"Explain this to me again Mike!" Crow was staring with disbelief at the human standing in front of him as he changed into fresh clothes.

"Like I said, Crow," Mike put on white t-shirt and struggled to pull his now smaller green jumpsuit up to his shoulders. "all life on Earth has an urge, an instinct if you will, to reproduce. Since I'm all alone up here, and since you robots are incapable of such a thing yourselves, I found a way to... well..." He was feeling a little embarrassed explaining his desires to the naïve robot.

"You impregnated yourself?!" Crow blurted coldly. "That doesn't even make sense, Mike! You're a male, and from what I've learned from Joel and Earth in general, men can't get pregnant! AND pregnancy happens after TWO people do... some kind of weird hug or something. Joel was never clear on that part, I'm not sure why. So... what's the deal? You into voodoo or witchcraft?"

"No! Nothing that complicated anyway..." Mike had finally pulled his jumpsuit up over his arms and was proceeding to struggle to zip it up over his already slightly distended torso. "I merely asked Brain Guy if he could help me out and... well, he agreed."

"What?! Why?" Crow couldn't comprehend what he was hearing.

"Curiosity. I guess..." He sat on his cot and adjusted his position so his jumpsuit over his stomach was more comfortable as it pressed against the tight fabric.

"Oh yeah, that's WAY less complicated Mike! Good job... Curiosity... Geez!"

"Hey! It's not going to be that big of a change, I promise."

"Oh yeah, right... since when is a BABY not a big change?"

"It'll be my responsibility and I'm going to be here all the time. You and Tom and Gypsy don't have to do a thing. And if it gets too difficult I can get Brain Guy to send it to Earth to live with my family until we can return to Earth ourselves.."

"Your FAMILY? I don't which word is more important in that sentence; 'your' or 'family'..."

"...or be put up for adoption." Mike reconsidered.

"Yeah, that sounds better."

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Crow stared at the blonde human for a moment more. "So, when were you going to tell us about this... 'miracle', anyway?"

"I was going to let you guys know in a few more weeks. You know, when it was glaringly obvious that something was going on with my body."

"You mean your belly! It looks like you packed on the pounds pretty quickly there Mike!"

"Hey! It's normal!"

"It's normal for a woman, Mike, but not for you! It's like you were binging on sweets all day when we weren't looking."

"Yeah, yeah." Mike tried sucking in his gut but it made little difference to his shape. He was already five months along, there was little he could now or later at this point to hide his still growing stomach. "Well, Pearl's going to be calling soon."

"Uh-huh. Wonder how she's going to react."

"I don't know, it's not like we have to tell her or anything..."

"Yeah, I'm sure she won't notice you suddenly doubling in weight and then carrying around a squirming, screaming, leaking bundle of smells!"

"Hey!"

-next chapter-