Chapter 66 - Natural Calm

The rest of that day was spent celebrating the survival of the colony. For James and my sister concubines, it was a time to reaffirm our bond and to relax together. For the first time in ages, James was not worried about anything. He lavished attention on each of us as we enjoyed our first break in a long time.

That evening, the first repaired ships left the docks and headed off. Freya and Cardiff were the first to leave, but once they had left it seemed that a ship was departing every six hours or so. Sir Paridell was undamaged, but stayed an extra day so that Sergeant Watkins could compose a complete report on what had gone on. He wanted to prevent any fallout that might jeopardize the careers of the enlisted men in the unit. From what little I heard, most had been picked up recently.

Martin Van Buren was the last ship to be repaired. When it pulled out of the repair docks a week after the battle, Captain Burros thanked us for a job well done. Ravenna and a repaired but undercrewed River Oaks quickly formed up on the carrier as it boosted away from Ishtar. It seemed that everyone wanted to watch as they opened the jump point, so Tiffany used a screen in the colony's recreation room to follow their progress through the system. By the time they jumped, everyone had gathered.

Once it was clear they had jumped away, everyone gave a final cheer. Another party began and lasted until late in the night.

After that, the colony returned to normal. The ships out of Borneo continued to press their advantage in the Wolf system. Progress was slow, but it was clear that the Sa'arm were struggling to feed the colony. A full assault on the planet was being planned as the navy hammered the transports going to and from the system.

For my sister concubines and me, not much changed. We continued to work on new songs and skits for our play, which after a long discussion did end up being called Ice Igloo Ishtar.

I knew that James and Yvette had made a couple of additional formal protests about what had happened. They even asked that a Stagecoach ship come and take the artifacts away after having the replicators build a heavy container to hold everything. I understand that it had five different layers, all designed to hold in the radiation coming off the various pieces.

It turned out that a Stagecoach ship was already on its way. About three weeks after Martin Van Buren had left the system, Stagecoach showed up. Ensign Mary Celeste was still in command of the transport and was happy to tell us that her bunny was thriving. "He's the perfect companion for me," she cooed as her ship maneuvered into orbit.

Mary had some reservations about her cargo, but after hearing a brief description of what had happened on Ishtar, agreed that removing the artifacts should eliminate the possibility that we would have another 'scientist' assigned to our colony.

We did see three more message drones arrive, all seeking to deliver a message to the acting governor. The messages in these later drones were a bit more vague, but it was clear that the sender had expected to sweep up all of the citizens on the planet for some reason. His motive was never clear, but the malice in his messages was underscored by how vague the instructions were.

It was about six weeks after Martin Van Buren had left the system that James and Yvette were called to the briefing room. I tried to follow, but James had Brad stand in front of the door. Then when Tamara tried to link in via the command post systems, Yvette quietly told her that this was a private communication and cut the signal. I found myself standing in the command post hugging Janice as we wondered what required such secrecy.

James and Yvette were not in the briefing room long, but it seemed like an eternity. Janice and I were the only members of the household waiting in the command post, but our sister concubines all peeked in while we waited. Just about everyone else in the colony stopped by or sent someone, asking what might be happening.

We had no feeling of dread, just of great curiosity. James and Yvette had been very relaxed since Martin Van Buren departed. They had also changed the probes they sent to nearby systems. Now the probes no longer tried to obtain artifacts, but performed searches for signs of Sa'arm activity.

Janice and I were comforting each other with gentle teasing kisses when the door finally opened. Yvette stepped out first and immediately looked at Tiffany. "Tiffany," she commanded, "I need an open channel to the whole colony. And then you need to put the system on automatic for the next hour."

"We can't"

"Just leave"

"The station."

"It would"

"Violate"

"All the rules," The twins said, switching from one to the other as they spoke. Yvette just shook her head.

"It's nothing bad," she said. 'And Admiral Himmel has already agreed that we can put the system on automatic for the next three hours. He knows what is going on."

The twins looked at James, but he had come over to gather Janice and me in a hug. "You'll want to get your daughters," he whispered to us. "And tell your sisters that they want their children as well. We'll be gathering in our recreation room."

His comment was reinforced as Yvette's voice rang out throughout the tunnels. "Everyone, we have a big announcement. Could we get everyone, including all the children, to gather in the recreation room?"

Janice and I looked at each other. She gave the slightest of nods and then we turned and ran from the command post. "Where are our babies?" Janice asked as we burst through the doorway.

"Bethany took them to the nursery," I gasped out.

Janice quickly pulled ahead of me. I would have preferred to run by her side, but the hallway was filled with citizens and concubines rushing around. I was forced to move behind Janice to avoid collisions. I managed to stay right on her heels until I ran into her as she stopped suddenly.

I grunted in surprise. Janice stumbled forward, but caught herself as she ran into someone. "Sorry," she gasped out.

"Sorry," I said as well as I steadied my friend. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

The response was a giggle. "Oh, you've wanted to jump me for a year now," Brittany replied.

"Brit!" I called out.

"I beat you to the door," she said. "But there's a bit of a crowd trying to get into the nursery. That's why I had stopped."

"Sorry," I repeated.

Brittany reached around Janice and grabbed me. She pulled me into her arms for a hug. "It's fine. We just need to wait for the doorway to be clear. Now let's get our babies."

Janice giggled and dodged around Brittany to enter the nursery first. Brit gasped out a curse and then released me and sprinted to follow Janice. I watched the duo hurry into the room and then walked into the room behind them.

It was chaos inside the nursery. Concubines rushed around, grabbing strollers and dragging them over to a number of play areas where babies sat and babbled to each other. Janice and Brittany stood just inside the doorway, gazing around in confusion.

I looked around for Bethany. My senior sister appeared from a doorway that led deeper into the nursery. As soon as I saw her, I moved around my still stunned friends to greet Bethany.

"Meiko!" she cried out as I walked up to her. "I have all of the babies in here. Kitty and I were changing them when the announcement was made."

"So all we need to do is put them in strollers?" I asked.

"Got it in one," Bethany said with a laugh. "Shall we go and start buckling our daughters in?"

"Certainly," I replied. "I'll follow you.'

Bethany giggled and grabbed my arm before turning around and leading me into the room she had emerged from. I found Kitty had already placed her twins in a triple stroller and was adding a third child. She waved a hand as we entered the room.

"I have Kristi, Jerome and I'm going to put Tolwin in this stroller. The boys need to stick together or they'll get picked on," she said.

"James will never allow that," I said as I picked up Madoka. "He's going to be a great father and role model."

"A role model of a dirty old man," Kitty said with a giggle. "I mean how many men back on Earth knock up six women at the same time?"

"James is just special," I said. My face felt warm and flushed as I looked around for a stroller.

Bethany had anticipated me, because she was pushing two double strollers. She released one next to me. "Put Astrid and Madoka together," she suggested.

"Can do," I said as I reached down and slid Madoka into the right side seat of the stroller. My daughter squirmed only a little as I secured her into the stroller.

By the time I was sure that Madoka was comfortable, Bethany had returned and was buckling Astrid in on the other side. I looked behind me and saw that Brittany and Janice were handling the other stroller, so I stood up. Bethany took only a moment more before she stood up and grabbed the handles of the stroller.

"Shall we stroll over to the recreation room?" she asked in a faux upper-class accent. "I just enjoy a quiet walk along the pier."

Kitty giggled. "We have no pier, but I do want to hear the announcement. Let's hurry."

"Hey!" Brittany called out. "Foul! Wait for us."

Bethany, Kitty and I giggled as we pushed the two strollers to the doorway. We turned and watched as Janice and Brittany finished getting their two babies into the stroller. When they finally finished and took the handles, Bethany nodded. "Fine, we waited. Now can we go to the recreation room?"

"Yes!" four voices cried as one. This caused all of us to burst into giggles. Still giggling, we pushed the strollers out of the room, joining an exodus out of the nursery.

"It's a parade of lemmings," Bethany said with a giggle. Everyone in the colony was walking towards the recreation room. I noticed that Alexis had her arms around Monique as they joined the river of humanity.

When we reached the recreation room, it seemed everyone was in silent agreement to immediately find a table because no one paused in the doorway. When we reached the doorway I was a bit confused, but Bethany led us through. "Tina should be saving us a table," she said quietly.

"But shouldn't we sit next to James?" Brittany asked.

"He might not be here yet," Janice said. "But I see Tina, she's over by the dance floor."

We headed towards the dance floor. Tina stood up and waved. She had claimed a circular table that had six chairs surrounding it. I walked past the table, pushing the stroller onto the edge of the dance floor. Then I turned it around before setting the brake. Kitty and Janice followed me, parking the rest of James' babies next to Madoka and Astrid. We then joined Tina at the table.

"There's no space for James," Brittany complained.

"He's going to be making an announcement," Tina said. "If we stay here after that, we'll get him to come here and you can sit on his lap."

"That's nice," I said. I could feel my face grow warm and I looked down at the table.

My sister concubines giggled. Bethany was sitting to my left. She put her arms around me and whispered in my ear. "Don't worry, we'll kidnap James and hold him hostage all night. We won't even give those hussies a touch while they have to listen to our orgasmic screams."

I giggled as Bethany licked my ear. I was about to say more when all conversation in the room halted. I turned to look at the entrance and could see James and Yvette striding into the room as Tiffany and Tamara ran to join their concubines at a table near the bowling lanes.

James and Yvette walked to the center of the room. James had a huge knowing smile on his face. They stopped in the middle of the room. It seemed that everyone was holding their breath until they spoke. The silence grew until James held up a hand.

A sigh echoed through the room. I realized I had let out a breath myself. Yvette covered her mouth as if she was coughing, but quickly straightened up. She had a huge smile on her face.

"We," James said pointing at Yvette and then himself, "have a little surprise for you."

"Oh, this isn't a little surprise," Yvette said, contradicting him. "I can't see any way we could call this surprise little. It's a good surprise, but not a little one."

"Quite," James said loftily. "However, this surprise should be seen, and we wanted everyone to see it at the same time. So if you could all follow Yvette and me."

"No..." Tina moaned. "We'll be behind everyone and see the surprise last."

I jumped to my feet. It was a short sprint over to the strollers. The first thing I did was release the brakes on all three strollers before grabbing the bar for the stroller with Madoka and Astrid. Bethany was right next to me as I started to move forward.

As Tina predicted, we found ourselves trapped in the middle of the crowd as everyone tried to get to the entrance. James and Yvette were not walking quickly, and the crowd had to filter through the entrance in pairs. No one shoved others or shouted. I could hear a few whispers from people wondering what the surprise might be as we entered the tunnels.

At first, our path appeared to be leading towards the heavy doors that guarded our enclave from the visitor's area. However, when we reached the crossing in front of the first door, we turned to the left and started down the tunnel that led to the airlocks connecting the enclave to the large rooms we used to entertain visitors.

We did not go through the airlocks. Instead, James and Yvette led us to a heavy door. It was one I did not remember from before. The hallway was a bit wider just before the door and everyone spread out, allowing the people behind them to press forward. James and Yvette just turned around in front of the door and watched as we gathered.

"As you can see, we have a new door in the colony," James commented.

"But I'm sure all you care about is where it leads," Yvette said. "So if the AI will indulge us."

The door started opening. Air rushed out of the enclave. Behind the doors, we could see a tunnel that sloped upward. James and Yvette said nothing, but turned and started to walk into the new tunnel.

Everyone started to follow. I could hear excited whispers around me, wondering what was at the end of the tunnel. Ahead, I could see a second set of doors opening.

Beyond the second set of doors, the path leveled out and made a turn to the left. This was followed by another turn and then the path started to slope upward again. As we turned, I noticed another set of doors sliding into the wall.

By now, the whispers were louder. Everyone wanted to know where this path could lead and why there were so many doors. This was emphasized when we found another door at the end of the path.

James and Yvette had stopped in front of this door and turned around again. They waited as everyone began to push forward. "What could it be?" Bethany asked me in an excited whisper. "I'm trying to think of what the surprise is."

"I have no idea," I said, shaking my head. "All I can think of is that we are above our tunnels. But that would make no sense due to the atmosphere."

James was holding a hand up, signaling for silence. There was one last wave of whispers before everyone settled down and stood quietly. I could hear a couple of babies fussing, but no conversations continued as James stood patiently.

When the hallway was mostly silent, Yvette stepped forward. "I know that the tunnels have to depress everyone a bit. Humans want space and sunlight, but since we landed we've lived like rabbits in a burrow."

"We have rabbits too," someone called out.

"Silence, you," Esther called back. "Or I'll ask Yvette to allow me to punish you."

"That might actually be fun," Bethany whispered in my ear.

I stifled a giggle as Yvette shook her head. "The key is that rabbits actually get to come out of their burrows. Now you all know that the atmosphere is acidic, and the AI had reported that the terraform unit will take three years to remove all of the acid. However..."

James smiled and waved to the doors. They slowly started to open as he continued to look at us. "When we first landed, I asked the AI about how well Confederacy technology could deal with the acid."

"When?" Bethany whispered in my ear. "I thought we knew of all his conversations with the AI."

I said nothing as James continued. "Well, it turns out that there is a Confederacy compound that looks much like glass and is almost totally impervious to acid. So, I asked that the units that helped to maintain and repair the colony build something for us."

Yvette indicated the open doorway. "And today, we were told that all the safety tests we demanded were completed. So we invite you to come with us, as we take our first steps on the surface of Ishtar."

Yvette and James turned and walked through the now open doorway. No one followed them for a moment. I watched my master walk away. There was a huge hole in my heart as I saw him set foot past the doorway.

There was silence in the hallway as James and Yvette continued to walk away. It was broken by Brad. "Fuck this! They could be walking in a park. Candi, Randi, lets join them."

Brad started forward. I could see his concubines hesitate, but then Candi ran forward to grab his arm while Randi pushed their babies. They passed through the doorway. In the distance, I could see James and Yvette had turned around and were now watching the doorway.

Brad's move seemed to set free everyone from the paralysis that had gripped them, and we began streaming through the doorway. Once I crossed the threshold, I looked down. The ground beneath my feet looked like coarse sand. It stuck to the soles of my feet as we made our way over to where James and Yvette stood. This time we spread out in a circle around our colony leaders.

James and Yvette seemed content to allow everyone to find a place to stand. Bethany guided us a short distance around the forming circle. Once she halted our group, I took a moment to look up.

I gasped as I looked up. A lattice of what appeared to be glass separated us from a billowing green cloud. The ceiling of this space was at least three hundred feet above us. I allowed my gaze to follow the lattice toward the ground opposite the door and could just barely make out where it reached the ground.

"How big?" Tina said breathlessly beside me.

James held up a hand and the excited whispers stopped. "As you can see, the ceiling is high enough that nothing we throw can hit it. The shell of the dome is double layered. Should a break occur in the upper layer, an alarm will sound, giving everyone time to get back into the enclave. And the doors are also coated with acid resistant material. We asked for every failsafe we could, but we wanted this dome completed as quickly as possible."

Yvette stepped forward. "For those of you wondering, the dome is circular and one mile across."

"So if I have Tif and Tam resume their PE classes, I can make them run just over three miles by having them run just inside the walls of the dome," Craig called out.

"No," Yvette said. "Because they wouldn't be able to run all the way around. Part of the reason the colony is set up where it is was the geography of this area. Years ago, there were several lava flows that laid down much of the silica you now stand upon. However, there has been flowing water on the planet, and one of the rivers runs inside the area covered by the dome." Yvette pointed off into the distance. I looked around, trying to gauge what direction and realized if I was leaving the door I would turn to the right to head towards the river.

"But that can't be safe!" Tiffany complained. "The acid will just follow the water."

"The shell actually penetrates more than thirty feet underground," James said calmly. "And at the points where the river enters and exits the dome, there are filters designed to purify the water. I'm afraid that it's cold, but it should be fine for swimming if you want to."

"Why couldn't you set up a hot spring?" Donna called out.

James laughed. "Sorry, but we had no control over the location of the colony or the land we found."

I noticed that Tanya was kneeling down and looking at the ground. "It's all sand," she complained. "We can't plant anything until I get some topsoil. Right now this is like some giant beach."

James laughed. "I'm sure we can get to work on that. Meanwhile, we have one more surprise."

Yvette stepped to her right. It was then that I noticed that she had been standing in front of a flag pole. She knelt down at the base of the pole and opened a box that was set in the ground.

She reached into the box and pulled out a folded bundle of yellow cloth. Once she was standing, she turned to Marie and Esther, who had somehow managed to be standing next to her. "Take a corner," she told her concubines.

Obediently, they grabbed two corners of the cloth. Yvette smiled and nodded. "Spread it out," she commanded.

Marie and Esther stepped away from each other. As they did, the cloth unfolded. The duo held it up and everyone gasped.

They were holding a flag. In the center of the field of yellow, a winged lion appeared to swoop down on a creature on the ground. Instead of a normal tail, two serpents formed a heart above the lion's hindquarters. Above the lion the words "For Love, For Family"; below just two words, "We Fight" paid quiet tribute to the personality that James and Yvette had imbued into the colony.

James waved to Tina. "Tina, would you like to do the honors?"

My sister concubine stumbled forward. Her eyes were wide with surprise. I could see tears in her eyes as she approached the flagpole.

Marie and Esther walked together to bring the flag to Tina as she reached the flagpole. With hands that shook, Tina took the top corner of the flag and attached it to a hook she found on the rope attached to the flagpole.

Claire began to sing "Amazing Grace" as my sister concubine began raising the flag. Esther helped attach the lower corner of the flag to the rope as the whole colony began to sing.

I did not join in the singing. As my sister concubine raised the flag into the sky, I sank down to the ground, and cried.