Chapter 187: Chapter 186: Mars

Yui told the press pool that I would be making an announcement this morning, so here we are.

“Good morning, everyone. Her Majesty has an announcement to make and would like you to hold your questions until she has finished. With that said, Her Majesty, Queen Sora,” Yui tells them.

I walk over to the podium as all present either bow or curtsy, and tell Yui, “Thank you.” Turning to the reporters, I begin, “Good morning. You may be seated.

“I”m happy to report that the relief efforts in China are well underway. There’s still much more to be done before we can call it a success, and the military and relief agencies are working around the clock to get to as many people as they can. Unfortunately, even after repeated warnings, criminals continue to intercept many shipments of food and other supplies while also raiding distribution facilities and sites. We’re done playing with them. So, as of this moment, all of China is under martial law and will remain so until the situation is stable. All convoys, distribution centers, and sites will be guarded by armed and armored troops with orders to shoot to kill anyone who attempts to hijack relief supplies. Any black marketeers caught selling relief supplies will be tried and summarily executed. Do not test the military on this because they will follow their orders.

“On another note: I have good news to announce. The first elevator for Mars is complete. The average temperature has reached a comfortable 14.3℃ and the oxygen level has risen to 19.5% and is expected to still rise further. For those of you who might not understand why that percentage is significant, 19.5% is the minimum level required by humans for normal activity levels. This means that we will be opening Mars up for colonization sooner than expected.

“We still have a long way to go with Mars, but the Geoformers have said that the nanites have outperformed all of their expectations. Trees, bushes, various grasses, etc… along with all the insects and other things required for healthy soil were seeded across Mars some time ago and are growing quickly. They expect the biosphere to stabilize with around 22% oxygen in the near future, and the gravity has stabilized at a rather pleasant 0.84 g.

“At the moment, we are recruiting construction crews and engineers of various stripes to begin building the first settlement at the base of the elevator. Details of who we are seeking for this are on the ministry website. So, if you’re qualified and interested, then please contact the Ministry of Colonization and submit your resume. Does anyone have any questions?”

I point to a man. “Nigel Harris, BBC. When will Mars be open for colonists in general?”

“It depends on many factors, but presently, there’s no infrastructure to support colonists. The Geoformers’ report states that once the basic infrastructure is in place, colonization can then take place at any time. However, it will be somewhat difficult for anyone living there for another year or so. Anyone considering applying should take that into account.”

I point to a woman. “Keiko Nakamura, NHK. Back to China, do they have any real idea of how many have died so far, and when do you expect the situation to be resolved?”

“No, we don’t, but best estimates are that around 3 to 5 million people have died from starvation, disease, or lack of medical care. The military is doing it’s very best, but China is a huge area. One I’m considering breaking down into easier to manage regions. No one has any idea of when this will be resolved. It’s a task of Herculean proportions since China currently has around 20% of the world’s population, and they’re spread out over vast distances. The criminals there are making our efforts that much harder, especially in the larger cities.

“We’ve moved almost 7 million refugees to different parts of the world, and we’re still doing so here and there for the more isolated people, to relieve some of the pressure. In some cases, we’ve uprooted whole villages. So far, the refugees have been met with open arms and are settling in rather nicely.”

You get the gist of what they want to know, especially about Mars, but it carries on for another hour until they begin repeating themselves, just wording it slightly differently, so I tell them that I need to go.

[Monday, October 9]

Teresa wakes me up a little before 4 in the morning to inform me that Jenny has gone into labor. I sit up, wake up Ryu and Chinatsu, and we head into the bathroom to shower and bathe. It’s unlikely that we need to hurry since it usually takes hours. Heck, Mama was in labor for 14 hours with Kaede and Eri. I’m looking forward to meeting her, though.

I’m not going to get into the messy details of childbirth here, but Annette Sora Wilson was born at 3:51 that afternoon. She’s absolutely darling with a full head of blonde hair. 3.4 kilograms and 49.2 centimeters in length. Yes, she’s named after Anne and me.

As I said previously, Chinatsu and I are named as her Godmothers and Ryu as her Godfather.

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There really isn’t much that happens until winter break at school, other than that I have far too many of the new girls trying to talk to me at school. It takes up a lot of my breaks, and my friends finally started screening me from a lot of it, so I have some time to myself and with them. I do talk to them, just not as the batches they had been approaching me in. I’m sure that part of it is their parents’ doing, and another part, I assume, is many of them honestly wanting to get to know me. So, it thankfully settles down and allows me a bit more breathing room without me having to seem like a bitch.

Chinatsu’s birthday is on the 17th of October, Honoka’s is on the 22nd of October, and Mama’s is on the 19th of November. We, of course, have parties for them, but they are smaller affairs at their requests. Family, friends, and husbands. I find them a lot more fun than my more formal birthdays that we have to deal with.

In the days following my announcement on the 4th of October, the military arrested, tried, and executed a few thousand of the blackmarketeers and thieves before they finally got the clue that their lines of work are not conducive to living a healthy lifestyle, nor for longevity. After that, the situation finally began to truly improve in China. We ended up moving about a quarter of the rural population to other countries, and everything stabilized by around the first week of November. We’ve opened numerous factories there to produce fighters and drop ships, along with a couple of factories for producing the Sumo class ships. More are planned.

General Chambers requested, and Jenny and I agreed with his suggestion, to not produce the larger classes of ships there for a few more years. We’re waiting to see how they’ll act. He doesn’t want to give them access to the heavier classes of ships in case this proves to just be a ruse to get their hands on them. He’s paid to think in worst case scenarios, and anyway, Jenny and I agree with him in that respect. The Chinese have proven themselves to be untrustworthy many times in the last few decades.

Anyway, the worst of the crisis is over with there, though we’re still having to provide massive amounts of supplies until the economy is totally reestablished. DTI set up many, many facilities there to produce quantum computer chips along with sundry, other electronics, and the photonics needed. Between all of those facilities we built and restarting their own businesses, unemployment has dropped to 7.8%. The average worldwide is 2%, or thereabouts, so we’re getting them there.

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We, as in me, freed several tens of thousands of political prisoners. I’ll probably never understand how that can be done to someone just because they disagree with how the government is doing things. I may be popular, but even I have my detractors, and I have no intention of jailing them because of that. It’s their right to disagree, protest, or whatever, to try to get the government to change their mind about whatever has them upset. Yes, I borrowed huge chunks from the old United States Constitution when our Constitution was being written and added some to it as well.

I did get an interesting call from Mirai and went to see her about it. Dakota, and a Dr. Koharu Nanakura assisting her, found out that my nanites stop our ova from dying like they normally would.

Maybe I had best explain this to those who don’t understand why it’s significant. Females are born with one to two million immature ova, and they normally lose about ten thousand or so a month until they reach puberty. At puberty, they have about three to four hundred thousand ova remaining and lose around a thousand a month after puberty. That is for normal human females.

For females with my nanites, they lose no ova other than the one, or very rarely more, ova that is ovulated every month. Mother and Father apparently wanted us to remain fertile throughout our rather extended lives. I went in, and Dr. Nanakura did some tests on me and found that I have the normal amount of ova that any girl my age does. So, potentially, I could have thousands of children. I’ll tell you right now, that isn’t happening. I want children, but that’s insane! What’s even more insane is that females born with my nanites, Kaede and Eri for example, will not lose any of the ova they are born with, so they could potentially have a million or more children. It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Chinatsu and I have already talked about children, and we agreed that it would be best if we separate them by two to three years since both of us will be breastfeeding our children. But, I can guarantee you that neither of us are prepared, or want, to have the number of children we could potentially have. You’d have to be demented to want to have that many.

I instructed Dakota to begin working on a way to have the nanites limit the number of children a woman can have. There has to be some way that they can turn on/off our fertility as needed. Hopefully, she can find some way of doing so. We’ll have to wait and see.

Anyway, let’s get off of that subject. Winter break for school begins on December 18th and will run through January 8th. Chinatsu, Ryu, and I spend the first part of that shopping for Christmas presents for everyone. It takes us a few days to find everyone presents. After talking to Mama and Dad, the three of us are giving Kaede and Eri their first bikes, a bunch of clothes, jewelry, and lots of toys. Yes, the two of them are spoiled by all of us, but that is what little sisters are for, right? Spoiled they may be, but they are still well-behaved and listen to what they're told to do, so I see no problem with it.

Onward to Christmas Eve, which, as usual, is a huge affair for the family. Dressing up for Christmas is normal for us, so our stylists designed matching dresses for Chinatsu and I, and one for Mama, and the men are wearing suits. Chinatsu’s and my dresses are forest-green velvet sheath mini dresses with princess necklines. They paired that with some very finely knit fishnet stockings and burgundy 5 centimeter ankle strap heels. Rather cute outfits for us, even if I do say so myself. Of course, Ryu said we’re beautiful.

The cutest ones here are Kaede and Eri. They’re wearing red babydoll dresses with white tights and Mary Jane shoes.

Now, I am going to say that the staff has today and tomorrow off, which Michael tried to refuse, but I made it an order, and he finally obeyed. I also gave the palace staff a $10,000 Christmas bonus. It may seem like a lot for a bonus, but they make our lives so much easier, and I know doing everything they have to do takes up much of their time.

Therefore, it’s just the family here in the palace for Christmas, although it’s a given that we still have our security. Mama, Honoka and I made a western-style dinner for everyone. Roasted honey-glazed ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, candied yams, green beans, and yeast dinner rolls. For dessert, we made apple and pumpkin pies.

It was delicious, and there wasn’t much left. I still have no idea how the boys put away as much food as they do, but I’m happy that they enjoyed their dinner. After coffee and dessert, we allow Kaede and Eri to open one present from each of us.

After that, Mama stands up with Dad. She claps her hands to get everyone’s attention, then announces, “Well, everyone. We wanted to wait until we found out for sure, but I’m pregnant. Sometime around the end of August or early September, you’ll have a little brother.”

As you can imagine, happy squeals erupt from us girls, and we surround Mama to hug and congratulate her while the men shake Dad’s hand and congratulate him.

Mama looks at me and says, “We decided to name him Diaki after your father.”

I’m stunned for a moment, then I shake my head and smile. “Thank you, but, Mama, my father’s name is Eiji. Just like my mother’s name is Haruka.”

[Christmas]

Two extremely excited balls of pure energy dive-bomb us while giggling like crazy to wake us up today. We already assumed that it would happen, so the three of us are wearing nightclothes. That turns into peals of laughter from them when Chinatsu and I counterattack by tickling them while Mama and Dad watch from the door, laughing at us.

After a few minutes, Mama finally says, “Alright girls, that’s enough. Didn’t you two say that you wanted to wake up your sisters so you could open presents?”

When they catch their breath, they reply, “Yes, Mommy.”

All of us get up, and the three of us throw on our robes and follow them downstairs to the family room.

There’s no need to go into the whole morning because I’m sure everyone knows how this is going to go, but Kaede and Eri naturally ended up with huge mounds of presents since Christmas is basically about them in our views.

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