Chapter Nine #2
“Absolutely. If I do end up pregnant, I will be able to continue as captain until I am midway through gestation. At that point, I can still pilot, I just can’t do gravitational entry and exit.”
She realized something. “How long is Zowoth gestation?”
“Three hundred and thirty days.”
“Right. How big are the babies?”
“Four kilos on average.”
“Okay. About the same size as Delia then.” She wrinkled her nose. “So, are you going to let go so we can each get back to work?”
He hugged her. “One day, we will be united officially. You will be at my side.”
“Heavily armed and cursing like hell.” She patted his cheek.
“I will take it.” He grinned.
“Well, since we are at Orexi station, I should see where my team is.”
“So soon?”
“Yes. We have been in here for eighteen hours, and my cleaning bots are having anxiety attacks. Come on. Time to get back to the living universe around us.”
He smiled. “That’s a Zowoth phrase.”
She snorted. “Of course it is.”
He got up, and they got into the shower, using water and light to clean up from their two-person orgy.
Her new clothing had been brought in at some point, and she hadn’t noticed.
Once they were dressed, they left her quarters, and the desperate cleaning bots got to work. “They are going to need chisels.”
Aken-Var grinned and kept a hand on her back while they walked to where she could feel other heartbeats.
Delia rushed at her and grinned. “You look good. So, if I become your next baby, would you be pissed? Chloe and Skylar said it was possible.”
The avatars of life and death tried to look innocent as they sipped their coffee.
“I don’t want to obligate you to try, baby.”
Delia hugged her. “No obligation. I just want to make sure you know that if I stop talking to you, I am with you. Even if I am a little dude the next time around.”
“Wow. Well, if I do end up with a pregnancy, I was hoping you would be at my side, but I guess this would be one way.” She patted Delia’s cool cheek.
Chloe said, “The techs are on the command deck with the other Zowoth. All five of them.”
Margo looked at Aken-Var. “You brought them? They are already here?”
“Of course. I am the hub of my people. I can’t be alone with a wild alien. Of course, now you are a wild Zowoth, but no one needs to know that until you return to Amtha.” His hand remained on her back.
She sighed and glared at him. “The only thing that is keeping me from punching you in the junk is that Delia is here.”
Delia laughed. “Don’t mind me. If it worked, I am already on my way or not.”
Margo grinned and turned her body toward Aken-Var.
He blinked. “You will return at your own will, or I will visit you here, or wherever you are.”
“What?”
“You are my consort. You will eventually be at my side, and I am hoping that our children will be with us.”
She blinked. “Children?”
“Of course. Delia would enjoy siblings.” He smiled. “She and I have had this conversation already.”
Delia smiled. “We actually did, Mom.”
Margo sighed. “You are puncturing my outrage.”
“He told me that you glow to his eyes. I know from your micro expressions that something happens when you look at him that isn’t pure rage.
Regret is something that I believe I can see on your face.
I see it every time you look at me. You lived, Mom.
You don’t need to keep charging into danger to hope that death claims you.
That is Skylar’s job.” Delia smiled. “You made it. You survived the end of our world, you survived losing me, you survived yourself, the arena, the Zowoth, and then your charge into danger again. Let yourself stop surviving, and let yourself live. You have such an amazing capacity for life. So, since Chloe has given you some to make up for what was lost, use it. You were never one to waste anything. Don’t waste yourself.
You are worth making an impact on the universe. ”
Margo stared at her, and then Delia hugged her. She held the soul she had guarded for twenty-one years, and she felt something release in her. “You are such an asshole.”
Delia laughed. “I came that way from the factory.”
Margo leaned back, cupped her face in her hands, and kissed her forehead. “The manufacturing manager was drunk that day.”
They grinned, and Margo touched her forehead to Delia’s. “Fine, but if you are a boy, I am teaching him the family spaghetti sauce recipe.”
“Right. Try finding the jars out here.”
They laughed, hugged again and then Delia looked at Aken-Var. “We made him cry.”
Margo turned to look, and there were a few tears in the Zowoth’s eyes. She sighed, turned, and hugged him. She heard him whisper, and she pressed her face to his shoulder. She swallowed, and they stared there for a solid minute.
If you have one-fifth the love for our children that you do for her, they will be very loved, and they will know it.
She smiled weakly and then scowled. “How many were you planning?”
He grinned. “When we know how well you react to carrying a Zowoth, we will make a plan. More than one, less than ten.”
“Huh. That is... reasonable.”
He grinned. “I thought so. Delia only had to threaten to shove her hand through my chest to stop me dreaming of an extensive dynasty.”
“I knew there was a reason I kept sending her school money.”
Delia cackled. “Go to the command deck. The Zowoth are inches from a pissing contest.”
Nodding, Margo let Aken-Var go, and then they walked to the command deck and saw the cowled tech in Orex livery standing between two shouting packs of Zowoth. The figure calmly walked toward Margo. “Captain. Please sit, and I will do the gun calibration for you.”
Margo sat in the command seat, and the tech put scanning pods on her. The tech said, “Right. I see the problem. Give me a minute.”
Margo stared. The tech spoke English, and she was a woman.
“You are human.”
The woman continued the work. “That is correct. You still mostly are with some Zowoth modifications.”
“What happened when I used the guns?”
She kept typing but said, “We have open minds. When you attached to the guns, your mind pushed out through a four-lane highway, and it went onto a one-way street very suddenly. The build of will and focus hit a system that couldn’t manage it, so there was feedback.
The Zowoth addition will help you narrow your output, and that will help with controlling the guns. ”
“How long will it take?”
“An hour or so. I have to rewrite the processing code for the pods, and then I have to test it. I believe that Orex and his new consort, Zelda, are expecting you and Aken-Var down below. I will report when I am finished. Your creeps can continue to stare at me while I work. I don’t care.”
“Do the others know you are human?”
“The ship owner does. Chloe clocked me right away.” She continued at her terminal, and the data feed flashed onto the main screen.
She typed fast, and the information scrolled upward.
“When you get back, your system will work, but I will confirm it by meeting you at Orex’s palace with a demo video.
I am just building in a choke point in case any other authorized humans try to use the system.
It will take care of the lag you were experiencing. ”
Baket stared. “She was lagging?”
“Yup. Her species thinks very fast. Not focused but fast.” The tech continued to work, smiled, and put the transfer tabs on her temples. “Let’s just get this finished so you can all go to a nice party.”
The tech closed her eyes, and the data stream on the monitor began to move fast and then faster and then became a blur of light. When she opened her eyes, she said, “Computer. Testing turrets. Activate test mode.”
Lights flashed, and she ran through all of the fight modes and then said, “Test mode off. Active engaged.”
Lights flared and flashed. The tech nodded and put her pods in a case. She looked at Margo. “Did you want to test your system connect?”
“No. I will do it as we are leaving and get you back here if we need it.”
“Nope. I have a full dance card. I work on the new ships for accessible programming, tailoring things for other species. Try it now, and I can fix it.”
Margo nodded. “Okay. Gertrude, can you keep me from firing accidentally?”
Gertrude replied, “Of course, Margo. This is a nice station.”
Margo put her tabs on and checked through the aiming and speed of turret response. “Oh, this is much better. No pain, no pressure, just like a clear stream of focus. Thanks.”
“No problem. I am going to check in at the station, and then I will be on to my next assignment.” The tech got her kit together and put the strap over her shoulder. “Be prosperous, be strong, and be remembered.”
Margo blinked. “You as well.”
The tech nodded, and the twos followed her out of the ship.
Margo blinked. “Fuck. I didn’t get her name.”
Aken-Var rubbed her back again. “Ask Orex. We are attending the celebration of his new consort and her siblings, plus his becoming a father. It’s a big party.”
“Wait, you are coming as well?”
He chuckled. “Absolutely. It is an honour to host me. And it is an honour to be at this type of celebration.”
“I get it. Lots of honour.” She looks at the other Zowoth. “So, which of you is going to dance?”
They looked at each other, and Aken-Var said that Zowoth don’t dance.
She chuckled as they walked off the command deck and headed through the ship and out to the exterior ramp. She paused. “Shouldn’t I have changed into something more party suitable?”
“We are going shopping right now. Then, we take the drop ship.” Aken-Var smiled.
“Where are the others?”
“On the way with the twos. Orex’s guards are guarding the ship. It’s safe.”
The Orex ship was bio-locked within an inch of its life, and Chloe’s ship wasn’t going anywhere without her.
Delia walked in step with her. “Remember where we parked.”
Margo grinned and breathed in the sights and sounds of the bustling station. She didn’t have a chance to enjoy it the first time she was here, but there was one food kiosk that she wanted to revisit.
She looked around, orienting herself, and then she stalked off, making Aken-Var scramble behind her. Delia’s laughing voice said, “There is food here she likes, and she’s gonna hunt it down.”
She heard Aken-Var curse as she stalked through the halls, and then there was the thudding of feet as four Zowoth stampeded after her before she made it into the central food court.
Margo grinned as she felt happy for the first time since the end of the world.