Author's Note: For those who keep asking, Sam won't show up again until chapter 10. As for Teal'c and the SGC, you got a bunny going in head. . I'll make a note if I get a companion story up. Whee!
Thanks to all who're reading this. You guys are why I enjoy writing fanfic so much. :D
x.x.x.x.x.x
Three days had passed since Daniel had been given the new collar, and in all that time he still hadn't seen Jack again. He was beginning to get worried.
"Daniel."
Daniel looked up at Opith, then down at the board and realized his hand had been hovering with the same game piece for several minutes now. His thoughts had wandered off again, and no doubt his eyes had glazed over. This wouldn't have been the first time tonight. "Sorry, Opith." He studied the board for a minute and then finally placed his piece. It was a strategy game called Tooks. Daniel didn't think that was the actual name of the game, but that's how it translated. It was played with a checkered board and shaped stones that moved around and took the opponent's pieces. It was really very similar to chess only the stones had far more intricate patterns of movement, making it more difficult to keep an eye on them.
Opith sighed, moving his own piece to take one of Daniel's. Most of Daniel's were already off the board already. "You're not paying any attention to what you're doing, are you?"
"Sorry, Opith," Daniel apologized again, but he couldn't help it. Jack always said he was easily distracted, but so was Jack. It was a wonder Sam and Teal'c ever stayed sane.
Sam.
Daniel hugged himself against the shivers that suddenly swept up his back. "Daniel?" This time it was Kheta calling his name. She was on the bunk next to them trying to teach Eglish knot work. They only had a limited supply of leather given to them, but it was enough to learn some pretty intricate designs. Kheta looked up from her strings, concern reflected in her eyes. She must have noticed him shiver.
Feigning a smile, Daniel shrugged it off. "I'm fine."
"Missing your previous House?" Kheta guessed. It was the first time Daniel had ever heard any of them mention anything that could be even remotely related to his past.
Eglish frowned at his strings; they didn't look anywhere as neat as Kheta's, and grumbled, "I was glad to get out of Eighth."
"Daniel didn't come from Eighth, Eglish," Opith said calmly, then nudged Daniel to make his next move in the game. Daniel did. He already knew he'd lost this one, and didn't really care where he went.
"I'm not really homesick, I'm too used to traveling to be homesick," Daniel told them as he watched another of his stones end up off the board. "I'm just worried about a couple people."
Opith looked up at Daniel, some understanding in those wizened black brown eyes. Then something odd happened in the common room. It was quite a bit after dinner here. The only time they were left to themselves to clean, socialize, and generally be without any Okatans present. They were locked in, so it was rare for anyone to actually come in once the Fourth arrived for the night, but someone apparently had. The common room along with both sleeping rooms had gone deathly quiet.
"Ah…hi," someone hesitantly said, the voice carrying far in the silence
Daniel's depression faded instantly. In the next instant, he was off the bed and heading for the doorway with a breath of excitement. "Jack!"
Jack turned to Daniel and grinned. "Hey Danny." Then with an awkward wave to everyone else, he followed after the anthropologist. Daniel led him back to his bunk. The usual noise in the other rooms slowly picked up again, but anyone close by kept their words to a whisper, watching them with open curiosity.
"Jack, where have you been? What happened?" Daniel demanded in a rush. All his worry that had grown over the last couple days from Jack's continued absence was coming out in a gush now. "All we get are rumors here and when I didn't see you, I…the least you could have done was walk by and wave!" Daniel ended, angry with worry. Daniel heard a small gasp of shock from a nearby slave but stubbornly ignored him. Opith would no doubt tell him off later for talking this way to a First, but this wasn't just a First, this was Jack!
"I know, Daniel, I'm sorry," Jack immediately apologized, a pained expression creasing his face as the Colonel ran a hand nervously across the back of his neck. "I meant to, but the days got busy and I didn't think to try to come here after hours until now."
They had reached Daniel's bunk and Opith immediately picked up the game intending to move, but Jack irritably waved for him to remain. "I didn't come here to uproot anyone. Stay there." From the way Jack said it Daniel guessed the Colonel had been getting this response from everyone else and it was grating on his nerves. Then he was pointing Daniel to the empty spot on the bed and ordered in his usual Colonel Jack O'Neill kind of way. "And you, sit!"
Daniel did, only to have several sheets of paper placed in his hands. "What's this?" But he already knew what it would be, and any residual anger he might have had towards Jack faded instantly.
"Othwen and I are having a hard time translating the grammar. Does it look like anything you know?"
"It looks like…a bunch of dots and squiggles." Daniel lamely admitted. Was it similar to anything? Sure, a bunch of things, at least in appearance, but not a bit in translation.
Jack threw up his arms. "I told you so!"
Daniel just nodded, frowning with concentration as he examined the sheets. The first line was in Okatan, the second in English, and the third Daniel assumed was a break down of the sentences, but it didn't look much like the sentence itself. No wonder Jack was confused. Then the Colonel's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Daniel tends to forget his manors sometimes. I'm Jack."
Looking up, Daniel realized with a start that he'd completely forgotten about his new friends. They were all frozen to the spot, especial Opith, who had been told not to move in perhaps not the most friendly of ways by Jack. But Opith, swallowing hesitantly, replied, "My name is Opith, sir, this is Eglish and Kheta."
Jack nodded to each, but a frown had formed on his lips, and Daniel noticed the rest shift uncomfortably. Everyone here was nervous by Jack's presence. Daniel wanted to kick the man, but doubted the Colonel even realized just how intimidating he could be at times. Or maybe he did.
The frown vanished a moment later, replaced like a flip of a coin with a casual lopsided grin. "Just call me Jack. We all have our jobs here, but I'm not your keeper."
Actually, he was, but Jack must not know yet that the word keeper was interchangeable with leader here, and used frequently in regards to the First. Thankfully Opith must have realized what Daniel had, and calming, stated insistently, "You are a First."
For a moment Jack didn't respond, he may not understand the terminology passed between them, but it was clear in his eyes that he understood the intent. Finally he relented, "Ya, I guess I am." Then Jack looked around the room, another grin falling into place. "So, these are your digs, uh? Kind of reminds me of my younger years."
Daniel grinned at Jack, and then turned his eyes back to the papers. He needed to figure this out. Jack wouldn't be able to leave the papers here for him to study, paper was forbidden in their rooms.
The anthropologist was only peripherally aware of Jack as the Colonel casually made inquiries about this and that to anyone nearby. It took a while, but slowly the room seemed to relax to Jack's presence, especially Daniel's new friends. Glancing up, Daniel had even caught Eglish smiling at one of Jack's joking comments.
"You're not like any other First," the young man said without thinking, the smile fading quickly as he realized his mistake.
But Jack wasn't offended, and bluntly admitted, "No, I'm not." He grinned at the youth and Eglish relaxed again. "Everyone is different. I'm just peculiar is all."
"Well, this language is certainly peculiar," Daniel murmured. He looked over at Opith. "Any chance you know Okatan?"
"Yes, I was in the Seventh for a time."
"This word means to speak, right?"
Opith nodded, and then pointed to two other points on the page. "It is the same here and here."
"Why are they written differently in each case?"
"Because the intent is different with each sentence," Opith replied as if it should be obvious.
Daniel just 'ummed' and stared at the pages for a few more minutes before finally saying to the patiently waiting Colonel. "I think it's similar to Latin."
"Latin as in Vini, Vidi, Vici Latin?" Jack exclaimed, and then grumbled out, "Sweet!"
"At least it's something you sort of know," Daniel offered weakly.
"What do you mean sort of?" Jack retorted in annoyance.
"Every language is different Jack, it's just a matter-"
But Jack cut him off, a hand covering his face with a sigh. "Never mind, forget I said anything."
Daniel spent the next little bit going over each sentence, explaining as best he could what he reasoned the grammar structure to be. By the time the five-minute bell dimmed the lights, Jack had probably rubbed a spot raw on the back of neck. He made a face. "All right, Daniel, thanks for the help, this should help. I've got to go or I'm here for the night."
Almost reluctantly Daniel handed the papers back. "Will you come by again?"
"Youbetcha. But probably not anytime soon," Jack admitted. Then with a warm smile to everyone else, said, "It was nice to meet all of you." Daniel got off the bed to watch Jack leave. The door slid open as soon as Jack got to it, but Daniel saw Jack glance up briefly, and the anthropologist guessed it was to look at the camera hidden in the ceiling.
Turning back, Daniel was about to get into his bed when someone above him commented, "He's from where you are, isn't he?"
It was Dhago asking, but everyone was listening for the answer. Daniel imitated Jack's smirk. "Youbetcha."
x.x.x.x.x.x
Jack put a little page number in the top corner and the date under the last line he'd written. Two weeks had gone by since he and Daniel had first arrived at the House of Oketena. Two weeks since they'd last seen any sign of Major Carter. Thimen had said he knew about all the Lords and Ladies, probably through Omila's business transactions. Jack had considered asking the slave to keep an ear out for any word on Sam, but one glance at the Aid and Jack's instincts told him the request would fall on deaf ears.
Sighing, Jack began his field report. It was something he'd started the day before. Realizing that not only was he loosing track of the days, but that as things currently looked, he and his team weren't about to get home any time soon, he'd decided to start his field report early. At any rate, it'd help keep him grounded. He wasn't like Daniel, he wasn't someone who could keep all these different grammar rules straight in his head with ease. It had been bad enough when he and Teal'c had needed to learn the Ancient's language. That had taken them…er…a long time. In one sense it'd taken only a day, in another, it'd taken something closer to three hundred.
Jack looked down at his report and realized he'd written half the sentence backwards. Damn! And this was in English for crying out loud!
"Tethlia's due at any time now, but I'm afraid there's going to be complications. I might need some help." Shella told the group. They were in the middle of their usual nightly conference. The First met every night to coordinate schedules and tasks, and in general discuss things, usually about the behavior of one slave or another in the different Orders.
Jack looked up from scratching out his last sentence to see everyone looking deeply uncomfortable in the room. No one was offering their services to Shella and Jack could see tears glistening in the woman's eyes. Sometimes these people really didn't make any sense to him. "I can help."
Everyone turned to look at Jack in surprise.
"I'll be in the library for the first hour in the morning, but I'll come over to the White Rooms right after, "Jack said calmly, half turning back to his report, but it was just a pretense. He was trying to get them to accept him and sometimes the First acted like such a click Jack wondered if he would ever be able to work with them. Acting calm and not making a big deal of anything seemed the best way to go.
"Thank you, Jack," Shella replied. Jack just nodded, scratching out yet another badly written sentence. Then the group went on to the next item of business. So far, Jack hadn't really been included in these discussions, but then, he didn't exactly have much to add, did he?
The next day he met with Othwen and they discussed Jack's progress on the Okatan language. It wasn't even close to a point where he could write so much as a memo or lengthy note, but he understood enough that he could get by with doing things like inventory and orders. It would still be a while before he'd be ready to write reports to Omila, but Jack arranged with Othwen that from now on they would just spend the mornings on language lessons.
Jack had half expected a message to come down from Omila to negate Jack's decision, but it never did, and later that morning Jack made his way over to the White Rooms for what would be only his second time.
The rooms were in a state of organized chaos, with the main room as vibrant with color and noise as before. Unlike when Jack visited Daniel in the living quarters of the Third and Fourth, no one here cared that Jack was there. Ignoring him completely, hyperactive kids chased each other around the common room.
Shella was the middle of them and looking somewhat desperate. Jack grinned and just headed for the center of the chaos. Before he got there, something small quite suddenly attached itself to Jack's leg, creating a dead weight as only the body of a young child can do. Jack looked down to see two crystal blue eyes grinning up at him.
"Mitch!" Shella reprimanded, approaching them.
Jack just smirked, reaching down and mussing the boy's white blond locks of hair. "It's all right."
"No, it's not," Shella stated with no small amount of frustration. "Mitch is the worst of the lot." The boy just grinned all that much harder. "I'm sorry Jack, I normally don't have so many grouped together like this but I don't have many women here this year to help."
"You can't just request more?" Jack asked, taking an experimental step with one still very firmly attached Mitch. He giggled with glee.
Shella sighed. "It doesn't work that way, I'll have to explain it to you later. Right now…"
"You need to check on Tethlia," Jack supplied. "I'm guessing she's not in here?" He looked back to the other end of the room where four woman, likely in their last trimester, where sitting and talking over their stitching. They kept glancing up, but never for very long. At this end of the room with the kids, Jack counted at least thirty toddlers, and only three women trying unsuccessfully to get the kids to calm down. There was no chance in Hell of that, these guys were far too high strung and only fed off of the adults' anxiety.
"No, she's in the waiting room with Mesha and Rhia. The rest are with the younglings."
"Go see Tethlia, I'll see about calming this bunch down."
Shella looked at him uncertain. "Are you sure?"
"Oh don't worry 'bout me. I've handled much worse." Jack grinned at her but she didn't seem any more reassured. "Do they have an area outside or a large room for them to run around in? I think these kids need to wear off a bit of energy."
"Yes. Ashan. Katha. Gaiath." Shella called the three women over. "This is Jack. He's going to be helping us in here today and wants to know where the exercise room is."
"I can show you, sir," Katha immediately said.
"Call me Jack. But first things first." And Jack grinned down at the beaming toddler. "I seemed to have picked up a leach. Good thing about leaches though, I know all their weak spots." And without further ado Jack bent down to tickle the little boy.
Within minutes Mitch was like putty in Jack's handles. Turned out he was insanely ticklish, but Jack wasn't satisfied with just tickling the boy, and heartily laughing, Jack picked the kid up, holding him upside down against his side with one arm. "I've got this Shella, trust me."
Shella still didn't look convinced and even murmured, "Do I have a choice?" But Mitch hadn't stopped giggling, and splaying his arms around him gave a loud cry of glee. With that, Shella gave them one last look and left.
Jack gave the watching women a winning smile before turning his attention to the group of kids. Many had been attracted by Mitch's new predicament, and it wasn't hard to get the attention of the rest. They weren't used to men around and Jack was something new. Something new grabbed the attention of kids galaxy-wide over.
"All right rugrats!" Jack called out. Some of them stopped their racing around to look at him. "Anyone here want to play a game?" He didn't get the enthusiastic reply he might have hoped for, but it did gain him a few more curious eyes. "First game is called Links, I've got Mitch here." With another grin, Jack swung the boy a bit as if he were on display. Mitch conveniently let out another wail of laughter. "Now Mitch is going to hang onto someone else's hand and link to them, and so on and so forth."
Even though he was still upside down Mitch grabbed onto a little girl's hand. The girl seemed a bit surprised; she hadn't been listening to Jack but had made the mistake of trying to run past. "All right kiddo, now link to someone else." The girl gave him a funny look, but did as she was told, and the rest followed suit. All too soon they were all hand to hand and quickly becoming twisted up. "Katha, lead the way." Jack ordered. "Ashan, Gaiath, make sure no one gets left behind."
The exercise room was similar to the gyms Jack remembered from school, only half the size and with a floor made of mats. His string of kids filed into the room and automatically started breaking up. Jack put Mitch back down on his feet, the poor kid was beat red in the face from the blood rush, but he didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Before he lost the attention of everyone again Jack slowly started jogging backwards. "We're not done yet, you got to do what I do now."
It was Mitch who first understood, and imitating Jack started jogging backwards as well. They went around the room in their line, skipping, jumping, hopping, and just about anything Jack thought three and four-year-olds could do. Several of them tripped along the way, but everyone was enjoying themselves enough that no one wanted to be left out. Still, it wouldn't work for long Jack knew. Kids tended to have short attention spans. So did Colonels, or so he was told.
As soon as he was sure he had their attention enough to be followed, he got them together again and paired them off, getting the women to help him get the kids to stand still long enough to hear the rules of his next game. It was a version of tag he personally preferred.
"Mitch, you and…"
"Yuth."
"Yuth?" Jack smirked, "Good name. All right, Yuth, you're it, and it's your job to make someone else it. The way you do that is by touching who ever isn't linked to someone else. Currently that's Mitch. Ah, wait for the game to begin, okay?" The kid had automatically jumped towards Mitch but Jack grabbed him by the shoulders and marched him to the center of their circle of kids. All of whom were finally standing still but impatient to be moving. "Now, Mitch, should you link onto one of these pairs you'll be safe and the person on the other end must then run from who's it. Got it?"
Mitch nodded and linked arms to a girl near by. The young blond waved at the boy next to her. "Rhyder, you run now." The young boy took off to race across the circle for another pair.
"Looks like we're ready, go get 'em Yuth!"
Pretty soon, the kids were completely engrossed in the new game, laughing and screaming as they chased each other from pair to pair with the adults encouraging them along. Jack showed them a couple other games from his childhood, but after an hour they weren't responding as well to the group games so Jack just let them run free around the room. He knew kids well enough to know they were winding down, despite their deceptive show of energy levels.
"What do you normally do with them?" Jack asked the women.
"Games, but nothing like these," Gaiath replied. "Where did you learn such things?"
Jack shrugged. "I was a bit of a hyper kid myself."
"I think they will be ready for sleep after this," Katha stated. The women exchanged knowing smiles, and she added, "I could use sleep myself."
"I'm here to serve," Jack grinned. Then walking steadfastly to the center called in his best Air Force trained voice, "Rugrats, front and center!" They didn't understand of course, so he had to wave them in, and then he proceeded to sit them down on the floor and walk them through his normal morning stretches. It did the trick perfectly, and by the end of the twenty minutes Jack even saw a couple of the kids yawning.
"We can handle them from here, sir…Jack," Ashan told him.
"Great, Katha, can you show me where Shella and Tethlia would be?" But Jack didn't get two feet before his leg had its dead weight securely attached once again. Jack grinned down at Mitch's imploring gaze.
"Don't go," the boy pleaded. "Stay and show us more of your games."
"Not right now Mitch, but I'll be back." The boy hung on for another minute, but when Jack didn't respond further the boy finally sank to the floor dejected. Jack gave the kid another grin then waved for Katha to proceed ahead of him.
By the time they stepped into the waiting room Tethlia was already in labor, and it didn't seem to be going well. Katha excused herself as soon as she could. Jack stepped into a corner to stay out of the way.
Tethlia was on a birthing table similar to the ones used on Earth, but she also had several sensors attached to her body sending data to a monitoring screen set in one of the walls. Jack couldn't read the scrolling data as quickly as it was passing, but he didn't think things looked good. Amazingly, on the screen was a graphic representation of Tethlia, the baby, and everything else within close proximity. It gave Jack a real clear understanding of what was going on. Not only had the child unsuccessfully turned, but with the baby's struggles, the placenta cord had managed to wrap itself around the unborn infant's neck.
Shella was trying to push the baby the rest of the way around from the outside, but the life signs of the infant were rapidly dropping. Tethlia cried out as another contraction convulsed violently through her body. The two women in attendance were trying to keep her breathing regular and continuously patted her sweating skin with cool cloths, but it wasn't helping much.
"Tethlia, I'm going to ask you to push soon," Shella stated firmly.
But Tethlia was shaking her head. "No! He'll die, he isn't turned enough yet!"
"He's as far as he'll go and if we don't get him out of you, you'll die!" Shella cried fiercely.
It was a painful thing to watch. Very different from the time Daniel had delivered a baby during one of their previous missions. The infant's loosing health wasn't the only problem they faced, and while Shella pushed Tethlia as hard as she could, it became apparent that the child was too big with the placenta so firmly wrapped to fit through Tethlia's small hips. Then, after a rather painfully unsuccessful push, the baby's vitals dropped away completely.
The laboring woman let out an anguished sob, and even more convulsions racked her frame as her body automatically reacted to the dead child still inside. As long as the infant was still in the womb they still shared a lifeline. Numbers jumped on the screen and Tethlia suddenly cried out in pain, her skin breaking out in a harder sweat than before. She was going into shock.
"Shella," Jack said softly from the corner, the First had her head bowed and tears in her eyes. She looked up at Jack and he could see it plain as day on her face, they were going to loose both mother and child. "Shella. You need to get the baby out."
The woman slowly shook her head. "We can't, it's too big, and she's already bleeding."
"Then you need to cut the womb open and remove the child manually."
Everyone but Tethlia looked at him in shock. Tethlia had her eyes closed and her breath was coming out in ragged gasps. Sweat drenched every bit of her pale skin. Shella looked frantically between Jack and the dying woman, than back again to Jack. "We can't…you've done this?"
A c-section? No. Emergency surgery in the field? Sort of. Close enough. He stepped towards her. "I'll need a sharp knife, plenty of cloth, water, a needle, and some strong but thin thread."
Shella was still shaking in shock. "You're serious, you want to cut her open? That would-"
"Save her life. Shella there isn't much time." Jack stated, determination filling his voice even while his stomach was playing havoc at the very thought of performing the surgery.
But Shella was still shaking her head. "No sharp knives are allowed in here."
"I'll convince them to make an exception," Jack growled out. He couldn't just let this woman die without at least trying to save her. He didn't wait for a response but went in search of the Guardsmen at the entrance of the White Rooms.
Only just remembering to bow, Jack startled the two Okatans when he suddenly turned to address them. "Sir, I request that I be allowed to get a sharp knife from the kitchens. There is a woman dying in there and I want to operate."
The Guardsmen both stiffened noticeably at his request, and the closest said warily, "No blades are allowed outside the kitchens."
Jack had to force his hands to unclench in his frustration, and then swallowing as much pride as he could, asked, "Please, sir. If you would, please pass my request to Chief Rakel. I can save the woman's life, but I need to cut her open to do it."
The Guardsmen exchanged nervous looks. They, too, seemed shocked by Jack's intentions, but giving him a look of warning, one Guardsman finally lifted his wrist to speak into his bracelet. Jack couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but a minute later the Guardsman told him somewhat surprised, "You have permission."
"Thank you." Again Jack bowed to them, and then in the next instant took off running down the halls for the kitchens. He hated all the politics here, and he was the last person he would call diplomatic, but he didn't have time for a skirmish, either.
x.x.x.x.x.x
It was mopping day again. Daniel liked mopping day the best. It meant they weren't bending over or on their knees half the time, and one could get away with a bit more movement when pushing a mop around than they could with a dust rag or sponge. Currently they were in the main hall, one of the largest rooms in the complex. It ran through the center of the front half of the estate, raising two stories high and stretching out with great white marble pillars lining the sides. Daniel guessed it was so big to show off for any visitors, but it also served as a main connection for many of the sections in the complex.
"Daniel. Stop for a moment."
"Sir?" Daniel looked up to see Overseer Ritalen approaching him while motioning for him to stand still. Eglish and Kheta were close enough to give Daniel quick nervous glances, but Daniel couldn't for the life of him think what was wrong, unless Jack was…but Ritalen wasn't doing anything other than standing next to him and waiting. Then, much to Daniel's surprise, he spotted Jack bolting across the main hall with a knife in hand.
"Oh." Both Daniel and the Overseer, and half of anyone else who noticed, watched till Jack had disappeared from sight through another door.
Ritalen waited a moment more, and then calmly said, "You may go back to work now."
"Ah…thank you…sir." Daniel felt confused, but the Overseer seemed unconcerned and walked back to his previous spot, motioning to the curious to get back to their jobs.
Eglish and Kheta mopped a bit closer to Daniel, and the youth questioned hesitantly, "You don't think…"
He couldn't finish his sentence, but Daniel knew what Eglish wanted to say. Was Jack trying to escape again? "No." Daniel chuckled. Ritalen must have gotten a bulletin over the radio about Jack's plight. He could only imagine how that must have sounded. "Jack only runs like that if someone's in danger."
"Someone other than himself?" Kheta questioned, but Daniel didn't answer, as they had no more excuse to mop so close to each other anymore and had to shift away. Still, he smiled, and hoped that for who, or whatever it was, that Jack would be in time.
x.x.x.x.x.x
It had been a long time since Jack had last needed to cut someone open and stitch them back together again, but with help, some time, and a lot of luck, the operation was a success. Minus one casualty.
Jack leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The sight of the dead baby was one he'd carry with all his other life long nightmares. At least the mother survived. She was dosed pretty high on pain medication and sleeping now. She would need constant monitoring and a great deal of help to ensure the stitches held, but she would live.
Shella exhaustedly sank into a chair next to Jack, her face still flushed from the day's mental and physical exertions. Both of them had their sleeves rolled up and their hands and faces washed, but the fronts of their black uniforms were dark and sticky with blood.
"Jack, thank you."
The Colonel opened his eyes and looked at the woman beside him. "I just did what I could. Tell me something. If a slave gets ill, what happens?"
"They are brought here. We have many medicines that can help, and if that doesn't work then they are isolated till they are either better or…" she faded off.
"Until they die," Jack finished coldly, but seeing the pain in her eyes his expression softened. "No wonder they don't like coming here."
"Who?" Shella asked, confused.
"The rest of the First."
She smiled with regret. "It is more than that, Jack. We have all given birth to a child only to see them go. Being with them so young attaches us to them, and as First, we especially can't allow that."
Jack felt he understood what she was saying. He would die before giving up his child, but these people had to give theirs up every time. Not even allowed to raise them. "Why do the women return here?"
"Women from the House usually only ever have one, they know better after that. Women in the Blue Rooms are made infertile on purpose, so we never see them. Mostly, women from the mines occupy the White Rooms. To them, this is at least a little better." Then she continued to explain what she had promised to earlier. "When a woman is confirmed with child she is brought here till the child is two years of age. The children live here till they are five years of age. Those selected for the Blue Rooms leave then, and the rest are sent to the Eighth Order."
"After graduation from Eighth, most females are sent to the mines, aren't they? To encourage them to come here on their own?"
Shella nodded, and added with resignation, "Eventually we all end up in the mines."
Jack sighed. That explained why he was one of only a very few gray haired men around. It was a well thought out system, but people shouldn't have to live anywhere structured so strictly. "Mitch is Khem's son, isn't he?" Jack suddenly asked.
Shella laughed, amazed. "How did you know?"
"Wild guess. Same hair, same eyes, same high intelligence."
"That isn't always a good thing," Shella murmured. Jack looked at her questioningly, but she just smiled, and said, "He's also Tethlia's first child. That pregnancy was also difficult, but nothing like today. The woman was never meant to make love, but she is Khem's favorite."
Jack frowned. 'Favorite' implied a lack of choice. A privilege of the First. "If she has any more children, she might not make it next time," Jack growled.
Surprised by his suddenly hostile tone of voice, Shella wondered out loud, "Things are different on your world?"
"Very." Jack sighed. He had to be careful here if he was going to keep Daniel safe. He had no intention of lying to these people, but starting a rebellion could prove fatal for any involved, and that meant choosing carefully what he revealed about himself and Earth. "We have doctors who would have taken the baby from the womb in time to save it."
Shrugging, the First replied, "We are just slaves."
"Even slaves have a right to live, Shella," Jack said, and then, afraid he might say too much, he stood up and stretched taunt muscles. "We should probably get cleaned up now, and I still need to return the knife."
"A Guardsman already came for it," she informed him, but stood up also stretching. "A wash would feel good. Katha tells me you made a real impression on the children. They keep asking when you will play games with them again."
Jack smirked. "What can I say, I'm a kid at heart."
Shella smiled, but looked concerned. "Um, Jack. What games are you playing with them?"