*
The day of 23rd dawned. Kaz and Az spent all morning planning, poring over the navigation system and checking the planes. Helkmid and Simone supervised the loading of the virus, suspended in liquid, into the tanks. Con, who had grown up on a farm in Australia, rigged up a float valve in order for Kaz and Az to determine how much virus solution they had left. They were each going to try to spray two cities tonight. Li and Stella had been helping with what they could.
Li was in tears as they finished up. She muttered to Stella, “I’m going to Choose him now.”
Stella grabbed her and held on. “Oh no you’re not! Don’t you be so self centred! He needs his sleep if he’s going to survive the night. He doesn’t need a distraction.”
“But he might die!”
“Yes he might. But if he has a good sleep now he has more of a chance to live!”
“But he doesn’t know I love him!”
“The whole bloody Planet knows! Well the ones who went with you up North all know; the way you two carried on.”
Li blushed, “But I haven’t told him. And he’s all I’ve got!” She started to cry.
“Li, you have a sister and a mother. We will always be there for you,” and Stella held Li as she cried.
“What’s Li upset about?”
“Take an educated guess Kaz,” said Stella dryly. Li blushed even more as Kaz smiled.
“The war won’t last forever Li,” he said.
“Go and give Az a kiss and don’t say anything to distract him. He needs to sleep.”
Li went over to Az and kissed him. “See you when you wake up,” she said with a smile she didn’t feel and patted him on the backside as he turned away.
Twelve hours later, Kaz and Az all ready to go, Li and Az kissed soundly again and Li said fiercely, “You come back to me!”
Az smiled, “Promise,” he said. Li looked up in shock. He had spoken in English! She had been so used to the Translator answering after he spoke that it had been a second before it had registered that only he had spoken, not the Translator.
Az and Kaz got up into the planes and left, Li still a little stunned. She wondered later if that had been his intention; to distract her.
The first part of the journey, they stayed together, able to talk via ship to ship communicators that had a very narrow band and a short range. They were flying low but over miles and miles of ocean. They had chosen a route that took them over sea as far as possible.
“I’ve been thinking. I think we should glide over the cities. No engine noise,” said Az.
“Yeah, I thought that too.”
“Do you think Li will Choose me?”
“I think she would have today and Stella stopped her so it wouldn’t distract you. I overheard part of their conversation.”
“Do you think Stella will Choose you?”
“I hope so. I don’t know. I know she likes me. Kelly’s watching me like I’m a threat!”
“Just think if we turned up home with a girl each! Mum would think it was wonderful.”
“Do you realise we each come from different planets? Where would we live? They’ll probably want to live on their world. We’d be freaks on their planet. And they are so different to us. We keep expecting them to act like us but they don’t.”
“True. Well the ones here have got used to us all right. Imagine a whole world of hairless people.”
“Yeah, weird.”
“Kelly says there are some who look like us. She said their pelts aren’t nearly as good though. She also said they have 104 boys born to every 100 girls, but that does vary a bit from country to country.”
“That’s hard to believe. I heard her say that too.”
“Stella doesn’t know her father. She told me he took off before Stella was born. He went off with another woman. Can you imagine that! Simone’s husband is even worse. He’s trying to kill her and Dieter. How could a man want to kill his own wife and child?”
“I know. I heard the women talking. They weren’t shocked; well not like we are. There’s something very wrong with some of these Terran men. They don’t treat their women right. They cheat on them and some even kill them. Rani said it isn’t even against the law in some countries. There are even men who have several wives! But she also said some wives and girl babies are still killed. Some boy babies too, but almost all of the babies killed are girls. Li says some of the men regard women as their property, including their daughters. It’s like the women are things, not people. She says it’s a very pervasive attitude and so many men have it to some extent. One of the things she noticed about us is that we respect women and value them.”
“She got that right!”
“Li says so many men kill their wives that it’s scary.”
“I don’t know how to take this. They seem so normal here but what they say is mind numbing. It’s perverted. How can their society survive like this?”
“Li says the men are in control and don’t value women and children. She says it’s slowly changing but when the law makers, law enforcers and lawyers are mostly men it’s badly biased.”
“Did you tell her what it’s like in Petislay?”
“Yeah but I don’t think she believed me.”
“Do you think she just might go with you?”
“I don’t know,” said Az slowly, “She’s definitely interested. I told her what the law is like on Petislay and what her rights would be. We talked a lot.”
“Oh is that what you were doing? Talking with your hands? If Kelly finds out you’re for it.”
Az blushed. “We didn’t do anything we shouldn’t. She hasn’t Chosen me.”
“Looks like she’s close!”
“I know. I don’t know what to do. Kelly tells me she’s too young.”
“No she isn’t!”
“She is by their law.”
“On Terra? This isn’t Terra! And once she’s Chosen only she can change her mind. Kelly can’t do it for her.”
“That’s our law. It’s not theirs.”
“Their law is a puzzle. I don’t understand it. How come she has to reach 16? Girls can have babies younger than that. It’s safe three years after they mature and that’s 13 to 14 so why 16? If she’s young she has to have her parent’s consent. Stella told me. But Li’s parents are dead. What happens then?”
“I don’t know. But she’s awfully lonely, even with Stella and Kelly.” He sighed, “Stella had a few choice words with me after we got back and she’d talked to Li. She demanded to know if I was serious about Li. She said Li’s feeling so alone. She hasn’t any brothers or sisters and neither did her parents. Her grandparents are dead. She feels all alone even though Kelly is adamant she is now her mother. And she’s not as strong as Stella. Stella says she’s really fragile.”
“Yes I know. You’d look after her better than any Terran man would! But, what do we tell them about us? That we can’t father children without help. You know we have to declare that.”
“No we don’t. That’s Niseyen law. That’s not Terran law. And Helkmid treated us. He said our genes are fixed.”
“He said probably. He said he needs to check in a few weeks time. What if the treatment didn’t work? What if we’re not close enough genetically?”
“Helkmid said it would work.”
Kaz decided not to argue. Az had been very sensitive ever since both of them had been tested as adolescents and failed the tests. Az had been devastated. Kaz less so as their father had been the same. Kaz was more of a realist. It was after this that Az had been determined to find a career attractive to women. Their parent’s limited financial resources to help virtually determined the final choice of something with on the job training. Both were bright enough for higher education but lacked the money to spare considering what their medical costs would be to start a family even with the first child rebate. They flew in silence for a few minutes.
“If Stella Choose you and came too, maybe they’d come to Petislay just to have a look. On
ce they see what it’s like, surely they might think about staying? They’d have a much better life.”
There was silence again for a while as they negotiated some cliffs and started to fly over land.
“Some things about these Terrans are really worrying me,” said Az. “Notice how good they all are with weapons. Even their women and children.”
“Yes. Stella and Kelly played that Paint Ball game. Almost all of them seem to have a scary accuracy. Stella’s a lot better than me with those blow guns and I’m supposed to be the professional fighter here.”
“Heck Bella and Bea can beat me. Their aggression is really frightening. And their whole world is like this?”
“They’ll make deadly enemies. It’s their expectation that they can win that scares me; against a Keulfyd force.”
“To see them train, I believe it. Those kids are training four to six hours a day and they love it. Mathew intends to use the kids as a first strike. He’s going to get them into the cities to get in behind those bushes and shoot the pilots as they get up. They’ve all got those camouflage suits and they look just like another bush with a long branch. Since the blowguns are silent, the pilots will think probably it’s insects stinging them. The kids have to be accurate enough to hit skin or their faces and they are! Mathew has made sure no one tells the kids that they will be killing them though. Kelly reckons it will harm the kids if they know that. Also she says the kids will be more accurate if they think the pilots are just going to go to sleep. Helkmid reckons it’ll take about an hour for the poison to kill, depending on their size and how many hits they get. By 15 to 30 minutes, they should be too dizzy and too sick to fight. Mathew’s right. If the various diseases and blowguns get enough of them before the fighting starts it is a possibility. Just.
But it’s the training that gets me. The adults put the kids into teams and make a game of it.” Az said slowly. “And have you seen them training the adults to take over the cities? To enter the buildings they have one group defending and one group attacking and then next time they switch the Teams. They train them way better than we were trained. Moving through the cities, they go in groups of three or four. The fastest one in front, that they sometimes call point, two on either side and one to guard the rear, or take over point if the front one is killed. Have you seen them enter a building? They do it better than our best. Their technique is amazing. Mathew already knew how to do this. What type of a world do they have with such an emphasis on tactics that they all know it? Worst, they train them to keep fighting if they are injured. They actually train them in how to fire from the ground simulating injuries. If they are dying, they are to guard the rear. All of them fight, including all the women.
Mathew is sorting them out by ability and those who are the fastest and the best shots. Helene is one of the front ones. Mathew makes no concessions for the women. Only for the children. He is counting all over 16 as adults. Mathew says they have to get the armouries. The Cat’s job is to find out where they are. And to determine where the barracks and headquarters are. They frighten me. The adults and the children. They fight so well. They are so dedicated. Yet if they were not, they could not win.
“You think they can win?”
“I do,” Az said slowly. “It is possible. When you look at their attitude and their ability. Mathew says they must. He says it’s win or die. I asked him if he really thinks they can win. He told me it’s possible, if the diseases and the blow guns kill enough before the actual fighting starts. But he says it’s irrelevant. They fight and die or they fight and win. All or nothing. No reserve. No plan B. And all are in agreement. They think the Kepi are wrong. But strangely, they do seem to understand that some are not fighters. They say some Terrans would refuse to kill and just die. Mathew has planned it right down to equipment failure with spare gloves and a spare blow gun each for the kids.” Kaz paused thoughtfully for a minute then continued, “Something Mathew said was very interesting. Mathew and I were arguing about the women fighting and Mathew was saying women make the best fighters under these circumstances because they are protecting their people. He said men make better aggressors and women make better defenders. This is a defender war. He said not only can you not stop them fighting, it would make no sense. He said they will fight to the death to defend their families.
Mathew also said women tend to fight more with their brains. They are less reckless unless nothing else will work. He said his father often reckoned women tended to see more possibilities and took more opportunities offered, where men used less tactics and were less inclined to change tactics and take an opening when they saw one. It wasn’t that the men weren’t just as bright and couldn’t think fast on their feet because they could. It was that men stuck more to the plan while women would take a better plan if they saw one. He said it might be because women were a little more flexible and their multi-tasking abilities were better than men’s. But you couldn’t count on it, and some men could multi-task just as well or could be trained to.”
“But isn’t multi-tasking like flying a plane? Male pilots are just as good as women. Oh. I remember being told most women learn to fly faster than men do because they can concentrate on several things at the same time. Multi-tasking.” Kaz flew for a while, thinking.
There was a pause while Az checked his Navigator. “Li tells me China has compulsory military training. Women too. And in their armed forces, everyone has to have basic military training. That’s cooks, clerks, doctors, drivers, everyone with no exceptions. Like Kelly said. Every one can fight. We don’t do that. Not even in our military schools. Li said one country, Israel, has had compulsory military training for years and during it, women are forbidden from getting pregnant. She also said women are in the fighting forces in most countries. In the front lines. Flying the fighter planes. They are only exempt if they are pregnant and that’s only usually when they are too pregnant to fight and tell their commanding officer. She says that can be embarrassing if they Are the commanding officer.”
Kaz spluttered, “You have to be kidding! Is she telling the truth?”
“Yes I think so. That’s what’s so scary. And yet they seem so trusting and so nice. They seem decent but they’re deadly. I sort of said this to Li. She agrees. She wasn’t offended. They have a huge peace movement. Everyone seems to agree they shouldn’t be like this but the planet is overcrowded and using up its resources. Li says they have to fight to survive. She admits they are fighting each other. She was ashamed. She says their birth rate is too high. That China has a one child per family policy and has had this for decades but the people hate it. And they don’t adhere to it. Some hide their children.”
“Well that I can understand; the hating that policy bit and hiding their kids.”
“Li says in china every family can have one child but if the first child is registered then they have to pay a hefty penalty to register any subsequent children. It’s an average year’s wage. Li says, especially in rural areas, if the first child is a girl, sometimes the family don’t register her. Or worse, she is killed. Then they have another child. If it’s a boy, they’ll register him but if it’s a girl they sometimes again won’t. The unregistered girls are non-people. They’re sometimes not allowed to be educated or receive health care without being registered. Especially in the cities. Sometimes they eventually get registered and sometimes they never do. Some parents manage to save up the money in time for them to go to school. Some don’t or can’t. Li says her parents registered her and then adhered to the policy. Her mother Bella ensured she never had another child.
Li says she’s lucky. A lot of girls are unwanted and some are sold. A lot means millions. Many millions if you count other countries with the same attitudes.”
Can we get a few million to come to Petislay to live?”
“Is not the point, do we want them? We will have to make sure they don’t outnumber us. Is there any question which side would win in a fight?”
“No. We’d be beaten. But they could int
ermarry with us and solve our population crisis.”
“Would our children inherit their aggression?”
“Li says the environment is causing it. She says it’s one of the reasons she would like to look at Petislay. She says she’d love to live in peace and bring children up with no wars in the news every night.”
“Mentioning children reminds me. Did you hear there is a plan to help the smallest children survive no matter what. If we lose, they are to hide where they are and escape at night. They are to discard any evidence of sapience and go to the Cats. The Cats will take them underground and care for them. Then they have been told it is their mission to expose what has happened. They have been told they have been chosen to survive and tell and they must do so if we lose.”
“Yes, I heard that too. Good plan. But this attitude of Terran men to the women. It really gets to me.”