LIGHTNOVELONLINE 271 The Question of a Name
Two days had passed since the announcement, which had been met with great fanfare by all except Donovan, who understandably needed to keep an eye on the Pegasus. A small party had even been thrown on her behalf, one somewhat limited by the lack of people. To that end, she had been assured that those on the escorting vessels were also throwing some form of celebration as well.
Petunia did not feel moved by those displays of joy, though. As much as she appreciated them, they did not instill any great emotion in her. A far more powerful emotive force now resided in her tummy, one that dominated her every thought.
She had a baby, the final gift bestowed upon her by the one she loved. Petunia could not afford to lose him, not after so much trauma and depression surrounding the loss of his father. The death of this child would certainly be the end of her as well, not even Titanyana would be enough of a motivation to keep going. Because of this, Petunia realized she needed to do everything in her power to safeguard him.
Fortunately, Petunia was not alone in this endeavor. Diana, for all her peculiarities, displayed an extreme level of interest in the unborn child, offering all sorts of advice and urging her to avoid stress.
"What, if I may ask, is the purpose of this contraption?"
"Contraption?" Diana frowned at the tool in Petunia's hand. "I don't know."
"Really?"
"Hey, I can't remember everything. Though . . . I think I might have an idea. Hand it here." Diana snatched the thing from Petunia's outstretched hand and inspected it before placing it on top of a potato, the tuber being completely covered by the thin metal casing around the edges.
POW
Petunia flinched at the sudden show of force, completely oblivious as to why Diana would hit it so hard.
"Hm. Sharper than I expected. I believe it's called an instant chopper, popular in the 2000's if I remember correctly." Diana lifted the instant chopper to reveal the potato had been sliced remarkably evenly. "I probably asked Arc to make me one because I thought it looked cool. I think it'll be useful for food preparation though, won't it?"
"I imagine so . . . are we going to be using that potato for something?" Petunia frowned at the potato, still unskinned. Diana seemed to have picked up at random, because potatoes were not on the menu for the night.
"I'll, uh, I'll make something with it. Maybe a few chips for Donovan." They had been sliced a bit thick for potato chips, another recipe the air fryer was used for, though it wasn't like they couldn't be cut thinner. "Anyways, have you come up with a name yet?"
"Pardon?"
"For the baby. I hear it's a struggle to think of a good one."
"Oh? Oh, no, I haven't. It is usually the father that provides the name . . ." Petunia's ears flattened. ". . . or the grandparents . . ." Her shoulders slumped.
". . . I suppose you should get to thinking then." Diana's expression denoted her understanding of the landmine she inadvertently stepped upon.
"I suppose I should."
- - - - -
"-and it was super cool! I didn't think that anything could move like that!!! How did they do it?"
"Well, it was a cartoon, kinda." Cayzi, Kayes, and Titanyana were accompanying Donovan in the cockpit, making small-talk about some of the movies and television shows Diana had been subjecting them to while Arc worked on developing the language translation model. They had managed to give Arc a firm understanding of the language and alphabet with regards to their equivalents in English, however he would need a great many examples of conversational and textual usage to solidify all of the rules inherent in it and catch exceptions.
"Wow. Your people must have been amazing artists. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to draw every frame with such detail by hand! I swear, I could have counted the individual hairs on their bodies."
"That's, hmm, not quite right?" Diana had exposed those present to a movie called 'Zootopia' under the pretext of familiarizing them with the animals of earth. Why she had chosen to go the route of an animated and highly stylized film instead of a documentary befuddled him. Arc claimed that she chose so because it was an interesting movie for children with a plot that didn't really require too much understanding to enjoy, but he wasn't buying it. "I think it would be more accurate to say that the movie was made with dolls . . . kinda. Look, I don't know that much about digital animation, all I know is that it wasn't hand drawn."
"It wasn't?" Kayes, fortunately or otherwise, expressed a level of interest Donovan had not expected of him. "But they hardly looked like dolls."
"Like I said, they weren't dolls, but they were kind of like dolls. How do I explain this?" Donovan found himself grasping at straws. "Do you remember that combat simulation?"
"How could I forget?"
"Well, they made those dolls and the set they were on in a similar manner to how that combat simulation was made, and then manipulated them like you would a marionette or whatever in order to make the movie."
"So . . . I don't even know what to think of that." Kayes seemed to be drawing a blank, as did Cayzi. Titanyana's expression signified she understood though, even if she couldn't explain it herself.
"Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. If Arc is to be believed, then we should have the translation model complete enough for him to redub the movies in your language. It's probably gonna look silly because the lips won't match the words and the accents won't translate or whatever, but it should be better than having to divert your attention with subtitles."
"Truly?!" Cayzi appeared ecstatic at the news. "Will you really!?"
"Yes." Arc spoke from the ceiling, splitting the room's audio in such a manner that both parties could understand. Donovan didn't really get how this 'doublespeak' worked, something about adjusting the outputs to cancel out one language output at certain points, but it clearly wasn't perfect. "I will not claim that the translation will be perfect, however you should be able to understand the general premise of what is being said. I think you will also find that the general quality of the movies on display will increase a level. Diana plans to start you on some of what she considers to be the best movies of all time."
"What has she been showing us up to this point then?" Kayes smirked as he responded. In no way could this be mistaken as something other than a playful jab.
"The movies on display thus far have been good, true, but no better than that." Arc responded seriously, likely not entirely confident in his assessment of intent. "They were better than mediocre, but fail to reach the realm of great or excellent. The movie trilogy you will watch tomorrow are considered to be masterpieces, adapted from an equally magnificent book."
"Oh? I suppose you'll have to translate it for us to read."
"Perhaps that is something that can be arranged."
"What is this story called?" Titanyana spoke to Arc, confident in her ability to ask the question correctly. "Will I be able to read it?"
"It is called 'The Lord of the Rings'. The book was written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkein and published in three parts. I believe that the prose within will be beyond your grasp for some time, however it should be good reading material once you have a mastery of the language."
"That's quite a long name. Was he a noble by any chance?" Kayes had taken an interest, for better or worse.
"No, though he was born of higher status than most."
- - - - -
Petunia stared at the ceiling of her room as she contemplated the question of a name, a task she had not thought she would ever be delegated. Custom, as far as she could recall, had the name fall to the male with the greatest degree of seniority in the family failing a living father. Barring that, the eldest woman in the family would be give the task, however she could not determine if the mother was to be included in that.
This was a huge concern for her because she was older than the only living relative of the baby, Titanyana, who happened to be a Strapper. At the same time, Titanyana expressed a reluctance to participate in the process. Both of them could claim authority, yet both renounced it. Petunia wished she had the wisdom or blessing of an elder to rely on, assuming they had an idea of what to do about this situation in the first place.
The Strappers and the Nekh as a whole did an excellent job of ensuring that there was only a single line of succession to avoid a struggle for what little power the position of monarch could be said to hold. Naturally with the waning birth rates it wasn't entirely impossible for Strapper siblings to both produce children in a desperate bid to ensure the continuation of the line, however that implied that at least one of them would be alive to assume the task of naming the other's child should one pass in the interim. What little she could remember of these cases did not involve all but a member of the same generation of the baby being present to name it, as by that time the succession would have been secured and attempts at reproduction would usually cease on the sibling's end.
What a mess this was turning out to be . . . though she supposed it was insignificant in the face of their larger problems. What good was there in stressing about a name when the lives of millions rested on the line?
"Petunia?" The doors, despite being made of metal, were thin enough to hold a conversation through.
"Yes, milady?"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Petunia didn't think it was a lie. Nothing about her condition suggested a problem, aside from her frustrations about the name. "I just don't know what to do."
"May I come in?"
"Of course." Petunia would never refuse a request from Titanyana, even if she found it unpleasant. "Is there a problem?"
"Nothing that you should worry yourself with." The Queen closed the door behind her with care so as to not disturb the silence. "You've enough on your plate as is."
"I . . . do I now?" Petunia continued to lie still on her bed as Titanyana crawled onto it, exhausted from a day that didn't warrant the feeling. "Even if I do, I'd like to take my mind off of it for the moment. If it isn't too much trouble, might I ask what you are struggling with?"
"I'm learning more and more about their history right now, and I can't help but think about what we could end up doing with them because of it." Titanyana did not orient herself alongside Petunia as one normally would in bed, instead curling up in the mid-section so as to place her head adjacent to Petunia's stomach. She was trying to get as close to the baby as possible without disturbing or disrupting it, terrified that she might somehow harm him if she touched Petunia's skin. Instead she relied upon sight and sound to observe, her tail slowly swaying behind her out of intrigue and joy.
This side of Titanyana was uncharacteristically childlike in Petunia's eyes, wholly unbefitting of a Queen but entirely expected of a young woman who had never been this close to a pregnant woman before. There was also the emotional aspect of this child being her last bit of family, a cousin that would replace the father and uncle she had so unceremoniously lost.
"If it is of no consequence, would you mind telling me more?" Petunia truly had nothing else to do at the moment.
"Arc has begun to teach me about colonialism and the technological revolutions."
"I apologize, but I don't know what those mean. Could you elaborate?"
"Not really. I'm only just learning about them myself, so I don't know anything beyond the basics." Titanyana closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she did so. "What I was told reminds me of a few conversations we've had in the past though, the contents of which I don't think I fully grasped until these lessons started."
"Oh?"
"Something Diana talked to me about a while ago was population, and how easy it was to make it grow. She said that with the amount of food that a single person could grow using their technology, it would be incredibly easy to support a rapid spike in population."
"How rapid?"
"I don't remember, and I don't think she was too certain of the numbers herself, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult for us to bring our numbers into the tens of billions within a century. I don't think the women would want to birth the number of children necessary for that to occur though, not if childbirth is as painful and stressful as I've heard it to be."
"How would that be possible?" Petunia did not doubt Titanyana's assertion, she was just genuinely curious.
"I did some math as an experiment and checked with Arc, though I admit I made more than just a few assumptions. I assumed we only saved ten million people of around twenty years of age, and that each couple would have ten children in their lifetime. It's not perfect, but it means that the size of our population should increase by a factor of five every twenty years or so. In one generation we would reach 50 million, in two we would have 250 million. After three there would be one and a quarter billion, then six and a quarter billion, and on the fifth generation there would be some 31 billion."
"So . . . somewhere between 80 and 100 years from now?"
"Mhm, but that also means that we will reach the limits of what the planet can support in just as quick a time." Titanyana's eyes flicked open, a modicum of ambition appearing within. "Which brings me to the other thing I mentioned, colonialism. Once we reach that level, or even before it, there will be a need for us to expand to satisfy the needs of the people. We could go to war, but that would mean conquering places with people already there. Instead of that, we could end up doing what we are doing now."
"And what might that be?"
"Developing an uninhabited planet - colonizing. It might be a resource-heavy investment, but Donovan has made it clear that colonial development won't be as difficult in the future, that it would be profitable, even."
"Hmm. An interesting thought. Should it come to pass, we may find ourselves with many homes instead of just one."
"Right?" Petunia's Queen seemed pleased that she understood her excitement. "But with that, I think we will need more Strappers."
"Will you not be enough?"
"I don't think I could handle the management of multiple planets, even with the help of the Terrans. I think it would be a better idea to have my kin represent the homes of my people in my stead."
"Then we had best hope you have many children!" Petunia stroked the head of her . . . niece? She wouldn't do this normally considering the difference in status, but Titanyana clearly didn't want to be treated like a queen in the moment.
"About that . . ." Titanyana made eye contact with Petunia, ashamed. "I don't think my children will be Strappers."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Donovan isn't a Nekh, and I don't know what characteristics our children will inherit. I think they will end up being more like Strausses instead."
"Then . . . how will the Strapper line-" Petunia's words outpaced her thoughts. "Do you mean . . ?"
"I think I want him to inherit the duties of the Strapper line instead of my children."
"But, but, but my lady!"
"Don't worry! I won't abandon my duties. I will serve as the Monarch of the Nekh until I die, I won't abandon my duty."
