. It is truly a cosmic tragedy. However, six billion Delanians were saved by the star ships which were built here, by our people and their people, and by the star ships which were built in the Delanian systems. We Artonuee have opened our arms to our Delanian friends. We have welcomed them in their billions to our small worlds, and we have paid a terrible price. I do not deplore the sacrifice of the Artonuee. No. Indeed, we owe a vote of thanks to the Delanians for alerting us to the doom which we had considered to be remote, a happening of the distant future. So our lots are cast together. It is not merely petty thinking, then, when I say that I must insist that action be taken regarding the production of Delanian children on The World. I do not, of course, have to tell the Mother the grim statistics of iffling mortality—"
Mother Miaree: "Perhaps you do. Remember, I have spent my time on Five and in space."
Caee: "The information is classified."
Mother Miaree: "All here are suited to receive classified information. They would not be here if they were not."
Caee: "Yes, Lady. If you would care to read the last report."
Mother Miaree: "I do, indeed, care to read the last and all reports regarding alterations to The World. I want all material pertaining to tampering with the life cycle on our home planet in my office immediately following this meeting. In the meantime, perhaps you would be so kind as to inform me when it was decided and who decided to allow even one iffling to die."
Caee: "Mother, I am sorry. I thought you had been informed. It was decided by the Interplanetary Council, at the urging of Mother Aglee, to allow iffling reserves to fall to a working one-on-one level some seven years past. At first, this was easily accomplished by the mere nonreplenishment of stock as homecomings lowered the iffling population. Thus it was possible to utilize a portion of the juplee forests—"
Mother Miaree: "Am I to understand that the sacred juplee forests have been leveled?"
Caee: "Mother, there are five hundred million Delanians on The World."
Mother Miaree: "God the Mother!"
Argun: "Lady, it was a difficult and terrible decision for your predecessor and for the Council. It was felt—"
Mother Miaree: "Damn you all, tell me. Iffling mortality?"
Caee: "Mortality is at a low level, and selected females are being commissioned to produce fertile eggs to replenish—"
Mother Miaree: "How low is low? What is the state of the iffling population?"
Caee: "Lady, a blight, thought to be the result of atmospheric pollution, has hit the forest. Ifflings are dying at a rate which reduces the population by approximately seven percent a year."
Mother Miaree: "And the growth rate of the Delanians on The World?"
Argun: "In accordance with our agreement, we are holding all Delanians to zero population growth."
Mother Miaree: "As of now, there will be no child births allowed to Delanians on The World."
Rei: "Lady, is this not a harsh decision?"
Mother Miaree: "Dear Rei, I did not assume this office to preside over the death of all the Artonuee. All my life I have faced the fact that, someday, the Fires would end Artonuee life, but I will not accept a slow and lingering withering of our race through the destruction of tha
t which is most sacred to us, our home world. We have sacrificed. Our worlds bulge with six billion Delanians. No. Now it is time to call on the Delanians on The World for a sacrifice on their part. Argun, I respectfully direct you to issue orders preventing any further conception on our home world."
Argun: "It will be done, Lady."
Mother Miaree: "Caee, I want daily reports from you on this situation. I will not be satisfied until there is no iffling mortality. Do you understand? And Belle, I appoint you to personally select females to produce fertilized eggs. You may ask for volunteers. That failing, you have the authority of this office to use any means to insure that the iffling population is maintained at a safe level. If it requires the incarceration of suitable females until their ripeness produces fruit, then consider it an order."
Caee: "Yes, Lady."
Mother Miaree: "For the information of all, a report, from the Supervisor of Raw Materials."
The Legend of Miaree Page 12