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“Well, mother, I’m all ears,” I told her. She wasn’t my mother, but she was a wonderful mother-in-law, and we had a great relationship. Plus she had been one of my legal parents when I came to the Empire, which was how I’d met Asto. Mother was a title she’d earned, and I was happy to grant her.
“Before I start, I want you to know that I think you can do this, and that I will support whatever decision you make. I just want to make certain you understand what you’re getting into. Operant babies are difficult at best to control in the womb. Strongly operant babies take that to an entirely different level.”
“Mother, Asto and I read everything on the subject that’s publicly available.” To her credit, she at least credited me with the elementary sense to do it anonymously. “I understand that they start to have a perceptible mind around the twentyfive day mark. And I understand that the minds of children are pure ‘I want!’ It’s my job to educate and civilize them. I may have been the youngest of five, but I helped with all of my nephews and nieces from the time when they were born.”
“Are you aware that with artificial gestation, you’re a lot less vulnerable to what they might do? You know children kick. Operant babies do a lot more than that. Furthermore, with artificial gestation, they don’t have to be monitored every second of every day until they’re ready to be born, and other people can give you assistance. If you’re doing it natural style, that assistance becomes harder, because they’ve got to be inside your defenses to help.”
“That’s in accordance with my understanding.”
“Now, imagine your child has a mind as strong as Asto. Can you keep them under control?”
“As strong as Asto, but untrained. Unfocused. Also, I’ll be having a rapport with him that lasts until he’s born. I’ll feel what he does, but he will also feel what I do. By the time he’s able to focus, he’ll also be awake enough to be aware of the consequences.” Guardian minds began developing in the womb, if you let them. By the time they were born, they would be as mature as any twelve year old Earth human, and more so than some alleged adults.
“Finally, imagine what happens if your son starts manifesting the full range of his abilities. Our family masquerade is exposed, with all of the consequences.” Since Iaren had been born, Scimtar’s descendants had been pretending to be Fifth Order, rather than Seventh. It insulated them from the worst of the strife of the inter-family rivalries. Let the other Great Houses vent upon one another. By pretending to be less than they were, Scimtar’s heirs were exempted from the worst of it.
“I understand, mother. My plans were to do some commercial piloting while I was pregnant, but I can restrict myself to the Residence if I have to. You all taught me that I am in control of my body, but I realize I have no right to endanger the rest of you.”
“Just be clear on the dangers, Grace. You’ll be more of a target, also, once news of your pregnancy spreads, and we’d all be upset to lose you.” I wasn’t important as a Second Order Guardian. Even as Asto’s wife, my value was mostly theoretical, and Scimtar had made the costs of striking at his family quite clear in the past. Rival families had bigger fish to fry. But give them a Fifth Order Scimtar in infancy with only Second Order defenses, and that might strike someone as a risk worth taking. Especially if anyone knew the younger Scimtars were Seventh Order, not Fifth.
“I understand the risk that concerns the family,” I told her. We both knew that the real risk was that my Second Order abilities might not muffle the power of a Seventh Order Guardian’s naked ego well enough, and it would be discovered that the family was Seventh Order. “I’m going to make a visit to Earth, but after that, I can confine myself to the Residence if you think it would be wise. Or I can build a new graycode and buy a new pilot module, and move freight anonymously. Actually, I think that would be even safer. The other Great Families can look into the Residence if they try hard enough, and they know exactly where it is and what it contains. Out there, I’d be just another pilot Vectoring stuff from system to system, and there would be nobody else with us to see what was going on.”
“If you’re sure that you want to do this, Grace, I’m on your side. It’s just that Helene uses artificial gestation, and Corella did, too.” Helene and Corella were the other female spouses with children. “For that matter, so did Anana and I.” Anana I knew about, Anara I suspected, but their time was ungodly valuable, both economically speaking and politically. I made a fair chunk piloting, but nothing in their league.
“I’m sure. My sisters did it this way, as did my parents. We both know how hard pregnancy is on natural state mothers. If they can do that, I can get through this, especially as I’m a Guardian.”
“You have considerations they don’t know about. The other Great Families have no reason to come after them.”
I clamped down hard on my frustration. Asto was amused. I knew Mother wanted the best for me and her grandchildren, but we’d been over that. “Agreed, Mother. Do you think we’ll be safer from discovery in the Residence or in an anonymous pilot module nobody has any reason to suspect hides anything unusual?”
“Put a gestation chamber in your ship, just in case,” she said, “And don’t be too proud to change your mind if something happens.” She’d picked up on my frustration despite my attempt to hide it.
“Good idea, mother!” I said, pretending I hadn’t already had it. She really was concerned. And I wouldn’t be afraid to change my mind if something happened to demonstrate a need. I wasn’t suicidal.
“I’m sorry if I seem overprotective,” she said, “You’re young and haven’t been involved in politics, but being pregnant with one of us puts you squarely into it. Be careful, Grace, for yourself and for the rest of us.”
“I know, Mother. I’m sorry if I seem snippy. I promise you I’m not letting my hormones get out of balance. It’s just that I spent twenty years thinking about how to make this work.” I guess I really was cheating – no morning sickness, no mood swings, no swollen ankles, or any of the myriad other legitimate complaints of pregnancy. But those would have been carrying the point too far.
“You’ve earned my respect, too, daughter. You have a good mind, and we think you’re a better wife to our son than we hoped. We’re afraid of losing you.”
Copyright 2017 Dan Melson. All Rights Reserved
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