Mother's Hand

Chapter Six

Gary struggled pinning the final medal onto my chest. My formal Mother's Hand uniform had arrived the day before my meeting with the prince. It was ghastly; all black with a red stripes down each leg, black epaulettes on the shoulders and with a row of gold buttons down the front, each one with the robed figure of Mother inscribed.

Gary's tongue was sticking out between his teeth in concentration. He didn't fit into his old Mother's Hand uniform, so wore a brown suit, with a black tie and his own collection of medals secured onto his chest. He had been invited as my plus one to the media event and especially for the occasion he had even managed to create a braid in his mullet ponytail.

The week had gone by fast. The highlight was me sticking my prosthetic arm in my veterinary scanner, pretending to clean it for the cameras while actually searching for bugs. To my relief, I found no transmitting tech inside my arm. The nagging pain behind my jaw from where my rig had been removed had subsided too.

Gary slapped me on the shoulder.

"Smart man," he said admiring his handiwork. "You look good. Like the super-soldier you are."

"I feel like an idiot," I said quietly.

Gary looked behind him, his screenwall was there, watching us at all times. He spoke in a measured way.

"Well you look like the part Mother wants you to play. So be nice. Get mothered for the afternoon and then we will drink a thousand beers and celebrate your service being all over."

"Okay. Deal."

Outside a black Limousine had arrived to collect us.

"Let's go," Gary said.

***

We were driven through the smart homes of Section Three then passed through agricultural sections with fields of soy. Soon the checkpoint gates were lifting granting us access to great industrial sections, one with power plants and another with rows and rows of windowless white buildings that I had never seen before.

The only major industrial facility I had ever set my eyes on was the sewage towers on the edge section two, and that was covered in barbed wire and patrolled by Mother's Hand. According to rumor, that horrid black stained building was also where the bodies of dissidents were disposed of.

As we drove, Mother's Hand were everywhere, gathered in groups of two and three standing motionless along the highway, like scarecrows, their eyes glassy and unblinking even as we drove past.

We had to pass through multiple border checks, waiting each time while our invitations were checked and confirmed.

Finally, we made it to Section Ten.

We were welcomed with stunning green rolling fields, in the distance were huge mansions, the great shuttered estates of Mother's spacefaring sons. For my lifetime, Prince Drako, Prince Artero, and Prince Hieros had all been away, leading the defense against the Scynthians and their cunning Ardonian allies.

An old memory came back to me of a Mother's Heart worker in my foster home. She was in her eighties and when she spoke of Prince Drako's departure to the stars to take on the fight with the Scynthians her eyes shone with patriotic tears.

Mother's sons were our heroes, the Mother's Hand their armies.

Prince Rufus and Mother were at this time, alone on Earth.

***

We arrived at the gates of the Golf Course. They were huge, twirling black iron curling up twenty feet framing into the image of Mother's hooded form.