Chapter 2

Despite the late hours, I woke early the next morning, well before my normal time. I considered waking Priya for a little marital playtime, but rejected the idea. She was still running a bit behind on sleep, even with Jessica and Nadiya and the rest of the staff to help keep track of the babies, and she needed her rest.

Besides, I'd just remembered that I needed to read the notes that Ambassador Monrill had given me.

I got up and went downstairs to my office, where I retrieved my datapouch from the safe, and extracted the data chip the Ambassador had given me. I placed it in my desk, and did a standard security scan. No viruses or worms, as expected. I decrypted the external data using my mother's maiden name (Constance Marie Rogers) as instructed, revealing the inner encryption. My personal private key unlocked that, and I opened the resulting file.

What I read there frankly shocked me. Not for itself, though the implications of what I read were astonishing, but because of what it said about my stature with the Craxill. I was stunned that they'd trust me with this.

It wasn't that I could gain anything by threatening to expose it, since they could always deny it, and there was no way I'd be allowed to demonstrate the truth of what I'd just read. Rather, it was the potential for abuse; I could do a lot of harm to a lot of people using this information.

I re-read the file twice, making sure I hadn't missed anything, or misunderstood any of the details, then initiated a full security erase of both the data chip, and the security sandbox I'd done the decrypt in. I placed the erased chip in the 'burn bag' compartment in my datapouch. When I got to the office, I'd place the chip in the 'security destruct' bag to be turned into finely ground dust, beyond any hope of reconstruction.

Then, I put everything I'd just read in the little corner of my brain where I hid anything that might upset my family, put on my best happy face, and went to join my family for breakfast. I really needed to talk to John and Rillnam now.

Breakfast passed without anyone commenting on any difference in my behavior. I had a much less hectic day planned for today, so I was able to eat with Priya and the children, rather than rushing through the morning. I issued the standard set of kisses, noticing an unusual blush from Jessica, and left for the office.

The office was quiet, as we'd recovered from the crush of getting the Embassy up and running, and had not yet heard of any issues with its operation requiring our attention. I did make a brief visit to the Embassy, and even spoke to the Ambassador for a few moments.

While the other attendees of the meeting were distracted I said to him in a low voice, "I see I am in greater favor in some circles than I could have imagined."

The Ambassador smiled briefly, and said, "In other circumstances, we might have requested you be appointed as the Ambassador from Earth to Centaurus System."

I shook my head infinitesimally, and said, "Under other circumstances, you would never have heard of me."

Again a brief smile, but the opportunity passed before we could continue. No matter, message sent and acknowledged. Next stop, my soul-brother and our shared Craxill mate.

When I went home that night, I had another perfectly normal family night, with an evening meal, and plenty of playtime with the babies. Nadiya cuddled with Jessica while Priya and I played with the babies. Nadiya stroked her bulging belly, wistful with anticipation of the day she'd be doing the same thing with her and Jessie's daughter.

Modern medical technology had finally resolved the age-old problem of lesbian couples. How could the make a baby without involving a male? It still wasn't quite possible, but it was very, very close.

With Priya's approval, I'd donated some skin cells to the clinic. They'd extracted the 'Y' chromosome, then taken a similar sample from Jessica, and replaced one of her 'X' chromosomes with my "Y". Then, they'd cycled the cells to the stem-cell stage, and back, dosing the cells with the necessary signals to produce testicular tissues. In a word, they'd grown Jessica a set of balls. Test-tube balls, but balls none the less.

They'd stimulated the tissue to start producing sperm, then filtered out the 'Y'-bearing cells, leaving only 'X' bearing sperm, with nothing but Jessica's genetic code. After that, it was a simple in-vitro fertilization process, using one of Nadiya's eggs.

My involvement had been both critical, and unimportant. The as-yet-unborn Lisa had no genetic bond to me at all, but I had had a vital role in her creation. I didn't expect to have any involvement in her life, except as an honorary uncle who spoiled her extensively, but I was glad I'd be able to watch her grow up.

Once the children were nicely tired out, we fed them, and put them down to sleep, before doing the same thing ourselves.

The next day was the start of the weekend, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't have to even consider going to the office. It was the perfect day for John and Rillnam to come to visit.

I introduced them to the babies, who'd had enough exposure to Craxill faces that they laughed and giggled instead of crying out in fear, and introduced them to Jessica and Nadiya, and generally showed them around the house and estate.

Once the babies had been fed and put down for a nap, I gently sent Nadia and Jessica off for some private time of their own, then casually offered to show John and Rillnam my office. They admitted to curiosity, and so the four of us went downstairs, and walked in.

I set them down on a couch to one side of the room, then wandered over to the desk and set the security system to maximum privacy.

In tones deliberately pitched to reassure, I said, "I don't bring things home from the office, and I've never told Priya anything that she's not allowed to mention outside the house. It's not that I don't trust her, but that I don't share other people's secrets."

I now had three pairs of eyes locked onto me like targeting lasers.

"Until now," said my very beautiful and very very perceptive wife.

"Until now," I agreed.

Turning to Rillnam, I asked, "Did you notice anything different about your mating with John, compared to what you'd been taught to expect?"

Rillnam blushed, and said, "It was so much more intense than I'd been told. And, when it was time for him to take me at last, somehow, we couldn't, until you told him to go ahead. And then he did, and it was glorious."

I nodded, and turned to John, and asked, "And how about you, did you notice any differences?"

John nodded and said, "I felt the same as Rillnam, about the intensity. And I noticed a change in how I felt about you. At first, when you were helping us decide what to do, I felt relieved that someone else was taking charge, but I still felt independent. Then, after I mated with Rillnam, I felt differently. I felt that I was no longer 'in charge' but merely performing a duty that someone else had assigned; that you had assigned."

"And that explains why you started saying 'My Lord' all the time," I said. "I had somehow gone from a fellow youth, struggling to meet a parent's expectations, to some kind of Elder, to be revered and followed."

Craxill didn't pale under emotional stress; something in their physiology brought on a different response. I'd learned enough about those responses to be able to tell that I had two very nervous Craxill on my hands.

Priya wasn't nervous, but she was following the proceedings very closely. I wondered if she'd make the jump before John and Rillnam did.

Shifting topics for a moment, I said, "I got a very interesting package the other day, from a highly placed source, that told me some interesting history about the Craxill, history that is not often shared.

"It seems that back in the home system, the social structure was a bit different. There was less reliance on ritual, and more on strong leadership. Leadership that commanded instinctive respect from the masses, respect like that of the drones for the normal citizens of the Centaurus System."

At the mention of 'drones' everyone in the room twitched. Priya looked like she was about to be offended by the use of the word, which was moderately offensive in modern Indian culture. The Craxill looked like someone had mentioned the family's dirty laundry.

Addressing Priya, I said, "Unlike the Space Service girl who brought me that ice water on the way to the place of bonding, the guards are genetically imprinted with a pattern of subservience and obedience. They can not set strategy, nor take a great deal of initiative, but they do very well at finding creative solutions to the goals they are given.

"Back in the home system, there were Alphas who led, Betas who managed, and drones, who served."

The Craxill were shuddering again, so I continued, hoping to calm their fears.

"The roles were both genetically controlled, and somewhat situational. A drone was a drone and nearly always begat drones, but a non-drone could be an Alpha, if allowed to mature without intervention, or a Beta, if dominated by an Alpha during the initial mating. Alphas and Betas almost never produced drone offspring, though it did happen.

"Those who led the colonization of Centaurus System had a different view; they tried to eliminate the Alphas, and come up with a new, more flexible Beta, with the initiative of an Alpha, but without the dominant tendencies, and especially without the competitive nature that was threatening to tear the home system apart."

Priya swallowed, and said, "Then the home system didn't suffer from a stellar instability. They destroyed themselves."

I nodded sadly, and said, "According to what I was told, yes."

Looking at the now-stunned Craxill, I said, "The leaders of the Centaurus branch used a combination of rituals and conditioning to induce the modified Beta state in the youngsters among them. Those youngsters began to breed, and knowing no better, taught and conditioned the next generation to do likewise.

"The existing drone lines were allowed to die out, and when the old Alphas died, the last link to the old ways was gone. The newly flexible Betas did almost all of the work, and the occasional throw-back drone did the menial tasks that couldn't be automated, or shouldn't be, like the guards at our ritual."

I moved between my Craxill friends and pulled them into a hug, to provide for emotional support for the next bit, the penultimate shock.

"The bonding ritual is intended to simulate the domination a Beta would feel in the presence of their Alpha, who would manipulate their emotional state, without actually attempting to bond with them. The original ritual called for a slow, tension-building preparation, with a carefully timed 'pause' at the end, before the act is consummated at the bidding of the Alpha, and the couple bonds to each other, and to their Alpha.

"In the modern practice, the role of the Alpha is replaced by the rituals, and so society holds together, without the walking egos that fought and destroyed your home system."

John was in shock, but Rillnam rallied, and said, "So when John and I mated, we were already focusing on you as an Alpha, as the focus of our existence. What I thought was gratitude for your help was really instinct, driving me to serve you."

I nodded, and said, "There may have been real gratitude as well, but much of the deference you showed was driven by your instincts.

"Until a few days ago, I knew nothing of this, but the material I received explained it all. It also told me of how troubled you've been since you left me, and advised that the best thing to do would be to reenact the bonding ceremony, and to renew the bond between you two and I, your Alpha."