“There is still a long road ahead of us.”

-The founder of the Unity.

***Deep Space***

***Lisandra***

“… you should have said something.” Antioch crosses his arms and glares down at his son. Sam is sitting next to his sister and the two of them are watching the tirade of their father with big, round eyes. He was going on and on, complaining about our decisions. After the meeting with Silith, Antioch stomped his foot down and called for a family meeting. Now, all four of us are assembled in the mess hall.

I have to admit that he is right in some points. A vibrating… member… might be a bit too much. Not that I can judge, since I never got the opportunity, but it’s humiliating.

Min leans over to her brother and whispers, “I think that's the rumoured talk between father and son.”

“It clearly includes you.” The boy glares at Minerva and returns his attention to his father. “I don't get the problem.”

“The problem is that a birth ratio of three to one makes us men a minority! Not to mention that the women will have problems finding partners. I won’t serve scores of women because they are needy. Silith is more than enough for me,” Antioch complains. “Did you even look at Silith’s specifications? She added barbs!”

“Barbs?” Sam’s eyes widen even further. “The kind which cause you to get stuck!?”

“Yes, barbs!”

Silith covers her face, while everyone looks at her. “This is so embarrassing. I just thought that the additional stimulation would be...”

Minerva giggles. “I wouldn’t have thought that Mom is that bold!”

I rub my forehead, asking myself why I am even here. “Sis, that went overboard. Why don’t you upload the specifications to everyone, so that we can check what you did.”

“Yes.” Sam nods and we follow my suggestion. It seems like Silith added some little details which weren’t discussed between the four of us.

Not that I actually want the society which Min, Sam and Silith came up with, but I am a newcomer. I am not sure if I should speak up, and to be honest, I have no idea what kind of society I want to live in. Although, given the choice, I would want to stay true to my own morals.

After checking Silith’s preview design, Sam clears his throat. “Dad, you are looking at this the wrong way. Relax and enjoy. Which man doesn’t want to have a harem? Of course, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I just didn’t say anything because I thought that the more women there are, the better are my chances,” he explains nonchalantly.

Min clears her throat. “Yes, believe me, he needs every chance he gets...”

Silith gasps and glares at her daughter. “Wait. I thought that the two of you are...”

“Of course we are, but we've been together for several thousand years of subjective time. Having just one partner gets boring. At some point, a person needs a little time off. Believe me, in a hundred years you are going to thank me.” Min waves her hand, dismissing the matter. “Social behaviour within the V.C. is very libertine. We aren’t constricted by lifespan, appearance or gender. It will be hard to attract helping hands if we don’t show some liberalism in our culture.”

Antioch just blinks, watching his daughter without showing any expression.

I am also feeling a little dubious regarding the whole issue. From what Sam and Min told us, humans are capable of having all sorts of cultural interactions. Though, if we really want to attract the assistance of members of the V.C., then we have to offer them an acceptable environment.

Sam spreads his hands. “Just think about it. In the V.C., you can be anything you want to be. Have anything you want. That includes any partner you might dream of. You can even explore how life is on the other side of the coin, so to speak. It works within the V.C., and it may take a while, but we are going to face the same issue out here. There are many different classes, and some can edit our bodies even further than what Silith did.”

Does that mean that I can choose to become a guy? I have no idea what I should think about that.

Unexpectedly, Antioch looks at me, then at Silith. Understanding dawns in his expression. “Is this a setup? What happens once Lis reaches adult-status? Will she throw herself at me? Is that why you are trying to promote a culture with several partners?”

Silith blushes and Antioch turns his attention to me. “Are you fine with this?”

Pressing my lips together, I hold my ground this time, not avoiding his eyes. Maybe it’s time to voice my own thoughts after all. “Silith and I discussed it at length. Right now, I don’t have any particular feelings towards you, Antioch. At least not of that sort, though I am thankful that you saved me.”

And I still feel twisted about him blowing up the station. I knew a lot of people there, and even though I know that they were using me, I miss some of them.

I sigh, frustrated with the situation. Why do we have to discuss this in front of everyone? I know, moping around and avoiding the issue doesn’t help. Talking is the proper solution to this potential powder keg of emotions. It’s the adult thing to do. Sam and Min are showing more maturity than Silith, Antioch and I together.

“I don’t know what I will do if these hormones are really that strong. The only thing I know right now, is that I always want to be with Silith. She also made it clear that she feels the same about me and she doesn’t want me to suffer. The only thing I am sure of, is that I don’t want to live in a society with slavery, or which places undue restrictions on me. Otherwise, I honestly don’t know what I want at this point in life. After my rescue, I feel like I am afloat in the vastness of space. Silith is my only anchor at the moment. Sam and Min did their best in talking us through the different options, and I see no problem with the ones we chose.” I look at Silith. “At least the ones which were openly discussed.”

My sister looks guilty, but she raises her chin, looking at Antioch. “If Lis suffers, I wouldn’t mind sharing you with my sister, if it means that we stay together. If she happens to find someone else, then okay.” She looks at Sam. “But let’s be honest, there aren’t a lot of options. Minerva told us that human emotions aren’t so easy to understand.” She blushes. “It could happen that Lis is into women, though that condition is unlikely from what I understood.”

Yeah, well… that would be awkward.

Antioch raises an eyebrow and looks at Min, then he regards me with a thoughtful expression. “Well, it seems like I am the ‘one girl’ kind of man, and Silith is that girl.”

A stupid smile appears on my sister’s face.

Sam returns his attention to his father. “Is that because of your feelings, or because you were brought up by that Calderan, Ouluk? Many of your moral values come from him, right? Calderans bond for life as far as I know. Seems like he rubbed off on you. I don’t want to offend, but since we are talking through our feelings, we should do it right. As Min said, this is a small ship and it would suck to have a fight because of something that could’ve been avoided by talking.”

Antioch’s expression darkens, and for a short moment, it feels like he could rip Sam limb from limb. Then the moment is gone. He turns back to face Silith. “You know what, I don’t care about the minor details, but the barbs have to go. They are creeping me out.”

“I’ll take them out of the design,” Silith complies with a mournful expression.

Sam raises his hand. “That vibration stuff is also a little too much.”

Min clears her throat. “You also might want to lower the birth ratio from three to one to two to one. It will still give us plenty of population growth, but that way more people who prefer to be men can join us.”

We spend three hours discussing everything properly, including the political system.

In the end, we settle for a monarchy with Silith and Antioch at the top. At first, I was intrigued with the idea of democracy, but the twins gave us a brief rundown of human history and how stagnant most democracies ended up. They tend to pile up regulations and laws as the politicians fight to justify their existence. In the end, the whole system ultimately blows up a few generations later as it drowns in a swamp of corruption.

The idea behind it is solid, but it clashes with the human instinct of having a clear hierarchy.

As the saying goes, ultimate power corrupts absolutely. But later generations had to learn that sharing power just means that nothing gets done. It tends to give the people who are supposed to wield that power too much excuses. In a democracy, it’s always the others who are at fault.

Though, all of this is an issue for the future.

Right now, we have to deal with something different. There are still seven stowaways rotting away in their cells.