Pros and Cons

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 5604

The analogs that Astra 4 is with are Astras 3 and 5 and the husbands of the three of them. Fred and Astra 2 are back in Walants, of course, and so are Fred and Astra 1. (Since our heroes knew transport was going to become more difficult once the Crystallics had stopped working, the Walants contingent - apart from Astra 2 - were sent back there from Ethiopia just before the battle party left for Atlantis. However, they do have the shuttle that the incubators were sent on, and also the one that had finished up in the vault beneath the Regent's palace, which they had remembered to move into the open using a Crystallic whilst they still had the chance.)

When those present have finished expressing their pleasure at seeing he is none the worse for his near-death experience, Probe asks Astra 4: "Could I have a word with you in private, please? It's about a rather - er - delicate matter." Astra 4 realises that Probe is embarrassed. She hadn't appreciated till now that a golem, as she tends to think of Probe and Inquirer - could feel such an emotion. The Alliance's AIs are very advanced, though; they even possess a sense of humour.

"If it's about my breasts, then there's no need for privacy," she says. "I don't have many secrets from my 'sisters', or indeed their husbands. And 'my' Synizn has already broken the news to me. He reminded me of how, when he originally enlarged my breasts [1857], he didn't use the Crystallic because the change would be next to impossible to undo without it. I asked him in that case how come, as I had already been turned back from a demifox by the Crystallic the first time, he was able to change me by enlarging my breasts without using it. He said that adding something to a 'Crystalliced' person was rather different from taking something away, and then went into a long explanation about my matrix that I didn't really follow.

"He also said that when they changed me back from a demifox this last time, they just told the Crystallics to restore me to my prior state, so I went back to my immediately prior state. He thought the Crystallics' strange sense of humour might have been a factor, too. Given any slack at all, they would tend to take advantage of it. Then, with the death of Sato and the need for haste to move against Zerm, coupled with me being unconscious for a while, nobody thought to do anything about it whilst the Crystallics were still working."

"I'm no mage," says Probe, "but that agrees with how I understand it." "Well, I'm so relieved at no longer being a demifox, that this is a minor inconvenience by comparison. And since Astra 3 has kindly given me some of her bras, and some of her tops as well, it's not much of a problem. Unless I was to get involved in a swordfight, which I suppose isn't very likely to happen now." Her voice sounds slightly wistful at this point. She enjoys being a wife and mother, but it was nice when she only had herself to worry about, and could get into all sorts of adventures. It would have been different had she been heir to the throne, of course, with its attendant responsibilities, but in her Aqualaria she had had an elder sister. She goes on: "Anyway, Astra 3 has pointed out to me that it's not all bad news."

"Yes," Astra 3 chips in. "The milk machine that was produced for Astras 1 and 2 is big and heavy and not really portable, so their babies have to remain in Walants. Which means that the Astras can't be away from Walants for more than a few hours, since they don't want to leave their babies in the hands of others for too long. Whereas, when I wanted to track down Dr Vincent I was able to bring my babies with me. Of course, we can't produce another milk machine using a Crystallic now, but I dare say the Alliance could produce something similar for Astra 5, assuming that she doesn't want to go to Walants. And here in Ethiopia, things are well enough organised that a supply of fresh cow's milk is no problem.

"To get back to the advantages. To my surprise, although it's time- consuming and means I have to eat like a horse, I've come to find breastfeeding very satisfying. And Fred likes my new figure too. I did nearly cause him to have a fit, though, when I teased him that I was thinking of having my hips widened to match." Fred 3 blushes. "So I'm definitely going to leave things as they are until I wean my brood in three or four months time. After that, I'm not sure."

"So what do you all plan to do now?" Probe asked, looking to change the subject. "Minestus is dead, so are Zerm and his friends, the damage from the nuclear weapons has been cleaned up, the Phage has been neutralised, and the slipgate system has been safely closed down. So for once there seems to be no danger threatening or any task that needs doing, so you can please yourselves."

"Astra and I have discussed this," says Fred 3, for once managing to get in ahead of his wife. "We want to go somewhere where we can do some good. Ethiopia, Aqualaria and Walants are obviously already being well looked after, but with the world's population so reduced, there is much that needs to be done elsewhere. It occurred to us that a vast area of what used to be Allaria is now uninhabited, and mostly covered by thick forest. Underneath the trees, though, there's a lot of fertile soil that really ought to be farmed. We thought we might lead a band of settlers, and start reclaiming some of the land. Of course, it will be many generations before we can settle more than a very small fraction of it. It will take some time to find volunteers - I think we'd need at least fifty for it to be viable - and organise the necessary supplies. We will need to take a lot with us, as it is going to take a year or two before we will be self-sufficient."

Probe can't help thinking of American history on his own Earth, and of the wagon trains in the 19th century that headed westward across the Great Plains. "That sounds very worthwhile," he says. "Yes," says Fred 4. "My wife and I" - how nice that sounds, he thinks, not for the first time - "are tempted to go along too. But we won't make a final decision yet. We haven't really been here long enough yet to find out about all the options." "Nor have we," says Astra 5. "In any case, if Fred and Astra 3 are planning to leave before my babies are weaned, that won't be an option for us, as we have to be somewhere where there is a reliable supply of fresh milk. Though the accelerated development the Crystallics subjected the babies to has got them out of the incubators, they are only at the equivalent of a couple of weeks old, so they won't be weaned for a long time yet."

  1. Meanwhile...
  2. and so the talk goes on....

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JH

11/14/1999 12:21:10 PM

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