Ancient Astronauts

The Neighbors

A woman greeted Alyonna at the door.

"Good morning Ms. Standing, did you rest well?"

Alyonna had never seen this woman before and took a moment to size her up. The first thing she noticed was the business attire she was wearing. Clothes from the old world were a luxury, usually squirreled away in the passengers' limited luggage. This usually meant nice or hardy attire that went with anything and could be cleaned easily in the event of any number of unforeseen mishaps.

This woman was the antithesis of sensible packing. Her skirt was rich purple, blouse a pale mandarin orange that wouldn't protect anything in the case of a trip, and a similarly pale green coat. Her shoes also were purple. None of the above had ever touched any washing machine Alyonna had seen or they'd be in ruins.

She was immediately distrustful. Only one small deck of the Astral Ark had carried people who could afford such excess. That would be the B-Deck passengers. And the only possible reason for the clashingly garish display of opulence was to show it off.

Alyonna answered guardedly, "Yes, I did."

"Wonderful," the woman said, not-so-subtly checking the rolex on her wrist, "I'll need you to come with me, Ms. Standing."

Now Alyonna was worried. Ever since she got here, people in suits and dress attire had been pulling up to the house unexpectedly. Sometimes they were just checking on her. A few, like Dr. Peter Halberd, she considered friends. Others, like Miriam Martin, the wife of James Martin, were simply nosy, curious people who wanted to see how the one pregnant lady in Second Chance was getting on. Usually they offered useless condolences that one of them would have to die before the end of the year.

Alyonna was disgusted with Miriam. The woman meant well, but had clearly never gone hungry a day in her life...and still wasn't, while the rest of Second Chance, including the one pregnant lady, were living on only forty-five percent of their needed daily nutrition. Pretty much the only thing that kept the growing life in her womb safe was that Dr. Halberd gave her increased doses of prenatal and other vitamins from the hospital to make up for the deficiency of the food. If his superior, Dr. Umeckwe, ever found out about it, Peter would be cleaning latrines at the fort for the next two years and lose his license.

"Ms. Standing?"

Alyonna glared at her, "What do you mean you need me to 'come with you'? You haven't even introduced yourself, and I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what this is about."

The woman sighed, adjusted her titanium rimmed glasses, and gave Alyonna a haughty look.

"Oh very well," she huffed elegantly before continuing in a condescending tone, "I am Katherine Stalbot, attorney at law. Also the wife of Shooby Stalbot," she paused then went on as if Alyonna didn't know who that was, "the tech billionaire and astro-physicist," she slid in quickly, "The council has overruled Judge Amberth's authority on the subject of your transgressions, and assigned a military tribunal to hear your case. Since you aren't registered with an attorney, they were going to have you proceed without one."

She motioned toward the jeep parked in the gravel driveway.

Alyonna stood stock still with shock, "Overruled...as in, no more death penalty?"

Katherine Stalbot gave one of those silly laughs stereotypically associated with British aristocracy. She wasn't British, which just made it more pretentious. It grated on Alyonna's ears and her scowl deepened.

"No!" Katherine said, waving a hand at her as if Alyonna had made a hilarious joke, "Nothing like thaat. You're being tried by the military tribunal for failing to comply with the abstinence requirement." 

Her look went dark and she swooped in close to Alyonna's face, "You were supposed to keep your legs closed for a full twelve months before the trip to prevent this sort of situation from arising," she hissed.

Alyonna took two steps back and nearly tripped. There was a fury in the Stalbot woman's eyes that shook Aly. What's more, her breath smelled like bacon that spent a few too many vacation days in the tropics, masked by a pharmacy's worth of breath mints. She felt very, very vulnerable. 

"Oh Hans," her thoughts screamed, "Wake the fuck up will you?"

Her surprise turned to anger a moment later when she considered that the B-Deckers had probably also ignored the MSI. They had money to buy extra storage on B-Deck for an entire home's worth of furnishings and other property. She figured there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell they hadn't brought extra stockpiles of food and other baby related odds and ends. With their influence it wouldn't have been hard at all to brush off an unexpected pregnancy should one arise.

Technically the same logic should apply to her case. The baby was undoubtedly that of the governor of the colony. Trouble is, it was his influence, not hers, and he was in a coma, possibly never to awake. The wolves could do whatever they wished while the lion slumbered.

"As the fiance of the Captain of the Astral Ark, you are being tried by the military tribunal..." Katherine shuffled Alyonna into the jeep. "For the same reason you have a right to an attorney in a military trial."

The jeep rolled out of the gate and lumbered its way down the gravel track toward the military administration building.

"And you?" Alyonna finally said, collecting her thoughts. She didn't like this Katherine Stalbot person one bit. The feeling seemed mutual, and Alyonna wanted to make sure her attorney wasn't getting ready to screw her in court.

"What about me?" Katherine asked in a tone resembling a bored babysitter.

"What motivates you to help me? That is why you're here isn't it? You said the military wasn't going to provide me with an attorney. Implying that's why you're here."

Katherine turned her blue eyes on her. Alyonna thought there was something new in them. Perhaps a tiny shred of respect? "You're very astute, Alyonna. I hardly expected that kind of insight from a simple country girl."

It was Alyonna's turn to look mulish, "I'm an astrobiologist, Mrs. Stalbot." Alyonna had also noticed Katherine's switch to using her first name and couldn't pass up the opportunity to throw it back in her face. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Ohh," Katherine said offhandedly, "this was Shooby's idea. Apparently, he admires your hus...mm hmmhmm...fiancé. So I dropped all the important work I'm doing on setting up a judicial system for this miserable little planet to come take care of a baby," she sighed.