Chapter 40

"Before too long you will need to do this as well." She said privately to me. "Think long and hard about how this is accomplished. Do you believe the Tandra on Masis will fall all over themselves in gratitude at saving them from the Samutz? It is more likely the males will want to kill you because of all the problems you will bring them."

Duc did react the same as any Human or Tandra, and fell all over himself at the visiting royalty. She explained to him what Lam was learning and why. She sat in a vacant chair, and picked up a cup of tea, which I was sure, wasn't there a second before, and sipped, as she listened to Duc. Since she was the equivalent of a hologram, I knew the tea and cup, had to be the same. Her image though was perfect, in every way.

I could see Mom talking in many ways. Her body language and inflection blended perfectly with her voice. Her mannerisms and voice complemented the thoughts she was directing to Duc's mind. I began to see, that she was giving him the same course that Lam was now undergoing.

Lam awoke when her course ended, and was greeted by Mom. Lam held Faith protectively at first meeting Mom, but relaxed as she became accustomed to her new visitor. As Mom began to work with Faith's unconscious efforts to bond to Lam. I saw Lam relax even more. After ten minutes of talk Mom asked, "Tomorrow, Henry is travelling to the moon. Perhaps you would enjoy ride with him, and the soldiers he is transporting?"

Lam and Duc were very conservative, and would never even consider such a request. Because it was suggested by Mom, it seemed more than all right.

Lam said quickly, "We would be happy to make the trip." Mom spoke for a while longer, and then excused herself. She statied pressing matters that had to be taken care of. She walked downstairs and disappeared with the probes. She had not lied but she had not said that she did not have a real body.

I was quite sure after Mom left, that she could convince even Doris, to keep quiet about the Tandra, and what we were doing.

That night we talked as the children slept. We sat around the darkened house, and watched the fire, as we idly chit chatted about inconsequential things. Lam had completed her course in Tandra history, the same as Duc had. I could still see the remnants of their old superstitions, trying to work into their new education. Perhaps, living in Canada, and their love for their daughter, would help them over this hurdle. I knew how difficult it was to break out of your mould, to embrace something new.

Susan and I found that Lam was still a little homesick after thirty years in Canada, and Duc was concerned about a sick brother, that he could not get to come to visit. There were many relatives that they had never even seen, and many more that had died.

Duc and Lam slept with Bobby, in their room, and Faith stayed with us for feeding. I knew they were starting to become much attached to the children, just as we were.

Susan and I made languid love, like we did long before meeting the Tandra. Her need for more orgasms did not diminish, and she had to have all of them herself, instead of through the link with the others.

Partway through the night, Kitten came into our room, bringing Roger who was hungry, and in need of both feeding, and bonding. This would not only help him, but relieve the fullness in Susan's breasts. He left enough for Faith who awoke an hour later.

At four in the morning, I had enough sleep and found Roger holding tightly to my arm. I visualized the link to him and saw as Mom had said; it was very solid, and as strong as the link to Susan. I started my day with the gym, and then began breakfast.

Susan came out with a sleepy Roger in her arms. He was hungry for solid food, even after helping Susan. He had never had a mother, and it felt good to see him so close to Susan. Susan seemed to glow as always, when around children, and I think the ones that she nursed, would heighten the effect.

Opening the door into the other bedroom, we saw Duc. He had his arm over his wife protecting her, and the child in their sleep. Susan was very careful, and tried to get a slightly soggy Bobby free. Lam awoke immediately, and clutched at the child, till she saw that it was her daughter. The bonding had gone a long way, and I could see the love in her eyes.

I had to do some more explaining about the extra child in our house. Duc was concerned that Roger was something of a slave, or an animal, till I explained things better. This was proven mute, as Roger scampered into Duc's lap, and a silent conversation took place. Now with the understanding, that Roger was in a loving environment, Duc relaxed and enjoyed his company. It was nice to see Roger being so outgoing now, especially remembering what he was like, when I first brought him home.

After breakfast we walked downstairs to the transporter. Lam carried Faith while Duc still held Roger. Susan described what was about to happen, as she held Bobby. Her startled parents found themselves beside Carlton, and jumped at the quick change.

Within moments the men walked up in small groups, and started to form ranks. Their new suits covered their bodies very well. I had never seen such a sight, as what was before me. The occasion called for an inspection, and the suits had turned black at the unvoiced command. I walked up and down the rows, looking for anything not one hundred percent right. For the first time in recorded history, I think, there was nothing wrong, or even close. The men must have groomed one another, and the suits could never be wrong. At the end of one line, Star, Nema, and Sandy stood for inspection.

Carl came over and shook Susan's parent's hands, giving them some solidity to the many strange things they saw.

Private Meech who formerly held lieutenants bars, told the men that were going to the moon to fall out, and board the ship. Charlie and Paul walked in the centre of the group, and ignored us as they were supposed to do.

Behind the men, some of the women rushed by. Their schedules required them to get many things accomplished, before the trip back to Epsilon Eridani. My other wives remained quiet, till we found how Duc and Lam would react to their existence.

"Duc, Lam, will you board with us now?"

"We have children here. Surely you are not going to take them to the moon with us. It is very dangerous," Duc said.

"Why is that? Roger comes from the lunar base. Bobby comes from Epsilon Eridani. Even Faith and her sisters have been there many times." He did not know what to think, and decided to just follow our lead, till he was more educated in what was happening.

We boarded, and Carlton took off at my silent command. All aboard could see the large view screen of the area ahead of us. Almost everybody was speechless at the sight of our lunar satellite growing larger. Duc, Lam and Susan sat in the chairs, with their living burdens, watching the progression. Before they knew it, the door opened. I adjusted my clothing, and walked out with Carl. We saluted the recently refurbished image on the wall. The new symbol was the old one of the Tandra Empire, combined with a new one of Earth. All around the wall the cadets stood at attention.

The mercs came down the ramp, and turned to parallel the ship. As one they did a left or right face and saluted as well. They had done the manoeuvre faultlessly, even in the one sixth gravity.

Susan came last with her family. Roger and Bobby wanted down, and scampered off. Bobby being very young had a difficult time keeping up. Duc and Lam found the lessened gravity unsettling, to say the least.

Carl called for his sons and the three girls. They came forward and saluted in the Tandra tradition that was mimicked by the Romans millions of years after the fact. Their right hand formed a fist, and it went out and around to strike the ribcage over the heart, and pause for a moment before dropping to their side. They were informed along with all the rest, that they would form the liaison committee, to integrate the Earth troops with those of this base. All simple problems were to go through them, before going higher up.

Carl made his first speech thanking the lunar personnel for their cooperation. I made a short speech as well, saying almost the same things.

When all were dismissed, I gave Susan and her parents a tour of the hanger, and the ships that would participate in transporting the troops and furthering their training.

Lam said incredulously, "The ships: They talked to you."

"Yes, most of them have a personality that lives in the computer; much like ours lives within our brains. Without their assistance, the cadets and the troops would never be able to fight in time."

"I just find this too much to understand."

"As you learn more, the understanding comes easier."

Carl's boys, and the girls, went off with their counterparts. The lunar males were fascinated by the girls. I could see instinct starting to rear its head. Charlie and Paul had been warned, along with the girls about the possible danger, but it was necessary to get females back into lunar society.

The other side of the coin might be that the males would work even harder, to do the tasks assigned to them. It would only take a while to find out if their studies suffered.

Carl and the civilians walked with us, as we continued our tour. I had plans to have them checked over by the autodoc, and get anything taken care of that need to be.

We met at least a hundred males, in our travels. They bowed in respect to both me and my guests. Life had changed for the better, now that Tandra law had been restored. They could enjoy their life, without currying to the whims of a despotic leader.

One chair in the medical section was in use by an old Tandra male. He slept quietly, as he was treated for his problems. Beside him five others remained vacant.

"Lam, will you sit in one chair, and Duc will you take the other?"

Duc asked, "Are we to learn more?"

"No, this is just a medical checkup to keep you healthy."

Duc got in first, and I helped Lam in. She still held Faith possessively.

The sensor balls came out and scanned each. I saw bad teeth, and bad lungs from smoking, Duc had a broken bone that had healed fairly well, but not perfectly. Lam had entered menopause, and could not bear any other children. Her bones were starting to weaken through a loss of calcium. Both suffered various stages of arthritis. Duc had a bad disk, in his spine. They both suffered from poor eyesight, necessitating glasses. In fact, they had needed glasses since coming to Canada.

Being a doctor now, meant a little bit of confidentiality.

I mindspoke to only Susan's parents. "Lam, you have entered menopause, a few years ago, and you now have a mild case of osteoporosis. This will cause you to start losing some of your bone mass, and give you other problems later. This facility has the ability of bringing back your periods, and your fertility. Your eyesight and lungs can easily be fixed, or at least the process started. All of this can be done, if you want. The only question I have is; do you want the ability to bear children along with the other things?"

Turning to Duc, I said, "Duc, I can fix your back, lungs and the old break in your left arm. The only problem I see for both of you, is that you both could use new teeth, but this means that both you will have to spend a day in the care of one of the autodocs, and undergo the discomfort of growing new teeth. This can happen at any time, and nothing is critical."

They sat up and conversed in Vietnamese. I could see that I had put a lot of responsibility on Lam's shoulders. She had not been able to have any other children after Susan. She felt old now, and didn't want the burden I was placing on her, in her twilight years.

I said only to her, "Lam nobody else can hear me. Let's skip the menopause adjustment, and just treat the symptoms. Later when you have time to think about it, you can change your mind, if you want. You will feel much younger later and be able to take on any challenge."

"Yes, I like that way," she said much happier.

The repair spheres came out and they sat back and relaxed. Fifteen minutes later they got up and stretched like they did thirty years ago. They were not fully healed, for it took time for the body to get rid of all the toxins and dead cells from their bodies, and start the rebuilding. The major problems still had to be addressed in the tank.

"Mr. Buchanan, I feel young again." Duc stated.

"This is only the start. Later, as the old cells leave your body, you will feel even better."

"Thank you. I think I will take your offer, and get my teeth fixed if that is all right with you."

"Then we will do it on Earth. You should sell the store first, so that it is easy to take the time off."

They got up much healthier than before, and we continued the tour. I went into one of the many areas, I had never been in before, but knew it to be part of the medical section. Lining the walls, and twelve high, were tanks of various sizes. The vast majority were dark and empty. Seven were not.

One held an old man regenerating an arm. The new appendage was almost the size of a child's, but would grow in a week or less, to the correct dimensions. The other six contained babies, much larger than the one Lam now held, almost the size of Bobby. These obviously stayed in much longer, to allow them to be more self-sufficient, when they eventually came out.

Lam excitedly asked, "Why are they in there?"

"There are no women here, and the population is only increased when the Tandra feel that they need more people born. I don't think anything is wrong, except the children are born to a group of people that will not love the children, the way a Tandra female or a Human mother would."

"This is wrong. All children should be cherished."

"I agree, the males love the children, but not as much as a female would. There are no women or even parents here. I know that they could grow girl babies, as easily as male ones, but somebody made the decision, to only have boys here. It was done over a million years ago, I think."

"I want these babies."

Duc asked incredulously, "What are you saying Lam? They are not our race, or even our own species. Didn't you hear when Mr Buchanan said, we could have our own children?"

"Yes, I heard, and I know that these babies need a mother, the same way your daughter has taken others." This seemed to give Duc something to think about.

At this time Roger and Bobby came around the corner, followed by four others of Rogers age, and probably acquaintance. Roger was quicker, and got to Susan first, and wanted up to be fed, or at least picked up. Bobby seeing the place taken, looked around and chose Duc to pick him up.

He waddled over, and raised his small arms in supplication. Duc looked down and felt his heart strings being pulled. Bobby was about the same size as the children in the tanks. If he picked the boy up, he knew he would be lost. He tried to look away, but could see the large eyes and happy, expectant expression on the child's face in his mind. He wanted more children for a long time, and especially a son, to carry on his family's name. As he and his wife grew older, they knew that the quest became impossible. If Lam took these children, she would never want to bear him another, even if the fabulous medical science of the Tandra, would allow it.

He stepped back, and turned around, and saw the other boys of Roger's age. They had no parents, and he knew that they needed them to grow properly. Cords he felt forming from the boys, and wrapping around his soul. He could see the children in the tanks, in the corner of his eye. He could feel those too holding onto him, with all of their meagre strength. In his mind he heard Bobby sob behind him, at being rejected.

All this was too much; he turned quickly, and plucked the child from the floor before he knew what he was doing. He held Bobby close, and kissed his forehead, and said quietly, "I won't leave you Bobby," in Vietnamese, as silent tears trickled down his weathered cheek.

Lam came close, after hearing in her mind, her husband's exclamation. Her free arm went around her husband of almost thirty years, and pulled him tight. He reached out with one arm and pulled all of them closer. All four pulled together by a common bond of love. Susan hugged me tight thinking of all the love her parents could give.

I saw the four other youngsters moving forward but trying to stay out of the big people's way. They heard what Roger had to say before, and couldn't really believe it. Now they saw and wanted it for themselves. Until this moment, they did not even know what they lacked. Their eyes were large and their mouth agape, at the show of love.

Lam could feel their concern, and pulled her head back a saw the youngsters shifting from side to side wanting love, but afraid to come close to the strange people, that didn't quite look right.

She whispered in her husband's ear, and he turned to see the children. She carefully handed Faith to her husband, and squatted with her hands wide. The children did not know the gesture, but they knew the thoughts behind it. They ran to her, and held tight as if their very lives depended on it.

Susan turned to me and said, "Did you know this would happen?"

"I knew the children were in the vats, and your mother was interested in a new challenge. Roger's friends, I knew nothing about. They usually stayed hidden, at least till law was re-established."

Later Susan took Faith and fed her, and the two boys, while the others watched and reacted to the way Roger felt. Susan could almost feel the thoughts bombarding her as the boys reacted to her soothing touch and light caresses. As we continued to walk the boys stayed with us. Actually they had to, for Lam held a hand in each of hers as Duc did the same.

After a few hours of inspecting the capabilities of the lunar base, we returned home, carrying four small extra passengers with us. I had convinced Lam to leave the babies in the tank till she had nothing else to occupy her time.

Carl and I carried the older children to the medical section, and Mom placed them in tanks to develop their muscles and hearts to the rigours of Earth living. The boys were a little nervous, but had willingly gone into the tanks to become stronger. We had to pry Lam away. We promised that she could come back the next day and take them from the tank or stay here and go into a tank herself to get her remaining problems fixed.

She wanted the tank right away, in that case, and Duc watched his wife enter the liquid next to where the youngsters were. Lam's face grew calm and peaceful as I had never seen it. I knew she was trying to fully embrace the future of both races.

"Well Duc, I think you better get rid of your store soon. I have a feeling that you are going to be a full time father. Do you regret the decision?"

"No, I don't. The store can be taken over by a second cousin of Lam's. He is currently working with his wife in a Montréal restaurant, and has talked about moving here, if he can get a job. I think I will sell him the property at a very reasonable price."

"I don't think you will miss the store much. Your friends in the Bay may wonder when one day you show them your beautiful, but slightly strange looking sons."

"Who said they were my sons?" He said defensively.

"You did. I looked into your mind, and saw the love you already have for them, and they just entered your life. Before the day is out, I predict that you will have names for each and every one of them."

He hung his head, because he knew he was caught, and had already thought of a few. He planned on having the last laugh, and pick Vietnamese names after his relatives.

Our full complement had not been reached. Ads were run in Europe, Africa, the old Soviet block and even China. Within a few days the Earth base was again full of new warriors. There was much more friction that came with the greater cultural disparity. Other than the fifty or so Europeans, the rest were seriously undereducated. What they did know, was how to kill one another, and even here, they were not all educated to the same degree.

Disease was very common from malaria to Aids. When told of their cure most denied even having the disease. Some of the old hands came back from the moon, and had to use their superior strength and speed to knock some sense into them. It was comical when some bigot decided to take on Jamal Brown.

Jamal for his part played the stupid black as he thought of ways to teach the bigot the error of his ways without killing him outright. When one or two were not able to take on Jamal, more came, till he was forced to break a few bones, and send them into the tank.

The Europeans were somewhat snobbish, and this only changed when they found out how little they really knew, even if their countries had a long history of warfare.

After all the men were up to the minimum standards, they were fitted with the same device I had between my shoulder blades. They were told of its recording abilities and how the information would be uploaded after each battle. This along with the mind reading would keep the shirkers from hiding or for convenient accidents to just happen to the people they didn't like.

I was quite concerned about these men getting out into the general Earth population. Mom had foreseen this, and would allow their abilities and knowledge to fade within a few months of discharge. If they stayed, then they would be given more information and abilities, but also a greater chance to embrace the Tandra ideal. I tried to think of these men after a few hundred years in our military. They would retire to a sedate life, and live for the balance of a few centuries or so, living off the accumulated wealth that they were sure to get.

Like all governments before, they would be offered land on a distant planet, to give it stability. It would also provide a forward defence, if we managed to stay alive that long. The Romans had many good ideas mixed up with their baser Human ideals.

Fights were common for the first few days, till cliques and clans were broken up, and new teams were made up of different peoples. Here any failure could only be attributed to the individuals in the group, and their leadership.