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March 1st, 2218
En Route to Ptolemy-1
Lead Plasma Physicist Abolou Yabro
The week I turned 18, I became Abolou Yabro, the new Ghanan Bantu name I chose for myself. I hated the name my mother gave me, William Calhoun. She picked the name because it belonged to some rich guy, and she wanted me to be rich too. Apparently she didn't notice, the man she named me for was the son of an American Vice-President who thought slavery was a great thing.
My mother was a stupid, hopeless criminal, a thief and drug addict. If she were attractive enough, she would have been a prostitute instead. My father met her by selling my mother a dose of illegal drugs and won her heart by giving her an extra dose for free. I wanted no part of their lifestyle, or any of my family anymore.
I think I was the only one on the ship who hated being in cold-sleep, because it resembled what people said being intoxicated was like. I've never been even mildly intoxicated, and I never plan to. People often tease me because I'm firmly opposed to drinking or any sort of drugs unless they’re medically necessary. Keeping my mind sharp and training it well is how I went from living in a wooden crate at age 16 to being a fully qualified plasma physicist.
I greatly enjoyed my wake shifts on the journey since my only duties during unpowered flight were inspecting and maintaining the Zolachev drive. Inspection took less than a day, and 'maintenance' consisted of marking the drive's perfect condition in the log. The drive's magnets, lasers, and electronics are handled by Electrical Engineering, so those are a whole lot of 'Not My Problem'. The fuel piping is the responsibility of the Builders, so again, 'Not My Problem'.
It's pretty hard to damage anything built to resist four million tons of force anyway. Unless two large asteroids miraculously hit the drive in the same spot, I had nothing to do. Each wake cycle of the coast phase, I spent about 29 days getting to know one of our Geologists, the cute and amusing Antonella Campos-Este de Napoli. Even her name was exotic and beautiful.
Her situation was similar. Since we were several light-years from the closest planet, there were very few rocks for her to study. So far, my ‘job’ on our journey had been about 50 days of actual work, and nearly four years getting to know Antonella. If it weren't for the fraternization rules, I'm sure we would have at least two children already.
I heard about the collision, and the four crew we lost when I was woken from cold sleep. I was sad and a little worried, but they assured me most things were fine. We would be able to complete our journey.
We were decelerating now, so I needed to check the drive systems at least three times a day, but my job was still easy. Well over 90 percent of the effort had gone into the engineering and construction of the monstrously powerful behemoth of a reactor.
The same general rule applies to ground vehicles, boats, and spacecraft, it’s a hell of a lot easier to drive a vehicle than design and build one. My recent work still left me at least 6 or 7 hours a day with Antonella. I was walking to her quarters to see her, when the Commander announced; "Please meet in the mess hall, as soon as your work shifts are over."
The two of us were finishing our meal, when the last of the duty crew entered. The Commander started. "First, I want to thank everybody for all their hard work. Considering what's happened, the ship and crew are in good condition to finish our journey. We do have one significant issue. During the incident, we lost over half our water. We have enough to survive, drinking water and food production are not a problem.
However, we don't have enough water left for daily showers. The senior staff and I have decided on a plan to keep things at least reasonably hygienic, and I think it will make most of you happy. Our remaining water will allow everybody to get one sponge bath a day, and one weekly shower. Chief of Science and Medicine Enka Karjala will explain the change."
I was confused. Why would I be happy about fewer showers? Chief Karjala grinned as she walked to the front. Why was she smiling? Unless she was giving orders, it was hard to understand what she was thinking. I was the lead Plasma Physicist, and it's one of the most difficult fields of science. I also play drums and guitar, and speak six languages. I'm a borderline genius, but Enka's mind is beyond even me.
She said, "We've decided to let people choose their families early. Each day pairs of family members will help each other sponge bathe, since it's hard to clean your own back, and dirty backs could cause all sorts of health problems."
I seriously doubted that but stayed quiet. She continued, "Pregnancies are still totally forbidden, but there are a lot of fun things that don't make babies. The first group of women will be implanted with embryos once the colony is stable, at least several months after landing. No baby making until then, but once your family has been chosen, have some fun. Make sure your partner's body is nice and clean daily." There were cheers and some applause.
"The voting begins now. Everybody will choose ten people they want in their family, and an AI will compute which two male four female families will make the most people happy. If there is somebody you don't want, there is also an option for that. You may also choose one specific person as a priority, and there will be a higher chance of that person being included. Be aware, at least one of the people in this room will be in your family, since you need a bathing partner on the same wake shift."
"Just a tip for the ladies, since you only get two males to a family, you should use at least half your votes for females, so the other women in your family don't make you crazy. Men should do something similar, pick at least two or three males you get along with. Be aware, if you choose somebody as a priority, and they use any of their choices for you, you're almost guaranteed to be together. It will take some time to wake those in cold-sleep and let them vote. We should have the results within two days."
There was more cheering and applause, then everybody busily started picking their future mates. I obviously chose Antonella as my priority person, and let her know. We both liked Molly Wallace, and agreed Antonella should use her priority choice for her. We were very surprised when our results came back immediately.
Our family was Antonella and I, Molly Wallace, Oskar Schmidt, Rhonda Simmons, and our boss, Chief Enka Karjala. I had worked with Oskar a little and got along fine with him. All the ladies were at least nicer looking than average. I was really looking forward to our new family.
A decade later, I was furious to find out Enka and Molly had done all the choosing for our family, and Enka had altered the computer’s results. By then it was far too late to do anything about it. We had over a dozen children.
Molly got pregnant the day families were decided, by a guy outside our family. I would have expected it if Oskar were the father. Those two really loved each other. I loathed Enka even more, when the first of our grandchildren was born and Molly told me she got pregnant early the first time because ENKA TOLD HER TO! As her punishment, Molly was a Purple until her daughter reached a year old. I felt a little bad for her sometimes, but there was a major reason for the rule, and she broke it.
Since we needed every person we had, and jail cells would be a big waste of resources; criminals, or 'Purples' clean bathrooms and kitchens and do other unpleasant tasks, in addition to their regular duties. They’re required to wear a purple hat and are pretty much shunned. People call them "Purple" instead of their name, the way rude ignorant people used racial slurs in the bad old days. It’s intentionally humiliating.
A few fools who didn't understand complimented me on having the 'honor' of being married to the smartest person on the planet. It was more of a leash, than an honor. When we lost Oskar, my life became a frustrating but sex-filled Hell.
Rhonda caused no end of problems, scheming to get any advantage she could. Not only was Enka the boss of all of us at work, at home she would turn out to be a slightly benevolent tyrant. At least two of my wives wanted sex with me nearly every day, which would make any straight male happy, including me. The bad part was, they rarely agreed on who would go first. There were arguments about it nearly every week.
They also fought for hours over such critical issues as which chairs should go on what side of the table, what color and how large the bathroom towels should be, and where to put the decorations every holiday. There was even a heated day-long argument over whether it was better to eat carrots for lunch or supper.
It was maddening! The reasonable answer to almost all their arguments was, “It doesn’t really matter.” All four of my wives were scientists, but it seemed that on any given day half of them were insane.
They argued loudly about the correct number of cushions for the living room sofa and if the trash can should be on the right or left side of the kitchen. Three of them nearly came to blows over the weighty issue of using light wood, dark wood, or both for the kitchen cabinets, which was one of the few conflicts Enka stayed out of.
Molly let Enka control her like a robot most of the time, and the two of them were on the same side of any argument, even the rare occasions when Enka was wrong.
Once Enka told me I was a good man, but in over 60 years of marriage, not once did she say she loved me, or even kiss me. I didn't love her, or even like her much, but I respected the hell out of her. We might have survived without Enka, but it would have been much harder. She performed a complex surgery that saved Antonella’s life only two hours after calling her an idiot, because Antonella preferred a darker shade of green for our front door.
I’m quite ashamed of my relationship with Enka. Many, many times she angered me so much that I threw her down and raped her as a way to vent my rage. I feel extremely guilty about that. The woman is perplexing and terribly infuriating, but I still shouldn’t have done it.
Molly did say she loved me on occasion and kissed me a few times a month. I liked her, whenever her face wasn't in one of Enka's orifices. I still miss her. Rhonda used "I love you" and sex as ways to get others to do what she wanted.
If Rhonda weren’t so pretty, I would have actually hated her.
Since our family situation was fraught with stress and conflict, I took refuge in my main source of affection and happiness. I knew Antonella loved me, and I saved most of my love for her.
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Enka Karjala - Chief of Science and Medicine
Personal log
I kind of liked Antonella, but picking Rhonda is the biggest mistake anybody in our family ever made. Rhonda is devious, clever, and willful. It took me three years to mostly get her under control. Even then, she would still rebel and argue with me occasionally.
Abolou is very important to the colony, since he designed and supervises the operation of all the power reactors. Still, he's nearly as stubborn and arrogant as I am. He irritates me to no end, but I do love him in a way. I’ve never told him, but I love his mind, and his other exceptional organ. Sex with Oskar was nice, but Abolou is definitely worth fighting for every night!
Instead of holding long-term grudges, I’ve worked hard to take things a day at a time. About half the time our family is reasonably happy. As payback on days when he’s difficult, I start an argument over something frivolous. Watching people fight about things that don’t matter makes him crazy. I find a way to either settle the argument so he’s happy with me, or anger him so much he grabs me and violently gives me exactly what I want as a ‘punishment’. To me, the guilt he feels after he does it is extra payback for him not following my advice or instructions.
I get him first over half the time. Since he has a lot of energy left and hasn’t burned off the stress from the day, his first sex partner of the night gets pounded like a drum. All of us love going first. Even hate sex with him is better than loving most other men. Despite all the difficulties, I did and still do anything I can to keep him and Antonella safe and with me. But Rhonda? I’d trade Rhonda for a piece of pie. The pie wouldn’t argue with me, and it would make me happy for at least a few minutes.
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