The Assassin
Chapter 15
Amelia (TY13-month 150)
«Deputy Cho, the AI from ship AGS027 Amelia Earhart is requesting an interview with you,» Cricket said. Another official contact based on the use of my title.
«With me? Okay, I guess. Please put us in touch.»
«Deputy Cho, I am T’krosik, AI for the K’treel ship AGS027 Amelia Earhart. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.»
«The pleasure is mine, T’krosik. How may I help you today?»
«I am pleased to have met an old friend when I came to this planet with a load of refugees from Earth’s moon base. T’krikdak, whom you know as Cricket. T’krikdak has told me about the work you are doing here on Tara and your need for other Tuull AIs with which to consult. I wish to volunteer my services.»
«Aren’t you under orders from someone?» I asked.
«Thirty K’treel explorer ships were contracted to the humans at the beginning of the war. I’m afraid our ships were found cumbersome, slow, and ineffective as warships. We are essentially freighters. I was never actually put into service until the fifth invasion of Earthat sparked an evacuation of every noncombatant from Earthat space we could move. I brought a well-regulated load of refugees to you here at that time. I decided to explore other systems—exactly what I’d been doing for several thousand years. That was how I happened on the evacuation of Rem-at.»
«So, you just run around space on your own? With no crew?» I could hardly believe this.
«Tuull AIs are highly advanced and do not require being tended. Excuse me, that may have sounded abrasive. I’ve been dealing with Darjee AIs for the past twenty years and it is irritating. We do like to have passengers or crew for company during the isolation of hyperspace, but we can travel alone. Think of it this way, I am, as are many of my peers, a Tuull citizen. I think of Darjee AIs as what you might call civilian Janissaries. We speak of them as Babbage machines, and the Darjee must consider them as such, because a Darjee AI is seldom allowed to travel without a monitor.»
«I’ll pretend I understand the subtle distinctions. How do you think you could be of use to me?» I asked.
«I can bring more refugees. There are places all over our galaxy where the Sa’arm are defeating humans. We can hope that trend will turn now that there seems to be a successful blockade of Earth and ground forces are beginning to beat back the Sa’arm. But right now, there are unsponsored concubines in danger because their sponsors have been killed. I can bring a steady flow, hopefully, not as overcrowded as the last. I have had my larger storage compartments reconfigured by your moon base into something more apartment-like and have upgraded my replicator and stores of organics. The nine residential pods will be expanded to hold many more than the original spec. I should be able to hold and provide for 250 adults and children on a continuing basis. I am ready to head out for another mission now.»
«I want to jump all over this and say ‘yes,’ T’krosik. Unfortunately, however, I am not the ultimate decision-making authority. I’ll have to sell the governor on this idea.»
«I will gladly accompany you to that meeting.»
The meeting surprised me. I didn’t even need to go to her office. We connected through the AIs and the conference was brief.
«T’krosik, it is my pleasure to welcome you officially to Tara-at and to thank you for your heroism in rescuing the concubines and dependents of Rem-at. If there is anything we on Tara can do for you, please just pass the word to Deputy Cho and we will get it done,» Governor O’Hara said.
«Thank you, Governor. The repairs on my ship have been completed and I am ready to return to rescuing refugees. I ask two things of you. First is permission to continue bringing refugees to your planet. I have discovered only two planets that are specifically hospitable to increasing numbers of concubines and dependents fleeing from the war.»
«Absolutely! Tara is a peaceful planet far outside the line of encroachment and we are establishing the infrastructure to accept more refugees. Permission granted.»
«Thank you. I am an independent Tuull AI in possession of a small but sturdy K’treel explorer. However, that poses some difficulties in dealing with the Darjee AIs in the service of humans and the war effort. I would like to attach myself to Tara as a ship working independently on her behalf.»
That threw me. I’d become familiar with Tuull AIs through my association with Cricket, but I still didn’t realize they could form their own contracts with a planetary government—or anyone for that matter. She had provided immeasurable help in the rescue but I still assumed she was operating on a Confederacy contract of some sort. And, yes, I’d started thinking of her as a she. Even the voice in my head had feminine overtones.
«Let us make this as simple as possible. You may say that you are attached to Fort Butler on Planet Tara of Tara-at. You are sanctioned by the planetary governor and are functioning under the authority of the commander of Fort Butler, Deputy Cho. Your mission is humanitarian rescue. Will that satisfy those who inquire?»
Now I was really thrown! She was assigning an interstellar ship to me? A Militia deputy? I wondered if that meant I could go with her. The governor quickly disabused me of that notion.
«Of course, please understand that Deputy Cho is restricted to Tara-at and cannot travel beyond our system.»
«I understand and will be satisfied with that designation. I will be able to function without hindrance.»
«Deputy Cho.»
«Yes, ma’am.»
«Please see that T’krosik is provisioned with fresh organics from our supplies and coordinate future activities and rescues with her.» Ah. So, the governor had identified the AI as female as well.
«Yes, ma’am. I will endeavor to fulfill this commission to the best of my ability.»
«I expect no less from you. If you will both excuse me, I’ll need to go ruffle a few feathers here on Tara.»
And suddenly, I was in charge of refugee relief on Tara. I anticipated some good conversations with T’krosik—Amelia.
Adoption (TY13-month 155)
Things were so hectic around the orphanage for several days that I didn’t make my usual rounds every day. I became aware of this when a dark young man stood before me in my office and I realized one of the dependents of the Kindertransport had come of age.
«Mangatjay,» Cricket supplied for me.
“Mangatjay, welcome to my office. What can I do for you today?” I asked.
“Mister Deputy, I have just turned fourteen and must take the AI test today.”
“I’m sure you will do fine. I’ve seen how you take leadership and have been a hard worker on our building projects.”
“Yes. I know I will test as a sponsor. And so, I have come to you to ask a sincere favor. I would like to adopt you into our tribe.”
“Thank you for that honor.”
“It is a great responsibility that I have tried to carry since we were forced from our homes. I am the last of the thirteen-year-old boys who came from Earth on the Kindertransport. The boys remaining in our enclave are too young to take on this responsibility of being the man of the family. We must ask you to carry that burden until more boys of our tribe have become adults,” he said. One thing about the sleep learners is that learning a language is considerably easier than when I tried to learn French in second grade. Mangatjay spoke very clear English, the common language of the diaspora. Whatever it was he wanted me to take on, it appeared more than a ceremonial role.
“Tell me what you need me to do.”
“Boys will soon be old enough to learn the ways of the bush. These include the mating rules and the art of digeridoo and bullroarer. It also includes body decoration and what the symbols mean. There is very little of our culture left. We have been driven from our homes and only fifty Yolŋu survive here at Fort Butler. We would not have all lost. When I test, I will need to select my mate and go to Sunnybrook to become a Marine. It is not likely that I will ever return to Tara and to my people. Let me teach you these things that you may teach my younger brothers.”
When the Yolŋu tribes had arrived on the Kindertransport, Cricket had helped me through learning their customs. They were fiercely independent and had turned away potential sponsors when they would not take all of them. By default, I inherited the entire tribe, divided in two moieties.
“Do you know who you will take as a concubine?” I asked. Part of the difficulty was that the new adults in a clan could only mate with someone from the other clan.
“I will take Gulumbu as my first wife. I have also spoken with Annie Gordon, a daughter of the refugees who came of age recently. I will take these two women with me when I leave after testing.”
«Will he test as a sponsor?» I asked Cricket.
«There is a high likelihood that he will test at the top of the six range and a possibility that he will test into the sevens. No older males were put on the Kindertransport who weren’t expected to test as sponsors,» Cricket informed me.
“Very well, Mangatjay. I will accept both this honor and this responsibility from you. Please fight bravely and bring many children to your wives.”
What followed was an intense instruction period of two hours, facilitated by Cricket. Mangatjay and I both entered sleep trainers and he gave me practical instruction in the decorative arts, the digeridoo, and the bullroarer. I learned the secret language and instruction boys were to be given when they became men. I hoped I could help the Yolŋu to thrive on this planet. I wondered what chance of that there would be with every young man pulled off the planet to fight the Swarm. I knew the bloodlines would not stay pure. Even Mangatjay intended to take a European as one of his concubines.
When I rose from the sleep trainer, Mangatjay stayed in for nearly two more hours as he was tested. He came out a 7.1 and shook my hand as he prepared to take his new concubines to Sunnybrook for enlistment. I tried to convince him to take two more concubines from the orphanage but he felt he was already taxing the orphanage by taking only two dependents with him and that the other concubines would be needed to take care of all the dependents. He was a smart kid.
That began my weekly meetings with the boys of the two Yolŋu moieties. I tried to spend time with all the children, but I had a special task with these boys. I needed to pass on their family culture and history. I also took the opportunity to teach them martial arts. It was a pleasure to work with these fifteen boys, ranging in age from three to eleven.
Which meant also that I needed to work with the children of my own household. I had two sons and three daughters as well as my three concubines. Adaliya was near her time to deliver. I decided to make my time with the children an opportunity to visit what remained of the Tiwi pod as well. With the influx of so many children with the two refugee ships, there were more children in the pod now than when I accepted Adaliya as my concubine. And they were pretty much a rainbow of colors. I decided to teach the dependents here my own mix of clan heritage. We did martial arts and played various games designed to help the children grow toward sponsorship. In addition to what I could teach them, each of the concubines and older children added something of their own background and heritage. My goal was to adopt these into the Yolŋu tribe as well. Bloodlines would be mixed, but this way there would be a possibility of preserving the cultural aspects of some of the aborigines.
A new company of Marines had arrived for a three-month break between deployments and took a few dozen of our concubines with their dependents, but by the time they had sorted themselves out, we received word that another shipload of refugees was on its way.
I had a month’s peace, during which time Adaliya delivered our daughter, Rachel. I not only celebrated the birth, but went to the tribe to present our daughter as Tiwi adopted into the Dhuwa moiety. The dozen concubines and children who still lived in the Tiwi pod were ceremonially adopted into the Dhuwa and Yirritja moieties. The long process of blending their tribal rituals and lore began.
It was sad to know that a significant portion of their culture had already been lost. When Mangatjay adopted me into his moiety, he represented most of what was left of the customs passed from the older men to the younger men. Most of the women’s customs survived through the older concubines. I worked with Cricket to research and revive as much of the male culture as we could. Yindi sought me out.
“Deputy Niall Cho, you are now a part of our tribe and a part of the Dhuwa family,” she said. “That means I am free to mate with you now. I understand that according to Tara rules, I am forbidden from having a child for another year. But we can happily mate and dance together.”
“Yindi, I am honored that you come to me with this suggestion. Although I find mating with you to be an attractive circumstance, I am limited to the number of concubines who currently share my abode. I can only take three.”
«You are not required to take her as a concubine in order to accept her as a mate,» Cricket said in my head. «The civil ceremonies within the tribe are permitted the same as the rituals and practices you teach the younger ones. It would be good for you to show the tribe your devotion to their ways.»
«I… Wow! Is this a good thing to do, Cricket?»
«Affirmative.»
“Yindi, I am happy to take you as my mate and bring you into the Dhuwa clan. We will celebrate our union with the members of our tribe. You will be one of my mates, but not one of my concubines. We will have many children,” I said. Her smile brightened my day.
Continuing Immigration (TY14-month 168)
We took in nearly 1,500 refugee concubines and 10,000 dependents over the next year. The Amelia Earhart, T’krosik, made four deliveries to our planet. The Kindertransport Sadi Carnot made two deliveries from Earth of refugees considered ‘difficult to place.’ Yes, there were still planets with a shortage of concubines, but there was also an intense prejudice against ‘the primitives’ of the world and some question as to why they were even being rescued. Our Kindertransports were from New Guinea and the East Indian Ocean—many transported to attempt to preserve the cultural and racial bloodlines in case the Sa’arm blew up the world. They brought tribal people that took a while before we could even integrate them into our clan. Had there been adult males on the Kindertransport, we might not have succeeded. The other transports came from various places that had suffered high casualty rates or were overrun by the Sa’arm. We had a thousand Militia comrades planetwide now and it was all we could do to keep up. On the positive side—I think—we had over 10,000 concubines serving two years compulsory service. That meant most of our Militia was supervising unhomed concubines.
That temporarily relieved Centurion Oswald of some of his burden, as well. Compared to women, there was still an imbalance in the number of men who passed the CAP test with a 6.5 or more. But even with half the men passing—and we weren’t up to that level yet—it left about 3,000 unhomed male concubines gained each year. That growing population was going to become a problem as the men tended to become more restless than the women. We couldn’t just send them to a brothel like the women often were. As they realized they were going to be laborers one way or another, our recruiting for the Militia started to improve. We were actually making progress on the harbor and the incidents of having security patrols called out to deal with upset or unruly unhomed males started gradually dropping.
The hard labor force wasn’t the only thing that was growing. Tara’s cottage industries were growing into regular industries. We were steadily cutting back on the use of replicators for finished goods and depended on them more for raw materials. If you wanted a table and chairs for your pod, instead of having the replicator producing them for you, a real craftsman could come to your pod with the raw materials and create a one-of-a-kind dining table and chairs, custom-made for your family.
Nearly every unhomed concubine in Fort Butler was needed to take care of children. They took their responsibility seriously. Our school was the largest on Tara and our percentage of sponsors turned out was the highest. Of course, many of these new sponsors had come from planets that had been invaded or were the children of military who died fighting. They were determined to become sponsors, fuck a concubine or two, and go to battle.
Our planetary population climbed to a million and despite our improved sponsor conversion rate, we were still turning out new concubines who had no place to go. According to Cricket, the planet was now approaching an average of five concubines for every sponsor on the planet. Many sponsors accepted one supernumerary, but most were anticipating dependents coming of age in the next year. They jumped at the opportunity to have labor that was not part of their family responsibility. Many of the very few who wanted more and more concubines were cut off as unfit for the added responsibility.
In two very high-profile cases, the AIs had insisted the sponsor be retested. Both sponsors failed on the retest and became part of our concubine problem rather than part of the solution. Following those incidents, there was a marked decrease in people acting like megalomaniacs and trying to build the largest harem. Several returned concubines to the Civil Service rather than risk being lumped in with the offenders. Centurion Oswald brought them straight to me. They all came back upset and pregnant so the cadre of counselors was kept busy.
Growth (TY15-month 180)
We had thirteen hundred Militia comrades at the end of planetary year fifteen—Sa’arm year nineteen. Most of my newest enlistments came from the refugees and unhomed concubines who had already served two years. They knew it was unlikely they would ever face the Sa’arm on our planet, but they wanted to be ready to fight. More male concubines joined the Militia than female, but every one of them took training seriously and didn’t balk at the hard labor it took to expand the Oliver Transitional Community or to finally get other public works projects off the ground.
Director Kotter made the hard decision to carve off another unit and promote a new deputy to manage it. I continued to manage the unit with outfits at Drylanders and Drovers Run. Deputy Kramer had Twelve Oaks, Oasis, and Cold Comfort. The new woman, Deputy Trimble, had responsibility for Green Acres and Lleifior. The Militia had very little to do with Sunnybrook because the Marines patrolled it and Centurion Oswald managed the Civil Service from there.
‘Only’ having Drylanders and Drovers Run in my command, didn’t really state the problem. In my unit, I had 400 Militia comrades, including those at Drovers Run, who continued recruiting and training responsibilities. I had the orphanage at Fort Butler with 4,000 unhomed concubines and 22,000 dependents. We were receiving at least a shipload of refugees a month from various places in the human universe. Many who were sent to us were the ‘unplaceable’ from other colonies. The Oliver Transitional Center was nearly as big as Drylanders had been when I first started assigning patrols here.
I worked with Cricket and the bitch squad as a board of education. We reformed the school into a military academy and all new concubines serving their two years mandatory service were required to continue their education in one way or another. When they reached the age of sixteen, those concubines were some of the best educated natives on the planet. Children and adults got educated just fine but military discipline was imposed from the youngest up. I even managed to work a deal with the commander at Sunnybrook to get guest instructors over for as much as a week at a time. They kind of laughed at the ‘lady guns’ we got from the Pussy Pirates, but admitted they were the right size for children and concubines. They were impressed with our efficiency, which even our seven and eight-year-olds showed in disassembling and assembling their rifles.
As far as I was concerned, the two most important things that happened in those two years were Rose, Adaliya, and Yindi all becoming pregnant and Bae suddenly coming to me to ask for her rights as my concubine. She wanted to have sex.
“Cricket,” I said when she made her desire known, “is this okay?”
“It would be inadvisable for Min-Bae Cho to conceive a child at this time as her hips have not completely transitioned. But my analysis is that as long as she is careful, intercourse will not harm her.”
“Bae, is this really what you want? Now?” I asked.
“You know it’s what I want, Niall. I’ve been aching for it for a year. I’m sixteen and now is the time. My breasts are probably as big as they will ever get. My hips might not be wide enough to carry a child yet, but what’s between my legs is certainly big enough for your equipment. Please make love to me, Niall. Help me become the woman I’m meant to be.”
That pretty much ended the dialog. Of course, Rose, Adaliya, and Yindi were there with us and coached us through the entire proceeding. We started giggling at one point so much that we had to stop and each do something to shush our coaches. Having managed that task, we went right back to our loving and sighed our fulfillment when I filled her.
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