Chapter 79

I called Captain Shingle of the Terra's Pride. He stood at attention awaiting orders from his Emperor. In an authoritative voice I ordered him to prepare for a training flight to Epsilon Eridani with a few additional passengers. It did not take him long to catch on and with a suppressed smile said that he would do anything his Emperor wanted. The time though, was not set. The only thing I knew was that it would not be for at least a few weeks.

Doris continued with her smile as she heard the interchange. Moments later a mob of children came in, which was a usual occurrence. Two platinum blond children were in the front. Doris asked me, "Whose are those? I haven't seen them before."

Doris was a bit shocked to find out that she had indeed been drooling on many occasions but was so busy with the other sensations running through her body that she did not recall some of the specifics.

Our family meal looked almost like a public cafeteria in many ways. There were many more than sixty children and babies at the table; there were the junior wives, Kitten, Dola, Duc, Lam, and Doris too. It seemed to be hectic with all the various conversations going on around the table. Some centred around studies but others talked of play experiences, gossip, expectations, and joy of achieving a particular goal. From the few meals I ate with this large group it looked like very few solid cliques had been formed. If someone felt a bit left out then that person got a bit more attention from everybody.

Verbal talk was becoming more common. It would be used to practice what they had learned from the tutors. I wanted everybody to be proficient in this mode because they didn't know when they would need to talk to a person without the ability to mindspeak. Jorge and Judith fit right in. They were helped by their seat mates who themselves were not much older. They were the usual recipients of the spoken word.

I asked the children about things they felt were important and about the things they wanted to boast about. Duc told me about things that happened at the academy as did his wife and Doris. There was always something comical happening, now that the recruits and children were learning Tandra ways. I am sure that if the cadets or the children at the table were attending a school on Earth, they would make things much more exciting or exasperating.

I made an announcement but tried to phrase it as ordinary conversation. "Judith and Jorge's mother is currently in medical being repaired. We first met her at a time before I even first went to the moon. Everybody seemed to like her and I was asked to make her a wife. She will have some new talents that should make her a very valuable member of the family if she agrees to join. She is very intelligent, kind, considerate, and I hope will be very dynamic. She will be released from medical tomorrow and I hope all of you do your best to welcome her."

Nothing new was said for everybody here with the exception of the two new members. They had already found this information out. Kitten remembered the woman and since a large female family was looked on as stronger, she was all in favour of the addition. Dola I could see was hesitant. He already knew about my many female wives and wondered if he was going to be supplanted or at best just ignored. Kitten could see this herself and told the sensitive male that everything would be alright.

An hour after the meal, Jorge then Judith started to feel sleepy. They had been bombarded with new experiences all day. Kitten took them and got them cleaned. They lay in bed with her as she wore the tutor and held the two children.

Time was set aside to get to know a few more of the Human children in modified bodies. I searched their minds as we talked and could see their real identity hidden away and their synthetic camouflage appeared seamless. It would take an expert Tandra to find that they were not living with us all their lives.

Through the new computer network I found what was happening in our small area of the Galaxy. The current action on the far side of the Bintuu empire was explained to our forces so that it would fit in with their studies of tactics. The new race was explained and the probable outcome of any confrontation we had was discussed. I had not done everything perfectly but the main objective was satisfactorily acomplished. My own actions later were at a whim and I knew that my feelings sometimes played a very important role in our affairs.

My mind kept track of the fighting through Harriet. Another portion was concentrating on the family in front of me while another section was planning future strategies. My mind was like three different people and sometimes more than that lived within my skull. Each had their own thoughts and objectives and each shared important data with the rest. A Human could only think of one thing at a time. Like a computer they could jump from one topic to another and back again but still only one thing at a time was done. I seemed to have the equivalent of multiple and discrete processors that did not need to have slice up time and allot it to different processes.

The work on Earth was still ongoing. It would take many years to clean up the mess never mind the rebuilding. In hard hit areas our units were the only ones working. There were no living beings there and our machinery could work much faster without having to be very careful of biological life.

New Tokyo, New Fuzhou, and New Rangoon, were raising from the ashes of the old cities. The craters that marked the former cities' locations had been filled in and the infrastructure started. This group was not based on Tandra technology but only what Earth technology could do if adequately applied. These new cities were meant to challenge their future inhabitants. Though they were to house Humans they could accommodate Tandra as well. As Humans adapted to the new situation they would be given access to the various services that we had prepared to let them have. This way Humans could be gradually taken out of the dark ages with the least amount of displacement. One day they would be given enough data and equipment to make fully automated habitats. This would only happen if they were ready to join not supplant other races.

Many other cities had completely disappeared from the Earth. Our arrangements were to only rebuild a sample of some of the cities. With the horrendous loss of life, the entire area was just waiting to see what we would do. There were few local people to do the rebuilding of the other cities. Even cities far from the conflicts had much to do to make their structures safe. The job of even filling in one gaping hole was a mammoth project in itself.

There were many ships far outside our system protecting us. The Tandra onboard were being trained and even shuffled around among the various ships. It would be an easy matter to have them come to Earth and assist us. I knew I had to have one more ship arrive to replace Terra's Pride but I wanted Humans to feel that they had a major hand in the rebuilding even if it felt like they were still unsafe. The few cities we did build would only serve as models for ones built in the future.

Mom interrupted some of my thoughts and she gave me a synopsis of the news. The evangelists were now fighting for their livelihood. If the people abandoned them then their effectiveness would be seriously curtailed. Mom was accused now of even more things and especially of cutting them off while she was able to speak to the people herself. Now that their backers were gone, they had to fight on their own. The picture of a cornered rat came to mind in this instance.

The commentary talked about how it was illegal for me to send the men off to fight the Samutz. Tandra law had no need for appeal because it was invariably right each and every time. The issue of national borders was mentioned but some of the stronger Earth countries made laws to affect people in other countries. People that never set foot in their land were subject to their laws. Mom ended this talk by telling me that she had fun listing all the times this had happened on Earth before her appearance and commenting if this was fair.

The system seemed to be changing a bit. Earth had decided to help us with more food but at only half of the inflated price. The areas worse affected from the attack had many injured, elderly people, and dependant children that could not be adequately cared for and a large number that had simply come unhinged at what had happened. Some had been accepted into our ranks and many more simply put into stasis till we had a chance to deal with them. With Mom and Marcus' greater abilities the level of assistance had risen dramatically. This had not just translated into luxuries but into help for many more people.

Marcus gave me a rundown on the people convicted of being accessories to the death of Akira Mizuno. The soldiers had not only accepted their lot but actively pursued their studies. A close study found that they had no plans of gathering this information for Humans but to be the best soldiers they could be. This sounded very un-human till I remembered how the tutor could influence a person.

My thoughts went back to the need for fast, long range communications. This also reminded me of the matter transmitter that was presently in this system and apparently untouched. I gathered Kitten and Dola to me later and said, "Would you two want to go on a short trip with me?"

I got an immediate "Yes," from Kitten and a more slightly subdued answer from Dola. I quizzed Mom about reactivating the matter transmitter and what codes I would need.

"You are the Emperor. There are no codes necessary. Usually there are large machines that initiates the retrieval process but you can travel through the dimensions without it. Once inside you need only begin the process there." I gave my thanks and made sure the two were dressed for the occasion.

Harriet had long since returned with all the crystals and happily took us perpendicular to the plane of the elliptic and approximately the distance to Jupiter. Dola asked, "Where are we going? Is it someplace exciting?"

Verbally I said, "A long time ago the Tandra built a matter transmitter in this system and hid it. I want to get it operational. It allowed your people to travel even faster than what Harriet and I can do."

Kitten used her voice too and said, "Why do you want it now, Henry?"

"With enough of these systems operational we can get to any trouble spots quickly and save many lives. It will also means that your sister/wives will be much closer. When the children come along I want to be with each one but their mother's have to remain to govern those important areas. When the war slows down we can all visit. Besides, this way I can get started sooner with our communications system. Have you seen how much Doris likes to talk to her husband? I think that with his work load he will have to refuse some calls."

When we reached the coordinates Mom gave us there was nothing to see. Normal ship's instruments showed nothing. The device for placing mines did see a large nebulous area. It had nowhere near the power to pull this structure out of it's hiding place. I made a tube with a large choke and with this power, twisted the ship slightly and moved us in the general direction of the device. There was no apparent resistance but it did not appear that we were getting any closer. With a little more twist though we seemed to make a much more rapid headway and I stopped just above a very large but hazy ceramic surface.

We had come upon the structure perpendicular to its axis and it appeared to be the side of a simple donut. This is where we were supposed to be. Travel around the periphery took a lot of power. In the many years since it was tucked away, it was not known how much it would have moved within our system. A hatch finally appeared in the surface. It was so large it could take the New Hope sideways with lots of room to spare.

When Harriet got very close I heard Dola draw a deep breath. He was worried about crashing and when I looked in his mind it was me he was concerned with. With a different kind of twisting we travelled through the thick hatch. I could not see the details but it must have been a hundred metres thick in a honeycomb pattern.

I stopped the second type of twisting but retained the first. This kept us in this area. Otherwise we would be subjected to all the laws here. The device I could sense was a few hundred kilometres ahead. The massive structure had inserted itself into this pocket and would do the reverse as well. Power was directed through the device from a new tap without the shunt. The power flowed heavier and heavier till the feeling I got was similar to what I felt when entering. I worked slowly and three minutes later I could detect Tandra in far ships. We were now in three dimensional space without a nebulous matrix about us.

Dola let out a long held breath and reached for my hand to hold. Kitten was a typical female and did not really need this sort of comfort. In the time it takes a computer to boot up I felt a strong probing for information. The cell I used before with the imperial override was exposed and after it was read the probing stopped.

"My Emperor, Computer Sofaas 489BCT4563549VB7 reporting."

"Hello computer. I don't like many alphanumerics. How about you take the name Maxi? It is a short form of the word maximum."

"I would be happy to take that name My Emperor."

"Please drop the Emperor unless we have to impress somebody. My name is Henry. Have you finished your diagnostics?"

"No my... Henry. It usually takes seven point six minutes." The computer seemed to have a difficult time overcoming some of its programming.

"Continue with your tests and then search for any data on transit points within your range."

"Yes Henry."

Before a minute had passed the lights were started and I could feel many minor computers begin their own diagnostics. Information from Harriet, Mom, and Marcus came to me about what they could detect. Our defence was a little shocked to see this device almost the size of Earth's moon suddenly appear. They were given a bit more information and went on with their patrols.

When the estimated time was up, tests were done. Maxi checked for other matter transmitters within a hundred light year operating radius. "Henry, there are no completely functional matter transmitters within this area. I do get a vague signal that I could not hear before. When the system is running there is too much interference. Some of the systems may be shut down as I was. May I ask what has happened?"

The data came in about what was found and I said, "Sure you can. About the time it takes the galaxy to rotate one tenth of a revolution the Tandra Empire has collapsed and risen again at least a few times. The Tandra home system and all the major bases are completely destroyed. It appears that the Thonas have caused the stars to go nova. Very few of the major old Tandra colonies have survived but some had gone into stasis awaiting for rescue. The Thonas are back again and have an ally that are very vicious. One of those enemies has recently attacked this system and been repelled. Access Harriet, and through her Mom and Marcus. I will wait."

This wait was longer because Maxi had a lot to catch up on. From what I had learned at the tutors, Maxi was one of the most advanced of the Tandra computer/AIs. Now she must know that all three computer AIs I mentioned were more capable than her. I looked at the data and Harriet made a projection of the data with a hologram. I was hoping that the Samutz did not find every one of the systems. Many were marked as unknown and one was four years from Epsilon Eridani. It was not on any listing I had seen before and was not within a system. I doubted how this could be. Frieda had many secrets and Mom and I had looked deep into her system and found no information about this transit point. Some code Harriet and I had not processed yet was in her memory. I wondered if something were hidden in it. I asked Harriet to look as we waited.

When Maxi finished her talk I had her work harder on the one point that seemed to be functional. The direction and strength told me approximately where this transit point was. It was beyond the hundred light year limit at about a hundred and fifty light years.

I just said my goodbyes and flew in that direction at our best speed. With the inertial compensators only so good, the twenty minute trip stretched out to double that. Dola was very worried and went to his station to hurl missiles as he had before. Kitten went to the sensors and looked for any data she could find. Our speed though was so fast that they were not functioning properly.

The old charts told me that this was the Tandra system of Fenmar. I slowed down well outside the system and went slower to approach. There was a sizable Samutz fleet composed of four battleships, two dreadnaughts, six troop transports, a carrier and twenty three minor ships of the destroyer size or less. What made me mad was that the system had a Tandra population that was now being rounded up while the large matter transmitter had many ships around it looting the system.

We went through the destroyed mine field and our sensors told me that all the ships were old except two battle ships. I gave Dola his orders and flew into the system. Part way there I released the override and the orders I wanted followed. As we continued to our targets no missiles had been fired. The range was still too great.

The ships had started to form a battle formation before separating at my order. The two battle ships were probably stunned at this happening. Before they did catch on I had flown through one of the monsters destroying the computer and flying well past it as I slowed for a turn. A minute later the other ship too had a long hole through its heart and brain.

While the fight went on for the remainder of the ships I put a tube on each of the battleships and started to push them out of the system and away from the other ships. If a crew could get control of a gun or missile station they could kill any of the ships around them. There were Tandra onboard and I kept the acceleration down to three gravities. A Samutz could function in this but a Tandra couldn't but it was survivable. In three hours I was only able to get them one point eight million kilometres away.

When this time passed, I headed back with the ships continuing to accelerate at the same factor with the tubes still attached. The remaining Samutz were putting up a good fight. One of the destroyers blew up taking everybody with it. This was the usual way and not all ships could rid themselves of Samutz before it had to destroy itself or the Samutz did it themselves.

Dola was at his station ready to take out any ship that succeeded in overthrowing the computer. When the ships were first captured there were designs for devices to torture a computer into submission but those devices took a time to manufacture and set up.

One dreadnaught was in danger of just that. The computer gave me the information and where the enemy was. Again we crashed into the ship but this time we missed the computer and took out the team sent to oppose us.

Two hours later I had to do the same thing again in the same dreadnaught. After that the ship was able to take care of the rest.

The troop transports were the easiest to take. They had mainly captured Tandra and other booty. The new Tandra crews of these six ships were very angry and hoping to get into the battle. I had to pull rank on them to obey the AI. This was a colony that had done much better in preparing than Earth. There were many times more people and very few had spent many years outside of stasis.

There were no battle suits to be had or I would let them assist in cleaning up their planet and the matter transmitter or the ships. The only combat ready units I had were the Mordis infantry and they were close to Earth. When it looked like no ships would escape I gave more orders and flew back to Earth.

"What are you doing Henry? Those people need us," Kitten said in mindspeech forgetting to practice with her voice.

"I am going for help. We need a lot of troops to clear the planet and to get the Samutz out of the matter transmitter." The forty minute trip felt very long to each of us. As we came close to Earth I got six battleships that were partially filled with Mordis infantry and went around gathering crew from other ships. A carrier with a full complement of crew joined us. When I had almost three million troops we left again. We had to take two hours to fill the ships and another hour and a half to fly back to Fenmar.

The two disabled ships were left and the troops had been briefed on the way here. A half million infantry left for the ships while a hundred thousand went to the matter transmitter to rid it of lice.

Five of our battleships took out any opposition from the surface of the planet while the carrier launched an assault on anything that would poke its head up. Some of the defensive batteries had been readied and the Samutz now turned them on us. This did not last long though and soon the battle began. The planet had only been captured a few months ago. This was about the time the Samutz had attacked Earth. They had time to settle in a bit but not too much. At least three quarters of the population had been taken away. The hundred thousand Tandra in orbit represented twenty one percent of the population.

The Mordis chose to not take any prisoners and I could not blame them. What they saw and heard from the survivors insured that this would happen. With the aerial and space support, the majority of the Samutz were dead within six hours. A dusting in the upper atmosphere insured that any stragglers would suffer a similar fate. In less time the matter transmitter was cleared of enemy. A report came in about the amount of damage done and I knew that it would take at least two years to repair all the harm and recalibrate the device.

The two remaining battleships I soon found had little or no living Tandra aboard them. It appeared the Samutz had taken the loss of the fleet and the system a little hard. I readied the infantry that had seen little action and I went after the ships. This time I used a full fifty gravities to bring the ships back to the system and allowed the infantry to clean the paste from the walls.

I appointed an administrator and left the system for Earth. Mom had been getting the data in real time and had even made some suggestions that proved valuable. She had, in turn, sent the data to the entire system. My own family had seen the action and since I paid more attention to them I was able to use some of their ideas if they were not too bad. This way they would know that they had a hand in taking back Fenmar.

When I got back it looked like the entire moon base was in the bay to greet us. The ones that could not fit were sure to be watching the display. Dola and Kitten had given many of their own suggestions and those too were followed if they did not interfere with my plans.

I had to give a short speech then made sure that Kitten did one too. Dola was petrified that he might have to do one. I made his fears come true but subtly helped him through it. We had not slept in a while and I was sleepy already. The rest of the family left us alone as I made tender love to each of my wives then slept between them.

When I woke up a few hours later I saw the young squad laying on the floor and just looking at us. After I looked I saw that it was just a bit of hero worship. I kissed each of them till they wanted more. "I have to have something to eat and it is time to get Ingrid."

The children brightened, especially Jorge and Judith. I grabbed a bit to eat on the way then took the two blond haired children into Harriet and we flew to Earth.

Mom had worked hard to get Ingrid into proper shape to join the family. She now looked a bit younger. From her mons a large urethra could be seen. I knew from the data that she had her rectum strengthened and both lower orifices altered to resemble a Tandra. The linkage to her brain was much stronger and the internal structure altered to allow her to have an orgasm was repaired. Mom had made sure that she would orgasm as quickly as any Tandra because of the amount of stimulation she would get. Her thinking, though, had not been changed at my order. I did not want to compel her to do anything that she would not want to do. Her most noticeable feature was the six very small but bright lights that surrounded the top of her head.

The two children opened their mouths as they saw their very wet mother being pulled from the tank on invisible arms and deposited on a bed in front of us. They saw the six lights very quickly and I could see the reasoning going on to what had happened to their mother. The transmitters had been leaving her all the time since removal from the tank and in a few seconds the last left. Med units had come over and accelerated the healing process so all the small wounds would be gone. Mom had prepared a meal for us and I just waited with the woman's upper body in my arms.

I used my finger to remove some liquid from her eyes just before she opened them. When she did she immediately said, "Master what has happened? I feel... odd."

"I will tell you in a moment. You have some visitors." I tilted the women a bit and she could see her two children standing on the floor.

"Oh Judith, Jorge, have you been all right?"

I used the tractors and picked up both children and put them on the bed with us. The act of moving them was a little frightening but the result was not. They did not hug their mother right away and she wondered why. She saw the direction of their gaze and a thin white arm came up to feel if something odd was there. She found nothing but damp hair and was puzzled.

"Judith, you mother needs a hug and a kiss. She missed you badly." That was enough and the child disregarded the odd lights and kissed her mother. Before she could pull away Jorge got in and gave her his own kiss.

"Mommy, what are those lights?"

Again Ingrid's hands came up and found nothing but wet hair once again. She looked at me and I said, "In a moment. We are going for a shower." I picked the children up again and they immediately got out of their clothes. When Ingrid was stable enough I too removed my clothes. I swooped in, picked her up in my arms and then used the tractors to pick up the children. I walked to the shower. Ingrid's arm was around my neck and she was looking into my eyes as if seeing me for the first time.

I washed the woman very carefully and when I got to her breasts she stopped me because of the very strong sensations. Her old self would never have done that. I gave her a very passionate kiss instead and continued to clean her. When I got to her bare mons she jerked her hips a bit, gasped into my mouth, hugged me tight and collapsed. With her now unconscious I was able to continue the job. Using the tractors again I picked her up and worked on all the areas I had missed. Judith liked how I did her mother's long light coloured hair. With Ingrid bent over I was able to see her buttocks and anus. When she was turned over again her legs elevated and spread I could do the front better.

Jorge got very close this time and saw the large urethra again and asked, "Daddy what is that thing? I never saw it there before."