Chapter 15 - Lessons from a Model Citizen

"Bit of a walk isn't it?" Tanya said with a smile.

"It's outside the citizen zone," I admitted. "But you had wounded so we teleported you in at our command post. I'm not sure we have a teleport near here yet. This is new."

"Will all my crew be here?" Tanya asked.

"Probably not," I said. "The walking wounded you had were directed to one of the rooms we have near our medical center. If there are free pods they'll rotate the people through."

Tanya nodded. "On that note, how are Maxine and the rest of my injured crew?"

"AI, can you pass that question on to whoever is on duty in medical?" I called out.

I heard Bren speak up. "I don't know ranks. Robert, Clifford and Vlad will all be out of medical in the next two hours. Sara had some lung damage that the pod is working through, she'll be in a pod for six more hours. Dennis is going to take ten hours, and he'll need to rehab the shoulder. The pod will repair it, but he's going to need to convince his mind that it isn't hurt."

"And Maxine?" Tanya asked.

Bren gave a tremendous sigh. "Forty hours. Twelve to stabilize her. After that we can transfer her to the medpods on Freya if you want to leave. She's got massive internal injuries and her back was broken in four places. The pods have to rebuild her spinal cord. She's going to require a lot of emotional support. Does she have a concubine with her?"

"No," Tanya said. "She asked her male concubine to stay at the pod during this first tour."

Este nodded. "I'll talk to the concubines we have with us. I'm sure a couple can offer her some support while she recovers."

The officers of Freya smiled. They filed past Tanya and me and disappeared into the pod. I was turning to head home when Tanya spoke. "You're jealous of me aren't you?"

I thought for a moment. There was no question that she was beautiful, but I remembered the briefing I had just seen. Her officers clearly had a lot of respect for her. They listened intently and obeyed her commands. To my surprise I found my head shaking to show I disagreed with her sentiment.

"I think you are one of the most beautiful women I've ever met," I admitted. "But I belong to James. And I know he loves me."

I started to walk away. I heard footsteps on the corridor floor and a gentle hand touched my shoulder. "Wait, please," Tanya said. "Can you explain that to me? I've seen very few concubines who don't envy citizens. How is it that you don't?"

My mind whirled. I desperately tried to put together the right words to explain my feelings. Nothing I thought of seemed adequate. Finally I reached up to touch Tanya's hand. "I can't explain it. Follow me, perhaps if you see it, you'll understand."

I led Tanya back the way we came. The speakers had been silent since the earlier fight and I tried to guess where James might be. I took a bit of a chance and headed to the multi-use hall first. James was not there, but I could see several concubines resting on cots. Tanya recognized a couple because she stepped past me to talk to them.

As Tanya stepped away I scanned the room. Ed and Gina were both there treating the concubines. I noticed that Gina had her concubine Michael assisting. Ed appeared to be working alone, but then Lindsay stood up from behind the concubine he had been looking at. She had a loose bundle of bandages in her hands. She looked over at me to wave and then froze.

"Tanya!" she cried out, dropping the bandages and putting her hands over her mouth.

Tanya's head whipped around. I could see her eyes widen in surprise as she saw Ishtar's resident model standing there. "Lindsay? My god, I heard you vanished from Miami over a year ago. How did you end up here?"

"I belong to Donna," Lindsay cried back as she stepped around the cot and approached Tanya. "From your outfit, I'm guessing you had the CAP to volunteer."

Tanya laughed. "Yes, for my sins I'm the commander of Freya. But when did you learn medicine?"

Lindsay spun around smiling. "Oh, I needed something to do while I became fat and slow with my first baby. Besides, Donna is the unofficial head of our medical department and I wanted to help her."

"Donna is a doctor?" Tanya asked.

I covered my mouth to hide a giggle. Gina failed and burst out laughing. Lindsay just smiled brighter. "No, or at least she was only a clerk for one of the advertising agencies back on Earth. She just volunteered for the position and grew into it."

Tanya looked at Lindsay and then looked back at me. "I'm getting confused here," she said. "The concubines on this planet are way too outgoing. I feel like I'm no longer in the Confederacy."

Lindsay erupted in girlish giggles. "Oh, we're part of the Confederacy. But we definitely are our own little pocket of the universe. And we have very good owners."

Gina looked up. "I'm going to tell Donna that you called her an owner."

Lindsay just stuck her tongue out at Gina. Then we heard Donna speak from the doorway. "Is Lindsay suggesting that I sell her? I guess there just might be a good market for a slightly used supermodel."

I whirled as Lindsay ran over to throw her arms around Donna. "My love! My reason for living!" Lindsay screamed as she covered Donna's face with kisses.

Tanya stood up and walked closer to Donna. She had a puzzled expression on her face that turned into a deep frown as she noticed Donna's protruding belly. "You're Donna? The one who went into space and helped save Maxine?"

Donna laughed as she fought off Lindsay's playful kisses. "That would be me. I'm kind of the head of the human part of the Ishtar repair shop."

Tanya pointedly looked down. "If I was listening to the communications right, you went into space to help my gunner. You're pregnant!"

Donna laughed. "Five months and very happy. But someone had to go, and I was the most qualified for the trip. The Confed space suits provide plenty of protection for a short trip like that. You must not have heard the AI tell me that after I protested."

"Why are you even on duty?" Tanya asked.

"Because there are only twenty-two citizens on the planet," Ed responded. "We don't have the luxury of putting anyone on a full leave right now."

Tanya looked around. I saw her eyes widen when she noticed Gina's outfit and bulging belly. She then looked at me. "Your concubines aren't pregnant, but the citizens are?"

I blushed. Lindsay just laughed. "I just gave birth two months ago, as did just about every concubine on the planet. My child just happens to be resting in the nursery right now. If there is a problem, my sister concubine will let me know, she's on baby watch," the former model chirped.

Ed laughed. "It's almost like the two of you know each other," he observed.

Lindsay blushed. "We do. I met Tanya at a couple events. She was competing for the Miss Hawaiian Tropic for Saint Louis and I was brought in as a model and judge. I never asked her CAP though."

Tanya shrugged. "I wouldn't have told you back then. I kept it a secret. Now, I find you aren't answering my question. Why am I finding happy, confident and outgoing concubines?"

"Because the citizens of Ishtar value us as people and show us respect," I blurted out in exasperation.

I brought both hands up to cover my mouth as Tanya, Ed and Gina turned to look at me. My face warmed under their stare. Behind them I saw Lindsay give me a thumb up in support.

Ed smiled. "Meiko pretty much hit it out of the park."

Gina giggled. "She'd know better than you or I would anyways."

Tanya looked at Gina. "You still aren't explaining the situation."

Gina looked at Donna. I watched as she shook her head and sighed. "The problem is that I'm not sure if I can explain it. We all came out on the same colony ship, but due to the situation on the ship we spent most of the trip trapped in our pods with the concubines we had. For me that meant I had Michael and Molly to talk to. The only time I talked to anyone else was when Donna, Yvette or Shawna contacted me."

Tanya turned to Donna. I stood quietly watching the interplay. It was clear Tanya wanted more information.

Donna gave me a glare. "I know, you think we are playing with you, or playing an elaborate game of passing the buck. The problem is that The Tradition grew up almost organically."

Tanya held up a hand. "That sounded rather formal. So there is a way you all act?"

Donna nodded. "I guess you could call it that. I don't think it's written down anywhere through."

"No version of Ishtar's Tradition is written," the AI interposed into the conversation. "All conversations pertaining to its founding were limited to suggestions that all citizens adopt it and comments about how successful it was once adopted."

Tanya looked at me. "Why do I feel that you are the best one to answer my question?"

I shrank back, but Lindsay rushed over and stood behind me. She had her hands on my shoulders and bent down to whisper in my ear. "She doesn't seem angry. Just tell her the truth."

The floor suddenly became extremely interesting to me. I stared at a spot just ahead of my feet, counting my toes slowly. Finally, I looked up.

"It's hard to explain because James never tried to define it," I started. "His selection of my sisters and me was unusual in that he didn't test drive any of us. It was two nights later that he took me to bed and by that time he'd convinced each of us that we were important to him as more than bed warmers and baby factories. He spent time with us. When it was time to plan cosmetic changes, he would bring up a hologram and make suggestions with us there. He didn't demand many changes; in fact I think that's when I realized he had told the truth. He wanted me to be free to grow as a person."

Lindsay was giggling quietly in my ear. "He sounds a lot like Donna during those first weeks. Although I knew her for years."

Ignoring the comment I continued. "It wasn't just the cosmetic changes. He got to know each of us individually. James learned our likes and worked to make us happy. The others aren't lying about the trip out. More than half of the citizens brought with us were sadistic monsters, and they roamed the halls of our transport looking for people to terrorize. The only safe place was inside a pod, so we stayed trapped for more than six weeks while Will-o-Wisp sailed to Ishtar. During that time, James convinced the AI that part of the colony should be isolated from the others. That part is where we are now. Even while he was doing that, he looked for ways to make the life of all concubines better. One pod was converted into a school and nursery. That's where my daughter is right now, being watched over by my sister concubine as well as other free concubines."

Donna reached out to put a hand on my arm. "I can say more," she told me. She turned to Tanya as I stopped talking.

"I first found out about the situation when I visited James' pod while on the trip out. It was the one time we managed a meeting before we voluntarily locked ourselves in our pods. At the time I didn't know his CAP, but Meiko here was the third of his concubines I saw. She cuddled on his lap while we talked about our future on Ishtar. We were talking about something that had me almost petrified with fear and Meiko was half asleep in James' arms. After that I watched how he acted when I could. The simple answer is that he loves his concubines. The deeper answer is that his concubines have given their hearts and souls into his possession."

Michael had come up and put an arm around his mistress, Gina. "Most of the concubines on Ishtar would suicide if they were forced to leave their current owner," he said quietly. "We are happy and outgoing because we love and trust the people here. We have received respect back, and that is the difference."

I nodded and Tanya shook her head. "Finally an answer that makes sense. And that explains the one comment about treatment of concubines here that Captain de Wynter gave me."

"Let me guess, she told you that poor treatment of concubines would not be received well here," Ed said.

"You know her?" Tanya asked.

"She's a veteran of the fight at Wolf three-six-seven. Her ship was one of the ones that came here for repairs," Donna said. "That was our first big test of the ability of this station to get ships back into battle quickly. How is her daughter?"

"I didn't meet a daughter," Tanya admitted. "She just stopped by to give me a briefing before I took Freya out on patrol. Now, I hate to run off, but I should check on my crew and make sure they are resting up. We need to get back on patrol tomorrow."

Tanya left the room. I let out a huge sigh, releasing the breath I had not even noticed I was holding. Lindsay giggled and gave me a squeeze. "Go get your baby and see your master," she suggested.

With that thought driving me, I dashed out of the room, heading to the school and Madoka.