Chapter 15

Kitten, the babies, and I, rode in the front. Everybody else rode in the back, with the battery cart. Dog came along too, as Kitten assured us that he would not harm any of the other inhabitants. Both Susan and I would wear our backpacks, which were filled with food for us, and the others. Kitten and Chris pushed a covered box through the culvert, and I brought up the rear with the cart. I lit the candle, and we started our trek.

Susan asked, "What are all these things, we are walking around?"

The answer came from Chris. "The Tandra play games with weapons. They run and hide, as they try to score points for themselves. Usually the children, and the males, do this. The adult females are usually too busy for such games."

I could almost hear my mother or aunt, saying the same thing. It is amazing how things can be so different; yet, so much the same. It was starting to get very warm. I stopped and hung up my clothes, on one of the obstacles. I kept only my pants and shoes. The others followed suit, but all wanted to keep their undergarments. Susan, for modesty's sake. The Tandra, to show off their 'alien' finery. I asked, "What do Susan and I do first, to get started learning?"

Kitten this time sent, "I have never heard of anything like this before. I will have to ask the computer. This is much more difficult than what it was like, before."

"How is that?" Susan asked.

"The computer housed the intelligence, that did much of the work. Most times it could guess what you wanted, and give it to you, before you even asked. Now, I must sit in one of the chairs, and think very clearly. I have to tell it all, that it must know."

We went down the steps, and entered one of the rooms at random. Kitten slowly sat in the frame of a chair, and began to relax. Many minutes passed before the large screen even came to life. Susan was frightened, and held my left arm, with two of hers. Eventually, two images much larger than life size appeared. One was of Susan, naked as the day she was born. The other was of me, the same way. They rotated to expose each side and feature. The images started to get sliced, and I saw very thin layers of myself, and Susan.

Susan was usually quite strong. But now she buried her head in my shoulder, and refused to look. Many small spots were highlighted on my image. Three were marked in red. Susan had less spots, and no red ones. Characters came beside each of the pictures, tabulating information about each of us. The data scrolled for a moment or two, and stopped. The pictures stayed on the screen, as Kitten opened her eyes. I moved closer, taking Susan with me, as I helped Kitten up.

"Thank you, my husband."

I was a little shocked by the term. I had just asked Susan to marry me, and I did not know how to take Kitten's statement, even though I had referred to her as 'wife'. I looked at Susan, and she just smiled at me. I had the feeling that they had been waiting to spring this on me for a while. "You are welcome, wife. I do hope you have talked to Susan about this, for it entails a lifetime commitment. I won't accept anything less." She just smiled, and I knew that she agreed to the condition.

This time Chris stated, "Husband, we need to go to the medical section first, to get you registered. We will get some abnormal growths removed from you."

"What is this about growths being removed?" I also noted the appellation.

"There is no danger. The procedure should only take a few minutes, and there is no pain."

The clinic as I thought of it was across the flat floor, and into the area I had never been in. Just as was 99.99 percent of the base.

The room was a pastel blue, and looked comfortable. As we entered, a chair came out of the wall. This one looked new, as if it had just been made. Perhaps it had, for all I knew.

Chris got me to sit, and the chair reclined a little. Susan looked fearful. I was worried, inside, as well. A small sphere, about the size of a baseball, came out of the back of the chair. It orbited me at different heights and angles. I sat deathly still, as I waited for it to start. It was joined by another, slightly larger sphere. Both orbs sported a dimple on one side, that always faced me. They went to the spots, that had glowed red, on the diagram of me, in the other room. I heard a small buzzing, once in a while. They travelled as a pair, around me. After about two minutes, and thirty or so buzzes later, they returned to their hiding place. Kitten came and put her hand on a particular spot, on the chair. Her eyes closed.

A moment later she sent, "You are done now, the machine has completed its job."

"Done? I didn't know that it started anything, other than an inspection."

"Yes, you are done. There were some atypical growths. They would have affected you health, in the next few years. It is now Susan's turn. She has an aberrant condition in her reproductive system, that would keep her from easily bearing children."

I got up, warily, thinking there might be some discomfort. I then helped Susan into the chair I had just left.

"Susan, I felt no pain at all. Their science is older than our race. I think we can trust it."

Kitten again placed her hand on the chair, and the spheres came out as before. They did their preliminary work. They buzzed twenty three times, by my count. When it was all done, Susan got happily out of the chair, and kissed each of us. After the procedure started, I relaxed and started to enjoy the show. I couldn't feel anything different from the way I was before.

"Thank you, one and all, for what you have done."

The girls went into a group hug again, before Kitten sent, "I have put each of you into the system. When you go to any particular machine, just look for the place where I put my hand. When the system was working properly, even that was unnecessary."

Kitten got into the chair as I had done, and she asked for one of the babies. She held the baby to her chest, as the spheres orbited both of them. Moments later the procedure was repeated. Then again, until all the babies had been scanned. It made me feel childish to be afraid of the device, when Kitten entrusted her babies to it. Kitten felt relieved to know that there was nothing wrong with her, or the children.

As we walked, following Kitten and Chris's lead, I asked, "Is there a way to increase the amount of light in here? All of you, and even Dog, can see better than I can. Susan and I need a little more light."

Chris, this time, went to a nearby wall. She walked along it for a few metres. She put her hand onto a slightly discoloured section, a little more than a metre off the floor. From all over the room, the light increased in its intensity. When I felt that there was enough, I silently informed Chris. She walked back to us, with a smile on her face, because of our expressions.

"The lights have been either off, or very low, for a long time. It feels odd to me, to have the light this bright. We have all been asleep for a long time, and the base has always been darkened. None of us here, were around, when the base was operational." This threw Susan and me. I never considered that the girls could be centuries, or more, old. They were all younger than Susan, as I saw them in my mind.

This was the first time I had actually been able to see well. We walked out to the large open area, to see that the lights were much brighter here, too. I was sure that there was no place on Earth that could even compare with this, in size. The precisely placed doorways, on the three levels, probably went back all the way to the shield. This represented a very large area. The unknown levels below that, spread out over the distances we had walked. The fact, that there were two symmetrical sides, meant that this base could house a fair sized city.

There were no rich colours though. Most things were various shades of gray or pastel. Even the floor only had faint colours in it. This was not surprising, now that I knew the age of the base. I abandoned the cart, after turning the lights off. It would be picked up on our return.

We walked toward a distant opening. A small naked child, even younger than Amy, came out of a doorway. It took her quite a while to notice us. When she did, she turned smartly, and retraced her steps. No doubt she was warning the others of our arrival. We all looked at one another, and smiled at the child's consternation. Moments later, all our group stopped. They received and transmitted greetings to the unseen group.

About a hundred metres before our objective, two girls about Kitten's apparent age and size, came out. Behind them, followed children of various ages. One looked older than Amy. The rest looked either the same, or younger. They hid behind the two oldest, with their hands wrapped tightly around the adults' legs. All were without clothing, as I had originally found Kitten and Chris. Behind this group, I saw seven other adults. They seemed to give off a hostile aura. Their arms were folded on their chests, as if daring me to so much as speak to them.

They were all so nervous, that I paused, to give them a chance to see us. Sandy and Amy ran to the first group, followed by Dog. It was too late to call Dog back now, but I was still concerned about how he would treat the Tandra. Dog had never liked children. But, amazingly, he stayed; allowing the younger ones, to run their hands through his coat. The older ones ignored Dog, and looked at the four of us. Kitten and Chris walked forward and joined this group, to help them feel less threatened.

"Come, my husband, and my sister-wife." As we slowly approached, I noticed that all of the Tandra looked remarkably similar. A race as old as the Tandra, would have blended into homogeneity, long ago. This did not mean that they were not beautiful. They were. Very much so. Apart from their size, and apparent age, they almost reminded me of identical twins. Small differences, such as tattoos and hair styles, gave just enough hints to keep them apart in my mind. Only one seemed very different. She turned her head. She had a much lighter coloured hair.

"Husband, and sister-wife, this is..." Kitten continued with a visualization of a star exploding.

I looked at the one with the near blond hair. She appeared a little older than Kitten's sixteen apparent years. I made her out, to be about nineteen. All these girls were to be my wives, I somehow sensed. There was not too much I felt I had to say in the matter. Also, I feared there was no way that I would be physically capable of carrying out the duties involved. Perhaps love and respect would fill the gap, until they found something, or someone, better. I carefully moved forward, to give her a kiss. Instead of a kiss, the woman held my arms. She licked my face, once on each cheek. She was not a passive woman. She wanted to kiss me on her terms.

"Hello. The picture that Kitten just sent me, we know as a nova. May I call you Nova?"

I received, "I like the sound of that name. I would be happy to have it. I know you do not know our language, and we must bypass that section of your brain, to allow us to communicate this way."

I was a little shocked, for I thought we communicated very well this way. If I learned the language, I wondered at what level of understanding we would have. I pulled Nova close. She had thought that the greetings were finished. "A kiss, were I come from, especially among family, is done like this." Leaning down to her height, and taking her face into my hands, I gave her a tender kiss. She did not respond right away, but I felt communication between her and Kitten. Nova's arms went around my waist, and pulled me close. Tentatively, she returned the kiss. Her experiment lasted over a minute, and we both came out breathless.

"You sure do learn fast," I sent. I took a big breath before I continued. "I would like to introduce Susan, to you. She has agreed, recently, to marry me. She has also agreed to share me with Kitten and Chris."

"I have heard all about your meeting with the ones you call Kitten and Chris. They have told me that you had a previous mate. Did she not say that all of us are to be your wives, as well?"

"Ah... She didn't say that, exactly. And I am still not sure about how this will work."

I explained the conversation I'd had last night, about our laws that protect children, from being abused by adults.