Chapter 19

"Esther Price, welcome to the planet and Colony of Rehome. I am Robert Kempe, Governor of this Colony, and you and your daughter – Jenny I think your name is, young lady?" and he smiled down at Jenny, "You and your daughter – and your friend - are the guests of the Colony. Before I take you up to meet some special people, this man has to ask Mummy and Charlie a few questions." He bent down to the level of Jenny and said softly, "Only grown-ups get asked these things, Jenny, and certainly not special little girls like you. I have a daughter about your age, and she is special to me. Shall we just stand and wait? Can I hold your hand, please?"

The nice man stretched out his hand, and because Mommy did not seem concerned, she took his hand. It felt colder than Mommy's, but he had been standing outside, while she and Mommy had been warm and cosy inside the spaceships.

Mommy and Charlie in turn answered silly questions about drugs and insects and animals, from the Official Man and then that man said something about a temporary resident's visa – whatever that was – then Mommy and Charlie were free again. The First Man holding her hand let it go and offered to carry Mommy's bag, while Jenny grabbed Mommy's hand again.

"You need your hands free, Esther. You have people to meet up at the road. Let's go."

"Thank you, Governor. I am a bit scared at all this."

"Rubbish! We are all friends here, Esther. You'll see. Please join us, Charlie."

He led them up the gently-sloping beach towards the road, and the group of people standing there. As they got closer, while Jenny was having fun sticking her feet into this huge area of sand, Mommy gave a gasp, and said, "Jenny! Look over there!"

Jenny lifted her gaze from the easily-moving sand, and looked where her mother indicated. There was a tall lady there; but she looked odd, then Jenny realised that the lady looked she herself did. She was a Malan lady!

Beside the Malan lady were several children, and as she looked at them Jenny saw herself: the same colouring, the same face, the same everything!

"Mom? Who are these people? They look like me."

"Jenny, these are other Malan children. They are waiting to meet you."

"To meet ME?"

"Yes. You are a very important person, Jenny. There are only five of you children in all the world, Jenny. In all the universe!"

"But who is the lady? You said there were no Malan mommies."

"Yes. You remember the machines that helped get us out to the Landership? That lady is actually a machine like that, but made to look like a Malan. Is that right, Governor?"

"It is, Esther. That lady is known as Mother Narech, and is a very nice Person. The spaceships that rescued you are all real People, Jenny, and as a group they are known as The Personalia. Mother Narech is like one of these space machine people, and nearly as clever. She raised these four children, as their Mother."

Jenny gulped at the idea, then spoke again, "I think I prefer Mommy, if it is all the same to you, sir."

Esther flushed with pleasure, and came out with, "How nice of you, Jenny. That was a marvellous thing to say."

Despite their slow progress through the sand – the adults going slow to suit Jenny's smaller and less secure footsteps – the had now reached the road.

The Governor reached out to shake hands with the Malan lady.

"Mother Narech, how nice to meet you again. May I present Miss Jenny Price, and her mother, Esther Price, and Esther's partner, Charlotte Brown, known as Charlie. Jenny, allow me to introduce you to Mother Narech, and the Malan children: Usgar, Amech, Tuchgar and Nargo. Children, this is Jenny, and her mother, Esther Price."

Narech bent her knees to come down to the child height, and solemnly shook hands with Jenny, saying, "I am SO pleased to meet you, Jenny. Welcome to our world."

The four children now stepped forward and formally shook hands with Jenny, saying "Welcome, Jenny". As Jenny stood there, rigid, unsure of herself, Nargo put her arms round her and announced, "Jenny, you are going to be my special friend. I am Nargo. Will you be coming to live with us?"

Jenny found her voice. "Thank you ... Nargo. That would be nice, but I don't want to be away from my Mommy."

Nargo responded, "Oh, she can come to live with us too, I think. Do we have space, Mother Narech?"

Mother Narech responded, "Not at the moment, Nargo, but we can consider a larger house. If one Mommy comes to stay, perhaps other Mommies might want to as well; or possibly some of you might want to live with your own Mommy elsewhere than our house. Shall we have a think about it? There are lots of possibilities to look into."

Nargo considered this, and came to a conclusion. "Yes, that would be a good idea. We shall think on the possibilities. Is that all right with you, Usgar?"

"Certainly, Nargo. A fine suggestion."

Esther saw that Usgar was the leader of the four, and Jenny had also noticed who was being deferred to. "Is Usgar the oldest?" She enquired of nobody in particular.

Mother Narech replied, "Yes, he is the eldest. How observant of you, Jenny. I can see we are all going to get along fine."

The Governor decided the meeting was over. "Children, I think I should take Esther, Charlie, and Jenny to meet other Mommies, then Jenny will need to catch up on her sleep. Say goodbye for now."

The four children all said, "Goodbye, Jenny", to which she replied, "Goodbye, all of you. See you soon."

Mother Narech shepherded her flock and got them walking back towards their home, while Bob Kempe lifted an arm upright. This signal quickly brought a car from further down the road, and he welcomed the driver. "Thanks, Peter. You know where the other Malan mothers are housed, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. Diane gave me the details. You want to go there now?"

"Yes, please, Peter, as soon as we are all aboard and comfortable."

He opened the back door for Esther and then Jenny, then Charlie; then Bob got in the front beside Peter. He remarked over his shoulder to Jenny, "If you sit up on Mommy's lap, Jenny, you will be able to see outside."

She did so, after Esther put on her seat belt, and Bob put his on. Esther wrapped her arms round her daughter, protectively. Bob remarked, "We don't normally allow anyone to be without a seat belt, but this is a rather special occasion. Peter, drive slowly and carefully: we have a small person on Mommy's lap."

The car moved slowly through the streets, allowing Charlie, Esther and Jenny to stare at the alien city around them. Within seven or eight minutes Peter was drawing up before a small block of flats.

"Here we are, sir. The ladies are expecting us, I was told."

Peter got out and opened the back door for the three arrivals to exit the car, while Bob opened his own car door. It was a special time for him, for once not in the position of the Governor being chauffeured.

Bob led the way to the front door of the block, and banged the knocker. He explained to Esther and Charlie, "Simpler than installing door bells and buzzers. We keep things basic if we can."

The door was opened by a lady, who burst out, "You must be Esther; and the lovely Jenny as well! Welcome to Rehome, my dears. We are meeting in your own flat, as a housewarming. Join us, please, Governor. Who is your friend?"

He explained, "This is Charlotte Brown, Esther's partner. She and I are just the hangers-on today."

Margo grinned at Charlie, and gave her a hug of welcome. "Come on in."

Bob followed as they all trooped up a flight of stairs to a landing, and hence into an already open doorway.

There they were welcomed by several other ladies, and the one lady in a uniform said, "Welcome at last, Esther. You know me as Mrs Diane Spreull, the lawyer. You can now meet me in real life as Mrs Diane Kempe, first wife of the Governor." She shook hands with Esther and gave her a quick hug. She gestured at her uniform, "This is my gear for official welcomes, as I am Head of Rehome's Security Service." She gestured at the others.

"These ladies are the other mothers of Malan children: Mrs Jeannette Reagan; the lady who met you: Mrs Margo Aquino – who prefers her maiden surname of Ruiz; Esme Limbada; and Ruth Proctor. Jeannette doesn't live here, but didn't want to miss this meeting."

Esther turned to look at Jenny. "This is my daughter, Jenny, who has just learned that she is a Malan. She speaks only English, and is in most respects a typical American girl. She has always been with me: I gather that was not the case with you ladies."

Charlie moved forward to take Esther's hand in a possessive move, but said nothing.

Jeannette took over the conversation. "Esther, I finally met my son, Usgar, the other day. He is a lovely boy, and so well spoken. The other ladies have been waiting for their DNA tests to tell them which child is theirs. I am told that all three are to learn the results at once, so no-one is felt left out.

"It must have been a great boon to you, to have your own child with you, human or Malan: it makes no difference if it is your own baby, right?"

"Yes, Jeannette. I have loved every minute of Jenny growing up. I was not happy at the many tests the doctors insisted in putting her through, but I could not do anything about it, being a serving officer" she gestured at her USAF uniform. I have been in the United States Air Force for years, and officially I still am. I suppose I am now posted as AWOL – absent without leave – or perhaps kidnapped! I don't know."

She now introduced Charlie. "This wonderful girl beside me is Charlie Brown, my partner in life, and Jenny's other mother. I expect she is also being posted as missing, as a civilian."

The same question, about missing people, was troubling the minds of Esther's superiors in the USAF. No-one had seen her or Jenny leave. Her partner, Charlotte Brown, was also missing, having apparently walked out of her flat that evening, having arranged with her employer to be on holiday. The local police had found her on CCTV, standing at a bus stop. She was apparently headed towards King's Lynn, but there was no sign of her there. The police had also reported that some locals had seen and heard what seemed to be some aircraft taking off, from the surface of the sea, some miles offshore. The peculiar aspect was that the aircraft seemed to be using rockets to take off.

What troubled the top brass more was the ease with which their security precautions were brushed aside. The Security office had been cut off and sealed in. The armoury had been sealed off from access, and all the staff of the base had suffered nausea and confusion. It didn't mater whether they were USAF or Brits: they were all affected.

The scientists who had looked at the effects claimed that this was an attack using electronic frequencies. The frequency was somewhere under 20 hertz, they said, or the people on the base would have heard a noise.

The top brass were more concerned with the disappearance of the alien child and its human mother, a Lieutenant Price. The woman, restricted to base, seemed to have opened her door and walked off the base, without anyone noticing her departure.

Then these apparitions on the main runway. They were suddenly THERE, and leaving, but there was no record of their arrival. There was something SERIOUSLY wrong with the radar equipment, that the radar had no record of anything until they were taking off.