Space Ghost
Chapter 30
The first delivery showed up a week later. Kate was with them and saw several flat beds stop filled with stuff. She was all set to ask how they were supposed to get all that stuff off the train then across to their site when she saw the first flat bed floor simply lift up and float across to their home where she later learned bots removed everything and then came back and got back on the train.
"Cool." On Earth there would've been fork lifts to move it all to an 18-wheeler and then down the road either on a flat bed or in a cargo container. This was so much simpler.
However, she was also learning that there was nothing for her to do and while watching the bots building something from the first train load and the second she was getting bored already.
"You speak the language well enough. Here's some money. Take the train into town and look around. Take Alexis with you just to be safe. And if you get hungry she can help you pick something to eat," Rick said encouragingly.
Lais was basically stuck at home since her due date was coming up fast.
"Shopping." Kate smiled since in this case she would be spending someone else's money. A woman's dream come true.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
"So what have we…got?" Kate looked up and saw a highway of flying cars with a number of on and off ramps.
"Well, museums might be boring for you so how about an art gallery? There are several," Alexis suggested, using the local language.
"Lead the way," Kate replied in the same language. If she was going to learn and get used to it she needed to use it all the time. Even at home.
"Spoke Art." Alexis indicated since it was close.
"I've got to start somewhere. We've got three years. Without a job." She needed something to keep her busy or she was going to lose her mind.
Stepping inside they found the place mostly empty of people though they weren't here for that. They were here to look at the art.
The first one looked like a painting inside a bar. Two men were sitting at a counter. One wore blue and the other red. The one in blue had red sunglasses and the other had blue. The windows behind them were blue. Everyone else in the place was dressed in black.
Alexis moved on. "I don't get this one." She'd found one that made no sense to her.
Kate joined her and looked it over. "I think I do. Ignore the snakes at the top and look at the old lady below that. The look on the left is soft while her mirror reflection on the right is mean. The guy in green below that has a look of loss. He's heartbroken. While the guy on the left is older and is in command." There were two more below that.
"Oh, I get it. Interesting. I don't want it but interesting. Thanks, Kate."
Alexis had found another. "What about this one?"
It had what seemed like a broken down city stacked on top of itself. There was smoke coming out a few smoke stacks. Then there were the clothes on long clothes lines hanging out to dry.
"Technology lost, maybe." It was mostly gray though parts of the city were red, possibly indicating a fire. The sky was a mix of yellow at the bottom, then green, blue, and finally gray from all the smoke. The yellow lake in front of it suggested pollution.
Next was what appeared to be a wheat field with a man with his back to them with his arm around a bear standing on his back feet. They were both staring at a large red dot in the sky. They were guessing sky because there were a pair of birds in the distance.
The following piece wasn't a painting. It was a work of art hanging on the wall. It looked like a large metal giant. His arms nearly touched the floor. He had green plants on his left shoulder and down his left arm with red flowers on his chest.
"Kind of reminds me of a movie called The Iron Giant. How it got to Earth was never explained, but it ate metal. It was also a weapon or more accurately it was filled with weapons. This kid fell in love with it and taught it to be what it wanted to be instead of a weapon to kill," Kate explained.
A nearby piece was huge and took up the wall from floor to ceiling; it was easily eight feet wide. It had what Kate thought was a fat gray cat standing on two legs. It was solid gray with a white chest and it had a green leaf on its head. It was also standing in the dark in a rain storm.
"I don't think his umbrella's big enough," Alexis chuckled. If it wasn't so damn big she might have actually considered adding it to her room.
"Eww, this one hurts my eyes." Alexis was forced to look away before looking back and then away again.
Kate had the same problem. It was a woman who had four eyes on each side of her two noses. Each eye was a duplicate and she had two sets of red lips. Two chins and two necks but only one head of black hair and one shirt.
"Okay enough of this one." Alexis moved on.
Kate had no idea how the artist managed to do it but it was alluring in its way.
"It's cute." Alexis sort of liked this one. It was a cartoon head obviously. It was wearing huge glasses so it had really big eyes. Black hair with a dab of yellow paint on one side. Its cheeks were round with green on one side and orange with a red rim on the other. It didn't seem to have a mouth though. But she didn't like it enough to buy it.
"What is this?" Alexis stopped at the next one and studied it.
Kate joined her. "It's a hamburger." Kate recognized it easily. It was roughly four feet tall and about a foot wide. "See the bun at the bottom. Then a slab of meat. And the bun at the top. In-between are lots and lots of people." They were all tiny but there had to be hundreds and it looked like each and every one was different.
"Weird." Alexis moved on with Kate right behind her.
"Another burger." Alexis stopped in front of this one. There was a bottom bun with ketchup spilling over the side that looked like legs. Next was meat, lettuce, a man's mouth with a drooping mustache. Then another bun followed by meat, lettuce, and a tomato. The bun on top had the man's eyes falling over the side and a fried egg on top. The whole thing was just weird.
The one that had their attention was a stick figure of a woman wearing large glasses that showed large white eyes. Her hair was black. She was in a top and skirt with falling down socks and tennis shoes. She had six darts sticking out of her: one in the right leg, two in her chest, one in her hip, and one in her right shoulder. The entire thing was done in red.
"I don't think they like her." Kate had seen something similar. You put up a picture of someone you hate and threw darts at it.
"This one's different." Alexis had moved on and Kate followed her.
It was a lovely woman with black hair, lots of makeup, black push up bra for her tiny breasts, black shawl over her shoulders, black granny panties, black garter belt and black stockings. It looked like she had a pipe or flute in her hands and the back ground was a mix of black and gray.
"Have you found something you like?" a man's voice inquired. Both of them turned and faced him.
Kate liked what she saw. He was tall, maybe a little thin, short hair, and had the hint of a 5 o'clock shadow. He was dressed in a black suit and his eyes were black. He looked like he deserved to be standing next to the woman in the painting.
"It's nice." Kate managed to turn away and look at the painting.
"Who painted it?" Alexis asked, knowing that she wouldn't recognize the name anyway.
"I happened to paint this one. I own this gallery and decided to put up one of my own works."
"You painted this. She's lovely. May I ask why you painted her with her eyes closed?" Kate queried. Maybe he couldn't do eyes.
"She's a siren and is ashamed that her playing has gotten a man to fall for her. You do know what a siren is?" he asked them though only Kate had his attention.
"A siren is a temptress. She would play and cause sailors to be enchanted, unaware they were about to crash their sailing ship on the rocks and then drown," Kate responded.
"Very good!" He liked Kate. "There's actually a different version though that isn't her. In her case she would sing to cause men to lower their guard. Then she would capture them and imprison them. Yet another version still was a siren who would sing to announce her arrival. She would then take men with her and place them in her hospital in an attempt to cure them. She never did and the men were held forever."
"Sounds like you hate women. At least women who prey on men," Kate noted.
"On the contrary. I adore women. Women are the strongest creatures I know. Only a strong woman could lure all those strong men to their doom.
"Perhaps I should paint an angel next." He smiled widely at Kate.
"I'm sure you'll think of something. Thank you for letting us look." Kate was ready to move on.
"Do come back some time. Perhaps I will have something you can't live without." He would enjoy seeing them again. "My name is Ador Bailn. I look forward to seeing you again."
They had moved on a little. "I think he liked you and he was handsome," Alexis said, her eyes wide with excitement.
"I think he likes all women. I'm not interested in being another notch on his bedpost." Kate wasn't really interested in a one night stand just yet.
Alexis stopped. "Kate, it's none of my business and you can tell me to shut up, but why do you resist everything so much? First it was aliens and space ships. Monsters attacking New York. I know Lais and I were teasing but if you don't try you're never going to find someone. Living your life alone is no way to live."
"I…I'm fine," Kate stammered.
Alexis raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were past denial and into acceptance."
"I am. I'm on another planet in a different galaxy," Kate insisted.
"Fine." Kate wasn't interested in answering her question. "But he was cute and you're not going to see Earth for another four years, more or less. Traveling back in time isn't going to make any of us younger. Time is still going to pass for us," Alexis reminded her.
Giving up, Alexis asked, "Another gallery or do you want to go shopping? Your room's only going to have a bed and a place to store clothes. Lais is right. It does look like a bachelor lives there. Not that I really noticed when I was little."
"Shopping. I've seen enough paintings for now," Kate decided.
"You can come back and see his angel next time," Alexis teased.
"I'm not going to survive you and Lais, am I?" These two just wouldn't stop.
"Maybe." Alexis kept teasing her and headed off to a shopping district.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
One month later and they had already received another two train deliveries. Kate was standing outside watching bots use what had been delivered and they were making things. None of what they were making looked familiar to her but she trusted it was parts for a new ship.
Then suddenly Rick came out the glass door and he was practically carrying a very pregnant Lais with him. Concerned, Kate ran toward them. "It's time," Rick said and kept walking with Lais toward the train station.
"What do you want me to do?" She would go with them if she was wanted.
"Stay and watch Alexis and Alexandre. Let the bots do what they do. We'll be back." Both of them just kept walking out into the desert.
"Baby." There was soon going to be a baby around. "I'm not babysitting!" She had never babysat anyone's baby when she was growing up and didn't see the need to start now.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Kate was still outside when Alexis joined her. "We're only just getting started. We have a long way to go and we still have to take the ship apart. We're not even ready for the really big bots yet." Alexis watched with Kate. It all looked so familiar to her.
"Have you seen Dad?" She was hungry.
"He left with Lais. The baby's coming," Kate smiled.
"NOW!" Suddenly Alexis didn't know what to do next. "What do we do?"
"Wait for them to come back with a baby. What else?" Kate didn't know what else they could do.
"But, but… Mom and Dad." Surely they had to do something!
Kate turned to look at Alexis instead of the bots. She had just called Lais Mom and Kate wondered if she even realized that she'd done it. "If we were with them we would be waiting in a waiting room. Waiting here is just as good and far more comfortable."
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Rick never left Lais and almost literally felt each contraction. However, every time the doctor checked he always said she wasn't ready yet.
Twelve hours later and Lais wasn't quite the beautiful woman he had met. She was sweaty and grunting and occasionally yelling. She was gritting her teeth and breathing in loud fast bursts. "I need to push," Lais told the doctor who replied, "Not yet." Then she grabbed his hand and squeezed until Rick was sure he could hear bones popping. His bones. "Tell him I'm pushing!" Lais wasn't sure what language she was speaking.
Lais screamed and pushed then tried to do her breathing. The second she felt a contraction she pushed again. She was really tired and needed for this to be over but she pushed all she could. "Head! He says he sees the head," Rick said in the local language and then again in English just in case.
All Lais really cared about was that it was about damn time. Two more pushes and she was done. Done pushing, done with the contractions. She watched tiredly as a nurse took her baby away.
Clean and swaddled, her baby was being handed to her. She burst into tears, holding him or her as tight and as loose as she dared.
"It's a boy. We need to run some tests and then you can have him right back." Lais felt her baby being taken away.
"Rafael. His name is Rafael. It means Whom God has Healed, " Lais told them. Rick wasn't surprised that she'd chosen that name out of the ones they had talked about. God meant a lot to her. While on Earth she wasn't yet a Rodgers until after they were married. However that wasn't necessary here. So his full name turned out to be Rafael Matheus (Gift of God) Rodgers. That name would simply happen again once they reached Earth.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Kate would never admit it but she hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Antsy, she was leaving her room and looking for Alexis. "Anything?" Surely Lais had had the baby by now.
"It's a boy. His name is Rafael Matheus Rodgers." Alexis was all smiles. "He's 19 inches long and weighs 7 pounds 13 ounces. They don't require for you to be married on this planet so long as you've made arrangements to get married and they have."
"Rafael." Kate tried it one for size just as Alexandre joined them.
"It's a Brazilian name. Rafael means Whom God has Healed while Matheus means Gift of God. Sounds like my mother." Alexandre was all smiles.
"You have a brother, Alex. A brother!" Alexis was happy for him.
"What does Alexandre mean?" Kate questioned.
"Defender or protector of mankind," he answered. "Didn't actually do that, did I? Got our ship destroyed right under our feet."
That got Alexis to wrap her arms around him. "You haven't lost yet, babe. You're still alive. We'll win, you'll see." He couldn't give up.
"We just need for that time machine to work properly." Kate needed that thing to work perfectly. She had to get her mother justice once again thanks to the Xindi. "Three years or so to go."
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Lais, Rick, and Rafael had been home for a week and while Kate was really glad to have them back, she was a little tired of listening to a baby cry. He cried during the day and he cried at night. Her door and distance blocked out most of the noise, but she still heard him.
Seeing the two of them show up for breakfast looking like they hadn't gotten any sleep at all that night was a mixed bag. She amazed herself that she did love seeing the baby and had even gotten to hold him a few times.
Kate did her best to ignore the tug at her heart that this innocent baby had caused but it wasn't easy. Though she was also glad that she wasn't the only one not getting a good night's sleep.
"You ready to go?" Alexis showed up and Kate drank her cup of coffee. Her supply of coffee was getting low so she was down to to two cups a week. She feared it was going to be down to just one eventually and then none at all.
This trip was a desperate attempt at finding something to take its place. "Ready." She was still using the local language but the rule still held. If you went into town you took either Rick or Alexis with you. The laws here were just different.
"There's Spoke Art." Alexis gestured to the gallery.
"We've been there and he doesn't have coffee," Kate said.
"True but he might know something I don't. And you liked him," Alexis smiled at her.
"Don't start that again. He was handsome, yes. But you don't even know if he's single. For all we know he's a rapist." Kate wasn't that interested.
"Let's find out." Alexis walked toward the gallery. "You want coffee or not?" Kate hadn't moved an inch.
"Fine." She would ask him anything so long as he knew about coffee.
It didn't look like much had changed save that right in the middle of the room was a painting on an easel that looked new.
"Kate, it's you." Alexis felt Kate step next to her.
It was a woman kneeling so low that she was almost sitting on her ass. She looked a little sad. She was wearing a strapless black bra that might have been part of a corset except that the corset part was in tatters. She had wings that were black that were also in tatters. And her hair was jet black instead of brown, a little dirty looking, really long, and a little windblown. However her face was clearly Kate's.
Suddenly he was standing right there. "What do you think? Can't live without it?"
"You did this?" Kate asked him and pointed at the painting.
"Finished it last week. You liked the other one so I tried to match it. What do you think?" He liked it a lot.
Alexis answered for her. "She'll take it."
"Alexis!" While she did kind of like it, money was tight and they were still eating Earth food gotten from the ship. Money was used to buy supplies to build the ship. Kate hated asking for money to find coffee let alone to buy this painting.
"It's yours. You can have it. If you agree to go out on a date with me." Ador waited for a response from her.
"I have a boyfriend who I love very much. He's talking to you." Alexis left Kate and actually went outside.
"I promise to be the perfect gentleman. If that's what you want," Ador said. "I know the city well."
"Do you know where I can find coffee?" She would go out on a single date with him if he found her coffee.
"I don't know what coffee is, but I'll be happy to help you look. Perhaps a picnic in a park or one on the beach?" he offered.
"Trying awful hard to get me into a bikini," Kate muttered but she still thought that he was handsome.
"What's a bikeeenee?" He tried to repeat the name but got it wrong.
Kate wasn't sure just why. "Sure, one date. A picnic in the park sounds nice."
"Three days from now work for you? Can you meet me here this same time?" Ador asked.
"That will work. Thanks." Kate turned to leave.
"You forgot your painting." He took it off the easel and handed it to her. "Can I know your name?" He knew the young woman with the long orange hair was Alexis or at least that was what this woman had called her.
"Kate. I'm Kate." She gave him a small smile.
"A pleasure to meet you, Kate. I'll see you in three days." He lifted her hand and kissed it.
Outside Kate found Alexis waiting for her. "So you agreed. He's cute." Alexis smiled at her.
"Oh shut up," Kate grumbled. "He's going to help me look for coffee even if he doesn't know what it is."
"Guess you'll have to bring him some so he can taste it. When and where?" Alexis was betting she was going to have to bring her into town.
"I meet him here and it's a picnic in the park," Kate said.
"A picnic!" Alexis liked the sound of that.
"It was that or a picnic on a beach." She wasn't nearly ready for that if, and that was a big if, they ever got past the first date.
"Picnic in a bikini. …I need to talk to Alex. Maybe we can double date if you're so scared," Alexis teased her.
"I'm not scared of him." Kate was pretty sure she could take him with ease even without her weapon. "Can we go now?" She was standing there holding a painting.
"Home, it is. Unless you want to walk everywhere with that?" Alexis asked her.
"Home, please." She didn't even know how she was going to hang it on her wall.