Chapter 78: Tau Clan Conference Center, Day 12, Morning

As Rebecca settled down with Roger and the others, the man on the dais spoke to them all. "My name is Steve Miller." Behind him, one of the other men spoke, repeating the sentence: "My name is Steve Miller." Each of the other three men said the same thing. When they were finished, the first speaker spoke again.

"Twelve days ago, I awoke under conditions similar to the ones you experienced just before you were brought to this room. Unlike you, the rooms adjacent to mine contained ten women, all young, and all attractive. None of us had any more memory of how we'd come to be there than you all do.

"After a certain amount of random discussion, I asked the room at large rather rudely how the hell I'd come to be where I was. The following video was displayed in answer to that outburst."

A large image was displayed behind Steve, and an emotionless voice described the destruction of Earth and the rescue of humanity. The room was utterly silent when the video finished.

Steve waited a moment for the images they'd seen to sink in. "As you may have noticed, that video showed an extreme imbalance in the number of males to the number of females, far in excess of the ten-to-one ratio that I told you existed in the group I found myself in. Again, I inquired, and I learned the reason for that imbalance. Over the next few days, I and several other individuals learned a great deal, which was incorporated into the following video."

The second video was displayed in the same area as the first. Unlike it, however, this featured a human being, who looked just like the man who had been speaking to them. It was a moment before what he was saying sank in, and Roger realized that he wasn't seeing quintuplets, but clones of a dead man, imbued with that dead man's memories and personality.

As the video concluded, Steve spoke again. "Unlike myself and the ladies that brought you here, none of you has been raised from the dead. You were all quite alive when our hosts extracted you, and aside from a little body-and-fender work, you are all just as you were when you left your home base.

"Several of you were wounded in the accident that damaged your vessels, and those injuries have been or are being repaired. Our hosts also eliminated a fair number of infectious diseases, removed tumors from four of you, and cleaned up quite a large amount of cholesterol from your arterial linings, and the odd bit of wear and tear throughout your bodies. As a result, you are all obscenely healthy, and some of the older members of your group may notice that you're feeling quite a bit younger than you have in recent memory.

"Your future is up to you. With the destruction of Earth in general, and the United States in particular, there is no longer a United States Navy, unless you all choose to perpetuate one. At present, there is no need for a defensive force for humanity, so you are all free to return to 'civilian' life, such as it is.

"Our hosts' original allocation of ten women to each man was somewhat unsuccessful, and we have a fairly large number of women who need a man in their life. Given the relative numbers of men and women, even with you gentlemen in the mix, each of you will, if you are willing, end up with something like five or six women as mates, wives if you will, willing and eager to bear your children. If we're successful in our matchmaking, you may even grow to love them, and they to love you.

"A disproportionate number of the women available are American or European; the majority of the recovered population is neither, but the non-Western women are also much more likely to simply accept what life does to them, and to live with it.

"I intend to open this to questions, but first, I have the answers to several that I'm sure are foremost on your minds.

"Your first question is most likely, 'How can I trust you? How do I know you're not lying to me?' My answer, of course, is that you can't possibly know if I'm lying. Thinking about it for a while may lead you to the same conclusion that I reached when I considered the same question. I can't tell, so the only thing I can do is live my life as best I can under the circumstances, and be ready to kick ass if I find out I've been lied to.

"Your second question is, 'Where the fuck were you three months ago?' And my answer is that I was a pattern of bits in some alien memory bank, and a cloud of vaporized atoms that used to be a corpse. As I said at the beginning, we've only been awake and alert for twelve days. As you saw, we were told that Earth was dead. Our hosts had never heard of submarines, so they never thought to look for life where you were. If it hadn't been for a mourning woman who wanted to bury her husband before she moved on with her life, you'd still be down there."

There was a quiet murmur at that, but nobody spoke. Then a voice asked, uncertainly, "Who was she?"

Steve looked at the questioner, and said, "Are you Scott Torino?" Receiving an even more uncertain "Yes," Steve said, "It was Charlene, Scott. She's waiting to talk to you."

Roger noticed a young Asian woman sitting next to Scott, who was turning a bit pale as she listened to the conversation. She visibly swallowed an emotional response, and when Scott turned to her, she smiled at him, to his obvious relief. Roger looked away, returning his attention to the dais, as Steve spoke again.

"There are twenty men with my memories. The aliens divided us into twenty 'clans', each tagged with a different Greek letter. I am the Tau clan Steve Miller. I have been selected by the aliens to coordinate the education of humanity, and their integration into the alien culture. I won't go into how I got stuck with the job, but believe me when I tell you that I'd rather not have it. The four men you see with me got stuck with the job of being my lieutenants, and I assure you they're not thrilled about it either. Each of them has four more Steve Millers reporting to him, except for Pi over here, who's got three.

"Since Pi has the lighter load, he's elected to help all of you educate yourselves, and plan for your new future, possibly including a nice set of women to keep you happy. He will coordinate with whoever you select as your representative, and that representative will then help you all.

"I repeat that this is an educational coordination job, not a government or law enforcement job. We don't have a government yet, though we've had a couple of incidents that could have used one, or at least, could have used a police function. That last also brings me to the final question we expect from you, the question of where Master Chief Robertson and Seaman Delaney are.

"Master Chief Robertson awoke earlier than anticipated, and started checking up on his crew. When he found Ms. Delaney still asleep, he apparently decided that he was entitled to take advantage of her helplessness, and to amuse himself at her expense. She awoke, objected strongly to his actions, and screamed for help. Accordingly, Mr. Robertson is in confinement, awaiting judgment on a charge of rape, and Ms. Delaney is undergoing treatment for the physical and emotional trauma involved."

Roger realized that Rebecca had already heard this, and he shared her disgust at what Robertson had done. He didn't know the man, but he'd heard the name before, usually in combination with the words 'that bastard.' Rebecca obviously knew him, or his victim, because she was still upset. She was hiding it well, but Roger expected her to pop at any moment.

Steve spoke for the final time, "Before I let Pi take over, I'd like to ask Mr. Lockley to accompany Scott to meet his wife, and ask Ms. Lott if she could meet with Ms. Delaney to reassure her that she's in good hands, and to verify what we've told you all."

Rebecca stood up, and was heading to the stairs when Tom stopped her, pulled her into a hug, and kissed her cheek before releasing her. Rebecca was stunned, and Roger was on his feet moving towards her, muttering, "Fuck military discipline" as he did so. Roger gave her the same hug, and the same kiss that Tom had, on the opposite cheek, then told her, "The three of us need to talk. I promise not to kill him while you're gone, and I'm sure he'll do the same." Tom looked startled, but nodded, and Rebecca seemed to relax in his arms.

Roger released her, and she climbed the stairs to the stage, then left with a Steve Miller and a woman who clung to his arm. He saw PO Lockley and Seaman Torino heading off with another Miller, and walked over to the Asian woman who'd been at his side. "Shipboard romance?" he asked, in a friendly tone.

"If only," she answered with a sigh. "I love him, and he loves me, but not that way. And despite what they said about man-to-woman ratios, he'd never hurt her by trying to add me to their marriage." She looked at Roger, measuring him, and said, "And I'm guessing you'd be a good match for me, but you're already taken, or hope to be?"

Roger smiled, and said, "I don't know if we'd be a match, but yes, I've got someone I hope to be with. You strike me as a wonderful person, though, so I'm guessing you'll do OK."

The woman shook her head, "Scott's the only grownup I've seen among our crew; even Lockley's too much of a kid for me. And I really don't want to be one of a dozen, anyway. I'll deal, I suppose."

Roger glanced at her uniform, then said, "Well, Ms. Imahara, I hope you get what you want. I've got some sailors to attend to."

Imahara looked at his name tag in turn, then smiled, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Able; I hope you get what you want too." Navy traditions didn't include salutes for non-commissioned officers, but Imahara struck a brace anyway, and saluted. Roger returned the salute, then shook her hand, and went back to his crew, intending to have a conversation with Tom about their mutual goal.

One of the Steves was talking to Tom and Jonathan and the crew when he returned, along with a tall, broad-shouldered African-American. Steve had a badge on his chest with a capital and lower-case pi on it, while the other man had a badge with a capital T, and a smaller 't' in a different script. Roger was weak on the Greek alphabet, but he suspected that the man was another member of the "Tau" clan that the speaker had referred to.

The man's badge read "Ed Baker", and that's how he introduced himself as Roger approached. The man had a firm handshake, without the hand-crushing squeeze some big men liked to use. One of the crewmen was speaking to Steve as Roger turned his attention that way, a young African-American named Wilkins.

Wilkins was saying, "I can't say I'd be upset at the idea of a half-dozen willing bed-mates, but I don't think I'm ready to be a father, with all the responsibilities that implies."

Ed smiled at him, and said, "The fact that you recognize the problem tells me you're closer to being ready than you think you are, but that's beside the point. If you're interested, one of my brothers is in a situation where he was talked into knocking up a bunch of women, despite the fact that he really only wants one. You've impressed me already, and I'm sure he'll agree with me. If you're interested, and if you hit it off with the ladies in question, you'd find yourself with nine lovers, all carrying another man's child. When the kids are born, Ed will take care of the fathering duties, while you can stick with the husbanding until you're ready to start your own set of kids."