Once in the kitchen, Amelia and Sarah began to talk. That is, about everything other than children. Amelia fell suddenly quiet as she did the dishes, and Sarah looked over at her, offering kindly, "You think you won't be able to handle this, don't you?"
Amelia put the dish she had just washed down, and sighed. "C'mon, Amelia… what are you worrying about?" Sarah asked her in a gentle voice.
"Oh, I don't know, Sarah. Perhaps the fact that my body is no longer my own. I now have at least three new souls aboard, and all without my leave, mind you," Amelia commented sourly.
"Oh, my…" Amelia moaned, as an unsettling wave of nausea washed over her.
Sarah knew what was going on, having been through much the same herself when she had been carrying Jim. "I know it's not fun, Amelia. It's your three new crew members that are causing your nausea, you know. You are eating for the four of you now, each of your children getting what they need from you, their mother." Sarah explained. She stopped, put down her dish towel, and went to the refrigerator. She opened the door and took some food out.
Amelia looked at the food with obvious distaste. Her stomach was doing a series of most impressive acrobatics at the moment. "Must I? Amelia complained, frowning. "I've worked rather hard to stay fit. I really rather not lay waste to my figure, if I may avoid it."
"Amelia, honey, you're pregnant," Sarah told her patiently. "Your figure is going to change… regardless of whether you eat or not. But you must eat… for the good of your children." Sarah laid the plate on the table, and escorted Amelia to sit. "Trust me, after you've had your children, they'll be more than willing to whip you back to your normal svelte form again in no time at all…"
"Hmm," Amelia said around a bite of food. "You're just full of information this day, aren't you, Mrs. Hawkins?"
"Yes, I am," Sarah said sweetly, and patted Amelia gently on the cheek. Amelia scowled, but wisely said nothing.
The following day, Amelia got up early, and dressed. She wrote a note to Delbert, explaining where she was going, and then headed for the ferry to the spaceport.
Aboard the ferry, she experienced another unsettling bout of nausea. But this was not like the other times… no, she felt woozy and dizzy, even though she was sitting. She was forced to grip the wall so as not to fall. Perhaps, it was her being on the ferry that was exacerbating the symptoms she was feeling. Spacesickness, maybe. Yes, that must be it…
Just as she regained her composure once more, she heard a voice. "Ahoy there, Cap'n! Might I take that seat o' yers?" A simian creature asked.
"Of course. Be my guest, Mr. Modney," Amelia answered politely.
Spacer Modney sat down gratefully, and then looked up at Amelia. "So. If you don't minds me askin', Cap'n… do the rumors be true?" he asked.
"Mr. Modney… whatever are you talking about? What rumors?" Amelia asked shortly, looking down at him.
"Ah, Cap'n," he said, a bit unsure of himself now. "Well, me mates was tellin' me that… er, well… that you was 'bout to have yerself some kitties long about soon…"
Amelia scowled, somewhat stunned that her condition was already being bandied about the spaceport. "Mr. Modney, do I look as if I'm going to have---what was it you said so eloquently now?---some 'kitties'?" Amelia asked in a scathing voice.
"Well, no, ma'am," Modney returned, a bit red-faced now. "But everywheres I goes, I hears the same thing, doncha know. 'Yo, mate… has yeh heard that Captain Amelia's bout to be a mother?'" The monkey-like being nodded his head in affirmation. "On me affadavit, Cap'n ma'am… and that's no lie!"
Amelia snorted derisively. "You really shouldn't believe rumors you hear about a space port, Mr. Modney," Amelia answered bluntly.
"Aye, ma'am. So… you ain't pregnant then?" Modny asked, then added a quick, "ma'am."
"I shall not say if I am… or I'm not, Mr. Modney," Amelia replied. "All I relayed to you is that it isn't wise to believe everything you hear." Amelia moved off toward the bow of the ferry.
"You asks a simple question, and that's what yeh gets," Modney said to no one in particular, and shook his head.
Amelia returned, and grimaced to find Mr. Modney still there.
"Yar, Cap'n. Meanin' no disrespect or anythin'… but I gots to know. So ares yeh or not havin' any wee ones?" he asked, cringing, expecting---at best---a verbal tongue-lashing from the dour Captain. Amelia scowled at him long enough to make the man squirm in his seat.
Amelia sighed. "Oh, very well, since I know you'll continue to pester me until I answer you," Amelia replied reluctantly. "I am," she told him in a very hushed voice. "There, are you quite satisfied now?"
"Aye, Cap'n. Very satisfied, indeed am I," Modney said, tugging his forelock respectfully, and smiling from ear to ear. "Well, good for you, Cap'n, ma'am. Now, if'n you'll excuse me… I'll be off now." He got up, nodded his head, and made his way aft. Amelia could only sigh heavily, knowing Modney would blab it about to his mates aboard the ferry as well as the spaceport after they arrived.
Once she walked the streets of the spaceport, it seemed every spacer had some comment or word of encouragement or congratulations on her impending pregnancy.
She passed by three young cadets, who all promptly saluted her, and stating with barely disguised smiles, "Good morning Captain Amelia, Mom, I mean, Ma'am." She returned their salutes, and chose to ignore their banter. Her acute hearing allowed her to hear what they whispered to one another.
"I can´t belive that the Captain's going to be a mother," the first of them said.
"Well, mate, by the way she reacted just now, she definitely is one," the second observed.
"Boy, I sure hope Jim isn't going to tell her that it was him who started the rumor," the last of them said. "Captain Amelia isn't going to like that. No, not at all."
"Ah, so it was our Mr. Hawkins, who was the security breach," Amelia thought to herself, scowling. She filed that bit of data away for later, and continued on to the RLS Legacy.
As she neared her ship, she saw a figure of a boy walking standing at foot of the gangway to the Legacy. A man standing there motioned the boy over. The boy smiled at looked curiously at the man. He looked to be maybe ten years old.
"You, boy," the man said, "Do you think you could do me a favor, young sir?"
"Depends. What would it be, sir?" the boy asked, just a bit warily.
"You know who Captain Amelia Doppler is, don't you, boy?"
"Why, of course, sir! Why she's the famousest Captain of 'em all. Oh, and… she's going to be a mother, did you know, sir?"
The man nodded. "That's right. Now… here is a letter for her. You stay here, and when she gets to the Legacy, why you give that to her, y'hear? Oh, an' here's a couple o' crontars, fer yer trouble, lad." The boy beamed, and gladly accepted the money.
"Yes, sir!" the boy replied, and dutifully waited. He watched the big man in the cloak walk away and disappear into the crowd.
Amelia finally made it to her ship, and arched an eyebrow at the small boy waiting---apparently for her---at the foot of the gangway.
"Ma'am! Cap'n! This letter's for you, ma'am," the boy declared, tugging on Amelia's sleeve to get her attention.
"Thank you, my fine young man, for a service well rendered," she told and gave him a crontar for his trouble. As the boy meandered off, she looked down at the letter in her hand. Shrugging her shoulders, she slit the envelope with her thumb claw, opened it, and read:
Good Morning, Cap´n,
I was in the neighborhood and thought I would give you my congratulation myself. Now, now, don´t bother looking for me. By the time you get this, I'll be long gone. Just wanted you to let you know that you're going to be a grand mother. Oh… an' say hello to Jimbo for me, if you would, and thank him again for keepin' me out of the hoosegow. Yeh can blame it on me, if yeh like, but go easy on the boy… he's got himself a good heart now, Cap'n.
Regards
John Silver
Amelia looked down at the letter, and scowled. This simply couldn't be true. That pirate wouldn't dare come here… with me around, at least. Amelia looked back to the boy who had delivered the letter.
"A moment, my fine young man," Amelia called. The boy turned back, curious. "The man who gave you this… do you perhaps remember what he looked like?" she asked.
The boy narrowed his eyes, and looked up a moment, trying to remember. "Well, ma'am… he was pretty big, and had a cool accent. Oh, yeah… and was a cyborg too. How cool is that?" the boy answered.
So it was him, Amelia said to herself, frowning. She gave the boy another crontar before going aboard the Legacy. Later on, after she'd done all she had come to do, she returned to the ferry. She silently fumed, and simply could not wait to have a little chat with Mr. James Hawkins…