Mark and Maddy Chapter 37: Future is Past Part 9 - Good news travels fast

...

Mark stirred in the morning light, which woke Maddy too. Stroking the soft, healthly dark skin of her bald head, he softly said, "Hi beautiful…"

To Mark, Maddy with no hair at all was ten times more striking than any woman with a full head of hair. He was getting used to this.

Her dark skin got to him. It always did. And seen the rich tan in the sweet face of his little boy Aaron made him love her more. And want more kids just like him.

"'Morning," she said as she stretched, and he admired her bare bosom as she did. They were all tangled up in their sleeping bag, with their gowns in the tent folded beside them. The New Earth mentors were now used to that.

"So what do you want to do with our day?" she sighed and played with his scruffy beard. It was time to shave again, which was another thing they liked doing to each other in this future world, because it always led to something more fun afterward.

"Well I want to take our hike along the falls. But something else first…" she purred suggestively.

"Oh? I like your 'something else' idea a lot," said Mark encouragingly, and she could immediately feel the warmth of his anticipation grow against her belly.

She giggled and said as she grasped him, adding to his excitement, "Hmmm… I can tell… Well, something else even before that, you sex addict."

"Oh? Right… Yeah, I have to 'go' too. After you, my dear."

"Not that, dummy. Something else."

"What else could be 'something else' dear?" puzzled Mark.

Sweet young Maddy gave him a look that glowed. He knew immediately. She'd shone like that once before.

"No! No way! Really?" his eyes lighted up, but was going to draw this out.

She laughed excitedly in their sleeping bag, quaking in joy, as she caressed and kissed him, "Yes, Mark, yes! it's true!"

He couldn't pass up a tease her though, "Yeah, I'm ravenous too. Let me go catch something for breakfast."

She got an annoyed look, "You goof! I'm not hungry, I'm pregnant!"

"Of course you are! I could tell, my dear. You have that 'look' again," he said tenderly, followed by a kiss.

"You are the worst teaser on the planet, Mark Reynolds," she complained in jest.

"That's why you love me," he grinned.

She had her opening to get him back as she said, "Nah, I just hang around with you to make beautiful babies together."

He feigned a nonchalant attitude playing along with her, shrugging his strong shoulders, "Ehh… sperm donor… It's a living… But I like the practice sessions a lot, Maddy."

"You! You're horrible!" she mashed his nose affectionately with her thumb.

"Guilty. Besides, my dear, somebody has to do it."

She gave him a fake nasty look, but all the pillow talk was getting her excited for him just as much as he for her. She was very warm to his stimulating touches in the places he liked best.

"Speaking of 'doing it'. Let's celebrate!" she rolled under him and pulled him close and smothered him with a very passionate kiss.

When they broke from that kiss for a moment to gulp down some air, she panted, "How about that, it turns out I am hungry. For you, Mark."

She helped herself to his lips and open mouth again, pressing harder against him.

It was cliché, but they snickered anyway, and on the next breathless break, he was more serious, "I couldn't tell at all. And by the way, Maddy, congratulations, my dear wife. I am so happy for you. For us… our family is getting a little bit bigger. Like you will," he noted stroking her belly, "I love you being pregnant with our children. And I love their mother even more."

"Me too, Mark. I love you too," and they went right back to their passion.

Afterwards they shaved each other's three day hair growth all over their bodies in a nearby creek, donned their cerebral rings and translucent sensor gowns, and headed out to see the falls. It was almost anticlimactic after the news and their lovemaking.

Along the way they reestablished contact with Trevor and Angela and their host said, this time without panic, "Oh, there you guys are. We've been trying to reach you for hours."

"Whatever for?"

"We have some good news for you."

"That we're pregnant?" Mark announced, always enjoying ruining their future relatives' surprises, just to prove that future generations weren't always superior.

There was a long pause, "Umm… yeah. Congratulations to both of you. You knew?"

Maddy quipped, "Mothers always know. We don't need any fancy cerebral rings or gowns for that."

Getting better at bantering with them, Trevor teased, "Well. you do need 'all that fancy stuff' if you want to know the sex of your child."

They looked at each other.

"Do you want to know?" Mark asked Maddy.

"Well I always like surprises, but we have to decorate the nursery, so… yeah."

Hugging each other closely in anticipation, Mark ordered, "OK, Trevor. Lay it on us."

"A girl!" exclaimed Angela.

Mark held Maddy in the air, and kissed her as he brought her down carefully.

Mark was excited and looked lovingly into Maddy's eyes as he said, "A girl… Wow! Hope she is a spitting image of her mother."

Maddy blushed deeply, "That would be ok as long has she has your smile and is tall like you, husband."

They knew from the giant statue that their next child had to be a girl, but it was fun to find out anyway.

They kissed again. There was no stopping these two and their affection as he saw their blood pressure and heart rate spike again on their monitors. Trevor mused why they hadn't seeded the world with a dozen kids in their lifetime together.

Trevor added, "Angela and I also have some good news."

"Go ahead," Mark invited, in between kisses with Maddy.

"Angela is pregnant too!"

They stopped suddenly in pleased shock, laughed heartily, and offered congrats. They both knew Trevor and Angela had a fifty year old child with kids and grandkids of their own.

Mark said with amusement, "Looks like the prehistoric knuckle draggers can teach their descendants how to have fun."

Angela retorted, "Just so happens you did."

Trevor interjected, "And we skipped the gowns, too."

Mark and Maddy laughed even harder. Trevor and Angela were very entertained by their happy reaction.

Mark shook his head in between chuckles, "Great… we are recessing society eons by being here. Soon this entire civilization will be chasing each other naked in the piney woods."

Angela joked, "Don't give us any more good ideas," as she snuggled closer to her husband.

Trevor was more serious, "You guys have brought us all a fresh perspective on what being human means. It seems we forgot some of that."

"Thank you."

Mark changed the subject and noted, "Well we're ready to go fly in space after this hike. When you've seen one falls, you've seen them all."

Trevor cautioned, "Well now that's the thing. The grand tour takes us around Jupiter and its dangerous radiation belts, and there's a big risk. Especially to a merely week old embryo."

Maddy was very crestfallen and asked, "Not even in earth orbit? I can wear a lead-lined belly belt."

Hearing the disappointment, they conferred, and Angela answered, "OK, but no further."

Maddy was ecstatic, "Yay! We get to go into space."

Mark kidded, "Call it a baby shower gift."

"A what?" puzzled Angela.

"We'll explain when we get there," Maddy mused.

The young couple was clean, refreshed, and ready to go, "And now, friends, we're off on a hike."

…

After they signed off, Trevor and Angela turned to each other and Trevor reflected aloud, "They really are an amazing couple, aren't they?"

"Trevor, it really is a miracle that everything they are, and all their fellows, lasted the eons to make us like them. Take away the technology and we could be easily their current next door neighbors in Terra Nova in how we think and feel that transcends the ages."

"Many of our scholars do say this was a second chance miracle for mankind."

"Well that was their intent. We have living proof in our midst."

"You know that wasn't the original intent, but 2149 didn't count on the visionary people who led them that made it that way and had the tenacity to turn their backs on the greed and treachery and decay. And no one told them that the idea of Terra Nova was to exploit another time and dimension."

"That makes it even more miraculous."

"I have enjoyed our time with them so much."

"Don't kid yourself. They have too. They wouldn't have had a child if they didn't feel safe here."

"Yeah, but not for long. It's been almost two months. The temporal resonances of their bodies are aligning. It's… it's only a few more months before they have to go to make history right."

"Don't tell me that. I love them."

"Me too. And about 150 million others. But we have to."

"But how, Trevor? We still don't know how to not wipe their memories clean."

"That's the only thing keeping me from doing now. Before it hurts too much to say goodbye to our original father and mother."

"It already hurts too much, Trevor. Just knowing."

…

Sitting on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center was not like they expected. It was a small flat piece of concrete and the orbital tour shuttle was barely bigger than an ATV.

"We remember the history books of astronauts lying on their backs sitting in a space capsule atop giant rockets that blasted into space."

"Discovering anti gravity kind of put an end to that but for the thrill seekers," noted Trevor.

"This is like being buckled in an all terrain vehicle for a mission Outside the Gate."

"Well the view is going to be a lot better in a few minutes. At least you get to wear a space suit," smiled Angela.

"And the ride will be smoother. We didn't have any roads," observed Maddy.

It took no time at all to launch, and the ground receded rapidly without any of them being crushed into their seats. The view was increasingly spectacular, and soon they were in orbit, and could clearly see the curvature of the earth, and the thin colorful ribbon of atmosphere that kept them all alive. the continents were green an lush, the natural deserts were stark, the water everywhere was an unspoiled infinite blue, and the mountains seemed so close as to be able to reach out and touch them from their seats. Earth was like the Creator had made it, reflected Maddy silently.

"It's so beautiful. More beautiful than I ever imagined. Pictures don't describe it."

"Amazing indeed," noted Mark. Only two things were so amazing as to impress Mark, and this was one of them. Maddy was the other.

"Can you at least take us to the moon?" begged Maddy.

Angela saw her anxiety, and asked, "The sun is quiet, Trevor, and the solar winds are light. She's in three layers of radiation suppression garments. Just like me."

"And sweating like a pig I might add," Maddy laughed.

"You can adjust that right here," said Trevor, pointing at the environmental control on her space suit.

Maddy grinned, "I know. I just like complaining. I'm pregnant. Pregnant women are allowed to."

Angela smiled, "I didn't know that was the rule. Some things from Terra Nova are indeed lost in history. I am going to have to remember that, Maddy. Trevor, pay attention! When my mother herself says it's ok, then its ok.! Got it?"

They all laughed, and Mark quipped, "In her first pregnancy, Maddy nearly used up all her quota of pregnant woman complaints!"

Maddy jabbed her husband in the gut, and stuck her tongue out at him.

Trevor rolled his eyes, amused at the sight of the Original Mother sticking her tongue out, and ordered the pilot, "OK, one moon walk coming up!"

...

They loved the walk in the 1/6 gravity, and all the dust. Hopping was the most fun. Next to Mark holding Maddy up in the lunar sky with one hand. She pretended to fly.

"This is amazing," Maddy reflected.

Mark observed, "And looking at a big green and blue ball instead of a brown and gray one is exhilarating. And inspiring ."

The sight of the clean, vibrant and living alternate time line Earth gave them great hope. They knew they had helped make it happen, and it was a very satisfying feeling.

"Mark if I could kiss you right now I would. I am so happy things turned out the way they did."

They had learned in the lunar planetarium that of all the habitable and populated worlds that had been discovered, few still even compared to Earth. Most races had evolved naturally like the original time line Earth. Only those races managed not to destroy their world along the way.

'Well we are done here, time to go and not risk any exposure to your baby."

"Melissa…" Maddy said proudly, taking Mark's gloved hand in hers, "That's what we decided."

"To Melissa, then," Trevor acknowledged, realizing that they hadn't told them the baby's name on the giant statue was Melissa. How amazing fate was, both Trevor and Angela concluded.

The return back to Earth from the moon was uneventful. Reentry and touchdown were very smooth. The view was amazing as they reentered. More amazing to them still was the relative lack of any signs of the megacities, smog clouds, and blighted world that satellites gave them of the old Earth.

The unbuckled and headed out, for the next part of their adventure plans. They still had about three months to complete everything they wanted to ever see.

"It's been wonderful. Thank you. We'll never forget this," they thanked the astronaut pilot.

"Yes, sadly you will," thought Trevor, but didn't have the heart to tell them. Not yet. Angela squeezed his hand. She had heard his melancholy thought.

"Well we're off on the trail again!" noted Maddy excitedly.

"Good luck! Enjoy the sushi!" Said Trevor and Angela.

The young pair touched their teleport switches and they shimmered out of existence. This time to Japan.

...

Angela thought anxiously, "When, dearest?"

"At the end of their next long journey. I sure do hope I have it all figured out by then."

"History never records that these two never had a permanent swipe of total memory from any temporal excursion. Just a couple of journeys they returned from that they couldn't remember the events of the trip. but retained everything else. This one included, when she returns five months pregnant in unexplainable clothing."

"I know, but it still makes me worry."

"You'll figure it out, Trevor, you always do," she kissed her mate.

Trevor kissed her back, and rubbed Angela's pregnant stomach, aching for the day when he could feel their child and see her pretty rounded maternal shape. In all the eons of human advancement, it still took nine months to make a baby.