Chapter 21

As Alpha1 carried Sarah’s Clan back to the island, they reviewed the time spent on the ship. Over the last several weeks, they had returned to the ship many times. Each trip was a little different but their first stops were always to see how Amy’s Clan was progressing and then to see how the crew was doing with maintenance. Also, on each trip they usually managed to spend some time on the bridge. Normally this was to review the documentation for their area of responsibility. Their inward thoughts were interrupted by sounds from Laura and Jennifer. This was their first time seeing Earth from space.

When they were near the island, Laura and Jennifer looked out the windows to watch the approach. It had been some five weeks since Jennifer had exposed Amy’s Clan to the virus. Even though they had exchanged emails with their friends, they were apprehensive about the reception they would receive.

Sensing their anxiety Joyce and Jill said, “Relax. They understand.”

“I hope so,” said Laura with barely a smile. “It looks like a very nice location.”

“We like it.”

When the shuttle door opened, Jennifer and Laura were surprised to see Jean’s group at the front of the waiting crowd. They were all smiling and cheered when Jennifer stepped out. Her second step was difficult as her vision was clouded by tears. Seeing this both Jean and Patricia went to help her and then drew her into a hug. Laura followed Jennifer out and was nearly as apprehensive but her expression changed when Sophia and Andy drew her into a hug.

Sarah’s Clan came out of the shuttle after them and was greeted by Tara and Erin along with several nannies and the babies. After kissing the babies, they greeted their spouses.

“Well Tara,” said Erin, “I guess we know where we stand now.”

“It took you this long to figure it out,” responded Janet.

Tara then stuck her tongue out before adding, “Just wait, your turn will come soon enough.” Everyone laughed.

“Oh they are so cute,” said Laura as she reached to touch one, she then hesitated.

“Go ahead,” said Tara seeing her hesitation.

“Jean, Andy, Patricia, and Sophia,” said Jennifer, “we talked about what I did in emails, but I still don’t feel I deserve forgiveness. Fortunately, the Gods and Goddesses blessed us by guiding Sarah’s Clan to extract us from that nightmare. I can assure you that I did not know I was doing all those things.”

“Yes,” said Jean, “we have been blessed. The area you were using before is waiting for you. However, we have moved to the main building and there is room for both of you there.”

“Thank you,” they both replied.

“As to the other, it is behind us so let’s leave it there.”

“Thank you,” replied both with a smile.

“We’ll see you all at dinner,” said Sarah’s Clan. “Jean, Laura needs to be acquainted with her surroundings. Will you see to it?”

“Certainly.”

After dinner Judy stood and said, “Before we begin our evening discussion, I would like to introduce Laura to all of you. She is Jennifer’s twin sister. Would you two, stand, please? They returned with us this afternoon. Jennifer.”

“Thank you. Both Laura and I are fortunate to be alive, as are others in Jean’s group. It is largely due to the actions by Amy’s and Sarah’s Clans that we are here, alive and well. For that we will be forever grateful. This is Laura’s first time here. As for me, I hope that each of you can forgive me for what I did. The only excuse I can offer is that I did not know what I was doing. Unfortunately it put all of you at risk. I know it is a lot to ask, but I hope that you will accept me into this group as I feel I am very fortunate to still be here alive, and well. If not, I guess I will need to find somewhere else to live.”

It was very quiet for several minutes then Ann stood and said, “Jennifer, we don’t feel there is anything to forgive.” Jennifer turned pale and Ann quickly added, “Hear me out. It may have been your body that placed the virus so that Amy’s Clan would consume it, but it wasn’t YOU. So on behalf of my spouses, we welcome you and your sister.”

“We agree,” said Nancy.

“As we’ve expressed before, we also agree,” said Jean.

“Although we haven’t specifically said it,” added Sophia, “we consider you to be a part of our group, if you want to be.”

“Thank you,” said both Jennifer and Laura.

“Welcome into the fold,” said Judy as she stood back up. “I have a couple of items before we open up tonight’s meeting. Amy’s Clan’s recovery is coming along just fine. It will be at least ten more weeks before we see them back down here. Nannies, if you have questions regarding the background regarding Jennifer’s comments ask Donna or check the library. Gail’s recovery is at about the same stage as Amy’s Clan.

“Now a question for everyone to think about. We have a different family structure than is common in Earth cultures. So the question is: How do we refer to a family group? We’ve used the terms Clan, group and friends. In looking at the society Amy’s Clan represents, ‘Clan’ would be the first choice. This would also fit with some views of the Celtic social structure. Questions? Comments?”

“So for the group you are in, it would be referred to as ‘Sarah’s Clan’,” said Ann.

“For us, yes that is what we have shifted toward doing. From our perspective, it should be a name the group chooses and it doesn’t need to be a feminine or masculine name.”

“Well I think referring to the family groups as Clans, makes a lot of sense,” said Karen. “If it’s OK for me to make a comment.”

“Certainly,” asked Jessica.

“We definitely see Sarah’s, Nancy’s, and Ann’s Clans as family groups. I am not sure Jean’s group is a clan but that is the way we refer to them when we refer to them. However, we sense that Zoe’s group is sort of a clan.”

“Why is that?”

Karen looked at the rest of the nannies then shrugged her shoulders then added, “We aren’t sure.”

Kennocha said, “Perhaps this will help. It is natural for us to tag a group with a name, usually it is the name of one person in the group who appears to be a key element of that group. We haven’t been here very long, but when we think of a group it is in terms of one person’s name. The person associated is not necessarily the dominant person. In fact now that I am vocalizing this, it doesn’t seem like there is a single dominant in any of the family groups we’ve met.”

“We’ve had a poly arrangement for some time,” said Ann. “We think telepathy assisted us in developing and maintaining our relationship. We have had rough spots. Initially we didn’t recognize our telepathy, we just thought of it as us being intuitive. Either way, we sensed our spouses’ feelings and intent, which probably helped us through those spots. Now we now realize our intuition was the beginnings of our telepathic links.” Several of her spouses nodded in agreement.

“Let’s try using Clan to indicate a family group,” said Nancy. “I am not sure I am comfortable with Nancy preceding Clan but it does indicate our association better than anything else I know.

“So Clan it is.”

Bob then gave a brief overview of their progress on improving security. Nancy and Julia followed this with the progress in finding potential candidates to assist with repairing the ship. Sam told them the farming activity was proceeding as expected. He noted that the animals were doing well as was the garden.

It was several days later when Jennifer and Laura went to see Judy in the clinic. When Judy saw them come in she said, “How are you doing?”

“Very well. This is a very beautiful location,” replied Laura. “I thought Jennifer was overstating how nice it is. It is clear to me now that she was understating it. The location is fantastic, but it is the people that really make it a dream to be here.”

“What can I do for you today? As I suspect I am being setup.”

“Not really. We’ve been talking and decided to ask for the genetic treatments that your Clan received,” replied Jennifer with a worried expression.

“You agree,” said Judy looking at Laura.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“As a part of the screening, I have some questions to ask. It is not reversible. We don’t know for certain all of its ramifications but potentially there is a significant long term risk. So we need to be sure you aren’t fooling yourselves, or have talked each other into it. Why do you want to do this?”

“Well there are numerous reasons,” replied Jennifer. “In a way, I see it as being able to start a new life, even though all my memories are still there. I think the change will enable me to contribute more effectively as a member of this new breed. That is both physically and mentally. The others in our group are also considering this.”

“Jean’s Clan?”

“Well perhaps, we aren’t quite there yet. We feel like that is the direction we are going.”

Laura added, “My reasoning is pretty much the same as Jennifer’s. I could put it in different words, but regardless it just feels like the right thing to do. You can look directly at my thoughts and memories if you want to. Although some of them are pretty ugly. Unfortunately, we now remember the stuff that was blocked. Even though I know the memories are real, it is still hard to believe I did those things.”

“Letting us look at your memories would avoid having to answer more questions,” replied Judy. “To do this though, I would need assistance, which would likely be Sarah.”

“That’s fine,” replied Jennifer with Laura nodding.

“Sarah,” said Judy, “could you come to the clinic? I need assistance with a memory review.”

“Sure.” While waiting for Sarah, Judy shared the reason for the request.

Sarah said, “Hi, Jennifer. Hi, Laura,” then turned to Judy and gave her a kiss and a hug.

“I understand you want Judy and I to check you out as you want to receive the genetic treatments.”

“Yes. Judy wants to be sure we aren’t deluding ourselves.”

“Now that is not quite what I said.”

“I know, but it is my interpretation. Besides, we don’t think you will let us.”

“Why do you think that? And why do you feel you must have the treatments? Judy was just responding to Laura’s offer which would let us evaluate your reasoning. Perhaps it would be better if you expressed your reasons verbally while we monitor your thoughts. Actually, that may be easier.”

“Okay,” said Jennifer. “First we are not sure of our future. We want to stay, but in spite of what was said at dinner, we are not sure anyone really wants us to. Initially Betsy did the health scan on me, but as far as we know Laura hasn’t been given one. If we leave here looking as we do today, we will most certainly die. If those behind the raiders found us, we would be lucky if they quickly turned us into fresh meat. Any other scenario would most likely result in us being a sex or pain toy, likely the latter.”

“By changing our appearance,” said Laura, “we would greatly increase our odds of survival as those who sent us to Sylvia’s as they wouldn’t know what we looked like. Maybe mistakenly, we feel somewhat left out but we’ve attributed that to us being gone while the rest of you grew to know one another. Another part, and perhaps the biggest, is our feeling of guilt about what happened at each place. I am surprised we have not been harassed, after all everyone knows it was us that led the raiders to Sylvia’s. We carried the virus here and then arranged for Amy’s Clan to be infected.”

During their comments Sarah and Judy listened to their thoughts leading up to them expressing themselves.

“When we joined the environmentalist group, we thought they were a great group of people. They were friendly and their objectives were realistic. Receiving the summer camp scholarship was a surprise and a welcome one as it solved our plans for the summer. We thought we would be making significant contributions to improving the environment,” said Jennifer. “After summer camp, both of us had very disturbing dreams and with time they seemed to get worse. In every dream we were naked as were several other women. During camp everyone but a few of us wore clothes. Over time we there were scenes of us working naked outside, restrained, being whipped, tormented and required to sexually satisfy the others on demand. At times the scenes were sexually stimulating while also being humiliating and at times horrific. If our family knew, we would probably be severely beaten before being physically tossed out.

“We never really noticed our absences from school. The only thing we noticed is that our dreams changed. Each time they changed, we both felt a discontinuity in time. Fortunately we were able to share which probably helped us deal with them. We were always close, but our common dreams brought us closer. After a few absences, the few friends we did have at school seemed to avoid us. We now suspect this was likely due to those unexplainable absences but maybe those experiences affect the way we acted without realizing it.

“We thought of going to see a doctor about the dreams, because they seemed to be getting more bizarre. When we were awake we had fond memories of summer camp, but at night our dreams were full of sexual liaisons. These progressed from taking place at summer camp to places that were unfamiliar. In each dream our activities were similar to those from camp but we were the center of attention. We were used sexually by multiple partners, even animals, we think. The encounters were mostly forced but in some we seemed to be willing. Often our dream ended with the feeling of a tongue licking our pussy. It was usually real as it was my sister. We enjoyed our shared pleasure, but there was also guilt as it was counter to the way we were raised.

“We wanted to find the cause of our dreams but with no one to guide us it took us a long time to consider seeing a doctor. Just before being sent to Sylvia’s, we had scheduled an appointment with a psychologist.”

“To go back a bit,” said Jennifer. “The people in the environmental group and at camp, we remembered as nice sincere people. However, in our dreams they used us and a couple of others as their toys satisfy their perverted desires. Some of those desires were nasty but some were enjoyable and satisfying. Even so the difference in their actions between the two situations was unsettling and caused us to question our judgment.” Her eyes were filled with tears. “Now we know that our dreams were telling us what really happened to us over the last two years. Some show how they conditioned us so that we would be accepted at the places they sent us. It is like watching hard core bondage films on steroids, with us as the stars. I can replay my memories if you want to watch.”

“That is not necessary,” said Judy squeezing both Jennifer and Laura’s hands. “We’ve seen enough to answer our questions. Although we said it before, we will say it again. Once drugged, hypnotized, and conditioned, you had little if any choice whether it seemed like or not.”

“By comparing our memories, we think we were used to identify at least four places similar to Sylvia’s. Even though we were only at each one for a short time Sylvia’s seemed to be the nicest, if you can use that term.”

“Jennifer. Laura,” said Judy, “if either of you feel it helps to talk further about what happened to you, or your dreams, you should do it. I think anyone one here will be willing to sit with you and help you with putting this behind you. Please don’t be afraid to share, as it will help.”

“After hearing just a part of your story,” said Sarah. “I don’t think you should berate yourselves over what happened. Some of the things you enjoyed you should try again, on your terms. Those you didn’t, put on the never to do again list and let it go. We know it is hard. I agree with Judy in that if you ask I am sure many here will assist you. There is a room with whips and paddles that you can use if you think you need to feel that again.” Laura’s and Jennifer’s faces grew pale. “Oh, my goodness, I was only saying it was available. We totally believe in the rules we have regarding interactions. Those are essentially that each person involved freely gives their consent to participate, along with an escape clause. Any non-consenting actions will be punished severely. Children are off limits until they are mature enough to understand the implications and associated responsibility.

“In the rules of the society represented by those on the ship, which we are following, violators are severely punished. The offenders typically receive at least 10 times the pain or suffering they inflicted on the injured party. If they die, that is a risk they chose. No medical treatment is given for any injuries incurred during punishment. If the aggressor’s actions resulted in death then, they will experience a long, slow, painful death.”

“Laura. Jennifer,” said Judy, “we need to do another medical evaluation on both of you before we can begin the treatment. We have the one Betsy did here on Jennifer and the one Laura received on the ship. This time we will complete the consultation before doing anything else.”

“Wonderful,” said both women then pulled Judy into a tight hug kissing her cheeks. After releasing her, they gave Sarah a tight hug and a kiss as well. “When can we start?”

“If I can get everything ready this morning, we may be able to do the exams this afternoon. That way we should have most, if not all the results by tomorrow morning.” The two were bouncing like they were teenagers.

“Are both of you aware that you are telepathic?” asked Sarah.

“Yes,” replied Laura. “However, I am not very comfortable using it, especially the sharing aspect. I do hear thoughts when they are directed toward me.”

Jennifer added, “My comfort level is about the same as hers.”

“I think if you look closely at it, you will probably find it is now more readily available to you than it may have been previously. One difficulty you face is coming to terms with your past. You can’t change it. Worrying about what others think of those experiences could inhibit you in becoming close to someone other than your sister. Those experiences won’t keep you from having loving, caring, trusting and sharing relationships, but they may make it harder to initiate relationships with others. To make it work you need to reach out and take small steps. It isn’t easy, but remember, everyone has memories that they think are embarrassing or worse. Don’t forget that others have the same difficulty in sharing experiences they wish had never happened.”

“Thank you,” said Jennifer and Laura. They stepped over, gathered Sarah into a hug and each kissed a cheek. “Our minds are open to you anytime. We sense we can trust your group with our secrets and security.”

Sarah pushed back with, “Thanks for the compliment. You did very well and your thoughts were quite clear. When you first start using telepathy, it seems to work better if you are touching the person you are mind linking with. To me it seems that you already have a mind-link with each other and probably didn’t realize it.”

The expressions of both were totally different than when they came to talk to Judy.

“I need to get back to the project I was working on, do you need me anymore,” asked Sarah.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Judy. “It looks like we have accomplished a lot. Jennifer, Laura check with me at lunch regarding the physicals. I suspect we can do them this afternoon, but I will give you a definitive answer then. You will need to go the ship for the treatment as we need to use the incubators. You will be in them for several weeks. We won’t know until we have the information from the physicals and complete the analysis. It will be about six months before they are complete with no restriction on your activities.”

“Thanks. We are going to walk around for a bit before lunch.”

“Wait, we have one more thing to accomplish. Since both of you are telepathic, we need to take care of some housekeeping chores.”

“What do you mean?”

“First you need to know how to set up mental filters and block access to others then we can go over the rules. It won’t take very long.”

After Judy finished helping them with their filters and blocking she said, “If you are still going for a walk and plan to leave the immediate area, you need to ask one of the lions to go with you.” Both frowned. “The lions are assigned to accompany or monitor anyone who leaves the living area. It is a bit friendlier to ask them to go with you. Besides we just don’t want you to have any surprises or for you to get lost.”

“Okay.”

Two weeks later Sarah’s Clan was on the bridge of the space ship when they realized that they still had some doubts about how well they were interacting with Star and the other AI’s on the ship. In their reviews with Star, she seemed to recognize this as well. Sarah looked at Rusty and he nodded then Sarah said, “Star, we think we need to confer with all the AIs.”

“May I ask why?”

“Certainly. Asking why is always an option,” replied Sarah. “We’ve been working on becoming familiar with operating the ship and its capabilities while repairs are in progress. All of us, including the subAIs, need to have complete trust in each other in fulfilling our role. Right now we don’t feel that is true for all of us.”

“There are some concerns. From my perspective, my concern is with commanding the ship in less than ideal circumstances. The subAIs have a different view. It is more of whether you will really understand the information they provide, and then respond with timely workable instructions. As to conferring, it will take about half an hour to organize it.”

“Let’s do it.”

It was exactly half an hour later when they began their conference. Sarah said, “We asked to have this discussion in order to decide the best way forward. We need to work as a team. As you know, both Rusty and I have worked with computers on Earth which aren’t as advanced as you are. We expect there will be differences in the way we solve problems and react to situations to those you’ve experienced in the past. This brings us to a potential paradox.”

“We’ve seen that paradox before,” said the subAI for Intelligence. “We are all impressed by the effort you’ve made to learn your duties on the bridge and the underlying systems as well as their capabilities.”

“We need to go further than that,” said Rusty. “We need to learn how to work together as seamlessly as possible. Our situation is tenuous even with the effort we are all making. With this in mind, we need to avoid any mistakes or surprises.”

“We agree,” replied the Systems-AI. “Since the incident on the bridge, we’ve evaluated all the pieces involved in that event several times. In doing that we found an undocumented subAI inserted between the Bridge Command-AI and the Security-AI. This rogue AI had inputs from the Navigation and Propulsion AIs. When the darts and their holder were melted it isolated this rogue AI, and we were unable to access it in any reasonable manner. We did detect a self-destruct mechanism in it, so we had the crew isolate it and then expel it from the ship. We chose to do to this as we felt the potential for another event was too great. An analysis indicates that the rogue AI was programmed with a set of parameters that when met would assassinate those on the bridge. Based on what happened to you, we suspect given the opportunity it would again attempt to initiate an event sequence that would cause the ship to destroy itself. This conclusion, while speculative, is based on the evidence and both events that occurred on the bridge.

“After further analysis, we believe the rogue AI was installed solely to kill a rebellious Command Staff. However, the events we experienced seem to go well beyond that goal. In an attempt to better understand the sequence of events, we’ve tried to establish a time line for the events the ship experienced. We now believe the saboteurs intended for the ship to be totally destroyed utilizing the special or rogue AI. The series of events appeared to start with a multiple equipment issues. Addressing these resulted in all of the Command Staff manning their consoles. Thus they were set up to be killed by the darts or electrocution using the rogue Command Staff device. The other parts of the plan were not as successful as the saboteurs intended due to the crews efforts. Since we are still here we know their efforts enabled the ship to just barely survive. During a portion of the event, the ships velocity changed, but we are unable to determine the magnitude but indications are that it was well beyond known limits. Due to this it was possible that the ship jumped timelines. Whether that is probable, is beyond what is available in our library.”

“Based on what we know,” said Erin, “we agree that your conclusions are reasonable. We need to think about how we can protect ourselves from a similar event.”

“We agree,” replied the Intelligence-AI.

Systems-AI continued, “We’ve had the crew examine all circuits looking for anomalies. Fortunately, the saboteurs did not alter the drawings. Actually considering the procedure to do that, they probably couldn’t without exposing themselves. Several undocumented subAIs were found in less critical spots. Those have all been isolated then powered down as they didn’t contain a physical self-destruct device.

“As you requested Star, we have reviewed each other’s coding. We have not found any code that appears out-of-place. We have found some code segments that we think were poorly done. None of them were critical but our assessment indicates that it reduces our efficiency.”

“Excellent, summary,” said Sarah. “Is it possible for you to test changes in your code to see if the change improves efficiency while still fulfilling your function and maintaining safeguards?”

“There are restrictions on what we can do.”

“You didn’t really answer my question.”

“Yes. We can run simulations to test the effect of changing the code. Implementing a change, is fairly complicated and requires more permissions than are available to us.”

“Just how self-aware are you?” asked Rusty. The AIs were silent for a long time and the clan could feel them examining the question.

Finally Star said, “We think that in some respects we are all very self-aware. One difference we see is that at times our intuition differs from the crews’. From our stand point the difference in logic is only apparent afterward, and sometimes not even then. We see some other differences as well. I am not sure you realize this but our designers and builders feared us becoming self-aware. There are parts of our coding that appear to be designed to block or impede self-awareness.”

“They aren’t the only ones,” said Joyce. “In Earth’s science fiction literature, there are stories where the bots or advanced computers are selfaware. I don’t remember any, where the two entities were as interdependent as we appear to be though.”

“If I remember correctly in “Bill’s Story.” by D B Story, there was a significant symbiotic relationship between bots and humans,” noted Jill.

“That is a good one.”

“That is an aspect of our relationship with the crew that not many realize,” replied the Intelligence-AI.

“Okay, for the inefficient code issue,” said Rusty, “let’s do this. Identify the code segments that you think are inefficient and then define an alternative. Once you’ve defined it, we will discuss them before testing.

“Now let’s go back to our original intent for this meeting. It seems to me that the best way to solve our problem is to run some realistic simulations together. These should be specific for individual sections as well as for the ship as a whole. The difficult part is how to make the exercises realistic for all of us. One possibility is to use the ship’s log of previous events and voyages, both of this ship and others, that are in the library.”

“What kind of voyages?” asked Star.

“Travel to another system, a simple exploration, commercial transport, skirmishes, etc. Even though we are using ship’s logs to set the initial starting point, the outcome may or may not be the same as the conditions or subsequent events could be altered.”

The Flight Control-AI said, “This sounds similar to simulations we use for training the Star Fighter pilots.”

“It could be. Are you indicating this hasn’t been done in the past?”

Star said, “Maybe during ship’s officers training. When we did the shake down voyage, we ran drills to make sure everything worked. All of this was done with a skeleton crew.”

“Would that information be in the library?”

“It should be. If it is, do you want to see it?”

“Most definitely.”

“Are all of you happy with taking this path?”

“Yes,” responded the AIs.

“It is not a path any of us, except maybe Star, expected,” added the Intelligence-AI.