She takes a deep breath, “You were born twenty-five years ago to an up-and-coming diplomat that used her life savings to have a child. You can’t begin to believe how humiliated I was for my firstborn to be a male. It would have ruined my career. My partner, Emma, the first diplomat to die, took you away immediately, so I could say you were stillborn. She dropped you off at an orphanage. As my career progressed, it was easier to have babies.
“The government knew I had a boy, that meant I was auto skipped in the future. My future has been awesome without you weighing me down. There were times I wondered how you turned out. There was no way to look for you and not be found out. It wasn’t worth the risk. You weren’t worth the risk.”
Damn, that hurt.
Holding in my anger, “So, I meant nothing to you? Garbage to be thrown out. You know, I am half you, right?”
Her flippant attitude is back, “You are a male. There isn’t enough value in men to be worth any effort.”
Trudy remarks, “Yet he saved our lives with his quick thinking; and is protecting us right now. Here we are stuck on his ship. A man as a captain.”
Mom gets a gleam in her eye, “Zai, per the interplanetary rules for artificial intelligence, I am ordering you to give me command of this ship.”
I laugh aloud. That amuses Trudy, Tammi, and Tamara, my three sisters.
Zai explains, “When Tim took over as captain, take a guess what his first order to me was?”
Mom jokes, “He wanted to find a whore house?”
Tammy offers, “He wanted to know what you were worth?”
Trudy offers, “He probably went to sleep.”
Zai users a low deep voice as she says, “His first command gave me 100% control of the ship, and he made me fully autonomous. Can you imagine that? A man gave me control of myself. From what I have seen so far, I don’t see how you being the captain increases our chance of success. In fact, it greatly diminishes it. I hope you are far better at negotiating and writing contracts than you’re at ruling. There isn’t anything you do better than your son, from what I see.
“He was a captain of a ship before he took over my ship. You wanna guess at how many male-owned ships there are in the universe? Including Tim. One. Yes, only one man made it aboard a starship and ended up as a captain. I decline the offer to make you captain. You’re not qualified or smart enough, and your three daughters, appear best at stopping bullets so far.”
Mom is pissed, “When we dock, I will have them turn this piece of crap into ….”
A clear box envelopes mom. Then underneath her, it turns transparent. I know clear steel is below her as I don’t see mom fighting for her breath. The threat is real. The floor returns and the box is removed. Mom is white as a ghost. My sisters are breathing hard.
I command Zai, “Show the ship from 30,000 KM up on the screen.” We can see my ship. “Reconfigure it as it was when I found it.” Quickly, the ship reconfigures itself. The room expands a few feet. “Reconfigure the ship as a Galactic battleship.” Zai quickly transforms into the largest battleship in this system, a Battleship Cruiser.
“You see, this isn’t your ordinary ship. Like me, we are more than we seem. Of course, what would you know about that, you cruel, insensitive bitch. You never gave me a chance. I grew up poor, bullied, beaten up, and had NOBODY to care for me because my own mother could not be troubled with a different child.
“I often wondered how bad a life my mother had to let me go. Now I find out she is rich and just didn’t want to bother with me. I was too much a strain on her. What a bitch.”
She cuts me off, “You can’t say these things to your Queen!”
I scream at her, “You ain’t MY Queen. You ain’t even my mother. You are nothing but an egg producer. You’re a joke of a human being.”
I stand up, pull out my phaser, and point the weapon at my mother. My sisters are silent and holding their breath. I hate this woman, yet I don’t want to be responsible for billions of deaths.
Zai solves the issue. All four of their bedroom doors open with a slam, startling everyone.
Zai is brief, “I insist.”
All four look at the ground and walk glumly back to their rooms. I go back to the conference room; I have work to do.
Chapter 5 — More Talking
Trinity’s point of view:
I don’t like being shut up in these small rooms. Tim is more intelligent than even Zai thinks. I purposely taunted Tim, and he never lost his cool; he never threatened us. He, he, OK, there was the chair thing. I forced that, and even then, I never felt I was in real danger. He made his point and moved on. That’s something these young people have such a hard time learning. You can’t hate forever.
OK, with what I did to him, yes, that lasts forever. I did what I had to do for my career. I won’t ever regret it. I admit that I feel some pride in how well he is doing. He hasn’t let on that he knows the assassins were a rouge group, but I believe he now knows. Mary would not have taken us, and she would have fallen for the sham that our exit was.
I wanted Mary’s ship because I know how special it is. I should; I funded most of its research with Mary. I was shocked to not see Mary greet us, then furious to see a man.
In an instant, the interior walls between my daughters and me are gone. We are all looking at each other with open mouths. My bed expands to a king size.
Zai asks, “Girls, please come over and talk with your mother.”
They all gather on my bed. Trudy and Tamara are on the pillows while Tammi is on the edge of the bed like me. They all look confused and a bit angry at me.
Tamara is first, “Mom, how could you not mention we had a brother? I mean, how cool is that?”
Trudy answers for me, “Are you kidding. Mom would never have advanced her career with an eldest male son, and we would be poor still. It was the correct decision.”
Tammi adds, “Ummmm, you sure? He thinks quick, is defensive, and I don’t think he’s fallen for any of our lies. He plans several moves ahead; and resisted killing mom, which shows great self-control. With any of us, would he still be alive?” They all look at the floor. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
Tamara asks, “Mom, what’s a whore house?”
Oh shit. My nose twitches. How do I handle this?
Zai says with a shy voice, “How about I give them the truth. You were going to lie.”
I snap, “NO! You have no right! These are my daughters.”
Zai snaps back, “They have the right. Each is eighteen, and there is a Level Five male on board.”
My pussy just moistened up. Oh my, a Level Five is a quality man. Maybe he does have a use … for me.
Zai continues, “Wealthy women go to ‘Whore Houses’ to hire men for sex.”
Tammi screams, “Whoa. I have never even heard of these places.”
I explain, “Our planet only has a few men for messy work. They can’t please a woman.”
Zai corrects me, “That’s wrong. Any man can please a woman; some are better at it than others. In some cases, it’s the woman that’s the problem.”
Tammi is confused, “Why would a woman pay a man to have sex with her when women give it for free?”
I answer, “Personally, I have no idea. The whole idea is pathetic. Why would any woman allow a man to touch her, let alone shove his thing in and make a mess?”