Chapter 25 - A Chance to Practice

The next morning I woke slowly. Arms were draped over my body, pressing me into the mattress. Raising my head, I found that Kitty was snuggled in tight to my right side while Bethany was on my left side. My motion caused Kitty to shift in her sleep and I was able to crawl out of the intertwined limbs.

The door to the bedroom was open and I could hear a baby stirring in our living room. Taking soft steps to avoid waking my family, I eased my way to the door.

In the living room, I found all four babies lying in a large crib. Madoka and Astrid were both awake. I could see that Astrid was uncomfortable, so I picked her up and took her over to a table. Removing her diaper I discovered that she had wet herself during the night. With a sigh I began to clean her up.

I finished with Astrid and lay her on the couch while I checked Madoka. She also needed a clean diaper, but once I finished that continued to fuss. Both my breasts were heavy with milk, so I brought her over to the couch and offered her my left breast. While she began to suck, I picked up Astrid and offered her my right one. Soon I had both babies happily suckling.

The feel of the babies enjoying their meal kept me distracted. I was looking down at them and comparing Madoka's black hair with Astrid's light brown hair when Bethany spoke from the doorway. "No matter how many times I do that, I always want to do it again."

"I know," I whispered. "There is something just right about holding your child and feeding them. But I think I'll stop when Madoka is a year old."

Bethany laughed. "Oh definitely. Especially since as long as we are nursing, our bodies put out special hormones that reduce the chance of getting pregnant. I don't want Astrid to be my only child."

"She won't be an only child," I reminded her. "She's got two sisters and a brother already. And in two months Kitty and Brittany will bring two more children into the world."

Bethany laughed. "True. Shall I get you some breakfast, since you were kind enough to feed my daughter this morning."

"Please," I said. The two babies had stopped nursing, so after carefully burping them I carried them back to their crib. Both were falling asleep before I set them down beside Joy.

As I stood up from placing Astrid into the crib, Bethany walked up carrying a plate containing a still steaming omelet. She held it out to me while smiling at the babies. "They still mostly eat and sleep," she mused.

"They're growing," I replied as I took the plate. "Soon, they'll be running around and driving us crazy."

Bethany laughed. "I work at the school. I would know that far better than you."

I nodded. "Will you be at the school today?"

"Not for very long," Bethany replied. "Reggie heard about the request to perform and is going to allow the children to hang out in the multiuse room all day. I think he wants us to do a dress rehearsal and let the younger children see the show."

"I need to practice on the flute as much as I can this morning," I replied. "I enjoyed performing, but it wasn't easy. I missed too many notes."

"I didn't notice many," Bethany said.

"I think the AI was covering up the mistakes Cleo, Mickey and I made," I muttered.

"Will you take Madoka with you?" Bethany asked.

"Sure," I replied as I smiled down at my daughter. "I want her close to me, and she might grow up to play her own instrument. I wouldn't mind to see her playing saxophone someday."

Bethany laughed. "I would have thought you'd want her to use guitar picks."

My sister concubine turned and walked towards the recycler. Her shoulders shook and I realized that she was stifling laughter. Part of me wanted to chase her, but my stomach grumbled, so I moved to the small table that we used when eating alone and began eating the omelet Bethany had provided.

My breakfast proved to be heavenly. Bethany clearly had been paying attention to my tastes, because the omelet had cubes of grilled chicken mixed with some wasabi. Tina and Janice hated the combination, but I found the spicey heat perfect for shocking my mind into full wakefulness.

The pod remained quiet as I finished my meal. Bethany had vanished into the bathing area and none of the others emerged from the bedroom. When I had cleaned the plate, I carried it to the recycler and then snuck into the bedroom to get dressed.

James and the others were still sleeping on the bed. Tina was snoring quietly. I crept to the shelf containing my outfits and selected a black miniskirt and undergarments along with a white top. I slipped them on and then made my way back out into the living room.

Bethany smiled as I emerged. "Are they even stirring yet?"

"Not really," I replied. "But I thought I'd get going. The more practice I get the better. Now I just have to find my flute. I didn't pick it up after the show because of the arrival of Cancun and getting injured.

Bethany reached behind her back. As she brought her hand forward I realized she was holding my flute case. "I made sure to pick it up after you were injured."

I carefully took the flute from her hands. Once I was holding it in my left hand I threw my right arm around Bethany's neck and pulled her down for a kiss. "You are too good to me," I swore. "You always make sure that I have what I need."

Bethany reached down to lift my chin. She gave me a loving kiss on the lips. I found myself sighing into her mouth as she slowly pulled away. "And you have made sure that we all feel love," she told me.

I smiled into her eyes. Without warning I felt a slap on my ass. I jumped forward with a squeal of surprise and turned around. Tina stood there, smugly gazing at me.

As I was about to protest, she reached out and put her right arm around my waist and pulled me close. "Go practice," she whispered. "I convinced Janice to add a scene that I sing lead in, and I want you to be able to watch it."

I fought my way out of her arms. "I can't promise that. When I'm playing, I have to concentrate on the music."

Tina looked a bit surprised. "Could you try for me?"

I wiped the incipient frown from my face and reached out to hug my sister concubine. "Of course, but I make no promises."

Tina laughed and kissed me briefly. She then pushed me towards the door. "Then go, Little One. You need to be ready."

I turned back towards the door, but only took a couple of steps before remembering my plan to take Madoka with me. I stopped and retrieved one of our slings from the rack near the door.

Madoka slept peacefully as I picked her up and slid her into the sling. Once I had her secured, I waved to Bethany and Tina and headed out of our home.

The hallways were active as I made my way through the colony. James' pod was rather far from the central area with the command post, and the new multi-use room was on the opposite side of the colony. I found most of the movement to be citizens rushing around dealing with some of the repairs to Cancun. Most of this could be handled by giving the AI verbal instructions, but it appeared that Terrence had requested a brief meeting with the more technical members of the colony.

I did see Bren and Rene guiding a group of the younger children of the colony. They were taking them to the ice-skating rink for some exercise. The thought made me shiver slightly.

"Thinking of falling on the ice?" I heard a voice say as the children turned down the short passage to the rink.

"I figure it will be cold and a bit hard," I admitted as I glanced over my shoulder.

Cleo was standing there, exotic as always. Today she was wearing some turquoise lingerie that contrasted with her cafe-au-lait complexion. Her son lay quietly in a sling similar to the one holding Madoka against my chest. In her right hand, she held a shimmering gown of gold cloth and several drumsticks.

"A dress?" I asked.

Cleo laughed. "Tyson said that after last night he wanted me to look professional when we perform. But he still wants me to stand out."

"You will, wearing that," I admitted as I glanced down at the miniskirt I was wearing.

Cleo laughed as she started walking again. I joined her and we walked side-by-side down the corridor. "You don't need to dress up," she told me. "Everyone will think you are perfectly adorable."

"I thought we wanted to be thought of as professional," I quipped.

"God no!" Cleo said. "Professionals do this for pay and the fun gets leeched out of it. We should make sure that we are always thought of as fun loving amateurs. That way people don't comment about mistakes."

"I made so many," I said mournfully as we reached the airlock leading to the multi-use room.

Cleo laughed as the airlock opened. "I made as many as you did. The AI was increasing the difficulty of the music as we continued to play."

"I didn't notice any mistakes by you," I said as we stepped into the airlock and waited for it to cycle.

The airlock finished cycling and we stepped out into the room. We glanced around briefly. There were mobile clothing racks set up along one wall. Another wall had four makeup chairs in front of it, and the wall was dominated by well-lit mirrors. Ahead we could see a number of curtains clearly angled to block sight into the area.

"We must be backstage," Cleo said. Shall we head down to the orchestra pit?"

I said nothing as we walked through the backstage area. The hanging curtains were all angled to block sight from the right. I was watching for the main stage curtain and we found it on our right as we made our way through the blocking fabric.

Once we had found the gap between the curtain and the wall, we slipped through to stand on the front of the stage. I paused for a moment to look over the room. Beside me I heard a gasp from Cleo.

"It's just like a small cafe theater," Cleo hissed. "It looks perfect."

I glanced around. There were several small tables setup. Each had three or four chairs surrounding it. The chairs were set up so that anyone sitting would have a clear view of the stage.

"It definitely is impressive," I said. "Now I'm sorry James didn't get to watch us in here."

"He probably loved seeing us up close," Cleo said.

I was going to answer, but another voice interrupted my thought. "Hey! You had the same idea I did,' I heard Mickey cry. "Come down and we can practice a bit."

Cleo and I laughed, but we descended the steps at the side of the stage and then opened the gate leading to the small enclosed area set up for the musicians. Here we found a few more steps before the space opened up enough for us to move to our chairs.

Cleo spoke first. "Nice, we won't block the stage, but are still right in front. I could get used to this."

"We need a bigger band," I said. "The AI is still producing most of the music."

"We'll keep doing more and more," Mickey said. "Although more practice time would be nice. I missed way too many notes last night."

"We all did," I said as I opened my flute case and began assembling it. Beside me Madoka stirred in her sling. I looked down at my daughter. "What should I do about my daughter?"

Mickey giggled and pointed to my right. I looked over and realized that there was a small crib right next to my chair. I had been so fascinated by the enclosure itself and the music stands that I had missed it. "I have one here for Bruce, and there's one next to the percussion for Chris."

Cleo took a moment to carefully hang her gown on a hook she found on the stage front. She then transferred her son to the crib Mickey had indicated. I copied the transfer as I lifted Madoka from the sling and gently set her in the crib. My daughter's eyes opened for a moment, and I felt her tiny fingers grip my hand for a moment before she rolled over and returned to sleep.

With Madoka sleeping I sat down and blew a few notes on the flute. As the last note faded away, I glanced down at Madoka, who slumbered undisturbed.

"I think there is some kind of noise canceling feature in the cribs," Mickey said. "I've been warming up for fifteen minutes and Bruce hasn't stirred."

Cleo sighed. "Perfect. Shall we try playing together for a bit then? We really haven't practiced together enough. Although the AI is definitely able to hide any mistakes we make."

I played a quick run on the flute. The sound echoed in the room for a moment. "What shall we practice?" I asked.

Mickey giggled and pointed at her music stand. "I'm sure the AI knows exactly where we need the most work."

There was an immediate response from the AI. The music stand in front of me lit up and the flashing line appeared. Cleo watched it for a moment and then started lightly hitting her drumsticks together. "It appears that it does," she said. "So.... One, two, three!"

She never said four. Instead she brought the sticks down on one of her percussion pads. She was playing an extremely soft roll. Mickey used her keyboard to add a rumbling baseline. My part consisted of a series of short runs and trills. The music was epic and ponderous, but as the AI added in additional instruments we could feel the room almost soar with the beauty of what we were playing.

The music once again reminded me of a movie soundtrack, but I could not think of what movie might have had such a score. The AI did not give us much time to talk after we finished the piece. Instead, the stands showed a new tune. Cleo barely had time to count out the next beat before we began again.

We soon discovered that the AI was an unrelenting taskmaster. If we fumbled a section badly enough to stop, the AI would continue to display the same music. The flashing line would slow down. Cleo, Mickey and I would have a brief discussion on the section, sometimes practicing a passage individually. Once we felt ready we'd begin playing again following the flashing line. We would repeat the practice, speeding up each time until we successfully performed the section at regular speed three times without error.

At the same time, the practice was thrilling. The only audience I had were Cleo, Mickey and our three slumbering babies. Errors tended to generate giggles rather than groans, and we encouraged each other to personalize our play.

We worked our way through several songs and transitions. The practice was so fun I was surprised when the stands went dark. "Angel hour has just ended," the AI intoned. "It is now midday."

Surprised, I set my flute down on the music stand and looked over at Madoka. She was awake and squirming a bit. I picked her up and realized that she needed her diaper changed.

I stood up and looked around. "There is a diaper change station in the backstage area, stage right," the AI said.

I lifted Madoka to my arms and climbed the steps out of the orchestra pit and onto the stage. Stage right was on the side I had not seen, but the gap between the front of the stage and the curtain was the same and I was able to find my way to the back.

The changing area was well sized. I chose one of the open areas and carefully removed Madoka's soiled diaper. After that, the process was straightforward. The station had a small replicator which provided a clean diaper, wipes and even some baby powder. I completed the change and then walked over to the edge of the stage. I sat on the edge of the stage and started to feed my daughter.

A few moments later Cleo and Mickey joined me. At first we sat silent, looking over the seating and allowing our babies to feed peacefully.

"I'm surprised we haven't had any visitors," Mickey said. "We've been in here for hours."

"Janice and Bonnie have been keeping the others in The Refuge to practice there. They felt you deserved to practice alone for a while," The AI said.

Just then my stomach grumbled. Cleo and Mickey laughed. "Lunch after we finish feeding our children?" Mickey said.

"Food replication is available backstage. There is a replicator in each backstage area," the AI said.

"My daughter eats first," I said. "Then lunch and a bit more practice. The show starts at three I think."

"Agreed," Mickey and Cleo said. We looked down at our children and sat quietly as we allowed them to drink their fill.