Her Brother's Keeper: A Story of Alpha Centauri

SecMother Karen lived in an apartment near the center of Simmon’s Town. It was a very nice area, complete with landscaping in the front of most buildings. These green spaces were noticeably smaller than those surrounding government structures. However, the mere fact that they had lawns and rooftop gardens spoke volumes about the affluence of the people living here.

The building’s ’lock was top of the line. It only took about a third of the time that the school’s ’locks needed to cycle. Then there was the granite floored lobby, complete with a continuously womanned receptionist desk. Despite Christiana’s familiarity with high-end furnishings, the well-appointed interior impressed her. Even the elevators, with their brass doors, were wood-lined with stone tiled floors. They also had soft music playing, the sound coming from numerous hidden speakers.

After reaching the tenth story on the highest level the public conveyance could reach, Christiana exited. Then she walked over to another elevator and entered it after punching in a code. After getting inside, she pushed the button for the penthouse suite where her secMother lived.

When the lift arrived at the proper floor, she pressed the chime switch, letting her secMother know that she was requesting admittance. Moments later the door opened, granting her entry into the apartment. As soon as she stepped into the large living room with its incredible view, a voice over the intercom announced, “I’m in the nursery.”

“She must be changing little Gabrielle-chan,” she realized as she headed to the bedroom that was serving as the small matFam’s playroom. Gabe-imouto was her patSister and was barely a Colonial Year old. “She’s so cute!” she thought as she entered the room where secMother Karen was.

As expected, she was dressing the baby, trying to get the squirming infant into her one-piece jumper. While still focusing on her wriggling Daughter her secMother greeted her. “Chris-chan,” she began, “come and help me with your sister.”

“Okay,” she said as she practically bounced over to the side of the changing table. Then, in an effort to immobilize the little girl, she gently set the child up and stopped her legs from kicking. Upon seeing her patSister’s face the baby smiled and let out a squeal of delight followed by a nonstop stream of “ba-ba-ba-bas.”

“It’s good to see you too,” the older kid responded. “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba yourself!” she continued with a giggle.

Having finished zipping up the girl’s clothing, her Mother began straightening up the room while the two sisters were occupied. With swift and practiced movements, the plump Okaa-san picked up scattered toys and put away the baby powder and extra diapers. After only a handful of minutes, the hazel-eyed, long-haired woman completed her task. Then she stood there watching as the patSisters babbled at one another. As she did, a warm smile appeared on her slightly pale and still youthful face. After running her fingers through her straight and currently burgundy hair, she broke her silence. “So… what happened to your wrist?”

Not noticing that the older lady had been watching her as she played with Gabe-chan, she had neglected to hide the bandage on her appendage. “Crap,” she thought as she stopped tickling the little one. “I was trying to keep it hidden from the adults since it should be better by Monday.”

Deciding that it was best to tell the truth, she answered, “I hurt it during this morning’s practice. It was my fault and not sensei’s.” She explained while glancing over at her secMother. Because she was looking the woman in the eyes, she hoped that the young Mother could sense her sincerity.

“Ok, but you need to be more careful, missie,” the older woman responded. “That last thing anyone wants is for you to have a serious injury. Come on, let’s go out to the living room. I know how much you like the view.” Then, after scooping up the infant in her arms, she left the chamber. After shrugging, she exited the nursery as well.

“Be a love and grab us some iced tea. I need to get Gabby set up in her playpen,” the secMother stated as she began setting up the small play area.

“Sure,” Christiana said as she crossed the large living room. “Where’s Athena?”

“I gave her the afternoon off since you were visiting,” the young Mother replied, her voice faintly audible from the other chamber. However, the dwelling’s system automatically relayed their voices so that they could continue their conversation throughout the entire apartment. That was why she clearly heard the older woman’s speech through the speakers in the kitchen.

“Oh, so you wanted me to do all of her work while I’m here,” the girl said with a giggle. Meanwhile, she was taking two glasses out of the hardwood cabinets. Then, after putting in ice from the dispenser, she filled them with liquid from the large tea pitcher that she took from the refrigeration unit.

Her secMother’s instant reply was also in a playful tone, “No silly, I wanted to talk with you in private.”

Athena was secMother Karen’s only full-time staff. She served as a combination of a nanny, housekeeper, cook, and security officer. While the young woman’s salary was expensive, it paled compared to the cost of four specialized staff. Plus, she performed all of her duties to a very high standard. Her secMother had been very lucky when she hired her. After all, she was saving up for a house of her own to shelter her slowly growing matFam.

After putting the pitcher away, then she grabbed the two glasses, left the kitchen, and sat on a sofa near her secMother. When the woman finally finished setting things up and placed the gurgling baby inside, Christiana handed her a glass of tea.

Happily sitting next to her secMother and patSister she looked out the floor-length windows. From here, she had a wonderful view of the east side of Simmons Town. From the verdant rooftop garden located five floors below to the Lyons River, which was almost lost in the haze, the entire township was laid out before them. Christiana never tired of coming here and looking at the spectacle with her second Mother.

“I’m going to miss this when you move out,” she murmured.

“I will too,” the older lady replied, also in a whisper. “However, the one constant in life is change. It’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way things are.”

With that, she reached over and wrapped her arm around her patDaughter. The girl responded by snuggling up to secMother Karen. The wistful look on the child’s face quickly turned into an expression of serene happiness. ‘I wish Haruhi-nee was here to enjoy this too,’ she thought as she enjoyed the warmth of her secMother’s body. She felt more secure and safe than she had in weeks as she inhaled the slight perfume that her secMother always wore.

“So, kiddo,” her second Mother began, “Holly tells me you gave her a silly excuse about why you don’t want to be your Brother’s Keeper. She hoped you would be more truthful with me.”

Holly was her Okaa-sama’s given name, and since no one called the woman that in her Daughter’s presence, it took Christiana a few moments to realize who her secMother was referring to.

“Umm I wasn’t exactly silly,” she responded, squirming in her seat. “I merely asked her a question which she did not answer.”

“Sometimes I think you are too smart for your own good, kid,” the burgundy-haired woman retorted. “Of course Holly realized what you were doing. You may be incredibly sharp for a fifteen-Year-old, but she has you beat in the experience department. Heck, I have trouble verbally sparring with her and I am over twice your age.”

That statement took the girl by surprise. SecMother Karen was the senior vice president in charge of Washington Refining. However, she had started as a director while attending college. While she had received that position by marrying into the House, she had climbed her way up to her current job on her own merit. Since she accomplished this while also actively serving as a secMother showed just how competent she truly was.

For this outstanding young woman to admit that she had issues when it came to debating with her progenitor was eye-opening to the girl. Over the past few days, she had learned quite a bit about her Okaa-sama, and the more she learned the more remarkable the woman became.

“Do you really?” she asked.

“Do I really what?” Christiana retorted.

“Do you really have trouble discussing things with Mother?”

Upon hearing this, the woman let out a chuckle. “Not all the time,” she answered. “But she knows a lot about business that I don’t, despite my advanced degrees in the field. Studying is one thing, but having decades of experience using that knowledge is quite another. I even consider Holly a bit of a corporate genius.”

Then a thought struck the girl. “If Mother is that sharp, then why isn’t she working at a large company in Cooper’s Landing or Planetfall?”

“That’s because copper is in her blood… and I don’t mean her red hair and freckles!” After both of them laughed, she continued. “The Washingtons have been in the mining business ever since the Second Wave landed and began settling this part of the continent. That’s a very ancient and proud tradition. An institution that Holly couldn’t simply abandon.”

After taking a drink of her iced tea, the youthful lady proceeded. “You probably don’t realize just how important copper is to our civilization. We haven’t built a large power grid like they used to have at one point on Old Earth. Therefore, we do not rely on high voltage aluminum cables for energy transfer over enormous distances. Instead, our decentralized system uses much shorter copper cables for electricity distribution. This is because there is less aluminum on the crust of Cooper’s World and because we often utilize local natural resources to generate power.”

“As a result, the Washington mines, refinery, and cable production companies play an important role in our colonial civilization. Thus the people in charge of the largest corporation in the entire industry must have outstanding business skills.” Then after another drink of tea, she went on, “I bet you didn’t know that she is a major player in the stock market besides running her companies.”

“No, I wasn’t aware of that,” the girl responded, finally taking a drink from her own glass. “She never mentioned it.”

“Holly is very good at it,” her secMother explained. “In fact, she could retire right now and never work another Mainday in her life and still live in luxury for five hundred Years.”

“What? Then why is she such a cheapskate compared to our patMothers?” Christiana asked without thinking.

The older woman merely laughed in response before continuing. “That’s because of the Washingtons’ long and proud history of self-reliance. As Holly would say, ‘Nothing is as important as achieving your goals through hard work!’”

The girl could not help but laugh at her secMother’s terrible impression of her progenitor.

“Yeah, the way she says it is pretty funny, isn’t it?” the woman joked. “However, it was how she was raised and it has had quite an impact on how she thinks. She only gives you ‘the bare necessities.’ The sad truth is that many members of the working-class would love to have those ‘necessities.’”

“I understand that Mother has those rules, but she does not stop you from giving me gifts,” the girl pointed out.

“Hah! Like Hell she doesn’t!” the person who raised her exclaimed. “Ever since I started earning a good salary, I have tried to help you and Haruhi-chan as much as I could. Holly had different ideas. She told me that I should set up personal trust funds for both of you. Then, every time I wanted to buy you girls something, I should take those credits and put them into your inheritance.”

After taking another drink from her glass, she continued. “I’ve already deposited enough creds in those accounts for you both to purchase modest houses. Of course, that doesn’t include the money that I plan on adding over the next eight Years. Nor is the interest from the investments backing those trusts included. You will both be quite wealthy on the day you turn twenty-three.”

“But you gave us both matching necklaces on our birthday,” she objected. “Aren’t they made of solid gold?”

“Sweety thin gold chains are very inexpensive,” her companion explained. “Even girl’s in the working-class have chokers like those. Heck, despite being from the upper-middle class, I had nicer trinkets by the time I was your age. Holly originally didn’t want me to give you those cheap things. Luckily she changed her mind a few days later or you never would have received them.”

Christiana unconsciously grasped the pendant of the chain she was wearing under her shirt. To her, the necklace her secMother had given her was extremely precious. The sentimental value of that “cheap” golden gift was incalculable to her.

“I guess she didn’t want you to give us things because Mother knows you are saving up for a house,” she suggested.

“Look around you, kiddo. Do you really think that I am hurting for creds’?” the woman said. Then, after drinking the rest of her tea in one gulp, she continued, “I am accumulating money to purchase a dwelling of my own. However, this apartment is large enough for a family of five. In fact, I could fit a full-sized matFam in here if I doubled up the smallest ones in the same room. Truthfully, I’d only have to do that until the oldest two get Married. ”

“Then why do you want to move?” she asked.

“I don’t,” her secMother finally admitted with a sigh. “It’s a complicated situation involving the new metal refinery that we’ve scheduled to open in the far west. That’s where the next push for expansion is supposed to take place, and there are rich copper veins in the region. Since Washington Mines has already secured the rights to those mineral beds, it makes more sense to refine the ores on-site as opposed to shipping things back and forth. Besides, they are going to need a lot of electrical cables for the proposed towns and villages in those areas. So eventually we will build a small cable production facility there as well. While I was planning on commuting between here and the construction site, that keeps looking less and less likely.”

“Why’s that?” she asked with interest.

“We keep having incidents like the one that happened last night,” she explained. After manipulating her com’ for a few seconds, part of the window in front of them became opaque and a viewing area appeared at its center. Then, with a gesture, her secMother copied an image to the viewscreen.

“What is that?” the child asked. On the screen was a large round object partially embedded into the ground. In the background, a few scattered trees were visibly silhouetted against a Mainday sunset. The twilight of a partly cloudy Alterday was illuminating the foreground, so the spherical body was quite visible. A small group of people emerging from the back of a lorry was also discernible. Because they were carrying high-intensity hand lights, one of the beams caused a strange ray-like pattern in the photo as it struck the lens of the camera. That added an interesting visual effect to an otherwise ordinary picture.

“That results from a cargo dump about a kay-emm from the end of a runway at the Cooper’s Landing spaceport. The plane was forced to drop its load during ascent when one of its four engines crapped out and couldn’t be restarted.”

“Oh, no! What was the shipment?” she asked in horror.

“Just the new core for the live micro-fusion reactor in Planetfall,” her companion replied, her disgust clearly evident in her voice.

“What!” the girl exclaimed as she sat bolt upright. “Don’t they always ship those via rail? They are far too precious to lose.”

“Well,” she began as she rose from her seat, both tea cups in her hands, “that was the bright idea of the Planetfall City Council. They were trying to transport the core as quickly as possible to cover up several ‘clerical errors.’”

Christiana got up and followed her into the kitchen where she refilled both glasses. Then she continued her explanation as they both returned to their seats. “While the micro-fusion reactor there can supply the city with sufficient electricity with only seven of its eight cores, doing so puts significant strain on the remaining reaction chambers. So the maintenance schedule is government-controlled and carefully adhered to.”

After they both sat down, she handed the girl her drink before resuming. “Somewhere along the line, somebody decided it wouldn’t hurt to cut some corners, which ended up causing production delays. Then, they apparently realized that it would literally take an act of Congress to change the aforementioned activation schedule. So they tried and shave off a few days shipping time by transporting it via air. All to avoid being discovered. Morons!”

“So how long are commercial flights grounded?” the schoolgirl asked after taking a drink of her tea.

“We don’t know, and that’s the problem. It seems like they ground planes every few months pending safety concerns. Air travel is so expensive fuel-wise that very few people can afford to employ it. That’s why it’s only businesswomen who fly with any regularity. It also means that there are only a hand full of commercial carriers, and they all use the same models of plane. It’s all so frustrating!” her second Mother explained.

“I guess the delays will be even longer than usual this time,” Christiana responded in a dispirited tone of voice.

“Yes,” the woman replied before taking another sip of her tea. “With so many governmental agencies involved, it’ll take weeks of investigations at the city, prefectural, and national levels to find out how this fiasco happened. The actual safety concern caused by the engine shutdown will probably become buried under so much red tape that planes won’t be flying for a month or two.”

“It’s hard to commute via air travel when incidents like this keep happening. It would be a lot easier to relocate to the job site and do my work here in Simmon’s Town virtually. The thing is, I’d prefer not to do that,” she finally revealed.

Yet again the child asked, “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to move away from you,” her secMother explained. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am rather fond of both you and Haruhi.”

The girl responded by giving the older female a big hug. “I would miss you too, mommy. I love you!”

“I love you too, kiddo. I think of you as my Daughter. The same goes for Haruhi,” she replied, returning Christiana’s embrace.

The two stayed like that for a little while until the slightly embarrassed girl pulled away. Then, looking for a way to change the subject, her eyes settled upon the photo on the viewscreen. “So what’s the condition of the core?” Christiana asked.

“According to the article I read, they don’t know yet. Since this just happened, they will have to disassemble it to assess any damage. While micro-fusion reactors can withstand drops from high altitudes, they design those units solely for use on shuttles and trains. Mini-fusion power plants were only used on planetary surfaces or on large ships incapable of entering an atmosphere. Therefore, they aren’t nearly as tough. Luckily, the plane was only a couple hundred emms up when the engine failed.”

“I just hope things work out for the people in Planetfall,” The girl responded with a frown.

“I’m sure that it will be fine. After all, they have a backup reactor just in case something like this happens.” Then, in an irritated voice she added, “Of course, that’s if the Conservatives allow them to use it.”

There were only four mini-fusion reactors on Cooper’s World. They carried two from Earth during the First Wave, while they brought the rest in the Second. Unfortunately, they had no way of constructing additional fusion plants. In fact, they could barely build the replacement cores to keep them running. Thus, one was kept in reserve in case any of the others went down. That’s why the Conservatives had blocked its use since its placement, just outside of Planetfall.

There was a good reason for this. If they ever used the extra reactor, then it would become radioactive. Because it also served as a backup for Cooper’s Landing, the generator would have to be moved there if a failure occurred. If the cores became contaminated, then they would have to be replaced before transport because of safety concerns. Even if they utilized one of the remaining shuttles, there was still the possibility of a mishap during the emergency shipment. While much less dangerous than the nucleus of a fission plant, that region of the continent was heavily populated. If a core were to fall and rupture, it would irradiate thousands. That was not a chance that the Conservatives were willing to take.

“Now sweetheart, we have to get back on our original subject,” her secMother gently urged. With a few gestures, she returned the window to its normal transparent state. “Why don’t you want to become Johnathan’s Keeper?”

“Umm, before I respond,” Christiana began. “I need to clarify a few matters. Is that okay?”

The older female merely shrugged and replied, “I’ll answer any questions you might have to the best of my ability.”

“I have some questions about the Uprising,” the girl stated. “I just found out from a friend who is currently wearing the Black that some things we do in my matFam are highly unusual. I even made her brother cry in happiness when I shook his hand and I talked to him the same way I do with John-nii.”

“Well, that is a very long story. Would you like a snack or use the bathroom before I begin?” her mommy replied.

Christiana merely shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“There are a group of families here in the East who have some unusual customs. Since our Houses tend to intermarry, these practices are virtually unknown outside of our households. You had no way of knowing not to talk about our ways of doing things with other people. After all, we do not instruct members of our clans to keep these family guidelines secret until their sixteenth birthday. It doesn’t help that Holly takes those traditions to the EXTREME!” she said with unexpected intensity.

Startled, Christiana pulled away without meaning to. Her secMother rarely raised her voice like this.

“She should have given you a few hints about the way things work. Of course, she also seems to ignore the two of you while being incredibly protective from the shadows. I don’t think I will ever understand why your Mother treats both of you in that manner.” After saying that, she paused for another sip of iced tea.

“Getting back on the subject, all the Houses give their menfolk more freedom in private, but not in public. The more liberal groups even permit their males to eat at the table with their Sisters during breakfast and lunch. They also let them make some basic choices.”

“For instance, these families introduce the young men to prospective Brides and allow them to get to know each other. Then, after a month-long ‘honeymoon’ where they spend time with each other every day, they are asked if they would prefer to marry the girl. If he says no, then the contract with that woman is canceled. Most clans limit the male’s ability to refuse two out of the first five ladies we introduce them to since you need three women to begin a Marriage. Ultimately, this process is much less stressful on the man than introducing him to his new Brides at the altar like they do in the East. It also gives him some say in the matter.”

“That’s still not a lot of freedom,” the girl interjected.

“No, it isn’t if you compare it to the rights of females. However, when compared to having zero input in their own lives, it is pretty revolutionary. To put it bluntly, having some independence is better than having none.”

“I guess these views come from the Uprising?” the child inquired.

“It goes back even further than that,” the woman answered. “It began with the landing of the Second Wave. The primary reason our ancestors settled this region was to separate themselves from the original colony. Back then the nearest First Wave settlement was over a thousand kay-emms distant.”

“Frankly, the way that their predecessors had chipped away at the rights of men horrified the newcomers. After all, this change occurred in a period of less than sixty Earth years. The people of the Second Wave wanted nothing to do with the original colonists. The only reason they did not settle on one of the other continents was that the new arrivals needed the resources that only the initial colony could provide. Otherwise, it would take them decades to establish their own foothold on the planet.”

“Because of this dependence on the hospitality of their then distant neighbors, they joined the inter-prefectural ‘Federal’ regime despite their low representation in the House. Because of their small population size, this discrepancy was inevitable. However, according to the original colony Charter they had to be granted an equal number of seats in the Senate as the First Wave’s descendants. In this way, they hoped to re-establish male rights throughout all of Cooper’s World in the upcoming years.”

“In the meantime, while most of the new colonists followed the letter of the law, they did not follow the spirit of the law. This was inevitable since there were no federal policewomen in the later settlements. Many flagrantly disregarded the legislation passed by the national government by pointing out loopholes in Alliance ordinances. Provincial rules always applied except when there was travel across State boundaries. This was based on the regulations of the Greater United States of the Americas and was written into the colony Charter. Unless someone crossed Prefectural lines, the Feds had no jurisdiction, and therefore local statutes were in effect.”

“Because of this, the members of the Second Wave ended up passing liberal marriage laws, and they treated their male counterparts with equality. This upset Congress to the point that they attempted to enforce their mandates despite being in a legal gray area. The new colonists took the matter to the Supreme Court, and the judiciary ruled unanimously in their favor. This is all history that you probably already know.”

Christiana nodded and responded, “I have read about it in quite a few history texts.”

“What they don’t teach in class are the underhanded tactics used by the original settlers to influence the West into following their rules. While they couldn’t interfere directly, they applied pressure in other ways. Suddenly, companies that had openly traded with our people for Years stopped doing so. Those that continued trading started increasing their fees to unreasonable levels, and their shipments became delayed more often. Since this took place only a decade after they landed, the new colony was not well established. They had no alternative but to pay the high prices to support their ever-growing families.”

“Sensing that things wouldn’t end peacefully, a few leading citizens banded together to prepare for the inevitable upcoming conflict. They did this in utmost secrecy, being careful to never divulge their identities to others, not even other Second Wave members. That was the origin of the group of families that I told you about earlier. We were the ones that made the Uprising possible.”

“Why did you say that?” the girl asked. She was extremely interested, so she sat up straighter while gazing directly at the older woman. She was giving her patMother her undivided attention.

“Let me use the Washington House as an example. Your clan began mining almost from the moment your ancestor set foot on the planet. At the time, your family hadn’t specialized in copper, so they were unearthing whatever metals they could find and then refining them. The new colony then traded these resources to the other outpost for finished goods. What most people didn’t realize was that they were keeping a portion of the steel, lead, copper, and zinc. They then combined the copper and zinc to make brass. Your foremothers then shaped the ingots and with the help of a chemist from my household created a large cache of firearms.”

“So that’s how our ancestors became armed!” she exclaimed. The origin of the assault rifles used during the Uprising had remained a mystery for almost a century and a half. However, just as it was an enigma how the rebels obtained their guns, the source of the federal force’s more advanced weapons was also unknown.

“Yes, it was. Our families worked together for Years to build up a secret arsenal of automatic slug throwers as a precaution. For approximately fifty Years the national government played their games. Then they finally went too far. That’s when the conflicts leading to the Uprising began,” the older female elaborated.

“Actually, it was in Colonial Year 112 or 90 Terran years following the Founding. That was 46 Years or 37 Earth years after the Second Wave’s arrival,” the child pointed out.

“Hey, who’s the one giving the history lesson here, smartypants?” her patMother retorted in a joking manner.

Christiana just laughed, and the woman joined in a few seconds later. After their chuckling stopped, the impromptu lecture continued.

“They split the Senate between the colonies, with both groups having an equal number of votes. However, even after over forty Years of population expansion, the Second Wave was vastly outnumbered in the House. So the House pushed through two pieces of legislation. The first would divide the Second Wave’s territory into six separate Prefectures. The other bill would deny Public Retirement Support to everyone living in Second Wave territories.”

“While the Senate was equally balanced, the Vice President could break any tie votes by casting an extra ballot. The opposition members of the Senate offered a compromise to the Second Wave senators. They would pass only one bill, and the choice of which law passed was up to them. However, while the legislation was pending, the payments to women above retirement age would be retained until they held a vote.”

“That’s another thing they don’t mention in the history books,” Christiana noted. “I have never heard about their accounts being frozen before. Now the timing of the uprising makes more sense.”

“Remember, the victors write those books. They always try to cast themselves in the best light possible.”

“Since all the women who had traveled on the ships were above retirement age, it hurt them the worst by this underhanded tactic. Most barely scraped by with the payments. Without the government funds, it would force them to live on any savings they might have until they resolved the matters.”

“That’s really mean of them!” the girl interjected, both of her hands balled into fists and a frown evident on her face.

“I would say more underhanded than mean, but I agree they weren’t being fair and were hurting a lot of innocent people Now, how about we get back to the reason…,” secMother Karen began, only to be interrupted by Christiana.

“While not related to your story, I was wondering which of my patMother’s might have been behind the attempted sabotage.”

“Actually, that’s a good question. Let’s go down the list of suspects, shall we?” her secMother responded.

“Neither Sydney nor myself have children taking part in the contest, so it wouldn’t make much sense for either of us to get involved. Meanwhile, Holly is your mum so it would be illogical for her to interfere with your progress. So that eliminates half of the Wives right at the beginning.”

“So that just leaves the three others who have Daughters in the competition. Going from the one I feel is least likely to the most probable person we’ll begin with Morgana. Her daughter, Amanda, is really physically fit because of the way Morgan’s family loves athletics and similar competitions.”

“Both of the factors I just mentioned are reasons she would not interfere with your martial arts training. She already knows your level of physical fitness because your matFams like to play various sports together every time you visit. Therefore, she’d realize that stopping you from working out a few hours a day wouldn’t affect your abilities. Interfering would also go against her commitment to fair competition, which was ingrained in her since childhood. As a result, I think we can safely eliminate her from the list of suspects. ”

“While her Daughter is involved in the tournament, Karla cares little for such things. Besides, she makes a very good living from her position at the company, so she does not need the competition’s monetary award. I am positive that she has saved a substantial Dowry for each of her Daughters. Besides, she already has one Keeper in her family, so Patricia will have to provide Kim’s endowment. That frees up even more creds’ to pay for her other children. Of course, if Kelly were to win it would be welcomed, but it is unnecessary. Plus, cheating simply isn’t in her nature.”

“So that just leaves Patricia. She was my choice from the very beginning. There are many reasons for this conclusion. The first is her basic character. She is the type who will do anything to get ahead and stay there. That means that she is ruthless in her business tactics, and that is why her family’s corporation is currently having difficulties.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” she asked the burgundy-haired woman. Unlike her other patMothers who had their own children, patMother Patricia did not work at one of the Washingtons’ businesses. Instead, she was employed at Kobayashi Heavy Industries under her elder Sister. While they based the corporation in Planetfall, her patMother worked virtually from her home office.

“I mean that some of her underhanded business decisions just cost the Kobayashi company a few million creds.′ It was all over the news two months ago. If she wasn’t part of the family, I am sure that they would have fired her, or at least demoted her. As it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if the board cut her pay for this fiasco and quietly promoted her sideways into a potentially less dangerous position. If I were them, I would make certain that she had no contact with their partners whatsoever.”

“Of course, even if she were credit-less, she would do her best to keep up appearances. This is the next reason that I suspect Patricia. This will be her Daughter Sakura’s second attempt at achieving the Black. While not really being a strike against the poor girl, I am sure that her Mother wants her to succeed at all costs. After all, she always compares herself to the rest of us. Thus it would be a major blow to her ego if she didn’t have a Keeper in her matFam. It would probably bother her immensely, although she would never openly admit it.”

“But she is a very caring person,” Christiana pointed out. “I don’t think she would do something to others, especially if they are kids.”

“Are we both talking about the same woman here?” her parent replied with a surprised look plastered on her face. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Well, when I was visiting her house along with Haruhi-nee one time, she spent the entire visit chatting with her eldest patDaughters. Then, when oneechan fell and scraped her knee, she bandaged the wound herself. In fact, patMother Patricia seemed more upset about the injury than big Sister did.”

“Oh dear, you’ve made some false assumptions there,” her secMother replied. “First, you assumed Patricia was in the room out of kindness. Knowing her, she was probably there to watch you two herself. I doubt she would have trusted her employees to do the job properly on their own.”

“The next was that she wanted to help Haruhi and was concerned about her injury. Most likely she was afraid of what Holly would do to her if she allowed either of you to become injured while at her house.”

“Why would Mother be so angry? Were kids and kids hurt themselves,” Christiana pointed out. “Besides, what could she do to her? She doesn’t even work for one of Mother’s companies.”

“Kiddo, it would surprise you what Holly can accomplish, and what she would do for you and Haruhi.”

“She must really love us then!” Christiana declared with a smile.

“You’re such a sweety!” her mommy stated as she tightly embraced the pure girl. As the older female took her patDaughter into her arms, the young woman momentarily glimpsed a worried look on the lady’s face. However, she discounted it as she enjoyed the warmth of the hug. “You are both so innocent. You have no idea how special you are.”

“You’re special to me too, Mommy!” she exclaimed as she hugged back even harder than she had before.

After finally breaking the long embrace, the older female tried to change the subject to something less upsetting.

“So, do you want to talk about your reluctance to being a Keeper now?”

“No, I don’t,” the schoolgirl replied.

“You won’t answer the question willingly, will you?”

Christiana just shook her head.

“What if I tickle it out of you?” her secMother asked in a gruff voice, her hands shaped into wriggling claws.

“Noooo,” she exclaimed in mock horror as she jumped from the couch and dodged behind a nearby love seat.

Her patSister Gabrielle squealed happily in response as secMother Karen slowly chased the blonde girl around the room.

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