"Felipe pushed me and I scraped my elbow."
"Marcella called me poop head, Rena. That's a bad word."
"Jose Luis took my crackers, Rena, and he won't give them back."
Rena would kindly direct them to their mothers, but this did little to deter them. They still came flying back later with some other complaint--crying sometimes, angry, frightened. There had even been one moment when Rena had overheard one of the mothers, Alicia, say to her youngest child Bixxi, "You better stop crying right now, young lady, or I am going to go get Rena."
What was that supposed to mean, Rena had wondered. Was she the enforcer of discipline now, the designated spanker?
No, she had realized. She had become the father. They had lost all of their men to the Formics, and now, without any of the women and children consciously making the decision, they had chosen Rena to fill that void.
There were times when she wanted to scream at them all. I am not in charge. Do not come to me with your problems. Solve them yourselves or go to the captain. I don't really care.
But that wasn't true exactly. She did care. The children, wild and obnoxious as they were, were just children after all--children who had each suffered a great loss. It broke Rena's heart to think of it. She had known each of their fathers; she had seen them interact with each and every child--playing together, laughing together, flying around the cargo bay together.
They were moments that could never be repeated. And for the younger children, they were moments that would soon be forgotten. It struck Rena as the greatest injustice of the universe. These little minds, who so desperately needed to remember their fathers, would almost certainly forget them with time.
She finished the report three hours later and sent it immediately via laserline to the nearest trade station on the asteroid Themis.
In the past few weeks, the interference had slowly dissipated, and communication across distances was gradually coming back online. Themis wasn't that far away, and Rena was confident the salvage traders there would spark to something on her list.
Rena watched the screen, waiting for the alert that would tell her the transmission had been received. She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew the screen chimed, and she jerked awake.
There was a message from Themis.
Transmission received. Have FWDed to salvage buyers.
Note: News feeds back online. Info on war.
Subscriptions are 100 C a week.
The words of the second line stopped Rena cold. There was a massive laserline receiver on Themis, and apparently they were getting feeds relayed to them from Earth again.
She wrote back immediately.
Can you do a search in the news feeds? I am looking for information on my son. Victor Delgado. He flew from the K Belt to Luna in a quickship to warn Earth of approaching Formics. Ship of origin was El Cavador. Any information is appreciated.
It was an hour before she received a reply.
100 credits to search the feeds.
She almost smacked the screen. They wanted to charge her to do a simple search? A task that would take them only a few minutes? A child could do it. She could get a subscription for a week and do the search herself for that price. Didn't they read her message? Victor had gone to warn Earth. Didn't that mean anything to them?
No, of course it didn't. They were on Themis. A rock of money-grubbers, if ever there was one.
She pushed herself away from the terminal and flew immediately to Arjuna's cabin.
It was several hours before the end of sleep shift, but she knocked on the door anyway. When no one answered, she knocked again. She heard movement inside, and a moment later the door opened. Sabad, one of Arjuna's wives, squinted at the light. Rena sighed inside. Of Arjuna's three wives, Sabad was the only one with whom Rena did not get along. The girl was young, barely over twenty, and she had not yet borne Arjuna any children.
Before Rena and the others from El Cavador had come aboard, Arjuna's three wives had each enjoyed their own room. But everyone had to sleep somewhere, and sacrifices had been made when the ship's crew had doubled in size. Now all of Arjuna's wives shared the same room, and Sabad seemed to hold Rena personally responsible for the inconvenience.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sabad said, hovering in the door frame, giving Rena a look that would wilt flowers.
"I need to speak to Arjuna," said Rena.
"It can wait until morning, whatever it is."
"No. It can't. We just received a laserline from Themis. They're getting news feeds from Earth again."