Vita Per Nex, pgs. 8-11

The Mother Elder wasn't looking happy when Mischa and Leland stepped into her office.

“A success on all levels, Mother,” Mischa declared as they saluted.

“And you obligated the Families to give out land that we shouldn't have had to give out.”

The younger woman shrugged as her salute was acknowledged, and unfastened her dress jacket. She tossed it over a chair and was about to settled herself into it when she caught the Mother's expression. Instead she slipped into at – ease, her feet shoulder – width apart and her hands clasped behind her back.

“If it makes you feel better, Mother, he probably won't survive the war and then we'll be under no such obligation.”

“Mischa!”

She blinked at the Mother. “It's true. If we had told the public where to put their opinions ten years ago, we wouldn't be at square zero right now.”

She was unperturbed at the glare being levelled at her. “Speaking of,” the Mother snarled, “what is this I hear about new simulations for the formulas? From scratch?”

Mischa's carefully blank look was full of defiant smugness and completely lacking in bitterness. “Do you really think that I would go to the Centre for what amounts to a social visit? Mother?”

The Mother folded her hands in front of her and examined them. In anyone else, she would have looked chastised. When she finally looked up, she met Mischa's gaze levelly. “The guests are running preliminary tests right now. How did you know?”

“I know,” was the only answer Mischa gave. “They'll work, and I need some hoops jumped through.”

“Yes, I read the profile. You know that Citizenship is impossible ---”

“Then make an exception. Bend the rules. Break them if you have to.” Mischa wasn't raising her voice. Her tone was as steady as rock, and as unmovable. “Probationary status at the very least. That gives us enough wiggle room to make headway and prove that full status is deserved, if only as a reward.”

“Full status for a medical ---”

“If these new takes work,” Mischa growled, “we'll owe a damn sight more than full status. Or do you fancy your brain being Bender food? I accept Sponsorship.” She radiated anger and indignation that the Mother could be so obstinate about what she knew they needed so very badly.

“I only say what the Elders and politicians will say, Mischa,” the Mother Elder said soothingly. Mischa relaxed a little. “The Families will want more than one Sponsor.”

“I accept,” Leland spoke up. Both women looked at him and he smiled wryly. “I'm not as out of the loop as Mischa likes to think I am. Mother Dearest, you know what this would mean.” He sat in front of her and leaned forward. “We don't even have to announce it to anyone but the Elders. Besides, let them think what they want. You know we need this. If we can get even a little breakthrough, it will pave the way for more. We're up against a wall, Mother, and you know it.”

There was a fathomless ache in the Mother's eyes as she looked at them. “We lost two more ships this afternoon.” Mischa and Leland both closed their eyes and looked away. “You know I care about what the politicians think. I have to. They're going to hate giving even Probationary status. I can't give permission without consulting them first.”

Mischa's lips twisted as she nodded. There weren't tears in her eyes when she opened them. There weren't any left. “I understand, Mother. We have nothing more to report.” Then she held up her hand. “The mother of Doctor Hyun – Jin Vu at the Centre makes the most divine dessert I've ever tasted. We need it at the next Assembly.”

The Mother smiled through closed eyes and nodded. “Acknowledged. Go get your deployments written up.”

“What?” Mischa asked as Leland stood with his own smile. “What? I know where they're all going!”

“Then write it out,” the Mother told her. “You always wait until the last minute.”

“But I get it done,” was the retort.

“Out!”

The two saluted and left, not looking at one another until they were on the lift to their flat. Then Mischa looked up at Leland and shook her head.

“Ten thousand, Leland.”

“I know,” he murmured as he stared out of the plexiglass window. “It had to have been the Socrates and Constantinople. Damn it.”

“Mikhaila was on the Socrates.”

“I know,” he whispered.

Mischa put her hand on the glass next to Leland's, then rested her cheek on his shoulder. She sighed before sliding her arms around his waist and up his chest, pulling him tight against her. “I'll stay with you tonight,” she whispered against his back.

“Mischa, you don't ---”

“Shhh,” she whispered. “I'm not leaving you alone. Shhh . . .”

Leland sighed and wiped at his face before he crossed his arms over Mischa's and squeezed.

*
*
*

Lori stepped gingerly into the bath and her mother's waiting arms with a small hiss.

“You're overworking yourself again,” Tanya noted with disapproval. She held Lori against her chest and backed up until the water was shoulder – high on her and her daughter was floating.

“Just stress,” Lori whispered. The indirect lighting made her white hair gleam.

“What happened?”

Lori was quite for a moment. She didn't want to worry her mother, but if she was in trouble, the woman was going to worry anyway. “Someone came into the lab yesterday, and their entry wasn't logged and the door didn't chime.” There was a questioning noise and Lori elaborated. “You need a certain level of security clearance to get into the lab --- into that part of the Centre in general. The rooms log each entry and exit, and the doors chime to let people inside know there's someone coming in. The door didn't chime, and the entry wasn't logged. That means it was someone high enough to be able to override the system.”

“What were you doing?”

“Running more simulations on the formulas.” She winced as Tanya lowered her onto a seat and reached for a wash cloth. Her mother didn't approve of the guests, and especially not the formulas.

“Are you in trouble?”

“I'm not sure,” Lori replied. Her mother started washing her back. Lori held her knees to her chest and stared across the room. “No one's ever said anything, and you know Micah asks me about the simulations. I don't see why the Centre wouldn't know if I wasn't supposed to be in possession of the original formulas, so it shouldn't be a problem.”

“What did he say?”

“It was a woman, actually, and pretty much all she did was give me her compliments before she left. No one said anything to me about it.” It was a good indicator that she wasn't in trouble. Still, Lori worried a lot about her work performance, and getting in trouble. Anything that would jeopardize her standing and position at the Centre tended to stress Lori out.

“You should have just stuck with what you're good at.”

“Genetic engineering is what I'm good at, Mother,” Lori replied dryly. “Or have you forgotten why I'm a doctor?”

“I'm thousands in debt for it; I'd better not forget.”

“I earn good pay.”

Tanya sniffed. “Not as good as a Citizen.”

Lori rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I'm never going to be a Citizen, Mother, and you know it. I might win a prize if I can cure Madison's, but they'll never let me be a Citizen. I don't mind any more.”

“Well, I do. Military service shouldn't be the only way to Citizenship. There are a lot of worthy people who can't serve for whatever reason; I don't see why they can't earn their Citizenship through some other means.”

“Tell it to the Families and government, Mother,” Lori muttered.

She arched her neck with a sigh as her mother pressed the wash cloth gently to it. Her mother's bitterness was understandable. Lori shared at least part of it. While she had no problems with one needing to earn one's Citizenship, she thought that limiting the qualifications to military service was more than a bit unfair. How many brilliant minds had been denied a say in the planet's legal and political happenings, simply because they were unfit for military service, for whatever reason? Lori knew she wasn't a genius at what she did, but she was good at it. Her uncle had been working on a project while on a visit when she was little and had showed it to her. After sitting in his lap and watching while he explained genetics to her, and what he was doing, she'd gotten up early the next morning, started his computer, loaded the program, and proceeded to make herself a unicorn with the simulators. It hadn't been a horse with a horn on its forehead --- that had been far too simple. Lori had gone for a traditional unicorn. She'd given it the chin tuft and feet of a goat, with a horn similar to that of a narwhal, and had woken everyone up to show them what she'd done and demand that she get her own unicorn for the holidays, since she'd proven it could be done. She had been three. She'd never gotten the unicorn.

But she'd proven that it could be done, and when she'd been in college, she'd returned to the old formula and touched it up when asked to create a fantasy creature as part of a project. The project hadn't been designed to be a complete success, but Lori's had been, which was why a small unicorn named Charlie now resided in the Sequoia Zoo. She'd won a prize for it.

The mail slot chimed, and both women looked over their shoulders. Instead of printing out a letter, however, a bright voice started speaking.

“Doctor Lorelei Tencha, I presume?”

Lori and Tanya looked at each other, then Lori cleared her throat. “Uhm. Present?”

“Greetings, Dr. Tencha. I am Elsie, electronic messenger for the Families.”

Lori's heart almost stopped. A messenger from the Families conveyed just that --- a message from a Family Member. A private message. From a Family Member. From the most elite caste of people on the planet. Ever. Anywhere.

“. . . ah . . .?”

“The General's compliments, and she will be pleased to visit you at your earliest convenience for dinner. Three days from now is a good time for her.”

Well, what did one say to that? “I'm sorry, that's not a good time to meet with one of the Family Members?” How about, “I don't have enough to feed a military Officer?”

Lori settled for “Uhm?”

There was a pause, then an electronic cough. “My apologies. General Mischa will be pleased to dine with you and your family three days from now, at eleven hundred. The dress will be casual; no need to dress up.” That translated to 'semi – formal attire is appropriate.' “Is this convenient, or shall I relay a better day or time to the General?”

Lori's previously stopped heart made an attempt to catch up with all the beats it had missed. “No!” she half – shouted, and whirled around to face the mail slot. “No, we're fine. Thank you. That's fine. We'll be here. Uhm.”

Elsie sounded very pleased with himself. “Good. I shall relay your acceptance to the General.”

“Uhm! We don't have much food; we don't have many formal clothes. Our home isn't ---”

“Formal attire is not needed, Doctor. This is purely a social visit. The General merely wishes to meet with you. Your everyday casual clothing will suffice. As for your lodgings, those will also be sufficient. This is not an official visit, Doctor.”

Lori looked at her mother with her mouth open, her dark violet eyes wide. “Uhm. All right. My apologies ---”

“None needed!” he said cheerily. “Eleven hundred in three days. Well, then, the General's compliments.”

The speaker beeped softly. Tanya and Lori looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before the yelling started.

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