Shepherd Moon, Book 2: Homeworld   by Roberta J. Cabot

Prologue After more than 15 Earth years after what the Earthers have started to call "New Armstice Day" - the day when the Detterex surrendered and the official cessation of all hostilities between the allies, the Detterex and the Tirosians was declared - life had gone back to normal, or what passed for normal in the Greater Galactic Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, and an unexpected peace descended on the people. But there were those in the Federation that felt they wanted the old status quo back, and only Princess Mia, the lord admiral of the Elyran navy as well as the admiral of EarthForce's Fifth Fleet, her wife, Duchess Sahsha, diplomat and fellow Earther, and her other wife, Queen Tasha, the new ruler of the Elyrans, were the only ones who stood in the way of the Dravidians and the so-called Tirosian mutiny fleet.

---

 

Prologue: Early Morning TV

 
Interview Room 10, Royal Elyran Communications Institute, Elyra City, Elyra Prime

“Our guest this morning on ‘Elyra Today,’ is Mr. Gerry Anderson from the Earther Embassy here in Elyra City,” Jem said. “Thank you for giving us your valuable time, sir.”

“It’s my pleasure, Mr. ummm, Tevan-Losira,” Jem’s Earther guest responded.

The Elyran interviewer giggled. “Just call me Jem,” he said, “everyone does. By the way, thank you for the translators. This will allow me to expand our show and allow us to interview more Earther guests.” He turned profile to the camera so that the little translator device stuck in his ear like an old-time hearing aid could be seen.

“My pleasure, Jem," his visitor responded. "But not just Earthers – these are some of our multi-language units. They will also translate Tirosian, Deamon, Dravidian, Kembel, Dixx, and several other languages, and, of course, Elyran and Detterex. We sent your office, ummm, one and a half eights…”

“It’s all right if you say one ‘dozen.’ I am familiar with the word.”

Anderson smiled. “Thanks. I am somewhat fluent, as you see. No need for a translator with me. Anyway, if you have problems, just contact the embassy and ask for me. I’ll get you replacements. By the way, please try not to tamper with them – there’s a protection device in each one, and you might damage them beyond repair if…”

“I understand, Mr. Anderson. The rumors that we‘ve heard about people tampering with Earther devices...”

“Apologies, Jem.”

Jem waved it away. “It’s not a worry. No one has been hurt so far, although I’m sure there are a lot of frustrated people who are mad that they’ve lost their translators and other devices.”

The Earther shrugged – a gesture that Earthers, Elyrans and Detterex shared. “I’m sorry about that. The Earther-made appliances were specifically designed to prevent tampering. They have multiple warning labels saying so. Nevertheless, they were also designed not to harm people.

“Earth government’s list of proscribed technologies is remaining in effect, I’m afraid, and this is one of the ways we’re able to keep them from unauthorized hands.”

“I have a, what do you call it? A ‘cell phone.’ Is Phase-Wave communications still part of the proscribed list?”

“Yes, but I’m sure your phone isn’t a Phase-Wave phone. It’s probably just one of our handheld radio transceivers, only fancier. But even so, it probably still has a protection circuit - many manufacturers of products meant for off-world use also build in protection circuits basically to prevent people from tampering and, hence, damaging them.”

 
Recoding Lab, CETI Institute Building B, Triton, United Satellites of Neptune

“I have so much work to do,” Marjorie thought. But when Professor Phil McIntyre asked for help, she dropped everything and rushed over. And she wouldn’t be complaining aloud anyway, especially with the professor in the room. There were so few internship spots in the Cultural Studies Department of the CETI Institute, and there were too many applicants. If Phil heard she was complaining about the workload, the other interns would only be too willing to replace her.

ET Studies was the hottest college course at the moment. That was what everyone called it, though it was considered politically incorrect to refer to it that way because of the derogatory connotations. The full title was actually the “Galacticl History, Economy, and Social Studies Programme.” In fact, the number of undergraduates for that course in her particular university accounted for a third of her university's entire undergraduate population. Princess Amelia’s popularity was such that everyone wanted to follow in her footsteps, and ET Studies was the easiest way to do that. Well, that and enlisting in EarthForce.

Mia’s effect was similar to the effect of Alexander “Lex” Braveheart ,who was responsible for the negotiations that ended the Asteroid Wars and created of the New U.N., or Charles Lindbergh and his pioneering solo flight from New York to Paris, or John F. Kennedy’s creation of the Peace Corp and the US Space Program, and many others in Earth’s recent history. Mia had stirred the hearts and minds of Earth’s youth, and they were ready to answer the call to service and civic duty.

And Marjorie was one of these idealistic young people caught up in the wonder of the newly-opened galaxy and Princess Amelia’s call to service.

But more than that, Princess Amelia’s story had special resonances for Marjorie. At the moment, Marjorie was one of over two hundred and fifty thousand doctoral candidates (her area of academic specialization was Elyran and Detterex culture, as most ET Studies undergraduates were). What made her different from these thousands and thousands of young, new academics was that she was also one of the known few that suffered from Gender Dysphoria or Gender Identity Disorder.

GID was a very, very rare condition in 24th Century society. Nowadays, everyone was allowed to be what she or he wanted to be. For the few citizens who genuinely suffered from GID, in the emancipated society of present-day Earth, this had no stigma attached to it, and GID-diagnosed citizens could happily live as the gender they needed to be, and society didn’t’ really make a big deal of it. Still, the few that wanted it could undergo GCS but it wasn’t something normally done anymore even if current Earth medical science could do it relatively easily and safely. Marjorie was already under hormone therapy, but was was also scheduled for gender confirmation surgery as soon as she hit eighteen, but she was actually thinking of skipping it.

But when the aliens were "discovered," and the popular press made it known that Princess Amelia (at the time, she was still Dr. William Steele, and he was far from royal) had undergone a complete FFP procedure just because she wanted to help and be part of First Contact, even though, as far as everyone knew, she was a cisgender male, this convinced Marjorie to push through with her own GCS (GCS and a few plastic surgery operations was what all she and her family planned for since an FFP, or a “full feminization procedure,” wasn't something that she and her family could afford (it wasn't covered in the government's "Unicare," or Universal Health Care, plan) - it would have cost them something in the order of five million American Federated Dollars – roughly equivalent to 100,000 21st-century US dollars. Most everything was easily available to Earth citizens nowadays, but those things that were extremely uncommon were extremely expensive, which included an FFP procedure.

- - - - -

Currently, she and Dr. McIntyre were reviewing the latest episode of the long-running “Elyra Today,” an early-morning Elyran talk and home information show hosted by Jem Tevan-Losira, the famous Elyran host and presenter.

“So, why are we watching this again?” Marjorie asked her professor.

“We’re watching this because part of CETI’s mission is to maintain an updated profile of foreign cultures,” Phil McIntyre, the current head of the CETI base in Triton, and Marjorie's course adviser, answered. “And part of that is keeping up with current events, and popular trends and topics. This show is one of the most popular shows on Elyra. We’re watching it to try and pick up on these things.”

“Doesn’t seem too different from the morning talk shows we have on Earth.”

“True.”

She watched the program for a while and turned towards Phil. “Sir, what’s with this protection circuit thing? What is it and why are the Elyrans so obsessed with it?” She asked.

“Well, Phase-Wave is one of Earth’s proscribed technologies, like this guy, Anderson, said. None of the other races have Phase-Wave. With instantaneous communications and virtual galaxy-wide GPS, Phase-Wave is something that they desperately want, but Earth Government doesn’t want to give up our one big tactical advantage.”

“I know that,” Marjorie said a little irritatedly, “…sir.” She added the “sir” a little belatedly.

Phil laughed. “Sorry for the lecture. Anyway, the main component of most of the electronic devices we manufacture that use proscribed tech, usually called the “prime circuit,” are now manufactured using conductive plastics instead of semiconductors, and the entire circuit is coated with several chemicals in an emulsion, and the rest of the device is flooded with a gas and sealed. When the specific characteristics of the gas inside of the device changes, or even if there's a minute pressure change, the emulsion is designed to break down and separate into its different chemicals, one of them being ascorbic acid dissolved in water. The acid is pretty weak and harmless to any of the known races, but the prime circuit is designed to break down in this mild acid.”

“Isn’t ascorbic acid Vitamin C?”

“Yes.”

Marjorie giggled. “That’s funny. How about x-rays or other similar…”

“Any kind of electromagnetic radiation that penetrates the device’s shielding will instantly change the properties of the gas, too, just enough to trigger the effect. And even if they did get a signal back, the plastic circuit is completely transparent to most EM radiation. Furthermore, there’s a fake aluminum foil decal over it so what they would see in an x-ray or whatever would be the outline of the decal that looks like a circuit board, which makes the inside of the device look like a regular radio circuit or some other common device.”

“How about opening the device in a pressure tank or something, pressured to the same pressure as the device, and filled with the same gas?”

“Well, when the seal is broken – it triggers the emulsion breakdown. And even if they get past that, they don’t know what the exact gas inside is. When the factory fills a device with the gas, they don’t know the exact chemical formula of the gas in each device because they randomize it a little bit every time. And once the circuit acclimatizes to the gas, then it’s set. Even the manufacturers can’t open the device themselves. In fact, the standard way to fix a broken phase-wave device is to replace the entire prime circuit.”

“How about freezing the thing first, or opening it in a vacuum or…”

“Same thing.”

“Wow…”

“And we do the same thing with all the appliances and portable devices that are similarly proscribed.”

“The Elyrans must be very frustrated.”

Phil laughed. “They sure are. Okay, unpause it and let’s listen to the guy in the show…”

 
Back in Interview Room 10 of the Royal Elyran Communications Institute

Anderson, the Earther being interviewed, shrugged. “I’m sorry about that, Jem.”

“Not a worry. Let’s continue on. We’ve asked our viewers to send in their questions for you. I hope that’s all right?”

“Absolutely. I’ll do my best to answer.”

“I’ll begin with a question of my own…”

Mr. Anderson laughed. “By all means.”

“In previous interviews we’ve had with Earthers from EarthForce, I was told that recruitment is heavily skewed to prioritize females instead of just a normal kind of recruitment. Is that unusual for Earth? And can you elaborate?”

Anderson nodded. “Yes. That is correct - it is unusual. If I may be so blunt…”

Jem waved that away. “Please – feel free.”

“Just before the arrival of the first Federation expedition, EarthForce had just been newly-constituted, and they were just starting a large recruitment effort to build up the new unified armed forces. Since they were just starting recruitment, the powers-that-be thought it an opportune time to tailor the recruitment to address certain things: one of these was that, since many of the Federation races that EarthForce would likely be interfacing with were… predisposed to more matriarchal, matrilineal and matrifocal customs and traditions, it was decided to increase the quota for female recruits, and to shuffle around existing staff so that there would be a higher female-to-male crew ratio.”

Jem laughed. “Were Earthers thinking of Elyrans at the time, Mr. Anderson?”

He shrugged and laughed. “I'm sorry, Jem, but I'm afraid so. But Elyrans were just one among many others. It was our way to try and establish a commonality with our neighbors-to-be.

“Anyway, the armed forces didn’t want to disrupt current crews or commands so the rule only applied to new crews, recruits and commands. That’s why Captains Okonkwo and Dupont and their crews were mostly unaffected, although that didn’t apply to any additional crew assigned to them.

“This policy didn’t extend to the rest of the government or the rest of Earth, however.”

“But are you saying Earther culture is patriarchal and patrifocal?”

“Oh! No, no no! Not at all! Present-day Earth is closer to an egalitarian society – Earther society isn’t predisposed to make distinctions in roles and reponsibilities based on gender anymore. This… special arrangement was specific to recruitment for the armed forces only, and the assignment of new crew.”

“Is the policy still in effect?”

“It was only a temporary thing, and was in effect only until the emergency situation normalized. Almost immediately after the New Armistice Day... I mean the day of when the Detterex Empire gave their conditional surrender to the Federation, this policy was rescinded. However, a larger number of women than men continue to sign up.” He shrugged. "With all due respect to the men of EarthForce, I guess Earth's women have been encouraged to join because of the examples of Princess Amelia, Lady Sahsha, Captain O'Connel, and all the other brave women of EarthForce. In fact, we've had a few non-Earthers try to enlist. Most have had to be turned down since EarthForce is primarily to help protect Earth, her planets, colonies and people. A prerequisite is, of course citizenship. After all, if push comes to shove..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Anderson - 'push comes to shove?'"

"I'm sorry, Jem. That's an Earther idiomatic expression. It means, when the situation is critical or urgent, or when the time has come for action, and a person has to make a choice."

"I see... please continue."

Anderson nodded. "Well, as I was saying, if push comes to shove, it would be problematic if an EarthForce soldier is forced to make a choice between, say, defending, say, Elyra or defending Earth. It would be a... crisis of loyalty or a crisis of conscience - does he fight with EarthForce or for his original home planet or colony?"

"I see..."

Anderson nodded. "Yes. The concept of one's homeland is an important thing, and we do not want to put a Federation citizen in such a situation. One's homeland, Jem, is an important thing."

Jem nodded soberly. It was lucky that many of the physical signals are common between Elyrans, Detterex and Earthers. "I agree," Jem said.

"In any case, CETI and EarthForce's BuPers and the ATAC have come up with a method to find out whether someone who has voluntarily enlisted can be expected, where such a... 'crisis of conscience' will compromise his oath to EarthForce."

"Some kind of... magical Earther device yet again, I'm sure."

Anderson laughed. "Oh, no, not at all. It's just a series of one hundred questions... ummm, I mean one hundred forty-four in Elyran Base-Eight. And it works for Earthers, Elyrans, Detterex, Dixx, Arachnians, Telcontari, Daemons and, oddly enough, Tirosians."

"This... questionnaire - it's been proven?"

"Indeed. Enough that the armed forces of all the races I mentioned are using it, or variations of it, for their own recruitment activities."

"How about the Erocii, or the Dravidians or Star-453?"

"Sadly, it only works for certain races. It ultimately depends on the person's concepts of home and loyalty. Those that I have mentioned utilize similar paradigms and modes of thought, that the questions are able to elicit the appropriate responses."

"Goodness... well, let's get back to our topic" Jem said. "About Princess Amelia's enlistment - we heard rumors that the Princess was actually a man, and that the Princess had, ummm, changed genders in order to comply with this, ummm, policy, just so she could be part of the Seeker crew. Is there any truth to that?”

“Well, actually, yes, that’s completely true. But it wasn’t a secret. Most of us Earthers think very highly of her - that she would be so selfless as to do that to herself all for the purpose of helping Earth. Prior to her becoming Captain Amelia Catherine Steele of EarthForce, and then later an Admiral, and then a princess of Elyra, she was Dr. William Charles Steele, a famous and well-known scientist, doctor, a decorated veteran of our Asteroid Wars, and, incidentally, the inventor of Phase-Wave.”

Jem looked looked both shocked and awed. “By the prophet... She is all that? and I never thought there was any truth to that rumor… Tell me, do all Earthers have this… power to change genders?”

Anderson laughed. “Oh, no! Humans don’t have the ability to switch genders at all! It was done at a hospital, with medical intervention.”

“You seem pretty casual about it.”

“Well, I don’t know about Elyrans, but there are a few humans that are born with a psycho-medical condition called GID, or Gender Identity Disorder. Such individuals believe they were born with the wrong gender. Usually, this is diagnosed early in their youth, but sometimes a few escape diagnosis. As soon as detected, however, medical intervention is scheduled if necessary. So, though very uncommon and not at all routine, our medical institutions can do this fairly easily. Lady Amelia doesn’t have GID but asked the procedure nevertheless. Her particular procedure was called an FFP instead of the more common GCS. An FFP is a complete physio-chemical change, making the subject a full-fledged female in all functional physical aspects, but it is extremely expensive. But, as you know, she is very rich.”

"And all to help us Elyrans..." Jem looked awed and humbled. “But now that the emergency is over, why doesn’t she switch back? Can’t your technology switch her back?”

“She can be switched back. But that’s not the thing. She hasn’t asked to be switched back. I think she’s happy the way she is now.” Anderson chuckled. "Love tends to do things like that."

“Love…" Jem sighed (as Marjorie did as well while she watched the program).

"Do you think Princess Tasha knows?” Jem asked.

“I’m sure she does. But they are apparently happy with the, ummm, current status quo.”

“Would you have a picture of Princess Amelia from, well, from before?”

Well, let me see.” He took out his CC and after a few moments of searching, he found a picture of Dr. William Steele, from somewhere on the so-called "galactic internet." He handed the CC over to Jem, and Jem had the camera focus on the picture on his CC.

“So that’s the Princess Amelia as a man…” Jem murmured.

“I didn’t know you were going to show that to the audience. Let me do something…” Anderson took back his CC, did something, and pointed the narrow edge into the air in between them. In a few seconds, a sharp, though transparent, 3D image started floating in the air in between the two. He made a few more adjustments and the image solidified.

“This is a video of Lady Amelia, I mean Princess Amelia, when she was still Dr. William Steele. This was taken when he was making his announcement of the first Earther recording of an extraterrestrial transmission ever recorded.”

“You can definitely see the resemblance,” Jem said.

“Well, it is the same person, after all,” the Earther said.

“And she was as handsome as a man as she is a woman,” Jem said.

 
Back in the Recoding Lab in CETI Institute Building B

Phil sighed. “That’s going to be a problem,” He commented.

“Huh?” Marjorie said. “What is?”

“What that fool Anderson did.”

“I don’t get it? What did he do?”

“Well, he said Earthers can change genders at will.”

“No he didn’t!”

Phil shrugged. “Well, yes, he didn't. But the Elyrans will hear what they want to hear. And guess what they heard?” He sighed again. “At least Anderson was able to do us a favor.”

“Which was what?”

“We’ve been trying to figure out a way of breaking the story of Lady Amelia’s change of gender. I guess Anderson did it for us.”

“What are you going to do with the rumor?”

“It’s not yet a rumor. I think we’ll just cross that bridge when it does become one. But we're going to need to have an official biography of Mia ready, and official statements from the British Home Office and the Regent's Office of the Northern Kingdom as well.” He thumbed a button on the wall.

"Yes, Dr. McIntyre," Phil's secretary answered.

"Sammy, get me Sir Arthur Weasely from the British Home office, and Dr. Ben Tevann-Areeyah from the Regents' Office at the Royal Residence."

"Ummm, sir, I take it you mean at the Alwahri Taryn Eloisha Seraphim at the Elyran Northern Kingdom?"

"Yes, Sam, I do. But no one really calls the castle by its full name. They just say the Seraphim."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, call me as soon as Ben or Sir Arthur call back, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

 
Back in Interview Room 10

“So, Mr. Anderson,” Jem said, “what is it that you do at the Embassy, exactly?”

“It’s fairly boring, actually,” he said. “I’m the chief commercial attaché for EarthGovernment to Elyra.”

“And what exactly is a commercial attaché?”

“A commercial attaché is a person posted to a foreign embassy to promote the economic interests of his country, or in this case, the people of the United Nations of Earth.”

“Ahhh.”

“I basically provide information to the various Elyran government units about Earth commercial and business trade matters. Part of that is the sale and trade of Earth-made products and goods, and other matters that could affect trade between Earth System and Elyra.”

“That accounts for your in-depth knowledge. Tell me, are there new things we Elyrans can expect?”

“Indeed, yes! As you may know, New Copernicus, EarthForce’s main shipyard, as well as several eights of civilian shipyards, have been constructing new interstellar civilian ships. These will soon be plying the normal Federation commercial routes and destinations. A handful of them are even now flying the established Elyran, Dixx, Arachnian and Daemon commercial routes, as well as some of the other major routes.”

“But you are saying that there are even more coming?”

“Yes, there will be around two hundred-fifty, or rather three hundred-seven commercial ships, in Elyran Base-8, flying out there in about a month.”

“Why so many, and why so sudden?”

“Well, these ships have been in construction for a while now, and those already running have been plying routes within the eight planets since EarthForce declared a shipping and travel ban because of the Detterex and Tiros emergency, but since the Outbound Travel Alert level has been downgraded from black to yellow, or completely lifted altogether in certain areas, the travel restrictions have been lifted in most Federation planets and destinations.”

“How about to Detterex and Tiros planets?”

“EarthGovernment is following the lead of the Federation on that. For now, travel to Tiros and Detterex destinations are under Threat Level Red, while there are a few which are under Threat Level Black.”

“What are these threat levels?”

“Well EarthGovernment maintains an ‘Outbound Travel Alert’ System, and there are four alert levels – Black indicates a ‘severe’ threat and requires all citizens to avoid travel to these destinations. Red indicates a ‘significant’ threat and non-essential travel to such destinations should be avoided. Yellow requires caution, while no threat level means it’s basically safe.”

“I see.”

“In any case, most of the commercial traffic will be tourist travel-connected. We’ve alerted most of the probable destinations of a large, impending influx of Earth tourists and travelers starting shortly.”

“Sounds terribly exciting.”

“Well, all I can say is that I hope all of your fellow Elyrans will be patient with a lot of gawking and noisy tourists invading your planets,” he laughed. "As revenge, you and your fellow Elyrans can also travel to Earth System as well and be as noisy as you want."

Ren chuckled. “Are all the planetary governments fine with this?”

“Most were fairly excited about tourists, as it would be good for their economies, but many have imposed quotas so that the local economies would not be overwhelmed and would be able to take the load. We have also exchanged life detector readings and we have established that we are able to visit all the Federation planets without worry, and no Federation planet need fear us causing a biological crisis. And we have also imposed some regulations on all Earth travelers to minimize the impact of Earthers to the local ecosystem.”

“That is a relief.”

“So everyone should stock up on tourist trinkets and other souvenirs. You know how tourists are,” he laughed.

“But surely they’re not going to be all tourists?”

“There will be others, to be sure. For example, a lot of academics and scientific types have made a beeline for the capital planets, and many of your local corporations have contracted several of our cargo and freight companies to deliver goods for them. DHL Galactic, UPS and Fedex Space to name three, and for larger cargo, there are Orient Overspace Container Line, Lloyd, the Maersk Group and several others. A lot of them are expecting a long business partnership with their Elyran, Dixx, and Arachnian counterparts. Telcontari companies are still in negotiations but it seems they are unable to put together competitive packages, but we're working closely with them to find solutions. ”

"What's the difficulty? Is there a language barrier or..."

"Oh, not at all! Telcontari are a joy to work with. But, as you know, they are the farthest from most Federation planets, and the cost and logistics are quite problematic. EarthGov has given instructions to keep all agreements equitable. At the moment, Telcontar is paying through the nose to have Dravidian freight ships ferry their cargo, and only Dravidian ships have the sustained capacity to bring their cargo directly to their destinations. Their only other choice is to transship their cargo, which will be even more costly and potentially damage their goods or incur spoilage or losses."

"Sorry, but what does 'through the nose' mean. Sounds... painful."

Anderson laughed. "Sorry! It's an Earther idiom which means to pay more than something is worth, or to pay an exorbitant price."

Jem smiled. "Ahhh! Now, I understand. Hmmm... The history of that idiom must be fascinating."

Anderson nodded. "Many many centuries ago, when my people used to travel in sail-powered ocean-going ships, governments would do a census by, ummm, counting noses, which would be the basis for taxation. To increase taxes, the, ummm, value of a nose would be increased..."

Jem smiled. "Fascinating, indeed. But let's get back on topic."

Anderson nodded. "Okay." (That was one Earther word that didn't need translation - it was one of many Earther words and phrases that had been co-opted by Elyrans, and they used them constantly in regular conversation)

"Well," Anderson continued, "so the problem with Telcontari cargo, at the moment, is that Telcontar is so very far away that shipping their cargo is too expensive. Our only choice would be to charge them quite high fees, and our government feels that we need to find a reasonable compromise between what Earth cargo companies need to charge and what Telcontar can afford."

"I see."

"And their only choices, at the moment are between Dravidian freight forwarders or our cargo companies."

"Quite a dilemma."

“We know our ships are legendary for their speed, range and endurance, and I’m sure this was the main reason the Telcontari contacted us. Truth be told, Earth’s interstellar civilian ships are not as fast as EarthForce military ships, but they can definitely give any other ship a run for its money.”

“Why is that?”

Mr. Anderson shrugged.

“Proscribed tech again?”

He smiled apologetically and shrugged again.

“How about the influx of non-Earthers to Earth Prime…”

“We don’t really call it Earth Prime. Our system is the Solar System since our star is called Sol, and Earth is just the third planet of eight orbiting Sol.”

“Sol… I didn’t know that...”

“You do have a good question, though. We are expecting seventy-seven million extraterrestrials to visit us this year. Excuse me, I mean…” he pulled out his CC and did a quick calculation. “…445,566,500 in Base-8.”

“That sounds like a lot.”

“Well, it’s staggered over the year, and it’s from different planets, not just Elyran ones. Earth economists and scientists have pegged the maximum number of visitors to Earth to 170,000,000 per Earth calendar year. Sorry, I mean 1,210,377,200 in Base-8. That’s in total, which includes government representatives and personnel. So five hundred million is very acceptable.”

“That reminds me. I am very curious about where our people can stay on Earth and the other Earth planets.”

“Well, there are many hotels, restaurants, inns and other establishments that are certified to be able to accommodate Federation citizens, as well as a few on the other Terran worlds. I am sure the embassy can provide you with a list. But the Chamber of Migration and Peerage have classified Earth and all of its colonies as ‘High Habitable,’ which means that all surface locations are totally safe to almost all Federation citizens regardless of their species or place of birth. That means, any place you can find accommodations is fine. Be warned, however that Earth itself has a stronger-than-normal gravity.”

“Thank you, but I was actually curious about the Isles of Scilly…”

Anderson laughed, and Jem looked at him in friendly curiosity. “Princess Amelia prefers to call her Duchy the Sciollian Isles," Anderson said, "and most of us call them that now.”

“Any reason…”

Anderson laughed again. “Well, here’s a bit of history. The Isles of Scilly was named after the Celtic Goddess of legend, Sulis Minerva. And with the Norse suffix ‘ey’ for island, the name became Scilly. The problem was that there is an Earther homonym to the name, which translates as humorously foolish or absurd, or ‘silly.’” (Anderson used the Earth word.)

“Really…” Gem giggled.

“So, I don’t blame Princess Amelia for wanting to call it the Sciollian Isles… Besides, they’re her islands – she can call them whatever she wants. Another alternative name is ‘Sylian,’ as the nearby Cornish folks would call them."

“Did you bring pictures? I hope?”

“Indeed I did.” He did that trick with his CC again, and projected some 3D pictures of the islands in the air.

“Here you see the main embassy buildings on St. Martin’s Island and Tresco Islands. Each building is self contained, and there are accommodations for up to one hundred, I mean, 144 in Elyran Base… Darn – I should stop that.”

“That’s all right. If you prefer, we can activate a translator. You were saying? 144 accommodations?”

“Umm, no need for the translator. But, yes. In several seven-story buildings scattered throughout these two islands. But more visitors can be accommodated if they're willing to double up in their rooms.

"As for the other seven islands, a few contain meeting facilities, medical facilities and a few plants used for environmental systems, refuse processing and filtering, power generation and other things. A large reclaimed area off of Bryher Island was made to be a dormitory for additional embassy personnel and accommodations for short-term visitors. Two islands, St. Agnes and Gugh were entrusted to the Earth Government to be made as parks full of native indigenous Earth flora and fauna appropriate to the local weather and conditions, and I heard they've been seeing heavy use by our visitors.

“In case meetings need to be conducted with Earth officials, EarthGov also maintains a small regional office near Bar Point on St. Mary’s, and in the few times that they need to attend meetings and events at the UN or other locations, there is a handful of ballistic shuttles reserved for their use, and an Airbus A300-1000H Hypersonic ballistic airliner is permanently parked in its own hangar, ready for use.” Anderson switched the picture to show the new hangar.

“Goodness. They all look very futuristic and advanced… what’s the Earther phrase for it? They look very ‘high tech.’”

“Indeed, they are.”

“What’s this?”

“Ahh, that’s the island of St. Mary’s - the largest. Princess Amelia has not included the island in the lease, and has retained it as her home. Many of its structures have been recovered and maintained, and the old castle called the Star Castle, which was a fort that was made into a hotel, was converted again, and is now the official residence of Princess Mia.

“The Federation leasehold, the castle, as well as the nearby St. Mary’s Airport, has been refurbished and upgraded. The Airport has now been upgraded to a class-three spaceport so it can handle Airbus Hypersonics.”

After Jem got his fill of the pictures, they continued with the interview.

“Now, ‘changing topics,’ as you Earthers would say… Going back to your mention of business partnerships - wouldn’t it be difficult to conduct any kind of business transactions between the Federation and Earth?”

“What do you mean?”

“There is no common currency that our governments use, so wouldn’t that make things difficult?”

“Yes. But given the turmoil in many Federation financial systems, EarthGov is still not amenable to establishing a mutually recognized monetary system yet. Transactions will still be strictly barter-trade. Although a temporary system is being set up to allow visitors to be able to purchase Earther goods and services using vouchers. It's actually patterned after the voucher system EarthGov and other governments have established. As soon as this is firmed up, I am sure the information will be disseminated through channels.”

"How will this work?"

"Vouchers will be given to Elyran and other governments in exchange for shipments of Cerium, Lanthanum, Europium, Erbium, Neodymium and other so-called 'rare earth' minerals. Ummm, I'm told you will translate proper nouns?"

Jem giggled and nodded.

"Anyway," Anderson continued, "each voucher will have an equivalent to the local Earth currency, and this will act like virtual currency."

“But no real money, yet?”

“No, but these vouchers can be used to 'purchase' for any goods or service on Earth, and will be accepted in any Earther establishment.”

“So, that would be like money?”

“Yes. But it would be the equivalent of fiat money instead of fiduciary or commodity money in that the value is fixed by EarthGov. And since it’s not supposed to be circulated like money, the vouchers will be destroyed immediately after use, and will have a ‘use by’ period.”

“How long would…”

“I have been told that the period would be roughly three Earth months from issuance, which EarthGov believes is long enough that people will not feel pressured to use them right away. This is to prevent hoarding more than anything, and to prevent them being traded or used for off-Earth transactions.”

“I have to get myself some of those vouchers!” Jem said, humorously rubbing his hands together.

Anderson laughed. “I heard the first shipment of rare Earth minerals just arrived at Lunar Station One, so they will start issuing them within the month.”

 
Back in the Recoding Lab in CETI Institute Building B

“Is that true, Professor?” Marjorie asked. "Vouchers?"

“I’m not sure. Although this Anderson character probably knows more about it than us given he’s connected to EarthGov's State Department. But it’s true – there'll be problems that will surely be encountered with regards the current barter-trade system that we’re using. Taking payment in kind for the transactions that we currently do is starting to become unweildly. These vouchers might turn out to be the solution.”

"Aren't you worried that the vouchers will be counterfeited?"

Phil spread his hands. "Hey, these are Earther vouchers. Do you think the aliens can counterfeit them?"

Marjorie nodded. “Right. Is there anything else we can do? Are there other ideas?”

“Well, there is nothing CETI can do, except to note these ideas down, and forward them to the authorities.”

“But what about what CETI’s done in the past?”

Phil looked at the young transsexual. “That’s a very naïve thing to say. CETI is a research and academic institution. We have no say in influencing the government in that way.”

“Well, I don’t know about that…”

He sighed. “You are a doctoral candidate, right? One of the bright young stars of Georgetown, I was told.”

“Well …”

“Give me a précis, a quick summary, of what led us to this point.”

“That’s not easily done.”

“Try.”

Marjorie sighed. It was like she was always reciting in class or taking a test.

“Okay,” she said. “Here goes…”

 
A Quick History Lesson

A little under eighteen Earth years ago, near the end of the 24th century, the famous Doctor William Steele, foremost proponent of cutting-edge science and a decorated military veteran of the Asteroid Wars, made an announcement at the UN. He announced his discovery-slash-invention of Phase-Wave and, through the application of that new technology, he was able to record a short alien radio conversation. And, with that unprecedented recording, the doctor was able to start the ball rolling for the development of Phase-Wave.

In less than a year, the new technology supplanted all other systems that made use of radio and EM technology – from video and audio communications, to radar and other technologies. Communications, navigation, mapping, weather detection, electronics, and many other systems were revolutionized. Phase-Wave also made the super-expensive and power-hungry Seren Stations, the cornerstone of Earth’s communications with the other planets in the Solar System, obsolete.

With the retirement of the Seren stations, hundreds of thousands of megajoules of power were freed up, changing the economy of the entire system, making Earth the richest single system in the known universe.

Doctor Steele was also responsible for organizing CETI, the Center for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, a government-funded private agency whose one goal was to discover and understand as much about Earth’s new interstellar neighbors as was possible via Phase-Wave audio and video communication intercepts. The technology allowed CETI to accumulate enough information to get a profile of most of the races in what they found was called the Galactic Federation of Free Races, as well as learn how to speak many of their languages.

Along with all this information, they also got good data about the Federation’s FTL technology. With this data, and the work of Dr. Marta Running-Stream’s Propulsion Research Commission, or PRC, EarthGov was therefore able to finalize Earth’s first real FTL ships. These became Earth’s first-generation Type-One and Type-Two military spacecraft. And the new tech also influenced the redesign of their new Eagle strike fighters and Cobra shuttles.

But aside from this, the CETI intercepts also gave information that showed the Federation was on the brink of war with a neighboring system called the Tiros/Detterex Empire.

From all that they knew, the Tirosians were a brutal race that had conquered and enslaved all the races and civilizations that they had gone up against, with the exception of the Detterex. At the time, the Tirosians and the Detterex were in a tenuous kind of alliance, but both were only a few years away from a showdown with the Federation.

It was the opinion of the CETI analysts that Earth would be caught in the crossfire between these two galactic superpowers, and it was in the Earth’s interest to be allied with the Federation and develop some allies of her own before this war eventually broke out.

To make this happen, Dr. Steele therefore had a kind of ‘hello’ message transmitted to the Federation planets as a kind of invitation for them to visit Earth, with the eventual goal of actually negotiating for membership in the Federation. (Though Phase-Wave made this possible, it was a strictly a one-time thing given the basic two-way incompatibility between radio-based and Phase-Wave-based tech.)

Of course, the Federation people heard the message, and the bird-like Dixx, the spider-like Arachnians and the human-like Elyrans sent an expedition. The problem was that the Empire heard it too, and sent its own expedition as well, with the goal of putting down the Federation expedition.

With Phase-Wave, the humans knew this, of course, which those in the know used as a pretense to finally put together a united Earth army and navy, cementing all the various armed forces of the Earth and her colonies into one, and it was decided that the new “EDF” was to send its own reception committee. Intercept squadron 41/18, made up of a couple of the new Type-Twos plus an old, refurbished battlewagon was dispatched to meet them.

Steele didn’t want to leave this potential powder keg in other people’s hands, so he demanded to be part of intercept 41/18, and preferably to be the one in command. The new head of the EDF, Admiral Silverman, would have had no problem with that since Dr. Steele’s military credentials, though not widely known, made him eminently qualified. But there was a new policy.

Analysis of the information that CETI had been gathering showed that, inasmuch as all the alien cultures within the Federation were, at a minimum, at least a thousand millenniums old, they were not as liberal and evolved as the humans thought they’d be, but then again human civilization was not even 50,000 years old, so what did they know? Compared to the aliens, humans were barely more advanced than their simian cousins. Who were they to pass judgment?

But from all the data the humans had gathered, they knew that most of the important races had a feudal kind of society. Dr. Steele’s best friend, Dr. Marcus Bidwell, said they actually felt downright medieval.

Their societies’ model had a striking resemblance to the Europe of the Middle Ages. Back then, a ruling class held most of the land and property in Europe for the de-facto government, in exchange for military protection and civil services for the locals. The "lower classes," in turn, became tenants of the nobles, or worked for them and gave them homage, notionally in exchange for the noble's patronage and protection. This was, in fact, how one could describe the state of Elyran society.

Not all of the aliens were like that, but many of the influential races were, and since the rest of the Federation took their cue from them, the entire Federation was slowly turning toward that model. In fact, CETI expected the others to adopt the same socio-political model in a couple of hundred centuries.

But one of the major differences they had with, say, a stereotypical 13th-century baronage in Europe was that they were mostly matriarchal - that their society was dominated by their females instead of males, the opposite of Medieval Earth.

It was largely because of this that made Admiral Silverman issue a fleet communiqué that said, in part, the following:

“It shall be the responsibility of all commanders whose units will come in contact with non-terrestrial personalities, entities or units, to insure two thirds of their units shall be under the command of a female officer, and this shall be maintained in all command structures, from platoons or wings up to fleet-size forces.

“Units under a female commander are the only units that can be assigned missions that will expressly engage non-terrestrial forces.

“These general directives shall be strictly complied with, and shall be in force until the current xenological crisis has passed.”

Silverman issued this directive in an effort to establish a commonality with the aliens, and therefore help humans find acceptance with their new neighbors. After all, it didn’t really matter to him – 24th century armies didn’t really make distinctions between male and female soldiers anymore, so it was just a matter of assigning the proper crew to the appropriate ships.

In typical William Steele style, Dr. Steele engineered things so that he could join Taskforce 41/18: before the task force’s departure from Triton Station, he was able to join them as their commander, but not as the academic, Dr. William Charles Steele, but as Captain Amelia Catherine Steele...

In the 24th century, GID was a rare condition, but it happens from time to time, and medical science was able to chemically and surgically change the gender of anyone who wanted it, through cloning compatible tissue, performing the appropriate surgery and administering the appropriate hormones. Dr. Steele made use of this technology to switch his own gender, which cleared her to be re-enlisted and be assigned as 41/18’s commander.

The decision to change was not exactly an easy one, of course. Given who he was, he could probably have pulled some strings and didn’t really need to have a GCS and FFS, but because of his high visibility and the fragile nature of the new new EDF, he couldn’t openly flout Silverman's directives and therefore leave him open to doubts about his command, and thereby jeopardize the fragile coalition.

During the month that 41/18 took to travel to and rendezvous with the aliens, Dr. William Steele, now Captain Amelia Steele, labored to successfully adjust to being a new female, and did her best to be a credit to her new crew.

And when they did rendezvous with the aliens, she and her new command was put to the test when the worst scenario came to pass: upon emerging from light speed, the two groups of aliens started firing on each other.

In the mind of the new Earth captain, she had already decided to throw their future in with the Federation, so she helped defend the Federation envoys and fight off the Empire invaders. The death of one of her pilots at the hands of the Empire expedition gave her a convenient excuse to do so.

After an epic battle, they were successful in turning away the Tirosians and Detterex, allowing the Dixx, Arachnians and Elyrans to continue on to Earth.

On the month-long sub-light trip from the outskirts of the solar system to Earth (Mia and her fellow "Earthers" had to accommodate the slower extraterrestrials, who needed this time to properly decelerate), Taskforce 41/18 again engaged the Tirosian invaders twice more, decimating the Tirosians and Detterex in the process, although one ship escaped to raise the alarm in the Empire about this new, upstart and quite dangerous and aggessive species - the humans.

Upon arrival on Earth, Mia finally got to meet the Elyran Princess Tasha and Prince Ren, the Dixx Admiral Dax, and the Arachnian First Ambassador face to face instead of via Phase-Wave-slash-radio. Little did Mia know that these would become four of her best friends.

When the Federation representatives arrived on Earth, the Dixx, Arachnians, Elyrans and the “Earthers” (as the aliens liked to call them), anxious to sign an alliance, wasted no time and established the beginnings of what would eventually be known as the Earth Alliance - the unofficial name of the alliance between Arachnia, Daemon, Dixx, Earth, Elyra, Star-453 and Telcontar (though, at the time, it was just between Arachnia, Dixx, Earth and Elyra).

To say that this was unprecedented was an understatement: though Elyrans looked very similar to Humans, the Dixx looked more like upright birds and the Arachnians looked like friendly cartoon tarantulas with hard, crab-like, shiny, orange-and-white exoskeletons. One thing that "Earthers" would realize, as many in the Federation already know, was that, whatever one looked like or where one came from was inconsequential - people are people, whether they be covered in fur or feathers or chitin.

Though Earth wanted immediate admittance to the Federation, their visitors couldn’t guarantee that. Therefore, Mia’s taskforce was assigned to bring their new friends back to Colossus, the headquarters of Federation government, and personally present Earth’s petition to the Federation Council and the Federation Chamber of Migration and Peerage.

So the remaining Federation ships, along with Captain Steele’s three ships supplemented by four new ones (Mia’s squadron was now rechristened Earth’s Fifth Fleet), made their way to Colossus, and, in two months, they were at the seat of Federation government.

Politics and intrigue were never unique to the “Earthers,” and they had a crash course in alien race relations as Mia and her people were forced to deal with Federation personalities and priorities. Nevertheless, they were making headway into their petition when the Empire sent ships to Colossus as well as to Earth again. Earth was ready for them this time, while Mia and her people did their best to assist Colossus personnel in repelling Empire ships.

Initially, the Federation forces did not trust Mia’s EarthForce people, but their total ineffectiveness in repulsing the invaders left it to the Earthers to save Colossus. And save it they did, in spectacular fashion. Back on Earth Admiral Silverman was also successful in repelling his own invaders.

It could be said that this was instrumental to the Federation approving their application, but whatever it was, Earthers became the newest members of the Federation, and were rapidly acquiring reputations as doughty warriors, brilliant politicians and people loyal to their friends.

The Earthers couldn’t rest on their laurels, however, since their latest Phase-Wave intelligence indicated that the Tirosians and Detterex were gearing up for an imminent invasion. With the help of the Fifth Fleet, Colossus sent messages, and the Federation prepared for war.

Mia and her people joined the ships that were on the way to the Elyran homeworld since Phase-Wave showed it was the next targeted for invasion.

Upon their arrival at Elyra Prime, Mia and the others helped the Elyrans to start preparations for the arrival of the enemy. And, using a well-planned defensive strategy, the enemy, which turned out to be just made up of Detterex ships, was defeated.

But the Detterex didn’t go down without a fight. At the last moment, a small group of the invaders were able to land on Elyra Prime and, in a desperate final move, headed off to the capital, broke into the royal castle and kidnapped the Elyran queen - Ren's mother, and therefore Tasha's mother-in-law.

Tasha, Mia and a small contingent of their people joined the Elyrans in the rescue of the queen, and in so doing, killed the leader of the invasion, who happened to be the heir apparent to the Detterex throne.

This latest defeat got back to the Tirosians and Detterex which, needless to say threw a monkey wrench in their plans. Their forces, which they were consolidating preparatory to an attack, were sent back to the Tirosian and Detterex homeworlds.

This gave everyone in the Federation a little breather, and gave them a little more time to continue consolidating their own forces. Mia decided to return to Colossus to help organize from there. However, they didn’t count on a Detterex spy-saboteur masquerading as an Elyran (Detterex looked exactly like Elyrans, after all).

This spy’s scheme to sabotage Colossus was thwarted by Mia, but not before Prince Ren, the husband of Princess Tasha, the heir apparent to the Elyran throne, was killed.

In her grief, Tasha went into a suicidal rampage, but Mia and Sahsha Delyer, Earther diplomatic administrator, and Mia’s girlfriend, were able to stop her. And through the efforts of Earther and Federation officers, more Detterex spies were unmasked and allowed them to proceed making plans for defeating the Tirosians and Detterex unhindered.

Many things happened from that point on: Federation forces were able to take the fight to the Tirosian homeworld. In that engagement, through the use of something called the "Curtain of Light" and the continuous bombardment of the planet by "kinetic energy bombs" - essentially inert rocks fired at the planet at great speed - the Tirosians had no choice but to surrender.

But the Tirosian character could not take the humiliation of defeat, and close to ninety-five percent of the population committed suicide - the Tirosians virtually wiped themselves out. As for the Tiros fleet in orbit, half of the fleet served notice that they have, in essence, mutinied, and just quietly departed.

As for the Detterex, before the Federation sent their ships, they opted to surrender rather than face what the Tirosians faced, and the Federation, under the leadership of the Earthers, proceeded to consolidate all three political entities - the Federation, the Tirosians and the Detterex - into one single alliance, with the Earthers acting as the unofficial enforcers of law, and defenders of the people.

Many other things happened, like Mia's friend, Dr. Jennifer Priestly becoming the new apprentice of the Keeper of the Heritage, the unofficial spiritual and religious leader of most of the peoples of the Federation; or that Mia, Sahsha and Tasha, the heir apparent of all Elyra, got married; that, upon the death of the queen, the three became the new Elyran Royal Family, with Tasha becoming the new monarch, and her Earther wives as her royal princess consorts; and that with her appointment as the Steward of the Realm of the Elyran Northern Territory, Mia became the second most powerful person in Elyra.

And the people of the galaxy lived happily ever after.

- - - - -

"That's very good, kid," Phil nodded. "Expertly done. Excellent concatenation of the major events in the past fifteen or so years."

Marjorie blushed. "Thank you, sir," she said.

"I could have done without the 'happily ever after,' though," Phil laughed.

 
Getting To Meet The Princess

Phil McIntyre listened with pleasure as this new grad student, Marjorie, succinctly boiled down all the important information that he asked for into a short ten-minute lecture.

Of course, she did cut out a lot of important details, and he quizzed her on those, and she comported herself expertly. What's more, Phil had interviewed her in fluent Elyran, Detterex, Tirosian and Dravidian. Though she struggled with Tirosian and Dravidian, she was extremely fluent in Elyran and Detterex (Detterex was largely like a dialect of Elyran so, if one knew Elyran, one knew Detterex as well).

This pleased Phil very much - after interviewing a dozen interns, this one was, by far, the best and most knowledgeable. And she demonstrated an attitude that went beyond just wanting a degree and a career. This one had real passion for the material, and truly semed to have the same views that he and the people of CETI had. This might be the one that Mia had asked for.

After they finished making notes on the program, he took the youngster to CETI Station Seventeen's best coffee place, which was not that big a deal since there were only eleven of them, but this one had had Saturnian Coffee.

He asked Marjorie her plans after graduation, and she said she was unsure. But then she said she wanted a diplomatic career, perhaps a posting at one of the embassies, preferrably the one at Elyra Prime, or as one of the volunteers in the various missionary and oureach expeditions to the so-called "orphan worlds" of the former Tiros Empire, or perhaps volunteer for the "First Wave" missions that the Federation regularly launches to recent interdiction or military intervention events to help speed normalization. Failing that, perhaps the consulate at Detterex Prime.

"Detterex! Whatever for?"

"Well, Professor," she said, timidly, "it's where we're needed - to find a way to speed up the integration of Elyran and Detterex societies."

Phil laughed. "And you said you were unsure."

Marjorie smiled and giggled nervously. Professor McIntyre had a reputation for a dry and sarcastic kind of humor that has made many an undergrad run from the lecture hall crying. Marjorie was determined that she won't be one of those.

"I guess I've thought about it a bit," she said bravely. But the professor seemed to take that in stride.

"Well, here's a question," Phil said, "how would you like to meet the Princess Amelia Liaran-Kerr-Steele?"

She looked at Phil slack-jawed.

"You're pulling my leg," she said.

Phil chuckled. "Nope."

Marjorie looked steadily at Phil. "What's the catch, Professor?"

"No catch. You and seven other graduate students from four other universities have been selected, and will be part of a little ceremony and reception party to meet with the Elyran Royal Family at the Federation Embassy on St. Mary's Island."

Though Marjorie was almost beside herself with excitement, she tried to appear calm and collected. "What's the ceremony about?"

"It's something that CETI and the ATAC people from the military have cooked up, in cooperation with the Royal Family and the Arachnians, Telcontari, Daemons, Dixx and those from Star-453."

"Isn't that courting disaster? What about the Dravidians? The Erocii? Won't they protest or something, that they're left out of this... whatever it is, and upset the current uneasy status quo in the council?"

"Very good, my dear! None of the others thought about that."

"Thank you, sir."

"Well, to answer your question, yes, you're right. The delicate balance of power in Colossus has not improved much since we were admitted. Many will say it's the Dravidians that are causing all the instability in the Federation's power structure, and I, for one, agree. Dravidians have enjoyed their privileged status for more than ten millenia. I doubt they would think kindly of an upstart like us 'Earthers,' and our incredible impertinence of rescuing the galaxy, grabbing the Federation's hearts and minds and, in so doing, making them almost inconsequential to the Federation.

"Because of which, the Telcontari, the current administrators of Colossus, have bent over backwards just to keep the Dravidians happy and in the loop, despite the fact they had resigned their positions as administrators of Colossus, and resigned all their posts in all committees and councils. Their pride wouldn't let them do otherwise.

"Telcontari are smart, smarter than any of the Federation people give them credit for. Knowing this of the Dravidians and other races with a similar perspective, the Telcontari made this new project of the Princess totally open and above-board. Many wanted to participate, but did not have the means. As for those that did have the means, only the Elyrans, Arachnians, Telcontari, Daemons, Dixx and us Earthers agreed to participate."

"The Dravidians didn't participate? That's unexpected."

"I thought so, too, but in hindsight, given the substantial materiele, resources and personnel they were expected to contribute, they backed out quickly. I don't have to tell you that Dravidians are legendary penny pinchers. Do you agree?"

Marjorie giggled and nodded.

"So... you want to meet the Princess and her new family?"

"Of course! But... what's the project about? Do you need me to do anything?"

Phil waved that away as if that wasn't important. "In that case, get your stuff together. We're leaving on a military halo flight in a couple of days, and make sure you tell friends and family you will away for at least six months. I don't want to hear any of your professors say you skipped class or dropped a course or something."

"What? What halo flight? What..."

"A halo flight is what they now call ships that land directly at their passengers' destination straight from their point of departure at super speeds."

"Ahhh. One of those! They call those flights 'concordes' nowadays. Don't ask me why."

You learn something new everyday, Phil thought. He waved Marjorie away. "Go on. Skeedadle." And Marjorie nodded.

Despite looking a little perplexed, she picked up her things preparatory to leaving.

"Marjorie!" Phil said.

"Ummm, yes, sir?"

Phil smiled broadly. "Good work."

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.