Title: Proof of Existence Chapter Six

Disclaimer: As usual, not mine.

Author's note: Sorry this took so long! First there was writer's block, then getting ready for the holidays, then the holidays, then watching my brand-new Starsky and Hutch DVDs non-stop. But I'm back now.

There may be some odd spelling in this, the spell checker on my word processing program doesn't seem to be working properly. I caught everything I could, but some mistakes may have slipped through.

Thanks again to my husband and Paper Parcel for helping out.

"Right then, sir, you'll do" the sergeant said, giving Ash a final once-over. They were waiting for Kyle to summon them for the briefing.

"Thank you, Sergeant" Ash said brusquely, relieved that he was finally finished. "Nothing to do now except wait."

He wished his crippled leg allowed him to pace, and settled for drumming his fingers instead. Ash was not by nature patient, and being dependant on his unwanted hosts didn't sit well with him. He was tired of the uncertainty. He wanted to know if he and the sergeant were going home.

He thought again, as he had the first night on the planet's surface, of what would happen if they weren't. His fiancée, Susan Mount, was already widowed, and she had seen Ash almost killed in front of her. What would losing him this way do to her? And the men of his section. Not so much to them to lose him (though he knew Mully would grieve) but what would happen to them without the sergeant? Who else could keep Wilkins' larcenous impulses from getting out of hand? Who would keep the volatile "Tiny" Powell out of trouble?

"Sergeant, if we don't get back, and Corporal Horrocks was promoted to your place, could he keep Powell under control?"

The sergeant turned a worried look towards him. "I don't know, sir. I've been wondering myself. Powell's always been a problem. I've always had to keep a weather-eye on him. And there's Mully. I've worried about some of the older men being a bad influence on the lad. That's why I nudged him, so to speak, into volunteering to be your batman. You had to be a better influence on him than that dirty lecher Baines."

Ash laughed shortly. Baines was a notorious ladies-man.

There was a moody silence for a few moments. Then the sergeant said "But we may be worrying for naught. Mayhap they'll tell us today they're sending us home."

Ash snorted. "I'd like to believe that. But based on us having descendants here? What's the chances of that?"

"Well sir, I don't much fancy my chances of having descendants at all. But surely you and Mrs. Mount are planning on a family some day?"

Ash shrugged. "After the war I suppose. We hadn't talked about it yet."

"Well, then, sir."

Captain Kirk looked around the assembled officers. Lt. Leslie had the com, and Sulu was present this time in case they needed his navigational expertise. McCoy's tests had taken longer to run than expected, so Kirk himself didn't know the results yet.

"All right people, let's begin." He decided to start with what would probably be the fastest report, to get it out of the way. "Mr. Spock, has anything new turned up in the historical records?"

"Negative, Captain. At this point I believe we have exhausted the limited data that we can access while isolated here. If there are to be any new revelations, they will have to come from Dr, McCoy's investigations." Possibly only Kirk knew the Vulcan officer well enough to hear the annoyance in his voice at that admission.

"Why Spock, I never thought I'd hear you admit I have any use at all." McCoy smiled. He was plainly set on milking the situation for all he could.

"Doctor, do you have a report?" Kirk asked patiently.

"Yes I do. We ran comparisons of DNA from Captain Ash and Sergeant James with every human member of the crew. And, in fact we came up with one positive match." The doctor paused and grinned, allowing his audience's tension to rise.

"Well, Doctor?" Kirk pressed.

"Not that we couldn't have guessed anyway." McCoy continued, his smile widening.. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, Sergeant James. It's an engineering officer! Mr. Scott, your long-lost great-granddaddy."

There was a buzz of conversation. Ensign Chekov's voice burst over the intercom. "Vy am I not surprised by zis?"

Another voice, Kirk thought he recognized someone from ship's maintenance, came over the intercom. "If you expected it, you should have got in on the pool, Chekov." There was a note of triumph in the voice, and Kirk suspected that whoever it was had been a winner.

Meanwhile, both Sergeant James and Mr. Scott seemed to have been startled into speechlessness, and were simply staring at each other, Scott in delight, and James in stunned disbelief.

Captain Ash also had a look of surprise, but he pulled himself together quickly. "Congratulations, Sergeant" he said cheerily, then to Kirk he added "I assume this means we can go home?"

Kirk smiled. He was glad the dilemma had been resolved so easily. "Yes, Captain Ash. I don't want to do without my Chief Engineer."

Christine Chapel had entered the room, and now she whispered something to McCoy. McCoy's eyes widened for a moment, and his grin turned into what Kirk could only call a smirk. He murmured something back to Chapel, who nodded and left. McCoy turned back tot he table where James and Scotty were still staring each other, just as the sergeant finally whispered "I'm going to have a child?"

"Well at least one, at some point." McCoy agreed cheerfully. "And" he added more loudly, "Nurse Chapel has just brought me some more information. It seems we have another match."

That got him the room's attention. "We can credit Nurse Chapel for this" he continued. "I programmed the computer to check the human crewmembers, and it followed instructions exactly. Nurse Chapel thought of going further."

The doctor smirked again and turned towards Captain Ash. Kirk had a sudden feeling he knew exactly where this was heading, though the thought astonished him.

"Captain Ash, I'm not sure if I should congratulate you or commiserate, but... it's a science officer!"

All eyes turned towards Mr. Spock. Spock tilted up an eyebrow. "Indeed. I am... gratified to learn of the relationship."

Ash's mouth fell open. His eyes were wide. "How... how is that possible?" he stuttered.

"Obviously through his mother's line" the doctor said. He was plainly overjoyed with the reaction to his announcement.

"I am only half Vulcan, Captain Ash." Spock explained. "My father was ambassador to Earth when he meet my mother."

The anonymous voice on the intercom broke in again. "Now that's one I don't think anyone had bet on."

Another voice. "Speak for yourself... I won!"

Kirk sighed. "This is the Captain speaking. Please stop jamming the air with these outbursts. And, by the way, if I find that any of this pools activity was conducted during duty hours, the offenders are going to find themselves facing extra duty scrubbing out the holds. Is that understood?"

"Sorry captain." "Yes sir." There was a chorus of acknowledgement, then silence.

Kirk turned his attention back to the table. "All right people, now that we know that Captain Ash and Sergeant James both had children conceived after May 24th, 1944, it's obvious we need to return them. So our next priority is how to do so. Any ideas, Mr. Spock?"

Spock, impassive despite the revelation, steepled his fingers in thought. "Obviously we can not just leave this place. As soon as we leave Grylock's 'pocket universe', we will re-enter a time line we now know to have been altered. Unlike our experience with the Guardian of Forever, where our proximity to the Guardian sheltered the landing party from the effects of the time change, in this situation there would be nothing that we know of to prevent this ship from becoming similarly altered to conform with that time line."

"In other words, Spock, you and Mr. Scott might simply... cease to exist?"

"More than that, Captain. Even if both Captain Ash and Sergeant James have only one child each, over the course of three hundred years, one person can leave a great many descendants. Not just Mr. Scott and myself, but every other person descended from the Captain and Sergeant, all the way back to the twentieth century, will cease to have ever existed. We have no idea how many people that adds up to, nor what contributions to history they may have made, nor what disruption will result to history as a result. The results might be completely unrecognizable."

"I... see." Kirk said thoughtfully.

Captain Ash had been listening. "Well, then, can't you go back in time to before Grylock altered things, and then leave here? If he hasn't altered it yet, and you put us back before he does..." He trailed off. "Does that make any sense?"

Spock tilted an eyebrow again. "Indeed it does, Captain Ash." He turned to Kirk. "I believe Captain Ash has found our solution. If we go back in time here, back to before Grylock removed Captain Ash and Sergeant James, there should be no reason why we should not be able to leave this area, return to Earth, and then replace them."

"Bravo, Captain Ash. It's good to see Spock didn't get all his brains from his father's side of the family." McCoy quipped.

"Indeed, Doctor. My mother was a teacher when she met my father, and is known for her exceptional intelligence and perceptiveness. After all, she married my father." Spock agreed, dead pan.

"Gentlemen, please." Kirk sighed in exasperation. "Mr. Scott, what about it? Can we go back to 1944 here, and then travel to Earth?"

Scotty seemed still lost in contemplation of Sergeant James. He looked up, startled. "Sir?"

Kirk sighed again. "Mr. Scott. Can we travel back in time 1944 here and then proceed to Earth?"

"Oh, aye. There's no reason why it would be any more difficult. As to traveling back to earth, well, it's not my department to know what was going on in this sector of space 300 years ago, but I doubt we'll run into anything we can't handle."

"Though" Mr. Spock broke in, "If we do 'run into' anything, we must not 'handle' it, for to do so would run the risk of changing some other race's history."

"Aye, there's that. But my engines will be up to the task of running away, if that's all we can do."

"Very good." Kirk said. "Now, about the time travel process itself. Spock?"

"There are two possible methods we could use in this situation. The slingshot method is too imprecise, and requires more of a running start than we may have available to us here. Therefore I recommend the anti-matter intermix cold implosion method."

"The so-called 'Riley Effect'." Sulu said with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Lieutenant Riley's voice broke in over the intercom. "That's no fair! It wasn't my fault, it was that damn contaminated water!"

"Lt. Riley" Kirk snapped. "Didn't you hear what I just said about unofficial interference on the intercom?"

"Sorry, sir."

"Just be glad he wasn't singing 'Kathleen' this time, sir." Sulu joked.

"Hey!" Riley protested again.

"Mr. Sulu." Kirk said ominously.

"So, Sulu, foiled again." Uhura said cheekily.

"Touché." Sulu replied, dead pan.

"If my senior officers are finally finished with this, can we please get back to business?" Kirk growled. He realized that the banter served a useful purpose in reducing tension, but enough was enough.

"Yes, sir." "Sorry, sir."

"Mr. Spock, you were saying you recommend the antimatter cold intermix formula?"

"Yes, Captain. We can then withdraw to a safe distance from the planet, shut down the engines, allow time to cool, and restart using the intermix formula by the end of the day. Given the extreme speeds attained with that method, we can be at Earth by some time tomorrow."

"Some time tomorrow? That's rather imprecise for you, isn't it, Spock?" Dr. McCoy queried snippily.

"There are simply to many variables in the situation to be more precise, Doctor." Spock replied calmly. "However, it is not impossible we could have Captain Ash and Sergeant James restored to their proper place by tomorrow evening."

Ash and James exchanged startled looks. "That soon?" Ash breathed.

"Yes, Captain Ash." Kirk said. "After we have the correct coordinates, we can beam you down immediately after Grylock has taken your earlier selves."

"I would suggest waiting until we see if Grylock used the cover of an explosion to take them." Spock said gravely. "Captain Ash, were you and the sergeant within visual range of anyone else at the time Grylock removed you?"

"No. We were inside the building. Even outside, the rest of the section were at the safety point, around the corner of another building."

"So no one should be able to see you disappear and reappear?"

Ash nodded thoughtfully. "And then" he said, "It will be up to us."

"How will you handle it, Captain Ash?" Kirk asked.

Ash glanced at the sergeant, who shrugged.

"Captain Kirk, am I correct that you have no way to know if Grylock is watching us now?"

"Yes, that's so."

"And no way to know what he may have the power to do to that bomb?"

"Affirmative." Spock agreed.

"Then, with all due respect, I think the less I say about it now the better."

"Logical." Spock said approvingly.

Kirk nodded. "Very well." he agreed. "We will leave it in your capable hands. Well, then people, since our course is decided, let's get to it. Mr. Spock, you and Mr. Sulu plot an orbit that will keep us well out of danger. Mr. Scott, be ready to shut the engines down on my orders."

"Sergeant James." Mr. Scott said, hesitantly, "Would you and Captain Ash care to come down to the engine room?"

James and Ash once again exchanged looks. Ash gave an almost imperceptible nod, and it was he who answered. "We would be honored, Mr. Scott. If there's nothing that we can't be allowed to see?"

Scotty turned almost pleadingly to Kirk. Kirk realized it meant a lot to the engineer to be able to show his beloved engines to this newly discovered family member. "As long as you don't tell them anything specific about the technology, Mr. Scott."

"Aye, sir," Scotty replied with a relieved smile. He lead them out of the briefing room. At a signal from Kirk, Kyle followed along behind.

After they had gone, Spock steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "Fascinating." he murmured.

"What's that, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked.

"The communication between our two guests."

"Oh, you noticed that too, Spock?" Uhura put in. "Dr. Noel and I were talking about it last night."

"What?" Kirk asked, puzzled.

"The way they communicate without speaking." Spock explained.

"It's what I said before." Dr. Noel spoke for the first time that day. "It's a different set of rules. They can't freely talk together or joke in public because of their difference in rank. Yet, as we've seen, they are friends. So they've learned to make body language and facial expressions fill in."

"What, for instance, you and Mr. Spock would simply say to each other" Uhura explained, "They express nonverbally. It's, well..., Mr. Spock is right, it's fascinating."

Kirk sighed once again. "While I'm sure the three of you would love to jointly write a paper on them, right at the moment I'd like us to concentrate our efforts on getting them back home. So, Mr. Spock, if you and Mr. Sulu could get busy?"

"Immediately, sir."

Ash was both fascinated and disapointed by the engine room, fascinated because there was so much strange, new and interesting, but ultimetly disapointed because there was nothing there that he could recognize, and he knew that even if he asked questioned, either no one would be allowed to answer, or he wouldn't understand any answers he could get. But the sergeant had wanted to come, to see more of this person who was the utterly unexpected evidence that he would some day have a family. Ash wanted to let him have that opportunity. He smiled politely and quietly kept to the back of the party. To his great relief, however, it wasn't long before there was a call from Kirk.

"Mr. Scott. Our orbit is laid in. Commence engine shut-down procedure."

"Aye sir." Mr. Scott responded. There was a flurry of activity.

"Engines are powered down." Mr. Scott finally said. He added in a murmur, almost to low to hear, "Sweet dreams, my darlin's."

"Well done, Mr. Scott. Since it will be some time before they've cooled enough for the restart, would you and our guests like to join Mr. Spock and me in the rec. room while we wait?"

Mr. Scott looked questioningly at Ash and James. "Well gentlemen?" Ash nodded.

And so Captain Ash found himself and James seated at a small table over lunch with Kirk, Spock and Mr. Scott, the ever-present Kyle having been dismissed to attend to some postponed duties of his own.

Ash watched Mr. Spock dubiously. Even, or perhaps especially, since the morning's revelations, he was uncomfortable with his inhuman presence.

"So, Captain Ash, it looks as though we may have you home tomorrow." Kirk began. "I'm sure you're looking forward to it."

Ash nodded. "Not that everyone hasn't been very friendly. But this isn't our place."

"We've enjoyed having you as our guests." Kirk agreed. "But I know you both have important jobs waiting."

"Yes, about that, Captain Kirk. It's very gratifying that all of your crew seem to be so familiar with our time, but it's puzzling, too. Mr. Kyle said something about our war being one of the few with clearly defined good and evil sides, but that really doesn't explain it, and I think he was being discrete. Unless you have a whole ship full of amateur historians, it's still 300 years in your past, so why does it seem so important to you all?

Kirk looked over at Spock, who shrugged noncommittally. "Fair enough, Captain." Kirk said. "It seems like it's so important to us because the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are historically very important to us."

"You see" Spock explained, "Once sociologists had the option of studying other intelligent species, it was discovered that most of them start out with a primative stage, aggressive not only towards other species but towards their own.

"As technology develops, they reach the point where they must find a way to deal with that internal aggression or destroy themselves. That period in a species history is usually prolonged and violent. Most historians agree that the human race went throught that process during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By the end of your war, Captain, the human race will have the beginings of the technology that could have destroyed it. History as we know it says that didn't happen. But at the time it was by no means certain, as our experience with Edith Keeler showed. If circumstances had allowed the wrong side to win your war, it would have eventually lead to the death of the human species. Over the next century and a half there are other turning points where the same thing could have happened."

"You're saying that this war isn't going to bring world peace either." Ash stated bitterly.

"Does anyone really think it will?" Kirk asked gently. "If I remember correctly, it was the previous war that was called 'The War to End All Wars'. But ultimately the human race does survive, and we here are the result."

"That's comforting I suppose." Ash sighed. "We won't live long enough to see the happy ending though."

"No. But it's not constant warfare, either. You have some good years ahead as well."

"That's good to know." Ash said, and the sergeant nodded agreement with him. There was a moment's pause, then Ash continued curiously "So how do other races handle this change? If there's no internal aggression, does that mean there's no more war?"

Kirk shook his head. "No two species have reached the same solution. Some go totally pacific, while others simply externalized their aggression, and created expansionist empires. And there's all variations in between." He smiled. "It makes for... a pretty lively galaxy."

Mr. Scott had been listening quietly, but now he broke in. "Beggin' your pardon, gentlemen, but I think I'll have to be going now. There's some things I need to check on with my engines."

Kirk nodded. "Carry on." Mr. Scott made his farewells and left.

"It is almost time for the restart, Captian." Spock said to Kirk. "Perhaps our guests would like to be present on the bridge to observe."

"Yes, consider yourselves invited." Kirk smiled.

"I think we'll take you up on that offer, Captain Kirk." Ash agreed.

The tension on the bridge was thick enough to be palpable to a telepath like Spock. He understood the reasons for his human crewmates' emotions, but even so he found the close press of their thoughts disturbing. He forced himself into a Vulcan mentaldiscipline to block them out. There was no real risk involved in the process, now that the formula had been tested, but it was still rarely done, and of course in this situation there was the additional factor of the potential for interference by the mysterious entity Grylock. Spock and Kirk had discussed the matter, and agreed that since there was no way to predict what Grylock would do, and no way to counter anything that he did do, the most logical course was to proceed without taking him into consideration. While it was easy to act that way, Spock realized the humans had a harder time shutting those fears out.

The two human time travelers were obviously impressed by the sight of the bridge. Spock found himself increasingly studying the young Captain Ash. Intellectually, Spock was, of course, perfectly aware of his human heritage. But he prefered to keep it submerged. This wasn't, he considered, any sort of snub to his mother. It was, after all, as much her decision as his father's that his genetics should be more Vulcan than human and that his upbringing should be as a Vulcan. In fact, was he not honoring his mother by honoring her choice to have as close to a pure Vulcan child as possible?

But confronted by this proof of his human ancestry, this demonstration that not only were his mother and her family human, but that his human heritage went back as far as his Vulcan heritage, that he was not, in fact, a rootless scion grafted onto Vulcan stock, but a combination of two peoples equally old and honorable, this left him slightly disoriented.

Not that Captain Ash seemed inclined to press the relationship. If anything, he seemed more disconcerted than anyone else.

"Mr. Spock." Captain Kirk's voice broke into his reverie and Spock instantly pushed his thoughts away. "Is the formula ready?"

"Yes sir. I have fed the neccessary ratios to Mr. Scott in engineering." A human might have found it ironic that the two people most involved in returning the misplaced travelers to their time, Spock, who had worked out the formula, and Mr. Scott, who would implement it, were the two who were most closely connected by ties of blood to those travelers.

Kirk pushed the switch for the intercom. "Mr. Scott, are you ready?"

"Aye, sir. Whenever you give the word."

Kirk looked around the bridge. "Is everyone ready?" There was a chorus of affirmatives. "Mr. Scott, you may proceed."

"Aye sir. Commencing engine restart."

There was a hum and throb that rose to a painful whine, and a sensation of increased gravity or inertia, and for a moment it seemed as though the bridge, the ship, the entire universe were transparent and spread out thin. It would take a poet, a human poet, to do justice to describing this effect, Spock thought distantly.

And then it was over. To all appearances the bridge was normal, and the ship seemed to travel normally through space. Only the backwards registering of the chronometers gave the lie to that impression.

"Captain Ash, Sergeant James." Kirk said. "Welcome to the experience of time travel."

It had not, Ash thought later, after dinner, been quite what he expected.

Now he and the sergeant sat, as the night before, with Kyle and some of the other crew members. Ash found he was able to enjoy himself more than the previous evening, now that he knew they were en route home. If only the mysterious and unpredictable Grylock didn't intervene again. Ash had his own thoughts on what he was going to do to, he hoped, thwart Grylock's plan for the sergeant and himself, but it wouldn't help these people, and Ash felt badly about that. Kirk and his people were trapped in a hopeless situation as far as Ash could see, because even after Ash and James were returned, Grylock could, and certinly would, simply set them another task which Kirk would be unable to refuse. Kirk and his crew had to be aware of that, yet they were, to all appearances, entirely focused on the problem of getting Ash and James home.

Mr. Scott came over to the table, and sat next to Sergeant James.

"I thought you might like to see some family pictures." he said, almost shyly, to the sergeant.

James brightened, and smiled the full, dazzling smile that Ash could only remember seeing a few times in all the years he had known him.

"Aye, that I would, very much."

Ash watched them for some time, enjoying the sergeant's obvious delight in the discovery of his family. Without realizing it, he found he had reached a decision. he finished the last of his drink, then turned to James and Mr. Scott.

"Excuse me for interupting, gentlemen, but I'm going to make my excuses now. Sergeant, I'll see you later back in our quarters."

"Aye, sir."

"Oh and Sergeant." Ash smiled a small sideways smile. "Don't be up to late. Remember, we have a busy day tomorrow."

The sergeant smiled in return. "Aye sir."

Ash found Kyle involved in a conversation with Yeoman Rand.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Kyle, but could you provide me with some directions?"

"Certainly Captain. Where do you want to go?"

Mr. Spock was meditating in his quarters whe the soft chiming told him there was someone at his door.

"Enter." he called, turning to face his visitor.

He had assumed it would be Kirk, because he didn't get many other visitors. It was unanticipated when the door opened to show Captain Ash.

"Captain Ash. This is unexpected."

"I thought that, since with any luck we'll be gone tomorrow, this would be our last chance to talk. If Dr. McCoy is right and you are my great-something grandson, it seems we should at least know each other. I admit, you aren't what I expected my descendants to be like, but..." He shrugged.

Spock, for once, felt himeslf short of words. Finally he said, "I have been brought up to think more about my father's people and heritage than my mother's. When my father's race reached that point of change that we discussed earlier, they handled it by submerging their emotions and becoming a people of pure logic. I do not know how to have a "family moment", getting to know you. However, if you wish, I can show you pictures of my mother and some of her family."

"Yes. I would like that."

Spock took his picture viewer out of his bureau. His mother Amanda had sent it to him. Vulcans did not usually take family pictures. Their perfect memories made such items of sentiment superflucious . But Amanda, in a sentimental mood, had made the album of pictures for her son, and he had kept them, even, occasionally, looking at them, although he knew it was illogical.

"My mother prepared this for me." Spock told Ash. "It has pictures of her family and my father's." He set it to the first picture. "My mother, Amanda."

Ash studied the picture. "She looks a little like Susie." At Spock's quizzical look he amended that to "Susan, my fiancée ." He reached into his uniform pocket and produced a small picture, a flat, old-fashoned photograph, and handed it to Spock.

"Fascinating. There is a slight resembalance." Spock agreed. "May I copy this for my mother? It will interest her."

Ash looked dubious. "How long would it take? I would want it back before we leave."

"I can do it immediately."

"Oh. Than certainly ."

"There are pictures here of the rest of her family as well, her siblings and their families, and her parents." Spock continued. "If you are interested...?"

Ash looked up from studying the picture of Amanda, with a smile. "Why yes, Mr. Spock, thank you."

Later that night, Sergeant James made his way back to his quarters to find that Captain Ash was there before him. The captain was still awake, studying his picture of Susan.

He looked up at the sergeant's entrance . "Ah. Good. You're back, Sergeant."

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to be so late" the sergeant said contritely.

Ash waved his apology aside. "You aren't late Sergeant, and I quite understand why you wanted some time with Mr. Scott. It's a strange feeling, isn't it, to find you have family so far away from everything you know?"

"Aye, sir." James agreed. He grew thoughtful. "He has a sister, too, sir, he showed me a picture of her, and her children..."

Ash nodded. "I went to see Mr. Spock. He had pictures of his mother and her family."

They were both silent for a moment. Then Ash went on thoughtfully. "I have to admit, I didn't like thinking the only record of my life was that damn newspaper article. You remember Ken Machen's fiancée, Angie?"

James nodded. They had met at Machen's funeral, after the lieutenant had been killed by a booby-trapped bomb. Later she had told Ash that she was pregnant with Machen's child, but since they weren't married, she would recieve no pension, and the section had taken up a collection to help her out.

"When she told me she was having his baby, I'll never forget what she said. 'I don't mind about the baby. It'll be a nice baby, something of Ken's to prove that he existed.' That's what I feel now. These people, they're proof that we existed. However long ago, no matter if we're remembered now or not."

James nodded. "I get your meaning, sir. Even if we're forgotten, something of us goes on. I never expected that. I'd given up any hope of having a family."

Ash smiled. "Well you'll have to start looking again, Sergeant, obviously."

James laughed. "Aye, sir."

"And now we'd both better turn in. We'll need to be alert tomorrow."