27. Proslo
27
PROSLO
“ A re we going to see Aunt Lou?” Akoni asked.
“No,” Betty replied, a secretive smile playing around her lips.
“We’re all dresseded up,” Maui said. “I bets we goin’ to dinner on another ship. Mikey went to eat on another ship and nohlies.”
”Nohlies?” Kaia asked. “What’s that?”
“The sketti and zahnya place there has them. They gots cream inside!”
“I think he means cannoli,” Betty said, her own look of confusion clearing. “And yes, we’re going to eat but not to another ship.” She looked at me.
“There’s something we need to see first,” I hedged. “Did any of you happen to recognize our pilot?”
All of the children’s heads swiveled to look. He turned around his chair, giving them a quick wave.
“It’s Space Santa!” Mo-mo squealed. “Why he not dressed in his Santa clothes?”
“I didn’t wear it today,” Polmar, our pilot replied, “because I’m not on official Santa business exactly seeing as it’s not Christmas.”
“Oh, okay,” Mo-mo replied, looking disappointed.
“Now, I usually only deliver things and don’t fly people, but today, your father has a special something to show you, so Commander Gundar asked me if I’d deliver you to the present your father has worked so hard to give.”
“Deliver us to a present?” Kaia asked, looking puzzled.
“Yes, while we waited for Kaia’s new heart to grow, your father spoke to the Commander, who spoke to the ambassador, who spoke to the previous ambassador, Ambassador Tellan,” Betty explained.
“I’ve heard of him,” Akoni interjected. “He’s the Mylos that negotiated the treaty between Earth and the Mylos.”
“That’s right, bringing the gift of education and access to some more advanced tech,” she confirmed. “And from that, came all the rest - which brought us you.”
“And brought you to us,” Maui added, not to be outdone. “Is that why we gets a present?”
“This present is because of you, and is not only for you, but all of Earth,” Betty explained.
Polmar smiled. “There it is.” He activated a viewscreen.
“It’s a ship,” Akoni replied, puzzled. “You got a ship for humans to go explore on their own in?”
“It’s two ships actually,” Polmar said, panning the view so they could see the second ship.”
“And no, the ship isn’t for humans to fly. Do you know what the greatest gift to humanity has always been?”
The children shook their heads.
“It’s hope, and I’m sure it’s true for every species in the universe.”
“Hope?” Mo-mo asked, her face screwed up in confusion.
“That ship is called Kaia’s Hope and the other one is Kaia’s Gift. They’re hospital ships. To be more precise, Hope is for children and Gift is for grown ups who need transplants or have deadly illnesses only advanced tech we have access to can cure. Rich or poor, it’s available to those in need.”
“But won’t millions of people need help?”
“More ships are on their way, but we know we can’t help everyone. We will help the neediest, free of charge. At first, we will work with those who have been waiting far too long for a suitable transplant to become available and those refused because they were deemed to not have suitable support for recovery.”
The children stared open-mouthed.
“Daddy and Space Santa are making it so no more kids die like Kaia was going to?”
“That’s our hope, sweetheart,” I told her, stroking her hair.
Kaia burst into tears. “Best present ever,” she cried. ”And it’s not even actually mine. Not really.”
“Oh, there’s an actual present for you as well,” Polmar told her. He stood up and walked over to a storage compartment.
“Um, don’t you need to fly this?” Akoni asked, looking panicked.
“We’re stopped. Think of it as being in park, with the engine on.”
“Ah, okay,” Akoni said, gusting out a sigh of relief.
“This gift is for Kaia, for being brave all this time and always keeping a happy outlook.” He opened the storage compartment, revealing the bicycle we’d had hidden in our shared office until now.
“A bike!” Kaia shouted, unfastening her harness to run to it. “Look, it’s got a basket and helmet!”
“You said you wanted to learn to ride, when they interviewed you for the TV adoption spot.”
“I do! I hope I can do it without falling off,” she sniffled.
“Kaia’s gots lots of hopes. A ship and a bike, and to not fall off,” Maui said. “You know what I hopes?”
“What?” I asked him.
“I hopes we are having sketti and nohlies for dinner. And I hopes I don’t have to go on the ships and have an operation.”
“We all hope that, buddy,” Akoni said.
“You wanted sketti and nohlies too?”
Akoni looked startled and barked out a laugh.
“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Betty giggled.
“That and the no more surgeries for anyone in our family,” I added.
Kaia walked over, throwing her arms around my neck. “Thank you for being my Daddy.” She turned to Betty, giving her a hug next. “And thank you for being my Mom.”
“And ours! They’re our Mommy and Daddy too!” Mo-mo reminded her.
“Yes, we are,” Betty laughed before turning to me. “Just so you know, the day I walked into the Scholarship Center and took the matching test ranks up there as one of the best days of my life.”
I leaned over to plant a kiss onto her lips. “Mine too, rivalled only by the day we agreed to adopt some children a social worker interrupted our honeymoon to ask us about.”
“Okay, I hate to interrupt, but it’s time to head back,” Polmar said. He wheeled the bike back into the storage compartment before helping Kaia refasten herself into her seat’s safety harness. Before retaking his own seat, he turned to wink at the children. “Be sure to be good all year.” he tapped the side of his nose. “I’ve got it on good authority that if you do, Space Santa will be coming to see you again on Christmas Eve.”
“Yay!” Maui and Mo-mo shouted.
Yay, indeed, though I couldn’t think of a better gift than what I'd already been given. I had a mate and we shared four healthy human young as well as an orange striped feline one. My life was now so full of love both given and received, it was close to bursting.
The end