Her Brother's Keeper: A Story of Alpha Centauri
An Evening to Remember

Christiana was excited. Really excited. She was dressed in her nicest outfit. A blue gingham cotton dress with a sapphire bow similar to the one often worn by Haruhi-nee in the back of her long straight honey-colored hair. She loved this frock since it brought out the color of her eyes because they were both a comparable shade of her favorite hue.

Her closest Sister had helped her put on her clothing due to her injured wrist, and the two had gossiped about their upcoming Alterday. Her oneechan was going to be visiting with their secMother while they scheduled her to have dinner with Miss Harrison. Both girls had been looking forward to their respective occasions, and they chatted happily in their room while waiting for the appointed time.

As usual, when calling on Miss Harrison, she was riding in the Washingtons’ nicest vehicle. It was the high-end luxury model her Mother used daily. Since her Okaa-sama’s personal secretary and chauffeur was off on the weekends, Lucy was currently in the driver’s chair. Even from her position on the back seat of the car, the schoolgirl could see that the poor officer’s white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. While the young sentry often drove the other vehicle’s in the family fleet, she almost never operated this one. After all the automobile cost more creds’ than she made in ten years.

The kindly girl tried to talk to and distract her. “How are you doing today, Miss Lucy?”

“I’m fine, Miss. How are you?” the guard answered, her eyes never leaving the road in front of her.

“I am quite well,” the schoolgirl replied. “You have never told me before, do you have any patDaughters? Or even Sisters close to my age.”

“Oh yes, I do,” her companion responded, her grip loosening on the controls. “I have five patDaughters total, and since I am the eldest in my original matFam all of my siblings are younger. I have a Sister who will be sixteen this year so she is only slightly older than you.”

“Does she live near here?” Christiana asked with genuine interest. “Does she go to my school?”

“No, Miss,” came the reply. “She lives over in Harrisburg. Besides, my family is from the working class, so she wouldn’t attend your academy, anyway.”

“That is a shame,” she replied honestly. “If she is similar to you, then I would very much like to meet her.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Miss,” the brunette responded. “If you really want such a meeting, I can ask Mrs. Washington. If she agrees, then I would be happy to arrange things for you.”

She was quite delighted with this idea, as was Lucy. It was through such meetings and interviews that the majority of working-class families would eventually attain employment in their adulthood. If the encounter went well, then both sides would create a mutually beneficial bond. A relationship that might slowly evolve into a friendship of sorts. As with so many cases in life, it wasn’t so much what you know, but who you know that took you the farthest.

“So please, tell me about your Sister,” the girl requested.

Then, for the rest of the drive, the officer happily told the schoolgirl all about her sibling. By the time they arrived at their destination, the driver had lost her nervousness and the journey became much easier for both of them.

----

After they had pulled into a massive underground parking structure complete with its own vehicle ’lock, the duo rode up a nearby elevator into a spacious open lobby. Here the floors were tiled in polished, multicolored granite while the grand concierge desk at its center was made of delicately carved wood.

Overhead, large lighting globes were suspended from the beams two levels above, giving the chamber a steady and slightly cool illumination. Meanwhile, the shadowy light of Alterday was visible through the floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows.

The room’s interior looked out upon a carefully landscaped courtyard one story below. An artificial stream and an arched Nipponese-style bridge were situated on the terrace. From her vantage point, Christiana could see many well-dressed individuals walking along the graveled walkways that meandered and crisscrossed the garden.

This was the lobby of the highest class hotel in all of Simmon’s Town, The Chateau Duflot. Named after the rear admiral who commanded the initial expedition to the a-cent star system, people knew it throughout the prefecture for its high level of luxury.

It was so luxurious that many people wondered how such an establishment could maintain itself financially in such a backwater area. However, since it had been built just under fifteen Years ago and was still in business, the owners had to have some way of keeping things afloat. Even a child found it slightly strange that they erected a luxury hotel like this one here and not in Planetfall or Cooper’s Landing. Christiana’s young and innocent mind sensed that something was a little off with this place.

However, those gloomy thoughts were quickly replaced by joy when she heard a familiar voice call out “Chris-chan!” Not bothering to see who was around her, she began running full-tilt towards the origin of that cry. Then she jumped into the outstretched arms of the young lady in front of her. This person knelt on one knee to embrace the child with a joyful smile of her own.

The woman in question had the radiant youth of someone in their early to mid-twenties. She also had bright blue eyes and golden hair similar to the child’s own. The major difference was that, unlike the schoolgirl’s straight locks, this person’s long tresses were wavy.

While still thin enough to be considered healthy, she was carrying a few extra kay-gees of mass. However, this weight was distributed in all the right places to make her curvier and gave the adolescent an air of sensuality missing from most individuals her age. This feeling of innocent sexuality was accentuated by her unusually full and pink lips.

She was wearing a brightly colored floral print sundress and a big floppy hat made up of intricately woven plant fibers. The head covering also had a band of ribbon tied into a bow which was the same color as both of their eyes.

This, of course, was Miss Harrison, the schoolgirl’s close friend. Truth be told, next to secMother Karen Christiana was more emotionally attached to this lady than any other adult. But then a person her age barely qualified as an adult, no matter how mature she acted.

“I’ve missed you!” Christiana openly declared, her face positively beaming in delight.

“I missed you too, little one!” the twenty-something replied.

After hugging in the middle of the lodging’s foyer for over half a minute, the two girls were brought back to reality by Lucy loudly clearing her throat.

Embarrassed by her public emotional outburst, Christiana pulled backward from her friend; her face blushing like a tomato. It was only then that she remembered her Mother’s edict that she treat this woman with the utmost respect.

“I’m sorry, Miss Harrison,” she apologized, her sincerity clear to anyone listening. “I was just so happy to see you…”

“It’s okay. I am as much to blame as you are,” the other girl replied as she rose to her feet.

Then, unnoticed by the blushing child, she shot the guard a complex look. While her mouth was still smiling, her eyes were not. In a jubilant tone, she told the confused member of security, “I’ve got it from here. You may leave.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the now rattled sentinel responded. She then bowed deeply before quickly retreating to the nearest elevator.

“Come on. Let’s go get some dinner!” the blonde woman said cheerfully. Then she held out her hand to her much younger friend.

“Okay!” Christiana replied as she took Miss Harrison’s outstretched hand.

Together, the duo walked hand in hand through the lobby and behind the concierge desk. From there, it was only a short walk to the building’s combination restaurant and lounge. They, of course, went into the restaurant portion and were quickly seated by the Hostess at a table for two. The table was next to another set of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a garden below. However, while the terrace seen from the foyer had an Asian feel, this one had a more Western atmosphere. The dim light of Alterday illuminated the blooming flower beds with their riot of colors. The girl always loved to look out at the window at the many rose bushes visible from this vantage point.

“It’s a shame we never come here during Mainday,” the youngster muttered while looking outside. “I bet the view is even better when a-cent-b is above the horizon.”

While she had said this in a whisper, not meaning to be heard, her companion unexpectedly replied.

“I’m sorry, little one, but I am occupied every Mainday,” she stated. “But I can arrange for you and your Sister Haruhi to come and have lunch one weekend when I am not in town. It’d even be my treat. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great!” she responded with an enormous grin. “Thank you very much!”

“You’re welcome, Chris-chan,” the older adolescent came back with an equally cheerful expression. “I enjoy spoiling you. After all, you are only a kid once.”

“You know, I’ve always wondered why you do that,” the child stated matter-of-factly.

However, before Miss Harrison could answer the impeccably dressed waitress arrived to take their orders.

“Let’s start with a drink order and we will eat after we talk for a while. Is that okay with you?” she inquired as Miss Harrison glanced at Christiana who was sitting across from her.

“That’s fine, although can you please bring some bread with the drinks just in case I get hungry before the meal arrives?”

“Of course Miss,” the server replied with no hesitation. “Whatever you wish.”

“Then I will have your largest glass of grape juice,” Miss Harrison ordered and then shifted her gaze to the female sitting across the table.

“Can I please have a normal-sized apple juice?” she asked.

“Yes, of course, you may. I shall return shortly with your requests,” the attendant stated as she gave a bow to the duo. She then promptly headed towards the kitchens.

“No, where were we? Oh, you were asking why I love to spoil you, right?”

“Yes, I’ve wondered about that for a while.”

“Well, I can answer that in two ways, one is long, and the other is short. Which one would you prefer to hear?” the older female asked with a mischievous grin.

“How about the shorter one?” Christiana responded after a moment of deliberation.

“The reason I like to spoil you is…,” then she stopped speaking.

Thinking that her friend was just pausing for emphasis, the Christiana waited. Then, as the silence progressed beyond what would normally be acceptable, she became anxious. Finally. she couldn’t take it and out of frustration she said, “Well, what’s the answer?”

“What are you asking about?” came Miss Harrison’s reply with a snicker.

“Oh, come on!” she stated in a slightly exasperated tone. However, she had a smile on her face because she knew the older girl was just teasing her.

“Okay, okay I was only joking. Now I will give you a proper answer...,” she said before pausing.

“Yes?”

“The answer is…”

Yet another pause.

“Yes?!”

“What was the question again?”

“Okay, you’re taking this a little too far.”

Miss Harrison couldn’t hold back a giggle. Then she finally responded properly, “I spoil you because your Mother doesn’t.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It may not make much sense, but it’s the truth,” came the retort, Miss Harrison’s eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Yes, it is true, but…,”

They were interrupted by the waitress once again as she gracefully placed their drinks in front of her customers. She also put a small plate containing three dinner rolls before the younger of the two. Then she quietly left the table after bowing formally once more.

While she sipped her apple juice, her companion took a swig from her own tumbler. While hers contained about three hundred emm-ells, the woman’s held an entire ell. She was used to this, however, since Miss Harrison had an unusual love of juices. In the past, Christiana had witnessed the twenty-something down cup after cup of the stuff every time they ate together.

“You sure do like your juice,” she commented.

“You always say that, and how do I invariably respond?”

“You say it’s because it’s so yummy.”

“Exactly! Fresh fruit juice is very yummy!” As if to prove a point, she drank another mouthful of the purple liquid. “You don’t realize how lucky we are to be able to consume something other than water every day.”

Christiana just giggled at her friend’s comical words. But then a thought struck, “Were you made to drink nothing but aech-too-oh as a kid?”

“Smartypants!” Miss Harrison replied. Even Christiana could tell that she was forcing a smile as she evaded the question. “You’re going to get in trouble if you don’t learn when to keep your thoughts to yourself. Most children can’t figure things out as easily as you do. Many replace abilities like that intimidating and scary.”

The girl didn’t take the bait from her friend’s leading statement. Instead, she pressed on with her question. “I’m right, aren’t I? You had to drink only water at some point in the past.”

Miss Harrison simply sighed and answered, “Yes, but that was very long ago and for only a very short part of my life.”

Not satisfied with that vague answer, she pushed even further. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why were you in that situation?”

Miss Harrison sighed yet again. “I’ll give you a quick explanation, but then we’re going to change to a more pleasant subject, okay?”

“Deal,” Christiana replied somewhat reluctantly. While she wanted to enjoy their time together, she was very curious about the other girl.

In a melancholy tone, Miss Harrison gave her an answer, although it wasn’t as specific as the schoolgirl desired. “You are fortunate to live in a developed area. You were also blessed to have been born into a wealthy family, so you have never had to go without certain basic amenities. Most are not that lucky. There are places where people barely scrape by in isolation. Months will pass where they see no one but their own families. Not only are they starved for contact with others, but some are also literally starving, scarcely surviving on the provisions on hand until the next resupply. That is the grim reality, and it is something we always need to remember.”

“But that doesn’t really…” Christiana started to say, only to have Miss Harrison interrupt her.

“Ah, ah ah!” Miss Harrison interjected in a slightly displeased voice. “We agreed to change the subject after I gave a brief explanation, and I did. Now let’s talk about a different topic, okay?”

“Okaayy,” Christiana replied, her disappointment clear in her tone. “A deal is a deal.”

“So, tell me all about what you have been doing the past few months.”

“Well…” the child began as she described her last twelve weeks of activities, while the other person at the table listened with rapt attention.

By the time she finished, both of them had completed their drinks and had asked for refills. After a quick bathroom break, the duo returned to their seats and resumed their conversation.

“So it seems that you and Haruhi are as inseparable as always,” the older girl observed with a bright smile.

“Yes, we are together all day at school and then along with Johnathan-nii all evening when I get home from practice,” she answered without any hesitation.

“I bet you miss her a lot while you are training alone, don’t you?”

Christiana merely nodded as she felt the warmth of a slight blush on her face. The glass of amber liquid in front of her suddenly became very interesting. She began looking at it instead of her friend’s grinning visage and meeting those eyes which were so similar to her own.

Miss Harrison broke into a brief bout of laughing, much to Christiana’s surprise. Startled, she looked up only to see the other girl smiling at her.

“Don’t worry about it. Having a bond with your sibling isn’t something to be ashamed of. I remember how close my sister and I were as children. While we weren’t womb-mates, we were only a year apart in age. We were rarely separated, and we even slept together most nights. I miss her…” After saying this in a wistful tone, her companion fell silent for a short while.

Sensing that Miss Harrison was upset, Christiana reached out and took Miss Harrison’s hand in her own. Then, in a quiet voice, she asked, “You say you want to spend time with your Sister. Did she move somewhere far away?”

The older female replied, “No, little one, she died long ago. She’s not gone though, since she still lives on in the memories of those who loved her.”

“I’m sorry for making you sad,” the innocent child apologized.

“It’s okay. You didn’t cause me to become upset. You remind me of her in some ways. When you talk about Haruhi, your eyes light up like hers did and you two share a similar bond to our own. Please cherish the time you have with her. Make as many happy memories as you can… just in case.”

After taking a drink from her rapidly emptying glass, she began anew. “So you miss your Sister when you are at practice. Do you think you will miss her even more if you don’t spend the school day together?”

‘Crap!,’ Christiana thought. ‘That’s too close to the truth!’

This time Christiana was the one who changed the subject. So, after taking a long sip of her juice to stall and get her thoughts in order. She did not answer the query but instead made an inquiry of her own. “I have been wondering, can two matSisters enter the same Marriage contract?”

“Hmmm, now that is an interesting question,” Miss Harrison answered. Then, after putting her elbows on the table, leaning forward, and placing her chin on her hands, she continued. “Technically, I believe it is perfectly legal. I also know that it isolated communities patSisters often Marry. However, I don’t think that matSisters typically do that anymore.”

“You said ‘not anymore,’” the youngster pointed out. “Does that mean that they did so in the past?”

“Definitely. When both colonies first started, they didn’t really have a choice. There simply weren’t enough people to go around. If there were two females of marriageable age, then they entered into a contract with any available males that they could, regardless of their familial relations.”

“It has only been in the last one hundred and fifty Years that these new morals have developed. Frankly, all these recently formed ‘customs’ are detrimental to the colonization efforts. Once we begin moving outward from Cooper’s World to the other habitable planets in this star system, we’ll have the same situation we originally had here. The initial size of the colonies will be larger than the two here because of the much shorter distances involved. However, any social barriers to reproduction may prove very harmful to settlement growth in the long run. The ships we currently have can ferry tens of thousands of people over the course of a couple of decades. Still, that is only a drop in a bucket compared to the number needed to fill up a planet.”

“I’ve never learned about the family structures in the early colonies,” Christiana revealed.

“That’s because the government suppresses a lot of the information made available to the public. That is one of the reasons why exclusively using electronic sources of data storage is so dangerous. With just a few gestures, special officials can make entire books disappear within the planetary network. If they don’t like something in a book, they can cause it to go away without a trace. Or, if you’re lucky, they will only restrict access to that inconvenient knowledge to females below a certain age or level of education.”

Christiana shivered when she heard Miss Harrison’s revelation. This was the second day in a row that someone reminded her of the government’s power to control information. It was amazing how people turned a blind eye to the dangers of keeping all of their files in places accessible by the Network. Since computers are never disconnected from the network, elected officials could delete or even edit books stored on their private systems.

After a few seconds of silence, a thought struck Christiana. As a result, she asked, “How do you know about all of this?”

Her companion smiled devilishly before answering, “I have a lot of connections. Friends in high places are invaluable no matter where you are.”

“Mother said that you have been very helpful to our matFam, so I should treat you with respect,” Christiana innocently revealed.

“Did she now? That’s very interesting. Thank you for letting me know,” her Miss Harrison responded as she leaned back in her chair. After taking her elbows off the table, she took a large drink of her diminishing glass of grape juice. “What else did she say?”

“That was all.”

“Don’t worry, little one. You do not have to be polite around me. I prefer you to be yourself after all. It’s you I like, not some stuffy and overly courteous ojou-sama.”

Christiana felt herself blushing slightly again. She tried to play it off by laughing, but from the playful smile on Miss Harrison’s face, the twenty-something had seen the flush in her cheeks.

“Thank you for saying that,” Christiana said as she took another sip of her apple juice.

“Well, it’s true! Trust me, I’ve had enough politeness over the Years to last me five lifetimes. Conversing with you is refreshing.”

Christiana could only giggle at this. Her friend was only seven or eight Years older than she was, judging from her appearance. She had to be exaggerating to make a statement like that. Her adult life was only beginning after all.

“I enjoy talking normally with you too,” Christiana said somewhat bashfully.

“Good! then it is decided. We won’t act politely with each other. We will just be ourselves. Deal?”

“Deal!” Christiana replied with enthusiasm and with an enormous grin.

After a short silence where they both drank from their glasses, Christiana questioned her elder, “So do you think it’s weird?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The fact that I want to stay with Haruhi-nee even when we are adults.”

“Nope. I don’t believe it’s strange at all.”

“Really? I asked Lucy about it and she said I should talk to my secMother about it and not a security member. The thing is, I forgot to ask her yesterday. Plus, Lucy was acting very embarrassed about the subject.”

“Is Lucy the woman who escorted you here?”

Christiana nodded. “Yes, that is her.”

“Well, I believe that your new defense agent is a bit of a prude.”

“Whats a prude?”

After a few moments of laughter, Miss Harrison finally calmed enough to give a proper response. “I sometimes forget how innocent you are. To answer your question, a prude is an adult who does not like to talk about ‘bedroom play.’”

“‘Bedroom play?’”

“That’s something adults do when they are alone with each other, but they don’t do it with kids because they are too young.”

“So what does that have to do with Haruhi-nee and I joining the same Marriage?”

Her friend giggled a bit before continuing, “Some people feel that two matSisters engaging in ‘bedroom play’ is somehow unnatural. This Lucy seems to think that way.”

“Is it?”

“Is what it?”

“Is ‘bedroom play’ between Sisters wrong?”

“My, you are full of questions today. I’ll give you this last answer and I’m going to change the subject to something more age-appropriate. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Back on Earth there were roughly equal numbers of males and females, so most people married just one person of the opposite sex. There were some who ‘played’ with individuals of the same gender, and there were those who did it with both. Here there are simply too few men to have marriages that way. Here it is normal for the Wives and their Husbands to all ‘play’ together.”

“Now on to the other thing. Back on Old Earth, there were certain rules. They put these in place to stop birth defects caused by a phenomenon called inbreeding. This happened because people in the same family had very similar gene sets. On this planet, however, siblings never have related genes. The Labs see to that. That is an advantage of the long-term eugenics project.”

“So, from a scientific viewpoint, there is no issue with Sisters entering a Marriage with one another. Besides, there is no real breeding going on. Even the ‘natural borns’ are produced in the laboratory. Plus, it’s not like two females can make a baby together.”

“So in the end I do not see a problem with you and Haruhi joining the same wedding contract.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“What exactly happens….”

“Nope, no more talk about that. We agreed, correct?”

“You’re right,” Christiana admitted before letting out a long sigh.

“Don’t worry, I will tell you more when you are older, and when we are in a less public place.”

“When?”

“Well, I was about to start High School when I was told about these kinds of things, so let’s go with that.”

“But that’s so far off!” she complained. Even if she skipped a Year by becoming Johnathan’s Keeper, it would still be four Colonial Years before she entered her secondary education. That was over a quarter of her current lifespan, so it seemed like a very long time for the curious youngster.

Miss Harrison couldn’t help but laugh at her words. “Trust me, kid, a handful of Years is nothing in the scheme of things.”

“But you’re not that much older than I am!” she protested.

“I’m older than I look, so I will take that as a compliment,” Miss Harrison retorted with a mysterious smile. “Now we need to move on to another subject, or we won’t be eating for an hour or so, and I doubt either of us wish for that.”

Christiana looked down at the plate which once contained her dinner rolls. It was currently empty because she had been nibbling on them constantly throughout their conversation. She didn’t intend to let on that she was getting hungry, but the elder girl had realized it on her own.

“Okay, what should we talk about now?”

“How about we discuss the reason you would prefer not to become a Keeper?” the other female replied with a huge grin.

“Why do you wish to know so badly?”

“Why do you want to hide it so badly?”

“It’s like I told Mother, I’m not sure that I am cut out to be a Keeper. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

“You are a terrible liar,” the other girl said while resting her elbow on the table and propping her chin on her palm.

‘Oh crap!’ she thought as she tried her best to meet her friend’s eyes.

“Why do you think I am lying?” Christiana deflected, trying to change the subject.

“Well, you aren’t the type to back down. You are always competing with your family members in games, sports, and academics. Heck, when you were ten you would constantly try to take the blame for Haruhi and Johnathan every time they did something bad. You took responsibility for them five Years ago, why would you shirk it now?”

“I’m not sure if I can do it properly. Who knows, I might not even win if I join the tournament.”

“This from the girl who dominates both sports and academics at her elementary school. With your abilities, you have a very good chance of winning. Even though she’s older, your patSister Sakura seems to be unmotivated. Her Mother keeps pushing her to compete, and that’s why she is putting forth any effort at all. She has lost once before. Why should she win this time?”

The rattled girl didn’t even realize that Miss Harrison knew a lot of information about her patSister than she should have. Instead, she was struggling to develop a better excuse on the spot. Her friend was right, she was not very good at lying. Plus, despite being incredibly smart for a fifteen-Year-old, she was still only in elementary school. Making up plausible excuses on a moment’s notice was not her forte.

“Look, I’m going to tell you something that might help you make the proper decision. It should give you a little more confidence in your abilities, so please listen carefully.”

The girl gave her companion her undivided attention; her gaze directly on the other girl’s face. Miss Harrison sat back in her chair and began speaking in a serious tone.

“I’m going to let you in on a piece of confidential information. The only person who knows this in your family is your Mother, Holly, so it is not to be discussed with anyone else. You are not to disclose what I am about to tell you, not your teachers, not your security guards, not even your siblings. This is something that most Senators do not know. They classify it above top-secret. Just talking to you about this might be considered treason by some, but it involves your genetic heritage, so I am choosing to reveal this to you.”

The girl could not help but gulp upon hearing this. ‘What could be so important about my lineage that it’s a state secret?’ she wondered while Miss Harrison took a drink from her almost empty glass. ‘I’ve never seen her act this seriously before.’

“This is very serious, and I want you to swear to secrecy before I tell you this. Do you understand how significant this is?”

Christiana just nodded her head. This was highly irregular. While she knew that Miss Harrison was from an influential family, this was the first time she had acted this way. In fact, before today, she had somewhat doubted what her Mother had said about her friend. Miss Harrison was always so fun and carefree that Christiana had never seen her as someone from the highest part of society.

“Do you vow not to talk with this to anyone other than Holly?”

“I promise,” Christiana replied with equal seriousness. It was strange to hear a person other than her patMothers refer to her Okaa-sama by her first name.

“Okay, I will hold you to this pledge.”

“I understand.”

“According to your Mother, you are a major history buff. Between that and your genetic ancestry, I am sure that you are familiar with the Chosen.”

“Of course, my geneMother was the geneSister of Christy Harris.”

“I am afraid that is not the truth,” the other female revealed.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused by what Miss Harris had said. “I am named gee-emm Harris after all.”

After sighing loudly, her companion continued speaking. “You are a gee-emm Harris. However, there were two Harris sisters.”

“Yes, the siblings were Mary and Christy Harris. So what?”

“This is the secret that I am referring to.”

“Are you saying that I’m the geneDaughter of Christy Harris of the Chosen? But that is impossible. Everybody knows they took the Chosen’s eggs with them when the starships returned to Earth to pick up the Second Wave.”

“Yes, they did, but the ships came back. Guess what were still on board?”

“But that’s not what the history books say. Besides, how would you know?”

“Chris-chan, look at me closely. Who do I resemble? Who do you resemble?” Then, upon seeing the confused expression on the younger adolescent’s face, she gave another hint. “Christiana, our names are even similar. I’m called Christina, after all.”

“Wait… we’re geneSisters?”

Miss Harrison’s visage bloomed into a bright and affectionate smile. “Something like that.”

In her excitement, Christiana missed the implications of that statement and jumped to her feet. Then she ran around the table and hugged her friend.

“That explains so much!” she exclaimed, uncaring of the fact that they were in a public place. As she basked in the warmth of the Miss Harrison’s returned embrace, all she could do was smile in bliss.

After a long hug, Christiana finally pulled away. “I’ve always tried to figure out why you took such an interest in me. I also wondered why I had such a strange name. ‘Christiana’ wasn’t even a common first name back on Old Earth.”

“Yes, little one, they named you after your geneMother Christy.”

Christiana positively bounced up and down in her delight as she returned to her seat. She was simply delighted to have found someone with similar genes to her own. The other implications of the discovery hadn’t had time to sink in. Back when she had tried to break into the Labs’ computer system to replace her geneSisters she had never dreamed that she was already friends with one. This was the most joyous occasion of her young life.

“So does learning this minor fact give you any more confidence?”

“I wouldn’t call this a minor fact, and how would it…” Christiana began only to stop mid-sentence. The importance of what she had been told suddenly hit her. She had been so caught up in the happiness of replaceing a geneSister that she hadn’t thought things through. If her geneMother was one of the Chosen, then it had far-reaching ramifications and was life-changing.

“I see that you are starting to realize the implications of what this means for you and your future. Don’t get me wrong, Mary was no slouch. It isn’t common knowledge, but they offered her a full-time crew position as well. Unfortunately, she turned it down and joined the colonists.”

“What? Why would she do that?”

“I believe it was because she wanted to have lots of children and that wouldn’t be possible on the starships. During the return voyage, only the operations ring remained in service on each ship. Thus there wasn’t a lot of room for kids.”

“But she turned down such a great honor,” the child interjected.

The older girl snickered. “Being picked was not very prestigious back when all of this was going on.”

“Try to think of it from her perspective. She signed up to become a colonist. One of the psych requirements to be selected for the mission was a deep-seated desire to have kids. Then she spent the vast majority of her life learning how to survive and help the colony thrive on the surface of a planet. Finally, not long before she’s set to arrive, they gave her a choice. Join the crew or continue to her destination. I believe you can figure out what most people would prefer.”

“As for it being an honor, well, they have only placed the Chosen on a pedestal during the past fifty Years. I think that someone in the government wanted a positive ‘urban legend’ to counteract the negative ones that have cropped up over the last couple of centuries.”

“In a way, the idea was ingenious. Everyone is fallible and every wrong move that an individual makes in our society is recorded and analyzed under an emm-scope. It’s very easy to make a woman in history sound heroic when they didn’t stay around to mess up their spotless image.”

“So you’re saying the Chosen weren’t all that important?” the girl asked, crestfallen.

“No, I am saying that they were people. Don’t get me wrong, the Chosen were extremely intelligent or the commanding officers wouldn’t have selected them to become crew members. They just were not the paragons that society makes them out to be.”

“The reason I am telling you this is that you are the geneDaughter of one of these individuals. Even if women treat you differently due to your gee-emm status, do not let it go to your head. On the other hand, don’t get upset if you aren’t as perfect as others make you out to be. No matter who you are related to, you are just a person. You still have to eat and drink like everyone else. Sometimes you have to use the bathroom too.”

“I do not think you will have issues with this, since you are pretty well adjusted. I wouldn’t have revealed this information to you if I thought it would cause you problems in the long run.”

“What I do know is that being a gee-emm to either sister means that you have exceptional abilities that others won’t be able to match. That’s why gee-emms are treated differently than everyone else, after all. Knowing all of this should have given you a bit more confidence. Does it?”

“I think so,” she reluctantly replied as she tried to process all of this new information. It was a lot for her to take in.

“Good, then you won’t mind competing in the tournament.”

Christiana did her best to suppress a frown. She had walked right into a verbal trap. ‘That was mean of her!’ she thought as she drank a mouthful from her all but empty glass.

Here the other girl grinned brightly. Then in a teasing voice, she said, “Unless, of course, lack of confidence has nothing to do with your reluctance to become a contestant.”

“Look, Christiana, I’m sorry for pressing the issue so much, but you aren’t telling me the truth, and I need to know why you are acting this way. I can’t help you solve your issues if you don’t tell me the cause of them.”

“You want to help me?”

“Yes. I do. That’s why I am being such a pest about this.”

“Why is this so important to you? I asked this earlier, but you didn’t answer.”

“Look, there aren’t many ways for someone your age to display their level of responsibility. I want you to show people you can act responsibly by taking care of your Brother. Believe it or not, becoming a Keeper will have a tremendous impact on your future, whatever path you eventually decide to take.”

“Now would you please tell me the real reason for your hesitation?”

Christiana sighed. She knew that no matter how embarrassing it was to admit the true source of her reluctance, she couldn’t hide it anymore. Plus, since her friend wanted to help her, she might replace a way out of the mess looming in front of her. The problem that had been plaguing her thoughts night and day for months.

Being too embarrassed to look her companion in the face, she kept her gaze on her empty glass in front of her. “I don’t want to make the choice,” she finally admitted.

“You do not want to make what choice?” Miss Harrison asked, her concern clear in her voice.

“I don’t want to decide who I will go to school with every day. If I win the competition and become John-nii’s Keeper, then I won’t be able to see Haruhi-nee until I arrive home in the evenings. If I lose, then I will get to spend the school day with oneechan, but I won’t get to meet with Johnathan-nii until later in the evening. Either way, one of them will be lonely and upset with me. I do not want that to happen!”

It was only when she paused that Christiana realized she had tears coming out of her eyes. The frustration that she had been suppressing all of this time had finally boiled over and she had begun crying without knowing.

“I wish I hadn’t been put in this stupid predicament!” she exclaimed in a shaky voice, all the while looking down at the table. “Why was I the one they chose to participate, anyway? Why didn’t they choose Haruhi-nee? At least I wouldn’t have to be torn between the two most important people in my life!”

Miss Harrison reached out and took the child’s hand in her own. “Would you like it if your Sister had to go through the pain you are feeling right now?” she asked gently.

“No, of course not!” she replied, finally looking into the older adolescent’s eyes. “I do not want to hurt either of them! That’s the problem.”

Using her cloth napkin, Miss Harrison tenderly wiped away the distraught child’s tears. “I’m afraid that everyone has to face times like these as they grow up. It’s not fun, but it is part of life.”

“Well, I don’t like it!” Christiana replied.

“No-one does,” Miss Harrison said.

The two sat in silence for a little while until she got her emotions under control and her teardrops finally stopped.

“Feeling better now?” Miss Harrison asked in a gentle tone.

“Yes,” Christiana said after a moment’s thought.

“Sometimes crying helps,” Miss Harrison said gently.

“But women aren’t supposed to cry. We have to be strong for our men,” came Christiana’s prompt reply.

“Nonsense! It’s okay to cry if you have a reason to do so,” Miss Harrison interjected. “It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, pain is pain.”

“No-one has ever told me that before,” Christiana admitted between sniffles.

“That’s because of all this toxic femininity that is rampant in today’s society.” After producing a clutch from seemingly out of nowhere, she withdrew a small pack of facial tissues and gave them to Christiana.

“Thank you,” she said upon receiving the package. Then, after blowing her nose, she continued, “I am sorry for being such a crybaby.”

“You are fine. Everyone gets upset from time to time,” Miss Harrison said matter-of-factly. “Now then I have to tell you the answer to your earlier question.”

“What question?” Christiana asked, genuinely confused.

“You asked why they chose you to compete instead of Haruhi,” Miss Harrison clarified.

“I assumed it was because I was slightly better at sports,” Christiana replied.

“Nope, everybody knows you are both equally gifted at both athletics and academics,” Miss Harrison replied.

“Then why?” Christiana asked.

“In case you haven’t noticed, your family is one of a handful of Houses who treat their male members with more respect and freedom than all the others, right?” Miss Harrison pointed out gently.

“Oh yeah, I have seen that a lot over the past few days,” Christiana conceded.

“You also understand that your House is the most liberal of all those families, right?” Miss Harrison asked.

“Yes, my secMother mentioned that yesterday.”

“Then I’m sure you know that all these clans give their males some input in who they marry,” Miss Harrison queried.

“Yes,” Christiana replied as she nodded in agreement.

“If they offer their Sons a choice of wives, what do you think the Mothers do for their Son’s Keepers?”

This revelation truly stunned Christiana. To be honest, she had never imagined that Johnathan-nii was the one who picked her over Haruhi-nee. The three of them were a trio after all, so it made sense that he wanted one of his matSisters to be his guard over his patSisters.

“Why would he do what?” came Christiana’s unexpected response. Still lost in her thoughts, she absentmindedly asked, “Why would he choose me over oneechan?”

“As well as you know him, it seems that you do not truly understand his heart.”

“What do you mean?”

“You will figure it out eventually, little one. I was pretty oblivious about such things when I was your age too.”

She could only look at her friend and wonder what she meant. After a minute of silence, Miss Harrison said, “Come on, let’s go wash your face and freshen up, okay?”

After the two returned to their table, they motioned the waitress back over.

“I feel like celebrating. What are your finest dishes?” Miss Harrison asked.

“Currently we have Kobe Steak style bio-beef with truffles and simulated foie gras pâté. Next, we have farm-grown Bluefin Tuna steak with rice and vegetables. Finally, we have Grilled Marinated Rabbit with Lemon and Rosemary.”

“Is that genuine rabbit or is it bio-meat?”

“It is the real thing, Miss. Only the best for our guests.”

“Wait, is she talking about flesh from an actual farm raised bunny?” Christiana asked.

“She sure is!” Miss Harrison said with glee.

The younger girl shuddered. Rabbits were the only non-aquatic animal reared on the planet. They had been carefully raised and maintained on the starships over the twenty-four Terran year long voyages for experiments and as a potential food source.

“But…..”

“Look, you eat fish, right?”

“Well, of course, everyone eats fish.”

“Fish are animals, right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Ummm….” While the girl couldn’t refute Miss Harrison’s argument, she still had a nagging feeling that there was something different between a hare and seafood. However, the other young woman was correct in that they were both living creatures. In both cases, they were taking the life of another organism to keep surviving.

“Think of it this way, the rabbit on the menu would not even have been born if it hadn’t been intended to be used as food. Raising that creature took up valuable colony resources that could have been utilized differently. Therefore, it owes its very life to the eventual goal of becoming someone’s dinner. A very expensive dinner at that.”

“That is also true.”

“So would you like to try it? Trust me, it’s a lot better than bio-meat because it is much more varied in taste and consistency. I guarantee you will love it.”

“Okay…” she agreed with some reluctance. While she wasn’t too keen on the idea, her friend had never steered her wrong in the past. Every time her Miss Harrison had given her personal guarantee on something, she had always been right. That was why Christiana was willing to give in so easily on this matter. Her friend’s recommendations had a perfect track record.

“Good!”

Then turning to the waitress, she said, “We will both take the Grilled Rabbit. In the meantime, we’ll have the house salad. Also, please bring my companion a glass of sweetened iced tea with a lemon wedge. Finally, I would like a refill of my juice.”

“Right away, miss,” the server answered with a bow before leaving with their order.

“You remembered my favorite drink!” Christiana pointed out with a smile.

“Of course. You ask for it every time we come here. Just don’t get mad if you stay up half the night due to the caffeine.”

“I won’t.”

“So while we wait for our salads, shall we continue where we left off?” the Miss Harrison suggested.

“I’m not too sure,” she replied, having genuinely lost her earlier train of thought.

“I believe we were attempting to brainstorm a solution for your problem.”

“I have no idea how we are going to do that,” she said dispiritedly. “I have been trying to think of a way to fix this mess for a long time.”

“Well, let’s try looking at it from a fresh perspective. First, we need to define the issue, then we will come up with an acceptable resolution. Finally, we’ll figure out a plan to bring about that outcome. Does that sound like a suitable method of problem-solving?”

“I guess,” she replied, her glum mood evident in both her gloomy expression and listless tone.

“So you don’t want to have to decide which sibling you spend your schoolday with. Does that sum up the issue?”

She simply nodded in response.

“Then the acceptable conclusion would be to replace an alternative where you do not have to make that decision. Is that also correct?”

“Yes, it is.”

“So now we need to come up with a way that you will not have to choose one or the other. So how about this…”

Christiana just sat and waited for her to continue.

The older girl’s expression changed into an enormous grin. “Why not both?”

“Huh?” she replied, unsure of what Miss Harrison meant.

“What if you could go to school with both of them at the same time?”

“How would that even be possible?” she countered. “Johnathan-nii will be going to a facility for males and their Keepers. There’s no way that Haruhi-nee could attend if she wanted to.”

“What if she were a Keeper herself?”

“Well, if she were Johnathan’s Keeper then that means that I wouldn’t be and then I couldn’t go to that academy.”

“You’re making an assumption there.”

“What assumption?”

“You assume that a boy can only have one Keeper.”

“But everyone knows that each male only has a single guard. That’s the way it has always been. In fact, national law…”

“Federal law,” her friend injected, “states that all school-aged males must have a sentry from their House accompany them at all times when outside of their matFam dwelling. It does not state the number of sentries.”

“But, I have never heard of anybody having anything other than one Keeper.”

“Just because it hasn’t been done in recent memory doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. Didn’t you replace this out while researching the question I gave to you?”

Yes I did,” Christiana admitted, “By reading journals from the time period I found that in the early colony, more than one member of a family could be Keepers for the same male.”

“Exactly! Not long after the Uprising, families in the West would send anyone available within their House to act as their males’ Keepers. Back then it was common for a single female from a House to accompany all of their boys to school at once. The idea of one Keeper per male developed later.”

“But haven’t the regulations changed since then?”

“While they have added rules over the years, the original law still stands. The new legislation states that Keepers must pass tests, proving that they are physically and mentally fit to perform their duties. However, the statute does not indicate what those assessments should be. They also say that there has to be at least one Keeper accompanying each boy.”

“Does it state that a certain Keeper has to be assigned to a single male? If that’s the case…”

Her friend cut her off again. “Nope, in fact, the laws are quite vague on these matters. A certified Keeper may accompany any of their House’s males. The idea of assigning a specific sentinel to a particular boy has only come about in the past century.”

“But what about the tournaments and the age ranges of who can take part in them?”

“All of those things are traditions and are not codified in the laws. While widespread in today’s society, they do not require these competitions. It only takes a letter from the head Wife saying a testing process was used to determine suitability for a Keeper to be certified. The rest is just based on the customs of that family.”

“But everyone selects Keepers the same way!” she protested.

“People tend to lack originality. Few dare to be different for fear of being considered ‘weird.’ Back in the Sol system they called this ‘herd mentality’ and many on Old Earth suffered from it. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the individuals on this planet.”

“So Haruhi-nee would not need to take part in the contest as long as Mother wrote a letter to approve her?”

“Exactly.”

“Even if what you say in the case, wouldn’t there be push back from the academy and the government?”

Miss Harrison grinned in response, although her eyes weren’t smiling. If anything, the girl felt slightly threatened by her friend’s smirk. “Oh, don’t worry. I will take care of all of that when the time comes,” Miss Harrison said in a soft and quiet voice. If Christiana had known about the Old Earth term, she would have realized that the other person purred those words.

For the second time that evening, the youngster shuddered. ‘I never want to cross her,’ she thought. It was the first occasion that she had seen her good friend act in this manner, and it was extremely unsettling.

“Of course, before that can even happen, you have to do your part. To put it simply, you will have to win the tournament. Then I’ll ask Holly to approve your matSister as a second Keeper for Johnathan. Simple, right?”

“You make it sound that way. It’s not going to be that easy. I’ll be facing Sakura-nee after all. She’s older and has already competed in another competition. Winning won’t be so straightforward.”

“I am confident that you’ll win,” her friend said with a radiant smile. “Remember who your geneMother is.”

“You make a good point,” Christiana responded just as their salads arrived.

----

It was the middle of the night, but Christiana was awake. She had initially fallen asleep easily after her bath and catching up with Haruhi-nee. However, she had gotten up to use the restroom due to all the juice and iced tea she had consumed at dinner. Now she was having trouble going back to sleep.

As she lay there, the girl couldn’t help but think of all the exciting things that had happened that evening. Everything from the delicious meal to learning that her friend was her geneSister to replaceing a solution to her seemingly insurmountable problem swirled inside her mind. The fact that the painkillers had mostly worn off, leaving her wrist aching, didn’t ease matters.

‘At this rate, I’m never going to get back to sleep,’ she thought as she tossed and turned in her bed, trying to replace a more comfortable position. She tried to shift around quietly out of fear of waking her Sister in the next bed, and those worries simply added to her racing thoughts.

‘I guess I had too much caffeine after all,’ she realized as she lay there. Miss Harrison had warned her that it would keep her awake if she drank a lot of iced tea. Unfortunately, she had lost track of the amount of the cold beverage she had consumed while chatting and eating.

She kept thinking back to what they had discussed at dinner. She couldn’t help but wonder why the older girl had asked her to treat the idea of Haruhi-nee becoming a second Keeper a secret. While it was okay for her to talk to her Mother about it, Miss Harrison had sworn the child to absolute secrecy when it came to her Sister.

‘Does she want it to be a surprise?’ she wondered. It was true that Christiana rarely surprised her sibling because they were so open with one another. ‘Surprising Haruhi-nee might be a fun thing to do once in a while.’

She speculated how the black-haired girl would react if she were to surprise her with such an important piece of information. She knew how lonely they both were when they were parted. Therefore, she imagined that her favorite Sister would be overjoyed upon learning that they could go to school together along with Johnathan-nii. ‘I bet that she will be really happy,’ she realized with a smile. Just thinking about making her womb-mate joyous was enough to make it all worthwhile.

While considering these pleasant thoughts, she finally began to feel drowsy. While snuggling with her fluffy blanket, she slowly drifted off to sleep with a grin on her face.

----