Chapter 36: A Meeting with a Brain

It seemed to take forever to make our way to the passage that used to separate our home from the maniacs who had been dropped on Ishtar with us. When we arrived, the informal guard kiosk stood empty in front of a closed pressure door.

We paused to wait for the doors to open when a young female cried out. "Wait!"

We turned to find Lily, the ten year old daughter of Linus, pushing a double stroller. I tried to figure out what the issue was as she came to a stop in front of us.

"Esther said you probably need to feed a baby," Lily said as she stepped around the stroller and started to push the cover back. James gave me a quick pat and then moved into the guard kiosk. He sank down onto a padded bench as Lily lifted Madoka from the stroller.

"We can take a moment," James said. "We'll just blame my injuries."

I nodded, but Lily coughed. "Um, I don't think Madoka can drink through your top."

I blushed, which caused James to laugh. Then I crossed my arms and grabbed the hem of my halter top. It came off quickly after that. James held out his hands to catch it, so I tossed it to him and then reached out for my daughter.

Lily handed my daughter to me. I held her up to my right breast and she quickly started to suckle. She was hungry, but did not seem too upset by the long wait. I was looking down at her when Lily lifted another baby to my left breast.

"What?" I asked as I looked down to see Astrid's tawny hair.

"Lupe is bringing Tolwin and Joy to Janice," Lily said. "Esther thought it would be the best way to get them fed considering that Tina and Bethany were hurt. They won't be too hungry though. We took care of them all day at school and made sure they were fine."

"That makes sense," I replied. "It's nice to know that we were able to handle everything." I reached around Astrid to give her body some support as both babies worked to drain my breasts.

"It's been hard," Lily said. "Too many mothers haven't seen their children all day. Esther said we should try to get to them. I'm surprised you haven't complained about your breasts feeling full."

"I noticed, but taking care of James and the others was a bit more important," I replied. "Thanks for helping."

Lily giggled. "Oh, you gave me a bunny, so I'm happy. Now if I can convince my father to allow me to learn an instrument. I want to join in when you are playing for shows."

"We could use more players," I admitted. "But don't be in too much of a hurry to join us. Being an adult on Ishtar isn't easy."

"I know," Lily replied as Astrid lifted her lips from my breast and turned to the side. Lily moved Astrid to her hip for a moment and then turned back to the stroller. She began to strap Astrid down as Madoka also stopped feeding.

I just held Madoka for a few moments, quietly humming a tuneless melody while I watched Lily securing Astrid into the stroller. When she finished, I knelt down to place Madoka next to Astrid.

"I can do that," Lily said quickly. "You need to get James to the command post and that governor guy."

Sighing, I stood up. "Go ahead," I said mournfully. "I'm just trying to delay the meeting now. From what I've seen I really don't want to meet the guy, or to bring James to him while James is still injured."

James stood up at that and threw my top at me. "We don't get to choose what we do," he reminded me. "Now get that top on. We need to get to this meeting and find out what the hell this jerk wants."

I slipped the top over my head. As I wrestled my arms through the fabric and got the straps to lay flat, Lily vanished down one of the tunnels, pushing the stroller. Finally, I had my breasts covered and turned to James. "Does my master want more?" I asked with a smirk.

"Always," James replied. "But for now we need to get going." He stepped over and put his right hand on my shoulder. "Door," he called out.

The large pressure doors opened slowly. James waited in silence until they finished opening and then stepped forward. His right hand pressed down on me for a moment as he balanced on one leg, but I was able to scramble forward when he began shifting his weight forward. He seemed a bit more sure of his step compared to the walk from the medical bay, but it still took us several minutes to walk the short distance to the second door.

The first door had slid closed behind us, long before we completed the short walk down the passage. James did call out for the door to open when we were several steps away, and we were able to continue on our way without pausing.

I looked around as we continued through the small chamber that separated the second and third doors. If I had to work at the teleporter for ships, I now walked through this area, but I was usually in a hurry. This was the first time I had time to really look around.

The chamber looked almost deliberately austere. The walls were not only unadorned, but seemed faded and dull compared to walls inside our enclave. The lighting here was dim and flickering. James chuckled as he noticed my attention on the walls.

"Yvette's idea. She thought that having this area look inviting might attract attention. So we are pretending to live a bit poorer than we really do," he said. "Door."

The final door began to open. "I understand," I whispered as I helped James continue towards the opening doorway. As the doors opened, they revealed two marines in battle armor standing on the other side. I stumbled slightly as they turned to look at us.

"James," one spoke. "Governor Johanes sent us to find out why you were taking so long."

"Sorry," James replied tiredly. "Right now I'm not walking far or with a steady step."

"I can see you have a pretty crutch," the same marine said again. "I was beginning to think there were no concubines on this rock."

The final sentence was full of lust. I stumbled a bit in shock hearing the man, but the other one put out a hand. "Belay that corporal. You know as well as I do that another citizen's concubines are off limits unless both parties agree and I haven't heard any agreement from Private Rabb."

"You won't, either," James whispered directly into my ear. I looked over at the second marine. It was the same bald man I had seen in the teleportal room back when I was watching from the briefing room. He had a hard look on his face and was deliberately gazing over my head to watch James.

I felt James nod. "All of our female concubines gave birth recently, and have been spending most of their time with their infants. They also remain within our home area unless they have duties which take them outside."

The bald marine nodded. "Understandable. However, we don't have time to sit and chat. Governor Johanes needs to know about the running of this planet. He knew nothing of the repair station and needs to be informed so he can properly distribute resources."

"Like they have duties," the first marine snarked. "They just didn't want to greet us properly."

James sighed. He seemed about to speak, but once again the second marine raised a hand. "Corporal, you need to pay a bit more attention. I waited back in the teleporter room while you went to what I hear is a rather comfortable bunk. The citizens who stayed behind met and treated nearly two dozen wounded personnel and concubines from Mongolia. The system they have set up to get people into medical pods quickly is clearly refined from numerous incidents, and considerable practice. It's not a glamourous job, but it's clear they take it seriously."

"But what about this story of firing lasers from the planet," the corporal whined. "I've never heard of that."

"It's discontinued technology," James said. "When we were travelling here, the transport had some extra pods. Somehow the AI decided that I would be allowed to plan uses for the pods and that they would be dropped on the colony. We knew the world would be within the Sa'arm sphere of influence. When I challenged the AI to find a weapon we could fire from the planet and which could affect ships in space, the laser was the only viable option due to our atmosphere. Any other energy particle would have been disrupted by the acid in the air, and the ballistics of a solid particle would be changed as it dissolved in the acid. The AI noted that a laser avoided both issues and that there were designs in its archives."

"You hinted that several marines have been injured using the lasers," the senior marine said.

"And concubines," I whispered.

"Explain that whisper!" the marine barked at me. He had lowered his gaze and was now staring at me. I tried to slide behind James as his piercing stare continued.

James gently patted me on the head. "I'll explain it as we walk," he said. "What Meiko is mentioning is that we had a couple concubines injured while trying to get Amanda out of the remnants of her armor. Amanda's armor had a seal failure had just performed an emergency amputation of her left leg. Meiko and some other concubines rushed into the laser chamber to help strip her armor off so we could get her to medical. The acid ended up burning through Meiko's hand."

"She has both hands now," the corporal hissed.

James sighed as the older marine turned to his companion. "Are you being deliberately stupid? Confed medical technology can regenerate lost limbs."

"But she's a concubine," the marine said with a gasp. "Why waste that kind of healing on her."

"Don't worry, I didn't think it was a waste," James whispered in my ear.

"The corporal isn't very compassionate," I whispered back.

The senior marine appeared to agree because we had reached an intersection and he quickly ordered the corporal to turn left and report to the company lieutenant. "Sorry about that," the man said. "I'm afraid Governor Johanes didn't select the marines of my company for their tact."

"It's not a problem," James replied. "I don't really expect everyone to like us."

The marine nodded. "On that note, I was listening in on the reports after the explosion in the laser room. It sounds like you have no defense now. Why do you only have the one room?"

"Time," James replied, "and the priorities of the colony. We had a lot of things we needed produced so we can complete our mission of repairing ships. That took up the majority of the available replicator time. The rest went to making things like the probes that returned the artifacts the scientist is so enthusiastic for."

"That makes sense," the marine replied.

"Also, we don't have many gunners. There are only twenty-two marines on the entire planet. Six have no combat aptitude, of those, four work in medical, one acts as the head of our nursery and one backs up the twins in the command center. We also have five more citizens who specialize in working in the command post, two who serve as the ground support for the lasers and one who just recently recovered from being captured by the renegades, she has battle armor, but we haven't had time to fully train her in the lasers."

"So you have eight marines who can run the lasers?" the marine asked as we approached the command post. "I'll want to talk to you about that after your meeting with the governor."

"Donna specifically said that James needed rest," I replied fiercely. "Can't it wait a day?"

The marine looked at me for a moment. His eyes were wide, but finally he shook his head. "Do you always have your concubines giving orders?" he asked.

James barked a laugh. "No, but in this case she's merely passing on the directive from the head of our medical department. I've learned to respect Donna's medical judgements. However, we'll have to discuss that later. We are at the command post."

"So we are," the marine said as he stepped through the doorway. As he passed through I could hear him bark. "Governor, I have Private Rabb here as you directed."

"It's about time, Major Bonham," the voice of the scientist returned. "I was wondering if I would have to court martial the private on my first day here."