Chapter Twenty
Six told nine farewell. Three promised to take care of six and three promised to take care of three. Then each individually promised to take care of all the others who would be with them and Ven and Anverd promised to take care of everyone on the ship. Before they left orbit, Boer sent a long personal letter to his cousin and his parents. Even Anverd didn't know the code in it. He and Tam had made it when they were boys.
Fourteen days after the ship left Valer, Tam sat down with the letter, read it and smiled. Then he read just a few 'words' in it again and found what Boer had told him. He'd given him their names and what they had surmised. He read it a third time to bring back the smile, then shared it with his wife and Boer's parents.
Several spies dismissed it as containing anything of importance. They didn't know who they were really working for, because those who'd hired them didn't know who they were working for. Three days after that, six records of empire citizenship were filed 'automatically' in Yarrow sector and two days later in Imperial Records. The code that assured they 'had been there' was not filed or recorded.
Silvern Docking was a busy place, but ship registry was a simple task and didn't require the ship dock. A computer checked the documents filed and issued three registry numbers over a five-day period. A day later, a shuttle from a registered ship docked for a short period of time and six passengers disembarked. They had paid the fees for ship license testing and were on the schedule. They'd been on the schedule for awhile. The exam clerk looked up when they walked in and smiled. She liked the Shadill. They were always prepared and always polite. This group was also very interesting-looking.
"Good morning."
"We think so, but we're a little nervous. Hadlain."
"Six on the schedule to begin testing at nine station time. Just a document check. Shelter Boer Hadlain for captain."
"That's me."
"Mandala Aura Hadlain for captain."
"Me."
"Talisman Jobim Hadlain for operations officer. Linlola Merschel Hadlain for operations officer."
"Lola, that's you."
"Oh. Maybe 'a little nervous' is an understatement in my case, Shel."
"You'll do fine. I have a feeling about these things. Thomin Alman Hadlain for chief engineer. Angeli Narinda Hadlain for chief engineer. Do you have on-station reservations for the three nights?"
"Yes, we were warned we wouldn't want to call for a shuttle and wait for docking, but we weren't sure we were going to find a hotel. We've got a two-room suite at the Rollimer."
"It's usually worth the price, Shelter, but you won't have time to use the facilities. You've got just enough to drop off your ship bags and get to testing locations. I hope you already had a good breakfast."
"We did and we got nutri-bars to munch on the way to the hotel and testing to add to it."
"Sounds like you're well prepared, but I'll wish you luck anyway. All documents in order. Make sure you take your identification plaques to testing, but you won't need your full packets."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"This way, Lola."
"Help."
"Why are you so nervous?"
"I don't think it really is nervousness, Mandy. I think it's anticipation and she's doing review in her mind, not really paying attention to where she is."
"That makes more sense, Li. Shel's about steering Tal and Tommy too."
"About is an understatement. Tal?"
"Log entry... Uh... "
"Reviewing, Mandy. There's the hotel. It's as close as they said it was. Munch. I know none of us are hungry, but stuff anyway. We're all going to need the fuel."
"This is a nice place, Shel. I sort of wish we'd booked an extra night."
"The hotel is expensive enough without a day to shop here too. Hello. Hadlain and we're short on time."
"Just four digit code the pad, Gen Hadlain. I know it's not many digits, but the suite comp will scan you when you walk through the door the first time and no one who isn't with you will go through it after that. Only the suite comp will have the scan and there's no access to it. You said no housekeeping."
"We're all testing for licenses. We're going to sonic shower, drop for seven hours and run out the door in the morning. We won't have time to make a mess and we wouldn't notice someone made the beds except we had to turn them down to get in, which might be more than we want to do. Point us."
"Lift to six, right, two down on the right. Come back some time when telling you to enjoy your stay makes sense."
"Thanks."
"Code?"
"Number in the family and soon to be, Mandy."
"I like it."
A man looked for information on the Shadill marriage group. It was a routine check and ended with a routine report of 'had been there.' Even their account with Instel had been there awhile. That was the only information he could get on it, of course. The fact it had been opened shortly after Nunture was freed wasn't significant to him. They checked out. They weren't reported.
They started the tests and stopped thinking about anything else. They didn't have time. They ran for nearby toilets when necessary and grabbed water from a dispenser when needed. They had a ten-minute 'break' for the lunch brought to them in their testing areas and went back to work. They had a five-minute break to eat nutri-bars brought two hours later and went back to work. They had fifteen minutes for 'dinner.' At twenty-two, they walked out and headed for food. They'd already made reservations and the 'special' was served to them as soon as they sat down in the hotel restaurant. At six thirty, they had a huge breakfast and at seven were back in their testing areas. The fourth day, they took their ship bags with them and checked them at the front of the testing facility. At thirteen-twelve, Li was told she was done. She blinked at the woman of about fifty who was smiling at her.
"I am?"
"You work incredibly fast. The others are all ahead of schedule too, especially the man testing for captain. He'll be done in about a half-hour."
"Can I wait here?"
"You can if you want, but I recommend Ballin's Hole, a bar with very good food. It's ten steps to the right and a lot more pleasant place. We'll send the others there as they come out and the results as they come in."
"Sounds like you recommend it a lot."
"I do. Ballin takes real good care of people who are nervously waiting for results. It's where I'd recommend you wait for them if you were all stopped at twenty. Results take about two hours. That's why we say finish at twenty-two all four days. Don't worry. No one will bother you. They might try to strike up a friendly conversation, but that's all."
"I'm not as young as I look. Tommy and Tal are."
"They're both doing well. May I ask a personal question? You don't have to answer."
"I guess."
"Why does all your identification just say adult?"
"Some birthdates could tell people more about our finances than is any of their business, so all of us are just adult. It may get more common."
"They're still trying to find out what marriages have money and places open. Never even heard of anyone who was successful in getting into one that did, but they look anyway."
"We're not looking for anybody else, but a lot of people want to use other people's credits to make them money and hunt for people who have them, too. A lot of Shadill are real successful. Sometimes the best thing parents can do to protect their children from people like that is start a new clan. Sometimes the best thing people who are very successful can do to protect their children is start a Shadill clan. Providing financial stability for children is the whole reason for the Shadill. If Macleigh Shadill's plan didn't work very well to do that, there wouldn't be so many. But identification with just adult on it may become a lot more common."
"Thank you. I was sure there was a sensible reason and suspected it was financial. You did real well not saying exactly why you, perso
nally, don't have birthdates on your identification."
"I was pretty well coached. The question was expected. Shadill all know, the better people understand why they do things, the less nervous they make them. Some people are seeing how well the group marriages function to provide for children and want to adopt that part of the Shadill culture, though they don't want to actually become Shadill and construct marriage contracts for their children. The big problem they have is group marriages are legal, but they can't find anyone to perform them. The best a lot of them can do is form financial co-ops and those don't provide the financial stability for all their children like a marriage would. They're still this one's child and that one's child legally, and if something happens to that parent, the child is legally orphaned and only due the percentage of the co-op assets left after a court determines who gets custody and taxes them. The co-op might have to sell everything to pay someone the court appoints to manage the child's inheritance. They also pay higher taxes in general."
"I see what you mean about 'big problem.' I can't think of anyone who performs group marriages besides the Shadill, at least not in this sector and I'm pretty familiar with it. I don't know if Silvern could. It would take some changes in our laws. However, if they were willing to pledge fidelity, the Toscan church might and could."
"My brain is sludge. All it's providing me with is a spelling of the word."
"Sludge is normal, but the Toscan sect isn't very big and primarily in Forester sector. They do have a chapel on Gerridy Station and it's basically supported by fees for performing marriages. The only requirement they have is a vow of fidelity. It's where a lot of homosexual couples go to get married because a fundamental tenet of the Toscan sect is love doesn't make mistakes. People do, but love doesn't. They want to make a vow of fidelity and none of the secular agencies in the area ask for it."
"I understand that very well. My vow is very important to me. They're discriminated against in that way, aren't they?"
"Yes, but you have to hear a magistrate ask a heterosexual couple if they wish to vow to each other, then not ask a homosexual couple the same question to know it. I have friends who thought I deserved an explanation of why they were going somewhere I couldn't attend their wedding. They knew I was disappointed."
"I like you. You're a very nice person. I'll take your recommendation. Can I leave my bag here?"
"No. Sorry. We've had too many people get excited when they got their licenses and forget they had. Ballin will stick it behind the counter for you and make sure you don't dash out without it."
"Thanks."
Li was sitting at the bar talking to Ballin when he grinned and nodded toward the door. She giggled and told him Shel would probably have found her without being told where she was. He was 'following his nose.'
"It smells wonderful in here. I'm starving."
"I had a feeling you'd notice how small the lunch was as soon as tests weren't occupying your full attention, Shel. This is Ballin. He's got a supplement to it ready for you."
"Sit down, soon-to-be-Captain Shel. I'll stick your bag back here. I've got a shelf just for the purpose. Did they tell you Li finished the chief engineer test faster than anyone ever had before?"
"I did?!"
"Yes, but they obviously didn't tell her. Mm, looks wonderful too."
"You're close to the record for captain, but a lot more get close. It's more answer questions than chief engineer. They've been talking about her for three days. Kept saying, 'and she just picked it up and moved it.' Didn't understand until she came in."
"What's most interesting is she knows exactly what she can't lift in engineering and about anywhere else. I yell for help when I feel I need it. She yells before she strains something."
"He obviously doesn't need to yell near as often as I do, or he'd know when he was probably going to have to. I've been playing with tech since I was a little kid. I know about what something weighs in standard grav because I know about what's in it. Because I'm so little, I had to get pretty strong for my size, or spend a lot of time just waiting for someone bigger to help. Tal's not much taller than I am, but he's stronger just because he's a boy. He's a lot stronger because he's got shoulders like this. Did they give you an estimate on the others, Shel?"
"Mandy within an hour. I don't think they can say more than fairly soon on the others. The last section of the test for captain is command decisions, basically read the situation and say why standard procedure isn't the best choice, if you don't think it is. It is on about three-fourths of the questions, so they make an estimate on how fast you answer the ones it isn't. Since you're told to explain why if it isn't, you know there will be some like that."
"That's considered about the most important part of the test for captain and it's about the same to get a license with logged hours."
"I think 'about' is an unnecessary qualifier, Ballin. Everything else is a test of knowledge and that's not what qualifies a person for any position of command. That section isn't the only place there are questions like that either. It's just the only place they tell you they'll be there by asking you to state your reasons. I hit 'none of the above' on quite a few, when standard procedure was one of the selections given... many times in nearly every section."
"I did that a bunch of times too, Shel."
"Chief engineer is a command position too, Li. The area of command is smaller, but there are times when standard procedure just doesn't apply. Operations is much more procedure than either, but it still requires the ability to judge when procedure should be dumped and think fast take over. I'm not worried about that part of the exam for any of them. I'm a bit worried Lola will rewrite all the procedures so they make more sense, but not that she won't recognize when sticking to them is going to aggravate the problem, not solve it."
"You didn't tell Tal there would be things like that and you wouldn't let any of us talk about the tests the last three nights."
"Making the decision procedure doesn't apply is the point of the questions, Li. Everyone who comes here to take the tests doesn't have someone to compare notes with, or even turn to for general reassurance. I know how nervous he's been. He knows I expected him to be nervous and have complete confidence in him. Since that was what was making him nervous, my expectation of it and confidence were all the reassurance he needed that he was right about there being times when following procedure was not the correct thing to do."
"He's a captain all right, maybe an admiral."
"Once in awhile someone in the family calls him 'General.' He sort of winces, but he knows they'd just flat tell him if he was being overbearing."
"Very true, especially Nora."
"Ow. I saw that pang."
"Home is when we're all together, Ballin. I'm homesick."
"It just didn't make sense for the pregnant girls to come with us, Shel, or to leave just them there."
"Uh... "
"I told him we had a big house on a farm, but all of us aren't farmers. He wasn't near as surprised as I expected when I told him there were twelve women and three men in the family. His sister is Shadill."
"Eighteen in the marriage, eleven and seven and nineteen kids. Two had children when they joined it. That's actually more unusual these days than one like yours."
"I told him I thought Macleigh would be a bit disappointed by that. He said his sister says the same thing, but the right people for a marriage are the right people and people who flat say they won't write marriage contracts for their children aren't right for a Shadill marriage."
"I think we all understand both parts of that, Li. It's not an easy choice to make, but that's some of why Shadill marriages are so... sturdy. The people who join them have given it a lot of thought."
"I want you to talk to the people at the Toscan church on Gerridy Station."
"Have I heard that word before?"
"Your brain is sludge too, but they're pretty small and mostly in
Forester sector. According to the nice person who sent me here, they could, and probably would, perform group marriages as long as people were willing to vow fidelity. From what she said, they might even be able to marry marriages."
"Uh... My brain is sludge."
"Well, it just kind of seems silly to me for three married couples with five kids between them to have to get divorced, so they and maybe a couple other people can form a group marriage for the financial stability it provides for all their children."
"Captain-to-be Shel, she said her brain was sludge. Do you keep up with her when it's not?"
"No, Ballin, but she's more successful at keeping me from noticing."
"Lola!"
"Hi. I'm done. I was waiting for another section to come up. It slowly dawned on me the words on the screen meant there wouldn't be one."
"Test complete?"
"Those were the words, Shel."
"It's a good thing there wasn't another section. Your brain is more sludge than his."
"Uh-huh. They said they hoped our shuttle wasn't scheduled til after twenty-two. What did you two do?"
"Li?"
"Not that I know of. I didn't even change anything. You know Tommy remembered not to."
"Our ship has some of Li's ideas in it, Ballin. It also has Li and Tommy in it."
"It's safe. It's just different. You get the same speed at a little less cost. It's not much less, but it made sense to do it when we were working on it anyway. If I had an idea that would save enough to be worth a refit for most ships, I'd patent it. It might be if I get another idea, Shel, but it's not yet. I'm sure I didn't change anything."
"Relax. The whole bunch of you are getting done early. She set a record. They may want to know how you studied, what you thought of the test or just want to buy you dinner. You don't have any doubts you passed."
"No, I don't."
"Shel, our study guide didn't come from this sector."
"It's from Empire sector."
"It's available from the Imperial Library, but probably not everywhere yet. It's a pretty recent edition."
"It's also published by the Imperial Fleet."
"The fleet?! Why?"
"Everyone who's in the fleet doesn't stay in it long enough to become a captain, Ballin. A lot of people leave it with at least two hundred times enough logged hours for any ship operation license, but they still have to take the test. The fleet publishes it to help those people put those hundreds of hours to use in civilian careers."
"Between the fleet and the marines, there's probably one for every career which requires a license on every world, Shel. There are thousands of them. There's one for the driver's license exam on every planet in the empire, one guide with all, not one each. When those things change, the updates are filed and guides are updated. Most people in the fleet and marines come from Empire sector, but they do their best to give everyone the same benefits from their experience, no matter what sector they come from."
"Of course they do, Lola. We're all empire citizens."
"She's a bit of an idealist, Shel."
"The whole family's like that, Ballin, but we aren't all under thirty. However, in this case, she's totally correct. The fleet and marines don't maintain bases in sectors that don't state they want them, but the fleet patrols in all of them and the fleet and the marines are sworn to protect them. Every sector forms a somewhat insular attitude, but the empire is not Empire Sector and it is only one sector in it. As far as the imperium is concerned, that's the location of the palace and military headquarters. The truth is, it pays a lot more attention to Yarrow sector than Yarrow sector pays to it and that's the way it should be. This station has security people. If they're doing the job right, the only time you pay attention to them is when one waves a friendly hello in passing, but that security person noticed you didn't look tense, no one was hassling you and several other things. That's what the treaty says the imperium's job is. I read them all after I read one to see if I could find what it didn't say. This sector treaty doesn't say some things too and the things it doesn't say are not said in most."
"Tommy!"
"That word sounds familiar. Feed me."
"Probably literally."
"He'll manage, Lola. I'll share what I have left while Ballin fixes more if you get over here fast, Tommy."
"Shel, you say such nice things. What the hell did you do?"
"Why me?"
"You're the captain."
"That's reasonable. Eat those first or you'll wait for the next batch. I like them. Ballin, late big lunch for ten please. I know there are only six of us and you've already fixed for Li and I, but we will want. I'm sure because I want two more and what Tommy's eating. Lola knows he's been working harder physically or she'd be helping him clean my plate. It would be nice not to be desperate for food in two hours, three would be wonderful and I'm trying to remember only being hungry in four. Mandy is a few cens shorter than I am and she's the one who spends the most time in the gym."
"We're only there when she makes sure we are. Are there lots of these on a plate, Shel?"
"No, that's about half, but everything else is just as good."
"We'll eat ten and maybe a couple side orders."
"I can fix everything else and drop the tupsy fritters in when they walk in the door. They only take about two minutes and just aren't as good kept warm."
"Two minutes?"
"I have to make them up, Lola, but I can do that in advance."
"Oh."
"I'll share what Shel shared."
"It'll only take about ten minutes for all of it."
"Thank you, Ballin, I needed to hear that."
"You've got an interesting view of the empire, Shel."
"I know an interesting Imperial Marine, ex-marine. He says it's very interesting people don't look to see the tax they pay is going for exactly what they're taxed to pay for."
"It ought to be real obvious to the people of Silvern. It might cost the imperium a little less to keep various Shadill records, but it costs. Did the imperium say after a cost study and tax assessment? No. Silvern said paying for doing it for Shadill, who didn't live on Silvern, was hurting them and they were having trouble protecting the privacy of Shadill financial records. The imperium took on the job because protecting is the job of the imperium."
"Li's right. Add the fact that tax is a flat rate, never raised and is not inflation adjusted. The budget is primarily covered by interest on the money the imperium put away when the empire was formed. That goes up a little every year, but tax payment goes down in real value every year. That's about the most obvious proof the imperium operates as a non-profit contracted service and not a government. All the money goes back into providing the service. The emperor lives nice, but he doesn't get paid. People give him things, but they don't get favors, just a smile and thank you. He can't grant any favors. He might get you an invitation to somewhere someone you want to meet is in a reception line, but that's about the limit, unless the people need help. Imperial laws are you don't oppress your people and you educate your children. They're just very precisely defined so there's no misunderstanding. When those laws are broken, he yells orders for the fleet and the marines. The service does not expand. The fleet doesn't get bigger. More laws aren't passed. The imperium keeps more records because there are more records to keep to protect the citizens of the empire, but it doesn't raise the price of the service. That price is in the contract."
"I like that, Lola. Where did you get it?"
"Collected Essays on Governmental Function, Mathias University Press; Morrisid Torrialim; The Principle of the Non-Governing Supervisory State, How Successful Is It? Heavily paraphrased. I only quote when I'm reading off a screen. It's considered one of the better basic political science texts published in Opal sector. A lot of secondary schools use it."
"Operations officer."
"I can see that, Shel."
"I smell food."
"Mandy!"
"Hi, uh, Lola, uh, Li, uh... "
"We know just what you mean, sludge brain."
"Good description, Li. Somebody tell me what somebody did. They're blinking over there."
"Well, Li did set a record. Beyond that, blinking is new information. Lots of food ready in about five."
"I needed to hear that, Shel."
"Hello."
"Hello, Tal. I was sure you'd be done pretty soon."
"Am I, Lola? They said don't leave."
"Did the words 'test complete' come up on the screen?"
"Yes. I couldn't remember the answer. I'd been working on it awhile before I realized it wasn't a question. It's not even fourteen yet."
"We all finished within the last forty-five minutes, Tal. We studied real hard. We just got a little ahead every day. If other people didn't do the same, three of us would have set records, not just me."
"Uh-huh. Shelter?"
"Come here, Talisman."
"Can I sit on your lap? There's a plate in front of you and I'd be closer to it than Tommy."
"Tommy has it about empty, but there's a lot more coming. Let's move to a booth. You look like you need more than just a chair arm for support on each side, like someone to hold you up."
"I don't know how I did, Shel. I think I did good, but I don't even remember studying some of the stuff and some of the stuff I studied real hard was a few questions here and there. I remember reading it, I think, but not studying it. I felt like I was taking the wrong test."
"Uh, Shel?"
"I'm working my way through it, Mandy. Did you say anything about it to anyone, Tal?"
"I wanted to ask Lola if she remembered some of the stuff the first night, but you said no talk about the test period."
"They gave him the wrong test, Shel. I hit nothing we hadn't studied together."
"I had him ask me the questions on a couple of the sample tests and check my answers the day after we left home, so I could figure out where I was weak and concentrate on studying it."
"I asked myself what you would do a lot, especially on the last section."
"Ballin!"
"Yes, Shel?"
"Comm them and tell them we want the credential our Talisman earned. They gave him the wrong test."
"What?!"
"My guess is, they told us wait because they'd just learned they had and were probably trying to figure out how to grade what he'd done, so he only had to take part of it, not a full day at minimum. They're blinking because he finished six hours ahead of schedule and they're pretty sure he passed. I said don't talk about it at all, so he didn't even ask Lola if she thought it was a bit strange. He passed it based on checking my answers on about three sample tests before I started studying."
"Ops and captain have a lot in common, Shel. Ops more procedural detail and captain more command. That's why he said a few questions on what he studied hard. Captain has more tech, but he got that working on ships and at the dinner table when Li answered Mandy's questions."
"Yes, Lola, but... Tal why you didn't yell when you hit the hands-on part the second morning? A captain has to know how to replace a fuel cell tap, but an operations officer doesn't."
"I didn't do that, Shel. I took apart and fixed an operations control console."
"I rebuilt a fried sensor array."
"Shel! I commed. I think the giggle I got was an affirmative. Your dinner's done. If you're interested in a drink or juice, that's on me."
"Got an ale you recommend?"
"A couple. Got a real interesting fruit brandy, too."
"Three ales with character and three interesting brandy. The captains are all having ale."
"I'd have brought it over."
"I don't think waiting for delivery occurred to any of us, Ballin."