April 2nd, 015 SDE:
Countryman smiled as he sat on the park bench watching his daughters at play. Rose still looked the same as ever, but being a machine she didn’t age. Then again humans or whatever they were didn’t age much these days either. Rika, his eldest, was ten years and some five months old now. She’d grown so much, it was hard for him to believe it, but she was already going through the early stages of puberty, her chest was starting to swell and she was starting to take an interest in boys. Far too soon for any dating, of course but he knew in a few years she would be on the market as it were.
Playing alongside her were her younger sisters, he’d had twins with both Vera and Ruri born within days of each other. Vera had given birth first, and two days later Ruri gave birth. That had been five years ago. Adding two more birthdays to his growing family. Not that they’d left it at that, his youngest had been born just last month and at the moment Vera was looking after them. Yet it seemed likely that she’d give birth to her second batch of kids with him in a few weeks. Their relationship, despite the rocky start had certainly progressed.
Jac Countryman: May 25th, 191 BDERuri: April 12th, 90 BDE
Vera of Clan Rel: December 4th, 44 BDERika Countryman: August 22nd, 004 SDEDiana Rel Countryman: January 15th, 010 SDEKelli Rel Countryman: January 15th, 010 SDEVivian Countryman: January 17th, 010 SDELilian Countryman: January 17th, 010 SDEIris Countryman: March 3rd, 015 SDE
Daisy Countryman: March 3rd, 015 SDE
Seven daughters was certainly more girls than he’d been expecting to raise. Having two more on the way was going to make things interesting. Countryman had to have work done, his plan a few years back to turn the office into a second bedroom had come to fruition. He’d had to move his home terminal into a corner of his bedroom but raising nine daughters in one room wasn’t entirely ideal but at least the room was decently sized. They’d managed to cram four cribs in there, along with two triple bunks. One of those bunkbeds contained Rose’s charging pad, since Rose was still staying in his quarters rather than with her own. It didn’t make much sense for her to have her own anyway, her job was with the children. Not to mention in a way she was also his daughter, only she was built, not born. Countryman still remembered walking into Ruri’s Lab on January 3rd, 003 SDE to find a naked anatomically accurate machine girl standing there motionless. She hadn’t even been programmed and at the time he’d objected to her being so detailed.
Ultimately Countryman had programmed her. Rose was naturally an AGI perfectly capable of mimicking human thought and emotion, programmed from the core as a social machine and with a body that would forever be fourteen years old. Countryman was just glad Ruri hadn’t picked a younger age for her, that would have been far worse.
Pattering feet alerted him just before a force of momentum slammed into him and hugged him tight, “Daddy!”
He chuckled and lifted little Kelli up. She was a lovely little girl with his dark hair and her mother’s skin. Oh and she had lovely green eyes. Countryman knew exactly where they had come from too, his father. Countryman might have had brown eyes, but his father had green ones. “Having fun?”
She nodded, then showed him a flower, “Daisy!”
He chuckled, “Yes, that’s a Daisy.”
Kelli wasn’t much for words just yet, Rika had been more vocal at her age, but Countryman knew every child had her quirks. They were all unique in their own way. So since Kelli wasn’t much for words, she handed him the flower and said, “Daisy for Daisy!”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah I see, this is for little Daisy? She might be a little young for flowers.”
Kelli frowned, but only for a moment before hopping off his lap and running back into the garden.
Countryman smiled as he watched her join her sisters. They were playing a game of tag, there weren’t many other games to play in the arboretum but last year they’d put in a few swing sets, a slide and a playfort among other things as part of a playground. One of many now across the ship for all the children that had been born. The birthrate was rather high at the moment. Countryman wasn’t out of place for having nine children, there were some families with far more. The high incidence of twins had an impact on the growth rate as well. Nothing but good news for a species that had been trending towards being endangered, but it would still be a while before they enjoyed the numbers they once did.
Ruri’s prediction of them being in the low millions in a few decades certainly seemed likely. Footsteps to the side caught his attention and he looked away from his girls to find Ruri approaching, dressed only in an open lab coat and panties. Countryman sighed, “What are you wearing?”
‘Um, my favorite lab coat and some panties?”
“What happened to your clothes?
Ruri shrugged, “Never mind that, I have something to show you,” she said while producing some datapads, “I’ve been working on some new mathematical proofs, take a look at what they show.”
Countryman leaned over and humored her as he read over her data, but he still thought she should be more properly dressed. Then again people did seem to be wearing less these days. Still, if anyone was getting a prize in wearing less that would be Ruri. With one eye watching his girls, he spent some time chatting with her. By the time he was done Rose had produced an outfit to dress Ruri with. Something he thanked her for before leading Ruri off to another room.