Quad Trouble Ch. 01

Dax Drwen stared at the console. He ran his fingers nervously through his shoulder length fuchsia hair. His silver eyes traversed the room as his mind warred with itself. This tiny ship housed all that remained of his kind. Him, his brothers and few dozen refuges from the war and disease that had virtually annihilated their race. It was their own fault, of course. When a species got so full of itself, that it thought nothing of its world, of other life forms, it was destined to meet its end. But he and the others were not ready just yet to give up. To simply disappear from the universe.

They had been traveling for several light years, through worm holes when they could to reserve their ships dying power. His brother, Dix, as the chief engineer, had been able to harness some power from the stars and solar winds. But even that had its limits. It was up to him now to find a world that they might be able to inhabit. Where they might continue their species.

He studied the data once more. He had narrowed it to two possibilities. The first was another light year away at least. It had the right atmosphere. Like their race, this species had advanced technology, could travel the stars. They could perhaps begin trading with them, make alliances and settled among the native peoples, blend with the thousands of other species that resided on the outpost colony. But they would be obvious. If their enemy followed them, they would have no easy defense.

It was the other that perplexed him. Earth, it was called. It was far less technologically advanced, barely having entered space. Of course, they could use this to their advantage...selling their technology and knowledge. What bothered Dax most was the self-destructive tendencies that he saw in its inhabitants. Their aggressive and war-like natures. Their greedy consumption that threatened to destroy their world and swallow all its natural resources and beauty.

But most of all what bothered Dax was the adversarial nature of the relationship between the genders. Of course, he could not be certain that such things were as bad as they seemed without actually exploring the tiny planet. He had only their 'television' transmissions and something they called the Internet to go by. But both seemed filled with disrespectful females and arrogant and thoughtless males. Only one show seemed to offer some hope of a more congenial type of domestic future to which his species aspired. But it seemed out of keeping with all the other 'shows.' Even its name was odd, 'Leave It to Beaver'?

Dax sighed as he pondered the situation. He was glad that this decision would not fall to him. No, his brother Dex as the captain of this expedition would have that 'pleasure.' He finalized his reports, careful to be as fair minded with each alternative as he could be. Then he sent the information to his brothers and the couple of other lieutenants, who served on the council that would ponder this choice which might well decide the very fate of their species.

***

Dex paced his cabin as he studied the data carefully. All of the reports. Dax had as always enumerated both the positives and negatives of the two planets that they had discovered in their scans. Neither was optimal. He might have well decided to forego both and continue their journey across the universe in hope of finding other more hospitable alternatives. Except that Dix's report made it clear...that was not a viable option. Their fuel supply was dangerously low. Even with the solar supplements, winds and utilizing worm holes, they could make this Earth, but there was some doubt that the other planet was even reachable.

He placed his fingers upon his temple and concentrated as he sought telepathic link with his brother Dox. He summoned the man to his chambers. He needed his brother's expertise in biology to make the final decision. It would do their species no good to settle a world in which they could not reproduce. To live out their substantial days knowing they would be the last of their kind would be more torture than new beginning.

He turned as Dox glimmered into existence in front of him. His brother's head was down. His dark purple hair fell about his face, hiding it from him. The stooped way he held his shoulders told Dex more than he needed to know. "That bad?"

His brother's golden eyes lifted to his face. "Depends on how you want to view it, I suppose."

Dex shook his head and turned back towards the lone window that looked out onto the vast expanse of the universe. How was it that it all their years of searching they had only managed to find two less than ideal alternatives upon which their might settle? With as many stars and planets as there were out there, it seemed the odds would have been more in their favor than this.

Not that they deserved second chances, he supposed. They had had so many of them already. Centuries in which to stop polluting their world. To outgrow their petty tribal squabbles that had caused so many wars, cost so many lives. Ultimately they had destroyed the one thing that offered them their best hope...their mates. They had abandoned them to fight another battle, another war. Without them to provide and protect, the women and many of their children had succumbed to disease and famine. The rest were damaged and dying.

The council had decided that the only hope for their race lay in repopulating another world. They had selected a few dozen of their bravest and strongest warriors and entrusted them with what few children remained. They had sunk all that remained of their most precious resources into equipping this ship for the journey. Food, water, fuel, medicines, they stripped the whole planet of what little remained. For them. Their last hope. And if what these reports said where true, Dex feared it might have all been for naught.

"Only one thing matters, Dox. Which has the best capacity to produce? How can we continue our race?" he pleaded as he ran his hands across his face, rubbed his deep bronze eyes.

Dox sighed, "The first, Mktu, is similar to our own in terms of technology and culture. They are well aware of other species and would welcome us. If on their terms." His brother tactfully skirted the one question that burned on his mind by reiterating what the other reports said.

"We would of course come into contact with many different species with whom we might reproduce. Either naturally or through genetic recombination." His brother sighed, "But it is highly likely that our gene pool would be weakened over time. Each new species with which we bred would change our very nature."

Dex nodded; his brother's assessment was as he suspected. "And this Earth?"

Dox shook his head and scowled, his hair falling about his face in purple strands. "Detection is much more risky. The human race is in many ways a bit too much like our own...arrogant, egocentric, and violent. While they are not ignorant, they also would not welcome an alien species among them. We would need to hide if you will."

He paced back and forth as he thought aloud, "We are distinctly different in many ways from their species. We are on the upper limit of size for this planet. But our anatomy is not too out of the ordinary. At least not with our clothes on," he snickered. Dex smiled; it was good that someone retained a bit of their sense of humor in such a dire situation. "Your skin color is pale by their standards as well but not out of line with what they call Scandinavian. But our eyes and hair would never pass."

He paused and studied Dex's blue hair and opalescent eyes. "We might be able though to either disguise our features by use of dyes and funny things the human put in their eyes called contact lenses. But just as easily we could dismiss our natural appearance as a result of this artifice."

Dex shook his head, "I got all that from Dax's report. What about mates? Are these human women better suited to our needs?"

Dox's broad shoulders slumped, "On a strictly biological basis...yes. Their genes are very closely related. Same number of chromosomes. Almost the same base pairs. Close to a ninety-six percent match actually. And in terms of mating, there are a few differences," he got a decidedly wicked smile then. "But I'll take my chances that the humans would come to enjoy those differences."

Dex laughed then, "I take it you refer to our tradition of sharing our mate, brother?"

Dox nodded, "And a few other small things...at least from what I can learn from what these creatures call porn. Why would anyone allow such an intimate act to be broadcast?" the way he said it was if the very words left a foul taste in his mouth.

"So what is the 'but' in this one, brother?" Dex pushed the issue.

Dox's golden eyes bore into him, "I am not sure that these humans have the necessary maternal instincts to be happy as our mates."

It was another salient point from Dax's report. One that Dex had been pondering endlessly for the whole evening. He nodded, "I understand, but..." His eyes held his brother's gaze, demanded his honest assessment, "We need only find a handful that do possess those qualities we seek. And I have an idea for that as well. So let me ask again...are these humans our best option?"

Dox sighed and skewed his face as he pondered strictly that point, "Yes, captain, from a strictly scientific standard the human race is our closest genetic match and best chance of continuing our race."

Dex held out his hand, "Thank you. That is all I needed to know."

***

Dox felt the dismissal in his brother's words and turned to head back out his quarters to his own. He did not envy his brother his duties. The very fate of their race rested upon his brother's shoulders. Upon all their shoulders he supposed, but the ultimate decision would fall to his brother as captain.

He stood in the door way and turned back. Dex had his back to him, was staring out the portal at the yawning darkness of space. It had been their only existence for so long. Its loneliness had imprinted itself upon each of them in some way or the other, but perhaps most upon his brother as their leader.

"We have faith in you, brother," he said as he slipped from the room.

And he did have, but still the situation weighed heavily upon them all. But he more than the others felt certain aspects of it. He turned down a corridor that led him away from his own quarters. This night as they prepared for the council tomorrow, he knew where he belonged...the one place where it mattered most. The nursery.

As the healer, the care and oversight of the young came under his duties. He and his staff of six younger males provided and cared for them as best they could. But there was no doubt; the youngsters lacked the softness that Dox remembered their own beloved mother provided.

He searched his memories, found one of his favorites. She was dressed in white linen. The four of them were exhausted, but fighting sleep. She had seen to their evening meal and their washing routine. She had placed them all in bed as usual. But this night, she lingered. Story after story, she had read to them of brave princes searching for their princess.

When she finished the last one, her beautiful alabaster face had been drawn a bit. Her amethyst eyes glistened with unshed tears. She had kissed each boy in turn, blessed them with her soft caress.

Dox had stared up at her. He had reached his hand up and wiped her tear away before it even fell. She had smiled weakly and turned her face into his palm and kissed it as well. "You, my tiny heart warrior, understand what all the rest do not. It does not take great wealth or power to hold the princess's heart. Only genuine care." She bent and whispered, "You must teach the others this one day."

Then she was gone. She had been one of the first to succumb to the mystery ailment. But like the others, she weakened and died. The greatest scientists sought for an answer, 'what was killing their women?' But they never did decide definitively. Most thought it was a virus of some type, one that had mutated to affect only the females. But in the space of a few years they were all gone. His race decimated and on the verge of extinction. It was what had driven Dox to become a scientist. If he could not save his mother, he would at least save others.

Looking around the tiny nursery with the dozen or so young boys who had been born in those final days of their dying glory, his heart ached. At least he held a few memories of the woman that had born him and his brothers. That had loved them and raised them in those crucial early years. He held those memories closest to his heart, a precious gift to be cherished always. These children did not have even that.

He stopped beside the bed of the youngest. The boy's lavender hair fell about his ethereal face as he slumbered. Dox brushed it back gently. They were doing their best. All of them. But without the softness and feminine touch of a mother... He sighed and shook his head slowly. "We must do something," he whispered into the dark nothingness of existence.

***

Dix toyed with formulas one more time as he shook his head, his turquoise hair falling about his face. He usually wore it back in a ponytail for safety reasons when he worked with the engines and internal mechanisms of the ship. But it was late. Too late. He should have been asleep long ago. But he simply could not this night.

Tomorrow might be the biggest day of their lives. At least since their forefathers had made the decision in those waning days to send the strongest and brightest of their race on a search for... For what? Mates did not adequately cover the enormity of the situation. If they did not come up with an answer their whole race would become extinct in fifty or sixty years.

That might seem like a long time, between of time, to find other options besides these measly two. But their resources were running low. He looked at the figures one more time. Perhaps too low. If his calculations were right, there was only one option really. Oh, they might make it to Mktu, but it would require favorable solar winds, no mishaps along the way and a degree of luck that they had not had in many, many years.

He shook his head again as he sent the final calculations to his elder brother, Dex. It was all he could do. He looked out the tiny portal at the darkness that threatened to envelop him, their whole race. There seemed no way to keep it at bay. No way to right the course of their destinies.

As depressing as the thought was, there was truly nothing more he could do this night. He stripped out of his flight pants, his only remaining garment. He was hard. Again. He cursed his body. His very existence. What good was the interminable need to procreate if there were no females? His mind fought to master that basic physical need.

He refused to give into it this time. Neither of his options appealed to him any longer. One could only service one's own needs for so long. Eventually it was simply no longer satisfying. He had long since passed that point. And unlike others of his kind, he had no interest in seeking release with another of his kind. While he understood their desperation and passed no judgment upon their choices, the very idea of it was repugnant to him.

But so too was enforced celibacy. A lifetime of it. He hoped that Dex saw something in the data that he and the others were not. Because the very idea of dying a fucking virgin sucked. He turned over one more time, away from the ever expanding maw of existence towards the wall. He willed his mind quiet and his body to relax. He closed his eyes and sleep came, quicker than he expected.

But even then it was filled with restless dreams of things he had never tasted. Soft curves. Thick hair flowing about him. Wet welcomes as his body thrust into her, fulfilled its ultimate imperative...life. True life. Not simply existence.

***

Jody Morgan studied the figures blazing through the darkness one more time. She looked and prayed for some answer, any answer. Jason had worked too hard, sacrificed too much to purchase this worthless piece of the Alaskan dream for their family. Hell, it had cost him everything. Including his life.

She fought back tears for the millionth time in the past year. Tears would get her nowhere. They never did. Besides deep inside she felt as if she was simply cried out. There were no more tears to be had for the kind but tough man who had been her best friend, lover and protector for most of her life.

She had been twelve when they placed the gangly fifteen year old in the foster home that she had lived in since before she could remember. She had long since come to accept her lot in life. She might not have bonded with the older couple who fed and housed them, but she had learned enough about life to know it could be far worse. If they were expected to work harder, do a bit more around the East Texas ranch than other children that was no big deal. At least they were safe. Physically anyway.

But Jason was new to the system. And coming into foster care at fifteen when his single mother died suddenly was a rough break. While they had not been rich, he had known a comfortable life. He got good grades in school. Played several sports. Had loads of friends. And most importantly the genuine love of his mother. Then it was gone...suddenly everything was snatched away from him. Of course, he was hurt and angry. But the Simmons, their foster parents, did not see that...only another strong back to keep their dreams alive, their farm going.

She and Jason had bonded. Become friends. Relied upon one another. She liked to think that it was their friendship that had allowed him to adjust to his new realities. To keep getting good grades. She knew for certain that her arguments and a few extra chores here and there to cover for him was the reason that the Simmons had allowed him to continue playing baseball and football.

In the end, that had paid off big time. Jason had graduated. He had gone off and joined the Army. But still he came back to that dusty old farm on every leave he could. Not for the Simmons. Certainly not for the projects that they always had waiting for the young man. No, he came back for her.

And he came back for good the day that she graduated high school. He had just finished qualifying for Special Forces' training and had a week leave before reporting for the next phase of that. In the space of days, they had celebrated her graduation, eighteenth birthday and their wedding at the justice of the peace. He had moved her out of the foster home too.

The next few years were tough. They barely saw one another between trainings and deployments. She smiled, well often enough to have three beautiful little girls. But Jason had changed. She frowned, no, not changed, intensified. He had always been driven, that was who he was. But now he became fanatical about providing for her and the girls. Stability, financial stability, was all he thought about.

As the world economy worsened, he became convinced that they were destined for collapse and chaos. He became a survivalist. He had insisted that they purchase this tract of acreage in Alaska where they would be away from the worst of it. But that was not enough. He started to stockpile food, guns, supplies for the 'war' that was to come.

He left the Army too. It did not pay enough. Instead he signed up with one of the private contractors promising exorbitant salaries. It had been the beginning of the end. He was dead...before the life insurance policy that he had taken out could even go into effect. His worst nightmares come to fruition. He had left her and the girls vulnerable. Alone without the resources they needed to even survive.

She stared at the tax bill. It was not even that large. But it was way more than she had. Of course, she might be able to arrange an installment plan, but that would require her to have an income beyond the measly widow's and orphans' benefits that she used to provide the basic ends for her girls.