Hartan Expanding Ch. 02

She snorted, "My God, yes. Nothing was normal today. Meetings this morning, one of my projects -- an Ag-O-12 - was accepted as J3 status -- pretty good for a high school project."

As a side note, we worked on projects that were unified by UNCHC standards. Thus, we could talk about how important any project was. Ag-O-12 meant it was AG-riculture related, O-ffworld useful, priority 12, which was pretty good since priorities ran 0 to 99, higher is better. The 12 probably meant marginal improvement in human food production, or good improvement for animal husbandry. Either way, the J3 status meant she achieved a goal and it would probably go to production in 3 months or less.

So, I was obviously dealing with someone who had some science chops, a semi-prestigious thing.

I had to respond to that with the excitement I felt. I stopped walking and turned to her, holding her other hand, "WOW! What did you do?"

She was self-satisfied and mock-bashful, "I reproduced an experiment that proved that a hairy fungus that grew on an Australian scrub bush would be safe for human consumption, and that it absorbed and used very high levels of UV. It prevents plants from dying in high-UV external offworld lighting, but it doesn't hurt anyone if we accidentally eat it."

"Sounds cool!"

"I was only tasked with reproducing the conditions, but I went above that and added some test cases, and I proved that even ultra-high doses of the fungus don't affect mammalian life. I even found it doesn't show up in breast milk or affect fetal development in mice or nematodes."

We turned to walk again. I said, "Must be nice to do something useful."

"I am so psyched! I lead-authored with 2 other co-authors, they did some of the work, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to get lead credit. They're underclassmen, though, Jill is 16 and Binney is 17. Since I'm older and had higher analytical chem ratings, I got to be lead on the project. They're happy, too. Jill was jumping up and down. I love to see her bounce, she's funny."

Laughing, I said, "She bounces?"

"Oh, yeah. Whenever she gets excited, up and down. Very excitable. She's also, like, pretty big on top? So, when she bounces she really, Bounces, you know?" Maria laughed. "And, she wears her hair up, more, in a ponytail, so that it bounces, too. It's not regulation hair, but it's not that far out, so it's okay."

I nodded. One of the regulations that came down was, to reduce sewage treatment needs, and to reduce soap usage, everyone was supposed to wear really short hair -- crew cuts or flat-tops usually, guys and girls both. Plus, it was better for offworld, too, since long hair gummed up air-handling equipment on zero-G platforms. Basically, the whole world just got short haircuts. Long hair was seen either as unpatriotic, or as a luxury that bordered on rebellion. Sometimes people with long hair got picked on. Conforming to rules was a big thing.

Maria told me about the other people on her project, and about how insanely cute the itty-bitty baby lab mice were, and how she got to watch them being born sometimes. I thought that was cool, too, so she brought up a video on her device she'd taken of the pregnant mama mouse, how they came out, and then how they sucked on the mama's teats later that day.

I told her how amazing it was, but she got kind of sad and said, "Yeah. I had to feed these poor little things really large amounts of the fungus, and put huge amounts of the fungal spores in their air. I basically tried to poison them 12 different ways. Kind of sad. They had a hard life. Then, I had to kill some of them to necropsy their organs." She frowned some more.

We were home, and she opened the front door and said, "But, they died at the same rate as the control groups, so they gave their lives so people can live longer. And, if people live longer, then ALL mice, everywhere, live longer. Hartan ships don't care."

"It's hard to argue with success."

"Success could ALSO have been if I found them dying faster than normal. If people use this fungus on purpose, we need to know if it's safe, and if I proved it was unsafe, that would have been just as important."

We got into the front room, took off our coats, and went in to give my Mom hugs, and also to get hugs from Shay, who had her fourth kid, a very young daughter, in a sling across her front.

Mom asked us about our day, and then sent us packing for our room. She said, "Go! You have a lot to talk about. Get moving."

We got to our room and immediately saw it was different. My mom, apparently, had shoved the two bunk beds together, making bunked double-beds, bolted together simply with four carriage bolts. The room was small so there was barely space left over and the shelf that had been on the wall for the far bunkbed upper level was just hanging there on the wall.

Maria said, "I know it's early, but let's get ready for bed so we don't have a rush with everyone else."

I agreed. She went first and came back lip-smacking me with a kiss as she went by, which was kind of odd to me since I was still sort-of in the mode to regard her as just someone I lived near, and not a girlfriend yet. For that matter, I hadn't had a girlfriend before, so there was a lot of getting used to things I'd be doing, I figured.

Coming back in the room after brushing my teeth, etc., I saw Marta standing there next to Maria. Marta was 19, a little taller than me, very slim, and spoke with a French accent since she was from Guiana, next to Venezuela, and she'd grown up speaking French, despite looking very Hispanic. It was an odd combo. She was pretty, but most of the time I'd known her she'd looked really worried, even when she was just sitting reading on her Device.

Marta said, "Kevin, come in and close the door." She had her Device out, with the screen flat upwards.

I closed the door and came over. Maria was standing there, waiting patiently, but smiling pretty widely.

Looking down at her device, she read off to us. "Maria, Kevin, I am your fair witness. I will identify now." Marta held her device up so it could play the tiny laser into her eye and capture a retscan. She said, "Authentication, Marta Guiselle Chelande Veratropelle."

Her device beeped the familiar authentication beeps.

She continued reading, "A strong assertion has been made that you, Kevin, are now over 18 years old, and that Maria is over 18 years old. Further, it is strongly asserted that you, Kevin, wish Maria to be your handler. Maria, you will be Kevin's first handler. Kevin, you will be required to master 18Club sessions 100 through 120 within 45 days or your 18Club ratings will be docked. Maria, you have completed all sessions required for this handling, and should note you are cleared for up to 6 co-handlers with Kevin unless or until further notified. Now, authentication. Maria, please speak your name and hold the device over your eye for retinal scan."

Maria did so, and spoke her name.

"Kevin, your turn."

I saw the red dot and spoke my name to authenticate.

Marta continued reading, "You are both declared authenticated. Central authority declares you also are both authorized to undertake Handling. Kevin, I hereby inform you that this application is for a handling relationship and you are entitled to read the terms that apply to this situation on your device. This handling relationship creates no legal contracts. Kevin, do you understand and agree that Maria will be your handler, and you her handle? If so, please say yes or no, and your voiceprint will serve as a legal acknowledgement."

"Yes."

Maria, do you understand and agree that Kevin will be your handle, and you his handler? If so, please say yes or no, and your voiceprint will serve as a legal acknowledgement."

"Yes."

"Very good. Before we declare final agreement, I am obliged to inform you that Maria's most recent handle was Joshua Berns, started 5 months ago and ended with notification 8 weeks ago. Maria, Kevin has had no previous handlers. If you both understand, please say yes."

We said 'yes'.

Marta turned to me and said, informally, "She could still be with Joshua, it's her right, but you have the right to know." She turned back to the device and continued to read, "Maria. As you know, you may change your mind at any time without notification. However, 18Club requires you to clearly state if and when you intend to become pregnant, with Kevin or with any other person."

Maria said, "No. I do not intend to do that in the next 30 days." She looked me in the eyes, "Kevin, I need to tell you, I have served notice that I intend to outworld migrate using 18Club ratings, and I anticipate having sufficient scores in about 6 months. So, it's likely in about 2 or 3 months, I may require your assistance... Your 'service', as they say."

"Oh..." I didn't know what to say.

She smiled at my confusion, "Don't worry. Lots of time until then. You have no obligations in such an arrangement, but you might gain standing by doing so, and ratings like that never hurt."

I nodded, "Okay. I guess..."

"Okay, then." Marta said, "Kevin, please say or type the number you were given today. This is leadership permission from your introducer." I did so, and she said, "I will type my number..." She typed in an 8 digit number. "Okay. You're set."

Marta turned to us and, reading her screen, said, "I hereby declare you, Kevin and Maria, as Handler and Handle, ratio one, this day. There are many ways you can get help with any problem you have with this situation or in your life. I, Marta, am designated a primary fair witness for you two. You may approach me with any matter whatsoever and no fear of reprisal or compromise. As a fair witness, I will recuse myself should my fairness be compromised. Peace be with you both."

She looked up, smiled very happily, and took a giant deep breath. Maria gave her a big hug, and then Marta gave me a big hug, too. Maria then hugged me, very tightly, and kissed me lightly on the lips, before backing off and keeping hold of my hand.

Marta said, "I'm happy for you both! This is great! I've only done 3 other of these things and it's aaaaaammazing!!!!"

Maria nodded, and I just stood there. This was a lot to take in.

Marta leaned in conspiratorially and said, "One last thing before I go. You should know, I just got certified last month with course 844, and I'm working on 845 now. Kevin, don't worry, Maria will tell you what that means."

Maria looked at her with an appreciative but kind of sideways glance, like she didn't know what to do about that, "Thank you?"

Marta continued, "Oh, hush! I'm LME on Ethics-12. I'm not going to harsh either of you. I'm saying, if you want 844, you'll need a person already read-in on it, and I'm saying, I'm there if you want. No worries..." Her face lit up again, "Oh! I'm happy for you! I have to go tell Mom it's taken care of. She'll have gotten the messaging by now, but she'll probably want to cry about it a little."

Marta hugged Maria again and then left the room, shutting the door behind her.

I looked at Maria and said, "844?"

Maria said, "Guided intro to sexual relations, in case of extreme shyness. Not an issue, she was trying to use what she'd just been taught, natural, but... I doubt you'll need that. I don't."

I shrugged.

"Thought so. I'm hitting the bathroom. Feel free to get comfy and set up the lighting and alarm clock. We want to be up 20 minutes earlier than normal tomorrow instead of 15, I have some stuff to do early-side."

Waiting for her in bed, the bunk light casting a small cone of light, I contemplated all the odd things that were happening, and decided I didn't have to know too much to start with. All these terms were being thrown around. The whole state of the universe was changing in front of me. All this stuff no one had told me about, so secret, and yet so very matter-of-fact when it got here and how had I not seen it?!?!?!

I had seen, in school once, a guy and two girls standing off in a corner, mostly shielded from view by some shelves, and they were doing retinal scans together. It was odd. Usually the retinal scan thing was only for financial payments and important tests and stuff like that, so I noticed it. But, then they went on talking for a while, and I had decided it was boring. I was beginning to see the oddities I'd witnessed in a whole new light.

Maria came back in, shut and locked the door, and got up into the bunk next to me.

As she was climbing in, I said, "Isn't it odd that Mom didn't just take 2 of the bunkbeds out?"

She laughed, "No. Too many people in this house, probably, and given what's on the grapevine, more people are coming. That says maybe we'll have a draft, too, which is super-worrying." She shook her head, contemplating the seriousness of it. "Everyone over a certain age, Gone! I've heard of them - grapevine says it happened in Provo, we don't know More people here means they have to take some older ones away, make room, make room. There's only so many liters of soylent you can cook in the school's kitchens."

I had heard of such things - drafts - also. Everyone had, but it was scuttlebutt, and no one knew anything, and there was this unspoken thing that we weren't supposed to talk about it.

My freshman year, the entire (formerly powerhouse) North Aurora track team suddenly had nobody but younger people, and complete denials that anything was odd whatsoever. You learn not to ask too many questions, so I had shut up then.

"What do we do if that happens?"

She laughed, "Like we have choices."

I got that part.

"There's a lot to tell you otherwise, too."

"Oh?" My interest was piqued.

"Speaking of others, you are not going to have just one handler for long. You need to get started on that."

"Why? What's going on here?"

Maria turned to me, and said, "I'm not going to sugar coat this, Kevin. You need to know the truth. I don't know anything officially, but... Things are NOT going well. Everyone knows it. It's kind of an open secret, but any mentions of it online is scrubbed and whoever said it goes away for a while, maybe a long while. You hear things. You DON'T say them, anywhere, except maybe in person with nobody around. If you don't keep your mouth shut on this, we're both dead. Literally. Dead. You got that?!?"

I gulped a little.

She was deadly serious. "There's probably at least 4 other Hartan ships, the government doesn't tell us about. South America is in bad shape, and even more than that, there's another one, maybe in Antarctica, and the sea levels are rising because of it. We have about 12 years and we're toast. We've got to get offworld, and fast."

"The whole planet?..."

"Yes. Siberia wasn't bad, comparatively, if we ignore the methane. Not many people lived up there. China was... yeah. You know. So, we all heard, Ship HG2 is in India now, northeast near Bangladesh. Another 1.5, maybe 2 billion people will probably die in the next 2 years. That's 100 million a month."

"Oh my God..." My heart was sick. "How?"

"We have to work fast, really, really, fast. There's no time for kids to grow up. We have to do our growing up tout-suite and that means getting qualified for offworld. The big changes up there are living space. There's very little. More than that, there's species diversity issues." She looked at me with one eyebrow up, implying things, "Diversity. All those tests we take, they know all about us. We have to be a diverse bunch or we can't go."

"Makes sense."

"Sure, easy to conceptualize, but you don't get the full meaning here. You got the gender ratio thing from Alissa?"

"Yeah. Of course, we covered that in bio one, like forever ago."

"Well, yeah, I suspect some other things. I suspect we have factories underground that have needed heavy lifting, that means male, workers. That, and probably soldiers, given the increasing panic that's going on as there's less and less land to grow things on and live on."

"How do you know this?"

"I read papers. A lot of it is actually unclassified, it's UNCHC published, and WHO and CDCP, Lancet, JAMA, NEJM, all that. Med papers, journals of sociology, whatever. Space is super, super-cramped there. I'm not just doing work in bio. I've tried to keep up with what's going on in the politics in the settlements. It's a lot to keep track of. I don't get much sleep some nights. Don't freak if you see me sitting awake at all hours. It's taken all my time outside of the fungus research."

"Do I need to worry about your health?"

"Not for the next month, I'll take time off, we'll be busy regardless." She winked at me. "Kev, you're sweet. I like you. You're nice, you're nice looking, and you're good with kids, I've already rated you high on that. All the girls have to rate every person they know, in different ways."

"So, don't worry about you, then... But you say, I'm going to have more handlers? Soon?"

"You're getting ahead, hold on. So, first, we start, you and me. I've had one other first-handle, and they trained us to intro this in a very specific way, right? You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"Understandable, thank you for being honest. I can see it in your eyes. So that's most of the history. Oh, yeah, one more thing. You're going to have some classes assigned next cycle -- what, a week and a half-ish? Yeah, next cycle. You'll have a cycle, 4 full weeks of 'Intro to 18C', for 18Club. You can talk about 18Club in these classes, but ONLY in these classes, or with me, or... You know the drill. That aside, what I just told you about how bad it is? Don't say word one about that. To Anyone. It's the kind of thing that ... is bad to have tracked back to you. And, it's just me, not part of what I'm training info I'm giving you."

"Uh, okay."

"Seriously. I only told you because it's crucial to understanding the reason behind the crazy rules we're living under. Now, for me, we're going to start slow with the relationship thing. First, starting tonight, you're going to tell me your life story, first with the facts, then focusing on the emotionally complicated parts. Next, tomorrow, we'll start by listing all the people you know, and describing your feelings about them -- do you trust them or not and why, what your gut feeling says, whether they've grown as people if you've known them that long."

I cleared my throat, "Uh, do we have time to do anything... else?"

Maria smiled, "Not much. My rule -- kissing only, some skin contact, that's it for the first night. I need to figure out what kind of person you are in bed and you need to figure me out, too."

"Oh. Okay."

"So, start. Where were you born?...."

== Chapter: Skin, and More Skin ==

We turned out the light with enough time to get 6 hours sleep, which was mostly enough, but it was odd with someone being right near me settling down to sleep. I'd slept on bunk beds for as long as I could remember, but now there was a person right near me, and the blanket stretched over both of us so I could feel all of her movements.

Maria turned to me right after the light went out. I settled down and snuggled in a little, but with her that nearby, I couldn't sleep yet.

About 5 minutes later, Maria reached up and turned on the light, and said, "Okay, you passed. Excellent!"

I looked at her, a little bleary-eyed, "Huh?"

"You respected my boundaries. This is good behavior. It's a point I had to evaluate."

This was a little irritating. "So, all this is just a big test? Do you even like me?"

She gushed, "Oh, No! Not that. I definitely like you! Oh my god, yes! I just have to ... It's complicated. I have to do, like, lots of things at the same time, here. You know, us girls, multitasking. I wouldn't have said, 'yes' to this otherwise!"

I was a little relieved. "Good."

"No, better than good. Great! You need to know, though, that even though it seems like I'm being friendly and caring - I actually AM being really, really being friendly and caring. There's a bunch of stuff I have to do with us, that's real work. It's Assigned Work."