"Hope Quill, the first naturally cured female, born by the rack. With your existence, we have birthed the hope for equality and the start of the journey towards healing. You have all witnessed it and now that you know the truth." She heard gasps as Janel did the same with Eve as she showed her off.
"Hi Eve, I am Dr. Janel Morrit, the first two named Gimmel male in history. Your Father thanks you." Janel said and choked a sob. She had Monil's violet eyes and dark curly hair and his pale skin. Janel's tears dripped as he cleaned her off, his hands trembling. Monil came on to the stage.
"I am Monil Morrit. I have a second name now too, because of you. You look like your grandmother did in her pictures. Clan Nuru now has an heir," Monil said. It elicited a few surprised gasps and clapping from the audience. There was joyous clapping and sobbing.
"Finally, it is over." Dorien murmured and cried into his hands. Allurai reached for him and pulled away. In the past months, a rift had formed between them. Allurai faltered and patted his back in a comforting motion. She did not know what she could do to fix things between them. He and the others had grown resentful towards her.
'What was the difference between an Alphem and a Bitas anyway? It was only birth circumstances which made Monil on par with an Alphem now. Would that even matter as time passed? My staff should still remain loyal. I pay them a living wage with bonuses and the treatment has never been unethical. I guess it will not matter who a company is passed down to now. Ivy and Fiona are already my heirs, but it will be interesting to see if, in the coming years, their father could take over. I hate working. ' Vida thought with great interest.
"I know that this is a very exciting development. We ask for you to act peacefully and continue to act in an orderly fashion. The cure will be available to select clans at first to disseminate to the population. Should you volunteer to aid the public, you shall receive priority in receiving the inoculation for the cure itself when it is ready for release. This means you will not need to rely on an artificial template ovum and a rack to reproduce. I want to reiterate that if there are any acts of violence against either any male or female, they will be barred from inoculation." Nora said. Allurai waved her arms.
"Yes?" Nora asked. She shot Allurai a disapproving look, but she was the Matriarch Prime of the province of Callor. It could be important.
"I volunteer," Allurai said.
"I will accept the offer based on your reputation. If anyone would like to volunteer to aid the public, an application will be available in the Feather Portal, a representative will be in touch with you after it has been screened. We send our thanks in advance for your aid and cooperation." Nora said with a smile.
"We intend to start right away. The cure will be released to everyone through Quill Industries through time. As you know, the population is vast. We will be starting with a lottery. As you know, when Quill Industries released our Interfaces, we kept your existing social credit and reports. We will also help you reclaim your clan name should one out of the four template ovum produces a female embryo as per the Honor Law." Nora said with a serious tone. Vida gasped and smiled nervously about why they had met here. Her son was doing hand signs with the various members of his bind, having a secret discussion. Her brows raised in rage the next second.
"I would like to state that Clan Thelan's Matriarch is now barred from inoculation due to their current act of aggression on our home that is currently underway and other sanctions. We will now be going offline to take precautionary measures. Thank you and stay safe." Nora stated solemnly. Monil turned off the streaming sphere.
"Thelan will starve!" Vida shouted angrily. The woman quickly went to work utilizing the groundwork she had already laid in place.
"How dare they attack?" Dorien shouted in outrage. His face flushed red in panic.
"They are attacking our home. That is why you are here," Nora said with some impatience. Hope started to wail loudly. Eve grumbled, but was quickly soothed in an expert-like manner by Monil. He could perfectly emulate the noise from the rack, which she could not. Nora enviously looked on. She could never get his technique down. She bobbed and swayed in a practiced manner trying to soothe her.
"I apologise. But still how dare they? What a gift you gave us. How were they so quick?" Dorien asked. The Thelan Clan hailed from Muria, a large independent continent in the south.
"They must have dropped their ships from an Orbital station. They have investments in Belt mining," Amrita explained. All this used Sedai engineered ships, crafts, habitats and weaponry. She ran her palms down her face quickly thinking to herself and opened her own tools to communicate. "Let me see how I can help," Amrita said.
"Shhh, shhh, shhh. It was a good idea to come here. Do you want to meet your family?" Nora said. She did her best to comfort her during the cacophony.
"Mommy. I did not realize the feed went out. So they attacked?" Sirona said out of breath. She had rushed into the room, followed by all the kids. Van skidded to a stop and smiled, looking at his parents holding the tiny bundle. He looked so shy.
"Come here, baby boy." Janel said in a soft voice and waved him over with a big smile. Nora had never seen him glow like this. Freedom had a profound effect on him, on all of them. It was emotional for her. Nora cried in happiness. Solina approached and carefully took the tiny bundle from her arms. Solina noticed the scene, her eyes watered. She looked at her own upset granddaughter. Her heart warmed.
"Can I hold her?" Solina said, her voice with an emotional tremble to it. Nora nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She gently transferred the child over to her arms. This was the first time she was there for the birth of a grandchild. She had missed Kelly's because she had been hopelessly addicted. Kehye walked up behind her. His eyes were streaming with tears.
"Hi Hope, I am your Granny." Solina cooed to the bundle in her arms. Vida approached the scene to look close up after putting in her orders against Clan Thelan. She had stopped the long distance cargo transports that were on route to Muria and placed orders redirecting them to depots in Callor.
"How bad is it?" Nora asked in a panicky tone.
"Our building is being pummeled with long-range weapons. The Droids have kept anyone from entering the building and are also kept up with the production. All the interface IDs are cloned to the Droids sitting in the home studio. Should they penetrate the building, those soldiers are in for quite a shock," Kadir said with a smirk.
"Once the next line is completed, they will disembark all buildings and depots as they come off the line. The employees are on transports out to the country residences," Kai said quietly. Nora felt relieved. It was inevitable that they would be attacked.
'The building can be repaired, the factory and Droids as well. But the lives and loyalty of her employees could not. Especially when Jarrad, one of the staff members, pulled me aside to say it was honorable that I would stay, but he did not want me to sacrifice myself for them. There was no way I would abandon them to save myself after that. I hope they are alright. My friends.' Nora thought.
"Four other clans have set off convoys. One stopped when you announced that Thelan was banned. Presumably, to rethink. They have not returned to their bases yet," Talan said. He brought up a large map showing the positions. "There are vast number of provincial soldiers among them. It looks like these are separate actions. Clan Noro, my cousin Seren, has stated that there is currently no call to action," Talan explained.
"Talan, can you send me the clans involved for those of us that wish to denounce and cease trade with them?" Vida asked. She was irate. Talan gave her a smile. He populated the names on his screen as she looked over his shoulder. He liked this woman.
"Thank you, they will feel great pain for daring to cross us," Vida said.
"The attacks are unsanctioned then. Matriarch Allari, have you any words from the Prime, excluding Clan Thelan?" Liem asked his mother in a professional tone.
"No, there are other communications from another low level Matriarch inquiring about my participation. They most likely will or have deduced that I am an ally. Based on relations. This is why you have brought us here, right?" Allurai asked. She wanted to rage that she had not been included or brought into this earlier, as she had seen earlier. She thought she would be considered trustworthy, she felt like she was close to them and Janel. When Janel was named, she realized how blatantly discourteous and discriminatory she had been towards him. Now a double name will be ubiquitous, her past boasting seemed idiotic.
"Yes, we owe you the duty of care as allies. Setton has made plans to provide you with protection alongside Quill Industries," Solina said matter-of-factly.