Sappho Chapter 8 free porn video

Chapter 8 Even with her dyed black hair, contacts, and Woolf style shorts and top, Barbara looked only superficially like Indira. Elevated boots gave her an extra few centimeters, but she was still several centimeters shy of the real thing. She walked by my side, while I studiously ignored her, pulling the cart with the case. "Debbie, you're going to have to do better than that," she snapped. "When we get to the shuttle I'll have to be a convincing wife. If I don't get on, do I have to remind you what the consequences will be?" I took a deep breath. "No. All right. There's something you should know so it doesn't come as a shock." I told her about Jezzi's plan to keep Indira off the shuttle. "Goddess," she exclaimed, nearly as angry as I was when I'd found out about it. "Jezzi just doesn't quit. That bitch needs a few sessions bent over the rack." She turned to me. "The Commander doesn't know what Indira looks like?" "No." I approached a group of women, most in orange or blue jump suits, and a few in uniform. Commander Tabor was one of them, a stocky woman in the light green skirt and white blouse with epaulets of the Space Services. She greeted me with a firm handshake, her curly blonde hair shaking with each pump of the hand. "Ms. Larranti, what you said might happen just did." She nodded at Barbara, noting the ring on her finger that Indira had been forced to give up. "Is this your wife?" "She is. Indira Albright, this is Commander Irina Tabor." Barbara's smile could charm Tyrona when she wanted to turn it on and the Commander wasn't immune. "Commander, happy to meet you. Is everything all right?" "Everything is fine, Ms. Albright," she assured her calmly. "You're right on time. Go ahead to the prep room and get suited up. We leave at 10:30 hrs." "Right Commander." I nodded coldly to Barbara after she'd gone. "Lets get this over with." She looked as if she wanted to say something profound, but in the end only sighed. "Yes, lets get it over with," she replied resignedly. Shuttle flights had become routine on Sappho after a hundred years, and the craft had been built according to proven 23rd century, turbo/ram/scram/rocket designs. Our shuttle was configured this trip for six persons including the pilot and co-pilot, and a small area for cargo. After our orange and white spacesuits had been fitted and molded to our physiques, we boarded the low, sleek ship, all narrow fuselage blending smoothly into a swing wing with intake ducts below, and strapped ourselves in. Once the pilot had satisfied herself with the arrangements, we waited on the concrete until the flight path aligned with my orbiting ship. Then with a scream of the turbos opening up, we shot down the runway, quickly lifting off, almost immediately climbing at a steep angle. After several minutes of being pressed back into our seats, there was a hesitation as the jets adjusted into ramjet configuration, and the scream changed to a steady roar, kicking us further back, changing once again to scramjet when the stars peeked through the sky. A few minutes later the rockets fired, the liquid fuel mix boosting us higher and much faster as the atmosphere disappeared into total blackness. And then silence, the pressure and vibration ending in weightlessness and a bit of nausea. "Everyone all right back there?" came the high-pitched voice of the pilot through our helmets. "I'm fine, pilot," I replied for us both, not caring too much if Barbara was tossing her breakfast inside her helmet or not. "How much longer?" "ETA Five minutes. Ms. Larranti." "Thank you. I sat back and pulled down the monitor, watching in silence as my ship grew larger. It was hardly the reunion I'd hoped for, but I was damned if I was going to give up. There were too many variables not to have possibilities, including - I glanced at Barbara, who was looking back at me - a very grim one. The airlock of the small ship was correspondingly small, barely allowing the two us to stand uncomfortably close together with the case between us while the pressures equalized. The oval door slid sideways with the tiniest sound, opening the outside to a flexible conduit a few feet long. I switched off the radio and motioned for Barbara to do the same. When she did, I leaned forward, contacting my faceplate against hers. "I don't have to tell you to keep your helmet on when we get inside, do I?" I growled, glaring at her from centimeters away. She nodded very slightly. "I know the dangers, Debbie." I led the way with a very gentle push, moving me with the case through the conduit into Vicky's airlock. After waiting for Barbara, I closed the outer airlock door, equalized the pressure with the interior, and flicked my radio back to life. "Pilot, I'm at the inner door, ready for access to my ship." "Acknowledged. Wait one." She went offline to contact the crew inside, then: "Opening now, Ms. Larranti." And the door slid back, familiar pale green lights revealing the interior I hadn't seen in over forty years. We glided through the small opening and settled to the floor slowly with our magnetic boots. The departing crew, also in orange and white, filed out, two of them giving me and Barbara a final hug. "Good luck," the last remaining woman said to me through helmet conduction, her clear blue eyes carrying a trace of insincerity. "Thank you," I smiled back. "Say goodbye to Jezzi and Tyrona for me." Her laugh lost nearly all its volume as our visors separated and she gave me a final wave before the inner airlock door closed. A few seconds later the outer airlock door slid shut with the slightest vibration under our feet. Crossing to the command chair, I flicked on the outside vid display and waited patiently until the shuttle pulled away. "It's all yours, Ms. Larranti. May you and your wife have a good flight. May the Goddess be with you both," came the pilot's voice through the helmet. She sounded sincere enough, and not everyone could be in on the fix to kill me. "May the Goddess be with you, pilot. Thank you." Almost immediately, their bow rockets fired, sending them backwards and lower, beginning their descent back to Paglia City. I waited a little longer until the shuttle was several miles away before I judged we were out of range. "All right Vicky, this is Debbie. Code theta: Tango Juliet Foxtrot 52 34." "Acknowledged, Debbie. Visual and code verified. I do not recognize the visitor." Barbara started, not expecting my AI. "Um, Vicky? My name is Barbara Jerdon." I boiled inside that she would even address Vicky, but it would do no good to blow up. "She is a guest - for the moment," I said evenly. "Until further notice, do not communicate with her." "Understood, Debbie." "All right, Vicky, turn on artificial gravity. Show me the decontamination procedures and tell me what the crew has been up to." "Debbie, the bad news is that the crew has been all over the ship at various times, including many places before I began monitoring. It will take a week to do thorough testing." I sighed. "And the good news, Vicky?" "I overheard their leader make a remark that referred to 'three devices that would get the man'." "Excellent, Vicky!" That was one of biggest worries solved, not knowing when to stop searching for things to kill me. "Vicky, first things first: clear the air and air supply - I want to take off my helmet and suit." "Understood, Debbie. I have a set of procedures. Estimated time for completion: forty-eight hours." I groaned. The infernal device that fit over my urethra wasn't comfortable anytime; in two days, I would find out if it were as bad as I imagined. "All right. Lets gets started. First items?" "Air samples, Debbie. Local air, back-up tanks, hose and interface inspection. Next is primary and back-up air filters - rebuild, testing, decontamination. Estimated time: six hours thirty minutes." I went to work. Besides wearing a suit, also complicating the problem was making tests and taking samples of everything. It would do little good to just decontaminate; I had to identify three lethal devices to be sure I'd found them all. Through the process, I managed to ignore Barbara, even forgetting about her for hours as Vicky guided me through the procedures. But that peace wouldn't last; her shadow appeared at the door of the tiny workroom as I worked at the analyzer, testing for deadly things. "Debbie," she said tentatively. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" Her voice brought the rage I'd momentarily left behind; her presence was a reminder of who should be standing in the door - and why. I waited a few seconds until the internal air circulators cleared the sudden fog on my face shield. "I don't want to talk to you, Barbara. Why don't you shut up and sit down - preferably out of my sight." "I can speed things up," she protested. "I'm a biochemist. I've been watching you test and decontam - enough to know that I can do it with a minute or two of training on the equipment." I wanted badly to say no; I'd rather keep the hate pure than cooperate with her on any level, but her help would speed things up a great deal, perhaps as much as half - and possibly to my advantage. "All right, Barbara. You want to help? Fine." I explained the operation, the sampling procedures, spectra-analysis, computer interface and a few of the options. It turned out that the analyzer was more advanced than what she was used to, but easier to operate in most respects. She caught on fast enough, but there were always the simple questions to answer and I didn't have the stomach to stay in the small room, pressed against her while she worked. I spoke to the air. "Vicky, if our guest has any questions about the equipment, answer them." "Understood, Debbie." "Thank you, Debbie," Barbara said as I slithered around her. "I'm not doing this for you, Barbara, and this is as far as it goes. The only reason I trust you at all is because your life is in the same danger." I walked away without looking back, and went back to work. The packet of death I found in the air duct during a search with a fiber-optic inspection probe; a small bump in the corner of a pipe that routed circulated air had caught my eye. It took nearly an hour to manufacture a sampling arm that could reach it, and longer than that to pry it off the wall and tease it out. When it was finally in my hand, it looked like a clear plastic coating over a packet, several square centimeters at its base and a few millimeters thick. I brought it back to the test station for a hard look. "It's a packet of tiny spores, Debbie," Barbara replied nervously as she examined the enlarged image on the screen. "I don't know the type, but it's a safe bet it's lethal. The clear coating is a polymer designed to slowly disintegrate in the presence of oxygen. Some native Sappho spores are extremely dangerous; they attach themselves to the lungs and multiply rapidly; a byproduct of their reproduction is often a neural toxin." "Makes sense. When we wake up at the beacon, the air circulation system cuts on. We'd inhale the spores before the filters could clean it up and die some time later." Her blue eyes with the brown contact lenses darted towards me, then lowered. "Um, Debbie, was this hard to find?" she asked me, a twinge of fear in her voice. Grabbing her shoulders made sure that she was looking straight at me. "It was. That's right, Barbara, I could easily have missed it. You don't have to stay here, you know. In fact, I'd like you to leave; I can use my lander to bring you down." She shook her head. "I can't! Debbie, you can't imagine what it's like without a man." And she began to cry, not an advisable thing to do in a helmet. "Bullshit. I know it's hard, but nothing excuses what you're doing," I said disgustedly, not about to console her for taking Indira from me. She cried harder then, and despite myself, I had a pang of conscience. We had been friends once. We worked late for several more hours until I worried that I might be too tired to catch a hidden bomb, chemical or biological agent. I took the fold-down bed and let Barbara fend for herself. Sleeping in a spacesuit is not easy. Peeing is one is worse - at least in a female suit - involving a positive flow valve to an external bag. It always made me feel as if I was wetting myself, and with the pressure valve, one never quite feels empty. To be caught in extremis with the other end is a horror, which is why so many pilots and spacers don't eat anything before wearing a spacesuit for any length of time. Unfortunately, for Barbara, she was no spacer. "Goddess, Debbie, wake up. I need to go!" she said, rousing me from a fitful sleep where I dreamed of scratching my nose. "Darn it, Barbara, I thought you said you were all right," I sighed. That was then, naturally, before she looked ready to explode. "All right," I said grudgingly. "Make a check of the air. I'll take some samples from the bathroom. It might be fifteen minutes." "I don't know if I can wait that long." "Well, put a bag in a bucket and do it in there then!" "All right! I'll wait." Entering the bathroom, I turned on the light with a push. I'd noticed earlier how spotless it was; the crew must have cleaned it thoroughly before departing. If anything, I was sure it was cleaner than when I'd left it. Some of the fixtures looked shiny and new. The titanium toilet seat even looked polished. I swiped my samples, labeled them and brought them to Barbara. "Nothing, Debbie. A small amount of some cleaning agent. The smallest trace of some plastic compound - a kind of protective layer against corrosion? Not unreasonable for a polishing compound. Whatever it is, it's non-lethal." "Wait." I took her arm as she made off for a long-delayed relief. "Why would they take the trouble to use a polishing compound on the bathroom? They're trying to kill me, not impress me. Why didn't they just use the cleanser?" She groaned, hunching over in misery. "All right, let me look at it. Maybe I can control myself long enough to think of something." I pointed out where it was strongest - on the seat. She fidgeted as she considered the place where she urgently desired to sit. "It's in a place where someone would touch it, Debbie, with their butt, of course, but there is no contamination there - unless..." She frowned. "Lets take another sample. I'll need more of that coating this time. Scrape it all the way to the metal." "Right." I went to work, this time with my knife instead of a chemical and absorbent. We waited impatiently until the results from the analyzer came back. Besides the titanium I'd just scraped off, traces of two new compounds turned up. "Goddess," she exclaimed, a little in awe. "I love this analyzer. The plastic compound is harmless, Debbie; but it's also gas permeable. What's underneath is the key. It's a synthetic, similar in structure to aflatoxin, locked in a base. Pressure, and a slight rise in temperature, like what occurs when you sit, would release the chemical as a gas, penetrating through the permeable plastic and in through the epidermal layers." "Aflatoxin. Liver cancer?" I winced; it was a nasty way to go. She looked at me with eyes wide open. "Among other things. It's cumulative. Go to the bathroom a few times and a few months later, you might develop cancer. Go often and you'd die a lot sooner. I think I'll forget about the bathroom for now. Suddenly the bag in the bucket sounds a whole lot more attractive." She turned and hobbled off rapidly. "That's two down, Barbara!" I called after her. Despite myself, I was pleased with her. I might have caught it - in fact I almost certainly would have - but she had done well, and a victory against death and Jezzi was a victory. By mid-morning Paglia time, Vicky okayed the air system and we removed the spacesuits in relief, even taking a shower in the newly decontaminated bathroom. Barbara had brought no clothes of her own and I refused to let her use mine or Indira's, not that they would have fit her anyway, forcing her to wash and dry her underwear and the shorts and top she came in. I also took back Indira's ring. I was on my knees in a standard blue jumpsuit disconnecting the hyperspace control interface unit when Vicky spoke: "Debbie, Executive Directress Jezzi Belladonna is calling." I thought for a moment, having a good idea what she wanted. "Record conversation, Vicky and put her through," I ordered as I made my way into the command chair, waving Barbara back and out of sight. Jezzi appeared, sitting comfortably in her office. To her right and just behind stood Tyrona, in her black skirt and coat with epaulets, her coal-black eyes gazing at me through the vid from just below the top of the screen. "Debbie, delightful to see you!" spoke the gray fox-bitch. "I'm a little surprised to see you as well. My dear girl, why are you still in orbit?" I turned my head to the side slightly and rubbed my chin. "Surely you've heard of a pre-flight check, Jezzi?" The index finger of her right hand began to tap the desk and her smile slipped away. "You've had a full day. The preparation team has assured me that it's more than enough time. Our deal was that you would break orbit immediately." "They are hardly the experts on my ship, Jezzi. Admittedly, I am taking a little extra care, after all, it's been over forty years since the hyperdrive was last used, but if you insist on the letter of our agreement, I will comply." I brought up the flight plan, reconfigured it, and set the main thrusters for minimum power. The lightest shudder brushed through the ship before the gravity generators adjusted. "We're moving, Jezzi. Our current path will take us completely out of orbit in three days, although I doubt that we'll be here anywhere near that long." Tyrona bent to Jezzi's ear, whispering something malevolent, no doubt. Jezzi nodded. "Very well, Debbie, acceptable, but if you delay past that, or attempt to return to orbit, I'll have you destroyed," she stated with as much emotion as if she were describing the weather. "By the way, I understand that your wife didn't board the shuttle. Who is there with you?" "A last minute change in plan, Jezzi." She watched me closely for a moment then shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't matter. This should be the last time we talk to each other." "Yes. That probably true." I rubbed an eye and sniffled. "Tyrona," I cried, "I'll miss you! Oh, those nights together; your powerful arms holding me; licking me until I screamed; and that cute little mole on your left breast..." Tyrone stared at me, her fists clenched in raw fury. "Shut up, you lying bitch!" "Goddess, you're right," I exclaimed, covering my mouth. "I shouldn't have said anything. It's a good thing that it's a secure connection. Goodbye, both of you. I love you, Tyrona - I just had to say that, darling." And then I cut the connection before she could articulate her heart. "Vicky, set up a tightbeam to the university in Martina." "Done, Debbie." "Transmit test protocol FR-3 and see if they're active." "Getting no response back." "All right, Vicky, keep trying." "Sure, Debbie." Returning to the hyperdrive, I unbolted the device from its cradle, disconnected the leads and examined it. It was twice as big as the original, the same length and width to fit the space, but twice as high. With the gray plasteel surrounding the case it would be a task to open it. I wondered if I should even try; I'd brought the parts to build another one, but I wanted to start the trip knowing that the third device was inside, not just think that it probably was. I wondered if it might be booby-trapped. "Debbie?" I looked up. "Barbara?" "I have to talk to you." "Is this about going back?" She sighed. "Not exactly. I want you to understand. Part of it is because I want a man now, while I'm young enough to have children. I know how that sounds, Debby: selfish, self-centered, maybe even a little pathetic." "Sounds about right so far. And what else? What else can justify robbing my wife and me from a life together?" She squatted down to eye level. "You owe me, Debbie." I laughed. "Say what?" "Wendy and I risked everything to break you out of prison. You'd be in Jezzi's hands right now, drugged and controlled if it weren't for us. I set you up in Paglia in a real life." "True. And I'll always be grateful, but it was for a purpose, as we both know. I think I've fulfilled my part of that bargain as best I could." "Debbie, I've done as much. And you had the luck to fall in love." I threw up my hands in disgust. "You're even more of a romantic than I am. Look, Barbara, I do understand what you're going through, but you must know what you're doing is wrong. Damn it!" I exclaimed angrily, "I thought we were friends." She glared at me. "Were we friends, Debbie? You had a choice; you knew I desperately wanted to go, but when you met me on the beach you didn't ask me to come with you. Yet when Indira unexpectedly decided that she wanted you, you didn't hesitate then! I can accept that you would choose to bring Indira over me, but you would have left me behind in any case, Debbie. That is not the act of a friend!" "What? Is that what this is all about? I hadn't even considered the possibility that someone could go back to Earth with me until Indira asked to go." I told her about the night at Indira's house. Barbara bit her lip and fought back tears. "And if I had asked you first, Debbie?" I gave her a long look, remembering what we had been to each other. "I would have told you the same thing I told Indira - that I'd take you if it were possible. If I had to marry you to get you on the ship I would have done it. When the time came and Indira asked to go with me I would have told her no - hating it, maybe never forgiving myself later, but I would have kept my word." "Ah, Goddess!" Barbara cried, bringing her hands to her face. Suddenly she grabbed my shoulders, fixing me with eyes filled with fire and despair. "Swear by the Goddess that what you said is true!" she cried. I jerked back, startled. "You don't believe me? Barbara, it's true." "Swear by the Goddess!" she begged me. "Please, I trust you, but I must know absolutely." I nodded and bore her gaze as stolidly as I could. "Very well. I swear before the Goddess that I what I said was true. I would have taken you willingly aboard my ship if you had asked first." She swayed to her feet and walked unsteadily to the bulkhead, where she screamed and pounding furiously against the wall with the base of her fists, finally collapsing to her knees to wail like the damned. I shed a few tears myself from my place on the floor, instinctively wanting to go to her and bring her into my arms, but it would have been the wrong move; she had to work this out alone. Later, when her sobs trailed away, I did approach her. "Barbara, if I could take you both I would," I said quietly. She sighed heavily, leaning her head back to look up at me. "I can't do this to you or to your wife. I have to go back," she said resignedly. "Indira seems like a nice person, and brave." "She is both. She's like an explorer from the past; her dream is to see the stars." She gazed at me miserably. "And my dream is to see men - lots of them." I laughed and reached for her, bringing her to her feet. "Take it from me, no man is worth screwing up a planet. Just make sure you get on the first hyperdrive ship." She closed her eyes for a moment. "That will be harder now, Debbie. My picture was surely taken when we boarded the shuttle. I'll almost certainly have to go in hiding and set up a new identity. And a ticket to Earth will be incredibly expensive." "I can help you with that. I have Earth vids aboard, the kind with men and women kissing, holding each other. You throwbacks would love them." "Hmm!" she said, raising an eyebrow, and some of the old Barbara was back. "Now that might work. It could be dangerous, but...You have a large selection?" "Thousands - all kinds. You want to choose them?" "Forgive me, Debbie, but you lesbians simply don't understand us," she retorted. "Uh huh," I nodded. "Vicky," I called to my AI, "Barbara is now upgraded to honored guest. Give her access to the vids, and copy what she wants onto the local format." "Understood, Debbie. Hello, Barbara. Would you like to see a few vids? I've seen a few with David, now Debbie, but it would be nice to see them with a woman who can appreciate the male. Perhaps you could tell me the fascination..." Leaving them alone to ponder man, I walked the corridor to the stairs, descending through the open pressure door to the lander bay. The lander filled nearly the entire room with only about a meter or so on all sides. My craft resembled a rounded yellow cone pressed by a shallow convex surface from above until thick stubby wings were squeezed from its body. The cockpit was a small, stretched bubble set a few feet back from the bow. Despite it sitting idle for over fifty years, I wasn't too concerned about it malfunctioning. The few moving parts were sealed and had been designed to remain functional essentially forever. It was the fuel that had me worried. I pulled on a full-face mask that still fit me fairly well and tested the filter. Tapping in a code on an entry pad under a panel by the cockpit granted me access to the lander, including the heavy twin tanks in the fuselage. I tested each side one at a time with separate samplers, taking just a few drops apiece, as the two mixtures combined were extremely explosive. I didn't like the results: the fuel had deteriorated as expected and was now borderline for what I had in mind, but it would have to do. I opened the canopy, climbed inside, powered up the systems, and, as I thought, everything was green - except the seat that had been designed for me didn't quite fit my tail section anymore. Shortly after I climbed back into the main section Vicky said, "Debbie, the university in Martina in on-line." I abandoned the interface I was working on and rushed to the command chair. "Put them through, Vicky." "Debbie, Debbie are you there?" demanded a crotchety voice. "Damn it. Am I operating this thing right?" I grinned. "Right here, Reni. Who else is there?" "I have Indira on one side and Joanne on the other." "Thank you, Goddess," I said under my breath. "Could you switch to vid mode, Reni?" A few seconds later a picture of all three appeared on the main screen, but I only had eyes for Indira. Wearing a soft gold and blue skirt and blouse that complemented her deep tan, she looked incredible, but the sheer bravery and calm resolve in her demeanor, standing tall and straight as if we were separated by meters instead of hundreds of kilometers, swelled my heart and filled me with pride. "Debbie, Indira and I may have found part of a solution," Joanne said intently, leaning forward towards the small camera. "Indira told me what you said about taking years to create the hibernation pod preservative. That's true as far as it goes. The process, as I under stand it, takes a year and requires rare earth elements. What you may not know is that we saved the preservative that spilled on the floor - or almost all of it, anyway." "You did? But it was ruined. The chemicals on the floor, the cleansers...I'll be damned," I said, just now realizing what she was saying. She nodded rapidly. "Exactly. The preservative is ruined, but the elements can be recovered and reused." "Can you get it, Joanne? You were still nominally on the project as my monitor, but that phase is long over." She grinned, and her blue eyes flashed. "I can do it, Debbie. I haven't resigned from the project yet to move to Woolf. To Paglia, it's useless material lying in a big drum. They'll be mining for elements to make enough preservative for 20,000 or more hibernation pods. They would hardly care about distilling enough rare earths from a ruined batch for one. I checked. The drum is in a common warehouse in Paglia City. I could simply sign for it with my badge, make some silly experiment, declare it useless - and take it to Woolf." "So, what's the plan?" She looked towards Indira who looked back. "It will take money and some time, but it's possible and feasible to have a working hibernation pod in two years. If Barbara agrees to switch with Indira, Indira will sign some of her property over to me, and I'd sell it to do what's necessary." "I've already decided to switch, Joanne," Barbara replied nervously as she came up behind me. "Goddess, Indira," she exclaimed, wringing her hands, "I'm so very sorry for causing all this trouble. I was wrong; I admit it, and Debbie will take me down in the lander. But I like your idea a lot. I'd only lose two years?" Indira immediately transferred her gaze from me to Barbara. "You agree to change places with me, Barbara? This is no joke?" "I agree! Now what about this? I'd be in a hibernation pod until the ship leaves for Earth?" Indira nodded firmly, saying, "Yes! That's the idea. If you want to stay young until the hyperdrive to Earth is built, I'll pay for it. I won't care about the money in space." "And I'll build the pod and make the preservative for Barbara when she gets here," Joanne said. "Debbie, when are you coming down?" Indira asked worriedly. "At dawn tomorrow. There's an abandoned airport, the Mauresmo Airfield, about thirty kilometers miles north of Martina." Indira nodded. "I know where it is. A good choice." "Good. I'll glide down with Barbara. When I get within range I'll use Barbara's vid phone to give you a call." I passed her a reassuring smile. She looked so close I could almost taste her. "Get some sleep, Honey. It won't be long." "Goddess!" she said, bringing her hands to her face. "I can barely believe this is happening. I'll be there before dawn, waiting for you. I won't be able to sleep tonight." I transmitted what I could that night, everything I thought Joanne might need to come to a decision about releasing the founder's recordings, and a special dump on how to make the preservative and a hibernation pod. For Reni, I sent her what I could of what she requested on Earth history with a promise to give her more the next night. I wore Indira's ring on my right hand, ready to put it where it belonged when I saw her again. The universe seemed a little brighter and friendlier that evening. Much of the old friendship with Barbara returned and we shared old times, knowing we had only a few hours left together. But I did find sleep, and dreamed of Indira's smile and embrace. We dropped from the lander bay in the early morning, the dual doors swinging free below us. I fired the forward thrusters until we had the right angle, entered the fringe of the atmosphere, and then the fun began. This was no pleasure ride. I'd constructed a thin seat for Barbara just above my lap to take the pressure from me, but it wasn't easy to read my instruments and make corrections while straining around her. I couldn't afford any pilot error. To fire the rockets for than a few seconds could make the difference in returning to my ship or gliding back down to a watery death many thousands of kilometers away from any land. All was night and pitch black in the vast ocean below us; at first there was the buffeting from impacting the upper atmosphere at many thousands of kilometers per hour, then the pounding and heat as we descended lower, then near silence as we glided at supersonic speed, finally slowing into the subsonic range as we approached land. The dawn came out about the same time I saw Woolf, gradually forming Martina in the distance, far below us. I turned north and east losing altitude rapidly on final approach to the old airport. "Okay, Barbara, it's time." I reached for her vid phone and pressed a digit. Indira answered halfway through the first ring. "Debbie?" she exclaimed. "It's me, Indira," I replied, smiling like a fem in love. "I'm coming in on final approach now. I should be down in about two minutes. Hang on, Indira! We'll have breakfast in space." "Debbie!" Indira hissed through the connection, loud enough so that Barbara started. "Be careful. I think I might have been followed." It was one of those bad possibilities we'd thought of before. Jezzi might have warned the Duchess of her daughter's escapades, had her followed over the border, monitored flights to Woolf, watched her house, tracked her vid phone - any or all of the above. I had come too far not to make sure. I hated to use the extra fuel, but I had no choice. "Indira, I'm climbing; I'll take a look and circle back. If anyone else is there, I'll see them with infrared." "Yes! Do that. I'm by my car at the west end of the runway." I saw a yellow dot far off where she said she was - the color of her car. I flashed by over the top of her at a couple of hundred meters and switched to infrared. Several red dots were to her right in the trees and two were to her left. Two larger, car-sized marks were parked together two hundred meters further out. I cursed. A terrible queasiness sunk to the pit of my stomach and stayed. "Indira, you have people to your north and south." "Yes! I see two of them now that's it's lighter. They wear the green and yellow uniforms of the Queen," she cried. "They're approaching. Ah! Debbie, they're coming!" she wailed in anguish. "Get away, Darling. Don't try to land. I love you!" "Damn! Indira, listen. I'm not leaving you like this! You tell me you'll wait and I'll be back someday. You know what to do. Do it, and I swear to you that I'll return." "They're here. No time." Sounds of scuffling and a curse from an unknown woman. "Stop that! Get away from me!" she screamed. "Debbie, I'll wai..." And then - nothing. "What are you going to do?" Barbara asked me, mouth open in shock. "The only thing I can do," I said bitterly. I kicked the thrusters on high, driving both of us back in the seat. It was worse than bad. I'd hoped to delay take-off for a better time to align the lander's flight path with my ship. If we made it back now it would be half a miracle. In fact, I'd probably need help. I reached around Barbara and found the onboard computer, figuring the flight path of the lander on the amount of fuel I thought I'd have, then where my ship was and a happy computational compromise where they intersected nicely. Being creative and lucky, it looked like we might just live. I gave my alter ego a call. "Vicky." "Yes, Debbie." I told her my new flight solution. "Yes, Debbie, I understand. Complying now." I had to love Vicky. A human pilot in her position would have been screaming bloody murder. Blue became black soon enough as we raced for space, and the full glory of the nebula poured through the clear canopy. But I ignored that wondrous backdrop; I had more important things to do, like straining to watch the last dregs of fuel drain away, and hoping against hope that the lander would fly just high and fast enough. Vicky appeared on the short-range radar ahead of us as we closed, and for a moment, I saw her visually - about the same time the rockets sputtered and went out. I hit the lower pitch and roll adjustment thrusters to help keep us up, but they wouldn't last long. Yet slowly, ponderously, the bay doors opened and the interior lights came into view above us. As the thrusters finally gave up their all, Vicky descended a few measured feet and swallowed us like a piece of yellow candy. When enough air entered the bay, we left the lander and climbed back upstairs. The close call meant nothing to me then, and I didn't have anything to say to Barbara, so I didn't try. "Vicky, get us out of here. Put us back on course to make a leisurely exit from Sappho space." "Understood, Debbie. Complying now. I'm sorry it didn't work. I liked Indira." "It's a setback, a big one. But it's not over yet," I said, making it an oath. "I'm sorry, Debbie. It's my fault. If I hadn't started this, Indira would be here now," Barbara said, on the verge of tears. It took some time before I could resolve how I felt about Barbara. It was her fault in a major way, but she had done her best to make it good. If there had been any justice, her act of restitution would have worked. And Indira had seen something of her desperation; had asked me to forgive her, even when she was sure that she'd be left behind. "Barbara," I said, holding my arms out for her, trying hard to mean it, "it's all right. I don't blame you." She stepped into my arms and wept, and after a while I cried too. I waited one more day before leaving Sappho space. Vicky waited for the link to Martina to be reestablished, but it didn't happen. I counted that as a bad sign. In the meantime, with pictures that Vicky had of the original Sappho hyperdrive interface covering, I found the outline of how it was constructed and trimmed away the tough plasteel from only the places I needed. Several hours later, I had the box opened. There was no bomb inside. Sure there was something - if there wasn't then there was still something else deadly aboard ship - I kept looking. Searching the critical components for signs of recent tampering, I saw nothing at first, but kept at it. Then I spotted a faint scratch on one of the two heavy-duty high-speed multi-switches, the heart of the unit. It led into and under the brand name marking, a painted medium-sized "WE" for Woolf Electronics. I thought it odd; the switches were devices that had to be made using automated machinery. It was unlikely that they would come anywhere near something that might scratch the molded casing during the manufacturing process. I carefully scraped the paint back where the scratch led me to find a tiny hole in the ceramic, filled with something pasty. The analyzer told me the paste was acidic. The back-up switch had the identical hole. It made sense. A slow acid eating the switches would kill the drive. Years later, when the acid did its work, I'd be dead in space again. Fortunately, I'd brought up a spare pair with me; in fact, I'd brought everything to build a new interface unit. After examining the rest of the less critical components closely for similar shenanigans, I replaced the switches and reassembled the unit. In the meantime, Vicky broadcast a code on a certain frequency, repeating the pattern for several hours. It was Barbara's way of informing her friends on Sappho that all was well. "Well, it's just you and me, Barbara," I said as we stripped for the final process. We entered the pod together, connected the small catheters and IV's, and lay down. As Barbara was lighter, she lay on top of me, face down while I looked face up. "It's going to be uncomfortable at first, Barbara," I warned her. "In fact it's going to feel like you're drowning. Inhale a few times. The faster it gets in your lungs the better." She nodded, brushing my lips accidentally. "Right. Breathe the preservative." I nodded. "All right, Vicky, we're ready!" "Starting hibernation process now, Debbie and Barbara." I hate the beginning the most. Cold, sticky liquid rose around my body in the enclosed space, rising past my arms, over my ears then finally to my mouth and nose. At the same time, the circulators started and my blood pumped away, to be replaced with a thin chilly substance that would keep me alive - barely - and put me into a death-like cold slumber. I gave Barbara a reassuring nod and took my first deep breath of it, choking on the first inhalation, as everyone does, and pushed hard against the sides of the pod to keep from panicking. Long seconds later, I relaxed, shivering from the cold, both around my body and in my lungs, but breathing. I smiled up at Barbara through the still-rising liquid. Barbara stared down at me from centimeters away, terrified as the preservative covered her body. I didn't envy her. It generally took several times in the tank at the academy to get used to it, and it was never pleasant. When it covered her head, she held her breath as I knew she would. I nodded again and mouthed "deep breath," willing her to take the final step. She did, but only halfway, the worst way. Coughing and frantic, she tried to rise and push the pod door open, which would have been disastrous, so I grabbed her, holding her in an unbreakable hug as she thrashed around. I heard her scream, which was good because it brought out more air. After a few busy seconds, her lungs understood that they were still getting oxygen and she calmed. "Thanks," she mouthed to me and surprised me with a quick kiss. I was already drowsy from the drugs, but I smiled and mouthed back, "lesbian." Then I closed my eyes, imagined that Indira was above me, and slipped off into a dreamless sleep. We came out of it with no alarms. I awoke, stupid as usual while my blood flowed back into my veins, first wondered idly what Barbara was, then who, and finally remembering where we were. As the liquid flowed back into the base, where it would be purified for re-use, Barbara descended onto me, her slippery body sliding around, entangling me in legs, arms and IV lines. We coughed-up the rest of the preservative, another part of the pod experience I hated, and we became air-breathing mammals again. I unplugged my IV's, removed the detested catheter, and stretched. "Morning, Vicky," I yawned. "It's certainly morning somewhere, Debbie. We are stationary in relation to the beacon. It lies approximately a hundred meters directly starboard." "Excellent." I looked at Barbara, bending over in the pod, straining her hair with her fingers to remove as much of the slimy substance as she could. We both looked a sight, shiny and slick as seals with the stuff. "Goddess, that's nasty!" Barbara exclaimed. "Debbie how long have we been gone?" "About nine months. It takes about three months to build up to proper hyperspace velocity, then three months in hyperspace, cruising along at a standard 5C, and then three more months to slow down." "So, we're 35 light years from Earth. It will take seven and a half years to get there." I shook my head. "That was the original plan, but things changed when Indira was left behind." "What?" she shouted, and stopped straining her hair, lifting her head to give me an open-mouthed stare. "Don't worry, you're not going to lose any years; the men of Earth will see you looking as pretty as you are now - just a little later than you expected. Lets clean up and I'll explain." Once we were back in clean clothes, me in a blue jumpsuit, Barbara in a pair of borrowed sweat pants and Martina University Tiger T-shirt, I made some coffee and heat-up a couple of dinners. Having eaten all of the twenty varieties of scout dinners several times over, I let her choose, and she selected an orange spicy chicken with rice and oriental vegetables, one of the better ones, I thought. I decided against an impulse to remind her that it was an alien chicken she was eating that had died on Earth more than fifty years before. "Barbara," I began after sitting down, "I figure the only chance I have to see Indira again is to be on the return flight of Sappho's hyperdrive ship. Like you, I don't want to get older waiting for it, so I'm timing our arrival on Earth to be about a year before the Sappho ship is due to arrive." She nodded slowly. "I see. I have no objection, of course. But just for the sake of argument, don't they have hibernation pods on Earth? Couldn't you just wait for the ship to arrive in one of them?" "I doubt it. The last I was on Earth, hibernation pods were strictly regulated. In the early days, some people used them to invest and wait or, during the time of the plague, some were used as a sort of crude time machine to wait it out. But most of the time they were used as vanity devices for the very rich, and this kind of silly immortality became like a drug to far too many. The governments on Earth finally outlawed them, except for very specific purposes, like space travel or severe medical conditions. But there is another reason I need to delay the trip back. I have to become rich - fast." "The ticket back to Sappho." I stood up and leaned back against the bulkhead with my arms crossed, looking down at her. "Exactly. You were worried about getting on board a ship with a total population of 300,000 hetero women. What about Earth, with a population of six billion? It leaves 90 million lesbians to battle for 20,000 pods. Even removing the vast majority who are happy on Earth, and the old and the young, there are probably millions who would love to live on a planet that they would regard as their own." I nodded firmly several times. "Oh, yes! I'll have to be rich - extremely rich." I walked to the cargo case, still strapped down in the center of the floor, and lifted the lid. Moving aside some clothes, I removed a heavy plastic box and a clear plastic bag full of brown seeds. Holding the seeds in the palm of my hand, I turned to show her. "This is wealth, Barbara," I stated simply, watching her eyes. "These are amarna seeds, the seeds from the Sappho plant that produces that fabulous enzyme that inhibits rejection. The last time I looked, Earth had nothing like it. Indira and I were going to grow it on Earth. But the plants grow slowly. It takes a decade or more for the plants to mature enough to harvest. I don't have the time. I need it now." "You mean to grow the plant aboard this ship?" she asked me incredulously. I shrugged my shoulders. "Why not? I don't need much soil to grow a plant or two, and not so coincidentally, this box contains a soil sample of the type we need. Of course, every once in a while we'd have to get up and tend the plants it to make sure they stayed healthy, but Vicky can monitor the process and get us up when something comes up that she can't handle." "It's crazy enough to work. Who thought of bringing amarna seeds?" "Indira. She has the trader's feel for such things," I said proudly. "My contribution was to bring a lot of Sappho vids." She frowned. "I understand the seeds, but why do you think Earth would enjoy lesbian vids? There can't be a shortage of lesbian films on Earth, and the market would surely be small. Imagine hetero women - and especially men - watching vids with women kissing and making love. Surely, they would find it all gross and completely uninteresting." I managed a lopsided grin, suppressing a laugh with difficulty. "You might be surprised, Barbara." After lunch, I space walked to the beacon, turning it off and returning it to its space in the lander bay, thus satisfying Jezzi's requirement. In two standard years, when the beacon was no longer heard on Sappho, she'd know that I'd succeeded. The next few days were dedicated to the plants: creating the automated equipment for Vicky to operate, reading the detailed notes on amarna farming and harvesting, and just planning. When we went back in the pod this time, Barbara resisted the panic and thrashing like a scout, and I gave her the thumbs up before we fell back to the cold sleep. It became a routine - it had to - all of our waking time was servicing the plants. Amarna plants, fortunately, didn't mind living on human byproducts, which was rather disgusting and would have been truly disgusting except for the airlock. A few minutes in vacuum solved a lot of problems. The amarnas grew into gray-green stalks with thick yellow leaves typical of many Sappho indigenous flora. After ten years, we harvested one. Following the directions, we ground up the core of the stalk, using several simple chemical procedures to isolate the enzyme. The process took us nearly a month, and during that time the residual animosity I'd felt for Barbara died away. We celebrated our success with the stock of beer I'd brought up in the case from Sappho, even dressing up for the occasion, both of us wearing Woolf skirts and blouses, Barbara in one I'd given her that she'd tailored to her size. We watched an Earth vid together, an action adventure romance I'd seen before about a bounty hunter in the asteroid belt and laughed through it; after three strong beers it was funnier than it was meant to be. "Debbie, is that the way men really behave?" Barbara asked me skeptically. I thought about it, moving my head around trying to decide how to answer that. "In a way, I suppose. The guy was a caricature, but it's how men like to think of themselves - brave, bold, daring, very dom, a woman magnet - you know, hero stuff, like Rhonda of the Skies." I smiled. "Did you like him, Barbara? Would you like to mate with him?" She reddened, concentrating for the moment on watching her finger slide up and down the beer in her hand. "Maybe. He knows what he is and what he wants. I like that, even besides his body and strength. To be in his arms would be - overwhelming." She looked up. "He reminds me a little of the way you used to be when you were David." "That seems long ago." I asked a question I doubt I'd have asked if I hadn't had three beers: "Have I really changed so much - down deep?" She twisted her mouth into a frown and narrowed her eyes as she considered me carefully. "Hard to separate the physical from the mental with you. You seem normal for Sappho in so many ways, but I think your core is the same. But around it you have changed a great deal. That vid tonight - I'd never identify you with the man, but maybe the heroine. Tell me Debbie, whom did you identify with in the vid?" I sighed. "The heroine, mostly. That's natural, though. It's what I am, what I look like, probably what I act like most of the time after two years of living among women. I don't mind being a strong fem with Indira and that's what the heroine was. Even the kissing scenes weren't so bad as long as I substituted Indira's face." She reached her hand and put it over mine. "Maybe it's just two faces of the same coin. You know, I really like you, just in a different way. I can talk to you; tell you things I couldn't say to David." "If you're telling me that I'm your girl friend, Barbara, I suppose that fits. I always have been your friend." I smiled. "Just don't whine too much when you cry on my shoulder. I hate whining." "All right, girl friend, I won't whine - too much. Are we going back in the pod tonight?" I shook my head. "We're too drunk, well, I am anyway. We'll do it in the morning. I figure about five more brief stops to care for the new plants and we're there." *** Blue flashing alarms brought me from slumber. As sentience returned, I remembered who I was and the woman on top. Our eyes met as we had done many times before, but this awakening was different. Blue meant a non- emergency, but required my presence. The pod drained as before and we climbed out after expelling the preservative. As soon as I could breathe again: "Vicky, what's happening?" I yelled, forcing my sleepy vocal cords to life. "Debbie, Earth control is signaling us, an unknown entity called the Outer Defense Forces." "What signal?" "A hail and greetings, Debbie. They would like to speak with you on the vid when you're able." "Goddess! Do I have time for a shower?" "I think you're safe enough, Debbie. They're about 150,000 kilometers from here. From there it would be difficult to blast you with a death ray." I laughed. "All right. Inform them that I'm taking a fast shower. Come on, Barbara! It's Earth!" Five minutes later, after a very fast shower and a blow-dry, I pinned my hair back in a ponytail, put on my best jumpsuit with a Scout Services patch that I'd sewn on from one of my old uniforms, and perched my tail in the command chair. "Put 'em through, Vicky." I ordered, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, Debbie." A distinguished man in his late forties in a dress uniform of black and gold I didn't recognize stood centered in the vid, his posture straight, almost at attention, as if to signal an important or historic event. To his side and slightly behind stood an attractive woman with short brown hair perhaps two decades younger, dressed in the equivalent feminine uniform with an odd variation of the familiar lieutenant's bars. They both wore smiles that quickly faded into tight lines. The women stared through brown eyes. The man opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut, his brows furrowing into acute bafflement. "This is Scout Craft Delta Kilo 679," I affirmed. "I am the scout assigned, David Bates, although I don't look like it now. Who am I addressing, please?" The man recovered first. "Captain Gregory Nellin and Lieutenant Danica Cardone aboard the Cruiser Valiant, Outer Defense Forces. You've been gone a very long time, um, Scout Bates, seventy years." "Sir, I'll provide whatever verification I can, of course. I had to convince my AI who I was, too." I shrugged helplessly. "It's a long story." He snorted softly, looking at me in disbelief. "I'll bet it is." "Instructions, Sir? I have a passenger." I waved Barbara forward. She slid into the picture hesitantly. "Hello, I'm Barbara Jerdon," she said nervously - in highly accented Sappho dialect. The Captain nodded. Naturally, he realized what that meant, a found colony, and he tipped his head forward a few degrees. "Congratulations, Scout Bates. Match our high orbit at 45,000 kilometers, maintaining a position twenty kilometers behind us. We'll pick you up." A day later, when we settled into orbit, we were ready. I'd downloaded everything into the portable, nearly maxing out its memory. The plants were safe and secure. Knowing the quarantine procedures for alien life, at least the ones that had existed seventy years ago, they might be staying there a long time. We stood inside the bridge as we waited for Valiant's shuttle to arrive wearing our Sappho orange and white spacesuits, but carrying our helmets in our hands. The bump of the umbilical signaled their arrival and Barbara reached for my hand automatically, squeezing it hard. The outer door lock opened then closed, cycling in new air. Then the inner door opened. Two men in orange and blue spacesuits entered. Their suits were nearly as tight as ours, and left about as little to the imagination. Extraordinarily wide shoulders sitting atop powerful torsos, and straight legs extending from, to my Sappho accustomed eyes, unnaturally narrow hips, formed solid bases for muscles, not long and smooth like ours, but massive, defined slabs of strength. For the briefest moment, I had a glimpse of nature's will. Barbara was petite, with breasts made for feeding infants, hips designed for birthing children, smooth skin, slim, delicate musculature, and a soft face, the direct complement to our visitors. On Sappho, Barbara and my differences: black and blonde hair, tall and short, brown and blue eyes, had been striking. With the men in the room, we were merely different flavors of ice cream. The line was drawn, men and women, and I stood undeniably with Barbara. For that instant they seemed like another species. Then it passed; their movements, the smooth flowing strength and different grace became normal again, but the shock faded slowly. We weren't the same anymore. There was an "us" and "them" now, incomparably different than fem and dom. We would be seen as women first then people, and our own vision would similarly discriminate between the sexes. Of course, there was another difference as well. Barbara's hand clenched mine even harder than before, her lips opened slightly, and her blue eyes, normally sharp and bright, looked halfway to Nirvana. They men looked us over briefly through their helmets, keeping them on to avoid having to go through decontamination and quarantine. Their gaze didn't linger very long anywhere, but in the manner of men, they took note of what obviously lay beneath our suits. I blushed, knowing what they must have been thinking and I couldn't blame them a bit. It's what I would have been thinking two years of my life before. "Ms. Bates?" the taller of the two asked me through his helmet, Vickie relaying his voice through her external speakers. "That's me. This is Barbara." "Are you bringing anything?" I motioned to the sealed case. "Personal and trade items." I told him about the plant inside the ship. "Very good. Do you need help with the case, Ms. Bates?" I smiled uncertainly; I'd been half-expecting it, but I could still hardly believe the male courtesy was actually being extended to me. "I think we can handle it, but thanks." They made a brief search of the ship, making sure that it carried no weaponry or unidentified devices, recording the entire process through a small helmet camera, and we left my ship with a parting goodbye to Vicky. During our three days in quarantine aboard the Valiant, we received inoculations for Earth's latest diseases - a good precaution for me after so long away and a necessary one for Barbara. And of course, I had the most thorough examination of my life. The Doctor, a tall, slim man about my age, ran me through scans, took several DNA samples, made literally dozens of tests, often shaking his blond head at some new discovery. He had the knack of thinking the obvious aloud: "Debbie, your pelvis is remarkable," he'd said, and "Whoever worked on your uterus did a fine job," and, when the results of the DNA came back, "Well, you are who you say you are." "Thank you, Doctor," I'd replied in all instances. "Who did this to you? This is remarkable work. How did this happen?" he'd asked me several times in various forms. But I couldn't answer. It frustrated both of us that I couldn't tell him what he most wanted to know, but the details of a planet declared off-limits are sealed. After we cleared quarantine, I finally did meet Captain Nellin and Lieutenant Cardone face to face in the Captain's office. Up close, Captain Nellin was my height with eyes bright with kindness, intelligence, and curiosity. He approached me holding out his hand. I took it, and gave him as good I got. "Scout Bates, it's an honor to meet you," he said with the unabashed directness and honest that the military is often known for. Then he showed me some teeth in a lopsided smile. "You now have the record for the longest successful mission in the history of the Scout Service." "Thank you, Sir." He was making a rough joke, although he meant well. Such a dubious honor meant only that something had seriously been screwed. "Sir, what's going to happen now? Has my report been sent to the council?" He nodded. "It was passed along your first day in quarantine. You are here in my office partly as a courtesy call - to answer any questions you might have - and partly to tell me what in hell happened out there, if you can." I couldn't blame him for wanting to know. I'd be bursting to know myself. "Sir, seventy years ago, a Captain of a capitol vessel had the clearance to listen to a scout report. Is that still the case?" Grinning, he said, "It's still true, if he has a need to know. Not everything has changed in seventy years." He went back to his desk and pulled up the vid. "Here, I'll bring it up for you." He did, taking less than ten seconds. I read the paragraph quickly then stepped back. "Sir, this planet is very likely to be ruled off-limits. What I say may have to be kept to yourself for years, maybe forever." "Understood." He motioned towards Lieutenant Cardone. "I give my security officer leave to hear this as well." "Very well. I suggest we all sit down. This is liable to take a while." It took about an hour for a concise, edited recap. "Christ Almighty, what they did to you - and a lesbian planet," he said, scratching his cheek. Lieutenant Cardone, who had been silent through the entire story, remained so, but didn't take her eyes off me. "Yes, Sir. If the same guidelines are used now as in my day, Sappho is almost sure to be placed off-limits." I reminded him. He nodded. "To be sure, Scout. To be sure." He regarded me. I watched his mind turn, obviously wanting to tell me something, but unsure where to begin. When he did, the words shocked me to the core. "Scout, the world has changed since you left. For one thing, there are practically no lesbians left on Earth." "What?" I exclaimed, expelling the word like a shot. "Not long after you left, the genes for male and female homosexuality were isolated. Pre-natal tests were developed and, in most cases, when parents discovered that their unborn child had the gene, they aborted him or her. Generations later, the gene is very gradually disappearing. Not too long ago, another discovery made modifying the hypothalamus with drugs and hormones possible. Children with the gene now are routinely given the drug just before puberty. There may be ten million lesbians left on Earth, and certainly less than a million under the age of thirty." "Goddess," I breathed, my mind reeling. But it changed nothing, except to maybe make it easier to get onto the ship back to Sappho. His eyebrow went up. "That's a Sappho expression?" "Yes, Captain." He shook his head, shuddering in remembrance of part of my story. "You've had a very tough break. Taking a man's balls..." He shook his head again. "I foresee a choice for you that no one who grew up as a man should have to make. If I were you, I'd tell as few people as possible that you, ah, prefer women, until you make up your mind what to do." I looked up, meeting his gaze. "Is being a lesbian a crime?" "Not at all. But as the lesbian population decreases, intolerance from some for adults who decline to take the treatment has increased, usually in the form of contempt, but sometimes anger. Understand that mothers and fathers are leery of women who might desire to sleep with their daughters; women become unsure of the meaning of a friendship; and men are sometimes, well, confused." "Yes, Sir. I understand. What are the plans for my friend, Barbara Jerdon? I'd like to keep her with me until she gets a feel for Earth." "That's understandable. We'll do what we can. Is it true that she never saw a man before she arrived here?" he asked me, half in disbelief. "Yes, Sir, except for me, of course." "She does like men, doesn't she?" he queried me, the right hand on his cheek scratching away. I laughed. "Sorry. She likes men very much. And my scout ship, Sir, what will happen to her?" "For right now, she'll orbit until we can get a team in there with you to assess the plant you brought back, but ultimately, she'll be scrapped, or even flown into the sun to avoid a space hazard." He saw my face fall sharply. "I'm sorry, Scout. You've been gone so long that you don't know. About fifty years ago, they discovered a better way to use hyperspace. The standard hyperspace speed is now around 10C. Your craft is now woefully obsolete." "And my AI?" "Same thing. Her technology was top of the line for the time, but it's ancient now. Scout, you're leaving for Earth in four hours with your passenger. Lieutenant Cardone will be staying with you, as a nominal guard for the Sappho woman, but also to guide you through the next several days." I hated the idea of scrapping Vicky. She wasn't just a computer; she was like a part of me - but I had no answers. "Yes, Sir." I turned to the Lieutenant. I held the same grade in the Scout Service. "Call me Debbie, Lieutenant, everyone else does." She extended a hand and smiled. "Danica," she said in a southern accent that was rare when I'd left. I shook her hand and turned to the Captain. "Thank you, Captain. I'll take your advice about not telling anyone." He took my hand when I held it out to him, gripping it firmly. Danica left the Captain's office with me. "There's a detail we should address before we head on down to Earth, Debbie. Meeting the Council is a formal event and requires more than your overalls. We'll head over to the ship's store and get you fixed-up." "Of course." The clothing section was brief, to say the least, but so was the process. I stripped down to my underwear and stood in a booth for a second or two while it took my measurements optically. Soon, aft