Chapter 9

The time specified by Five passed and they smoothly jumped back to south Ontario, on the following day. Before leaving Five, Android, and Six alone onboard the Raza, Two addressed the older man in private. "Last chance to make up your mind, Six. You have until we return to decide whether you stay or go back with us." He nodded and went to his quarters. In the mess hall, Three was instructing Five. "It's not that I think he would do anything to you, kid. And I know that the Robot is here, so you should be safe. But do not give him your back, ok? Keep him always on your peripheral, so he cannot sneak up on you. We should be back in less than 48 hours, I promise. I still don't understand why we actually need to stay that long." He said directing his annoyance at Android. She was unperturbed when she replied. "I have calculated that you will need at least 8 to 12 hours to come to terms with things, then to clear your mind and identify what you want to say, and then to clear your expression as will be needed upon your return to the ship." Three's frown was deep. "I know you are speaking English, but I don't understand one word of what you just said." Two grabbed him by his jacket and pushed him towards the Marauder. "Android, monitor Six's movements, please. Come on, lover, I'll explain it to you on the ground. Let's go. Now." This grabbed his attention. Impishly smiling he replied, "Yes, Boss! Be safe, kid!" Once upon the Marauder he could not hold his tongue. "You just had to say that you wanted to have quality time alone with me as our farewell to old Earth, darling. I'm all yours in our big house all to ourselves for the next almost 48 hours." Two sighed and rolled her eyes before setting the course on the controls. "This reminds me… We need to get you to improve your piloting skills, Three. And we need to find an experienced pilot as well. You cannot be the gunman and the pilot on the same rides. Buckle up."

They landed in the secure place they had been using to hide the Marauder and took the van back to their place. Two was quiet in the passenger seat, having let Three be the driver for a change. It was interesting that he was so good at driving on the ground, while his spacecraft piloting skills were very different. "Wanna grab a bite before we get to the house? We're near that Thai place that you like." "That's nice. Yeah, I can eat." At the restaurant Three ordered the dishes that he knew Two enjoyed the most. "What are you doing? We can't eat all of that!" "Honey, haven't you heard the term 'doggie bag'? We will eat our share and then bring something back for that midnight snack craving we get after, you know, a lot of great sex. I am planning on using the kitchen counters tonight and not for cooking. They look sturdy enough for that thing you do with your leg." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Two could not help it, he made her laugh. It was one of the great things about their, whatever they had. A relationship? An affair? An arrangement? He was so clear about his intentions to have as much sex with her as he could, to give her as much attention as she let him, that it was sweet. His straightforward attitude made her happy. She did not think that old Portia had the best lover, in fact. Boone could not be what Three was, so the evil bitch was certainly missing out on so much. Good.

They carried their take away food into the house and as soon as the door was locked and he put all the bags near the pantry, he turned and locked his lips with hers in a hungry kiss. She returned the kiss, and then more. She wasn't sure what she felt about the pregnancy, but the fact that he had given her such a miracle made her want to show her appreciation, her love for this gun man as much as she could. They had one of their longest sex sessions ever. Three had the endurance of a much younger man, with the added value that could only come with experience. Plus, he had really sensitive fingers. Two never had enough of that. And he was also an eager learner. He let her show him what she liked, what she wanted from him, and he complied well all the time. Many times, oh so well! For his part, he was a cliché indeed. He enjoyed trying sexual positions and looking at her and doing all the 'regular sex' and more original sex and even some things that bordered on the kinky side.

After a long while, their explorations of the rooms in the house that they had not used took them to the living room. When she was lying down on the couch, with Three's head leaning on her shoulder during a respite, she simply blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

She could feel Three catch his breath and go very still. After a moment, he relaxed again and his hand started drawing circles on the nipple closest to him. He stayed that way for several minutes until Two could not take it any longer. "You heard me right. I am pregnant. If you dare question if it's yours…" He lifted his head from her shoulder, pushed himself closer and kissed her. Deeply, meaningfully, exposing an emotion that she could not name, yet she felt it transfer from him into her. Then he sat and pulled her up with him. "I heard you. I know it is mine. I am just thinking…you know I am not the most scientifically inclined among us, right? And even though I know how pregnancies occur regularly…I don't know. I thought it was not possible for us." The fact that he used the word 'us' instead of 'you', made the fierce captain of the Raza break down in tears. That scared him. "What? What happened? Did I say something wrong?" In between her tears, she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in for yet another kiss. "I'm ok. It's ok. It's just… sometimes you have such a certainty about stuff that you scare me. You said 'us', as if we are an item." This got him somewhat upset. "Well, darling, I think we are an 'item'. I do not think I'd like it if you went and shagged Six, or any other man, to be honest. A threesome with another girl, that is something that I am open to, for sure. As long as you like the girl for that arrangement only, not as a fixed situation in our lives. Sorry to inform you that, apparently, I am quite possessive of my mate. I am upset that you don't see us as partners. What am I? Just your sex toy? Have I just been convenient during this time? What about our baby? What do you plan to do with her?" By that time, Three's voice had escalated in anxiety and tone.

Two hugged him and took her turn to lean her head on his shoulder. She started kissing his neck, an area that she favoured because he was very sensitive there. He was not letting her distract him this time though. "Stop that, it's not fair." She stopped her kisses but talked to him from her position on his shoulder. "I think in the beginning, since early on when we woke up on the Raza, you were convenient. You are good at sex, Three. I enjoyed it then with you." He tensed up at her words and tried to extricate himself from her grasp. She did not let him. "Then, after that business with Wexler's crew. You rejected me." "I already told you how sorry I am for that. I was confused by all that was happening. And then, you were on and off with One, remember? Rejecting you because of the nanites was my excuse for not wanting to share you with him." "It's ok. I did not go back to him after that, for your information. Something was pulling me to you, not to him. He was a special person to me, but something made me want to tease you and see what you did and say. I think that not being sex partners since I discovered my healing ability was good. Other… feelings… were able to develop instead. Why if not was it you who gave the code of the Vault to Wexler?" "I could not bear the thought of you being dead in space. I knew then that whoever old Marcus Boone had been, I was not him any more. He threatened to space Five! How could he?! I could not let Wexler do that to you. But then, I got scared. I, my ignorance makes me scared sometimes. I hate it, but there is nothing I can do." "That is true, in a way. But you are not ignorant. There is just so much with us, with all of us to take in. I was scared of myself, too. Even after Android gave us the report, it was so confusing. Later on, finding out that I had been Rebecca before turning into Portia. I have always wondered… how come I woke up as me? Rebecca was planned, she was programmed to be. Portia can be explained by the torture she suffered at the hands of the technicians and scientists at Dwarf Star Tech. But me? I am not Portia, I am not Rebecca either. Who am I? Where do I come from? Who created me? I have been scared shitless of these questions for the longest time. I was scared to let go with all of you, because I did not know that I was not going to hurt you. Through our distance, you started to change. There were small details, little things, but I noticed them. I'm not even sure you were consciously doing them, but I could see. After all that, after this time, it was here, in this forsaken time that we managed to reach out. We are an item, but how could I ask you to think of me this way? I don't have the words for that. You don't either. It's not really who we are. Here, you were not convenient. Here, you were the only one I wished to turn to and let go with. I feel a connection that is special. There was no war threat, no Ishida Empire after us. Corporations as we know them still don't exist. This time was the right time for us. And then, we made a miracle."

Three smiled at that. "I am not dreaming this, am I? You are really pregnant with my baby. It all sounds so…" "Strange?" "…I was gonna say 'simple'. True. Grounding. Boy meets girl, they play hooky and he gets her pregnant. A baby is on her way. Simple life, like the ones they live here, now." "I know. But our lives are not simple. Our time is not simple. I wanted to tell you about our, about our baby here while we are alone, for several reasons. The first one is that it is our private moment, our intimacy, and no one else's. I have the printout from the scan that Android made. Do you want to see it?" "Yes!" She showed him the print and after she answered all the questions she could, Two continued. "Remember that Android told you she estimated some time for you to clear your expression? She meant the expression you have on your face right now." "What? Like I'm dreaming?" "You're smiling like mad!" She laughed with him and swatted him on the shoulder. "I can't help it. This is something big, Two. This is something amazing. I so want to have this baby with you. It's incredible." "Yes, I agree. But we need to protect our baby." He was serious in less than a second. "Of course. I will protect her with my life. You know this, right?" "I do. Listen. Six must not find out. The least he knows about our newest resources and the least he can tell about us in particular, the better. We need to keep this to ourselves until he leaves. You need to show nothing on your face. If he sees your goofy face, he is going to ask questions, and remember that for a former GA, he's not bad at interrogation. After he leaves, we can tell Five. Then, I think we need to lay low for a while, hopefully until the baby is born. If the war is not raging on when we return, we could go to the far edge of the galaxy and subsist on our resources. Three interrupted her. "How long did you say it will take until she's born?" "She?" "Absolutely. She's going to be our little princess. Then, if…, if we manage another miracle, we can have a little boy to be his big sister's snitch. No boy will ever date her…" "Stop! You're already planning too much. Listen. This is particularly unmarked territory for all of us. This pregnancy is so unique that it is scary. We need to tell Five soon enough because that girl is so smart that she will find out otherwise. I do not want her to feel like we kept this from her." "Sure. She's our 'eldest', after all, she needs to get the news as soon as possible…" Three frowned for a moment, "…wait. Do you want Six to leave, or did he tell you he's leaving?" "Actually, I invited him to consider staying behind when we leave. There is no one in particular that waits for him back, in our future. He feels terrible for the death of those people he helped kill under the orders of the General. If he stays behind, it could help him."

Again, Three considered his words, "I agree that the, let's say, 'distance' may help him feel better about his shit. But how do we know that he will not use his knowledge of our time to mess up with us? For all we know, two hundred years from now, his descendants will be setting traps for us every step of the way, without even knowing the reason behind such family imperatives. I would not feel that we are safe giving him such power over us." Two meditated on his words. "I had not thought of this in that light, to be honest. Now you have me worried. I will have to stop him from leaving if he so chooses to do. I'll find a way to justify my change of mind." "No need to worry. He's on board the Raza, and the Robot will not let him go without checking with you. When we get on board, I can shoot him and we can keep him in the infirmary." Two smiled at her man, "old reliable you, Three. You just want an excuse to shoot Six." "I can't deny that, Babe. Now even less than ever, with little Baby growing inside you. We have to prevent him from hurting her like he hurt Five." She grew serious for a moment, "there will be no shooting Six, Three. As much as Five hurt with his betrayal, it would still hurt her to see him die." It was Three's turn to smile then, "Sweetheart, I think you are underestimating our young girl. Five is truly and very deeply distrustful of Six. I cannot tell you in words how she feels, but I can perceive her discomfort all the time she looks at him. It's like that time during the Wexler fiasco. At the station. The way she talked; I could tell she was doubting herself. It was strange since she was always sure of those things. And I could tell. Don't ask me how, but I did. And I can tell now that she's just waiting for him to say something idiotic to wish him dead herself. Aaaand, she's set the Robot on to people before, she can do it again, if she feels threatened. So, I don't think that she would despise me for shooting him to keep us safe, darling." Two couldn't do anything but nod her head, "what a dysfunctional family we are, huh? When the youngest and brightest of us is the master mind behind a good number of murders, what does that say about us?" Three smiled his crooked smile and leaned in to kiss Two, "It says that people better not cross the crew of the Raza, unless they are prepared to pay the price in blood. I think that's about right."

A couple of days later, Two and Three had said their goodbyes to the neighbours and were on their way to the site where the Marauder was hidden. They had chosen not to use the shuttle's jumping capability in order to prevent Six from getting that knowledge. In a way, they were going a long length to keep secrets form Six, but everyone agreed that it was for the best. They had hidden the Marauder in invisibility and a network of signals that confused scanners, if they had any possibility to scan for such a ship in the 21st.

Docking the Marauder in the Raza was such a relief to Two that she could not stop herself from sighing. Three noticed and wrapped his arms around the petite woman. "I know. We're home now. And with yet more luck and some accurate calculations from Five and the Robot, we will be in our own type of familiar yet comforting shit, sweetheart. I have been thinking and I do not want to raise our baby in this century." Two allowed herself to lean into the embrace for a few moments. "Hush. No talk about a baby until Six is out of our way. We agreed." The man took hold of Two's face, and looking into her eyes, he said, "Yes. Don't worry. He will not know. I swear." In that instant Two got a clear and deep understanding that if Six learned of her situation before his departure, Three would never let him live. The steel in Three's eyes declared that he was certain that killing Six would be the easiest way to prevent him from using the knowledge in any way. And he would make it happen if he felt it was necessary. No doubts. No hesitation. No guilt.

Two could not be really surprised. In the several situations when Five had been at risk or hurt, Three had not hesitated in confronting and eliminating the threat. He had protected the girl as if she was his own, without sharing a blood bond. It was without saying that he would easily go the whole way to hell and back to protect his own flesh and blood. Reassuring in many ways, if you asked her. "I am going to say this now: I trust you with my life, and with the life of our child. Now, let's put your blank face on and try to leave this ancient civilization."

Five was anxiously waiting for them in the bridge. "What took you so long? I can't leave my station now. Was the docking alright? I've missed you, guys!" Two made her way to the girl, who was frantically working in preparation to their hopefully last jump out of the 21st century. The young woman hugged the teenager from the side and kissed her temple, "Sorry. We didn't want to worry you, we just…" Three interrupted, giving Five a kiss of his own, "My bad, kid. I was trying to convince Two to 'christen' the Marauder, but she wouldn't budge." "Eeewwwww! Daaad!" Android was standing in her usual manner next to Five's station. She really did not need to be in the bridge to control the ship, but she would be next to Five in case the girl needed her. Two smiled and greeted the AI. "Android, how are things? And where is Six?" "It is good to see you, Two. Three. The Raza is in good order, ready to perform the jump as required, our stores are secured and all systems are on standby and responding. Six has been meditative and quiet—she paused for a couple of seconds—here he comes now." As she indicated, Six entered the bridge at that moment. "Hey guys, glad to see you back. Two, can we talk? In fact, I'd like to speak to all of you, please." Three had not said a word, his gaze never leaving sight of Six. He still had not put on his gun, but he was ready to take down Six if needed. Two looked at Five. "Five, can you stop for a moment to hear what Six has to say?" The girl briefly looked up from her station to catch Two's eyes. A silent question passed between them and its answer made the girl frown in thought. "Give me a second…, ahuh…, there. Ok. I'm all ears."

"Ok, I'll be brief. A short time ago, Two suggested that I might be happy staying here, I mean in the 21st. It would be my choice to stay or go back, so I gave this idea good consideration. I know you have not fully forgiven me from what happened months ago, and that is a burden for me. But I have a heavier burden to carry with my participation in the mass murder of people on that planet. I could stay here and never have an inkling as to what happens next. Easy way out. But I also know that there is someone out there in our time that is blood of my blood. He will probably never see me again, but I cannot live the rest of my life in this era knowing he is out there. I am choosing to go back to our time, with you. I know I can't be part of the crew again, so, if you agree, I'll ask you to drop me in the planet or station of your convenience, when we return. I will not follow you or try to locate you again. You have my word that I will not sell you out to the GA or anyone else either. I will disappear." Three offered, "I can make you disappear, if that's what you really want." Two touched his arm and replied, "Three, stop it." She then addressed the rest of the crew. "Any thoughts?" Five looked from Six to Two and then turned her attention back to her station, "Whatever you decide is fine with me, Two." "As the captain of the Raza, what you say goes, Two." Android added. "Thank you. Three? Any comments?" The rugged man stood in silence for a second, then said, "They've said it, Boss Lady. Whatever you say."

"Well, then. When trust is broken, it is really hard to mend it. We know it. We have felt it. That is no way to fly in a crew. We need to be able to trust one another fully, or it won't happen—she looked at Three, Five, and Android, and then turned back to Six—I am sorry that you did what you did. You lost us. So, I think your suggestion is the best solution. As soon as we find ourselves where we belong, we will find somewhere to drop you off. In the meantime, I just want you to know that as sorry as I am about this, I find it necessary to have Android monitor your activity while onboard. If you attempt anything to sabotage us, well, you will not succeed." She gave Six a look that conveyed both her determination to protect her crew from further hurt and damage at his hands, and the sadness that the need for such precautions brought her. "Ok, with that out, how are we doing in terms of the jump?"

Android blinked a few times before speaking, "systems ready. Five?" "Calculations ready. I was running my very last simulation, considering all negative parameters and the worst-case scenario situation. We are far from that, but you know how it is with luck and us, so…" "Don't we know it, kid! That's wise." Two ordered then, "Fine. Everyone, strap on. Android, take us back to our time, please." "With pleasure, Two. Initiating systems re routing sequence. Engaging Blink Drive capability on dimensional coordinates. Energy displacement allotted for. Jumping in five…, four…, three…, two…, one…" Some more blinking afterwards, "Jump complete. Scanning position of stars for external confirmation. Stand by. Five, initiate signal search, please." "Searching for signals,…wait, I think I have something…" they all held their breaths… "screening signals, now…" they looked at the big screen over the back of the bridge and it was possible to perceive their anxiety lift when they heard the familiar monotone of the GA news anchors "…the situation in Zairon is dire. Leaders of the opposition are struggling to keep their actions within the rules of combat after witnessing the atrocities of their Emperor…" Three whistled, "We're back!" Two asked, "Android?" "Star mapping confirmation. Coordinates confirmed as well. The news and data scans indicate that we are in the right time. We made it." Everyone was out of their seats in no time. Three was frantically jumping up and down, holding Five by her arms. "We made it! And what a jump, kid! I didn't feel a thing! Well done!"

Two kept her head and started issuing orders. "Android, give us a good defensive scan of frequencies. Keep us as far away from everyone as possible until we assess the current situation. Also, search for a remote yet safe planet or station on which to let Six go. Everyone, you have a whole shift free to yourselves. Enjoy our return to the 25th, people. I will meet with you again in a few hours."