Chapter 14

I wasn’t expecting the degree of intensity to which both the Stanford student body and faculty took the Big Game. Of course, this also was the longest college rivalry in the west, with this year being the eighty-eighth meeting between the universities.

We hadn’t really had much of a bonfire for Homecoming at Hutchinson High School. The one that was assembled at Lake Lag more than made up for what I’d missed. The students in charge of building the thing had spent all day Monday and most of Tuesday constructing it. The usual structure was built of used wooden pallets that were scrounged from anyplace they could be found.

Intel and Cisco had purposely been saving their shipping pallets, plus Dora’s cousins had saved their scrap construction lumber. They also brought in half a dozen forklifts and cherry pickers. There were six semi-trailer loads of pallets and wood that went into the whole structure, allowing them to make it more than sixty feet tall. What made it even more impressive was it resembled the arm and torch from the Statue of Liberty, albeit with a few extra braces.

All the athletic teams were present, plus the band, and easily two-thirds of the student body. There were at least four thousand alumni present as well.

Don Kennedy gave a speech, then Coach Elway gave one as well. The band played a lot of different songs while the cheerleaders and Dollies kept the crowd entertained. Once it was finally dark, there was a flyover from some of my planes, then the band played my anthem, followed by the 1812 Overture, complete with artillery firing blank rounds. Well, I hoped they were blanks, anyway. Then the bonfire was lit. The chemistry department had decided it would be a fun idea to oxygenate the fire zone well in advance, so for the five minutes prior to sending in the railroad flare, they’d pumped liquid oxygen into the center.

Everyone was well back, which was a good thing. The flames easily made it three hundred feet up into the sky, and the generated heat pretty much made every bit of wood catch fire simultaneously. There were massive cheers from everyone watching, then some large stuffed bears that had been spray painted gold and wearing the uniform numbers of the Golden Bears team were catapulted into the fire.

I was standing with the football team, just watching.

“Damn, this is the best bonfire I’ve seen,” Fred said.

“What are they going to do in revenge?” I asked. “It’s going to get around that we burned their team. Throw trees on their fire?”

“Um, they don’t do their bonfire until Friday night,” Fred said. “I think it’d almost be worth it to go watch.”

I turned to him, with an upraised eyebrow.

“If you’re going to do Mister Spock, then I’m doing Sergeant Schultz. I know nothing, nothing!” he exclaimed.

There was a big fireworks display, but not as large as during the combined birthday and Fourth of July celebration. Some of the fans started to leave when that was over. The rest stayed around until the actual collapse of the bonfire. Once it finally did, then everyone else left.

While I had to be present at the official bonfire, my wives and all the kids simply sat on our lawn, watching. There were a couple of small fires where they’d roasted marshmallows, but they’d died down by the time I made it home. However, they’d made sure to save me some of the cookies they’d made.

“You need to take a shower,” Beth said. “You smell like smoke.”

“Thank you. Would you care to wash my back?”

Giggling, she said, “I remember the first time we did that. Sure.”

I enjoyed the touch and feel of her body against mine as we made love in the spray. We made certain to clean up afterwards with another shower. When we turned the water off, I stopped Beth and simply brought two towels in for us.

With a look of concern on her face, Beth asked, “What’s bothering you, Cal?”

“Is it that obvious?” I asked.

“That something is, yes. What it is, no.”

I sighed, then sat on the toilet just to have someplace to sit. “I’m afraid for our family. Not from physical attacks or anything like that. I’m concerned that we’re going to split up over the next few years.”

Now she looked puzzled. “Well, we’re going to be in different parts of the world, of course.” Then understanding dawned upon her face. “Oh, I get it. You’re worried that with us not all living under one roof all the time, that we’ll grow apart. To a certain extent, we probably will. It’s called growing up, and learning how to be responsible. Even Jennifer is doing that, and she’s fifteen years older than Margie, with adult children of her own.”

She paused for a moment. “Let me ask you something. On Star Home, when did children become emancipated?”

Puzzled, I replied, “Typically when they permanently moved out of their parent’s home for the first time. Why?”

“But was there a certain age that normally happened?”

I shook my head. “No. If ... let me convert things properly into Earth years, just a second. Okay, typically someone would live at home until they were around twenty, getting as much primary education as they wanted. Then they might live with another member of the family for ... about ten more years, gaining more education and work experience. Then they’d come home for a few more years, finalize things as far as the plan on where they’d fit in with the family as a whole, then move out for good around thirty-five or so. I know my sister moved out with her husband about fifty years before I was born.”

Beth grinned, then. “The problems of the long-lived. It’ll be interesting to see how we adapt to that. Remember, we don’t have the same kind of family culture here. There are parts of Earth where you’re an adult at fourteen, sometimes younger. Here in the US – well, in the US, anyway, since we’re not in it now – normally once you graduated high school, which was about eighteen years old, you wouldn’t just move out. In many areas, unless you were living at home to continue going to a local college, you were actually expected to move out. That was just part of growing up and going out on your own. Other cultures do things a bit differently, but that doesn’t mean much. It’s whether we were a family in the first place that said whether we’d stay together once we were apart.”

She finished drying her hair. “Let me give you an example. How happy were Karen’s parents to see she’s alive?”

“Ecstatic, once they got over the shock.”

“Correct. And they’ve not only kept in touch and been out to visit with her, Mike, and Cally, they’ve also already accepted Carrie as their granddaughter as well, and are looking forward to the birth of the new baby in April. Each family is different. Ours is ... well, pretty unique. Do you have any plans to divorce or otherwise get rid of any of us as your wives in the near – or distant – future?”

“Not in the least. I love all of you.”

“Then that’s your answer. Remember, we’re not dependent upon ships carrying letters, or the occasional phone call to keep in touch,” she said, tapping the side of the head. “We’re a family, and we can discuss things – whether it’s about one of the kids, or if something is appropriate to wear to the office – instantly and easily. And one thing we all have and share in addition to that is our love for you, you silly goober. If Niranjana has to stay and rule in Punjab and only sees you for a few days each year, that’s fine, because she’ll see you up here any time she wants, from whichever of your wives you’re with. There’s just one thing.”

I tilted my head slightly. “What’s that?”

“Kick Shiva’s ass in March, and don’t fucking die! I don’t want to live without you in my life. You’re the first man that’s ever made me feel special, and I don’t want to lose you to some ancient alien asshole.”

I just nodded, then stood and picked her up, carrying her into the bedroom and showing her how much I loved her as well.

The next two days went by quickly. Hannah made it home Thursday evening, exhausted from her trip. She had an incredible number of autographed items from the band. She’d also booked them to play at one of our coronation parties. They’d even insisted on not getting paid, because even if they had some arguments amongst themselves, they all were appreciative of us saving Freddie’s life. Doctor Blau and her team came home as well, so Dora and I had a meeting with them Friday.

“That was possibly the most humbling experience I’ve ever had in my life,” Helen said to start the meeting out. “People were lined up by the hundreds, patiently waiting in line. Soldiers were carrying buckets of water for the thirsty, and if someone had to leave the line to use what passed for restroom facilities, there were no issues or complaints about them retaking their place in line. There were hundreds of volunteers from churches bringing in food, then helping the people after their shots. They had heavy equipment that dug trenches to dispose of the feces. There was no fighting, no disorder. It was amazing.”

She shook her head, then said, “Okay, now for some numbers. There are an estimated three hundred fifty thousand people infected with AIDS in South Africa at this time. We were able to get a group of nurses and doctors such that they can process up to a thousand patients per day, working two eight-hour shifts. They will take weekends off for rest, and the goal is twenty thousand injections per month. The infrastructure of the country isn’t going to allow for much more than that at a central location. There are plans being discussed by the local team in charge to utilize military personnel to travel the country, and administer up to an additional five thousand injections per month. One of the reasons those numbers are much lower is simply because many locations are more remote. They’ll travel to one village, treat everyone there, then move on to the next village. Their goal is to have AIDS effectively eradicated in all of Africa by the end of 1987.”

“Who is the local team in charge?” I asked.

“There’s a group of seven people. Three of them said they know you – they’re Hugo’s wives. Bishop Desmond Tutu, Cardinal Gantin from the Vatican, and two former members of the World Health Organization that stayed in Africa after the UN was disbanded to continue to help.”

She smiled, then. “Dorothea said to tell you that they are sincere and good people, not the usual corrupt UN bureaucrats.”

Stephen asked, “What have the rates been?”

“Unbelievable. I mean that if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d have a hard time believing it. We’d given a total of seven thousand, two hundred fourteen injections to AIDS patients, twenty-six to others, and had a total failure rate of ten. A ninety-nine point eight percent success rate for any medicine is unheard of. Normally there are some adverse side effects. The ten failures – deaths – were simply people who were too sick to respond to the medicine at all, and based upon autopsy results, would’ve been dead within a week regardless.”

I nodded. “I pretty much expected that. We know of one confirmed side effect, but I don’t know if it’d be considered adverse or not. The genetic side of the antiviral has cured two cases of hemophilia, but I want a lot more study before we go there. What were the twenty-six other injections you mentioned?”

“Soviet soldiers that had been fighting for the Federation further north. Their unit had been exposed to Ebola and they were being held in quarantine.”

Stephen nodded. “That’s a reasonable precaution, giving them the antiviral just in case.”

“No, you misunderstand. These were soldiers that were symptomatic of Ebola. We had no desire to do any actual blood work there – the laboratory facilities aren’t set up for anything like that, and I had no desire to bring any blood back here for testing without a full Level Five transport system. They were accidentally exposed when they encountered some sick people in a village they were passing through, due to fluid transmission – specifically, vomit. Within a week of going through the village, two-thirds of the troops were sick, and that’s when they were quarantined and medical assistance brought in. Of the five who were initially exposed, two died, three are recovering. The other forty troops were in quarantine, and twenty-six were exhibiting symptoms, so we sent shots up to them. They’re all fine now, but all forty-three are going to be kept in Africa for six months just to make sure. This is one virus we don’t want in the Soviet Union – or anywhere else in the world.”

“I understand. It’s both nice to know we have real world confirmation about Ebola – not just our lab results – and disturbing how quickly something like that could’ve spread. We may not be able to get rid of it, but if we have an actual cure, we can stockpile for when an outbreak does happen,” I said.

David shook his head. “There are some things we just really don’t need to have around. A virus with a seventy-percent death rate within one month of exposure isn’t one I even want to consider letting loose. I know you were testing it in your lab, but that’s one I really wasn’t happy with having here.”

Stephen sighed, then said, “I agree. It’s an interesting thing to study, and I got quite a number of rather amazing pictures of the virus while we had it out for testing. But there are some things we deal with that simply scare the crap out of me.”

“Good,” I said with a smile. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled, either. But I’d say that we’re in a lot better shape than we were six months ago.”

Helen Blau nodded, then yawned. “Sorry, I’m about two days short of sleep. If you don’t need me around for anything else, I’ve got an appointment to visit the inside of my eyelids for the rest of the day. I want to be rested for the game tomorrow.”

“I thought I was the one who had to be rested for that?”

“You’re a lot younger than I am, Doctor Lewis. So, bite me,” she said with a grin.

Dora laughed at her comment. “Sorry, he only gets to do that with me.”

“Noted,” I said while grinning as well. “Melissa, how did your trip across the pond go?”

“I thought Hannah would’ve filled you in,” she said.

“She got home, grabbed Michael, and went to bed,” I said. “Security dropped off a pile of stuff for us. She was just getting out of bed this morning when I left.”

“Ah, okay. Well, we got to England. Are you going to have a house like that for everyone here?”

“I don’t know, where’d you go?”

“They drove us to a palace. Someplace called Waddesdon Manor. Jesus, what a place.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s where Hannah grew up. I’ve been there. It’s basically a museum now. It’s a little gaudy for my tastes. Did you end up going by Eythrope?”

“Actually, yes, we did. Why?”

“That one’s ours. Anyway, you were saying?”

She shook her head. “That’s definitely not the lifestyle I grew up in. Anyway, we spent the night at Waddesdon, then the Baron and his cousin showed up Tuesday morning before breakfast. The members of the band showed up over the next fifteen minutes or so, and then Freddie came about five minutes after that. While we were being seated, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip showed up! Hannah got up then, went to her room, and came back out wearing a gorgeous tiara. Anyway, I ended up having to give a talk to everyone about what we were doing. Freddie didn’t want to admit it, but his lover got him to confess he had AIDS. Then I gave both of them injections, warned them of the side effects, and that’s when we went on the tour of Eythrope. I had no idea we were going to go to Buckingham Palace, either, but that’s where we all ended up later.”

She giggled then. “Both injections started working then, so Freddie and Jim had to spend an hour in the bathroom at the Palace. The Queen had something else she had to do, but Prince Phillip, the Baron, and the rest of the band stayed with us and just ... talked ... about regular stuff. The Prince had someone from the NHS come over to the palace and I was escorted to a nearby hospital – Queens something or other – and I gave thirty more injections that afternoon, then the rest the next morning. The British scientists that I talked to were ... dumbfounded, to say the least. Then when Hannah told them what was happening in Africa, they couldn’t believe it.”

“I presume they were convinced before you left, though,” I said.

“Oh, definitely. Not just because Her Majesty was involved, but because they were already running blood work and doing examinations on the fecal samples from the other AIDS patients I’d injected Tuesday evening, and seeing our results.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Saturday, April 12^th, of next year. Doctor Korn, Cal will need that Friday and weekend off from doing his residency. Lauren will be running the lab the following week without me. Chuck and I are going to be ... busy.” She’d had her hands in her lap the whole time we’d been meeting. Now she brought her left hand up, to display her ring.

“He can have it off, so long as we’re all invited,” David said with a smile.

I looked to the door, where Chuck was standing with a pleased expression on his face, and simply nodded my congratulations to him.

After that, it was time for one last football practice. Coach made sure everyone was mentally prepared for tomorrow.

“Gentlemen, I think we’re going to show the Golden Bears tomorrow that their name should be the Pyrite Cubs. You’ve all done a good job with bed checks every night. Let’s do this one tonight. Cal, I know you’re going to San Jose. Please make sure you have a talk with your wives beforehand. We can’t afford to have you sit in the ice tank for half this game.”

When I blushed, that brought out laughter from everyone.

That evening, we loaded up into a couple of buses and drove down to San Jose, for Eve’s first college game.

We arrived at San Jose State shortly before the first game started, which was San Jose State against the Arizona Wildcats. I was surprised at how empty the Spartans Arena was, with only a couple hundred fans present. We were able to get great seats in the bleachers, behind where the Cardinal bench would be during the second game.

Those of us with telekinetic powers helped Diana, making it easier for her to climb the steps. There was a bit of a stir from some of the other team’s fans, but more than forty armed security, including twenty Gurkhas, pretty much shut everything down. I noticed Dave having a talk with someone from San Jose State, but didn’t pay any attention. I knew he’d handle it.

I hadn’t actually watched a basketball game before, although I’d read a couple hundred books about it. So I found it fascinating the way the players had to coordinate with each other. Unlike football, where I’d call every play and we’d have stoppages to get set, once a basket was scored, the players were all over the court. Action didn’t stop unless there was a foul.

Arizona rather handily defeated San Jose State in the first game, 90 to 55. Then it was time for the Cardinal to take on the Rainbow Wahines from the University of Hawaii.

Once the teams were warmed up, and then introduced, the two centers met in the middle of the floor, with everyone around them. The initial tip went to a player from Hawaii, who worked the ball down court, then passed it to another member of her team. She tried to dribble around Eve, who simply stole the ball and headed down court the other way for a breakaway layup.

Eve ran back to help defend against Hawaii’s offense.

By the end of the first quarter, it was pretty obvious Stanford had the depth and the skill to control the game. Coach VanDerveer started substituting players, to give everyone a chance to rest, with one exception. Eve stayed on the floor the whole first half.

I wondered if this was normal. Jennifer leaned over to me and explained, “She’s in the zone tonight. I saw this in high school. Look at her grin. She’s enjoying the hell out of this now.”

When the teams took the floor for the second half, Stanford had a 58 to 22 lead. Eve sat on the bench most of the third quarter. I found it interesting that she was doing a lot of talking to the other players as well as the assistant coaches. She went back into the game for the last five minutes, even though she wasn’t needed according to the score. I wondered why.

The explanation came after the victory celebration, with a final score of 95 to 49. The announcer in the arena said Eve got what was called a quadruple-double, scoring twenty-one points, making ten rebounds, twelve assists, and ten steals.

The players and coaches all shook hands, then as the women headed for the locker room, I saw Coach VanDerveer pause and walk back over to where we were coming down from the bleachers.

“Mister Lewis, may I have a word with you?”

“Certainly, Coach.” I stepped over to her. Jennifer came with me. “Coach VanDerveer, I don’t think you’ve met Eve’s mom, Jennifer Lewis.”

Coach did a double take, then closed her eyes for moment. “Damn, you’re not Eve’s twin sister, but her mother?”

“Yeah. She’s the one who liked playing basketball. I prefer golf.”

“Damn,” she repeated herself. “Jennifer Lewis, as in the first woman PGA champion in history, Jennifer Lewis. Wow. Okay, it must be genetic, then. You’ve got one hell of an athletic daughter, Ma’am. I know my ladies said before that you were Eve’s mother, but it just didn’t sink in then. Um, Mister Lewis, I owe you an apology. I thought I was being forced to do something that I didn’t really want to do. I’ve seen Eve in practice, of course, but seeing her on the court like this? I was wrong. And ... thank you for the demonstration, too. That’s helped with a lot of other hassles we don’t need.”

“No problem, Coach. Hey, do you think there’ll be much more of a crowd tomorrow?”

She shook her head with a flat smile. “Not really. Most of the time, we’re lucky to get a thousand fans for our games. Sometimes there’s only a few dozen.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure there’d be room, then. Tomorrow night, after we win The Big Game – and I do hope you’re all going to be there for that – the entire Cardinal football team, the cheerleaders, the Dollies, and God help us all, the band – will be here for your game against Arizona.”

Her jaw dropped. “They will?”

“This is Stanford athletics. We need to support each other, and everyone is part of my Kingdom, so ... yeah. I’ll be busy, but I’ll make as many games as I can. So will the family, of course. Oh, and um, I believe it’s the Nevada Invitational? The three games on your schedule right after the Rose Bowl, on New Year’s Day. Eve won’t be able to play those games. She’ll be in Punjab, for my coronation as King of that country, since she’s also one of my Princesses.”

She just shook her head. “Yeah, okay. I’ll get the information from her. Anyway, like I said, I’m sorry for what I’ve said in the past. I need to get to the locker room.”

She left, looking confused now.

Jennifer slugged my arm. “That wasn’t nice. It was funny, but it wasn’t nice.”

“Yeah. But I figured I needed to get her off balance. You don’t have my sense of smell.”

“Flooded panties? Yeah, she wasn’t the only one, though. I think probably half the girls on all four teams had that problem.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Are you kidding? With that Sports Illustrated issue, we’re a lesbian’s wet dream. You don’t think only guys were turned on by that, do you?”

“Well, no,” I said, but I still didn’t get it, which she heard in my tone of voice.

“God love the heterosexual male. Dear, all of us are now bi-sexual, even if we weren’t or even had any desire to be that way, before we met and married you. But only with our sister-wives, not with other women. I mean, we’ll look at an attractive woman, just like we’d look at an attractive man. But with you at home? Keep in mind that the issue you had when Eve joined the team was from women that already were bi-sexual or were just plain lesbians. You probably don’t realize it, but women’s athletics are where a lot of more ‘manly’ women end up. Did you see that one girl on the Hawaii team?”

“You mean the one that looked like she had a mustache? Yeah.”

“It’s just genetics. We called them ‘tomboys’ when I was a kid. Women that didn’t want to dress up and be pretty. Nothing wrong with it, so long as everything is consensual, of course. At least we’re getting to that point where religious families aren’t sending as many of their kids to Church camps as they used to, to pray them straight.”

“Um, yeah, I think that’s something I missed in my reading,” I said.

We talked on the bus ride home about that, how some people allowed their religious beliefs to effect their social and sexual lives.

Everyone congratulated Eve when she got home, half an hour after we did.

“Thanks. I’m just glad the refs didn’t call that one charging foul in the second quarter.”

“You mean when you put their center on her ass?” Beth asked.

“Yeah. I meant to knock her down, too. Bitch! Make comments about my husband and wives, see what it gets you.”

“What’d she say?” I asked.

Eve shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She didn’t have her feet set, and learned that just because someone is smaller than she is, doesn’t mean she’s not stronger and tougher.”

Then she snorted. “Funny thing. Two of our girls heard her comment, and wanted to take care of her for me. I think your little demonstration about why it’s a bad idea to fuck with any of us – the family, I mean – turned the girls into a team. They know from talking to the football players that you consider everyone at Stanford family.”

I nodded in agreement, then said, “Yeah. I did get to mess with Coach VanDerveer a little, after the game. She apologized to me, but...”

“She was still a bit excited from meeting everyone. I know. You’re probably the only guy that doesn’t walk around with a permanent erection when we’re in the vicinity. It’s not something they can control, it’s not something she can control,” Eve replied with a smile. “Let’s face it. We’re some sexy ladies.”

“You’ll get no argument from me about that. Speaking of sexy ladies...”

Niranjana shook her head. “The only thing that you and Mistress Eve are going to do this evening is rest. Four of us will massage you, four of us will massage her. You both have important games to play tomorrow, and while you can perform well without it, if you have fully rested muscles, you will perform superbly instead.”

I opened my mouth, then shut it. “Yes, Dear.”

She hadn’t bothered to mention that the full body massage would include sexual relief, but after the way they worked me over, I fell asleep before Mina had finished sucking me dry.

There was quite a crowd in the dining room for breakfast.

“Earl gives his regards, he had to fly to Geneva first thing this morning,” Elroy said. Gloria and Holly were seated by him. “I don’t think you were told yesterday, but you now own two television stations. All the rest of the assets are being sold, with fifty percent of those proceeds going to a charity of your choice, and the remainder to be split among the surviving family.”

“Surviving family?” I asked as I filled my plate.

“Of course,” Jasmine said from where she was seated by Sayel. Their kids were also at the table. “She was found guilty of treason against humanity, and my husband immediately performed a painless execution.”

Elroy nodded. “Yep. Her lawyers were all ready to file appeals against the decision, and Earl simply looked at them and said, ‘Where will you file them? This is a Federation court, and I am the Supreme Justice for the Federation. There is no further court of appeals.’ It was beautiful.”

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Leonard said from where he was sitting by Beverly.

“In case you’re wondering, time zones worked for us,” Holly said. “We got to watch the varsity win the semi-state game last night, then still get some sleep before being at the airport at eight to catch a flight here for breakfast with you now.”

“I’m glad to see they’re continuing the tradition. I’m curious about something, though.”

Yagyu shook his head. “We played ‘rock, paper, scissors’ and best three out of five. He took it in four.”

Cindy patted his shoulder. “That’s okay, Dear. I’m sure you’ll get to kill someone else for Cal eventually.”

“Sarcasm, Cindy?”

“No, Beth, just an acceptance of reality. My husband-to-be is a killer. I’ve never felt safer than I do when I’m with him.”

Mary gave Dave a kiss on the cheek. “My husband took a bullet that would’ve killed me, so I’m good with that.”

Melissa looked at Chuck. “Wow! I knew everyone here was badass, but this? I think Dirty Harry would have a problem with all of you around.”