Paul agreed. “Yeah. It’s a pain. I asked about what we were told about the Evil Ones, that they do no killing or take any loot, encourage bandits and slavers by bribing them with gold, gems, and information, and are able to apparently appear or disappear at will. Planetsong was frightened and wouldn’t say anything. When I asked about the Slaver Planets all I got was that they were evil men who would fail in the end. The Temple people are useless!”
* * *
“…and today Frank Bristol Wiseman asked about the spiders on Desert Stronghold Two. Planetsong of Northcentral answered what was asked, but we know little about the spiders. These three are frustrated by this process, but Planetsong of Northcentral was truthfully unable to give any information about a spider called Daughter. We have sent out acolytes to watch these three as they travel back to Desert Stronghold Two, and the acolytes will try to determine the purpose of the spider named Daughter. The report that Amy Elizabeth La Reine carried a staff with the Master Wayfarer’s symbol was confirmed; fortunately very few know the old symbols so others have paid little attention to the staff. Planetsong was able to ask Amy Elizabeth La Reine about dreams, and she told him that she had recurring dreams of a yellow dome. This and the fact that she is carrying a Master’s staff is a sign that her body is being transformed by the We. I had my doubts about the protocol, but I did not understand that the protocol would be applied to three strangers to our planets. Now I agree with the protocol. It forced the three to contact many people in our society; tradesmen, merchants, guards, teachers, and even one day a prostitute. The acolyte watching reported that they calmly, in the middle of the street, discussed with the prostitute where she worked and lived, what hours she worked, what she charged, and asked her if her trade was illegal or immoral. The acolyte was certain that they were not interested in her services, just in the information. What a strange planet they must come from. I will never forget seeing Amy Elizabeth La Reine as I came around the corner of the road at the end of the battle in the forest, the image of a young daughter anyone would be proud of, standing with one foot on a dead slaver, demanding that the rest surrender. The slavers were petrified, and I can understand why, after seeing how their ‘guns’, I have used their word, killed slavers in the meadow. Of the thirty-five slavers that died, the leader Amy Elizabeth La Reine killed nineteen. Guards don’t kill that many people in a lifetime of service. Then Amy Elizabeth La Reine argues for mercy on behalf of the wounded slavers. They remained awake all night caring for them. What type of planet is it that can produce a young woman like this? I now see that if we had taken the three strangers under our wing and trained them then we would have made them just like us, perhaps eliminating their usefulness to the One Who Tests. I have the feeling that their differences are what will be important. We will continue to watch them, and I believe that their path has been ordained by the One Who Tests and these three may become the long awaited Council of Three, if they survive. If they prove to be false councilors, as so many have in the past, then we are prepared to put them to trial and have them executed, and…”
Chapter 23 – Spring Wedding and Groom’s Uncle
Amy saw Sue coming down the hotel hallway. As she was the only person in a wedding dress she was easy to spot. Amy took the opportunity to have a few seconds alone with her. Because Amy was away traveling she hadn’t been able to be part of the wedding party, and she regretted that. They hugged, careful not to crease the dress.
“Sue, you were beautiful, and the wedding was great. It’s not everyone that gets a President for an uncle,” said Amy. The church had been packed as most of Sue’s relatives still lived in West Virginia, and all of Ben’s relatives had turned up. It was not every day that the nephew of a President got married.
“You would bring that up,” said a subdued Sue while she adjusted her wedding dress. “He wasn’t coming, and then at the last minute he had to stay in Washington and could be here. It just made me more nervous. I forgot what I was supposed to say.”
Amy laughed, “Well, I think you got through it OK. I distinctly remember the pastor saying ‘man and wife’.”
“You can laugh now, but one day it’ll be your turn. We’d best get to the tent; I think they want the bride and groom to lead the procession! We’ll get a chance to talk later.” Sue and Amy headed out of the French doors, across the lush lawn towards the tent set up under the oak trees. Amy said a quick hi to Ben, and then went looking for her seat.
Amy’s table was just to the left of the head table. Amy took a seat where she could see the head table and the MC. Sue’s Aunt and Uncle joined her. They chatted about the times when Sue and Amy would visit, asking when she could come up to their mountain cabin for another vacation.
The processional music started, and everyone stood up, looking to where the bride and groom would enter. Amy noticed the Secret Service Agents standing around the sides of the tent; that meant that the President was going to be at the reception. Sue and Ben, glowing with happiness led the wedding party, the parents, and some relatives, including the President and the First Lady, into the tent. Most of the wedding party headed for their places in front of the head table.
Someone was directing the President and First Lady to Amy’s side of the tent. The President came close and smiled at her, and then stopped next to her table. Why? The First Lady came to the table as well and stopped behind the chair next to Amy! Yikes! They were going to sit at her table. Sue! Amy looked up and Sue had a wicked grin on her face.
Amy saw that the President and First Lady had seen the exchange of looks, and they seemed to think it was a good joke. Amy reminded herself to breathe before she fainted or exploded! She saw the President and First Lady exchange a look, and both of them seemed to relax.
The pastor said grace; this was a Baptist wedding. Then everyone introduced themselves to the others at the table, except, of course, for the President and First Lady who were known to everyone. Across the table was Mr. Stevens, a second cousin of Sue, and his wife.
The First Lady said to Amy, “Sue told us that you are taking Political Science at Duke University.”
“Yes, I’m in my last year. It’s a bit scary.”
“It was for all of us,” said the First Lady. “I’m sure you’ll survive it.”
The President finished talking to Mr. Stevens and now joined in the conversation. “I hope us sitting here doesn’t scare you too much.”
“Oh no sir, I’m twenty-two, and have too many other things to worry about!” Amy blurted.
The President and First Lady burst out laughing.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it that way!” said Amy anxiously.
“Oh yes you did,” said the First Lady, between laughs, “and you put him right in his place. He needs to meet people who are honest with him. It does him good.” She gave the President a playful elbow in his side.
The soup arrived and Amy concentrated on not spilling it on her clothes. The First Lady asked Amy about her interests and her major and minor at university. Amy found they got on well, and soon Amy found herself chatting as if she’d known the First Lady all her life. The President listened in, adding occasional comments, while keeping up conversations with the other people at the table. Amy was enjoying talking to the First Lady, and it seemed to be mutual. Amy learned that the First Lady’s daughter, Sandy, had left home a few years ago, and with distances and the demands of the White House, they’d had little time with Sandy and her family.
The meal arrived and while people were eating, the MC started up the program. While the bride and groom were getting photographed cutting the cake, the President turned to Amy. “We have to leave early as we have another event this evening. It’s been nice to meet you Amy. Before we go, I’d like to ask you a question?”
“OK,” said Amy, puzzled by the seriousness of his tone. The First Lady leaned back in her chair, watching them both.
“I don’t get to talk to many people who are less than forty,” said the President with a smile, “s
o I want to ask your opinion. You’re interested in politics. I’m sure that you’ve heard the debates around the Social Security Bill. I have to decide in the next few weeks whether to let it go ahead, or to veto it.” He stopped and waited for Amy to absorb the question.
Amy’s brain was whirling, but the President was right, she'd been thinking about it. What the President didn’t know, was that she had been thinking about that Bill, and many other things, in relation to the very different culture she’d seen in the Isolated Planets.
“You’re right Mr. President, I’ve been thinking about it. At twenty-two, I’ve just completed my third year of Political Science. I don’t have the experience to understand all the technicalities of the Bill, but, it seems to me that the principles of the Bill are flawed.”
The President was puzzled. “Flawed? How?”
Amy thought to herself; well you started it, you’d better go for broke. “It’s flawed because the Bill assumes that the same solution will work in every part of the US. The trillions of dollars will do some good, but it will be less effective than it should be.”
“And what would you suggest instead?” asked the First Lady encouragingly.
Amy took a deep breath, and collected her thoughts. “The present Bill takes away any responsibility from people and imposes an answer to their problems from some distant central office. Allowing people to find their own local solutions would give them back their dignity and pride, and would allow the money to be spent on the right local priorities and problems. That has been discussed as an option to replace the central administration model proposed.”
“How would you see that working?” the President encouraged.
Amy thought about how society worked in a cooperative way on Great Island One, adding that to the discussion she’d participated in on the Bill, and said, “If you appointed local people, people who use the programs, to authorities in each district, allowing them to set local priorities within a framework on how funds would be spent, the Bill would be more effective. The present Bill takes responsibility away from people; a different system would allow people to be responsible for their own destinies. We have to believe in people, not programs.”
The President thought about that for a second, nodded and repeated, “Believe in people, not programs! So, you think I should veto the Social Security Bill?”
“Yes, Mr. President, I do,” said Amy firmly, surprised at her own decisiveness. She wasn’t sure where all of that had come from.
Getting up, shaking her hand, the President said, “Thank you Amy. I asked for an honest opinion, and I think I got one.” He smiled and then moved away to shake hands with other people as he gradually made his way to the exit.
“Well done, Amy,” said the First Lady, putting her hand on Amy’s shoulder. “You’ve given him something to think about. It was nice talking with you.”
Amy was surprised to honestly say, “It was a pleasure to meet you and the President ma’am.”
“I expect that we’ll meet again,” said the First Lady giving Amy’s shoulder a squeeze. The First Lady smiled and nodded to everyone at the table, and then hurried to catch up to the President. Amy’s knees were shaking so much that as soon as the President and First Lady were a few tables away, she sat down. What was she thinking! Blurting out all of that nonsense to the President!
Chapter 24 – Daughter
Amy was glad to be back. She was starting to think of this cave as one of their special places out in the stars. The other was, of course, Simon’s campsite. She wasn’t going to mention that to the guys; they’d just think she was losing it. The tent was in the shade of the cave as usual, and they'd been waiting for Daughter for a whole day.
The 32 day target fell on a Sunday or Monday, it could be either, so they’d all come early. It was now Monday and they'd have to think about getting back. Paul had the longest flight, and he’d cut a number of lectures to make it. It was late in the afternoon, about the same time as on Earth. Frank was in the cave working on his laptop, with his solar cloth stretched out on the rocks outside recharging his spare battery. Bringing rechargeable batteries was one of the changes on the list for the next trip, and more ammo, and better medical supplies; the list was getting longer.
Amy found she didn’t sleep well after shooting the slavers, and waiting here wasn’t helping. They'd talked about the rescue last night and that brought it all back again. Without distractions her mind kept going over and over it. It didn’t seem to faze Frank or Paul. Amy thought that Frank should have been freaking out, but he hadn’t even talked about it. That Paul seemed to have no issues was not a surprise, being in military studies.
Amy could see Paul on top of the hill keeping a lookout for the spiders in spite of the fact that it was hot in the sun.
* * *
Paul was glad to have some space and no distractions. He needed to think through what had happened with the slavers. He’d never shot at anyone before, never mind to kill, and that wasn’t anything like he’d trained for. It’d been the right thing to do, at least he told himself that, but some of the slavers he’d killed were younger than he was. He hadn’t got much sleep since then, and he’d heard Amy moaning last night. She must be having nightmares. Frank seemed to be sleeping OK.
* * *
Frank was trying to work on the star chart in his laptop. He’d gone to the back of the cave where it was darker, and cooler. He'd left Canada in a spring blizzard! He was having a hard time concentrating on the data, and kept messing it up. His mind kept going back to when he’d shot the slavers. At the time it was like a first person shooter computer game. Only afterwards had the screaming of the wounded hit him. The dead were dead, just like in a game, but the wounded cried and moaned, and were people just like him. He couldn’t figure out what else they could have done, except walk away. Paul and Amy seemed to be handling it. Why couldn’t he?
* * *
As the sun dropped to the horizon and the rocks radiated their heat back into the sky, it started to cool down. Amy decided to stay outside until sunset, sitting on her pillow. She was working through The Book of the One Who Tests that she'd traded some of their kit for. Paul and Frank had argued that they might have needed the things she’d traded, but she thought it didn’t matter as they could easily replace the stuff on Earth. They just shook their heads. Men!
The book was thick only because it used handmade paper sheets bound together. Compared to the Bible it was really short. Her Bible had 1,500 pages while this copy of The Book of the One Who Tests was less than a 100 pages, but with very small strokes creating the words. Frank thought that the strokes were carved in a wood block and that a block was used to print each page. On some pages the printing wasn’t square with the page edges, and occasionally there was a line near the edge of a page that looked like it might be the edge of a block. There were no page or line numbers in The Book of the One Who Tests so Amy was working on adding those to her copy.
She was startled as a high-pitched voice said, “Amy Elizabeth La Reine, I greet you.” She managed not to drop the book. A spider at least fifteen inches across its body, was sitting on a rock. It was reddish brown with a crab-like skin like the other spiders, matching the color of the rocks, and next to it, laying on the rock, was a short staff about sixteen inches long, as thick as the base of Simon’s staff, and with similar carvings. The spider also had a leather cylinder, about the same length as the staff, hung under the body and fastened by a strap.
This must be Daughter. “Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, I greet you. Let me call my companions so we can make formal introductions.”
Daughter answered in very precise Galactic, “That is good; do so.”
Amy called Paul down from his lookout, and hearing the shout, Frank came over to where Amy was standing. It only took a few minutes for Paul to scramble down the hill and join them. She was wondering who should start when Daughter solved that for her.
“I am Daughter of the Clan Adv’fr’gai
te, offspring of Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite. I am the youngest of the clan, and one day I will form my own clan. I am pleased that you returned as promised.”
Amy bowed, and Paul and Frank quickly joined her. “Daughter, offspring of Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite, we are pleased to meet you. We are anxious to learn what was meant by the words of the Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite when she said ‘I would learn more about you, and for that purpose I will send a Daughter with you.’”
They introduced themselves. Amy was pleased that Frank was now being very polite; it seemed that the lesson was learned, but Amy noted that his eyes looked around the rocks for other spiders. Amy wondered why Daughter was alone.
“Let us sit in the last of the sun,” said Daughter, as she moved across the sand on six legs, using her two front legs to hold her staff and the leather cylinder. The leather cylinder was sealed at one end, and had a leather cap on the other end.
Amy chose a rock opposite the rock Daughter was settling on. Frank sat on the rock next to her, and Paul sat on the sand with his back to the rocks. Daughter settled with her staff and leather cylinder under her front legs.
Daughter announced, “Before I explain what Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite said to you, I need to give you some information.” Amy noted that all three of the spiders she'd met sounded like professors; it must be a species trait. “When a Daughter creates a clan she becomes Mother to that clan. The Daughter does not need to be fertilized by a male as in humans, and produces eggs for males or Daughters at need. Daughters are produced when a new clan is to be founded or at special times like this. I have no protectors until I create my clan, but I will protect myself with this staff, or with these needles.”
Daughter opened up the leather cylinder and pulled out two needles the length of the cylinder. Each needle had a loop on one end, and a narrow point at the other end. Daughter showed them how the loops allowed her to use them as an extension of her front legs. “The needles will kill most attackers, but with larger prey it is necessary to strike through the eyes. I will grow to the size of Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite within three thousand days. I will not start a new clan until I have completed the mission given to me by the Mother of the Clan Adv’fr’gaite. I eat freshly killed meat, which I will hunt for myself until I have protectors, but I can survive for a time on fruit and grains. I was born thirty days ago and have all ancestral and ancient memories, so I can speak our language and this language you call Galactic. Spider kind need heat to be mobile; when it is cold we can only move slowly or not at all. I never sleep, but I do rest by being immobile. I can disguise myself by changing my color, and closing my shape.”