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Thanks to the Thinking Horndog for editorial review. Any errors that remain are my own.
Entering the stateroom he shared with Maria, Joe shed his coat and loosened his tie. He then poured two brandies and handed one to her.
It was a nice stateroom. Much nicer than one would expect on a spaceship. Not as large, perhaps, as even a child’s bedroom in a normal home, but large by ship standards. It contained the equivalent of a full-sized bed, a wall-mounted video screen and communications system, a small table and two comfortable chairs.
“Lights, low,” Joe said, as he allowed himself to fall into one of the chairs. The AI monitoring the room was not nearly as advanced as those of the Confederacy, but it was perfectly capable of recognizing speech, and turning down the lights.
Maria, sipping her drink, gracefully took the other chair, but didn’t make any other moves to get more comfortable. Her poker face disturbed Joe. It was perhaps the first time in their relationship that he felt she wasn’t being truly open with him.
“Well, cuore mia, tell me the truth,” he said, simply.
“I am afraid,” she replied, with downcast eyes. “When we do this, you may find another who will occupy your heart, and I will be lost.”
“It is not when, but if,” he declared. “I am not religious enough to be cowed, even by the Pope, and if we were to agree, none could ever displace you in my heart.”
“No,” she shook her head, “we have no choice. His plan is sound and based both on logic and faith. I believe he has divine guidance on this. If we abandon our faith, just to save ourselves, we will be no better than the animals of the Confederacy. Already our people are showing the signs.”
“Perhaps we can negotiate a more acceptable solution.”
“His Holiness will not negotiate. The solution is already acceptable, because it is mandatory, and it makes sense. We will learn to live with it. I will bear you more children. You will take other wives, and love them, and give them children as well. As long as I have your love and respect, I will be content.”
Joe was floored. Maria’s capitulation was totally unexpected. He had never considered the possibility of taking another wife, even in his wildest fantasy, and he had expected her to be livid at the suggestion, even if it did come from the Pope. Hearing her acquiesce so completely, to what he felt was a ludicrous idea, left him dumbfounded.
She rose and set her drink on the table, then walked over to him to sit on his lap. Wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder, she said: “Just remember that no other woman can love you as much as I do. Treat me well, and I will faithfully continue to lead your household. I will be mother to all of your children and all of your wives.”
His maverick mind betrayed him. He couldn’t help but find humor in the situation. “What if I take one who is older than you? Will you still be her mother?”
“You’d better not!” she exclaimed, hitting him on the shoulder. “If she’s much older than me, she’s probably beyond having children, and your excuse for taking her is nonexistent. If she’s close to my age, she’ll want to run things, and I don’t think you’ll want to live with the resulting chaos! Better you should find young women who are willing to listen to those who are wiser. They will also give you a better chance for making babies.”
“Never mind, dear. It was just a wild thought. You know how my mind works.”
Their talk continued for hours, and Joe resisted as one would expect that a respectable man should, but Maria was adamant. In the end, he had no sensible argument that could stand against her logic and faith. He finally agreed to support the plan, then took her in his arms and made sweet love to her, before falling asleep, exhausted.
Frank and Marco, being unmarried, had no ready source of female advice on the matter. That was not to say that they didn’t enjoy (frequently!) female companionship. They were actually pretty popular with the young ladies of their acquaintance, and rarely had to spend a night alone, unless it was what they wanted.
The thing was, Joe had insisted that the plan stay secret, for the moment, preventing both them from asking for a female opinion on the plan. They were thus stuck with each other in trying to sort things out.
Being healthy, virile men, they didn’t have any problems with the idea of sanctioned polygyny: it just wasn’t something with which they’d had any experience. As cousins, their upbringing was similar to Maria’s, and both knew that if either of their fathers had proposed such an arrangement, their mothers would have been serving his heart at the next meal!
For all their human failings however, both men were devout Catholics, and if the Pope said it was right, then it was right. The entire DiCatania clan would feel the same way, although reactions would be mixed because of the break with ingrained traditions. If Joe felt differently, the plan would fail, because of split loyalties, and very likely the family would collapse.
After discussing it at length, they jointly decided to advise Joe to go with the plan, in order to preserve unity within the cosca. That decided, they began discussing how to implement other parts of the plan. Some aspects were risky, probably even plain dangerous, and most would be expensive to implement. Additional resources would have to be obtained, and a large number of people would have to be recruited. The family just didn’t have enough of either to do the job on its own, in the required time.
Father Nicholas had no one to turn to for advice, but his God. When he left his bishop, he knew he would be leaving Earth behind, but the bishop had not mentioned any of the more radical aspects of the plan.
As primary liaison between the church and the cosca, he would be responsible in some way, for the lives and physical as well as spiritual well-being of many, many people. Ultimately, probably as many as the Pope himself. There were many complex issues to be settled, solutions to negotiate, details to see to. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do it all himself. He was going to need help. Even with help, he was afraid that he would fail, and that didn’t even take into account the shock that he’d sustained about the changes required in some basic institutions.
He prayed for hours, asking for strength and guidance, but he knew, short of direct intervention by God himself, he was locked in. It was going to happen. Eventually, he lay down to rest, but he laid awake half the night, waiting for a sign.
The next morning Nicholas enjoyed another meal with the family, before the smaller group adjourned once again to the study. Five very somber people silently shared a single carafe of coffee, until Joe, as de facto leader, called for the discussion to resume.
He picked up his copy of the documents under consideration, and said, “I presume that everyone has now had an opportunity to read, think about, and sleep on these demands.” Everyone silently nodded in the affirmative.
Looking at Nicholas, he asked, “Did you know about the more… extreme parts of this plan?”
“No,” Nicholas replied, obviously unhappily. “I was told only that I would be going with you. I spent much of the night in prayer though, as I expect His Holiness did before he formulated this plan. In the absence of some sign from God to the contrary, I feel I am bound to comply with these requirements.”
Joe nodded his acknowledgement, and looked at Marco. Marco, for his part, had been watching Maria, was more worried about her reaction than anything Father Nicholas might have said. He knew his cousin, and her temper, well, but he was at a loss to figure out her position on matters, from the way her smoky gaze fixed on Joe. Feeling Joe’s eyes on him, he glanced at Frank, and got a nod.
“Frank and I have talked about this in great detail. It will be difficult to do much of this. We will need a great deal of help from people outside the cosca, in order to accomplish these goals. That or we will have to expand the cosca very quickly. If we don’t accept the plan, word of it gets out, it will divide us and the family will collapse. Our purpose for leaving the Earth will not be fulfilled. We believe that you should support the plan.” Frank nodded his agreement.
“It appears that I am alone in my hesitation,” Joe murmured, looking at is wife.
Maria left her chair and approached her husband. Taking both his hands in hers, she said, “No. We are all reluctant to accept the changes, but for different reasons, none of us feel that there is a real choice. The future of the DiCatania family is in your hands, my love. If we collapse, because we cannot agree on this, all our hopes for saving Earth are lost.”
Joe sighed. It was clear that she had the right of it. His only fear was that she might later doubt his love, and that jealousy would destroy his home. I guess that’s a chance I’ll have to take.
“All right,” he replied, shaking off his fears, “Father, can you stay with us for a few days? Do you need to go back, before we undertake this effort?”
“I can stay, for as long as necessary,” Nicholas replied, shakily, “but eventually I will need to report back to the Church.”
Joe stood and hugged his wife, then released her and shook himself to relieve some of the tension. “Marco,” he said, “have the pilot take us home. Frank set up a family meeting. Everyone fourteen and older… and bring in at least the Capi from the other colonies, as well as their wives. I want it to happen at the evening meal on the day following our return.”
Of course, not everyone could be there, but at least the off-world contingent was fully represented. Joe had to admit that it wouldn’t be practical to pull staff off Earth for the meeting, and leaks might be a problem if it had been. The attendees milled around, greeting each other as old friends do, waiting to find out why they’d been called in.
As the noise level subsided and people began to pay more attention to the front of the room, Joe looked out the windows at the world they’d come to regard as “home.” In fact, that was what most of the people called it - Home - with a capital H. Joe had pitched for it to be called Catania, in honor of his late father-in-law’s family name, and no one opposed it, but still it was Home, in everyday use.
Marco was with him, and a few minutes before the scheduled time, the rest of the party arrived - Maria, Father Nicholas, and Frank. The five had discussed how to approach the announcement at length, during the journey home, and had decided that the best approach would be to divide the parts up and have different people present them. As leader of the cosca, Joe would set the stage and introduce the speakers.
The time had come. Joe nodded to the other four, and began tapping his spoon on his water glass to get the crowd’s attention. When it was mostly silent, he began to speak.
“We don’t often come together, so many of us, in one place. When we do it is always a mixed blessing. We get to see friends and loved ones from whom we have long been separated. We hear of, and remember those who have passed on. We give away our daughters in marriage. We send our sons off to start families of their own. There are many reasons why we gather this way, but the events are still rare in our lives.
“Today we are gathered to receive and greet a new member of our extended family. Some of you may know him, or know of him. I have myself determined that he is a man of great character. To tell you a little more about him, and why we wish to invite him into our midst, I give you my beautiful wife, Maria.”
Polite people everywhere will applaud any introduction, but Maria was truly loved by all of those present. It took some minutes for things to quiet enough for her to begin speaking.
“You all know that, for some time, I have been concerned for the spiritual well-being of our people. My dear husband shares in my concern, and agrees that we do not wish to become as soulless and self-serving as the heathens who have gone to the Confederacy.
“He took my case to you, some months ago, and you agreed to indulge my wish to find and recruit a shepherd for this flock. Our investigations were exhaustive, and the returns were meager, at first, but eventually we did find one man against whom nothing could be said. We found a man about whom everyone who knew him agreed was a good man. Many wanted to say that he was a Saint in the making.
“I approached this man, and asked him to be our shepherd, and I think the idea shocked him a little.” Maria paused and gave the crowd a small smile. “I suppose it’s not every day that a confession contains a plea that you abandon Earth and go immediately into the heavens!” The crowd found that remark amusing, and it was a few minutes before the laughter subsided enough to go on.
“He couldn’t give me an answer immediately,” she continued, “and truthfully, it wouldn’t have been reasonable to expect one. He did promise to think about it and get back to us.
“Our simple request rose to heights unintended, in the Church, and His Holiness, the Pope himself, took an interest. The Pope’s clear vision was that some of the old traditions have no place in worlds that are not Earth. New environments demand new behavioral guidelines and standards of conduct.
“It was His Holiness that decided to grant the blessing for which we asked, and it was he who decided that there would be a new branch of the Church, and that this new branch needed its own Patriarch. He has also placed additional burdens on our shoulders, and has sent our new Patriarch to us with a message.
“Some of you knew him as Father Nicholas O‘Donnell, a parish priest in the city that was our home on Earth. Those who did will remember him as a good man, always seeking to improve the lives of those around him. When I approached him, he was still Father Nicholas, and he tells me that he still prefers ‘Father’ to ‘Your Beatitude.’” She paused momentarily and looked over the crowd before continuing. “Personally, so do I.” The laughter again made her pause. “So without further ado, I give you His Beatitude, Patriarch of the Milky Way, Father Nicholas!”
As Maria took her seat, and Nicholas made his way to the podium, the applause thundered. Perhaps it was not an appropriate greeting for a clergyman, in the traditional sense, but it was clear that it was intended to honor both Maria and their new spiritual guide. At the podium he examined his notes and marveled at the love and respect these people willingly gave to their leaders. Eventually things quieted down again, and he was able to speak.
“Hello and good morning! With a birth name like O’Donnell, it’s pretty obvious I wasn’t born Italian, but to paraphrase Jimmy Buffett, I got here as quickly as I could. “The audience responded with a smattering of polite laughter.
“I appreciate the warm welcome, and I hope to meet as many of you as possible in the next few hours. I know that when you leave here, and disperse to your home worlds, it will be difficult to make personal contact again.
“In the coming weeks, I will ask Don Giuseppe to provide each of you with printed copies of the message I will be delivering, as well as selected portions of the text of the assignment that I have been given by His Holiness.
“I am not here to tell you of the wholesale slaughter of thousands of years of Roman Catholic tradition, rather I am to tell you that, because we live in a different set of circumstances, some few of those traditions have been modified, or declared ‘not applicable.’
“As Maria observed, my elevation from lowly parish priest to Patriarch is evidence that His Holiness has established a plan that goes well beyond the request that you made. The plan calls not only for providing you with the guidance you requested, but for more rapid expansion of the ranks of the faithful than any of you envisioned, as well as formulae for accomplishing that expansion.
“It also calls for concurrent expansion of the priesthood, in order to continue to provide an adequate level of guidance to the growing population. Even without the requirement to expand our population, it is clear to me from Don Giuseppe’s description of your colonies, that one priest would not suffice. We would be growing the body of clergy, even if we weren’t considering a rapidly expanding population.
“Now before moving away from generalities and more toward specifics, I need to give you some insight into the Pope’s thinking.
“The Confederacy is working with humanity for its own reasons, not for our benefit. They have unilaterally decided that religious faith is irrelevant to their society, and therefore they have made no allowance any of Earth’s established religions or Christian denominations to field clergy with the volunteers or their concubines.
“That is not to say that religion isn’t tolerated, but it isn’t accommodated either. The Confederacy isn’t disposed to using evacuation resources to move and distribute clergy off-world. Clergymen can go, if their CAP scores are high enough to volunteer, or if a volunteer offers to take one as a concubine, but both of those options have issues.
“It is difficult for a clergyman who truly wants to function primarily as a clergyman, to achieve a CAP score high enough to volunteer, and if he did, he would be required to devote his duty hours to secular work. There is no Chaplain Corps in the Confederacy’s military structure. As a concubine, a clergyman would be able to function only insofar as his sponsor allowed it. That is not an acceptable situation.
“Without the clergy to help guide them, the faithful are more easily isolated, led astray, and lost. Without sufficient numbers of the faithful to support them, the clergy cannot be sustained in any practical way. These are the motivating factors that the Holy Father has shared with me through his instructions.
“The early estimates given by the Confederacy for evacuation of Earth led us to believe that perhaps thirty percent of the population could be saved. It now appears that those estimates were much too optimistic. Some say the number could be as low as three percent. In any case, it isn’t enough, and the volunteer/concubine system doesn’t provide for survival of adequate numbers of the faithful or their clergy.
“To combat this situation, the plan establishes a goal of rapid population expansion for the cosca, or whatever you ultimately decide to call our society. That expansion is to be accomplished in several ways. First, the existing Papal mandate against use of artificial methods of contraception remains in effect.” As might be expected, this caused some groans from the crowd, but Nicholas raised his hand, and the complaints were silenced.
“Do you not see the reasoning? If it is desired to increase the population, it is senseless to engage in behaviors that are contrary to that goal! Contraception means fewer babies, when more babies are needed to grow our society! This is one lesson we should learn from the Confederacy.
“The remaining declarations are changes of position that apply only to off-world communicants.
“Second, whenever the balance of males and females in the populations permits, the new standard of matrimony is polygyny. To be more specific, His Holiness has declared that a man may have up to four wives at any one time, and that furthermore, he is duty-bound to marry and have children with as many as he can support, up to that limit.” That announcement caused a major uproar, as offended wives and prospective wives, and perhaps some older male members - probably the fathers of daughters - of the gathering, objected. Again Nicholas raised his hand and the crowd quieted.
“Use your minds,” he said, “and remember our objective. A woman can usually only have one baby at a time, with some exceptions for multiple births, but a man could sire children in a new woman nearly every day, if he can find a fertile one. If your objective is more births, polygyny makes more sense than monogamy. The Church already recognizes and accepts polygynous marriages in certain countries on Earth, for reasons of tradition. The expansion of human populations off-Earth is a much better reason.
“Third, you will note my use of the term ‘marriage’ in referring to the new standard of acceptable relationships. As far as the Church is concerned, the sponsor/concubine relationships promoted within the Confederacy are nothing more than chattel slavery, and are not sanctioned unions. His Holiness recognizes that, at present, the Confederacy is able to enforce these conditions, and he has granted absolution to volunteers and their concubines, in order to make their lives easier; but it is not his intention that those relationships should ever be considered normal.
“Gentlemen, if you take more than one wife, each of those women will be your wife, not your property. You will not hold their lives in your hands, as do the Confederacy’s sponsors of concubines. Each of them will be an equal partner with you in the relationship, and with your other wives, and it will be your duty to provide an equal level of support, love, and attention to each of them.
“Fourth, no adult is exempt from the requirement to have and raise children, unless there is a physical limitation or fertility problem that precludes normal biological processes. This has two implications that are important: one is that on reaching adulthood, each person is expected to begin working toward establishing a marriage and providing a home for the children that will be born.
“In terms of expectations, I am instructed that the Church will consider individuals of at least fourteen years of age to be adults for purposes of marriage, provided that any such individual is medically certified to be capable of procreating, without risking either their life or their future health, and provided that no one is coerced into an unwanted union. Marriage petitions that do not meet these requirements will not be condoned.
“The other implication is that the priesthood is not exempted from the marriage requirement. Continence and celibacy are not compatible with the goal of expanding population.” Nicholas paused to allow the import of this to set in. The surprise and anxiety he saw on the faces in the audience echoed that he had experienced when he read the plan. He didn’t give them time to start talking, though.
“Yes gentlemen, it is true. The clergy will no longer be a convenient place for you to hide from the fair sex. Even your Patriarch will be required to do his level best to reproduce!
“The fifth element of the plan, and the last one I’ll be discussing today, was added in recognition of the fact that having babies alone won’t expand the population quickly enough, as babies won’t reach adulthood for many years. I’m told that very few of you presently have children in your households, and that fewer still have children between the ages of six and fourteen. This element will change that.
“The Church operates orphanages all over the world. In the United States alone, there are nearly three hundred such facilities, housing up to fifty thousand children. A large number of those children will never be placed, because people only want to adopt infants. The Confederacy has shown little interest in any children, other than the dependents of its volunteers and concubines.
“I am authorized to offer you the opportunity to save as many of those children as is possible, to provide them homes and futures that may outlast the Earth itself, and to use them to bolster your numbers and ensure the survival of our race and our faith.
“Finally, I know that I’ve given you a lot to think about, and possibly criticize, but keep in mind that I didn’t invent any of this plan - it came straight from the Vatican. When I first read it, it upset me as much as it has some of you, but I know where my purpose and loyalty lies, and so I have come to accept the burden. I expect no less from each of you.
“As you may have already ascertained, there are going to be many logistical problems with implementing this plan. I will leave finding the answers and solutions to those problems to those who know your organization better than I do. I can say that, however we proceed to fulfill this mandate, the Church on Earth will provide full support, to the limit of its personnel and its coffers - and now I give you two of your own, Frank and Marco DiLentini, to talk about solutions to those problems.”
Having delivered his message, Nicholas returned to his seat, next to Maria, and the audience sat in stunned silence as the Lentini cousins took over the meeting.
If one judged others by their appearances it was easy, some would say natural, to look at Frank and Marco and think “thug.” An experienced observer would have no difficulty determining that their coats probably concealed some heavy-duty hardware. From their usual places, standing near the entrance to a room, they kept watch on their surroundings the way a hawk examines the ground from his roost. It would be a common mistake to underrate their intelligence
They had served together in the Army, in a military law-enforcement capacity, and later on they cross-trained to enter the Quartermaster Corps. Both men graduated with honors from the Army Logistics Management College. In addition, Marco had an advanced degree in psychology, and Frank was a certified computer systems analyst. Not just your usual mafia “enforcers.”
Add to all of these qualifications that fact that these men were both family and cosca, and it was clear why Joe depended on them for advice on critical issues, more than anyone else, other than Maria, .
The two had spent almost the entire time in transit discussing the Vatican plan and researching its implications, and they had developed their own plan for implementation. It held a surprise or two, for everyone, including Joe.
Knowing better than to toss out all the details of their plan to the audience, like feed for chickens, they gave the barest sketch that they felt they could. Their presentation and the resulting questions, however, still ran over into the scheduled mealtime. When allowed to do so, they reassumed their normal stations, and the crowd buzzed with talk as Joe took the podium.
“That concludes the presentation portion of this meeting. Since we’ve run significantly over our allotted time, I’m going to postpone the caucus portion until after our meal. I would ask that you gather near your Capi, and help them arrive at a consensus of reaction to these plans before the meal ends. Now I will ask our new Patriarch to bless this gathering.”
Nicholas hadn’t been expecting that, but he was able to draw on his experience to assemble an appropriate blessing for the gathering and for the meal. Satisfied that tradition had been upheld, the crowd found seats and began discussing the plans with their leaders.
As always, the meal took far too long to conclude, and it was well past the original scheduled adjournment before the crowd was once again settled into business meeting mode. Joe took the podium once again, and began calling on the Capi to share their findings.
There is always someone who feels that they can do the job better than the person in charge. Usually several some ones. Such is politics in any organization. Joe decided to deal with them head on, and called on his worst troublemaker.
“George!” he called. “What’s your reaction to all this?”
George didn’t hesitate. “Those of my group that are here unanimously support the plans,” he stated. “Of course, it’ll have to be ratified by the rest of the colony, but I don’t see that being a problem.”
Joe was stunned. He really expected some opposition from that quarter. He glanced over at Maria, and saw her trying to hide a smile. Obviously, his darling had been working behind the scenes, before the meeting. He sighed and went on to the next Capo. It was a near-repeat of George’s statement, as were the responses from every single group represented.
There were, of course, some minor complaints, but nothing in the way of real opposition was manifested. When the last Capo had spoken his piece, Joe pulled some note cards from his pocket and arranged them in order of use before he spoke again.
“All right then. I asked you to tell me your reaction, and you say that you support the plans. You tell me you won’t have any problem with the folks back home. I have to depend on your judgment about that. This is my decision then.
“Much, but not all, of the cosca’s industrial base is here on Catania. That is not surprising, since we are the largest of the colonies. Catania will support the plan. The rest of you will return to your respective colonies, and validate your responses with your people. Take your time, but get me a dependable consensus for each of your colonies. I expect to hear confirmations from all of you within the month.
“I’m thinking, at this point, that if an entire colony decides to oppose the plan, we will consider that colony a competing cosca. If a colony is divided on the issue, then we will divide the colony and send the opposing faction to another colony to join, or to form, a competing cosca. If either or both of these things happens, we will maintain a business-only relationship with the new cosca. I don’t have to tell you what that means, do I?” He stopped and looked around, and seeing only negative head shakes, he continued.
“Catania will begin implementing immediately. The rest of you can begin as soon as you have a positive consensus from your colonies.