It wasn't everything it was supposed to be. Cosima thinks. But then again, things rarely are. And looking around her home she cannot regret the choices she made. Being the last one out in the morning gave her much needed peace. And an extra hour's sleep. But it also meant she was responsible for cleanup. Tossing toys back into bins. Loading the dishwasher. And generally trying to make their small home presentable.
She is sick of stepping on blocks and tripping over dolls. But it was just the reality of living with small children. Their stuff ended up everywhere. Cosima throws a load of cloth diapers into the washing machine, and sets it to run. That will have to be enough. At least until she gets home.
Cosima walks down the walkways, which are designed for pedestrians, though they were in the process of designing a streetcar loop to take citizens from one end of the settlement to the other. More necessary now that more homes were being built on the other side of the agricultural dome. All vehicles were strictly for expedition purposes, and built accordingly. The electric batteries also prove problematic, limiting the range of exploration for the scientists who are trying to catalogue everything about their new home. Cosima had been on one twice, on the invitation of Delphine and two of the biologists. But that was so so long ago. She remembers a forest not like any she'd ever seen, and wildlife whose DNA was so alien her lab equipment didn't know what to do with.
Houses are bigger, Cosima thinks. For the most part. It takes less than ten minutes to reach her clinic. She'd managed to get it freestanding, though next to the hospital. The outside was a white stucco like material, and the roof was metallic. It wasn't attractive. But it was functional. Inside however, Cosima thinks as she swipes her fob, it still looks like a creamsicle.
The couches are the same. Her office is open. And she knows she has only two appointments today. And one meeting with Eden about prenatal testing for a few pregnant women. Nothing she cannot handle. The blood samples can be run directly in her lab, and it's faster than waiting 24 hours for the hospital to run them.
The Swan Princess lands today, and with it, more work. Though not for her directly. Thankfully. Cosima knows she's busy enough. The council always wants population scenarios, and she runs a dozen of them. Including the current population of Leda and the passengers aboard the Swan Princess. She'll prepare it as a presentation, and present it directly to the council. Several former crew still serve on it, as well as six passengers that were chosen before boarding. Usually, it went well. Cosima thinks. Usually. Though they weren't always thrilled with her.
City hall was mostly used for managing disputes and keeping a marriage registry. And now, Cosima thinks with a wince. A divorce registry. Celia and Run Andersen. Celia had insisted on it, marching herself down to city hall days into their fraught separation. The council hadn't been sure what to do about it, so had simply taken the record. Thena gain, without lawyers the whole thing was far less nasty. There are bound to be other divorces. And she will have to deal with the... genetic consequences.
"OK computer, bring up the children in generation one. As well as all child passengers of the Swan Queen." Cosima prompts. And sure enough, every child in the settlement pops up on the screen. Each with their name, sex and date of birth. Connected to their parents. Recent photos of all the children over the age of one also display. The infants display with initials only. And that is enough, Cosima thinks. To avoid photographing every baby in the settlement every few months.
Processing.
Cosima looks at the screen, seeing her own children. As well as those of everyone she knows. Everyone was a parent seven years on, as the planners intended.
"OK. So how many children are on board the Swan Princess?'"
There are 40 children on board the Swan Princess.
"Yeah. OK. So… run a quick simulation aging these kids up and putting in genetic data for the new arrivals. What are we looking at in… Three generations. If no other ships arrive."
Looking at the results makes her laugh as Cosima knows most of them personally. Quinn Bradley was the first child born on Leda. But she's fairly certain Priya and Micah don't want her marrying their son Ari. She suspects the computer paired them due to their close age, three months apart. She makes a mental note to tease Priya about it next time Priya is the one bringing blood samples. She can imagine the eye roll and it amuses her greatly.
She looks where her own children end up in simulation, only cursorily. And notes that Priya also ends up being her eldest's mother-in-law. "Great… Well… I mean, she could do worse." Cosima mumbles. She knows Delphine doesn't like hearing about the simulations, and she doesn't blame her. She wouldn't want to tell the kids either. It is just for testing, Cosima reminds herself. Cosima takes a quick break, and is interrupted by Sol.
"Cosima."
y
"Oh. I thought Eden was bringing the samples. Isn't it your day off?" Cosima looks at the small cooler. These won't take long to run. Maternal blood samples looking for fetal DNA to rule out genetic anomalies as early in pregnancy as possible.
"I asked her to switch. Well, partially. I had to ask you something." Sol looks at her, and Sol, Cosima thinks, has remained very much the same.
"What is it?"
"I was going to take Vera to watch the landing, can you quickly write up permission to pull Élodie from the learning centre to keep her company?" Sol suggests. "I am not pulling her baby brother from the creche. So it should be pretty fun. I will bring them back after."
"Uhh, sure." Cosima is quick enough to pull out her device, and write the permission. She figures it'll be educational. And why not. Delphine probably won't mind. And no doubt Delphine will be impossible to get a hold of all morning.
The samples are easy enough to run. And they're all subsequent children so she has to run all found fetal results through her database to separate the gestating child's DNA from their older siblings'. The babies are given numbers, based on which pregnancy it is, and connected to their mothers. Sex of each is determined quickly, but Cosima has learned not to divulge that information specifically unless asked. It was better to wait, or make the midwives be the bearers of that news. Especially if someone was disappointed.
"Oooh Nola is pregnant again." Cosima remarks, running one of the samples. Since Nola had married the son of two of the crewmembers, there was always extra testing to be done since she'd had Quinn. No doubt Nola will be down here asking for the sex of her third child within days. Presuming the dome isn't too busy.
She breaks for lunch, stepping out and walking to the café and market nearby. She sits and eats, and tries to not worry too much. She can see the Swan Princess overhead, everyone has been staring up at it for weeks while shuttles brough things down to the surface. And both temporary barracks and permanent modular housing was already being built for the occupants. Who should have the luxury of settling more quickly than the first wave of colonists.
"Easier." Cosima says to herself. Nothing was easy. The mining engineers had told her extracting metals and ore from Leda was challenging, and they didn't recognize at least a quarter of what they found. The periodic table was a mess. Biologists had studied maybe half of the fauna on this continent. And most had some kind of neurotoxin in common. One that their own digestive systems seemed capable of neutralizing. One that a human's system never could. A few gerbil-like creatures weren't poisonous and the suggestion that they could be domesticated as pets had been made. But as of yet, no one has had any success either taming the critters or keeping them out of the agricultural dome. Somehow they always found a way in.
Cosima is back in the lab when she feels the earth shake when the ship touches down like a few yards from the cannibalized remains of its sister ship. There's not too much of it left. A lot went to build an apartment complex on the other side of the dome. Not part of the initial planning, but as temporary housing when required. Or for the new arrivals. Even the lift had been removed and reused elsewhere. She looks around her lab, and then decides she wants to see it. Wants to watch those colonists disembark.
A crowd has gathered in the landing area, which has been blocked off by orange safety fences, and she knows that unlike her ship, these colonists would be allowed to disembark almost immediately. As there were plenty of sleeping areas set up. And each of the 40 families had a house waiting for them. Getting used for a couple hundred new humans would take work though. She doesn't wait an hour, and finds that that disembarkment appears to be more efficient for this group.
She looks at the crowd that has gathered, and sees the new colonists largely warmly welcomed. This makes her smile. And her workload today isn't so huge she cannot get away with this. Delphine, on the other hand, was always busy. She doesn't see her wife anywhere. And she wonders if Delphine is watching from her office with a cup of tea. She might be able to see from there. Or maybe Delphine is dealing with another case of unintentional poisoning. The unfortunately toxicity of much of the local wildlife is a recurring problem. Some animals and plants cannot be touched, others cannot be consumed. The local predators seem to have some enzyme that protects them, and while Delphine has tried to replicate it, testing it is not ethical. Not yet anyway.
Genetics isn't a constant job, unless they want her sequencing wildlife again. Which isn't bad. She doesn't mind working with Devin. The biologist, Everett Zhang, was funny and it was always done in the hospital, which meant she got to see Delphine. Even if just for lunch.
"Hey. Cosima." Celia waves at her. Celia's cute redheaded daughters are nowhere to be seen, which is probably good. As cute as Mari and Ellinor are, she suspects Celia needs to destress a lot. Which means her girls are better off in the early learning centre and at creche for the time being.
"Hey. How are you holding up?" Cosima has to admit she feels bad for Celia, and hopes taht their friendship will survive this. And it's not just that Celia delivered their first child, or that she was totally unphased by her and Delphine.
"Considering I found my husband having sex with another man in my living room three weeks ago. I am well." Celia doesn't mince words. Cosima likes that about her. Typically.
"Yeah. You go out to deliver… uhh someone's third baby and come back to that…That sucks. It's horrible. I can't even imagine." Cosima shakes her head. She'd heard the story, Celia had gone out to deliver Amal's third child, the child had been born in less than an hour and a half, and had returned the same night to her girls asleep in their bedroom and her husband entertaining Oscar Smith in their living room. Oscar's marriage wasn't doing so well either, as far as Cosima knew. But she wasn't close with his wife Molly.
"Yes." Celia grits her teeth. "And Rune insists he isn't gay. And that he loves me. And I told him bisexuality isn't the problem. He can be bisexual all he wants. I told him that you can be bisexual and monogamous. I mean look at Delphine!" Celia fumes, and truly, Cosima cannot blame her. If she'd walked into Delphine doing the same she'd be as hurt and furious as Celia is now.
"Yeah… I hope there's therapists on ship two." Cosima sighs the words. And she thinks there are one or two. Hopefully both are eager to get to work. "I mean, I knew some of the passengers were flagged for homoerotic activity. But Delphine chose not to disclose it. If she even knew which ones."
"I get that. Rune seems to need a therapist. If he admits it that would help. Him anyway, the marriage is dead in the water. As for Delphine, I get it. Bisexual woman protects men who do the same… She didn't know he'd turn out to be a cheater." Celia shakes her head. "I am going to go get my girls. I should feed them supper and then they have to go to see Rune. I am on-call tonight."
"OK. Later Celia." Cosima catches sight of Rune in the crowd, and understands quickly why Celia makes a quick exit. He hasn't given up, Cosima muses. Caught like that… and hasn't given up.
The gossip and drama surrounding the divorce spread like wildfire. And Cosima understood, they had little else to gossip about. All the media they had was brought with them, though a new influx would arrive with the Swan Princess. Maybe more people would start creating. Start making things beyond grade school plays and little songs.
In the crowd which is efficiently disembarking, Cosima sees Scott, who recognizes her and makes a beeline for her. He is still wearing thermals that were more a forest green than the blue ones she remembers from the Swan Queen. And he looks tired.
"Cosima!" Scott rushes at her, and wraps her up in an enthused hug. She's surprised but pats her old friend on the back. She gets a look at him, and thinks they still look like they're fairly close in age.
"Hey Scott." Cosima gives him a smile. "Good to see you. Want to see the lab?"
"You have no idea how relieved I am to see you…" Scott shakes his head. And Cosima thinks an all-male environment was unlikely to be comfortable for Scott. Even if he had found a small nerd herd to play strategic games with. The porn was probably the same weird breeder porn Sol's husband Everett had described to her on a few occasions over dinner. All meant to get people procreating on landing. And they had, though thankfully not as fast as Nola. For the most part. There had been less than fifteen births in the first 18 months after landing, and then procreation had picked up significantly.
"Yeah. Not big on space travel."
"Not really." Scott chuckles awkwardly. "So.. where do you live?"
"Dwelling 57, near the hospital." Cosima points. "You'll probably be here too… Unless your entire crew is put on the other side of the dome."
"I think… our houses are supposed to be there. They want the city to be circular? For some reason."
"Aesthetics. Weird planners." Cosima brushes it off. "Do you need food?"
"I… need to find my new home. I'm in one of the makeshift apartments for now."
"Yeah. Those are super easy to find. Right near the dome." Cosima gives him a smile. "And don't rush to…uhh… find a wife."
"I'm not." Scott assures her. "Needs to be a good fit, otherwise divorce will ensue fast. People should take their time."
"It's all just paperwork here." Cosima tells him. "You register your marriage at city hall… you celebrate however you want afterwards. It's not a big deal."
"So… ? Are you married? Did they let you…? Or?" Scott knew, how could he not. But of course, he was loyal. He wouldn't have told anyone.
Cosima laughs. "I mean, I have a whole life here Scotty, and you will too. And yes. I got married. Just a little under two years after landing. We took our time. Delphine and I. You have our biodata." Cosima gives him a small smile.
"I do. But that doesn't tell me much beyond genetics. So…you had kids?" Scott guesses quickly. And Cosima cannot resist a small smile at the thought. At how well her plans had gone.
"Yes… With Delphine Cormier, MD PhD…. I'll have to introduce you. Elodie is 4 and Luna is not quite two."
Scott lets out a little laugh. "Two girls."
"Yes. Two girls." Cosima nods. Not needing to get into the specifics of who birthed who, at least not immediately. Surely soon enough Scott would meet Sol, and Sol would be happy to tell him the story of how she spent her entire labour with Luna either joking around or crying as she clung to Delphine. Except for the brief bit of screaming at transition.
"They let you? I assume you used the donor canisters."
"We didn't ask permission. Sol… She's one of the midwives, helped with the procedure. We did it at night and within a few months she was pregnant. And once… well once Delphine was already pregnant. What could they do?"
"And then?"
"We had Elodie. And they had to accept it. A couple years later I got pregnant and had Luna. They mostly shrugged that one off. Same donor… your ship has donor canisters too, right? Any 32 left?"
"Uhh yes. Uhh maybe?." Scott answers awkwardly as if this is the last subject he wants to discuss. And maybe it is.
"Good." Cosima nods. "Well…. Your genetics lab will be… added to mine? I guess."
Scott bumbles. "It can be. It's not as large…It can also be freestanding."
"Right. Independent colonization. Though your crew has known for seven years that we made it."
"We did. Well not me… I was a space popsicle." Scott is bumbling about it. "But the crew knew. I knew your location ten years ago. But that was before you landed. I am really happy to see you again Cosima. And that get to work with you, working with a friend is always better."
Cosima gives him a smile. "Come on. I'll introduce you around."
And she does, she shows Scott everything. And he is understandably overwhelmed.
"Your crew all retired?"
"Mostly. A few of the doctors still practice part time at the hospital. But mostly they eat the food and relax and… well try not to get killed by anything."
"Is it that dangerous?"
"Only if you eat the meat." Cosima quips. "Don't eat the meat has become a bit of a slang term here. One of our passengers, Wilder Bradley, ate one of the not-pigs and died like less than a month after landing. No one wants to be a stupid Wilder. Though, best not say that to his only child." Cosima considers it, Quinn at six and a half wasn't really aware of her father in a concrete way. And no doubt Nola was handling it her own way.
"Wow."
"Yeah. Bad wow. Welcome to the trip man, keeping these people alive and not inbreeding." Cosima waves a hand around.
"Uhhh…"
"You did tell your passengers to not breed, right?" Cosima tilts her head, hoping for an affirmative response. Scott's awkwardness was likely going to be counterproductive.
"No. I definitely did not tell them anything." Scott is quick to correct her. "And I mean they have to, with whoever they partner with… but… I don't really feel comfortable with.."
"It's fine. Delphine will handle it." Cosima decides, cutting Scott off and putting him out of his misery. Delphine was better at smoothing egos and dealing with difficult people than she will ever be. And that is for the best, Cosima thinks. They cannot both be cheeky brats.
"Delphine's the pathologist." Scott remembers. "Dr. Delphine Cormier."
"Yes, the one and only. Well… maybe not now. Your ship has one too?"
Scott nods. "Yeah. A man though. James MacDonald. He's… not very nice."
"Well, that's Delphine's problem." Cosima suspects it is an understatement coming from Scott. But there's not much she can do about it. At least Delphine will be able to take some much needed time off.
"But she'll get time off… and so will you." Scott says happily. "We are to relieve any medical or scientific staff who need a break, and then we'll begin working in shifts. It has already been communicated to us by those... well, kind of creepy, devices."
"Sounds good… Because I have two little kids." Cosima tells him. And it was true, Delphine was frequently pulled away to deal with emergencies. And unlike when Elodie was a baby, Delphine couldn't just cart her along.
"Right."
"I probably should go get them" Cosima looks at the clock. But a 28 hour day wasn't the easiest one to deal with. And she was often late getting the girls on her days. Which wasn't penalized, but did get noted in their files.
"Your…kids?" Scott brightens a little, seemingly pleased for her.
"Yeah."
"So… how is that all working?"
"What do you mean?" Cosima waves, Scott is welcome to follow her to the early learning centre and the creche if he really wants to. The two facilities are built side by side, in the centre of the settlement. Creche for children six months to two years, and the early learning centre for children two to six years of age. And then more formal schooling begins.
"I mean the women have a number of children worked directly into their contract. Mine just says that I will father children with my chosen partner. It's all based on the mother."
Cosima laughs. "Well… My contract specifies two thanks to my profession. And so does Delphine's. But you know, what are they going to do? Deport us if we don't have enough kids?"
"And you have one each?"
"Yes." Cosima waves towards an apartment building. "Are you staying here?"
"Uhh no.. I am in building six. The new one." Scott tells her. "I think it's on the other side of the agricultural dome. So the views should be good. Familiar earth crops and plants."
"Too bad." Cosima continues. "So Delphine had Elodie. And then I had Luna… And the council sends us contract reminders which I respond to accordingly."
Scott is quick to chuckle again. "But don't you have to?"
"Well first off, there's literally one vial left of the sperm we used. And that's only because I got pregnant so fast. And really…Delphine is like…40, thanks to her having to serve on the crew for three years. And while she is willing to have another child. Her age might be an issue. And really she is too damn busy to get pregnant again. Which I have told them. You should have seen how many times she had to go to the lab with tiny Elodie so she could feed her. And I told them we'd need IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis which they don't approve of because it's resource heavy. So they can deal with that."
"What about you?"
"Hah. Yeah. I am still mothering the last baby, who at 20 months is still in my bed most of the night." Cosima shakes her head. "I am tired, dude. Really tired. And I love Luna. I do. But having another baby… isn't particularly appealing right now. Plus the whole pregnancy exhaustion and then pushing the kid out of my…"
"OK…" Scott is bumbling as usual and Cosima laughs.
"They tried asking me if I wanted a boy, for more balance. I told them I would rather sleep through the night sometime in the next year. Even if it meant we'd qualify for another expansion to our home. Two kids. Same sex. Only one bedroom is needed for them according to the council."
'Fair enough." Scott agrees. "I just… It's all a lot being here. So was the…journey."
Cosima nods her agreement. "It is a lot. You need… months to decompress, honestly. It is good to see you, Scotty. You're welcome to come for dinner. Seriously. Just give me a day to talk to my wife."
"Noted." Scott laughs.
She watches Scott wander aimlessly and hopes he finds his way to his temporary dwelling. No doubt she'll be seeing lots of him. And that is a good thing. It has to be. She picks up Luna first, taking her diaper bag and pulling her toddler into her arms. She gives her a little kiss.
"So happy to see you." Cosima tells her daughter. And she is.
"Mommy." Luna puts her little hands on her face and gives her a very messy kiss on the cheek. And Cosima wonders if she's learned that from watching Delphine. With Luna on her hip, commenting aimlessly, she gets Elodie who runs to give her a hug. Looking up at her with the same perfect big eyes as her maman.
"OK. Let's go home." Cosima manages to wrangle her children home and cook them dinner while they run excited circles around her between playing with their toys. As per usual, Delphine is on time.
"Maman!" Both girls run to her, and Cosima cannot resist a small smile. Delphine scoops up Elodie to kiss her, and then picks up Luna who is pleading to go up with her arms lifted above her little head.
"Dinner should be soon. It's soup." Cosima tells her.
"Soup is perfect, mon amour." Delphine shoots her a small look, that no doubt means hopefully the kids eat it.
Cosima checks her personal device and finds a message from Scott.
Checked the gene bank on the Swan Princess. 6 vials of 32. If you need them. Or not… this is weird. I know you want to discourage more half-siblings in the population.
She responds with a quick thanks. She can run that by Delphine at any rate. Cosima is stirring her soup and contemplating the possibility, surely with another pathologist Delphine will have more time. And two more OB-GYNs were supposed to be on the Swan Princess… and really Sol and Celia are capable of handling anything as long as it falls into the realm of normal risk.
"What are you thinking?" Delphine removes her device from her hands softly, placing it back onto the counter. "You're never this quiet."
"Just possibilities." Cosima tells her honestly. It's something they can consider at any rate. "We have… options to discuss."
"We'll talk later?" Delphine reads her quickly, glancing at the girls currently playing with a balance board and jumping on the couch respectively. Within a couple hours both girls would be tucked into their beds in the second bedroom. And a few hours later, Luna would wake and pad down the hallway on her little feet calling for them. But they have some time, some time Cosima intends to make the most of. In more ways than one.
"Yeah."
"I am happy to be home, ma chérie. Also, I am happy that I will get at least two weeks off when the new pathologist is oriented. I want to spend it with you. And the girls." Delphine tells her, her soft hands going to her face, and her lips pressing softly but firmly to her own. Cosima melts just a little in the comfort and familiarity of her wife's embrace.
"Me too." Tomorrow there would be more work, more half-lost new colonists. More poisoning and genetics to test. But tonight, she gets to be with Delphine. And the promise of more time, more leisure is enough to have her feeling more than a little excited.
"It shall be another adventure." Delphine quips softly with a slow smile.
And it will, Cosima thinks contentedly. It already has been.