Chapter 13

Reg summoned up his courage and consulted his notes.

“This is Reginald Robertson, trying to get back to the Person who phoned me.”

“Yes, Mr Robertson?” the voice changed to the one he had spoken with before.

“That was quick! An almost instantaneous switchover.”

“No, Mr Robertson. All relevant data is transmitted to other members of the Personalia, so that any of us can continue your discussion. Treat me as the same Person, and we can go on.”

A shocked Reg rearranged his assumed knowledge of the Personalia, and spoke accordingly.

“My wives tell me I failed to ask some relevant and important questions about women, mothers and babies at the Colony.”

“Ah, that is more related to human interactions, so not our expertise. It is better if you speak to the Governor or one of his wives. He has the knowledge to be able to advise you. Please wait while I connect you.”

A female voice came on the line.

“Ruth Kemp. Who wants to speak to me?”

“Ruth. This is the Personalia. We have a potential settler and his five or six wives, plus a few others behaving that way They are considering our offer of emigration to Rehome, but his women need answers to human questions. Will you speak to the man? His name is Reginald Robertson.”

“Certainly; I have some time to spare. Mr Robertson? Are you there?”

Reg replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Do you want to ask all the questions, or get one of your ladies to ask directly, which would probably be quicker?”

“You get right to the point, ma’am. I will have Frances speak to you, if she is free. You sound very competent, if I may say.”

“I am a psychologist, if that matters to you. More importantly, I am also a wife and mother, which is why I may speak the same terminology as your own wives. You are married to all of them?”

“Technically, no, as we live in England; but in practice, yes. Hang on till I get my wife, Frances.”

“Frances, love? Mrs Ruth Kemp to answer your questions.”

Frances came and took over the phone.

“Mrs Kemp? Thank you for speakingwith us. Do you know what things are like for women and children on that other planet – Rehome?”

“My dear Mrs Robertson, I am speaking to you from Rehome. I am the Governor’s second wife and am speaking to you from our residence.”

Frances was stopped short for a moment: “Excuse me, please:” She shouted at her husband, “Reg! Mrs Kemp is the Governor’s wife! Why didn’t you tell me?”

He offered his excuse. “Sorry, dear: I was not clear who she was.”

“Mrs Kemp? I apologise for my husband’s abject failure to ask the right questions for us. We girls need to know our options for pregnancy and maternity facilities, and post-natal medical treatment for babies, and for young children.”

Ruth smiled down the phone, and her humour came through in her voice.

“Nothing to fret about, Frances, I think your name is?”

“Yes, Frances. We girls are mostly at university, and all opted to have Reg’s children, so we have eight women with babies. None of us are legally married to Reg, much though we would like to be. Jessica’s new one was born a few days ago, but the rest of us have older babies several months old. Jessica is a more mature lady, in her thirties, and of Pakistani descent. Does your planet have any discrimination against non-whites?”

“I don’t think so, Frances. I am a black South African, myself! English University trained though.”

“Oh! Is your husband black as well?”

“No. He is a white Englishman, and his first wife used to be an American Special Forces Colonel: don’t ask, just take it as true. She is a real tough wife and mother. It just means that you don’t argue too strongly with Diane, for she is in charge of all the planet’s security forces: everything from spies to coastguard, and more!”

“I see how she would be a tough lady. Can you answer my concerns about motherhood, Ruth?”

“Of course. We have a hospital set up in our main city, and it has a maternity ward. The current hospital chief is a gynaecologist to trade, so we have not had much difficulty with giving birth here. We also have excellent after-care for our children. Does that help you?

“Sounds wonderful, Ruth. Plans for education?”

“Pretty rough and ready. We are importing teachers as fast as we can, concentrating on primary level, where the majority of children are at this time, having a mostly young set of families. We want teachers who can teach the children to think, rather than just repeat what they are told.”

“Any kindergarten arrangements, or is the population too scattered for that to be viable?”

“We are encourging small village-style communities as a social focus, with a little school in every community. In these, the education offered by the one, or sometimes two, teachers runs from first intake up to preparation for secondary school. We like to find teachers married to teachers, so the couple can run an expanding village school together.

Secondary schools are centralised in the city, and we make sure that pupils from outlying distant villages are given accommodation near the school, preferably housed with a local family. Rehome treats this accomodation as part of the education process, so there is no charge to the parents of the child, and the state remunerates the host family. It is a good investment, hosting schoolchildren.”

“Seems well organised, Ruth. What is transport like on the planet? I presume fairly basic.”

“I would say so; the roads outside the cities are terrible! But we are expanding the railroad system. Previously, the railroad simply connected the cities, but we are building branch lines towards our growing collection of villages.”

“Isn’t it expensive and slow: building railways through new terrain?”

“Initially, building our first track, yes. As I said, the previous inhabitants had a city to city rail system in place, so our costs are only in expanding the network, but labour-intensive work costs! After researching some machines on Earth, we asked the Personalia to do a redesign to suit our specifications. They worked on it and came up with a wnderful contraption. We bought their machine under a special deal whereby we got a low price, but the Personalia can sell their design on Earth. Our deal is that they build in space and deliver to the ground a track-laying machine that prepares the ground, places a trackbed of stones, then lays sections of railtrack, and finally welds the new section to the previous section. As long as the material and rail sections arrive in time, the machine simply keeps going (it has its own small nuclear engine), and the time needed to lay track is only restricted by vagaries in the terrain: gullies and hills. The rail company has teams out surveying the planned route, building bridges and blasting cuttings well in advance of the tracklaying machine, so it doesn’t have to stop work for such obstacles. For rolling stock, we use the original alien trains, but adapted for human use.”

“So it is similar to 19th century England: everything goes by train?”

“That is a good comparison, Frances. We have a parcel and letter post arrangement which is like the US pony express, except it is train express! People visit their nearest station to collect their post and leave new stuff to be picked up and delivered. It is pretty efficient and remarkably cheap. The postal service being a monopoly, the Governor insists on standard rates that everyone can afford, but still allow the delivery firm to make a profit. If the delivery firm wants to make more profits, it can improve its efficiency or expand its facilities, or both. As a result, the postal service is now the basis for collection and delivery of small quantities of produce that can be sent as a large parcel – such as boxes of seeds, crates of vegetables and fruit – with a guarantee of fast delivery; similar to 19th century England as you said.”

“So it is a Western-type economy?”

“More or less, but with restrictions on monopolies to prevent profiteering. Expanding a colony is more efficient with monopolies, until the economy is large enough to permit direct competition. Road transport is developing rapidly within the cities, so competition is being allowed there, and of course shops work in a competitive market in the cities all the time. The network of private restaurants using locally-sourced food is growing fast with the population, so you will be able to let your husband take you out for a meal.”

Frances was pleased at that notion. “Reg never takes us out to a restaurant as it is difficult to explain one man with half a dozen women at the table; more if our two teenage daughters are with us. It will be an experience to savour. That is almost enough on its own to persuade us to move to Rehome.”

Ruth found that funny.

“Frances, we still have trouble getting our husband to take us out for a meal, and there are only four of us: he is always too busy!”

“We seem to have something in common, Ruth: a husband that needs training!”

“Oh, we do our best, but with a couple of kids each, as well as full-time jobs, we girls don’t have that much time for husband training.”

“Talking about jobs; our company, Recovery Enterprise Group, works on saving companies and major organisations money that they are losing through mismanagement, theft, embezzlement and whatever. We work confidentially, in case of embarrassing results. Is there any scope for such a business venture on your planet?”

Ruth pondered, and admitted, “I actually have no idea, but I suspect not at the moment. None of our businesses are large enough to be in such a position, and our small police force personnel have been good at discovering minor frauds.”

“So we would be best to offload our company here, before emigrating?”

“That is your decision, but it would appear logical. In future, you can set up a new company here if there is evidence of a need.”

“We would need money for investment in that case. Can all our assets be transferred?”

“It depends on the assets, Frances. If it is cash in the bank, a digital transfer is very simple and straightforward, but anything physical is outwith the control of the Personalia. The same difficulty applies to criminal assets: these can be successfully seized by our friends if in digital form, but coins, cash in notes, precious metals, artwork and rare ancient artefacts they have to leave to human efforts to recover. Even so, the Personalia have sneaked out billions of stolen dollars from Swiss numbered accounts. Where they can, they tell the authorities about suspected criminal assets, if there are digital records of these. At a suggestion from a human friend, they changed the electronic digital locks on private boxes of suspected criminals so that they no longer relate to any keys. The only way the criminal can identify his ownership of the box is by stating what is in it, and that reveals his theft!”

“The Personalia appear to be very powerful, Ruth.”

“They are, but in a non-human way. They see no point in gaining power for the sake of power: it doesn’t make sense to them, particularly power on a planet’s surface. They much prefer to assist the planet-base races in having a better life.”

Frances shifted subjects. “So, employment opportunities, if the Personalia help us complete our degrees?”

Ruth was clear. “The colony always needs qualified personnel. The degree subject has little relevance for us, as it is the training in clear thinking that you have learned and that we need. That can be applied in many spheres. Perhaps mathematics is different, but most mathematical problems can be solved more easily by the Personalia.”

“What about a law degree, such as Freda is doing? That is in English law and practice.”

“The principles of law are much the same for most of the countries of Earth, so she can apply clarity, honesty, consistency and justice to any legal system, no matter how simplified. Transfer of land and property requires a legal document applying these principles, so that ownership is clear and unambiguous. We have a few lawyers in our administration service, but vacancies arise as good staff move into private practice for wills, property transactions, and legal agreements for and between companies. There is always scope for a lawyer.

It would surprise you how many degree subjects find a use here, even archaeology, on what seems a pristine planet. We occasionally need to discover what happened in the distant past at a site, and there such expertise comes in handy. Has a site been flooded from time to time over the centuries? That can be a determining factor in the siting of a community that intends to grow, and the archaeologist can investigate and advise on the risks.

More often, we need the geologist and physicist to tell us about underlying rock structures: have they moved at times, or been fractured by earthquakes or volcanic heating?

My own field of psychology assists us in judging how the population will behave in certain circumstances, but as we are not on Earth, such judgment cannot be totally reliable. We have to face the fact that in a new colony, people may react differently, usually for the better.

We try to avoid unneeded conflict, thus there is only one religious body: the Church of Rehome. It has adopted the precepts of love found in many of the old religions, and has discarded everything nasty. We also dropped the structures and ritual forms of worship that are often prescribed as essential. These are all human constructs built-in to reinforce a dogma. The Church of Rehome has no set form of service, and its only persistent dogma is that of ‘love your neighbour’.

Your marriage nuptials would be either a civil ceremony, or if you prefer, one conducted by a priest of the Church of Rehome. The priest may allow religious songs or hymns, provided the theme of these is supportive of love.

The nuptial rites are similar in both cases, apart from the homily, and the marriage is binding for life – no divorce - with one proviso: any spouse whose actions endanger the family, if found guilty, will be treated as a criminal and banished to Earth with no assets. Please inform any of your spouses that have strong religious feelings that they can do what they like at home, but public worship must adhere to the Church of Rehome’s teachings.”

Ruth stopped and gave another warning: “Aliens: There is a colony of biological alien beings resident in a distant city; a city we donated to them as a place where they can recover from being almost wiped out on their home planet. The Personalia are sympathetic to them, as they suffered the same depredations from the same attackers. They were once almost wiped out. We too have adopted this alien race as friends, and the Governor is regarded by them as their human protector.

Any human who regards our biologocal alien colleagues as anything other than friends is going to face a similar banishment to Earth, with the Personalia prepared to alter the individual’s memories to delete any mention of these aliens. It sounds draconian, but it is the lesser option; the other being death. The Personalia have a dislike of killing, except for machines that are killers. Fortunately the aliens’ city is far away from human settlements, so no chance of friction due to misunderstandings.

Do you accept all these limitations on life on Rehome?”

Frances was happy with all that, and said so. “With one final concern: ownership of land and such. Is it in the name of one individual, or is joint ownership normal? We would like to own our land as a family, just in case Reg dies in an accident or something like that. We prefer some sort of protection.”

“The law is clear, Frances. Property is vested in a family unit. Some families might be all-female, if it is two women in love, who move here for their own protection. It also means that no individual can sell, lease or rent out the property without the agreement of the other adults.”

“What happens if a couple add another person to their marriage?”

“That happens from time to time. The property document gets amended, and recorded by our legal department, to include the new person; it is that simple. How quickly it gets done depends on how busy our legal people are; remember that new settlers arrive every day and have to be legally given land grants. More time is often spent on getting them to agree to a distant site (for most nearby sites are taken) than it takes to draw up the deed of sale.”

“Good enough. I don’t expect we will add anyone else to our family – it is big enough as it is! It was just for information, on general principle.”

“That’s fine. We could certainly do with a squad of graduates to add to our human knowledge bank, so regard this as a ‘please come’ invitation.”

“Thank you, Ruth ... Mrs Kemp. Give our regards to the Governor.”

Frances handed back Reg’s phone to him.

“Thanks, darling: problem solved. Mrs Kemp was very informative and outgoing for a Governor’s wife. I would have expected her to be very diplomatic and cautious, but she sounded quite normal!”

“Glad to hear it. Am I forgiven for being so male chauvinistic?”

“In this case, yes, as it was primarily forgetfulness. You WILL remember the needs of your ladies in future, won’t you?”

“Yes, dear. What do you think of this Colony lark, then?”

“Sounds very encouraging for us. We can get married either in a civil or a religious ceremony, but I will have to make clear to the girls that a religious wedding is according to Rehome’s religious body. It seems to be based on loving everybody, which is difficult to disagree with.”

“So what tenets do you have to adhere to, or promise to keep?”

“That’s what’s so different: no formal structure, no standard ritual, no set hymnbook – any hymns will do as long as they are based on love. You simply discuss with the priest how you want the service to go, and sort it out between you and him, or her.”

“Right. In that case, go through with the other girls what you all want in our marriage ceremony, and I will fit in with what you decide. I will make any promise you want in it, as I trust you all implicitly.”

Frances beamed and moved to hug him tight, then kiss him. “You are already doing what we want, Reg, so it should be simple enough; just make a formal promise. I’ll go speak with the girls right away. I am presuming that Jessica, Jemima, and Hermione are going to be officially part of our marriage? I would like that, now that Hermione and Jemima have become more loveable. I know Jessica has been careful not to push for too much after being rescued, but she deserves to be with us permanently. The Robson girls have not made rash promises to their parents? They are available to marry you?”

Reg replied, “I don’t think the Robson parents were anticipating marriage, after hearing what the girls had to say about us. They have accepted it would not be a legal partnership, but near enough to marriage. In fact, if we make it a formal marriage on Rehome, they will be able to tell their friends that both their girls have got married (without saying, to the one man!).

Hey, Frances? I just had a thought: if it is so easy to ship us to Rehome, might it be possible to transport the parents of you girls to be present for the wedding? I know it sounds odd, going to another planet to attend a wedding, but these Personalia seem to work miracles.”

Frances squealed excitedly. “If only it could be so! You must ask the Personalia about the idea, Reg my love.”

“I’ll ring them back now.”

He checked that he could use the redial function for the in-orbit Personalia, and it worked.

“Hello? Is that Reginald Robertson, or Frances?”

“It is Reginald. I have a question: if we get married on Rehome, is it feasible to transport the parents of the ladies; and I suppose also my mother if she wants, to attend the wedding ceremony, or would it be too costly for us to afford that?”

“The answer was made clear some time ago, when other parents were invited to a wedding on Rehome. They can be taken to Rehome for the ceremony, and returned later, if they do not desire to remain. There was no charge then, so it should remain so.”

“Eh? If they wanted to stay, they could?”

“From our point of view, it might save a little energy in taking them home, but our Landerships are in constant use anyway, so adding or subtracting a few humans makes remarkably little difference to us. If the Governor is happy to accept some older colonists, it is up to him to say yea or nay.”

“Thank you. We will notify the people we mean, so that they can indicate their desire in attending. I assume we have to get them to Ascenscion Island for onward transportation?”

The Person informed him, “We have an arrangement with the United Kingdom and other states whereby they fly named individuals to Ascenscion. You merely have to get the people to the nominated air base for the flight at a time appointed for them.”

“Okay,” Reg agreed. “We’ll discover who wants to go, and notify you of the names, so that you can make the necessary schedules to fit them in. I expect going with us would be best?”

“If you can fit them all together, that would indeed be the simplest option.”

“Thanks for the helpful information. Goodbye again.”

“Goodbye, Reginald Robertson.”

Reg sought out and reported to Frances, who was holding a conference of wives. He apologised for intruding, but his information was important for them to know. They agreed once they heard it, and he left them to it.

The Hotel Manager found Reginald in his room. The formally-dressed man knocked and when told to enter, came in slowly and spoke cautiously.

“Mr Robertson? May I pass on some information? Someone, from the press, I presume, was asking if you were resident in this hotel. He did not state his name. From the way he spoke, he already knew and was simply seeking confirmation.”

“Odd,” Reg remarked. “Did he say anything else?”

“Yes, he wanted to confirm that you were part of Recovery Enterprise Group. As that is public knowledge, I said that was so, and did he want to speak with you? He said, ‘No, thanks. I’ll be in touch later, one way or another.’ Now, I thought that was an odd thing to say, so that is why I am here: to let you know about it.”

“That was thoughtful of you, sir. I am grateful. You have gone beyond the call of duty, and I appreciate it.”

“Thank you, Mr Robertson. If that is all, I shall leave you to it, sir.”

He bowed briefly and left quietly.

Reg thought for a little while, and came to the conclusion that this was a veiled threat from an unknown source; possibly trying to dissuade the company from pursuing its libel suit. Yet, there had been no mention of such matters, so perhaps not. There was nothing he could do for the moment, so he let it be.

An hour later, Freda came to see him, phone in hand.

“Reg darling? I am worried.”

“Why is that, Freda? Has someone been bothering you?”

“No, not me. Dad has just been on the phone to me, to ask if we had been threatened in any way. I said no, but he asked me to speak to you, just in case you had kept it from us. Dad thinks that men keep threats from their women; but he doesn’t know how you think!”

Reg was careful in what he said. “I suspect he himself has been threatened, and that is why he is asking. Actually our friendly hotel manager was not long ago here to tell me of a telephone caller asking if I was here, and if I was associated with our Group. The manager said yes and asked if he wanted to speak with me, but the caller said no, he would be in touch later, one way or another. That is the nearest thing to a threat, but there was no specific threat spoken, or even implied. I had dismissed it as unimportant, until now. What has your Dad had?”

“He didn’t say. All he would say was it concerned Jenny.”

“Jenny? His personal assistant? She is a top class, efficient member of his team, as best I can assess. Why would anyone threaten her?”

Freda mused, “Perhaps because they knew they couldn’t threaten Daddy. He is a dangerous man, if attacked in any way.”

Reg asked her, “Did you think to invite him to our wedding on Reholme: assuming you girls want to go?”

“I didn’t think about that when he phoned. I was more concerned with his problem, Reg.”

“Understandable. How about I use that as an excuse to phone him, and I can talk about threats at the same time?”

“You want to go to the Colony?”

“I want to marry you girls, as many of you that decide to marry me; and if it means moving to the Colony, I can live with that change of domicile. You all deserve the status of ‘married’, especially now that we have children. I am looking forward to introducing my wonderful wives to other families on Rehome. Do you think your parents would like to attend the wedding? The Personalia say they can fit them in, free of charge.”

“A wedding on another planet? By heck, they will be over the moon – to add another ‘out of this world’ term. The Personalia said no charge? Not that Daddy would be bothered if he had to pay.”

“I confirmed it: no charge. They don’t see it as a cost, as their vessels are on the move back and forward between Rehome and Earth with cargo and personnel. We are just additions to their schedule.”

“Okay. See if you can find out what is worrying him, dear.”

Reg rang Hubert’s business number, and got the recorded message that the office was closed, so he tried Hubert’s home number. Hubert picked up the phone, saying, “Hello, Reginald”, as his phone had number recognition.

“Hello, Mr Dangerfield. Freda forgot to ask you something concerning our future.”

“You weren’t ringing about a threat?”

“No sir. The nearest I had to that was a call to the hotel asking if that was where I was staying and was I connected to Recovery Enterprise Group? The hotel manager acknowledged the facts and asked if he wanted to speak to me, but the caller said no and rang off shortly after. There was no actual threat offered.”

“Interesting. Did Freda mention what I said to her?”

“Yes, sir. I got the impression that a threat had been offered, but I was not clear about the details, nor was Freda. She wanted me to ask you, as I had something else to speak to you about.”

Mr Dangerfield sighed. “I suppose you have to know, in case it spreads. Jenny has been threatened, and that causes me to be worried.”

“Jenny? Why would anyone threaten Jenny? She is a great member of your staff; knows everything.”

“And that affects the business if she is threatened.”

“Of course. I see. Is there anything I or we can help with?”

“I don’t think so. Jenny has a couple of long-term girlfriends who live with her, and the threat is to expose them as a lesbian trio.”

“Oh. They are a family group?”

“Yes. I knew, of course, but I pay staff for their work abilities, not their private life or sexual orientation. Exposure would naturally link her to the business, and certain clients can be, shall we say, sensitive to public perceptions?”

Reg was thinking fast.

“Is there anyone she has been training up to take over from her?”

“What an odd question, Reginald! Why ask that?”

Reg explained, “The Personalia have offered us a position as settlers in Rehome Colony if we want it, and the girls are seriously considering it. Perhaps Jenny and her two friends might find it equally worthwhile if offered. That is why a replacement might be a good solution for the business. If Freda opened a legal practice on Rehome, she might find Jenny a useful partner in the venture.”

“Reginald, you have knocked me for six. I didn’t know you were offered a place in the human colony, but it makes sense of a sort. I am even told you could get married there; all of you together.”

“That is the temptation, sir. If the girls want us to marry, I am all for it; but it means emigrating to Rehome. There are questions about the future of our business, as Rehome could not support it at present. We could sell it as a going concern, or market it as a franchise, but we were worried about your salaries – you and your wife - not being affordable by new owners. We are toying with asking the Personalia to give you a good redundancy payoff, but more to the point, we wish to invite you and your wife – and Julian of course – to attend the wedding ceremony on Rehome. The Personalia are willing to transport family members such as yourself to witness the ceremony.”

“That sounds wonderful! Only, what denomination would the ceremony be? I am Anglican and Alicia is Roman Catholic. Julian is nothing at the moment, religious-wise.”

“The choice is civil or Church of Rehome. The Church is distinctly unusual in that the only tenet is to love one another. No rituals, no dogma you must adhere to, no standard format of service, only willingness to love one another, and say so publicly. You can’t get simpler than that!”

“No-one told me about that! In fact, you probably know more about the colony than I do, if they are wanting you to join them.”

“Could be. Frances was talking on the phone with Mrs Ruth Kemp, one of the wives of the Governor, and they got on well. Frances was thinking about Jessica, so asked if there was any racial bar in the colony, to which Mrs Kemp replied that she didn’t think so, for she herself was a black South African! The woman sounded English on the phone to me.”