Chapter 67

Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos tried much the same thing. Word must have spread, for when we got to Hanoi only the ones we wanted were present. An old general by the name of Pham, stood almost tearfully as his troops were taken onto the ship. I asked the old man that had little family if he would like to start a new life as a pilot with the Tandra alliance. His eyes sparkled and before he committed himself, I said, "You will not be commanding those troops. You may not command any troops and you definitely will have to start at the bottom, but as a young man again. You will go from General Pham, to not even a private."

He smiled wide this time and saluted me the Tandra way. We both rose into the air and visibly headed for the Terra's Pride.

Medical was very busy with 2,200 recruits. Some stared wide eyed as some of their number disappeared. They were lowered into tanks in another room so as to not upset their friends at seeing an apparent body floating in a cloudy liquid.

Within an hour 1,850 much healthier troops walked through the ship to the various hangars. The men and Tandra using the same translating devices spoke to individual groups. Done this way, one bay held only a few recruits and only one language was spoken. They were surprised to be given some ships that were theirs, with their group's name on it. They proudly sat in the cockpit and the AI along with Hans started their education. Within minutes the hangers were quiet again. The trainers went back to studying, sleeping or went to the cafeteria. It would be at least an hour till the first would be finished.

We talked briefly with Captain Meech and found much the same thing happened for his Slavic recruits. The African and European contingent would be next. Then both America and Japan would give us troops to fight with. It was the Arab states that still opposed the Tandra. They were among the people that had the most to gain from the adoption of Tandra culture and technology, because of their low standard of living.

The next day we did the same thing in the next countries on our lists and then again for a third day. The ship should bustle with 6,300 new recruits but the truth was that it was almost empty and felt that way inside me as well.

Lam and Duc took a moment to go for a visit and meet with some of the people from their homeland. The soldiers treated them like high government officials and there was little they could do to get around this perception. After a few hours they left a little sad and mother was able to visit for the first time. She ran up to us and gave us a hug and I could see that most of the new people thought this young looking woman was our girlfriend. She knew this too and shamelessly flirted as if she was.

Mom altered the format of her tv show and brought the cameras to the Terra's Pride and showed our troops as they learned to absorb knowledge. They fell all over themselves at Mom's approach and treated her as royalty, as I thought only just. After staying less than an hour, counting commercial breaks, she went over to the Nautilus and eventually the academy to show all the recruits not in the tanks. I was quite sure now that the stations were charging an arm and a leg to the companies that were allowed to show their advertisements.

The next day, Paul and I were going over the records of the recruits and the trainers and we came on the last group that had checked the a small portion of the hull. Apparently from Hans' reports they were crying uncle, but I knew that this was just a ploy. One was Bolis a woman Uncle Henry had quite a fight with and thinking of the recordings, I saw she would not be an easy nut to crack no matter what she said. I was quite sure that her problems were quite a bit deeper and would take a lot of work to get out of her system, even if that were possible.

Captain Meech had used the nick name of a boyhood friend 'Pasha' for his AI and it happened to come in handy with his first group of recruits. All the new recruits from each country had been informed that they were to be trained as three separate groups and that they had to decide which of the groups they wanted to be in. In the end Hans and Pasha had to do the best they could. Mom had many other duties to perform and didn't need the hassle of doing everybody's job.

By the end of the ship's day it was necessary for the recruits to make their decision. The emblem of the Tandra/Earth alliance was prominent on all the large boat bays and was to remind them of who and what they could be. The trainers took only twenty minutes discussing the benefits and their feelings about their own choices. Later in small groups they were asked again, so the recruits would know they were not making a mistake. There was no political commissar forcing them into the choice, but I did know that no person would be able to stay if they did not truly believe in our goals.

The largest boat bay was partially emptied and the men and women that chose to join us were asked to show up. They came from the Nautilus and the academy for one large ceremony. The rest were to be taken back to their country of origin with nothing done to them, for they had no real secrets with them yet. Everyone not in a tank presented themselves in the bay and formed ranks. In the background a stirring anthem that impinged on all of our senses played from hidden devices. It made my back even straighter and then made me think of all the dedication that had gone into building this race from its beginnings almost 6 million years ago.

Mom this time, as our icon, lead the new citizens in their oath. In the future, as they learned more they would be asked to speak new oaths and I knew that I had not said any of them yet. With the recruits, I too gave my allegiance to the alliance and felt even better inside for doing so. The new citizens were given new ship's coveralls now with their name in Tandra written over the heart. There would be no more Earth languages written, so that one more impediment to understanding could be overcome.

Mom displayed the ceremony on TV and told the people on the planet below of a fly by to be performed. The recruits all got into their ships and with only a little guidance from the major AIs they formed ranks in space. At almost 27,000 kilometres per hour they circled the Earth and dove into the atmosphere to fly one last time over their old homelands. Ships from the Nautilus had come over with some of the trainers as had the academy. People from all over the world came outside, if possible, to see the ships. On the night side the shields were altered and they saw bright streaks of light go from one end of their country to another then back again.

After the spectacular show the new citizens split up and went to either the academy, the carrier or the battleship for further training. Mom was getting phone calls from the Earth and a much lower percentage were antagonistic to her goals. She didn't bother having any more religious zealots on the air and took only the calls that would allow her to expound on what she wanted to say.

Paul and I took our turns in many of the smaller ships to become familiar with their quirks and capabilities. We did this one at a time so as to always have somebody onboard for any emergencies. The ships took a lot of concentration to make them perform up to their capabilities and not to what the raw recruits had used them for. I saw a need to start running simulated battle scenarios against fixed targets, other fighters, larger ships and finally, some ships using our new missiles.

Mom had talked to the leaders of the various countries about visits by the Tandra and now citizens of our alliance. They wanted to throw so much red tape at us that it almost looked like they didn't want us. Using her old strategy, she just made a deal with Canada and they were caught a little off guard. We only had to tie in with NORAD in North Bay to register our flight. We fought hard to keep any further data from changing hands, or it would seem like a border check, as apposed to a safety warning. There was no way they would worry about the importation of Tandra technology.

The Humans in the tanks were about all done and came out to an entirely different world. The old were young again and eager to take on any challenge. The sick and crippled were much the same and had to get over the problems in their minds associated with their old infirmities. They all studied even harder because they were almost four days behind their former countrymen.

The next week the cadets with the highest achievements were given the honour of transporting Lam, Duc, mother or even Kitten to Earth when the need arose. Lam and Duc, even had an escort of one of the cadets dressed in his dress uniform cap and now shoes to protect him from the cold and snow on Earth. Within a minute of entering 'Bay Variety and Groceries' more and more customers came in to ask questions.

"Is that really you Lam?"

"Are you a Tandra now?"

"Can you make me young again?"

"Are you going to fight the Samutz?"

"Did you have a baby on the moon? Was Duc the father or was it one of those Tandra?"

They stopped dead in their tracks at the short thin Tandra that walked up to protect his charges. He wore a dark tunic with crystalline buttons and a glowing white billed cap. His sudden appearance shocked them into silence.

The owners looked at the Tandra boy, then at their relatives. They could not get over the changes. They now looked as if in their early twenties and moved about as if the same age.

Lam got angry, as if she still owned the store, shooed the customers outside and locked the front door. She could feel the relief coming from the cadet. "People are not always nice," she said to the boy. She felt she was the one that was doing the protecting.

They did their shopping and bought much more than they needed, thinking of all the problems in getting the shopping done. She felt at home in the store and felt her new life almost a fantasy world.

Bao and Anh were not as blasé with the cadet and watched him constantly. The others before were dressed as Humans and this one looked much more impressive. The rest of the time, they looked in wonder at Lam and Duc. Many of the questions just asked were already asked when they were on the phone. But it was difficult to actually see the proof before their eyes.

Duc had been quiet most of the time. He was just marvelling at the change in his wife. He saw the store much the same as it always was, but now, he saw a beauty talking very fast and waving her hands it emphasize a point, then go to an entirely different topic. Women were like that and even though he figured he was boss, it still was a good thing to let her go, or he would suffer for it later.

When he looked at the younger couple, he saw how Anh and Bao looked even older, than they should. Their other relatives would not understand Lam's young face and body and no doubt would not have seen much of the television programmes in the village. It would be good to see the family in one place and take a few gifts. Reading the occasional letter was not close enough now that there was available transportation.

After saying their goodbyes, Bao unlocked the door. The groceries in boxes floated upward and disappeared into the invisible ship. Bao raced into the store to get another box so it could be taken from his hands. It too floated up and disappeared. The entire sidewalk and road was completely closed with people wanting to see anything of the Tandra.

After the last box floated up, an older Vietnamese man pushed his way forward and handed an envelope to Duc. The man then turned and melted into the crowd. Duc saw that it had his and Lam's name on it. He placed it in his pocket and floated up last.

Lam was talking fast to Doris and to Kitten on the moon. Duc reached in his pocket to read the letter. After breaking the seal he looked at the paper. It was all written by hand in Vietnamese. It basically said that his relatives in Binh Minh were in danger, and both Duc and Lam were to phone a number at a specified time, to find out where to meet a person that could help.

Duc was so upset, that Lam quit her conversation with her friends, and looked into Duc's thoughts. She became worried just as her husband was. Why would anybody harm a simple family living in a remote village? It was incomprehensible. In moments Kitten knew of the problem too and wondered why the man that had given the letter had not stayed to explain more. Was there a danger to the man too?

Doris soon joined in and for a moment thought the same till she saw the similarity to some books she had read. Mom was brought in right away and told of Doris' feelings. She scanned the threat analysis module on the ship and found the image of the man with the note and quickly used her own viewers to find him. There was no trace, but she kept up a continuous search.

Duc was getting more worried as the ship approached the moon. Was the man a friend of his family that just carried the message, or someone who knew of a danger that the family could not overcome?

Paul and I were looking through some reports. The malcontents were talking to the other Tandra and trying their best to ferment a revolt. This was close to mutiny and was covered in Tandra legal code, but hardly ever happened in their long history. The close part was the stickler. They must know that they may be found out and watched their thoughts very well, so as to not step over that fine line.

Cadets were being told that even they could run a ship better than Paul and I. The cadets being male, were supposed to suck this up and agree. The males on the moon were a little different in that they could see the benefit of an alliance and had a good education now to make it quite clear.

Hans was now keeping a close eye on all of them and found the males were gullible and just more lazy than the usual. The females were manipulating them as was the old custom and letting them do most of the dangerous talk.

The people from the vats had to be taken care of next. The Nautilus and the academy sent their allotment over to us and they all met in the large boat bay used before. Mom said to them, "I have learned a lot about Humans and know they will try their best to get any information they can from any of you. It is actually your job to give all you can so that they will understand us better. When you come back to us in 10 days, you will be offered a citizenship. If you wish to remain with your birth country that is entirely up to each of you."

There were 341 potential recruits left on a shuttle with money in their pockets and wafers in their packs. They had enough knowledge to explain a bit about how things worked and get Humans more familiar with mindspeak. Most did not want to leave, even for a visit.

Over a meal Paul said, "There has been some fighting among the Tandra."

"That is odd, they usually get along much better than us. Was anybody hurt?"

"Not very much. That group of malcontents finally provoked some of the cadets too much and a fist fight broke out. I confined all of them to barracks till we have an inquiry. I already know what I will find but I am following all the rules."

"Are you formally telling me this? If so, I may have to take some drastic action."

"I was thinking of handling it myself. I was going over some of those tricks you learned and found some that might help."

"What do you have planned?" I was really interested now.

"There are 30 females and 5 males in this group. If charges are layed, then we can use the evidence within their own minds to convict the remainder of their group of attempted mutiny. With that explained to them, they would be willing to take a less severe punishment. Among the Human troops we picked up are a lot of over achievers with little patience. If we were to pair them up with the disgruntled group, the Human portion would have the problem of straightening each of the Tandra out. There may be a few broken bones, but they will not be our problem if we don't hear about it."

"That sounds good. Perhaps we can give these groups the larger ships to train on. The ones that perform the best get to captain the new destroyer for a month when it is finished. We just have to keep all the discontents separated so they can't reinforce each other's rebellious attitudes."

"With an incentive like that, the Tandra will be under a lot of pressure. The males will buckle under sooner and the females are not under achievers, only elitist when their race is involved. I think the female Humans have an unfair advantage."

Small scale war games started soon after and the ones that stood out were given the option of fighting for the temporary captaincy of the destroyer. All knew that if they won they would probably be given the rank full time after they were fully trained.

One day soon after, they stood in a line steadfastly facing forward. Most were male and it was worked out so there were only 24 here. Paul said to all of them, "You have all learned to fight well and now you need to work closely with the Tandra portion of our forces. Your education has included Tandra law and customs. Here is where you will show true leadership abilities. We have with us 35 Tandra that resent Humans using Tandra equipment, or even thinking that we are on the same level as them. I plan on pairing you off with the best choice possible, so that each of you has an equal chance to win our contest. If you do not like your choice there are 11 more that you can chose from."

There were inaudible groans at the thought of carrying dead wood.

"Each of the Tandra know thinks that will help their partner win. They have been giving courses that complement this idea and it is up to you and your leadership abilities to get them to pull as hard as you do. Make no mistake, they are the junior half of each team and it is up to you to lead. You have the Tandra legal code to use, or Human ingenuity. Do not kill them and do not kill yourselves trying to win."

"You will be given larger fighters. They will provide more room for extended missions and for heavier ordinance. Your base will be the Nautilus. She will be leaving soon for her own patrols along our frontier. Captain Meech in conjunction with Pasha, Hans and Mom will supervise and rank your standings. You will be pushed very hard and the results will be televised. Mom tells me the Earth will look at it as the Olympics and each of you will be your old countries favourite."

The taciturn Tandra were brought in and introduced to their new officers. Nothing was said or even broadcast, but I knew that they were still fighting this concept as much as they could, regardless of their word. Hans gave ship locations and we all went to a small boat bay to see what they had gotten to fight with.

They saw sleek four man attack craft fitted with large ship killers that would give even a battle cruiser pause if they knew they were tipped with a galvanized nose cones. The ships were 23 metres long and were intended for extended stays away from the mother ship. Already TV audiences saw what the smaller ships could hand out and it was only logical for them to feel that these ships could do even more.

As per Paul's instructions, the ships left right away. They would separate and begin training in private. In four days they were to come back for any things they thought necessary, then head out of the system and link up with the Nautilus when it took up station outside the Oort Cloud.

Doris was sound asleep, dreaming of her husband of 26 years, filing her much tighter and sensitive uterus. They were in the missionary position and Carl made deep thrusts that seemed to fill her each and every time. Her dream-self had come many times and now it was Carl's turn as he sawed away at her clit with his large cock and rubbed her with his pubic bone. The feelings were getting so good that when she could not contain herself any longer and convulsed many times. Her groans filling the air with her pleasure and her legs stretching out and back again till the feeling finally left.

Opening her eyes finally, she saw a small black boy with a wet dildo in one of his four hands, and a contented look on his face. She realized what must have happened. She looked into the child's mind and found she could not blame him, for she had called out for relief and he came to give it to her as he did the other children.

"Oh Roger honey, you aren't supposed to do that," As she took the befuddled child into her arms and hugged him tightly.

"You caal mee."

"I know darling, but it was a dream and I couldn't help it. I have been so lonely." She caught herself telling the simple child and said, "Thank you Honey, but if I dream like that again, you mustn't do that to me, even if I call out."

She found herself rubbing his body against her breasts and pushed him away quickly. "I am sorry honey, I can't seem to help myself. You better go to bed now."

As the boy left the room he looked back as if he did something wrong and Doris had to cry. It was a long time without Carl and after her body had been fixed up it was even worse. Her hand and fingers had satisfied her a little, but it was not good enough. She could hear, smell and see with her mind, and her own eyes all the children having sex. At first she thought it wrong, but over the weeks she had come to accept it. She had never taken part though and felt bad for corrupting such a sweet child as Roger.

After a few more hours of fitful sleep she got up and had a hot coffee to help her mind start to function. Kitten got up to feed her children a little later and Doris took one of the babies and fed her as Kitten did the other two. It was so common place now to wet nurse all the children and feel so close to them, but last night with Roger still plagued her mind.

She had neglected to hide her feelings, but it was no use for at some time she would slip and everyone would know what she tried to conceal.

Kitten sat back with the two children contentedly nursing at her breasts and said, "There is no reason to hide what happened. Your mind was calling for some relief and Roger was the one that tried to give you what you needed. I know exactly what you feel like. The younger girls called out to me to help them and I make them feel good for a while. They try now to make me feel good too, but I am an adult and my upbringing says this is not right. Ever since Henry came we have been exposed to new ideas and those ideas felt right, as long as he was here."

"I miss our candasu, but even that is not the right name, for even though Susan is my metsu, Henry is still more important. Just a few months ago a boy or girl would never think of making an adult feel good. Now they strive to do that all the time. Have you seen some of the younger boys wiggle their backsides in front of the Human men hoping to get some love from them?"

"I have seen that. But I thought that common for the moon."

"It is, but we were not exposed to it on the Earth and now we are. I can't wait for my Henry to come home, but when he does I will also welcome the children to nurse between my legs as the younger ones do to my breasts."