Chapter 37: Friendly and Unfriendly Visitors

My master seemed exhausted as we left the command post and began to make our way through the passages. The halls were largely empty and I was going to ask why when the AI called out, "Devil hour has just begun."

"More than half a day spent dealing with this," James said quietly. "I shouldn't be too surprised."

"I just hope we can get some rest," I said. "That scientist seems..."

I paused, trying to think of a good adjective to describe the man we had watched walk out. James said nothing, but put his hand on my head. We continued on in silence until we reached the doors leading to our living areas.

During the walk through the doorways, I could feel James strength continue to leave him. We stepped through the third door and he sagged against me. I was losing the fight to keep him standing when someone ran up and lifted him from my shoulder.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"No problem," a feminine voice with a slight Hispanic accent said. I glanced up to see Marina holding James up.

"Marina?" I asked.

"Shawna is still helping in Medical Two," the woman said. "I couldn't allow my daughter to do all the work helping the citizens."

"I forget Lupe is your daughter," I replied tiredly.

"Why would you remember?" Marina responded. "I work mostly in the nursery watching over the children. Lupe helps there."

"I don't go there much," I admitted. "But why are you here?"

"Donna wants to check James before he gets some rest," the older lady said. "She sent me to let you know and I found him collapsing on top of you."

"Much as I'd like to deny needing help, I was struggling to keep him standing," I said.

Marina said nothing more as she slid to the other side of James and put his arm over her shoulder. James was now standing, but his eyes were half-closed as I tried to encourage him to walk the short distance to the medical bay.

The walk proved to be difficult. Marina knew which passages were clear, but James was completely dazed and unresponsive. We were practically dragging him though the passages when Rene approached us. She was pushing a gurney and offered a faint smile.

"Donna sent me," she said. "She was wondering what was taking so long."

I was about to say something, but Rene hit a switch on the gurney. It dropped to knee level. Then she reached out and grabbed James. She guided his body to the gurney and helped him lie down. Marina helped position him so he was lying comfortably and then raised the gurney back up to waist level.

Marina sighed as she joined Rene in pushing the gurney. I followed quietly. The stress of the day finally started to get to me, and I staggered forward. The walk took several minutes, but we finally found ourselves back at the medical bay. Donna was standing in the doorway waiting for us.

"I figured that he'd be wiped out," she said as she noticed that he was sleeping on the gurney. "He really needs several hours of rest. But let me check him out in a pod."

"How are Tina and Bethany?" I asked.

"Tina is still in a pod," Donna admitted. "We had to rotate everyone through the pods and she's been one of the last. Bethany went home an hour ago with all of the babies."

"How are Brittany and Kitty?" I asked.

"Kitty is awake, but tired," I heard from the doorway. Kitty stepped out from the doorway. "Donna told me Brittany needs a few hours in a pod."

I nodded. Donna looked at me and frowned. "Kitty, take Meiko home and get her to sleep. She's dead on her feet."

"So are you," I whispered as my sister concubine rushed over to grab my arm.

"Donna's been taking naps," Kitty whispered in my ear. "Lindsay and Tanya have made sure she gets some rest. Now let's get you home."

Kitty gently pushed me down the hallway. Behind us I could hear Donna instruct Marina and Rene on bringing James into the Medical Bay so they could get him into a pod. I wanted to go back, but Kitty was not going to allow me to change direction. We soon found ourselves standing in front of the door to our home.

To my surprise, Whitney was standing outside. "Oh good, you're home," she said. "Janice asked that I let you know that the bunnies have been fed and that all your babies are fed, changed and sleeping peacefully. You are supposed to go directly to bed."

"Is everyone going to give me orders now?" I whimpered.

"Only because we love you and you are almost asleep," Kitty whispered. "Also, you are the best of us at keeping James from losing it with that maniac. He's going to have to keep his temper in check and the best way will be to have you around him."

"But he loves all of us," I replied as we entered our home. "Any of us can be with him and keep him calm."

"You'll be the best at it," Kitty said quietly. "Now stop protesting and let's get some sleep."

I fought her gentle efforts to guide me to the bedroom. "I have to check on Madoka."

Bethany appeared by sitting up on one of the couches we kept in our living room. "She's fine, and I'm on baby watch tonight," she said. "Stop fighting and get some sleep."

I froze for a moment. Kitty kept pushing me towards the bedroom. Part of me wanted to fight, but the look in Bethany's face made it clear that the decision was not going to be changed tonight. I scowled at her one last time before I allowed Kitty to push me into the bedroom.

Once there, I found the bed to be far more inviting than I expected. I didn't even attempt to remove my clothing before I sprawled out on the mattress. Then, I barely had time to close my eyes before I was asleep.

I woke up some time later to find that Brittany, Tina and James had joined me on the bed. Tina had me wrapped up in a close embrace. My back was against James and when I sat up I found Brittany clinging to him in her sleep. It was such a peaceful moment that I took a few extra moments getting out of bed as I tried to avoid disturbing everyone. I tiptoed to the doorway and slipped through without waking anyone.

In the main room I was greeted by Janice, who was sitting at a table eating some cereal. Bethany was sitting up on the couch with a couple of babies in her arms.

"Meiko, you're awake!" Janice called out. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," I said. "Last night it seemed like everyone was pushing for me to be a constant companion to James while the scientist is here."

Bethany smiled and shook her head. "Well, we'll probably have Brittany and Kitty around him almost as much. The key is to have him feel a little extra protective of someone so that he doesn't get into his head to confront our new Dear Leader. I've already heard enough about the man to worry."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I think he's hoping to goad James into doing something he can charge him with. I don't know military law at all, but I'm sure that our new governor will happily charge James with a crime if he ever openly refuses an order, and will try to charge him if he feels he can prove that James isn't supporting him 'properly'".

"But James has done everything he's been ordered to," I replied. "And I've yet to hear him say anything that could be construed as trying to avoid obeying."

Bethany nodded. "True, but the twins listened to him when he was in the command post. Governor Johanes has very clear ideas about how he will rule over the colony, and a huge part of that requires that he break us. He wants the citizens to all but worship him."

"Why?" I asked.

"Who knows," Janice replied. "I don't think James and Yvette ever found out much about the man."

"Nothing," Bethany said. "At least nothing spoken about in front of a concubine. Esther and Marilyn have been trying to get Yvette and the twins to reveal anything, but so far they've had no luck."

"Can they get General Montgomery or Admiral Himmel involved?" I asked.

"I don't know," Bethany replied. "There is some evidence that officially all the citizens on Ishtar are under General Montgomery's command, which makes any command given by Governor Johanes illegal."

"I don't believe he's going to care about that," Janice said. "We need to find out what his plan is."

Bethany smiled. "And that is why you need to stay near James. He'll protect you and hopefully, you'll hear something."

"How about Kitty and Brittany? They should spend some time with James, and he'll protect them as well," I replied. "It also might hide what we are trying to do? And who will keep Yvette calm."

"Esther has a plan for how to keep Yvette out of trouble," Bethany said. "So are you willing to help?"

I nodded. "I'll do it." I sat down at the table. Janice offered me a brief hug before he got up and went over to the cribs. She picked up Joy and gave her daughter a hug.

Bethany giggled and brought Madoka over to me. My daughter was obviously a little bit upset, but once I had her in my arms she calmed quickly. I put her to my right breast and held her as she started to feed.

Bethany watched me for a minute and then walked over to the replicators. "I'm guessing you are starving. I'll get you a big breakfast and then we can start planning."

"I can go along with that," I said. "How much longer will James sleep?"

"The medical pod set things up so that James would sleep for eight hours once he returned to bed after leaving the medical bay, ' the AI intoned. "He should wake in about two more hours."

"I like how the AI will answer just often enough to confuse us," Janice said as she bounced her daughter on her knee.

I giggled as I switched Madoka from my right to my left breast. My daughter continued to suckle. As she did, Bethany brought over two trays. She placed one in front of me and I found that it contained a large omelet.

Shifting Madoka slightly to my left, I used my right hand to pick up a fork. It was a bit awkward to eat while feeding Madoka, but I was able to fill my empty belly before Madoka hiccupped and pulled away from my breast.

Bethany heard the sound and quickly reached out to take Madoka from my arms. She proceeded to pat Madoka on the back a few times before walking back over to the cribs to lay my daughter down.

She was standing back up when the AI intoned, "Governor Johanes is requesting to speak with James."

Bethany sighed. "I guess you need to put him through."

A moment later we could hear the man's rough voice. "I need to talk to Private Rabb."

"He is still sleeping, ' Bethany replied. "The AI just informed us that the medical pod induced an eight hour sleep for him and he won't wake for about two more hours."

"Who is this?" the scientist growled. "Identify yourself."

"I am Bethany. James is my sponsor," Bethany replied.

"You're a concubine?" the scientist growled again.

I could see Bethany glare at the ceiling. "Governor, most of the adults on Ishtar are concubines. And if you try to call a sponsor when he's asleep, the AI can only connect you to the concubines who belong to them. Now, I repeat, the AI has informed us that James will sleep for about two more hours. Do you have a message you wish me to pass to him?"

"He's supposed to be providing assistants to me," the scientist growled. "I need people to help in the laboratory here."

I waved Bethany over. She looked surprised, but came over to me and bent down so I could whisper in her ear. "James was going to have Terrence and Louis help. You should see if they can go."

Bethany nodded to me. "Obviously, I don't give orders, but I'll pass your needs on to the citizens. Someone should be at the lab shortly."

"I demand that you come here now!" Governor Johanes screamed.

I gasped as Bethany stiffened for a moment. "First," she growled. "You don't own me and cannot order me to do something. Second, even if James had passed on instructions that I was to obey you, and he hasn't, I can't get to the lab. The lab is housed in an area of the colony that is off-limits to unescorted concubines. There are doors in the colony that won't open to a concubine, and I'm on the wrong side of them to come to the lab."

"That will change," the scientist growled.

There was silence after that. I sat with my jaw open as Bethany glared at the ceiling. We were all waiting for the man to say more when the AI interrupted. "He has ended the call. Terrence has been made aware of the need to send someone to the lab. He will report there in a few minutes."

Janice let out a long, slow breath. "I can't believe it. He actually tried to issue orders to you, Bethany? I thought he couldn't do that."

Bethany shrugged. "Officially he can't, but it's clear he was hoping I would be submissive enough to just follow his command rather than question him. It does fit with the other things we have heard about him."

I nodded. "He just keeps testing our resolve. Eventually he's going to find a way to cause a real problem."

"He already is," Bethany said. "And for now, it's our job to make sure that none of the citizens of Ishtar does anything that he can formally recognize as a violation. I expect the consequences won't be pretty."

I nodded. Just then, the AI spoke. "I have a request from Captain Werfel."

Bethany had a puzzled expression on her face. We all stood silently for several moments and then the door to the bedroom opened. "What kind of request?" Tina asked sleepily from the now open door.

"She was wondering if it would be possible to breed the rabbit she was given after her last visit here," the AI said.

"Wait, I though Mongolia had never visited Ishtar before," I cried. "How did the commander of the ship get a rabbit?"