"I guess these views come from the Uprising?" the Christiana inquired.

"It goes back even further than that," the woman answered. "It began with the landing of the Second Wave. The primary reason our ancestors settled this region was to separate themselves from the original colony. Back then the nearest First Wave settlement was over a thousand kay-emms distant."

"Frankly, the way that their predecessors had chipped away at the rights of men horrified the newcomers. After all, this change occurred in a period of less than sixty Earth years. The people of the Second Wave wanted nothing to do with the original colonists. The only reason they did not settle on one of the other continents was that the new arrivals needed the resources that only the initial colony could provide. Otherwise, it would take them decades to establish their own foothold on the planet."

"Because of this dependence on the hospitality of their then distant neighbors, they joined the inter-prefectural 'Federal' regime despite their low representation in the House. Because of their small population size, this discrepancy was inevitable. However, according to the original colony Charter they had to be granted an equal number of seats in the Senate as the First Wave's descendants. In this way, they hoped to re-establish male rights throughout all of Cooper's World in the upcoming years."

"In the meantime, while most of the new colonists followed the letter of the law, they did not follow the spirit of the law. This was inevitable since there were no federal policewomen in the later settlements. Many flagrantly disregarded the legislation passed by the national government by pointing out loopholes in Alliance ordinances. Provincial rules always applied except when there was travel across State boundaries. This was based on the regulations of the Greater United States of the Americas and was written into the colony Charter. Unless someone crossed Prefectural lines, the Feds had no jurisdiction, and therefore local statutes were in effect."

"Because of this, the members of the Second Wave ended up passing liberal marriage laws, and they treated their male counterparts with equality. This upset Congress to the point that they attempted to enforce their mandates despite being in a legal gray area. The new colonists took the matter to the Supreme Court, and the judiciary ruled unanimously in their favor. This is all history that you probably already know."

Christiana nodded and responded, "I have read about it in quite a few history texts."

"What they don't teach in class are the underhanded tactics used by the original settlers to influence the West into following their rules. While they couldn't interfere directly, they applied pressure in other ways. Suddenly, companies that had openly traded with our people for Years stopped doing so. Those that continued trading started increasing their fees to unreasonable levels, and their shipments became delayed more often. Since this took place only a decade after they landed, the new colony was not well established. They had no alternative but to pay the high prices to support their ever-growing families."

"Sensing that things wouldn't end peacefully, a few leading citizens banded together to prepare for the inevitable upcoming conflict. They did this in utmost secrecy, being careful to never divulge their identities to others, not even other Second Wave members. That was the origin of the group of families that I told you about earlier. We were the ones that made the Uprising possible."

"Why did you say that?" the girl asked. She was extremely interested, so she sat up straighter while gazing directly at the older woman. She was giving her patMother her undivided attention.

"Let me use the Washington House as an example. Your clan began mining almost from the moment your ancestor set foot on the planet. At the time, your family hadn't specialized in copper, so they were unearthing whatever metals they could find and then refining them. The new colony then traded these resources to the other outpost for finished goods. What most people didn't realize was that they were keeping a portion of the steel, lead, copper, and zinc. They then combined the copper and zinc to make brass. Your foremothers then shaped the ingots and with the help of a chemist from my household created a large cache of firearms."

"So that's how our ancestors became armed!" she exclaimed. The origin of the assault rifles used during the Uprising had remained a mystery for almost a century and a half. However, just as it was an enigma how the rebels obtained their guns, the source of the federal force's more advanced weapons was also unknown.

"Yes, it was. Our families worked together for Years to build up a secret arsenal of automatic slug throwers as a precaution. For approximately fifty Years the national government played their games. Then they finally went too far. That's when the conflicts leading to the Uprising began," the older female elaborated.

"Actually, it was in Colonial Year 112 or 90 Terran years following the Founding. That was 46 Years or 37 Earth years after the Second Wave's arrival," the child pointed out.

"Hey, who's the one giving the history lesson here, smartypants?" her patMother retorted in a joking manner.

Christiana just laughed, and the woman joined in a few seconds later. After their chuckling stopped, the impromptu lecture continued.

"They split the Senate between the colonies, with both groups having an equal number of votes. However, even after over forty Years of population expansion, the Second Wave was vastly outnumbered in the House. So the House pushed through two pieces of legislation. The first would divide the Second Wave's territory into six separate Prefectures. The other bill would deny Public Retirement Support to everyone living in Second Wave territories."

"While the Senate was equally balanced, the Vice President could break any tie votes by casting an extra ballot. The opposition members of the Senate offered a compromise to the Second Wave senators. They would pass only one bill, and the choice of which law passed was up to them. However, while the legislation was pending, the payments to women above retirement age would be retained until they held a vote."

"That's another thing they don't mention in the history books," Christiana noted. "I have never heard about their accounts being frozen before. Now the timing of the uprising makes more sense."

"Remember, the victors write those books. They always try to cast themselves in the best light possible."

"Since all the women who had traveled on the ships were above retirement age, it hurt them the worst by this underhanded tactic. Most barely scraped by with the payments. Without the government funds, it would force them to live on any savings they might have until they resolved the matters."

"That's really mean of them!" the girl interjected, both of her hands balled into fists and a frown evident on her face.

"I would say more underhanded than mean, but I agree they weren't being fair and were hurting a lot of innocent people Now, how about we get back to the reason...," secMother Karen began, only to be interrupted by Christiana.