THE PREACHERS DAUGHTER

eather related delays, a commercial aircraft had not missed a scheduled departure time in decades. And the sun over the former site of Cape Town, South Africa was brilliant. Eliana

cruising altitude of 13,000 meters, the powerful p-B11 f

As Eliana thought about her new life, her hand came up unconsciously to trace the unfamiliar pattern of the diamond insignia on her arm. "Having a comfortable flight, Commander?" Eliana turned her gaze from the window and addressed a uniformed CL-2 standing in the aisle. "Oh yes, I'm fine, thank you. Just admiring the scenery." The man nodded. "I'm Amir, the flight steward." He looked closely at the emblems below Eliana's Class rank of red diamond. "Ah, a priestess, huh? And a military aviator too! Are you qualified for this plane's pilot cabin?" Eliana grinned. "Well, most of my flight time has been with jump jets. But yes, I'm certified for transports, military and civilian." "Excellent. We'll be serving a light dinner at 10:50. If you're willing to pass on the alcoholic beverages, would you like to dine with the pilots? I'm sure they'd enjoy your company." "Yes, tha

passed down the family tree ever since. Chanah told Thirza that this was the book she found Ilias sleeping with when she awoke from her purge cycle the day they were married. Quite a bit of history! I've also enclosed the commemorative copy of our ancestor's First Tower, hot off the presses! Again, congratulations, and best wishes on your new assignment. Choose well! Love, Naysa." Eliana traced her fingers lightly over the old book as she contemplated the gift. Chanah's wedding day was now more than 1300 years in the past, and it was a thousand years and two days since the death of the

experience in raising children in a family setting, and almost no one had a desire to add to the chaos. There were times when the future of the world still appeared very much in doubt. It was during these early years that Abdul Hadi began his preaching ministry among the townships. The combination of Jibran seizing control of the Supreme Council plus the fierce loyalty of the rank and file militia to Abdul Hadi's cause finally allowed the servant of the Guide's vision for a new society to prevail. By the year 8258, the warfare was over and the population count for a few months dipped below twenty-one million. Six short years later, the birth rate exploded, returning to pre-civil-war values of 480,000 by 8264. After several more years, it became obvious that with no childhood culling nor lottery with the anti-aging drugs, the world was on a trajectory for a huge grow

erusalem were voted to be set aside for special purpose, and like the spaceport Xerxes not be a township for permanent residency. In the early 8500's the population began its slow decline to 32 million and the housing problem was considered solved. In Eliana's opinion, her ancestor Abdul Hadi saved the world twice, once during the civil wars and again when he helped create the present form of government. The Citizen Level system was preserved. There was still a universal desire to run the society as a meritocracy, in spite of the new family structures. But the value of the promotions changed profoundly. There were only modest increases in stipends between levels, barely more than token amounts. Housing and medical care and basic staples were provided free to all. The real value of promotions came in influence and votin

ng influence in the society both in voting rights and within their Guild. "Not a paradise," Eliana thought. "No. Perhaps the closest we've come to it was in the early 8500's. Those were good times..." The society had been vibrant at the time. Abdul Hadi had used his enormous influence to resurrect the space program. There were a set of orbiting research space-stations and lunar bases, and dozens of interstellar probes were being launched each year to the surrounding stars. It was a pure gift to the society's far-future children. The light-burner drives were in their infancy then, and now in 9570 more than 80% of the probes still had not returned. After Abdul Hadi's death, the world seemed to drift. By 8700, the last of the lunar bases was abandoned and all funding withdrawn from the interstellar exploration program. The world suffered through centuries of drug a

7: CL2

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1 CL

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liana pulled up a table on the first ten voting Classes an

like boasting." Her thoughts returned to the world's history. "And then the late 8900's, what a mess that was." For a brief number of decades, the government tried to push against the human genome's designed birth ratio of three females to one male. The negative feedback from the older society was severe, and from both genders. The males resented the thought of the increased competition and their freedom to choose from both monogamous and polygamous marriages. The women still had a sharp collective memory of their eight millennia of enslavement, and greatly resented the possibility of giving up their hard-won 75% majority in voting rights. And the artificial gender selection techniques also brought back memories of the horrors of the last time humanity meddled with the human genome, in the thirty years before the War of the Burning Metals. By the year 9000, all official attempts to shift the population gender ratio were cancelled. Eliana sighed. "Are we in paradise now? The people of Abdul Hadi's time might think so. No major problems, certainly no wars, technology is still advancing, though very slowly, social discontent is at an all-time low. When was the last time I read a