Six long years now...and he was 18 as of a week ago. Felt nice...in a way. He was given the day off...which he spent entirely in Alice's company. The war was ending. The world had failed to find peace. Even as he thought about it...the Muslim nation was firing off Nukes...which were being shot out of the sky on both sides...but it was a dangerous game...just one to get through and millions of lives would be gone.
The Soviets and the Chinese were the last pieces to the Warsaw Alliance...and cracks were showing up in that alliance with the Muslim invasion of China again...tearing through the Kunlun Mountains and pushing towards the populated areas of the east. The Societs had broken ranks on the Eastern European front, the Kamchatka front, and even the Artic front. They were however pressing very harshly into the Muslim nation pressing into Iran and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile Hegemony forces and people around the world were looking in on the area as a riot of the human mind. They were not only pressing in on Moscow...but also swinging down close to Korea and Mongolia. The African forces were ripping through the arab beaches even as he thought. Australian regiments were landing in the very tip of Thailand pushing in on the Chinese forces there. The forces in the Balkans were sweeping through Turkey like Alexander the Great did with the Persian Empire...vastly outnumbered and yet winning victory after victory.
The Hegemony honestly viewed this whole thing as ridiculous. Every family had been affected...with 350 million dead. 275 million of that 350...were soviets and chinese and muslim. But that still meant 75 million had suffered death in the Hegemony armies and cities. He knew his brother was to the point of taking their own arsenal of nukes and blowing the whole world to kingdom come. In meetings his brother just looked red in the face...some lucky woman was getting pounded just so Peter could 'beat' out his frustration.
That thought brought him to Alice...sweet...sweet Alice. Not to mention the Crude and Cranky Alice...coupled with the Just Awoken Bat of Hell Alice. Or Shy and Bashful Alice. No matter what side she showed him...he was stuck...in love...with his coffee girl. Woman...excuse me. He was really into the way she roleplayed out their love making these days...his eye twitched...he needed sex and badly.
He understood now why his mother came from Mormons, and his father came from Catholics...and why both groups seemed to have so many children! Every child...is a blessing. Which Ender understood to mean, "Every child...comes from a special act that blows your mind."
He looked at the time and he was off duty. He had suffered five faintings from overworking before the arm reduced his hours from 23 to 16. He left a nice detailed report from flashing his security card around to leave and at home...his nice special apartment shared with his coffee woman...he took a quick shower and briefly wondered what time Alice would be arriving home.
It was at 11:00 p.m., that he heard the familiar click and swish of the front door...followed by the soft taps of his Alice's feet, the clang of the door shutting...and he found his wonderful countrygirl redhead in his arms. He could feel her tension and he looked down at her strickenly. He was a genuis for a reason...remote genetic manipulation not counting. She looked worried. He went through a list of things that would worry her at the age of 18...with a war going on consuming the war.
Her younger brother had been drafted? She had been hit on by that mailman? She was pmsing and doubted his love? She was pregnant? Hmm...tough choices...he rubbed her shoulders gently, "What is it?" he asked. His voice had deepened over the years. He wasn't a sexy beast...but...well...he was a fine specimen.
She bit her lip and finally barely whispered out two little words. What the words are are anyone's best guess. But she whispered two little words. His reaction was to grin and smile...and swing her in circles and circles and circles...laughing...and oh so happy.
She was pregnant...and this new life...may be just what it would take to get him out of his funk...even with the world blowing itself all to hell.
What is the mystery of a pregnant woman. What attracts us about a bloated, cranky, mood-swinging, horrible woman? Its because despite the negatives we feel...meaning us men feel from having to be tortured for nine months...is because of that new life.
Because of the kick that we feel knowing that in there...inside that bloated monstrosity in which we're not allowed to call fat...is a minature version of ourself. If its a little girl...we find ourselves in awe of this beautiful little angel. If its a boy we find the perfect vassal to carry on our legacy into their own legacy.
It sounds a little bad...bur that was how Ender found himself thinking that night in bed...rubbing the abdomen of his Alice. That was until he realized he'd have to marry her...and his eyes twitched more...the ball and chain! He sat upright in a cold sweat and found himself alone at the kitchen table...oh thank god...it had been a dream. Then he noticed it was 11:00 p.m. And he heard a click and swish...followed by soft taps and a clang of the door. And in came Alice...looking tense. A premonition? He fainted off to the side and thudded with the floor.
In the following weeks Alice explained she was indeed pregnant. A few commanders at the big HQ got their ears chewed off by said pregnant lady. The world would have to get a few dim reports as Andrew Wiggin dealt with nine months of torture. The world shuddered in fear. With the Hegemony forces winning and pressing in on capitals...they didn't even need him anymore.
Is this where 3,000 years of history rewritten ends? Of course not...we've only covered six years. DUN DUN DUN!!!
