Chapter 20: Opening Night Jitters

Nightmares caused Janice to toss and turn most of the night. I held her close and tried to kiss the dreams away, but her mumbled words made it clear she was worried about the musical. During the first part of the night she woke me four times, before finally settling down sometime during Devil hour.

After the dreams faded she was sleeping so peacefully that when Joy woke up hungry early in the morning I fed her myself rather than wake my friend. I ended up having to go downstairs to wake Bethany when Tolwin and Astrid also woke. We had brought all four babies downstairs and were just finishing changing them when Janice appeared in the grav elevator.

She was rubbing her eyes and stumbled to the replicator. I could not hear her mumbled order, but a moment later she was sitting on the couch sipping a fruit drink and watching Bethany tease Astrid.

"Thanks," Janice whispered.

"Worried about tonight?" Bethany asked.

"Definitely," Janice said. "But our little one here kept the demons at bay. Now though, we have a few hours of cleaning and room preparation before the show."

"We can do it," Bethany said. "Bren and Rene were going to convince Reggie to allow the older children to join in. That will give you eight extra workers for today. And I understand you only have two more barracks to set up."

"What about me?" I asked in a whisper.

Janice giggled. "Simple, watch over our man and make sure he doesn't burn himself out in those silly meetings. We all know he cares and wants to protect us, but he can't protect us if he worries himself sick."

"I'm sure the AI and the medical pods could prevent me from being truly laid up," James said from behind me. I whirled around to see him in the entry from the bedroom. He was leaning against the doorjamb.

I jumped up and ran over to my master. Up close I could see that the long meetings had definitely left their mark. His normally shining eyes were dull and his forehead was crossed by several lines. It was a surprise to see him looking aged. Confederacy medical technology seemed perfect for keeping a person young, but fatigue and stress were aging my master. I put my arms against his chest and pushed him back into the bedroom.

"You are going to rest more," I growled. "You aren't fit for duty today."

"But," James said while trying to stay in the doorway. For a moment I struggled to push him, but then a pair of hands appeared over my shoulders and added their force to mine.

"No," I heard Bethany say. "Meiko is right. One day won't hurt and you need to rest."

"What about my meeting?" James said as he gave ground. Behind him there was a giggle and then Kitty and Brittany put their arms around James and started pulling him towards the bed.

"Tina can let them know you need a break," Bethany said. "We have weeks more before anyone arrives, and there are only two more barracks to prepare. I'll get with Craig and make sure we complete it by lunchtime. Now you, and really all of the citizens, need to relax until tonight. I assume you are going to show up on time."

"I will, but are you sure we can relax? We need to be prepared," James said.

"AI?" Bethany called out. "Would you allow me to make a general announcement?"

There was silence as we finished pushing James back to the bed. Kitty and Brittany quickly wrapped him in hugs and pulled him down to lie flat. Kitty immediately began massaging James' chest while Brittany attacked his feet. He struggled for a moment, but then looked directly at Bethany.

"AI, allow it this once," he said. "I want to hear what announcement Bethany is going to make."

A moment later a loud ping sounded throughout the colony. Tiffany and Tamara had suggested that the AI signal when announcements were being made and that was the agreed signal. Bethany just smiled at James.

"This is Bethany. I know that concubines aren't supposed to be in charge, but today we're going to have to stage a small mutiny. Concubines, make sure your citizens stay home and rest for the morning. I don't know how yours is, but James needs and deserves a break. Let's give them a day of rest so they will be relaxed tonight," Bethany called out.

James stared at Bethany. "You can't expect that to work," he growled.

Just then the speakers cracked. "James," Yvette called out. "Are you going to go along with this?"

"He'd better," Kitty hissed as James tried to sit up. She put all her weight on his shoulders, but he kept fighting. Brittany grabbed his hands and rolled so she was holding them over his head. My master kicked a couple times, but then turned his head to glare at Bethany.

"I'm not being given much choice," he admitted. "Not unless I want to hurt my ladies."

Yvette laughed. "I've pretty much been given the same option. Do you think we've been driving ourselves too hard?"

"Our concubines definitely feel that way," James admitted. "And Bethany is right, there isn't much more we can do at the moment."

James struggled for a moment. "Tam? Tif? What about you?"

There was a giggle in response. "Sorry boss," I heard one of them say. "I'm afraid Marilyn and Craig have us a bit tied up at the moment. Nothing we can do."

James looked over at Bethany. "Did you plan this?"

"When?" Janice asked. "We had an all-concubine meeting last night, and there was no discussion of this. The only thing we discussed was making sure all the citizens are at the multi-use room tonight at eight, and who needed to arrive early."

"Ah, the mysterious event you all have planned," James said.

Brittany and Kitty both released James and moved to hide behind Bethany. James shook his head and lay back. "Oh, don't panic. I still don't know what the plan is. And unless the others are lying, none of the citizens do. We are looking forward to the surprise. Although I'm guessing that Tina's tapestry should be complete."

I struggled to stay calm and keep from revealing anything. James looked past me and at the others. Finally he looked down with a sigh. "Fine, I'll rest in the pod until it's time to go. It will give me some time to spend with my children. I don't get enough time with them."

"We'll get them!" Kitty and Brittany cried in unison. They dashed out of the room as James looked at Bethany. He has a look that combined love with respect and my sister concubine glowed.

"It's what you wanted isn't it?" James asked.

Bethany giggled girlishly. "I expected you to put up far more of a fight. I'm sure all the concubines expected more of a fight."

"We don't talk about it, but I think we all know we've been driving a bit hard since that call from the bloody scientist," James snapped. "I'm sure there are things we are forgetting, but we are trying to make sure that he and his are kept far away from our homes."

"He can't be as bad as the others were," Tina said as she walked in accompanying Kitty and Brittany. "Those apes were rejected. This scientist and his friends will be accepted citizens. Why would they be problems?"

James sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "Politics. This colony wasn't established through the normal procedures. I'm not a formally appointed governor. Heck, Admiral Himmel didn't even know we were here until the Nassau arrived. He's supposed to be in charge of the whole district, but we were placed here without his knowledge. Central Command knows this, and from the attitude of that scientist, there's a good chance they will try to enforce their own authority over us."

"So how do we stop it?" I asked quietly.

James shrugged. "First, we are not allowing the scientist or any of his people into this side of the colony. They can stay over there and not disturb the systems we have in place. Then, we've tried to put in place some procedures that will put everyone on duty in the command post on a near daily basis. But while he's here the concubines won't work in there. Hopefully he'll leave us alone and concentrate on his research."

"I thought that all you had were plates and such," Brittany said.

James frowned. "And that is what has everyone so worried. Admittedly, the AI has done all the cataloging of what we have found, but nothing we have has been identified as having military value. An archeologist would probably go crazy to look at what we have, but a weapon's scientist will find little of value. The question is: how will this Chief Scientist react when his big push to come out here and see our artifacts comes up with nothing?"

We all were silent after hearing this. I gave James a hug, but then Madoka started to fuss so I moved to check on our daughter. She needed to be changed so I took her out of the room, leaving my sisters to comfort James.

After two months, I had little trouble removing the old diaper from Madoka and cleaning her. She smiled at me as I secured the clean one on her, but continued to fuss, so I found a chair and sat down to feed her. I was holding her and stroking her head when Tina came out carrying Tolwin.

"The young ones are teasing James right now. I think they've offered to trade massages as long as he rests all morning," she said. "Tolwin was getting a bit fussy, so I figured I'd bring him out here and feed him."

She found a chair and offered a nipple to her son, who quickly latched on. A dreamy look came over her and I giggled.

"What?" she asked looking up at me.

"I'm just surprised James allowed you to leave the room," I said.

Tina giggled. "He does like to watch at times. But right now the cuddle kittens have him half asleep on the bed. I doubt he's sure who is in the room."

There was a momentary flicker of uncertainty on Tina's face, but it passed as quickly as it appeared. The dreamy look returned and she stroked her son's head until he was full. Once he finished she laid him in a crib.

"I'm going to head out and start helping the others with the rooms. The sooner we finish, the earlier everyone can get to the theater," she said.

"I'll make sure Tolwin is in the backstage area," I said. "I heard that Ktty and Brittany were going to watch all the babies while people were on stage."

"And they are hating that," Tina said with a sigh. "We never realized just how pregnant they'd be when we were ready to perform. They can't really dance at the moment, so we only have them in a couple scenes were they can sit in chairs and join the chorus."

"Next time, they can do more," I said. "I'm hoping I'll have more time to learn flute. Right now most of what I do is little trills to match movement on the stage."

Tina nodded. "Well, I'm only in one scene. I was too busy with the tapestry."

She got up and headed out. Madoka was done with her breakfast, but I held her too my chest and sang softly to her as she fell asleep. Once she was asleep, I lay her down in a crib and began straightening the pod.

Confederacy technology kept the pod clean, but I found little things I could do while James rested. Kitty and Brittany emerged around mid-morning, smiling yet somber. They told me that after a long massage James had gone back to sleep and was now sleeping peacefully. They suggested that we play some games to pass the time, and after a bit of discussion we found some cards and played cribbage.

We had played for some time when James finally stumbled from the bedroom. I dashed over to embrace him. He patted me on the head and looked around.

"How is the work going?" he asked.

"We haven't heard of any problems," I told him. He looked down at me and I got a clear look at his face. The worry lines on his forehead had faded and the shine was back in his eyes. It was not as bright as it could be, but he appeared far more refreshed than he had in the morning.