The Preacher's Daughter

Basel turned to Eliana. "Do you have any sensation that you're being watched?"

Eliana scanned around the pond for a moment. "Not particularly. It's not a magic gift Basel. I could be wrong, but I think we're alone right now." She then grinned at him. "Ready for takeoff?"

Basel gave her a slight nod. "Proceed."

Eliana tilted the turbines straight down and engaged the powerful wing engines. There was a rising whine of power, and the craft lifted about one meter off the ground. The snow underneath them blasted away in all directions, revealing the solid ice underneath.

"Amazingly quiet in here," Basel commented. He was speaking in a conversational tone, and Eliana heard him clearly. She nodded dismissively, her mind clearly engaged with another matter. "Eli, what?"

"There's a bit of a risk in doing these tests. I timed the response time of the wing engines. They ramp up from zero power to full power in the time between five seconds to eight seconds after receiving jump power from the core engine."

"Ah. And how much power do we need for the jump start?"

"Almost 90 kW. These engines were designed to use a 100 kW prime pack as a jumper engine. Do you see the danger?"

"Yeah. If we hover above a governor limit, the engines will switch off, and it'll take eight seconds to get full power back once we start to fall."

"Yes, and if we drop like a rock, we'll fall 200 meters in those first five to eight seconds before I have full engine power again. We'll also need some altitude for pulling out of the fall. Bottom line, if we are hovering and lose power within a few hundred meters of the ground, we're probably going to die."

"You want to call off the test?"

"No, but I will if you're uncomfortable with my plan. Our station is 500 meters above sea level. Some of the nearby peaks are a thousand meters higher. Here at the pond we're about nine meters lower. Rather than hovering straight up, I want to go up only fifty to sixty meters, just above the tree line, and then start flying in a tight circle."

Basel nodded. "Build up some air speed?"

"Exactly. We'll fly a tight spiral upward. If the engines trip out, we should be able to glide back to the altitude where we have power. We should be okay. But Basel, there is some risk. I'm assuming these engines weren't left with us as a death trap, that our Guild gave us a reasonable flight window for using them."

He thought for a moment and then nodded. "Sounds reasonable. I've heard of cases where people have suffered from their stupidity or laziness, but the Guild doesn't try to kill its cadets."

"Okay, here we go." Eliana took the CAT slowly up. As she neared the treetops of the mixed pines and taller spruces surrounding the pond, she muttered, "This is where we're the most vulnerable. You strapped in okay?"

"As tight as I can make it and still breathe."

Eliana grinned. "Okay. Here goes!" She started to accelerate and bank the plane. Once the tight loop was established, she slowly started to ascend.

It was a bumpy ride. Basel thought Eliana was having some difficulty controlling the CAT, and he just kept quiet and monitored the numerous displays. He heard Eliana give a sigh of relief when they topped 700 meters above sea level. Basel thought the ground 200 meters below them still looked very close.

"Well," she said, "I think I'd be barely okay if we lost power now." They continued their loop, Eliana looking more and more relaxed with each hundred meters of additional height. As they approached two kilometers above sea level, Eliana leaned back in her chair and sighed. "What a bucket! Basel, if you ever have a death wish, ask me to fly this thing above Mach 0.5."

"Think you can handle it below that?"

"We're going 300 kph now. This is fine. It took a while to get the hang of it. I'm going to keep our slow spiral upwards until we hit the CAT's flight ceiling or loss power."

"What's its flight ceiling?"

"With all this power, it should make 13,000 meters easy. I've got a feeling though the Guild will keep us below that." She thought for a moment and then added. "Our ancestors must have been great pilots to use these things."

"Huh? Were CATs were used in the old wars?"

Eliana nodded. "Summer of 8244, the Battle of Giza. Abdul Hadi's special forces used CATs to attack the Health Faction in their hilltop fortress. All terrain means all terrain."

"Wow. I didn't think the p-B11 engines went back that far, not for aircraft."

"You're right, they don't. They were using chemical jet engines back in 8244, with six-man CATs not much bigger than this. The scene must have been horrific."

Over the next twenty minutes, Eliana slowly took the CAT up to 3,000 meters. Shortly afterwards they both felt a sudden jolt as the CAT lost power from both auxiliary engines.

"Hold on," she called out, as she banked the CAT into a gentle downward glide and back towards the station. "We still have power from the core engine. I'm restarting the auxiliaries now. When did we lose them?"

Basel studied the readout on a display showing flight recordings. "Between 3015 and 3020 meters above sea level. Current distance to the station, about nine kilometers."

By the time they neared two hours into their flight, they had made numerous tests of the CAT's ceiling. The auxiliary engines would always lose power just above three kilometers above sea level regardless of the horizontal distance to the station. On her last run, Eliana was more than ninety-two kilometers due west of their home, flying north and slowly rising. The auxiliaries kicked out right on schedule at 3,018 meters altitude.

She had become very skilled at restarting, regaining full power before gliding below 3,000 meters. The time was a few minutes before 7 AM. "Basel, we have less than an hour of sunlight left. How about we do the weapons test and call it a day?"

"Okay by me."

Eliana reduced speed until she was hovering, and then selected a small snow-covered hilltop two kilometers to the west and about two kilometers below them. She and Basel both operated the CAT's new weapon system built into the auxiliary engines.

"Twin 600 kW lasers on stand-by, tuned for maximum power delivery." called Basel.

Eliana zoomed into their target on the main display. "Scanners locked."

"Weapons locked."

"And fire," replied Eliana. A few seconds later their targeting display showed a small plume of water vapor jetting briskly from the hilltop. "Cease fire," Eliana called out.

"Batteries returning to stand-by. Everything appears to be working fine."

Eliana surveyed the scene for a moment. "Well, it seems the CAT has a couple of claws."

"Yeah." Basel stared at the magnified image of the steaming pit. "I never thought I'd be doing this."

Eliana nodded and turned the CAT for home, flying rock solid at 370 kph. Basel complimented her for how smooth the ride was and asked, "Still think it's a bucket?"

"In the air? Yeah. But a jump jet can't fly underwater. For all the things the CAT can do, it's not a bad aircraft. I'd hate to learn to fly in one of these things though. It's not something for a novice pilot."

"Ah, should I scratch my hopes for flying lessons then?"

"You want to try Basel?"

"Uh huh, if it's safe."

"Let me think about it."

"Okay."

They made in home without incident, and after going through plasma cleaning in the airlock, they both headed up to the observation dome. They were standing by the clear walls with the sun just about to set at due south southwest.

A few quiet minutes after sunset, Basel asked, "Sense anything?"

Eliana shook her head no. "It's not an easy gift to use. It's most effective when I'm not trying to use it. It something my subconscious does. If I try to exert active control..."

Basel gave an understanding grunt. After another minute of quiet staring at the scenery, he commented, "So, I probably should get back to the garage and work on the deep-snow scanner. How about you?"

"I'll be down on Level-2. There are two hours of ground imaging from the CAT I want to download into the library and study." Eliana smiled at him. "Remember it's your day to make dinner."

"Oh, I won't forget. I found an interesting Karbalan recipe I want to try out."

"Ah, lamb!" said Eliana happily. "Something to look forward to!" They shared a brief hug and kiss and went their separate ways.

Chapter 13. Future Dreams

Later that day...

Time: January 24, 9570 3:00 PM UCT

Basel finished cleaning up from dinner and found Eliana making a selection on the entertainment system. She was still dressed for the day but barefoot, and she had placed their two plush leather lounge chairs side-by-side. As he smiled and started to walk towards her, a haunting melody of a men's choir came from the surrounding speakers.

"Recognize this?" asked Eliana as she made an arm gesture for him to sit.

Basel sat down in the offered chair and smiled as Eliana knelt down and started to take off his shoes and socks. "Sure, early Bel'darian Chant. Sounds like something right after the Wild Times."

Eliana nodded. "Very good. This is from the reign of Abdul Nur, servant of the Light. You can almost hear the weariness in their voices. Three hundred years of political chaos, and the world had had enough."

Rather than sitting in her own chair, Eliana continued to kneel and started massaging his feet. Basel sighed happily and closed his eyes. "Hmm, that feels nice..."

"You have such beautiful feet. I should do this more often."

Another sigh. "Sounds good to me. I'll write you reminder notes. Lots of notes... Ah... Yeah, right there, perfect."

She held his foot firmly in her hands and ran her soft lips up the inside of his arch, and then traced her way back with gentle kisses. "And I want to thank you for a truly scrumptious dinner. I loved your lamb sauce."

Basel nodded. "It was a recipe my great-great grandfather taught me. I had a hunch it would be great with the wild rice."

"Ah, your grandfather. What's he like?"

"Oh, he's a really nice guy. His name is Jafar. You should meet him someday. Happily married, three wives, Gila, Yemima, and... uh... Merav... I'd like you to meet them all, very interesting people..." Basel wiggled his toes in appreciation as Eliana pressed her thumbs into the ball of his foot. "The family has been at Karbala for close to a hundred years now."

Eliana's eyebrows went up. "That long?"

Basel nodded. "They are all such expert shepherds, they have permanent permits from the Sheep Guild for residency... don't have to shift... Yes, you should meet them. Ah, that feels so nice Eli..."

She lowered her nose to sniff between his toes. "Oh, you deserve this. I love petting your feet. I love your man-smell. And besides, you cooked me a fabulous dinner and even did the cleanup."

Eliana continued with her head bent down and kissing and licking his feet as she massaged them. She gave a small laugh. "My moms would be so proud of me! When I was growing up in Cuba, they would sometimes joke and warn me when father wasn't around to be sure not to repeat their mistake. They kept telling me to pick a husband who was good in the kitchen."

"Oh? Your father can't cook?"

"Well, he's been accused of trying to, but my moms have taken over the job. You on the other hand are a fabulous cook. Very attractive!"

He laughed. "Ah yes, the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach."

"It's true Basel."

"I should make you one of my desserts sometime. Do you like chocolate pate with raspberries, or maybe amaretto cheesecake with toasted almonds?"

"Really?!"

"Yep."

She laughed back, "Oh, you are such a fabulous catch!"

He grinned. "But Eli, you're a very good cook too."

"You're being too kind. I approach cooking with cold, military precision. Get into the kitchen, get the job done, move out. You by contrast approach cooking as an art form. I love to watch you while you work! You truly love the job, and you're such a master at the craft!"

"Well, when I'm by myself, I usually eat very simply. I enjoy preparing meals for you."

More kisses on his feet, and then Eliana returned to an earlier thought. "I'd like you to meet my family too Basel, my parents I mean. And I do love my father, in spite of how I might have sounded earlier."

"What's he do?"

"He's with the Literary Guild, works on holo-scripts, mostly entertainment, occasionally a documentary. My family is living in Tehran now. Have you been there recently?"

"Tehran? No, not since I was a child. It's just a short train ride from Baalbek, a hundred kilometers. We used to hop down there all the time."

"Yes, of course. Tehran is such a beautiful city. I saw it for the first time just a few years ago. They were just finishing re-building the golden gate bridge."

"Yeah, the huge earthquake, what a mess..." A contented sigh. "I'd like to meet your family very much. Maybe in July or August, after our test is over... Assuming the monster doesn't eat us first of course."

Eliana stiffened for an instant and then realized Basel's remark was simple playful banter. She decided to reply in kind. "Hah!" A playful nip on the inner arch of his foot. "Basel! You know how sensitive I am about being teased about my monster." Eliana gave one last playful lick to the underside of his big toe, and then got up and sat down in the chair next to him. They held hands and quietly listened to the winsome chanting.

The next recording Eliana had programmed was a pleasant fourth millennium symphony. After the first few movements, she sighed and squeezed his hand. "My love."

Basel nodded. "My love."

"Basel, you're very sweet to give me all this time to think about monogamy. Do you think we can spend some time for a while, talking about ourselves, what a marriage between us would be like?"

"Sure, that's a great idea. And the monster outside is a patient monster. I'm sure it won't mind waiting a bit before we find it."

Eliana reached over and playfully pinched his nipple, and then began to caress him with her fingertips, resting her arm on his chest. "What are your dreams Basel?"

"My dream is lying right next to me."

"Oh, good answer future husband!"

"How about you Eli? A full Priestess, a military Commander and aviator, such an ambitious life, so unusual in these times. What drove you to it?"

She was quiet for a while. "I want to go to mars."

"Huh? You mean the planet? For real?"

"Yep! I want to be an explorer. That's my real passion. We have the technology to do so much more than we're doing. I want to be an explorer. I want to go to mars, maybe even live there if it's possible, at least for a few years."

"Ah, I see. Your careers are stepping stones."

"Yes. As a girl, I tried to imagine what types of people would be chosen for a long-term space mission. I read everything I could about the old lunar colonies. I thought a career in the military and aviation would be a good foundation."

Basel nodded. "And a skilled counselor would also be very useful to a colony."

"Well... It's not just that. My Priestess training also helped me figure myself out. It's a common joke that has a lot of truth behind it." Her hand drifted up, caressing his throat and neck. "Come on Basel, besides me as your ideal girl, what did you dream about as a boy?"

"I liked science a lot. I was fascinated by the research the Photonics Guild was doing. Let's see... As a teenager, I really did dream about you, what my first girlfriend would be like. I had lots of dreams of what it would be like to sleep with you."

"Ah. Someday you should tell me some of your fantasies. Maybe I could help..."

"Really?! Be forewarned! Some of my fantasies were a bit kinky!"

Eliana's eyebrows went up. "But not degrading, I hope?!"

"Oh no. I dreamt of love, and love will always respect..." Basel was silent for a while, occasionally reaching up and petting the back of Eliana's hand as she caressed his cheek. "I had a dream of being on the Supreme Council. I still do..."

"Wow," said Eliana quietly. The time passed, and the short symphony entered its final movement. "I guess in a way we are both shooting for the stars. Right now there are twelve CL-28, four CL-29, two CL-30, one CL-31..."

"... and there hasn't been a male Supreme Council member in almost three hundred years."

"Really? Has it been that long?"

Basel sighed and nodded. "It's been a constant downhill slide. And ever since Fawwaz died six years ago, the entire legislature has been 100% women, 769 Stateswomen between CL-24 and CL27 and not a single guy."

"But there are some guys who are close, right?"

"Just a handful, five CL-22 and two CL-23."

Eliana reached over and returned to caressing his cheek. "I've met a number of Stateswomen through my grandmother Naysa. They're all very dedicated in protecting men's rights. Do guys have a problem with an all-women legislature?"

"Oh, a few do, sure. You can see it at all the Citizen Levels. For every adult Level, the male population is older, not advancing as quickly as the women's. Do you know the numbers Eli?"

"Vaguely. I feel like a bit of a snob when I look at them. I do know my current Level of CL-8 Commander is fairly well balanced, 22.7% guys."

"Yeah, but there's a forty-four year age difference. A woman who makes Commander does so at an average age of 190. The average age for a guy to make Commander is 234."

"Really? That big a difference?"

"Yep. CL-8 is the first Class where the guys are less than 25% of the population. For CL-7, its 25.9%, and for my Class, it's 28.3%,. It keeps rising for the lower Classes until at CL-2 it's almost a third, 32.8%"

"But Basel, that's good for marriages, isn't it? The most common way for marriages to start is for two women to pair up and then search for a husband. Having close to a one-third mix of guys in the lower classes means there's a good supply of both husbands and wife-pairs. And the ratio is always less than a third. The men still get to be choosy."

"Yeah, but we pay the price at the higher levels. Tell me, weren't you the least surprised when you realized your CL-16 superior at Judah was a guy?"

"Zaafir? Oh, I guess a little bit. I think I was more surprised of his high rank. But I don't mind having a male boss. He's a very nice guy. I kind of enjoy it."

"I think I remember being surprised too. I looked something up in the library afterwards. We have the new Judgment 9570 census downloaded. Out of 153,758 CL-16 Governors in the world, only 3,270 are guys, not much more than two percent. And it just keeps getting worse. At CL-18, there are 46,207 Governors with 458 guys, just one percent."

"You memorized the numbers?"

"Sure, why not? At CL-20, there are 11,627 Governors including 53 guys."

Eliana frowned. "I didn't realize a guy would care that much. The government works very hard to keep the law gender-neutral. The legislature did a lot of advertising explaining why they're going to put back male protection into the rape laws, and urging women not to expunge it again."

Basel made a deep sigh. "I know. But if males were treated with full equality, the law never would have been expunged in the first place. This is a good example of why I want to be on the Supreme Council."

Eliana sighed back. "One person can't change the culture Basel."

Basel stared at her. "How can a person who prides herself as being the Preacher's daughter say a thing like that?"

Eliana just stared back and gulped.

Basel gave her a kind smile. "Yes, I can change the culture. It'll just take a lot of work, that's all."

Eliana petted him for a while. As the music ended, she sighed and said, "So, I'm going to marry a man who wants to change the world."

"And I'm going to marry a woman who wants to go the mars."

"Will you come with me?"

"Sure, if it's possible. Will you live in my palace, once I change the world?"