"This girl really gets around," Kleppie said as he pointed at the view screen. The newscast showed the Princess Sarasvat, followed by a group of her diplomats, walking up to the White House.
It was lunch time and a bunch of friends had gathered in down rearward 1, the closest common room to Cheyenne's medibay. The boys, Kleppie, Madsen and Jensen, had accepted Dan's coming out and Bakala's increasing presence amongst them in good spirits. Nor did they bat an eye at Lana's obvious affection for Cheyenne.
If anything, Cheyenne struggled with it more than they did. This was her first... well she wasn't quite sure what it was. They were past flirtations, having kissed several times, but not quite in a relationship. It was the first time she had allowed herself to be attracted to a woman and it was a novel sensation. It was not, if she was to be brutally honest, the first time she had been attracted to a woman. But you covered those feelings - you told yourself that noticing a beautiful woman didn't mean you were interested in her.
"What I don't understand," Kavi said from next to Kleppie, "is why this is a tense meeting. Aren't we friends now?"
"It's not that simple," Madsen said. "There are lots of people who don't trust the Consortium back home and this situation, I don't know what she's going to do."
"Explain this situation to us again," Janda said. "I don't get it at all."
They all looked to Dan, he was as close as they had to an expert on political issues. "Okay," he said, "remember the initial issue in Kamchatka? We have Native tribes, too, in America. It's a very different situation in some respects, but similar in others. We conquered them over a hundred years ago. It's not a pretty part of our history, to be honest, but it happened. After a series of wars, we made peace and gave them small pieces of land, called reservations. Some of these Native Americans still live on those reservations and they are semi autonomous. Some are now asking for autonomous cultural standing in the Consortium."
"So they will be independent of America?" Bakala asked.
Dan shrugged. "I don't think so, exactly. I don't know that they can survive as independent nations, not on what land they have. And they know they won't get all their lands back, because other people are living there now. But they've also gotten a pretty rotten deal from our government in the past, some would say they get a pretty rotten deal even now. Having the Consortium back their claim means they can negotiate deals on a more even footing."
"How do people back home feel about that?" Kavi asked.
Kleppie answered, "There are plenty of Americans who agree that the Native Americans got a rotten deal. But there are plenty of others that think it was generations ago and we don't owe them anything better now."
"Plus there are plenty of Americans who don't like the Consortium interfering in what they consider a private affair," Dan said.
"But the Shoshone asked them to be involved," Cheyenne said. "You can't blame the Consortium."
"You don't watch enough conservative news shows," Dan joked.
"My mom watches enough for both of us," Cheyenne replied dryly.
"Here's my question," Madsen said. "There are a bunch of tribes, right? But it's just the Shoshone?"
"Right now," Dan said. "The others are waiting. What ever deal they hammer out, it will set the precedent for the others. That's part of why it's so important."
After the others had left she Skyped home to talk to her kids.
"Mom, are you going to be home soon?" James asked through the Skype window.
Cheyenne sighed. This was a conversation she had been avoiding for some time.
"It's just that's what the news says. They say your radiation stuff is almost over and you can come home."
"I know, James," she said. "And I am healing as fast as I can. But my damage was a lot worse than the others. They haven't even fixed my eyes, yet."
"I don't care if you see through goggles or have black stuff on your face, Mom. I just want you home," James cried. Cheyenne wondered what would happen if she just went home. The black bio-patches wouldn't last long, and then what? She'd likely heal on her own, eventually. But her face would be a mass of scar tissue and her fingers and legs would never have tissue over them.
"I know, and I want to come home, too." Cheyenne would have been on the verge of tears, if she had tear ducts. "But it's just going to take me a little while longer, is all."
"You are going to be stuck on that ship? How long?" he protested.
Cheyenne shrugged. "I won't be on the ship, necessarily. I have to be near their medical technology, but I am hoping I can move to that station they are going to have over Colorado. Maybe you'll even be able to visit me there."
James' mood changed in an instant. "Go into space? On the the Station? All right! Can we stay, mom? Can we come up and live in space with you?"
Cheyenne laughed aloud at the expression on his face. Then it struck her, could they? "I don't know," she said. "But I will ask."
They talked awhile longer. Cheyenne felt her heart lighten the more she thought about what James had said. Janda had grown up in space, hadn't he? On a station? Why couldn't she bring her kids up, too?
After another few minutes James said a quick goodbye and darted off, still excited about going to a station.
Cheyenne sought out Janda, almost as excited. "Hey, Janda, you grew up on a station, right?"
"Yes, why?"
"I was just talking to my son and it occurred to me, well actually to him, but, will these solar stations be equipped for kids? Are any of the other stations equipped?"
Lana laughed as she came up behind Cheyenne and wrapped her arms around her. "Now why didn't any of us think of that? Of course. The solar stations are big, not like the deep space stations, but still. They can hold upwards of four, five hundred thousand residents at full capacity. They have everything, marketplaces, schools, healer quarters for the sick, hotels, apartments, you name it. There's no good reason you can't move your kids up with you."
"It'd be good for them," Janda said. "Broaden their horizons, literally."
Cheyenne felt joy flow through her. She couldn't quite picture the station yet, but she didn't care if her apartment there was no bigger than this medibay, at least she'd have her kids with her.
Cheyenne's mood barely lasted five minutes. The three of them were still talking about the possibility of having her kids on the station with her when Cheyenne's slate started buzzing.
She knew something was amiss right away. Mom had never initiated contact before. She opened Skype.
"What on Earth did you tell that boy?" her mom raged, her eyes dark.
"What?" Cheyenne asked.
"He's running all over the house, hooting about living in space with his mother, being on some space station."
"Calm down, Mother," Cheyenne commanded. "All I said was that I am going to have to stay longer because of my injuries. I am hoping that I can recover on the Colorado station, and I am hoping they'll let the kids come up, to visit at least, or maybe to stay. I don't know yet. It was his idea, actually. I need to talk to some people up here before I can..."
"No!" Mom interjected. "You can't be serious. Taking the babies up into space. What are you thinking?"
"Mom, it's not like that. It's safe. Lots of them do it, Janda here was raised on a station."
"Maybe it's good enough for them Consortium types, but that's different."
"Besides, they are my kids. They need me, and I need them."
"They're my grandkids," mom shot back. "And I'm the ones that been caring for them for months."
"Weeks," Cheyenne corrected.
"And they need a stable environment, not to be carted all over space."
Stable environment? That's rich. "Mom, we will discuss this later, when I have more information about what it's like. I won't take them anywhere dangerous or unstable, you know that. I just want to talk to someone and see if it's even possible."