The Calling of the Stars

"Welcome to 103, Third Street. Do you wish to speak to an occupant?"

"Yes; unit 24 please; Mrs. Katsumi Miyazaki."

"Thank you. I am calling unit 24 for you. Good evening."

After a short pause, a sultry feminine voice replaced the digital tone of the autosystem. "Yes? Who is it?"

"Evelyn Bailey, Florida Social Services; I believe we have an appointment."

"Yes, of course. Come in, please." As the main entrance opened, Evelyn Bailey navigated the walkways and stairs, regretting the obvious absence of an elevator and reminding herself she should exercise more. As she could literally hear herself catching her breath, she realized the building's soundproofing befitted its density of occupation. She set that thought aside before arriving at unit 24, where tall and solemn Katsumi was waiting at the door for her visitor. She was dressed in a sky blue long-sleeve kimono adorned with folkloric renditions of a wild boar and a tiger; her jet-black hair was long, coiffed and decorated with blue streaks; her makeup was impeccable without being gaudy and, standing on her slippers, she looked every bit the part of an imperial courtesan. This appearance was light-years away from what Evelyn Bailey expected from a 37 year-old applicant for adoption and she couldn't help but feel a little awed in her presence.

"Welcome to our home, Mrs. Bailey; can I get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee maybe?"

"No thank you; the sooner we start, the sooner we finish and you get to return to your evening." She said this mechanically while appraising the household. One nice thing about new housing: it's easy to inspect, with often only one broad visual scan being needed. This was the case here, as Katsumi had left the bathroom and bedroom doors open and, from the miniature atrium, one could see the entire living area, from kitchen to dining table and living room. It was all very clean and cozy, with a soft oriental string instrumental ballad playing in the background. The lodging was still in its white color coating and the only wall not having either window or display screen was decorated by two large group pictures that were obviously taken at different moments during Katsumi's wedding: the first one in an oriental shrine with her clad in a traditional white kimono and hood, the second one on a dance floor with the kimono now being short-sleeved and bright red with cherry blossom motifs. Beside the pictures, more discreetly, two honorary doctorates were framed.

Katsumi and Evelyn Bailey both sat at the dining table and the interview got under way.

"I trust you understand the nature of this interview?"

"Well, I figure you will try to ascertain if I would be a good mother should we be allowed to adopt."

"In a sense, yes and no. We are already aware of the support your request has. In your case, the recommendation from retired admiral Joshua Tomlinson was attached to your service record and, would you believe, even statistics on your time in space, distance, sorties and average speed... you seem to hold all the records there are to be held for space crews and, had you remained in ISA service, I figure you would be the equivalent of a retired pop star. Your husband, Christopher Tomlinson, has some of the deepest and oldest ties in the Greater Orlando area and both of you have exemplary citizenship records. So your qualifications are already established at this point. Plus, when Mr. Tomlinson ceded his birthright to his sister Phoebe, both of them went through this process and it is still current. So we come back to you, and matters we wish to clarify on the future household for the child."

"Could you elaborate on those matters, please?" Katsumi was both nervous and self-conscious. Those statistics were the very reason she and Chris ran away from ISA, even though they were terrified of the unknown civilian life that awaited them, as they indeed had dreaded becoming living recruiting posters.

"Certainly. Although at 37, you are by no means old, the adoption process is not quick and we try to avoid that the child be exposed to undue age-related stress at home. Also, your family unit is not conventional and there is both a cultural and religious split involved. None of this is grounds for disqualification, of course, but we must get a feel of what family life would be. As you see, I have no recorder, this is not a hearing and you are free to decline to answer a question at all times. As I am a psychology professional, the entirety of this interview is privileged. Only my personal notes and recommendations will be forwarded to the adoption board."

"Very well then. Fire away."

"Thank you. First, Katsumi Miyazaki is obviously not your birth name and I would like to know why you chose to change both your legal names and not just your first name, which is done much more often in the case of a transgender transition."

Katsumi inwardly gasped and promptly steadied herself. "I... had no wish for my birth parents to track me, contact me or follow up on my life."

"And you grew up on Amemasu Island, in the lunar L4 archipelago?"

"Heu... yes I did..."

"Why the hesitation?"

"I'm sorry. I was tempted to decline to answer... I have not spoken of my childhood in 20 years, not even to Chris. But it would be pointless to hold back on something you already know to be true."

"Was there a trauma in your childhood to create such a repulsion?"

"... No... but much unhappiness and sorrow."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

Katsumi hesitated, pondered her life, considered the ante and made her choice. "In short, I was rejected, inconvenient and replaced. Like all on that island, I grew up with the Shinto religion and with a very traditional Japanese upbringing. That, in addition to the mortgage on the house, should have precluded me from ever leaving home. But my coming out ruined the order of things. After being shunned and cast out, I figured my only option was joining ISA. It did give me a roof, a revenue and, after further physical and psychological evaluations, a new identity, but ISA for me was not a calling or heritage, like it is for Chris and his siblings, and I did not hear Chris' calling of the stars at 17... for me, joining was an act of despair, an emergency manoeuver, nothing more."

"I understand. You say you were replaced?"

"My parents were left with a century of mortgage and no legal successors. According to what I could gather from following up on public records, father kept the house and left mother to remarry a young hen that presented him with sons on a yearly basis while mother remarried a widower with children. Problem elegantly solved, no? It sickened me then and I still feel a little uneasy speaking about it now. Should I cross their path today they would not even recognize me and I am convinced it is better that way, for all concerned."

"All right then. Let's change topic." Katsumi let out a thankful but discreet sigh. "From my understanding, leaving ISA gives you a free choice of citizenship following an honorable discharge. Would you have considered living on an island, other than Amemasu?"

"Chris would have. He loved what he saw of island life. It wasn't all that often but, when one of our missions involved us entering an island, he ALWAYS did the earth-born stupid things with unabashed glee."

"Such as? Please forgive my ignorance on the topic."

"Jumping straight up to feel the rotation of the habitat; jumping some more to gage the accuracy of the g-force; walking to follow the sun spot from one of the three mirrors; lying at the edge of a transparent floor panel to gaze downwards at the turning stars; inhaling in huge breaths as is to analyze the extra cleanliness of the air; the whole nine yards, all the time!" Evelyn chuckled. "Also, judging by the gardening skills he has honed here at home, I realize he would have made a great farmer. We did discuss this at the time. But all that matters to us is here. He is godfather to three lovely girls here, he has a boat on a lake here, and his... our... parents live here. It was an easy call."

"All right... moving along. I want to dwell on those statistics I was sent. You spent more than six years of real time in space. As a matter of fact, you crewed the entire service life of the IFV Lion, 53 362 hours. That is unprecedented and will probably never be repeated. How did you two bring that about?"

"With luck and a little cheating." Katsumi hesitated, hoped she did not just walk into a disaster, and kept going. "Chris is a hopeless space romantic and he fell for me on our very first cruise. We managed to keep our partnership professional until our first Valentine's Day, when he swept me off my feet. We were in St. Cloud at the time, on shore leave. From then on, we both made the Lion our home, dodged any call for promotion and requested three repeat tours. It obviously didn't hurt that the head of Operations was Chris' uncle at the time. In later years, I was also starting to hear about that space records hoopla, so I guess that also contributed. But all things must end: admiral Tomlinson gently hinted at us he was considering retirement and, also, Lion's 50 000 hours overhaul revealed signs of fatigue on some of the command module support struts, plus nascent buckling in the exhaust cone... it would be cheaper to decommission her rather than refuel her power plant and refit her. So, about two months before the end of our fourth and final tour, Chris did what we had promised ourselves when the stars would no longer be calling: he proposed and we left."

"Was not your couple in contravention of your rules of conduct?"

Katsumi pursed her lips, angry at herself, but she had no time to elaborate on ethics and romance. "We were discreet, officially at least, and it was worth it."

"I have examined your medical records, so I know in fact that despite all that time in weightlessness and in a fissile nuclear environment, you are in perfect health and peak physical condition; however I am curious about how, to quote you, you two made a nuclear rocket spacecraft home."

"Well, for one thing, it was not just us two. Chris managed to create some personalities in our autopilot and autoengineer: he gave them full names and a sense of history; he even programmed some repartees and one-liners, plus some ridiculous password routines he got from 20th century TV episodes. During an overhaul, Chris also managed to have our couple's namesake, Kit Kat, painted on the hull - to this day I don't know how he pulled that off. Finally, you have to realize that watch duty kept us together and apart for days on end: we had plenty of time to talk or to brood, depending on our moods, and we missed each other a lot despite being constantly in close quarters. We were happy in that ship. I still remember our last moment aboard, when we rebooted the autosystems and signed off: Chris wasn't just crying, he was all-out sobbing... and I was not much better off."

"Are you two still happy, on Earth?"

"I believe we are, very much. We are working through the kinks of living a civilian day-to-day life and, even though I know you won't believe it, we find it roomy in here."

"Then a spacecraft must really be cramped!" Mrs. Bailey sneered then paused, embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that remark... well, as long as we're speaking about the house, let's confirm that the household would include this condominium housing unit and waterfront privileges at Lakefront Park, plus a leisure motorboat and a 4-seat automobile. Anything else?"

"No, you got it all. Unless you count the golf club memberships."

"No we don't, but since you brought it up, let's talk about golf. You served only four months as R&D manager at Miami Spacetech after your discharge and you are now caretaker of the Royal St. Cloud golf links."

"I did not adapt very well to business psychology and office intrigues after almost eight years alone with a loved one that followed my every beck and call. But I did absolutely love golf ever since my first 9-hole round on that very course. So, when old Kareem told me he was retiring and suggested I replace him, the reflection on his offer was swift. Of course, salary-wise it was a huge drawback, but most of the lawn caring system I can remote control from here, so I will be very present to see our child grow and do all the marvelous things children do. Considering both our service pensions, the family finances do seem to remain solid and Chris, as ever, gave me his full and heartfelt, loving, support."

"Do you enjoy golfing with your husband? Considering all his junior titles, you must be a formidable natural talent to put up with him on the links..."

"Actually..." Katsumi paused. In fact, she had almost always won and matter-of-factly accepted that as a fact of their loving life. "...yes, we love playing together and he is a perfect gentleman on the links, as in life."

"Good. I see you also volunteer at Save the Manatee. Were there manatees on Amemasu?"

"No, that's also something I owe to Chris and life in Florida. We visited some in a nursery when we began as a couple and my heart melted on the spot. Plus, from the little I understand about Florida's recent History, I gather that the conservation efforts of wetlands and other habitats have much to do with how the state shaped up, instead of the agricultural reclamation that was carried out elsewhere. So I figured, you know, when in Rome..."

"All right. I want to wrap this up and there are some subjects we have not covered yet. Who knows about your being a transgender?"

"Well, I don't flaunt it but neither do I hide it. Plus, since gender disclosure in the ISA is mandatory, all who serve either know or can know with a leisure search. Admiral Tomlinson and Chris have always known. One of the only awkward episodes on that subject was Phoebe extracting that fact from me, shortly after we announced our engagement. At the time she was in a funk while going through her divorce and, naturally, the subject of kids had come up and she would just not let it go... even tipsy, she sure is sharp and persistent!"

"Is there a strained relationship with your sister-in-law?"

"Oh dear no! Quite the opposite, she was our nakodo at our wedding."

"I do see her in the middle of your wedding picture. What is a nakodo?"

"A Japanese wedding arranger. As such, that woman traditionally has a place in the wedding as a sign of appreciation."

"And I recognize Admiral Tomlinson on your family side..."

"Yes. He was one of the few of the older generation who has ever treated me with honesty, respect and acceptance. I trust him. He was my only choice for a father figure and I will always be grateful he, and his wife Paulina, both accepted my request."

"I see you had a traditional Shinto wedding, I would guess in Hawaii. Have you decided on the practice, or not, of religion in your household?"

"The wedding was at Chris' insistence and he kept repeating that you marry in the bride's parish. Since Amemasu was out of the question, we had a choice of shrine between Japan, Colorado and Hawaii. Again, an easy call. And I truly cherish the memories of that perfect day. But in the future, the practiced religion will be catholic, alongside the rest of the family, up to the time of our child's confirmation, I suppose."

"I see admiral Tomlinson having a Latina spouse, so I suppose you don't live any cultural or ethnic bias within the family."

"Of course not! I have always marveled, and envied, of how welcoming and accepting that family is. And you should see Chris, Phoebe and the cousins act together when they play in their band... it's as if this entire clan lives in the Age of Aquarius."

"You are referring to the song in the old musical?"

"Yes... truth be told, I always laugh at the nonsensical lyrics in astronomical terms, but the Tomlinsons really do seem to believe in love aligned on the stars. I am extremely proud to be part of that family."

"Wow. All right, final question. You have been very candid and generous in your answers so far and I thank you. You have married within two months of your discharge and, in fact, have been married for roughly three months. Why a child now?"

"Ha! Finally a question I was expecting! Because it feels natural. I was never much exposed to children and, even after being with Chris, I did not see Phoebe's girls all that often or for very long. Of course, with the flexibility of Chris' teaching schedule at UF, that has now all changed. He had always sworn he would dote on them and now he finally does. I see him running tirelessly after Clara, or helping Eva and Vanessa with their homework... and he told me, embarrassed, all about how he recently dropped in on Phoebe and Eva discussing menarche. You know, he will be a fantastic father... and that admiration for him turned into a yearning for me, in a place in my own heart I did not even knew I had: I want a child, I want a family with my man, and I would die to make them happy and safe. Please believe that it's not a phase and has nothing to do with HRT or anything. It's part of me now. I hope you will say yes."

"Perfect. That wraps it up for me... and, off the record, I will try to make that happen for you. Of course, it's not only up to me, but it's obvious that, from the sorrow of your youth, your life has really bloomed into a caring and loving household. I wish you all the best and someone from social services will remain in touch." The hug from Katsumi caught her off-guard, as did her very effusive thanks. It was then that Evelyn Bailey took in all the details of the kimono, even going so far as feeling the silk between her fingers. "Which one is the tiger and which one is the wild boar?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Those are not usual patterns for kimonos, so I figure they must be both your zodiac signs?"

"Ho! Yes, you are absolutely right. I am a late wild boar, being born in January 2152, and he is an early Tiger, being born in March 2154. This furisode was his Valentine's day present, last February."

"Ha! I had guessed right... and you are a spoiled woman: a custom-made silk kimono must be quite a splurge, whatever the occasion."

Katsumi blushed. "I did fuss about the expenditure... for about a millisecond. In his defense, Valentine's Day has always been OUR big day; more important to us than birthdays or Christmas. Of course, from now on, it will be back to flowers and chocolates. And when we talk about it, I keep assuring him it will be perfect."

"And I'm sure it will be. I wish you and your husband good luck and a happy life together. Good evening, Mrs. Miyazaki." Evelyn Bailey then walked out into the St. Cloud night sky, leaving a flustered Katsumi to wait for her husband's return.

---

Christopher could barely wait that the car finished parking to dash home. Since Social Services asked for a solitary interview with Katsumi, it made sense for them to schedule it while he would be attending a session of the ISA Planning Advisory Board, but tonight the breeding of bees for space habitats, discussions on constitutional autonomy, the approval of triennial budgets, He3 prospection and the slating of near-earth objects for future mining were of minimal importance. The love of his life, who had taken the leap of faith of a home life with him and away from all she had ever known, had simply stunned him by bringing up the subject of adoption. He was amazed and in awe that she followed up through the process. He was completely unaware if he was about to congratulate or comfort her, but he was extremely anxious to find out.

"Good evening, Mr. Tomlinson." Christopher whizzed by the security panel, through the open door, and ran up the stairs to his abode.

Katsumi was not at the door, but he heard an ambiance he had not heard since the happiest night of his life, on a Waikiki dance floor. Judging from Barry White's velvety bass-baritone voice, You're the First, the Last, my Everything was beginning. Christopher quietly walked to the living room, expecting to relive his wedding dance with his divine wife, but he found no one. Then he heard a sultry and inviting "I'm in here, babyyyy..."