Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 18

"Is that wise?" asked Dean Hoxton, attempting caution one more time. "I mean, provoking them when they're already contemplating legal proceedings against you?"

"I don't know if it's wise or not," Danielle said, "but I will work on the air-suit in my own time with my own money. No one else will be affected."

"Wonderful!" enthused Joan. "You can't argue with that, Michael."

Dean Hoxton finally got into the proper spirit of dealing with Danielle.

"Very well," he said, reverting to his default state as a long-suffering man bullied by women. "Danielle can do as she pleases, so long as she doesn't cause me any more paper-work."

She smiled gratefully at him but made no promise regarding paper-work.

"So what's your first move?" Joan inquired.

"I will send a message to Haruki. He must be punishing himself badly for his indiscretion. I need to tell him it's not his fault."

If Danielle had warmed to the Dean a moment ago, now he reciprocated, approving her consideration for the feelings of a junior colleague with whom she might have been understandably angry.

"Can I leave you conspirators to your skulduggery and get back to work?" Michael asked, standing up.

"Yes, indeed," Vice-Chancellor Joan said. "Danielle, do we have your agreement to stop working with the hyperdrive motor until we hear back from the lawyers?"

"You have."

"Then the meeting's over. Thank you all for coming."

******

Back in her office, Danielle summoned the Samothea Project team and told them the astounding news.

Rosa and Li took it badly, worried about the status of their dissertations, which depended on data from the Samothea Project.

Danielle assured them:

"No work you have done so far is wasted. All the data are pertinent. However, we need to analyse the jump to Samothea in detail, to correct our understanding of the anomalies in the hyperspace pathway before we can risk a future jump."

"We wanted to bounce out of hyperspace one light-year from the Samothean solar-system, about six light-years from the black hole. The black hole is a known anomaly but the disruption to the hyperspace pathway was unexpectedly large."

"So here are my questions: Why did the traveller miss its target? Did we calculate the mass of the black hole incorrectly? Is there a gravity well near Samothea that is a stronger attractor than we calculated? Or is something else influencing the pathway?"

"We've been looking at the data all week," Li said, "and we cannot see any problem with the gravity calculations."

"All right, so how powerful are the x-rays from the black hole's accretion disk? And is there any exotic matter from the same source that might affect hyperspace?"

Rosa and Li didn't know.

"So it's our task to find out. And while we're doing that, we should work out where a two-ton traveller using the same hyperdrive system on the same pathway would bounce out of hyperspace."

"Why do we need to know that?" Rosa asked.

"I'm just thinking ahead," Danielle said but she didn't give any further details.

It was Danielle's pessimistic expectation that the court case would take a year, without any more progress on the motor, so the next traveller they sent would have to use the existing engine. A one-ton traveller could carry a comms probe but nothing more. A two-ton vehicle could carry more sophisticated measuring instruments or even a robot.

The ideal would be a fifty-ton vehicle, which could carry men and machinery; but that would require a bigger engine, a huge increase in fuel, a larger beacon and far longer calculations with even less accuracy. Nothing like that could be done for years without better information from the environment of Samothea; but Danielle knew something else.

With current funding, the Project could afford only one more trip to Samothea and she couldn't see where any new money might come from while the motor's development was on hold and the first trip was only a partial success.

Rosa and Li left to get on with their tasks and Danielle wrote long messages to Earth. She had work to do and was still by her terminal hours later when the replies began to come in.

Jonathan Wright answered first, saying he was surprised but it didn't affect his part of the project. He thought she should tell Nakatami to get lost.

Danielle was disappointed by HyperStar Japan, who said they would heed the warning from the Nakatani Corporation and completely cease all development on the motor. Other tasks for the engineering team would be found. The only relief for Danielle was that no one would lose his job.

Haruki was grateful for her message. He'd been too ashamed to write and apologise before.

Stephen Oakshott was last to reply. It had been night-time in England.

"I'm sorry, Goldrick," Stephen said, "but I can't persuade HyperStar to take a firm stance. Now we can only grind our teeth while we wait for the damn lawyers to fight it out in court. I wish I could be more hopeful. As for new funding - yes, I got the hint - I'm sorry but there's no chance. Things are pretty stretched at the moment, with the investment in the motor tied up while HyperStar sit on their hands - and my best engineer" he added accusingly, "wasting her talents in some barbarian colony a billion light-years away."

Danielle smiled. She shook off her disappointment. There was plenty for her to do with her PhD students to supervise and, in private at home, designing her microwave air-suit.

One more person she contacted was Itsuki Takahashi, Yumi's brother. She told him the news and asked what he thought.

Itsuki replied the next day saying he was going to try to contact Michio Nakatani again, to tell him they thought they knew where Yumi might be and to ask him to call off the law-suit. None of his messages to Michio had been blocked but he couldn't tell if any of them had been read.

Her weekly report to Roger, composed at night while sleep eluded her, contained items of news, words of love, words of sexual longing and a strange tale that she didn't think he'd believe; so he was to hurry up and join her because she missed him so much and needed him more than ever.

2 The Cloner Fair

All but four of the Woodlanders went to the Cloner Fair. It was too far for Lenta, the oldest tribeswoman, to walk. She declined the offer of a lift from the Herders and stayed home. Sharne also stayed in the Forest Camp with Clara, her daughter, and Parvinder, Lenta's bedmate. Together, the three women would maintain the camp while little Clara would sleep in a wicker basket or play on a reed-mat on the ground.

Pepi had a stark choice. She adored her little sister and her grandmother; but the Cloner Fair was such a draw, the highlight of the year, that Sharne eventually persuaded her to go.

Annela also volunteered to stay in the camp but Mirselene ordered her to go to the Fair, to consult Madam Medic. Annela hadn't passed out since the first time but her headaches came and went every few weeks. Her sunken eyes and unnaturally quiet demeanour showed how much of her strength the illness took from her.

She had two kinds of pain: a dull throbbing that felt like someone was stamping on her brain; and a sharp biting, that felt like someone was cutting her brain with a pair of scissors. Potions and herbs helped but, even so, she often pushed her face into a pillow, wishing the pain would stop and allow her to sleep.

With lifts from the helpful Herders, the Woodlanders arrived at the Cloner Fair unusually early, a day before Haircut Day, the official opening day of the Fair.

The very first thing Tamar did was run to find Wildchild.

Now head of the Juniors, Wildchild was preparing the main tent, where the Cloner Council usually entertained the Tribal Chiefs. This year, it had been given over to the nursing mothers as a crèche. She was efficiently organising the three Juniors and five other girls who volunteered to perform the extra work that the nursing mothers would cause.

Tamar hit Wildchild like a missile, almost knocking her down, hugging her ferociously, refusing to let her go until Wildchild insisted she had duties to perform. They kissed and Wildchild promised to bring Hazel over to meet her. Tamar reluctantly allowed her friend to go back to work.

Hazel was one of the volunteers and, an hour or so later, when the crèche was ready, Tamar had the pleasure of properly meeting the beautiful girl who made her friend so happy. She was immediately smitten. Hazel was beautiful in a profound way that Tamar, herself the loveliest girl on Samothea, could wholeheartedly admire, without in the least detracting from her love for Wildchild.

The ideal of Saxon beauty, Hazel was tall and willowy, with long flaxen hair, corn-flower blue eyes, a triangular nose, rowan-berry lips and a peaches-and-cream complexion that modern women on Earth paid plastic surgeons fortunes to simulate.

A generous girl, Hazel was just as pleased to meet Tamar. Any fears that Wildchild's friends might be jealous of each other were unnecessary. Wildchild herself never had any such fear.

By afternoon, the crèche was full of children. The Juniors raised the flaps of the tent to let in the breeze. There were cushions on the floor to sit on and straw bales for a barricade, so children could crawl around on the ground-sheet but couldn't escape.

Seventeen of Ezra's bedmates came to the Fair, carrying eighteen of his daughters. The numerical mismatch was caused by Megan, who bore twin girls. This explained why the petite Herder had had such a big belly and an easy delivery. Her tiny daughters, six months old, were identically beautiful and perfect. They also seemed to be synchronised: Megan suckled them at the same time and they usually fell asleep together.

Half-a-dozen Cloner, Farmer and Miner women also brought their cloned daughters to the crèche. Now the cloning kits were replenished, there had been a baby-boom among the home tribes and a dozen more women were pregnant in the Cloner City and on the Farms.

A young mother who approached the crèche hesitantly that first day was Gerta, Belena's daughter, who had been in the Cloner City when her mother was banished from the Mariner tribe. Now she shared her mother's exile among the Farmers. Gerta was spotted by Cressi, who ran over to say hello and bring her back to sit with the Mariners. There was no animosity toward Gerta because of her mother's crimes but were happy to see her again after a year, making a friendly fuss of her daughter.

Thus it became a lively crèche, a point of interest to all the women at the Fair, who loved to see their population grow and their planet thrive.

However, Belena herself kept away from the Fair, avoiding the tribe who rejected her.

******

Ezra spent a long time greeting his friends and bedmates from the three tribes and meeting the Cloner, Farmer and Miner tribeswomen. He learned that Kalyndra, Devon and Thalassa had stayed behind to look after the Mariner Settlement. Also that Solange and Ash had stayed behind with a half-dozen Herders to look after the dairy herds and the flock.

He thought he knew why Solange stayed away. While she was suckling her daughter, Solange handed over the chieftainship of the tribe to her deputy, Galatea. Staying away was her way of showing confidence in the acting-chief, letting her perform the negotiations for the Herders without interference.

Something else Solange did that Ezra admired was to persuade Judith to attend the Cloner Fair. The woman who snatched Tamar as a baby thought it best to stay away from this year's Fair when she learned that Eloise and Tamar would be going. Solange would not countenance guilty self-denial, however, and told Judith to go and enjoy herself and to face whatever consequences there might be.

She was right, as usual. The dreaded meeting happened on Haircut Day, when Eloise and Tamar joined one of the queues for a seat under a tent-roof and the attention of a Cloner woman with a pair of scissors. Judith was there already, three lines over, waiting her turn.

"Mum," Tamar said with innocent enthusiasm, "Judith's here!"

Eloise looked at where Tamar pointed. At that moment, Judith happened to see them. She looked down, unable to meet Eloise's eyes.

"Come on," Eloise said and took Tamar's hand, determinedly leading her out of their line. They walked over to where Judith stood.

"Hello, I'm Eloise," she said.

"Oh, God!" Judith exclaimed. "I'm so sorry. I ... I can't ask you to forgive me. I've no excuse for what I did; but please don't hate me because ... I truly love your daughter."

Eloise absorbed this with a judicial nod.

"That is what Yael told me and I believe her," she avowed. "Yael is intelligent, adventurous and good-hearted. You brought her up well."

This was true magnanimity. Judith was humbled. She bowed her head a moment.

"I'm sure she inherited all her good qualities from you," Judith replied, "and I'm to blame for her bad habits ... not that she has any, of course," she hastily corrected. Then she corrected again: "Except that she picks her nose."

"I do not!" Tamar protested, though not too vehemently, being an honest girl at heart.

"I'm afraid you do, Darling," Eloise said, "and you didn't inherit the habit from me."

"Anyway, how else am I supposed to clear my nose when it's blocked?" Tamar demanded, rather contradicting her earlier denial.

The two women shared a smile and looked benignly on the girl they both loved, while the women in the haircut queues shuffled past them unnoticed.

"Yael is a lively girl but I'm not lively ..." Eloise said.

Judith held her breath. It might well be her fault that Eloise was sedate, having been in mourning for her daughter for fourteen years.

"... so I don't know whether or not to blame you for making her into such a chatterbox."

"It is my fault," Judith admitted.

"Oh, Judith!" Tamar exclaimed. "No one can blame you just because I like talking so much. Remember, I did the talking for two."

"I have the idea you would have talked for two even if Wildchild hadn't been so quiet," Eloise said. "I notice you haven't talked any less since Wildchild left to be a Junior."

Tamar smiled guiltily.

"Anyway," the girl argued, "what's so wrong with being lively?"

"Nothing, Sweetheart," Eloise said, stroking her daughter's hair.

"You're perfect as you are, Yael," Judith said, then regretted it. She had no right to lay a judgment on another woman's daughter.

"Quite right," Eloise said, after a very short pause. "Though we mustn't make her big-headed."

Here was the same generosity that made Judith ashamed, especially the word 'we', which implied that Eloise and she somehow shared Tamar. Tears began to collect in her eyes, which Eloise saw and changed the subject, giving Judith something else to think about.

"How long do you think Yael's hair should be? She wants to cut it to here," she said, indicating Tamar's neck, "but I prefer it down to here at least." Eloise indicated the skinny girl's shoulder.

"Her hair is so beautiful - yours is too, Eloise - that I wish she wouldn't cut it at all," Judith said.

"But she's resolved," Eloise insisted, "so we can only advise."

Again, there was the word 'we' and an invitation to influence Tamar. Judith was becoming overwhelmed and needed another distraction. Tamar provided it.

"Mum, we've lost our places in the queue," she complained. "Come on, or we'll have to wait all day long!"

"All right, Darling," Eloise said. "Judith, will you join us?"

"Yes, come on, Judith," Tamar insisted before Judith could politely decline, as she thought she should. Tamar led her by the hand back into the queue, saying:

"How short do you want your hair, Judith? Mum is cutting hers very short. She says it'll be cooler but I want it short because it'll dry quicker. Carlin and I have a way of hunting pigeons by camouflaging ourselves with mud and leaves but it always takes ages to get the mud out of our hair. ... I know I could wear a hat but my hat is the leather one you gave me and it's got a big brim. ... Have you met Aunt Adarna? She's Mum's bedmate. She's very kind and sexy. She's pregnant. Ezra knocked her up at his first attempt! ..."

The girl rattled on happily as they slowly inched further in the queue toward the hair-cutters, not giving Judith a chance to reply until she stopped momentarily to take a breath.

"How about a woollen hat," Judith suggested, returning Tamar to an earlier part of her monologue, "then you could put leaves in it?"

"Oh, what a good idea. Mum, I want to buy a woollen hat, and one for Carlin."

"We'll see the prices first, Darling," Eloise cautioned. "People are saying that everything at the Fair will be dearer than last year."

"Eloise, would you allow me to buy a woollen hat for Yael?" Judith asked. "I know the women who knit. They'll give us a discount; and, because it doesn't need to be brightly coloured, it'll be even cheaper."

Eloise thought for a moment. She had been generous to Judith so far and it had been appreciated. She couldn't imagine Tamar wanting to return to the woman who snatched her, even if she bought her a hat.

"I'm sorry," Judith said, misreading Eloise's silence. "It's inappropriate. I shouldn't have suggested it."

"I'm buying it myself," Tamar said, positively. "I've got things to trade."

Finally, Eloise answered.

"Thank you, Judith. Please buy Yael a hat and, Yael, you buy one for Carlin."

******

The second day of the Cloner Fair was known as 'Market Day', the day when the market officially opened. Although the food stalls were open every day, Market Day was significant because of all the eager bargaining that went on, like the first day of the January sales. With money in their pockets or goods to barter, the women were eager buyers.

It would have been better to wait until the last few days of the fair to make their purchases because no one wanted to take home unsold goods, so there would be discounts; but there was always the danger that the best stuff would already have gone, so no one took the chance. Market Day was always exciting, with bustling, haggling, queue-jumping, shouting and jostling for goods. It was usually good-humoured and only occasional broke out into squabbles.

Yumi arrived at the crèche on Market Day, having been busy with Madam Scientist and her young assistant, Crystal. She was happy to release Hayate to the care of the other mothers and take a stroll around the stalls. Hayate was fascinating to the other mothers. They wanted to hold him and (for some reason) to smell him. They were also keen to see what he did differently from their daughters.

One obvious thing was that, where the girls were mostly content to sit and play, Hayate wanted to be moving. He crawled with amazing speed toward the entrance and had to be rescued in case he got trampled on by arrivers and leavers. Each time he was placed back in the middle of the tent, he turned around and made another break for the exit.

Eventually they blocked his path with a straw bale and Hayate had to content himself with crawling full-tilt at peoples' legs, which kept him amused all day.

On day three, the meetings between the tribal chiefs and the Cloner Council started. Five days of meetings were planned, which were intended to resolve inter-tribal disputes, hear legal complaints and discuss matters of importance for the whole community. In reality, they mostly bickered over prices.

Now that the Cloners no longer had a monopoly of children, the outer tribes thought they could buy back some old-Earth luxuries from the Cloners. They were disappointed because the Cloners wanted to put up the prices of cloned animals to the Farmers and Herders, who would pass on the price-rises to the Mariners and Woodlanders, keeping the relative wealth of the tribes the same.