As I climbed the ramp into the sleek ship, I wondered about my reaction to the house. I glanced at Casey and Erin; both had tears running down their cheeks.
"Hey! Are you two going to be alright with this?" I asked.
"Yes, it's just that we're going to miss that place. But you're right, we have to go," Erin explained.
As we entered the common area in the ship, I overheard Alan as he stepped through another door. "Williams Base, this is the Poseidon, errand accomplished. We will be heading back to our base, thank you for your assistance."
Andreya helped me by taking Goddess and setting her on one of the bunks. I heard the engines whining as they were started up, and felt the air pressure change when the ramp was closed. The girls had taken seats at the table but the kids had gotten fussy and were crying. Sitting with the women was a young oriental girl that must have been Mulan.
As I set Princess down on the table, two men entered from the back. Andreya smiled at them. "I think I should make introductions. The little one here is Alan's and my bond mate, Mulan; the man on the left is Kevin, and the other man is Carl. Neither of the men is native to Earth; however, both are human. I myself was born on the moon, but little Mulan was born here. There are two more members of our crew you haven't met yet, and they are Stacy, our pilot, and Sheryl, our weapons officer. Guys, these are Jon Weist, and his wives, Casey, Barbara, and Erin and their children Greg and Wendy."
I leaned over and let my son grab my finger as I started singing to them. "Goodnight sweetheart, it's time to go. Goodnight sweetheart, well it's time to go. I hate to leave you, but I really must say, Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight."
I only had eyes for my babies, so I didn't see Andreya look at me funny before getting up and getting something from what I thought was a cupboard. She moved around me and the women, holding a device that looked like it was right out of Star Trek. I continued to sing, because the kids stopped crying and just looked at me with that look of wonder only very young children can have. I noticed that Mulan had leaned her head against Erin's shoulder, and she had a small smile on her face.
Andreya put the gadget away and sat back down. When I finished singing, the little ones were asleep and the room was almost totally quiet. Carl was holding Kevin from behind, and had tears on his face. "That was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. You have a really good voice, Jon."
"I used to give free concerts in the park in Henderson. There always seemed to be a large group of people sitting and listening to me during the day," I said.
"You're a projective empath. You have an active mental ability," Andreya said.
"I've always thought all that telepathy stuff was just people's imaginations," Erin said.
"Mental abilities are very rare, but they do exist. According to our records, empathy seems to be one of the rarest. There is only one other registered empath, and that's Captain Elizabeth Williams," Andreya said.
"She was our doctor before she moved. I always liked her," I said.
"I haven't met her yet, but I've been told she's an amazing woman," Andreya said. "My mother is one of her bond-mates."
"So what mental ability do you have?" I asked, not overly surprised at her announcement. "I can feel you're different from the rest."
She smiled almost sadly; "I don't have any abilities; I'm not human."
"You certainly look human, and you feel human, just ... different. I can't really explain it," I said.
"Um, what you see before you is an android. I'm an artificial Intelligence construct. This body is my avatar," Andreya said, blushing and looking down at the table.
"If you're a computer, you're not like any I've ever heard of. None of the computers on Earth are capable of emotional response ... like embarrassment," I said. "I can accept your being artificial, but not that you're a computer. Besides, you already admitted to having a mother."
Kevin chuckled; "There's a long and complex story there, sir. I'm sure you'll be allowed to view it once we get to the base. For us, Andreya is one of us, a part of our crew, and our teammate."
"Good, you should be treating her the same as everyone else. She is just as human as we are; she has the same feelings we do, they just feel a little different," I said.
Little Mulan got up and put her arms around Andreya from the back, and kissed her ear. "See? I told you!"
Alan came back in then. "We should be landing a few minutes. Mulan, could you do me a big favor?"
"Master, you know you don't have to ask," the girl said.
"Uh huh, well, when we get to the base, could you take care of these folks while we head to Iraq?" he asked. "I know we'll be gone a couple days, but I really hate just dumping them in a totally new environment and leaving them."
Mulan frowned and seemed about to protest when Andreya winked at her. "My hologram will be there to keep you company, love."
"I know, but it's not the same. I love cuddling with both of you at night. I'll miss you guys!" the girl said.
"I know sweetheart, we'll miss you too. But like I said, it'll only be a couple of days. Besides, you're not going to miss much; the area selected for the base is as flat as a pancake and there is nothing to see for miles in any direction," Alan said.
"Sweetheart, I know for a fact you've been wanting to dig into those trans-linear propulsion equations. If you start on that, I doubt you'll even notice we're gone," Andreya said.
"I forgot about that! You're right Andreya, that would be a great way to use up some time," Mulan said, getting excited.
"What I don't understand is how Ian, Jenny and Cindy missed the high DNA compatibility these folks have? He's almost as high as the Admiral," Andreya said. "I don't see how Mother could have missed that."
"I doubt we'll ever know for sure, love. However, Stacy tells me we are about to enter the base, and I need to get on the comms with command. Jon, Ladies, it was nice to meet all of you, and I hope to see you again when all this is over. Please excuse me," Alan said as he ducked back through the door.
"I've called a couple of domestic drones to carry your stuff to your quarters. Mulan and my hologram will show you where they are," Andreya said.
"Thank you, all of you, for helping us. I hope we get to see all of you when you get back," Barbara said.
"Well, I won't really be leaving, since this is where my main processors and memory storage are located. I serve as the base A.I. as well. It gets a little disconcerting for some people," Andreya explained. "Welcome to Neptune's Massif. We've arrived."
"Andreya, I don't know how much help I'll be, but I have a midwife's certificate, and know first aid," Barbara said.
"I'll introduce you to Dr. Neilson, but he may want you to have some training in Talosian medical knowledge before letting you see patients. After we get you to your quarters, I'll take all of you over there anyway, just to get you looked at and check on Erin's pregnancy," Andreya said.
"My what?" Erin said. "I shouldn't be pregnant yet, I only stopped taking the pill last month."
Andreya nodded at her. "Yes, you're almost three weeks pregnant. If you were taking birth control, then the doctor really should check you over; the left over drug may harm the baby."
Casey and Barbara hugged the surprised Erin, and I grinned at her. "Did Andreya tell you that I can officially marry all of you here? Not only are polyamorous relationships accepted, so are incestuous ones."
I swear it got brighter in that small room from the smiles that my ladies had.
"Mulan, would you show the Weists to their quarters?" Andreya asked. "I'll be along as soon as we get the Poseidon loaded for Iraq. It's blue twelve."
"Sure; follow me everybody," the girl said brightly.
She led us out into a huge noisy bay that had many other ships being loaded and unloaded. But the thing that got our attention was the 'wall' behind the ship. It must have been the way in and out, because while we watched, another ship rose off the floor, rotated one hundred eighty degrees, and flew right through it. With the bright lights of the hanger bay, the outside looked almost black, with only a tint of bluish-green to it, and occasionally you could see a fish swim past.
"Mulan, how deep are we?" I asked.
"Just about thirty-five hundred feet. I wouldn't recommend going swimming in it though; if the pressure didn't kill you, you'd freeze in about seventeen seconds," she explained. "And you'd really have to watch that first step, the drop off out that door is another four thousand feet straight down.
"What holds the water back?" Erin asked.
"Force field. We do have solid bay doors that will close if there isn't a ship due in, but with this much traffic, it's just easier to leave them open."
She led us over to a hallway and down that to a bank of elevators. When the car arrived, we all climbed in and Mulan said, "Blue Twelve, please." She turned to us and continued speaking. "Most of the stuff around here is voice activated. If you need directions, or get lost, just ask for help. When we get to your new apartment, I'll get you bracelets and comm-units from the replicator. The bracelets will let people know you're new here, and the comm-units will let you call anyone you want to — within reason. I'll also be getting you each a set of contact lenses. These are important because they will let you use one of the neatest of the Talosian devices. They will let you learn while you sleep. You can take any course of study you want, and it's all free. For the first few nights though, you'll be getting the common stuff, like the laws and traditions, the layout of the base, how to use the household equipment and stuff like that. After that, you can ask for anything that interests you. You learn at a greatly accelerated rate as well. I'm finishing up two masters degrees right now in hyperspace physics and aeronautics. I hope to get my first doctorate by next year."
"Mulan, you're getting our heads spinning!" Casey said. "What's a replicator?"
"Did master tell you that your clothes and stuff can be replaced?" When Casey nodded, she continued. "Well, it'll be a replicator that will do the replacing. It's a device that uses molecular reconstruction to produce just about any product you could ever ask for. Since this is a military base, and we are in an emergency situation, replicators are our main source of supply. However, in other places, replicator usage is restricted, and you have to buy things," she explained. "If Barbara helps out in medical, she'll earn credits. Those credits will follow her if she ever leaves here. Everything is recorded by DNA print, so no one can 'hack your account' here."
"That sounds amazing. I think I'd like to learn more about how those work. They almost sound like magic," Casey said.
"Well, the bright boys from Earth were actually close to figuring out how to do it, but it would have been one of those technologies suppressed to protect big business. Which, I suppose I can understand. If Earth had this technology, it would totally destroy the economy of the planet," Mulan said.
As we had been talking, we arrived, and she led us a little way down a corridor to the sixth door on the left. "Each of you needs to press your hand to the plate here, so it learns who you are." She pointed to a small rectangle next to the door.
We did as she instructed and she told one of us to push it again, and the door would open. "If anyone else touches the plate now, it'll only ring a chime to let you know someone is at your door."
Mulan showed us around the apartment, and how to operate the shower and replicator. She called out something she called a domestic drone, so we could see it. Andreya had joined us shortly after we arrived in the new place. Her main concern was if the apartment was big enough, and would we change anything.
"Well, the apartment's great, and it'll do nicely, but is there a place I can play that won't disturb anyone, and can I get an amp for my electric guitar?" I asked.
Andreya slapped her forehead. "I should have thought of that. Would another room here be good, or do you want it someplace else?"
"At home, we had a special room in the basement that was soundproofed, so I could play and it wouldn't disturb the babies. So, if you can spare the room, anyplace would do," I replied. "But you don't need to go to any trouble, I can stop playing for a while."
Andreya smiled. "It's no trouble at all, and I can sound-deaden a cardboard box. I'll get the drones to add a room here, and you can set it up however you'd like. What amplifier would you like?"
I told her the types of amps we'd gotten and were used to using. She said she would take care of it by tonight, and reminded us we all had an appointment with the base physician.
As Andreya led us back to the elevator, Erin asked, "You know, I can't see the difference. Are you sure you didn't stay here too?"
"Yeah, I'm aboard the Poseidon as well. What you see right now is my hologram; unless I use force fields, I'm not solid," she said as she reached out for Erin's hand.
Andreya's hand passed right through Erin's.
"Wow, that's ... going to take some getting used too, you look just as solid as you did on the ship."
"Yeah, I can't slap her shoulder when she teases me either, so I just save them up until she gets back," Mulan said.
Andreya looked down at her diminutive mate and smiled. "Yeah, and I so hate her method of punishment."
Mulan blushed as we all chuckled. The elevator had arrived at the medical section, and we were led over to a nice waiting room. I didn't know what I was expecting, but this was just like any other waiting room I've ever seen. Magazines laying around on small tables, a TV (though it was a high definition, wide-screen with wonderful reception) quietly showing CNN in the corner. It had off-white walls, and almost comfortable seating.
Another surprise was the wait time. It hadn't been five minutes before a nurse, with the doctor right behind her, entered the room.
"Good afternoon, folks. I'm Doctor Neilson, and this is Nurse Emma Calloway. I'll be seeing you folks today. Before we get started, I just thought I would introduce myself, and see if you had any questions for me."
"Well, please don't take this wrong, but I'm curious why we're here?" I asked. "It hasn't been all that long since we had check-ups. I know you need to see Erin, since Andreya discovered she was pregnant, but I was wondering about the rest of us,"
He nodded; "Good question. Talosian medical science is far in advance of Earth's. We can detect and treat a lot more dysfunctions, so we try to get everyone up here for at least an exam when they first arrive. Also, there are treatments we can do to reverse a lot of cellular decay caused by the environment and the unhealthy foods offered on Earth. You'll learn most of this tonight, but once we 'clean your system', so to speak, you should feel a lot better, and you will also have a greatly increased life span. Before and during most treatment, you are awake and can ask any questions you wish; we'll be happy to answer them."
"Greatly increased life span? By how much?" Barbara asked.
"It's not unusual for a Talosian-human to live to see two-fifty or three hundred years. Earth-humans should see two hundred at least. The new technology can repair almost any injury to the body provided we can get to them fast enough. However, traumatic brain injuries are still the most difficult to fix," he explained.
"Doctor, can you see me first?" Erin asked. "I've only been off birth control for about five weeks and Andreya said I was three weeks pregnant. I'm worried about the baby,"
"Of course; please follow Emma, and she'll get you started. The rest of you can come as well, if you wish," he said.
We all followed Nurse Emma into a room that looked nothing like exam rooms I'd seen before. This one was comfortable, with a soft mattress on the table, and was easily twice the size of the small cubbyholes used at other doctors' offices. Since we had all followed Emma, the doctor did as well. He was playing with Greg, whom Barbara was holding, while Emma did her thing with my wonderful sister.