After her elder sister helped her complete the seemingly endless amount of homework, the teachers had assigned the trio of siblings had a few moments to relax. Since there were very few places on Cooper's World where children could exercise without having to wear a mask, most of their activities were sedentary. Even considering this, there were many activities that they could engage in together. However, John-onii always wanted to play games on the 'vid while the Sisters usually preferred to do something else.

'At least he lets us pick the game,' Christiana muttered under her breath. Meanwhile, she and Haruhi-nee went through the long list of programs available. Understanding exactly what she meant, the dark-haired child flashed her womb-mate a knowing grin before returning her attention to the many selections available.

After the Sisters settled on a game and they were setting up their personal controllers, a member of security knocked and entered the room. She looked at the guard in trepidation, because she already knew why the young woman was present.

"I am sorry to interrupt you while you are playing, Ms. Washington gee-emm Harris, but your Mother will see you now," the sentry reported with a moderate bow, "Please follow me." This officer was an inexperienced lady named Lucy, and she was a recent addition to the home's innermost defensive detail. While this tall brunette had worked in security for the Washingtons for five Colonial Years, they had only promoted her to serve the inner house a few months prior. As a result, the athletic-looking, blue-eyed sentinel still was very stiff and formal with members of the matFam.

"Sorry guys," Christiana said, followed by a sigh, "Go ahead and start without me." Then she reluctantly stood up to follow the guard out of the chamber. However, just as she was leaving the bedroom, Haruhi-nee cleared her throat. Turning to look back at her siblings, she saw both of them give her a thumbs up in encouragement. This caused an enormous grin to appear on Christiana's face as she left the room.

As she was walking towards her parent's chambers, she asked her companion, "How are things going with your new Marriage?"

Lucy had saved up most of her salary for the past five Colonial Years to buy into a respectable upper-middle-class contract. In fact, the youthful security officer had bought into the union outright. Since she did this without becoming a Junior Wife to pay off a Dowry Debt, it was easy to see the extent to which she had scrimped over the Years. Then, when you took Lucy's background into account, a person could not help but be impressed by her accomplishment at such a young age. After all, her working-class Mother could not have given her child much assistance with the marriage settlement.

'She must have never left the security wing or bought any clothing other than her uniform,' Christiana thought to herself as the sentry gave the girl a bashful smile.

"It's wonderful, Miss," Lucy replied, her face revealing a radiant expression. "My Husband and I get along well, and my Sister Wives have been very accepting of me." Then, after a brief pause, she continued, "It is almost as if I were young again with my siblings. Having a close family again is an incredible feeling."

Christiana thought about what Lucy said for a moment before inquiring, "Can Sisters from the same matFam enter a Marriage together?" She was simply asking out of curiosity. After all, she could not imagine her life without Haruhi-nee. If they were in the same union, then they would not separate the two as adults.

Lucy's sudden stop surprised Christiana, and she looked up at the guard in interest. Much to her surprise, Lucy's pretty face had turned beet red to the tips of her ears.

"Did I ask something wrong?" she naively asked. She had no idea why the young woman had become so embarrassed over a simple question.

"No, not exactly, Miss, but that is not a topic that you should speak with someone like me about," the officer responded.

"Then who should I talk to?" Christiana replied in confusion.

"Well, how about your oldest Sis-," Lucy began, only to stop midway. "No, that might lead to a misunderstanding," she continued. Then, after tapping her index finger on her chin while she thought, the security member went on, "The best people to inquire would be your Mother or your secMother. Come to think of it, Sydney-sama is the perfect person to confer with since she is still quite young. She could probably relate to it more than your Okaa-sama would."

"Then I guess I will just ask secMother Karen," Christiana retorted. "I do not want to approach patMother Sydney something that might prove embarrassing," she commented.

"As you wish," Lucy replied, the blush fading from her face. "Come along Miss, your parent is expecting you."

With that, the sentry continued walking down the art-covered corridor and she followed in silence. Finally, after continuing down the hallways for another few minutes, the two came to the door leading to Mother's chambers.

"Please go inside, Miss," Lucy said, her nervousness noticeable on her face. This young guard had rarely been in direct contact with the family matriarch. Instead, she devoted most of her time to watching over the children. As a result, Christiana had noticed that the officer became much more formal when she had a chance of running into her progenitor.

"I understand completely," the girl muttered as she opened the doorway and headed inside. To put it nicely, none of the youngsters were close to their Mother. The sad fact was that all of her offspring were afraid of her. Because of the long hours that their Okaa-sama worked, the siblings mainly saw her on holidays. Even then it was the two eldest Sisters who talked with their parent the most since they sat on the left and right of her at Holiday meals. Then, after dining with her children in the middle of the day, the matriarch would leave the dwelling. Then she would spend the rest of her time off with her Wives and their Husband. As a result, Christiana could count the number of times she interacted with her progenitor every Colonial Year with the fingers on both of her hands.

Shaking her head and muttering, "I have to focus," the girl cleared her mind of such thoughts. "It won't do any good to work myself up just before meeting with her," she whispered as she began walking onward.

Normally a guard would accompany her and guide the way through the sprawling dwelling, even though it was unnecessary. While her visits only occurred once or twice during a Colonial Year, Christiana had long ago memorized the route to Mother's favorite sitting room. The only difference was that a member of security was not there to announce her presence as she came into the apartment.

However, while the announcement served no purpose in Christiana's eyes, that was not the case for her Okaa-sama. Usually, when Christiana entered the chamber, her parent would be seated in an ornate, wooden, hand-carved chair like an Old Earth queen on her throne presiding over her vassals.

This time her progenitor was pacing on the elaborate carpeting, gripping a 'com while having a heated vid conversation. "But what does it matter if the voice stress analysis is the only way of detecting one of them? You have said repeatedly that you have accounted for all kitsune on the planet and that this just another precaution like all the r-," Mother was saying on the phone. However, as soon as she noticed Christiana's presence, she rudely cut off the 'com mid-sentence, not even telling the person on the other end goodbye.

Regaining her composure, a smile appeared on her Okaa-sama's face. "Ahh, Christiana, I did not hear the guard announce you," she said as she sat down in her preferred chair. "I apologize for not receiving you properly."

'What does she mean by that and why is she apologizing to me?' the youngster pondered as she was giving her Mother a deep bow. Normally, the matriarch acted in an aloof manner when interacting with her youngsters. As far as Christiana could remember, her parent had never apologized to any of her children, much less the youngest.

Her next thought was, 'Why was she talking about kitsune?' She knew from her Nipponese class that the word referred to an Old Earth animal with red fur and a bushy tail. The sad truth was that she would never see one in the flesh. Because of the high concentration of atmospheric see-ohh-too, they had introduced no birds or mammals into the growing biosphere. Even after just over two hundred Earth years of active terraforming, the atmosphere was still toxic to most vertebrates.

However, the girl nipped that train of thought in the bud. 'I need to focus,' she thought for the umpteenth time, as she started speaking to her Okaa-sama. "Mother, thank you for seeing me on such brief notice," she began, trying her best to be as formal as possible.

"It is fine, child," the matriarch replied in her usual aloof tone. "What is it you wanted to talk about?" she continued.

"Well, Anastasia-onee recommended I should inform you of something. However, I did not want to waste your time, so I balked at coming to see you...," she began, her hesitation noticeable in her normally confident demeanor. To be honest, it took a lot of effort for the girl to keep her voice from shaking. "With patMother Sydney's input, Ana-onee concluded..." Here she paused, doing her best to compose her thoughts before continuing.

However, as the silence continued, a frown appeared on her parent's still youthful face. "What is it, Christiana?" the older woman asked, her concern for her daughter clear in her voice. "It is not like you to be so hesitant."

At this, the young girl took a deep breath before taking the plunge. "Mrs. Parker has been keeping me behind after my last class of the day, so I have been late for my training three times in the past month," she explained.

Before the child could continue with her statement, her parent had already connected the dots. In the space of a second, her Mother's complexion went from white-skinned with a sprinkling of freckles to a red even brighter than her Okaa-sama's wavy copper-colored hair.

"That uzai baka! kuso! kuso! kuso!" Mother cried as she climbed to her feet. Much to Christiana's surprise, the usually calm, cool, and collected woman began pacing back and forth on the extravagant carpet while cursing in broken Nipponese. "That deku iyarashii kusottare!" she yelled while gesticulating wildly. "Mrs. Parker is acting more like a Terminus than a teacher! "

Christiana was taken aback by what her Mother was suggesting. The older woman had flown into such an unexpected rage that she seemed to have forgotten that the girl was present. While parents cursing in Nipponese in front of their offspring was not uncommon, it was rare for them to cross the line that her Okaa-sama just had. After all, even though children Christiana's age were all proficient in the dialect, most progenitors were considerate enough to shelter their kids by doing it in a semi-foreign language.

As a result, her Mother calling the teacher a "pain in the butt idiot" followed by "poop, poop, poop" didn't upset Christiana in the least. Even when her Okaa-sama called her a "useless indecent poop-drip" the girl was undisturbed. However, when the matriarch said Mrs. Parker was acting like a Terminus, the child could not help but gasp in astonishment.

This term was an insult so vulgar that children only talked about it in whispers. Just calling someone that would usually cause physical violence to break out, with the results ranging from assault up to and including attempted murder.

Truthfully, the very meaning of the word Terminus was unsettling to a girl as innocent as Christiana. On Cooper's World, even "natural borns" were created in the Labs by combining the Mother's frozen egg with the Father's stored sperm. Both items were harvested and preserved when the parents were both in their late teens to mid-twenties, and thus when both were at their peaks of fertility. They did this to minimize the chance of birth defects. This was because most women only had one of these offspring in their lifetime in order to pass on their genetics naturally. Hence the term "natural born."

They also created the other progeny that a Mother bears in the Labs. However, these children have no genetic relationship with their parent since the Labs produce them from the eggs of another woman and the frozen sperm of a Lab-chosen man.

Once the Lab creates a female embryo, it then undergoes the process of "artificial twinning." In this procedure, they split the fertilized egg again and again to make exact copies. They then freeze all but one of the identical embryos for expected use in the future.

After that, they implant the remaining fetus into a Mother and then the Lab keeps track of the resulting child for the rest of their life. Later, the Lab will employ the person's medical files to determine if they have any inherited illnesses or diseases. Also, the Labs collect educational, occupational, and public records to monitor the accomplishments and failures of each individual throughout her lifetime.

Using guidelines passed down from Congress, the Lab then makes a final determination. If the woman in question had no major inherited diseases and had a normal number of accomplishments, then the next identical embryo in the "Geneline" was green-lit for implantation. Because of this process, what a person accomplishes in their lifetime determines whether their Aftercomers will even be born. Consequently, the fate of their own twins (who haven't been born) is the responsibility of every colonist. Almost all colonists see this as a sacred gift that they can give to those who are to follow and therefore strive their hardest in life. Not just for themselves and for their children, but also for their future twin sisters.

Conversely, a Terminus is a person who cares nothing for their Geneline. There were some Initials (the first in a Geneline) who were born with inherited illnesses and thus become Terminuses through no fault of their own. However, the curse word did not apply to those poor souls. On the contrary, this term referred to those Terminuses who did not make contributions to the welfare of the colony. These people did whatever they liked, not caring for those who have yet to follow. These women found comfort in vices and cruised through life, not doing their share of the labor necessary for survival. Instead, a Terminus was a parasite, consuming valuable resources that productive members of society should have.

With these facts in mind, Christiana reluctantly agreed with what her parent had expressed about Mrs. Parker. If the teacher was taking bribes to interfere with the education of one of her students, then she was not fulfilling her responsibility for the children. They paid teachers very well on Cooper's World and so they had an above-average standard of living. Plus, the sensei was already married, so it wasn't as if she was saving up for her Dowry. She could not think of a legitimate reason for the educator to take bribes, except for greed. According to this line of reasoning, by placing her own greed and desires before the needs of others, the instructor was acting like a Terminus. So her Okaa-sama's vulgar statement was essentially correct, much to her dissatisfaction.

It amazed Christiana how quickly her parent had figured all of this out. After all, the girl had barely begun her explanation of the situation. While she knew her Mother ran the world's largest copper mining and refining business, this was the initial occasion on which she had seen her Okaa-sama's keen mind in action. It was one thing for her to believe that her progenitor was sharp-witted; it was another to see her brilliance first hand.

"I am going to make that bitch pay!" Christiana's parent stated as she continued her tirade. "I will be damned if I let someone mess up this opportunity!" her Mother stopped when she accidentally locked gazes with her daughter. This seemed to shock the older woman out of her anger, and the mask of calm that she usually wore returned as if by magic. Only the fierce sparkle in her Okaa-sama's emerald green eyes showed her genuine feelings.